Sunday, March 18, 2012 Acts of Prayer: Snapshots of the Prayer Life of the Early Church. Snapshot 7, "A Church of Authentic Fellowship."

- This morning we are going to talk about a church of authentic fellowship.

- *As we begin, I want to ask a question: What does a church of authentic fellowship look like?

- In answer to the question of what a church of authentic fellowship looks like, I want to suggest that a church of authentic fellowship looks something like what we find in Acts chapter 20.

- In this chapter, Paul is meeting with the elders of the Ephesian church to say his goodbyes because he has already resolved to go to Jerusalem and then on to Rome.

- Just as Jesus prepared his disciples for his absence, Paul prepared churches for his absence and we have Luke's record of that in this instance with the church of Ephesus.

- We pick up at the close of Paul's speech with verse 32 chapter 20.

32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
33  I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel.
34  You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.
35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
36 And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
37 And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him,
38 being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship. Acts 20:32-38 (ESV)

- In the ancient world, what it meant to be a disciple was to watch the life of your master like a hawk in order to learn wisdom and model your life after the Master's life to pass on what you learned.

- Paul invested himself so completely into the ministry to which the Lord had called him that he was deeply loved by the Ephesian church.

- He reminded the church that the integrity in his service was the truest mark of a faithful minister of the gospel and an example to them of how they should also live.

- Paul learned over the years that ministry was certainly not about making money.

- The life of a disciple of Jesus, which is what a Christian is or supposed to be, is to be lived generously. The Christian life is a generous life.

- * Thus the reason for Paul's reference to the saying of Jesus, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

- A life of contentment, peace, happiness, or blessedness is a generous life; a life lived for the sake of service to others.

- * As Jesus said, "If anyone wants to be first he must be the very last and the servant of all." (Mark 9:35)

- The very nature of self-sacrifice is generosity and Paul lived generously.

- To me it seems obvious that Paul's generosity is why his converts and the churches planted through his ministry held such great affection for him as this passage shows.

- He was not a hard-nosed, rough, and harsh individual that we seem to think that he was.

- He cannot have been so unlovable, no truly generous person is and the emotional farewell between he and the Ephesian elders at Miletus is proof of that fact.

- * After Paul finished speaking, as verse 36 says, "he knelt down and prayed with them all."

- The fact that Paul got down on his knees to pray for all of them speaks to the solemnity of that moment.

- * It is at precisely this moment that I want us to pause and ask a question: What did Luke shows readers about the place of prayer between a church and its leadership?

- * I believe that Luke showed his readers the place of prayer between the church and its leadership is as one of the marks of authentic fellowship, as evidenced by Paul and Ephesian elders, as it spilled out into public view.

- Notice that it was after Paul prayed that the emotional tone of the setting breaks out into full public view.

- It is only natural to become emotional after having prayed with someone whom we admire and love knowing that we will not see that person again until we meet them again in glory.

- Now, why would I say that prayer is one of the marks of authentic fellowship?

- Prayer is one of the marks of authentic fellowship because as fellowship spills out into public view, where everyone can see it; mutual love is demonstrated to the world and acts as a witness to the truth of the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

- Christian love that is not displayed is not love. I don't know what it is but it is not love.

- * Jesus said, "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:35 (ESV)

- In order for love to show its power it must be outwardly expressed.

- We know that because of the way God showed his love for us. God demonstrated the power of his love for us in the sacrifice of Jesus.

- * Romans 5:8 tells us, "God showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us."

- Real love puts on a show, giving a demonstration of self-sacrifice & service, and that's what authentic fellowship does.

- Tearful prayer for one another outside these four walls is a witness to Christian love.

- * Through the fellowship of tearful prayer together, others see God's love in us better.

- * The psalmist writes, "Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him." Psalm 126:5-6 (ESV)

- RA Torrey tells the story of Col. Clark from Chicago. He would work it is business six days each week and every night in the week the year round five or 600 men would gather together in that mission hall. It was a motley crowd: drunkards, thieves, pickpockets, gamblers and everything that was hopeless.

- I used to go and hear Col. Clark talk, and he seemed to me one of the dullest talkers I've ever heard in my life. He would ramble along and yet these five or 600 men would lean over and listened spellbound while Col. Clark talked in his dull, unimaginative way.

- Some of the greatest preachers in Chicago used to go down to help Col. Clark, but the man would not listen to them as they did Col. Clark. When he was speaking they would lean over and listen then be converted by the score. I could not understand. I studied it and wondered what the secret of it was. Why did these men listen with such interest, and why were they so greatly moved by such dull speech?

- I found the secret, says Torrey. It was because they knew that Col. Clark loved them, and nothing conquers like love. The tears were very near the surface with Col. Clark. Once in the early days of the mission, when he had been weeping a great deal over these men, he got ashamed of his tears. He steeled his heart and tried to stop his crying, and succeeded, but lost his power. He saw that his power was gone and he went to God and prayed. "Oh, God, give me back my tears," and God gave him back his tears, and gave him wonderful power, marvelous power over these men. (Tan, 7700, p. 1429)

- The power of tearful prayer is the power of love against which nothing can stand.

- * "He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him." Psalm 126:6 (ESV)

- * Through the fellowship of tearful prayer together, others see God's love in us better.