The Ordinary Church – The Fellowship
Acts 2:36-47
Devotion to “The Fellowship” meant…
Devotion to being in ONE ACCORD
Homothymadon
Homou – together, same
thumos – wrath, anger, passion, outburst, fierceness, rage
ONE ACCORD
Barriers to “One accord-ness” today:
Sin – personal sinfulness
Flesh – desires of the flesh
Pride – we are about us
Personality – we see things very differently
Fears – when fear trumps faith, we divide
Guilt – guilt causes us to find fault
The Bible can be difficult to interpret.
– So it is easy to misinterpret scripture.
– Or to think that correct interpretation is not possible.
– Or decide that everyone’s interpretation is “God speaking to me”.
– Or we emphasize one part over another.
There is a buffet of Bible teachers today.
There is a church “on every corner”.
It is easier to find a new church than wrestle through relational or doctrinal issues.
People have different, and many times wrong expectations of what the church really is.
We disagree about what we should focus on.
Culture affects us – post-modern culture, where there is no objective, absolute truth.
We live in a very individualistic culture today.
We live in a culture where everyone’s opinion is considered equally valid.
We have access to so much information today that it is difficult to know what is true.
We don’t know which doctrines are essential and which are not.
We easily confuse personal preference with essential doctrine.
We hate conflict, so resolving issues is difficult.
We come together with biases and traditions that separate us and blind us.
We are busy with our own lives.
We are under lots of pressure elsewhere and can’t care deeply about other’s needs.
We are willing to work hard on most other things but think church “should just be easy”.
We don’t really believe that “It is more blessed to give than receive”.
