The Lord Is Still Adding to Those Being Saved :: Acts 2:41-47

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[Introduction]

Where did everyone go? This is the question of the day in churches all over the country.

As we just heard in our second reading for this Fourth Sunday in Lent, the Holy Christian and Apostolic Church was growing in leaps and bounds after Pentecost. Those who welcomed the Word ... or we could say Jesus, because Jesus is the Word ... [They] were baptized, and about 3,000 souls were added that day. And they adhered to the apostles’ doctrine and to the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and to the prayers. Then reverential fear came to every soul, and many wonders and signs came through the apostles. All of those who had faith were together, and they had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and property, and distributing it to all, as any had need. Every day, continuing with one desire in the temple, and breaking bread in each home, they all received food in joy and with sincerity of hearts, praising God and having grace toward the whole [group]. And the Lord continued adding to those who were being saved each day (vv 41-47). 

In short order, 5,000 men had joined the church, plus their wives and children (4:4). And the Word of God continued to spread, and the number of disciples increased GREATLY (6:7). When the Gospel was preached in Caesarea, a Roman city with a shipping port, the Holy Spirit then fell upon all the Gentiles who heard the Word (10:44). Before we knew it, the Gospel was circling the globe, and it was steaming up the Mississippi from the Port of New Orleans to St Louis, then across the Ozarks into west-central Missouri. Now ... 2,000 years later ... people are wondering: Where did everyone go? 

In the last decade, weekly attendance in all Missouri Synod churches across the country has declined 49.6 percent to just 516,000 people in our pews each Sunday. Though our congregation hasn’t experienced quite the same shocking decline, we are still left wondering where did everyone go? They were baptized here. They devoted themselves to confessing the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, to communion, the breaking of the bread, and to the prayers (v 42). They confessed they would not fall away.

3.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are asking the wrong question. 

We are in the midst of Lent. This is a season of repentance ... a season that reminds us to stop focusing on what other people are doing or not doing. This is a season of repentance ... a season to reflect on what Christ is doing ... on who he really is ... and how he is still serving you today. The season of Lent is a great time for you who hear the Gospel to question yourself ... to ask yourself ... Where am I? ... What happened to MY reverential fear at the signs and wonders God is doing among us (v 43)? ... Why might I have stopped selling MY possessions and distributing to those who have need, and receiving MY food in joy and unworldly hearts? 

When was the last time you came to Bible study with your congregation?

Have you stopped searching the scriptures every day to see if the apostles’ doctrine is true? 

Have you forgotten that your baptism is not just a one and done act of God? 

Have you forgotten that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, were all baptized into Moses ... that they all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink ... yet God was not pleased with them (1 Cor 10:1-5)? 

Have you forgotten that baptism and teaching go together ... that when you are baptized you continue being taught, and when you are being taught, you continue returning to baptism ... that this is how God makes disciples (Mt 28:19) who adhere to the apostles’ doctrine?

Have you forgotten that communion ... that is, participation and fellowship with God ... is realized in his Divine Service ... that he is the one who actually provides the daily bread he breaks and distributes to sustain you in the wilderness (Jn 6:11)? 

Dear brothers and sisters ... on this side of heaven ... here in the wilderness ... It’s easy to forget who we are and where we are going and who is providing for whom. It’s easy to overlook how the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh continue to pull us away ... lure us away ... from true communion with God. It’s easy to ignore visitors in our midst, making them feel welcome. 

But God hasn’t left you or abandoned you. He continues calling, gathering, enlightening us to lean on him alone for all we need in this life. He hears the grumbling of his people. He provides. Behold, YHWH told Moses, I am about to rain bread of heaven for you (Ex 16:4).

2.

That’s what the early church in Acts learned, too. By devoting themselves to the apostles’ doctrine every day and making it their own every day because it is in accord with the Word of God ... the Church learned how Jesus was in fact God with them every day ... that he is Bread of God who comes down every day and gives life to the world (Jn 6:33) so that those who come to him will never hunger and never thirst (6:35). They learned that though he was in fact True God and True Man ... Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried, and on the third day rose from the dead for your justification ... that this is a 19-word summary of the Gospel. They learned that he was the perfect sacrifice on the mountain of God who paid the price for all sin for all time. 

More than that, we begin learning that all scripture bears witness to all this truth about Jesus (Jn 5:39). For instance, Deuteronomy 21[:22-23] most certainly tells us that Jesus would be cursed on the tree. Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 described graphically the crucifixion of Christ. Hosea 6[:1-2] most definitely foretells the resurrection on the third day. The Psalms and even 2 Kings give us a picture of the Ascension. We even learn that while the sons of Israel were God’s people, we Gentiles have been grafted in ... we are one with Israel ... saved by grace through faith ... so that though we die yet shall we live in resurrected bodies.

Knowing all this, brothers and sisters in Christ, I urge you to repent. 

Remember the vow you made in your confirmation. Study the Scriptures with fellow Christians to learn these true doctrines, and why they are important. This is how healthy congregations live, move, and have their being. The baptized of healthy congregations actually devote themselves to learning and serving one another every day. 

Then ... when the Law cuts us to the heart ... we will know the answer ... just like the early church ... to the question, What will we do? 

We will return to our baptism ... return to the Divine Service ... listen for the Gospel, which provides the balm of relief that strengthens you to flee from your sin, whatever your sin may be ... and which encourages you to give your time, talent, and treasure to anyone who has need. As our confessions teach us, repentance should produce good fruit. This fruit is what the commandments teach: prayer, thanksgiving, the confession of the Gospel, teaching the Gospel, obeying parents and rulers, and being faithful to one’s calling. We should not kill, hold on to hatred, but we should be forgiving and give to the needy (Ap XII 77). 

1.

Reading the Bible on your own and saying a prayer on your own and listening to praise music on your own is not a replacement for the Divine Service. Watching church on TV is not a replacement for the Divine Service. The devil uses ideas such as these to wage war on your faith ... to separate you from the congregation of saints. He uses these means and others like them to spread false doctrine ... to give people false ideas about salvation. 

Have you ever heard that Jesus didn’t die for everyone but only for those who are saved? Some churches teach that false doctrine. Have you ever heard that baptism doesn’t actually do anything or that if you aren’t dunked it doesn’t count? Some churches teach that false doctrine. Have you ever thought that since you don’t have a golden calf in your living room, you are not an idolater? Or that your feelings are more important than a true confession? Or that our worship is about the praise you give to God? Some churches teach those things, too.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is God who serves us. It is God who remembers us. It is God who cleanses us. It is God who feeds us. It is God who cares for us. It is God who saves us. It is God who calls us. It is God who enlightens us. It is God who sanctifies us.

Jesus is the one who has reconciled himself to us through his life, death, rest, resurrection, and ascension. He did this for the entire world ... for you. Your sin died on a cross with him. He has set you free from your sin, iniquity, and transgression. And on account of the resurrection, he has promised you the same eternal life. More than that, he is still calling, gathering, enlightening, and sanctifying the whole Christian church. He alone is The One who keeps this Christian church in the one true faith. We live and move and have our being in him.

Then ... every day, continuing with one desire in the temple and breaking bread in [this place, this building, our home] ... we receive food in joy and with sincerity of hearts, praising God and having grace toward the whole group (vv 46-47a).

[Conclusion]

So where did everyone go? Take heart, you who have welcomed the Word. Take heart and remember where you are ... here in the Divine Service and that you are baptized. 

THE LORD IS STILL ADDING TO THOSE BEING SAVED EVERY DAY (v 47b)

In Jesus’ name. 

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