All With One Accord | Sunday, May 31, 2020

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, in which the day of Pentecost 2020 has fully come, we are not with one accord in one place.

The obvious way in which we are not with one accord is that you're watching online, and we are not gathered together as a church body. However, to me, the more disheartening way—and maybe the less obvious way—in which this is not accurate is that the church, the larger body of Christ, is divided on this Pentecost Sunday. We are 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 this morning 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 together. I would absolutely choose to gather for a regular service if given the option over preaching to this camera. I have developed a new respect for the people who stand or sit in front of a camera like this day after day for their job. It is way more challenging than I would have assumed.

So, being that I would rather preach to a gathered congregation in our church facility, you may ask yourself why we aren't gathering like others today. I know some of you are asking that because I've received your emails, so I want to speak to this for a moment.

This morning, on Pentecost 2020, 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. Why? Because the Scriptures exhort us to let our conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see...

You may have heard the words of the Apostle Paul at the end of Philippians chapter 1, where he writes, "I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel." A few verses later, in chapter 2, he continues, "Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." When Paul writes, "Fulfill my joy by being like-minded," it is as if he is saying, "You want to know how to make me really happy? Work together to be of one mind and one purpose."

He follows that up by saying, "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 am not going to try to read the minds or infer the motives of other leaders, but I think it is 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 dealt with the question of when church meetings should start again on his YouTube channel. One of his points in answering this question 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. He went on to say, "Let me tell you, that is never of the Lord."

Now, I have some very good friends who have decided to hold socially distant services at their churches, and I believe they are completely sincere in doing so. They feel that it is an issue of obedience to Scripture or that they believe it is time. I rejoice with them, and I pray for them. I look forward to hearing the report of how things go this morning.

But let's be very honest: there are some leaders in all of this who at least appear to be grandstanding, and their grandstanding is significantly contributing to the division that I spoke of earlier. Their grandstanding is not helpful, and it is not good. That aside, you may still ask the question, "Pastor Myles, why is Cross Connection not gathering yet?" So let me address that.

I want to give you three reasons that we're not gathering together yet. First, there has been a lot of rhetoric about the church and Christians being singled out and discriminated against. However, I haven't yet seen good evidence that this is what's going on here. I do not see professional sporting events happening or movie theaters being opened. There do not appear to be concerts or other large gatherings going on, so the church does not appear to be singled out here. 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. Don't misunderstand me; I love gathering together every single week, and I miss gathering with you every Sunday. But theologically speaking, this building is not sacred. A well-known Southern California pastor recently called upon churches and pastors to reopen. He made the comment that this is God's house. I'm sure that if I spoke with him, he would agree that this is neither theologically nor historically accurate. It is a wonderful privilege to have a place like this building that I'm recording in, but this isn't the church. This isn't God's house; you are the church. You are God's house.

As much as I'm grateful to God that He has provided for us to have a place and space to gather in, I don't have a theological conviction that says this space is sacred.

A third reason that we're not gathering today, and probably not next week either, is that when we gather together at Cross Connection Church, we gather for a number of very important reasons. Those reasons are articulated in our mission and vision, which we talk about frequently. Our mission and vision at Cross Connection Church is life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus. When we gather together, we do so to connect with God and worship, with one another in fellowship, and with the world through outreach. We want our gatherings to facilitate connection with God in worship, connection with one another in fellowship, and connection with the world through outreach. However, the current Cal/OSHA and California Department of...

Public health guidance for places of worship and religious services, which was released this last week, is not conducive to worship, fellowship, and outreach. What do I mean? Well, the guidelines recommend no handshakes, no hugs, no corporate singing, and no hospitality—so no doughnuts and coffee, and no children's outreach. That's not really church as we think of church; it's not church, it's a circus. Gathering together in the way described in the guidance doesn't support the furtherance of our vision or mission as a church, so it doesn't make sense to meet in this way.

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

Some of you at this point aren't happy with what I've said, and I hope you'll stick around a little bit longer. I've learned a valuable lesson a long time ago as a leader. When I first became a leader, I didn't make this up—there's actually debate about who did—but I've certainly found it to be true. It says this: you can please some of the people all of the time, and you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.

Here's another valuable lesson: if you're a follower of God, 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. Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, and 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. Let each of you look out not for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

This is what it means and looks like to have the mind of Christ and truly to be a Christian—that is, to be Christ-like. 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.

Lights in the world. So, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Suddenly, there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the day of Pentecost. The word means "50th day." It's the fiftieth day after Passover in the Jewish calendar. Seven weeks have passed since Resurrection Sunday. This is ten days after Christ's ascension into heaven, and for all intents and purposes, today is the birthday of the Church. Happy birthday, Church! You are about 1,990 years old and looking a little gray.

This is the day, nearly 2,000 years ago, that God's Spirit was poured out upon a gathering. The word "church" means gathering—a gathering of a hundred and twenty followers of Jesus as they were in one accord in one place, in an upper room in Jerusalem. Being that this is an important day in church history, a pretty large group of pastors in our nation have been saying that this is the perfect day for the Church to get back to gathering in one place. Many of those pastors have been saying that it is essential for us to get back to gathering together in one place so that God can do it again, so that He can pour out His Spirit once again.

I have a couple of issues with this point. First, God hasn't stopped pouring out His Spirit. But more importantly for us today, the Church is not of one accord and of one mind. I think that the Apostle Paul's exhortation to the Church at Ephesus is worthy of our 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 long-suffering—that's patience—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, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all."

Honestly, I could go on with passages like these. They are truly essential teachings of the Church. Like this, Jesus gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists.

Some pastors and teachers are for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all come to the unity of the faith, to the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We've got a lot of growing up to do.

When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, and the Spirit was poured out. The gospel was preached, and the people responded in repentance, faith, and obedience in baptism. The church was born. What did the church, the gathering of believers, do? They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

Now all who believed were together and had all things in common. They 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. The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

This is what the gathering of believers and followers of Jesus looked like 1,990 years ago. They were devoted to the teaching of the apostles, to fellowship with one another, to the breaking of bread, and to prayers. Christians have remained committed to these basics for nearly two thousand years, and we will continue to do them until the Lord returns. These are the things that we will remain committed to, even while we're unable to gather together in our facility.

The church didn't have its own space to meet in at the beginning, and really for a very long time, the church did not have its own space to meet in for many hundreds of years. In fact, in spite of that, the church grew and flourished because they were focused on the apostles' teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayers.

Now, just what are these things, and why are they so important? Acts chapter 2 tells us that the early church went from a gathering of 120 to more than three thousand in one day. The overwhelming majority of those people who were new followers of Jesus had never met Jesus or personally heard His teaching, and now they were...

Submitting to Him as Lord, the only way for them to know Jesus and His teachings was to hear from the ones who had heard from and knew Him—His apostles. So, they remained devoted to hearing their teaching. When and where did that happen? Wherever and whenever they could. Verse 46 tells us that it happened daily when they would gather as one in the temple at Jerusalem and then from house to house.

We are still continuing in the teaching of the apostles through the study of their writings. For a long time, we've done that at our church facility or in small groups at home. Right now, we're doing it through YouTube, podcasts, emails, Zoom meetings, and other methods for Bible study. Wherever, whenever, however, and by whatever means we can, we're doing that, and we'll continue to do that until the Lord returns.

Second, the early Christians were devoted to fellowship. That is, they shared with one another and cared for one another. Acts 2 describes it like this: "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." The church has been caring for one another by sharing with one another for 2,000 years. We're doing it today, and we're going to keep doing it until the Lord returns.

Third, the early Christians continued diligently in the breaking of bread. This means two specific things. It definitely speaks of the church partaking of what we call communion or the Lord's Supper together, but it also speaks of early Christians being hospitable among one another and partaking of meals together. I say this because we see it presented in First Corinthians, where Paul talks about the Lord's Supper. We're going to look at that momentarily because we're going to partake of communion today together.

If you read through First Corinthians 11, you'll see that the custom among early Christians was to gather from house to house to partake of a meal together, and then at the close of the meal, they would often commemorate the Lord's Supper together. The early church was committed to living life together within the homes of one another and then remembering regularly the death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and one day the return of the Lord. They would do this in communion.

In just a few minutes, we will partake in the Lord's Supper together. The early Christians were committed to prayer, and in the context of this passage, it likely means that groups of believers gathered for daily prayers in Jerusalem. We continue to make prayer a central focus at Cross Connection, and we invite you to make it a daily discipline in your life.

One way you can do this is by sending us your prayer requests through our website. Another way is to sign up on our website to receive daily prayer requests so that you can pray for one another as well. This was the commitment of the early Christians: the teaching of the Scriptures, fellowship, hospitality, including the Lord's Supper, and daily prayers.

What was the result of their commitment? They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. It is our desire, even in the midst of present circumstances, to have favor with all the people in our community through our witness as a church. We hope that by this witness, we may see many people added to the Lord's church through salvation.

Those added to the church through salvation were initiated into the body of Christ by baptism, which we hope to do next month as a church, and through the celebration of communion, which we will do this morning.

Here’s what we will do: in just a moment, Pastor Anthony will lead us in another song. I ask you, while he leads us, to go and grab what you need to partake of communion. Hopefully, you have some bread and a cup of juice. I know some people used crackers and water last time we did this. Some of you were able to come down to the church last Sunday to get the bread and cup for communion. I'm sure you have something you can use.

After this next song, we will partake together to remember the body of Jesus that was broken for us and His blood that was shed for us. Before Pastor Anthony leads us, I have an additional thing I would like to put before you today. Twelve weeks ago, and it seems like twelve months ago, we had our last service together here at our facility. If you can remember back that far, you might recall that I shared with you at that time that we were...

We are beginning to pray, plan, and prepare to add a fourth service to our Sunday offering here at Cross Connection. At this point, those plans almost seem funny. Maybe you've heard the old saying, "Man plans and God laughs." That's kind of how it feels at this point.

Be that as it may, over the last twelve weeks, we have realized again just how important Church online is for our church and really for every church in 2020. We have begun to recognize just how much we need to focus on what we're doing with Church online, even after we come back to our church facility here at Seven Oaks Road.

For many years, I've shared with our team that if anything is to grow, it needs to eat. For me, that means it needs energy, assets, and time. Over the last twelve weeks, we've been putting a lot of energy and time into our online strategy, but we also recognize that we need to invest some additional assets into it as well.

God has blessed us with a great team of servants at Cross Connection, and our team has been able to piece together a pretty good broadcast with the tools that we have. However, we need to upgrade a lot of our broadcast equipment, including cameras and lenses. If you know anything about broadcast equipment, then you know that it can be pricey.

I am going to ask you to prayerfully consider helping us develop this ministry going forward by giving to a broadcast fund here at Cross Connection Church. We have a good idea about what we need to upgrade our equipment, but it will require an investment. As a church, that might seem like a lot of money, but I promise you it's not.

If you feel led to give to our broadcast fund, you can do so today by going to the website broadcast.lifeinconnection.com. Something all of us at Cross Connection learned a long time ago is that where God guides, He provides, and we trust that God will provide for this as He leads us to reach more people online. So, if you feel led, you can give at broadcast.lifeinconnection.com.

If you have expertise in broadcast technology, please reach out to us. You can send us an email at broadcast@lifeinconnection.com.

Now, I am going to pray, and then Anthony is going to lead us in a song. As he does, would you gather what you need for communion? We will come right back in a few minutes to partake together.

So let's pray together. Father God, I thank you so much for the work that you are doing in and through your church, not just at Cross Connection, but your church nationwide and worldwide. We are seeing you reach many new people through technology in a way that we hadn't seen prior to all this. All of a sudden, we've been forced to reach out in this mission field on the Internet.

I thank you so much for the technology that we have through YouTube and other platforms, such as podcasts and our own website, to be able to reach people. We pray, God, that this would only be the beginning. I look forward, as the pastor, to the opportunity when we can gather together to worship you as a body here again within our facility. Until then, I pray, God, that you would use the message that's going out, and even after that, as we continue to produce more content to try to reach more people.

Lord, I thank you that the words we are sharing every single week from your Scriptures are going to places like India and Indonesia. There are people all around the world listening, throughout Europe and even in Africa. What an awesome privilege it is to be able to reach people in this way.

In the same way that you promised the early church when you spoke to them in your last words in Acts chapter 1, you said, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses of me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts." God, we pray for a fresh outpouring of your Spirit upon your church. Even though we're not gathered together in one place today, I pray that you would pour out your Spirit upon us, your church at Cross Connection, and cause us to be a greater witness here in North County, in Southern California, in the United States, and to the uttermost parts.

God, use your church in a powerful way, because Lord, you gave everything so that people could know the truth of your love, your grace, and your forgiveness. We pray, God, that you would use us to extend that message to the world. Remind us again, as we prepare our hearts for communion this morning, of just what you did for us on the cross, your body being broken and your blood being shed. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

I would be hopeless without Your goodness. I would be desperate without Your love, a slave to the darkness if it wasn't for the cross. You have won me with Your kiss. I was lost; where would I be if it wasn't for You?

Hallelujah! Thank You, Jesus. I was a prisoner, but now I'm free because of Your blood. Oh, the cross! My Savior works with mercy; now Your mercy will be my song.

Thank You! I was angry, but now I am filled with joy.

Thank you, Jesus. I was a prisoner, but now I'm not. With your love, you bought my freedom. Hallelujah!

In the book of Romans, Paul the Apostle tells us that we were slaves to sin; we were in bondage. Then Jesus came and died on the cross. His body was broken for us, and his blood was shed for us so that we could be free. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.

To help us keep this truth at the forefront of our minds, Jesus, on the night before he was crucified, took the bread and the cup to partake of communion with his disciples. He instituted for them what we...

We call it a sacrament, the Lord's Supper, so that we could remember what He did for us on the cross. This last week, a number of you came through our parking lot, and we gave you these little things for communion. Either you have these or you have something else to partake with us this morning.

As I said at the very beginning of our service, when we did this about eight weeks ago, I realized, somewhat to my own embarrassment as a pastor, that my own four kids, even though they are a part of this church and have grown up so far in our children's ministry, didn't really know what communion was all about. I think that's really unfortunate.

In one sense, what we are doing right now at home, especially for you families that have your kids gathered with you, is really important. One of the most important things for us to pass on to our children is the significance of what Jesus did on the cross. We have such a very visible, tangible thing to remind us, using all of our senses, of what Jesus did for us. I think that's why He gave this to us 2,000 years ago and said, "As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes again."

The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, talks about the Lord's Supper. He says, "Before 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 that was broken for us?

Let's partake together. Jesus, we do 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 and forgiven. We remember Your body broken for us today.

In the same manner, He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This is the cup of 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 that You drank for...

Us is sweet to us, sweet because through Your shed blood we are forgiven. The book of Hebrews says, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission, no removal, no forgiveness of sins." But Jesus, by Your blood shed for us, we are forgiven, and we rejoice in the salvation that we have in You because of Your grace.

Lord, we pray that You would keep that in our hearts and in our minds as we continue to go forward from this point. Jesus, we know that as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we do proclaim Your death until You come. We say this morning, "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come, Lord Jesus, come!'" 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, Lord, we rejoice in Your body broken for us and in Your blood shed for us. 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.

Help! I have fallen and I can't get up. Don't worry, help is on the way.