All With One Accord | Sunday, May 31, 2020 (Full Service)

When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind... and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:1–4)

On the birthday of the church, a plea for unity—and a look at what really makes the church the church.

All With One Accord

"When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." Those are the words that open Acts chapter 2. It is a little disheartening that this morning, when the day of Pentecost 2020 has fully come, we are not with one accord in one place. The obvious way is that you're watching online and we're not gathered as a church body. But to me the more disheartening, and maybe less obvious, way is that the larger body of Christ is divided this Pentecost Sunday—divided over the issue of gathering or not gathering.

Let me begin by stating the obvious: there is not a pastor I know, and I know a lot of pastors, who wouldn't want to gather his church today if given the choice. I do not know a single pastor who would choose to preach to a camera over preaching to his church. Of course, I am preaching to a camera, like most churches this morning. Some of my friends are preaching in their sanctuaries with a socially distanced congregation. This has caused division within the body of Christ.

Please don't misunderstand—I sympathize with the desire to gather. I would absolutely choose to gather for a regular service over preaching to this camera. I've developed a new respect for people who stand in front of a camera day after day; it is far more challenging than I would have assumed. So you may ask, why aren't we gathering like others today? I've received your emails, so I want to speak to this.

A Call to Be of One Mind

Some nineteen hundred and ninety years ago the church was all with one accord in one place. Today we are neither together in body nor in mind and heart, and for me this is distressing. The Scriptures exhort:

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.

Paul goes on in Philippians 2:

Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

It is as if Paul says: you want to know how to make me really happy? Work together to be of one mind and one purpose. He follows it with: "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others."

I'm not going to read the minds or infer the motives of other leaders, but I think it's clear that some have aims in all of this that are not wholly sincere. A little more than a month ago, my friend David Guzik addressed the question "When should church meetings start again?" on his YouTube channel. One of his points was that any pastor who goes against governmental ordinance or recommendation should diligently search his heart to see that he isn't doing it out of a spirit of vainglory or a desire to attract attention. Then he said: that is never of the Lord.

Now, I have very good friends who have decided to hold socially distant services, and I believe they are completely sincere—doing so because they feel it's an issue of obedience to Scripture, or that it's time. I rejoice with them, I pray for them, and I look forward to hearing how things go. But let's be honest: some leaders in all of this at least appear to be grandstanding, and that grandstanding is contributing in a big way to the division I spoke of. It's not helpful, and it's not good.

Three Reasons We Are Not Yet Gathering

That aside, you may still ask, "Pastor Miles, why is Cross Connection not gathering yet?" Let me give you three reasons.

First, though there has been a lot of rhetoric about the church and Christians being singled out and discriminated against, I haven't yet seen good evidence that that's what's going on. I don't see professional sporting events happening or movie theaters open. There don't appear to be concerts or other large gatherings. So church does not appear to be singled out. If it were, I would have a bigger issue with this.

Second, I don't have a theological conviction that says we, the church, need to be in the church building to have church. I love gathering together every week and I miss it. But theologically, this building is not sacred. One well-known Southern California pastor recently called upon churches to reopen and commented that "this is God's house." I'm sure that if I spoke with him, he would agree that's neither theologically nor historically accurate. It's a wonderful privilege to have a place like this building, but this isn't the church and this isn't God's house. You are the church. You are God's house.

Third, when we gather at Cross Connection, we gather for important reasons articulated in our mission and vision: life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus. We gather to connect with God in worship, with one another in fellowship, and with the world through outreach. But the current Cal/OSHA and California Department of Public Health guidance for places of worship, released this last week, is not conducive to worship, fellowship, and outreach. The guidelines recommend no handshakes, no hugs, no corporate singing, no hospitality—no donuts and coffee—no children's outreach. That's not church as we think of it. It's not church; it's a circus.

So if I had a theological conviction that we must be gathered here, or if I and our leaders felt that we were being unduly discriminated against, or if I thought gathering in the way the guidance describes would more effectively fulfill our mission and vision, then I would call upon you to be here. But I don't, and I'm not—yet.

The Mind of Christ

Some of you aren't happy with what I've said, and I hope you'll stick around. I learned a valuable lesson long ago as a leader. I didn't make it up, and there's debate about who did, but I've found it true: you can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.

Here's another important lesson if you're a follower of God:

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ... that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

This is what it means to have the mind of Christ, and truly to be a Christian—that is, to be Christlike. "Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world."

The Birthday of the Church

"When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven... and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit." Pentecost means "fiftieth day"—the fiftieth day after Passover in the Jewish calendar. Seven weeks had passed since resurrection Sunday, ten days after Christ's ascension. For all intents and purposes, today is the birthday of the church. Happy birthday, church—you're about 1,990 years old, looking a little gray.

This is the day God's Spirit was poured out upon a gathering—the word church means gathering—of 120 followers of Jesus in one accord in an upper room in Jerusalem. Because this is an important day, a large group of pastors has been saying it's the perfect day, even essential, to get back to gathering in one place so that God can do it again, that He can pour out His Spirit once more.

I have a couple of issues with this. First, God hasn't stopped pouring out His Spirit. More importantly, the church is not of one accord and one mind, and Paul's exhortation to the Ephesians is worthy of consideration:

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.

These are essential teachings. God "gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints... till we all come to the unity of the faith... to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." We've got a lot of growing up to do.

The Four Essentials of the Church

When the Spirit was poured out, the gospel was preached, the people responded in repentance, faith, and obedience in baptism, and the church was born. What did the gathering of believers do?

They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers... Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

Christians have remained committed to these basics for nearly 2,000 years, and we will continue until the Lord returns—even while we're unable to gather in our facility. The early church didn't have its own space to meet for a very long time, for many hundreds of years. In spite of that, the church grew and flourished, because they were focused on the apostles' teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayers.

The early church went from 120 to more than three thousand in one day. The overwhelming majority had never met Jesus or heard His teaching personally, and now they were submitting to Him as Lord. The only way to know Jesus and His teaching was to hear from the ones who had heard from Him—His apostles. So they remained devoted to that teaching, wherever and whenever they could, daily in the temple and from house to house. We are still continuing in the teaching of the apostles through the study of their writings—at our facility, in small groups, and right now through YouTube, podcasts, emails, and Zoom. Wherever, whenever, however, by whatever means we can, we'll keep doing it until the Lord returns.

Second, the early Christians were devoted to fellowship—they shared with and cared for one another. The church has been caring for one another by sharing with one another for 2,000 years; we're doing it today and will keep doing it.

Third, they continued in the breaking of bread. This means two things: partaking of communion, the Lord's Supper, and also being hospitable, sharing meals together. In 1 Corinthians 11 we see that the custom was to gather from house to house, partake of a meal, and at its close commemorate the Lord's Supper—remembering the death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and one day the return of the Lord.

Finally, they were continuing in prayers. Groups of believers would gather daily for prayer in Jerusalem. We make prayer a central focus at Cross Connection, and we invite you to make it a daily discipline. You can send us your requests through our website, and you can sign up to receive requests daily so you can pray for one another.

The result of all this? "They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." It is our desire, even now, to have favor with our community by our witness, and to see many added to the Lord's church through salvation—initiated by baptism, which we hope to do next month, and celebrating communion, which we'll do this morning.

Remembering at the Lord's Table

Paul in Romans tells us we were slaves to sin, in bondage, and then Jesus died on the cross—His body broken, His blood shed—so that we could be free. "Whom the Son sets free is free indeed." To help us keep this truth at the forefront, on the night before He was crucified Jesus took the bread and the cup and instituted the Lord's Supper, so that we could remember what He did.

When we did this about eight weeks ago, I realized, somewhat to my own embarrassment as a pastor, that my own four kids didn't really know what communion was all about. That's unfortunate. So what we are doing right now at home—especially for you families with your kids gathered around—is really important. One of the most important things we can pass on to our children is the importance of what Jesus did on the cross, and here we have a very visible, tangible reminder for all our senses. I think that's why He gave it to us, saying, "As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes again."

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you."

Would you partake of the bread with me now as we remember His body broken for us. Jesus, we thank You that You went to the cross on our behalf, that Your body was broken for us, so that by Your stripes we could be healed from sin, that we could be forgiven. We remember Your body broken for us today.

In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."

Let's partake together. Lord, the bitter cup You drank for us is sweet to us—sweet because through Your shed blood we are forgiven. Hebrews says without the shedding of blood there is no remission, no forgiveness of sins. But Jesus, by Your blood shed for us, we are forgiven, and we rejoice in the salvation we have in You.

Closing Prayer

Lord, we pray You would keep this in our hearts and minds as we go forward. We know that as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim Your death until You come. And we say this morning, the Spirit and the bride say, "Come, Lord Jesus." Come and pour out Your Spirit upon Your church, and come and rescue Your church. We look forward to the day when You rule and reign with righteousness, but until then we rejoice in Your body broken for us and Your blood shed for us. And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.