An Uncommon Joy

Deuteronomy 7:6-11 and the Covenant Love of God

Well, our Old Testament reading this morning is in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 7, verses 6 -11. If you would like to read along, that's page 152 in your pew Bibles. But I would ask you to please stand in honor of God's word.

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you.

For you were the fewest of all peoples. But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers. That the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. And repays to their face those who hate him by destroying them.

He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.

Matthew 16:13-20 and Peter’s Confession of Christ

The New Testament reading will be in Matthew 16 verses 13 through 20, found in page 822 in your pew Bible. Matthew 16, 13 through 20, this is the word of God. Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the son of man is?

And they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.

And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

You may be seated.

Introducing the Romanian Ministry and the Institute of Biblical and Theological Training

The theme was, we're gonna teach and teach until the Romanians can teach it to others. And so when Dave, as Neku said earlier today in Sunday School, as Dave retired, we all know Dave's not gonna retire, but as he backed off from our ministry there, said to Nick and to another brother, Betuel, would you guys take this ministry, I mean, it's yours now, we're backing out.

And so Nick has essentially been involved in leading the ministry, and he's formed the Institute of Biblical and Theological Training, which is IBET. Sometimes you see that in our bulletins, IBET. That's what that, in Romanian, translated to English, it's Institute of Biblical and Theological Training.

And so Nick started that, is heading it up in the church where he is. And not just there, but now again, thinking of taking the modules out to different areas of his country and some others as well. So Nick comes to us as one of the pastors from M28, a church in Bucharest, and as director of IBET.

And he's gonna share with us the ministry, or gonna minister the word of God to us. So Niku, I forgot to mention, Niku is here with Marta. The dear, famous Marta, who is, my kids, they just love her to death, and their kids.

Nicholas, Anna Greta, and Abby. So those people hanging around the table are Nick, are his family. And those of you who've been a part of us for a long time, you know them, so. All right, Nick, come and share the word of God.

Christ is risen.

He's risen indeed.

Oh yes, finally.

Uncommon Joy in the Life of the Church

After you got saved, I don't know if you went to a ball game. How many of you, after you got saved, you went to a ball game? Like baseball, soccer, or football, whatever you want to call it, or American football.

So, I went to a soccer game, what is really football, okay?

Real football.

So, and I went on the stadium, and I was amazed by the joy of the people. I mean, the excitement, the passion, everybody was so happy. And they're not drunk. I mean, I don't know, in the States, but in Romania, they will not let you go drunk on the stadium.

At least, I mean, they will try their best, but. So, it's just the excitement of that. And when I, after I got saved, as I told you, and went to those games, I would leave the stadium sad. I'll go back home sad.

Because I was jealous for this reason. My brothers and sisters, many times, do not show excitement, and passion, and enthusiasm, and joy. For something that is more, more, I mean, you can't even compare it.

So precious. You know, it's not soccer, or football, you know, it's just a stupid ball. I mean, whatever the size of it.

We have Jesus.

So, you know, even when I got saved, I came from an Eastern Orthodox background. I lived in a socialist country, and I still do, actually. It's democrat now, but it's still socialist-democrat. So, kind of America.

And I remember, I went, I got saved, and I went to church, and I was expecting, I went to a Baptist church. And I was expecting to see some happy and enthusiastic Baptists. But, you know, it didn't take me a long time to realize that people are not that happy.

People are not that excited. People are not that passionate. And, so I asked myself, what's wrong with this? Why do we have this? And, okay, I know the context is different. Okay, in Romania, because of the fact that people have been living under a socialist system for a long time, maybe that's why they are not that happy, you know, and they don't even know how to express feelings.

So, I said, maybe that's the fact. You know, you come in the States, you see more people excited, especially in Leroux. I mean, you come and people are very happy and excited. But, you know, sometimes you go to some people's homes, and you don't see that excitement anymore.

And you wonder, why are they happy at church, and they're not happy at home? Anyway, you know, people are excluded, you know, from this congregation. But, an uncommon joy, and this is the title for the message this morning.

And I want to read it, I want to read the last part of Acts 2. We've read, we started this morning with reading partially from Acts 2. And I'm going to finish that, basically, the reading of that. It's chapter 2, verse 41, all the way to the end, 47.

And please follow in your Bibles, because I'm going to be speaking in tongues. It's going to be Romanian, okay, a tongue. So, I'm going to do the reading in Romanian, okay? So, please follow in your Bibles.

Acts 2, 41, 47.

Acts 2, 41.

Amen.

This passage describes, we call it, ideal community, you know, the ideal community. Though, it sounds like it's the normal community. It should be the normal community. So, people have been waiting for the promise made to Abraham, Galatians 3, to be fulfilled.

Which is the coming of the Spirit. So, the Spirit came and it's amazing to see the birth of New Israel. Which is the Church of God, the Church of Christ. And it's just the first steps, basically, of this baby church, of this baby community.

You look back to this first community and you see at least a couple of things in this text. You see togetherness, you see people being together. And I don't know about you, but I read those verses and I see excitement, I see joy.

Joy comes, I mean, joy is actually the term itself is in the text. I see passion, I see people that are so happy to be together.

They love it.

And it's actually talking about the 3 ,000 people that were added one day to the numbers of the apostles. So, basically, the descriptions that we've read are the descriptions of those 3 ,000 people. New converts, people that just came to the Lord.

And people that live the way they live. And this morning, I would like ourselves to go back to this community and learn from this community. And I want to ask this question. Looking at this community, how can we live with this unusual joy?

With this uncommon joy? You look at them and you see this excitement and you ask, how is this possible? How can we live like this? How can we experience as people of God and as communities, how can we experience this kind of joy, this unusual joy?

And I see in this text at least three things. And Luke starts talking about an uncommon dedication. So, I guess the first answer to my question will be showing an uncommon dedication. Luke says, and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teachings and the fellowship.

To the breaking of bread and the prayers. Luke says, an amazement came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. Why did all this amazement come upon every soul?

Why many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles? You know, we have this question.

Why?

And it seems to me that that wonder, the zeal, the miracles were experienced. Because of what is written in verse 42. And that is, they devoted themselves to four things. The apostles' teachings, which is the Word of God.

The fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers. So, the first thing is that this dedication that it's just... I don't know how you understand this, you know, this term in English. You know, dedication or devotion.

To me, do you know people that are devoted and like dedicated? Like their whole heart is there? When I think about this term, this expression. I see somebody that is ready to die at any time for the thing that he believes in.

He's there.

He wants to go all the way. He's ready to sacrifice anything. It doesn't matter why you ask this person. He's going to be ready to say, yes, I'm willing to give up everything. Because I want to go all the way.

So, when I think of dedication, that's how I think. I think of a person that is ready to go all the way. No matter what. The first thing it says, they were dedicated to the Word of God. It's interesting.

You know, I just said it. The Holy Spirit came upon men. Christians. Now, some of our contemporaries might have wished it was written something like this. They all began to have all sorts of discoveries and revelations.

New and fresh words were spoken through all the apostles of Jesus.

But it doesn't say that.

Luke does not say that. The coming of the Spirit emboldens those 3 ,000. To first devote themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the Word of God. The work of the Spirit is always, always linked to the work of the Word of God.

Always.

You cannot separate them. It's very interesting. You look at it in this text. The Holy Spirit comes. The first thing that you see in the community of Jesus. Is that they devoted themselves to the Scriptures.

Because that's what the Spirit does. Right? Jesus said that in John. John records that. Jesus says, "...but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name. He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.".

What the Holy Spirit does. He takes the heart of people and just makes their hearts just to love the Word. The words of Jesus.

Yeah.

You know, brothers and sisters, maybe we're not that happy and we're not a happy community. Because we're not so much devoted to the Word of God. And yes, we are here. We do a lot of reading. But how much do we do the same reading at home?

With our families. With our kids. With our neighbors. With our brothers and sisters when they come over. When was the last time when before, you know, having a load of bread, we stopped and we read a psalm together.

How much are we concentrated and devoted to the Word of God? Maybe that's why we're not that joyful. Maybe that's why we don't show that uncommon joy. Because we're not that devoted to the Word of God.

Yes, we are verbally. But in practice, we don't really show that. So, we should learn from them. We should learn from their devotion to the Word of God. And after that, it says, the second thing, they were devoted to fellowship.

I mean, can you imagine those 3 ,000, after they got saved, the Holy Spirit converted them? I mean, imagine. I can close my eyes and see this. Sunday was coming up. They were so excited. Hey, today we're going to go to church.

We're going to hear Peter again, preaching. Or James, or whatever. But they were so excited. They were so happy. They're going to be together again. It says that in text. Look, it says, they were joyful to be together.

You know, how are we coming to church?

Oh, it's time to go to church again.

Isn't that sometimes we barely drag our feet to church?

Why?

Why are we not joyful when we come to church?

Why?

Because we're not devoted to the fellowship. And I think Luke wants us to show here how important it is to be devoted to the fellowship. And that will bring an uncommon joy. Can you imagine a conversation like this?

I tried to create a conversation between two new converts in Jerusalem. John and Timothy. We'll call it Tim.

Okay?

John and Tim.

John, I haven't seen you at church for a while. Why aren't you coming to the church anymore? Oh, I do not need to. I can leave my Christianity alone at home. I even have Bible study every other day with my family.

So you really don't want to come to church anymore? So how are you going to break the bread? Timothy, oh, I can do it. I do not need Peter or James to do it for me. I can do it myself. I can break a bread.

I can take the wine and drink it. I don't need James.

I don't need Peter.

But what are you going to do with your children if the good Lord will save their soul? Who is going to baptize them? Oh, I'll do it myself. Why not? I am the prophet of the family. John, but what are you going to do if you get sick?

Who is going to pray for you? Oh, Timothy, Jesus will. He's the mediator. I don't need James. I don't need Peter. I don't need anybody from the fellowship to come and pray for me. I can pray for myself.

I mean, actually, Jesus will do it. John, let me ask you one more question. What is your family going to do if you die?

Did you think about this?

Oh, Timothy, the church will help them out.

They always do. You should laugh.

Can you imagine a conversation like this? Can you imagine? I just cannot imagine. I cannot imagine a conversation like this. But we hear conversations like this so much in the context we live on, right?

In our 21st modern century, the times have changed. Today, there are so many people calling themselves Christians, but never go to church. How can that be? Sharing in with other believers and loving them will always verify our vertical relationship.

How can we say that we love God and rejoice in him when we do not care for those that are called our brothers and sisters?

How?

When we drag our feet to go to church, how can we call ourselves Christians? The third thing is remembrance. It says they were devoted to break the bread together. It goes with 1 Corinthians 11 where it talks about the Lord's Supper.

The cross of Christ was centered in their meetings. We know that from other New Testament writings. They were coming together and they were eating, yes. But they were taking the Lord's Supper. They were remembering about the gospel of Christ that is centered to the gatherings.

They were devoted to prayer. When I read the two words together, devoted to prayer. In the context of togetherness and how they were living their lives together. I think this church knew the people that were coming.

They knew each other very well. They knew their needs. They knew their struggles. They knew their problems. How can you pray for somebody if you don't know that person? How can you pray for a brother, for a sister if you don't even know his name or her name?

Or you don't know anything about them. But they were devoted to prayer because they knew each other very well. They knew their needs. They knew exactly what they're going through. So when I look at this, I'm challenged.

I'm challenged. I'm horrible at names. I'm good at faces. But I'm struggling to remember my brothers and sisters' names and learn about them. Sometimes I'll pray, Lord, I met that brother. I have no idea who he is.

Yeah, he shared about his life, and I'm just praying for him without knowing his name. God knows. But we have to get to know our prayer requests, what we're struggling with. Dear church, why don't we experience the same uncommon joy?

Perhaps we should speak the word of Christ more to each other. Maybe we should have more real fellowship and not just social time. Maybe we should make the gospel more central in our gatherings. Maybe we should pray more.

Maybe we should learn to pray. Don't forget there is a practical aspect here. How much time do you spend in the word of God? How much do you expect to be with your brothers and sisters each week? How dear are they to your heart?

How much do you pray for them? How much do you care for them? What is the second thing presented by Luke here? So, after showing an uncommon dedication, Luke talks about setting forth an uncommon generosity.

It says, and all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. Luke describes their unity in two ways.

They were together and they had all things in common. They were generous in their interaction with each other and with their belongings. What this community of faith was practicing was not a primitive form of socialism.

It was not that. But a generosity of heart towards the needs of those that belong to Christ together with them in the same body. You know, when you look at this and you ask yourself, what is it harder?

To share your time or your money with your brothers and sisters? Because what Luke talks here, he talks about time and money. And we, you know, I know a lot of people in the U .S. says time means money.

How much time do you spend with the people that are your brothers and sisters? How much time are you ready to put aside just to invest in them? Is there anybody in your church that maybe needs the blessings that God has given you?

And that's why I'm talking about your money. That are not your money, are God's money. How can we know each other better? How can we be part of this life together? How can we show this uncommon generosity towards each other?

You know what's interesting when I think about this? I see the Church of Christ, and I'm talking now, general. Investing a lot in orphans, in helping refugees, in just getting involved so much in social things.

And okay, are those bad? No, they're not bad. But the New Testament over and over talks about our hearts as believers being concentrated, especially for those that are Christians. We have to do good first to whom?

To the ones that are Christians. If you go to church and ask money for an orphan, you're going to receive a lot of money. But if you ask for some new converts in India, that they just came to know the Lord, and they are in the need to build a community together and plant a church together, the response is totally different.

And I'm sad for that. I'm sad. And it's the same everywhere. You travel in Romanian churches, evangelical churches, and you talk about the orphans and people that are in all those social places, and you will have so many people, Christian churches, that will give you so much money.

But you go and travel in the same churches and talk about the new believers in India and that you want to help them to plant a church and start a ministry there and help them with their needs, and you leave those churches crying.

And brothers and sisters, I'm not talking about something that did not happen to me. I'm talking about something that happened to me. And I am wondering, where is that good, the first good that we should do to those that are in faith with us?

And especially, especially, there are so many believers all over the world that need our attention. How much do we pray for people that are persecuted in the world? How much do we strive to connect with them, to be there for them?

I don't know. It makes me think that we should learn from this community. The last thing that Luke says, it says displaying an uncommon daily testimony, and this one makes me feel very, very, very ashamed.

It says,.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

So Luke mentions here again breaking the bread. He did it before, talking about the Lord's Supper. I don't think this time he talks about the same thing. I think he talks about something else. It says that they were going in the temple.

When?

Daily.

What were they going to the temple? To worship? No, they're not Jewish people anymore. They are Christians. So they will not go to the temple to worship. They were worshiping to God when they were coming in their homes.

So they were going to the temple for another reason. The reason was to tell the Jewish people that Christ is risen. They found the Messiah. That was the reason they were going to the temple. It's very interesting how Luke puts everything together.

They were going to the temple each day. I think what it says is they were taking people from the temple that they were sharing the gospel with and they were having needs. They were taking them in their homes and they were feeding them.

They were breaking bread with them. They were doing it joyfully. The reason I believe that is because of the product of that. Luke says, God gave them favor to all people. Not just that. The end is absolutely striking.

Many were added to their numbers. That means that God was giving favor to the new believers. God was adding new believers to the new believers. And the church was growing.

Why?

Because they had an uncommon testimony daily. They were going to the temple and reaching out to people. And I think we should do that more often. If not daily. We should be bold to share about Christ.

We should have the same joy. When was the last time when you invited a non-Christian friend to your home and you shared the gospel with him? And I know you guys.

I know you do that.

But there's so many people that have to learn to do what those guys were doing. We have to have non-Christians in our home and share the bread with them. And have Mihaela say, why are you guys doing this?

Mihaela is a doctor in Romania and we had her in our home. And she could not understand why do we do that with her. We have to do that with people and share it with them. Christ. And you know why do we do all of this?

Because we love Jesus. That's why we do this.

It's amazing.

This community was doing what they're doing. And the persecution happened. And they started spreading all over. And in chapter 8, it talks about Philip right in the beginning of the chapter. And after that, there is such a striking word there.

I think it's in verse 5. Where it says that the joy, the city started being very joyful. So, Philip came into the city. Started sharing the gospel. Doing what we read here in chapter 2. Having this uncommon testimony.

Daily testimony to people. And what Luke says, it says that the city was joyful. And they're not joyful because they're going to a ball game. They were joyful because Jesus was entering in their city.

Through the testimony of the church. Here, Philip. So, I'm praying that Leroux will become a joyful city. Not because people are drinking or having fun and entertainment. But because Jesus goes to more and more homes.

Amen?

And I pray the same thing for Bucharest. Bucharest is a joyful city. But the joy that the people have is not the authentic joy.

It's a fake joy.

And that's why they're joyful during the night. And during the day, they cry and they're in depression.

Because that's not joy.

That's Satan's joy. It's not the joy of the gospel. The joy of the salvation. And I pray for Bucharest. More and more people will have this joy. And it's amazing. When you see all of this, you wonder why?

Why a community should look like this? It's because our Savior looked like this. Was our Savior devoted?

Yes.

Devoted to what? To the word of the Father and to the works of the Father. I came to do the works of my Father. I came to do what? His will. And he was devoted to the point of what?

Of his death.

So, that's why this community was devoted. Because they've seen Jesus showing that devotion. I think when thinking about all of this, we should pass this community and look to Jesus. And say, Jesus, we want to learn from you to show the same devotion.

Jesus showed an amazing devotion to his death. Was Jesus generous? Paul says in 2 Corinthians, Jesus was so generous that he became poor so he can become rich.

Amazing.

I don't know anybody else that is more generous than our Jesus.

Nobody else. So generous.

And you know, this morning, you want to have this uncommon joy, you have to meet this person.

Jesus. He was so dedicated.

So dedicated to the point that he gave his life. He was so dedicated and he was so passionate about his Father and about the good of his people that he gave his life. And he became poor so you can be rich.

And what can you have more than have Jesus? Nothing. So this morning, I encourage you. If you want to have that joy, psychology, not even biblical counseling is not going to bring that. What's going to bring that is Jesus.

Jesus can bring that joy. Because he had an uncommon joy. And the communities that Jesus has been forming and forming and giving birth are the same communities. The communities of joy. May the Lord help us to have such an uncommon joy like our Savior Jesus.

Amen.