Our value of biblical community comes from the Greek word koinonia, which is translated “fellowship” in Acts 2:42.

Koinonia means “having a share with someone in something.” And there is no doubt that when we use this word in the context of Christian community we are talking about a “common participation in Christ.”

Author and pastor Bruce Milne writes, “John Donne once said, No man is an island. Whatever truth this statement holds for men and women in general – there can be no doubting its truth for the Christian in particular. To be a Christian, if it means anything at all, means being gathered out of isolation into the corporate life of the body of Christ (the local church). Christian islands simply do not exist! In Christ we belong together.” *From his book We Belong Together

Aristides was a pagan man that lived during the time of the early church. He watched this group of people intently and this is what he wrote:

“They abstain from all impurity in the hope of the reward that is to come in another world.  As for their servants or handmaids or children they persuade them to become Christians by the love they have for them and when they have become so they call them, without distinction, brothers.  They do not worship strange gods and they walk in all humility and kindness and falsehood is not found among them and they love one another.  When they see the stranger they bring him to their homes and rejoice over him as over a true brother.  And if there is among them a man that is poor and needy and if they have not an abundance of necessities they will fast two or three days that they may supply the needy with the necessary food.  They observe scrupulously the commandment of their Messiah.  They live honestly and soberly as the Lord their God commanded them.  Every morning and all hours on account of the goodness of God toward them they praise and laud Him and over their food and their drink they render Him thanks. And I have no doubt that the world stands by reason of the intercession of Christians. Such is the law of the Christians and such is their conduct.”

I had the privilege of preaching this past Sunday. We are in a series right now where we are working through our Mission & Values. This has been a rich time of study as we have laid out the mission of Covenant Life and show the values that must flow from it.

“We exist to display God’s glory by becoming a gospel-centered community that works for the gospel-renewal of the city and all nations.” And so this week we looked at biblical community or gospel-centered community from Acts 2:42-47. Over the next few days I will post a series of excerpts, quotes, and other encouraging stuff that I came across during my time of study. Coming to understand the implications of the “fellowship” in vs 42 is a wonderful process.

I want to warn you as we begin: Learning about, and learning how to apply living in biblical community has been one of the most shaping, joyful, difficult, and rewarding roads I have travelled and still travel each day. Biblical community as we’ve defined it in our values:

The gospel creates a new community. The gospel transforms our relationships with one another. It creates a new community where we as the church grow together in the knowledge and wisdom of God (Eph 4:11-13). The restoring power of the gospel makes us family regardless of all cultural, social, ethnic, and political preferences (Eph 1:4-10; Eph 2:13-22). As family we seek to guard one another against the deceitfulness of sin (Heb 3:13), always considering how to stir up one another to love and good deeds (Heb 10:24-25). The presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer. Therefore, we daily pursue authentic life together (Acts 2:42-47).

Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Boice, in his commentary says, “I do not sense that Christians today are always fully aware of how thoroughly that plan was carried out by the first generation of the church.” In his Apology, Tertullian wrote, “We are but of yesterday, and we have filled every place among you - cities, islands, fortresses, towns, market places, the very camp, tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum - we have left nothing to you but the temples of your gods.”

Adolf Harnack wrote of this mighty movement, “We cannot hesitate to believe that the great mission of Christianity was in reality accomplished by means of informal missionaries.” That was the secret. Every Christian - not just a formal order of missionaries - considered it his or her obligation to bear witness.

My soul is so deeply burdened this morning for such a move of God in our churches. Before “missional” was a popular word, the early Christians got it, Adolf Harnack got it. These unlearned men and women of the first Christian church heard the words of Christ and obeyed. So simple, but so hard! I pray for Covenant Life this morning - though we are small, may the gospel be on our lips and may the Holy Spirit use us mightily in Tampa and across the world.

I started working through the book of Acts this morning and I think I am going to chronicle what I am learning here. Likely nothing original, but surely there is much profound truth for me to learn in working through this book considering the season of church planting that we are in. I’ve been encouraged by James Montgomery Boice’s remarks on Acts 1:3 this morning:

When Luke writes of Jesus’ resurrection, he says that Jesus “showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.” That is a very important sentence, for it indicates that Jesus did not merely give his disciples certain ideas that they were then to carry into the world.  He appeared to them as one who had risen from he dead. They knew he had died. Some of them stood at the cross. They had heard the blow of the hammers…But then Jesus rose and began appearing to them. His appearances were sufficient to draw them together again.

The resurrection has been demonstrated by many convincing proofs, and it is proof of everything else that needs proving. Here is the way the argument goes:

1. The resurrection is a fact. The disciples knew Jesus had been raised from the dead.

2. If the resurrection is a fact, it proves the deity of Jesus. Christ claimed to be divine before his crucifixion. If that was true, it was a great truth. If it was false, it was blasphemy. Moreover, JEsus said that God, his Father was going to raise him from the dead after his crucifixion. That was a nearly impossible claim. Yet Jesus’ resurrection from the dead after 3 days proved his deity, for it is impossible that God would have raised him from the dead if his claim to deity had been false.

3. A divine Christ must speak truth, because God is truthful and must speak truthfully.

4. If what Jesus says is true, then we can trust everything he teaches. We can trust the Bible, because Jesus taught that it was the Word of God. We can believe that God has forgiven our many sins, because Jesus taught that God would do that for all who believe in him.

I’m thankful for the risen Christ this morning for the implications are great!

This came across on my twitter. How do we wage war against “beauty” on behalf of our wives, children, churches, and one another?

“His whole life was literally a life of prayer and his whole ministry in a series of battles fought at the mercy seat…In digging in the field of the Word, he threw up no and then great nuggets which formed part of one’s spiritual wealth ever after.”

And upon having to return to Shanghai, Taylor wrote of leaving his dear friend in the inland. For the glory of our Father, may this be written of me:

“Those happy months were an unspeakable joy and comfort to me.  Never had I such a spiritual father as Mr. Burns; never had I known such holy, happy intercourse. His love for the Word was delightful, and his holy reverential life and constant communings with God made fellowship with him to satisfy the deep cravings of my heart.”

**From Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret

This portion from a book I recently read has been sitting on my desk for a couple months.  Each morning it stares me in the face.  Just like anything that sits in the same place, it often gets overlooked.  This morning it didn’t. I can feel the consumerism in me rising as I know there are Labor Day sales to be had today.  Today, this familiar paragraph brought me back to reality:

“Think of a hostile government in a country where Christianity is outlawed, and an agent of that government drags you into court and accuses you of loving Jesus and following him. Could your checkbook and your credit cards be summoned as evidence against you? If those auditors examined your finances would they find proof of your love of God? If our vacation and restaurant bills exceed our giving, what might that signify? What does that signify?”

September 2, 2009

This quote was passed along to me this week. It is pretty compelling. I hope this encourages you today.

Love your neighbor as yourself” is not a command to love yourself. It is a command to take your natural, already existing love of self and make it the measuring rod of your love for others. There is not a harder command in the Bible than this one. It means: Want to feed the hungry as much as you want to feed yourself when you get hungry. It means: Want to find your neighbor a job as much as you are glad you have a job. Want to help your fellow student get A’s as much as you want to get A’s. Want to help the person stalled on the freeway as much as you are glad you are not stalled on the freeway. Want to give the poor softball player a chance to play as much as you want to play the whole game. Want to share Christ with your neighbor as much as you are glad you know Christ yourself. Use all the creativity and energy and perseverance to do good things for others as you use in doing good things for yourself. Care about what happens to others as much as you care about what happens to yourself.

Can you imagine what the church would be like if we were all like that: looking at the person to the right and to the left and feeling the same longing for their happiness that we feel for our own. Not only would the law be fulfilled, this place would be iridescent with joy and the glory of God would be unmistakably present in our midst. And people would be converted! Let’s be like that in the power of the Holy Spirit.
-Piper

Journal Entry from August 23, 2009
God is at work in Tampa! The evidence of his grace and mercy is all around. Just a few hours ago I got to sit with the six other members of Covenant Life’s core team and worship corporately for the first time ever.  I’m not sure if I really had any expectations, but if I did, they were flipped on their head as the Holy Spirit moved in our midst through the singing and teaching of the Word.  The wise words of a fellow planter were, “If you can’t go hard after the Lord with seven, what makes you think you can go hard after Him with seventy?”  What wise advice!

In heading that wise counsel we treated tonight just like a normal service at an established local church.  There was a welcome, a time of prayer, a time of reading God’s word together, we sang together (to a CD while standing), Justin preached, we had a time of reflection and response - six of us in my living room.  What we thought was going to be moderately to extremely awkward turned out to be one of the sweetest times of corporate worship that I’ve ever experienced as a part of a local church.  There is no doubt, it was not the way we structured anything, it was simply that the Spirit showed up among us.

To look around the room at the faces that the Lord has brought us was humbling.  My mind couldn’t help but think about a time in the future when the friends we’ve made here - our neighbors, our awesome bankers, and the guys we play basketball with - might be sitting among us worshipping their Savior! Ah, this thought brings me to my knees!  Maybe tonight I caught just a glimpse of what it would be like to truly have God’s heart for those living in slavery to sin. My heart is crushed for my friends here who do not get God. One thing I know for sure, I don’t deserve my salvation and I don’t deserve to be a part of something this beautiful.  I’m not only called out of isolation, but into the corporate life of the family of God!  I look around the room tonight and see dear brothers and sisters - people that I get to share life with now.

Before tonight I was often tempted to look to the future when we would have fifty or even one hundred people gathering corporately.  After tonight, I’m pretty sure that I won’t be thinking about that anymore.  The sweetness of this season cannot be described and I didn’t know it until tonight.  It is a joy to be where I am.  Paul said it best, “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:3-6).

Your prayers are felt here in Tampa, and they are quite clearly being answered for the glory of Him who has saved us!  Keep praying, stay in touch!  All of grace - dt

We leave for Tampa soon.  I’m sitting at my desk, which is about the only thing in our Wakefield Glenn apartment that isn’t packed, shipped, or dismembered.  As I sit down to take some time to reflect upon the great kindness of God to our family, I am stunned by the grace that has come to me in my first 4 years of my marriage through Jessi, the life of North Wake Church, and through Jeff Doyle.  How radically different my walk with Jesus would be, how totally backwards my marriage might be if it was not for and Jeff, Justin, Glenn and my small group guys’ constant care for my soul.  How can it be that Jesus has been so kind to us here in Raleigh?  Surely I don’t deserve any measure of these beautiful mercies of Christ, but he has chosen to poor it out on Jess and I in spite of us - in spite of me!

I have a feeling that the goodness of Christ to us is not for us, but for those who will taste and see His glory in Tampa, FL.  I could not be so prideful to think that there is anything within me that would merit such a blessed 4 years.  The only thing good in me…is Jesus - and He is the only thing we have to offer the residents of Tampa.  In the chair I now sit in, one that will soon be tossed in the back of a truck - I can see that while these years have been blessed and filled with joy and great growth, they were not ultimately for us, but for those in Tampa that might taste and see Christ in us.  Oh how I see so narrowly most of the time!  These days are bittersweet; they are filled with goodbyes - goodbyes to friends and families that have been nothing short of our own families.

To watch the fruit of sanctification bursting forth in the Ansleys over the last 3 ½ years has been one of the greatest sources of joy in my life here!  From miscarriage, the depths of isolation and despair to two beautiful girls that I love so much I could call my own, a family of friends in a small group, and now leadership!  For the first time, I have experienced the immeasurable joy of watching a family grow in Christ!  For the first time, I have experienced a very real aching in my chest - a pain that comes like a flood when I consider life without this family that has come to mean more to us than Jessi or myself could ever begin to express.  In Glenn I have gained a friend for life, no doubt my closest friend in these 4 years.  And I can’t get started on their girls, but watching them grow and loving them like my own has been one of the greatest privileges of my time here and I know Jessi feels the same.

At the same time I cannot forget the incomparable joy that washed over me when FT called me that day when I was in West Palm.  FT had been called out of darkness and into marvelous light by our great God.  And that He would do so in such a way to show me that no amount of my laboring to share the gospel could have opened FT’s eyes - only the Holy Spirit can save and enlighten the eyes to the truth of the gospel!  And only He can provide growth.  Oh what joy washed over me as I sit on steps at the Kendall’s house!  This was the first time I’d been able to watch a community adopt a guy who was lost, love him like crazy, be faithful to share the gospel with him, and pray for him.  I wouldn’t be surprised if every guy in our small group walked him through the gospel at least once.  And the Lord saw fit to use us!  If someone were to walk in right now they would be curious what this huge grin on my face is all about - it’s about FT.

To sit under Jeff as Timothy did under Paul is an evidence of the grace and mercy of the Lord.  To have gained a lifelong friend and partner in the gospel is more than I could ever have asked for.  It scares me a bit to think about not having Jeff in the corner office just 5 minutes down the road.  Through him God has granted me wisdom and insight beyond my years for marriage, fighting for purity and humility, and equipping the saints.  In Jeff I am reminded that when it comes down to it, I didn’t need discipleship structures - I needed a friend, a Paul.  And now, here I sit as Timothy once did, baton in hand (or in this case a wooden cross we got at the sendoff service), so fresh Jeff’s prints are still all over it.  How will I run the race?  By God’s grace, the same way Jeff has.  By God’s grace maybe I will have the opportunity to run for a brother in the same way that, at times, Jeff has run for me.  As deep-seated as this joy and gratitude for Jeff is in my heart right now, I have a feeling that a couple months into church planting this joy and gratitude will have easily doubled.

Apart from Christ, my marriage is the deepest reservoir of joy in my life because in it we have the privilege of putting the gospel on display for all to see.  It scares me to think of where Jessi and I would be in marriage had we not landed at North Wake.  Though I don’t do it well, I have been mentored strictly in what it looks like to love and serve my bride as Christ has the Church.  In this is a foundation for what we have in our home - great joy and a deep love for one another because Christ has loved us first.  I have come to love a woman more than I ever thought I could.  Our first home is here - this apartment.  It is a place where I find rest and comfort and joy overflowing!  If I am thankful for one thing above all else - it is that we had the privilege to spend our first years of marriage in Raleigh as a part of North Wake Church.  Because with this foundation I feel as if we can go anywhere and weather any season or circumstance because of the firm foundation we stand on.  I love my bride, I love our home here and I will miss this place deeply.

While there is deep sadness in leaving this season of preparation, I know that what Christ desires to do in Tampa is much more important than my comfort and much more majestic than I can picture.  I know that the Lord has great and wonderful blessings, trials, seasons of rejoicing, and seasons of sadness ahead - all to be faced with gospel mindedness so that Jesus receives the glory in it all.  Everything about our life here in Raleigh can only be explained one way.  Because of Christ this has been our story, because of Christ we now go forward.  Now as we go ahead, in trials and great triumph, let us sing praise always to our God who never changes!