Life in Connection 2.0 | Sunday, September 27, 2020

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship and sharing in meals, including the Lord's Supper, and to prayer. (Acts 2:42, NLT)

When you can't go to church, it becomes all the more essential to be the church.

Gratitude and the Joy of Gathering

This last Sunday we had a pretty good-sized gathering at the beach for a baptism—the first we'd done this year. Even though we highly value baptism, we think it very important that we obey the Lord's command to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. It is one of the ways we identify ourselves with Jesus as His followers and associate ourselves with His death, burial, and resurrection. At the end of our service we'll share in communion, which is another way we obey, identify, and associate ourselves with Christ.

Before we do, I want to say thank you—to those of you who call Cross Connection Church your home church, and who during this chaotic year have continued faithful to the Lord and to His church. Thank you for your prayers, your emails, your cards, and your faithfulness in giving. When this all began, I was more than a little concerned that it would drastically affect our ability to do ministry and provide for our staff. That concern was entirely unfounded—because of you. You are faithful to the Lord and His church with the first fruits of your finances.

This Is Not Ideal

Before the shutdown we were experiencing a season of growth, preparing to add a fourth Sunday service. The irony is that the week after I shared those plans, the shutdown began. Here we are almost seven months later.

I've said it many times, but it bears repeating: this is not ideal. This isn't what I would have planned for our church in 2020. But I am continually trying to accept that this is apparently what God designed for us this year. I don't have the same joy preaching to a camera as I do standing here with you in this room. If you've thought, "Miles must like what we're doing, or he would open the church back up"—no. We will begin meeting again in our sanctuary, and I look forward to that day. My speculation is that a lot will change in November.

Why are we not meeting like some other churches? Because myself and our leadership—our pastors and elders—at this point sense that this is what the Lord would have us do. As soon as that changes, we'll follow Him wherever He takes us.

There Is Joy in the Gathering of the Saints

The baptism last week was a true blessing. I'm not the tearful type, but as I stood in the surf with Pastor Mark and looked back at the group gathered in support of those being baptized, I had tears come to my eyes. Why? There is joy in the gathering of the saints.

In grade school, a man came to an assembly and asked why we go to school. The kids said, "to learn." He said, "No, you really come to school to see your friends." That's not entirely true, but it stuck with me. While we gather at church to worship and study the Scriptures, another big reason we gather is for fellowship—and there is joy in it. That joy is one of the big things we've been missing these last several months. We can still worship, pray, partake of communion, and study the Scriptures, but fellowship and the joy it brings have been missing in a big way.

Continuing From House to House

One way we've sought to address that is through small groups. Reminders are a good thing, even when we already know something. As Acts 2:42 says, the early church devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, hospitality, and prayer. The church has continued in these things for twenty centuries—sometimes freely with religious liberty, sometimes quietly under threat of persecution. The church continues to be the church.

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. (Acts 2:46–47)

For the better part of the last four or five months, my family has been gathering with our connect group a couple of Sundays each month to watch the service and share a meal. It has been a beautiful period of time. My wife, my kids, and the other families have all loved it.

If you're not gathering with others in the body of Christ in your own home, you're not doing what the church has done throughout its history. Understand this: normal Christianity is the community of the saints continuing daily, with one accord, from house to house. This is not new to the coronavirus shutdown. We've been promoting connect groups for eight years at Cross Connection. Almost ten years ago we canceled our midweek Bible service to focus on small groups. This is not new—but now it's more important than ever.

Our Very Identity as a Church

We will meet again in person for larger corporate gatherings, just as before. But continuing with one another from house to house will always be essential. This is what we mean when we say we exist to experience and extend life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus. Life in connection with one another is core and essential to who we are.

The word translated "church" in the New Testament means gathering and assembly. Coronavirus shutdowns, mask mandates, and Gavin Newsom will not prevail against the gathering of God's people. So connect with one another and continue breaking bread from house to house—remember, this is the way the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

A Call to Open Your Home

If Cross Connection is your church—and especially if, before COVID, you served on Sunday in hospitality, security, ushering, greeting, children's ministry, tech, or worship—consider serving now by opening your home to a small group for fellowship. It doesn't have to be a big group; two or three couples is fine. You don't have to meet every day; once or twice a month works. You can meet in a park, outside, or with masks if you feel you need to.

Do you really need my permission, or the government's, to interact with other people? Call it a protest if you'd like—we're called Protestants. We've been protesting for 500 years; why stop now? If you're willing to help fulfill our mission of life in connection, go to at home.lifeinconnection.com and get plugged in, either to host or to find a group.

Now is the time to be the church when you can't go to church. If church involves connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus, and you're feeling disconnected, then you have to intentionally take steps to be connected. This will still be essential even when we get back to church, because we live in an increasingly fractured and isolating society, and God created us to live in connection with Him and one another. If the culture is generating more division and separation—and I would suggest it is—then we, the people of God, need to work against that. This is like a 2020 reboot: a hard reset, booting into Life in Connection 2.0.

Walking Worthy of Our Calling

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, 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. (Ephesians 4:1–6)

Now is the time to be what God has called us to be, walking worthy in humility, patience, and love—and the Lord will continue to add to the gathering of His people those He is saving.

The Gospel Is What We Need

The Lord saved us so we could be reconciled to God and to one another, joined back to Himself and gathered in as His family, the body of Christ, the church. The church is not just a building or a Sunday morning gathering; it is the people of God, whether corporately gathered or scattered throughout the community. This is a time to learn to be the church in a new way so we can reach our community and our world with the gospel.

It becomes clearer to me every day in 2020 that what is desperately needed in our nation and in the world is the gospel of Jesus Christ—the good news of salvation from sin and death in Him. It is only in Jesus where we experience the reconciliation we desperately need. As people search for something to fix our society's problems, especially in an election year, the followers of God must recognize that the greatest hope for our culture is the good news of Jesus. May God unite us as His church to reach our community in North County and beyond, that we would have favor with all people and that the Lord would add to the church daily those who are being saved.

Communion

As I said earlier, we want to partake of communion together. Last week we had a baptism, fulfilling Jesus' command to make disciples and baptize them. Baptism is one of two sacraments we observe; the other is the Lord's Supper. We do this because Jesus did it with His disciples on the night He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, saying, "Do this in remembrance of Me."

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; do this in remembrance of Me." (1 Corinthians 11:23–24)

Let's partake together and remember His body broken for us.

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." (1 Corinthians 11:25)

Let's partake together.

Closing Prayer

Lord, we remember today Your body that was broken for us and Your blood that was shed for us. Just as the prophet Isaiah foresaw, You were the suffering servant who would be beaten for us, bruised for our iniquity; the chastisement for our peace was upon You, and by Your stripes we are healed and cleansed. We know from Hebrews that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins, but You, Jesus, are our propitiation, the atoning sacrifice. You who knew no sin became sin for us, that we would receive Your righteousness.

We remember that today with great joy—that we are forgiven because of what You did and said on the cross: "It is finished. It is paid in full." We are so grateful that You gave everything for us, and that in You we are more than conquerors over sin and over death. Help us to walk in that victory, rejoicing in You. And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.