In Search of Company I, Why Join A Company

The Book of Acts this morning, chapter 4 today, Acts chapter 4, and I'm going to be reading this morning from the King James Version. If you're a visitor, that's because it's never happened in eight years, but there's something very special about the way the Scripture reads in Acts chapter 4. Well, lots of different places, someone said, but here particularly. Peter and John had been released from prison. They are returning now to the church that had been praying for their release, and let's pick it up in verse 23, 423. And being let go, they went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art God, which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the mouth of thy servant David has said, why do the heathens rage and the people imagine vain things? For the kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, against his Christ. Of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. Verse 29, And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul, neither said any of them that the things which they possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. As I read these few precious verses taken from the story of the exploding church in the book of Acts, I heard a strange kinship with the words of a Vietnam veteran by the name of William Broyles, who wrote in his book Brothers in Arms these words. A part of me loved war. Now please understand, he says, I'm a peaceful man, fond of children and animals. I believe war should have no place in the affairs of men. But the comradeship my unit experienced in that war provided an enduring and moving memory in me. A comrade in war is someone you can trust with anything because you regularly trust them with your life. In war, individual possessions and advantage counts for nothing. The group, the unit, the platoon, the company is everything. In war, we regularly risked our lives to recover our wounded and dead. We often felt close enough to call one another brothers. He goes on and describes his depth of feeling between he and the other men of his unit. He restates at the end of this section, a part of me loved war. You see, in a strange sort of way, the church that we read of here in the book of Acts, these early disciples, were in a war. They experienced something that many of us are still searching for, and that something was true community, true, profound community. Their war was not against other people, really, it was against principalities and powers that had arrayed themselves against the church of Jesus Christ. But what we read here today is a band of people, a company, if you will, of men and women galvanized together around the common bond of allegiance to Jesus Christ, as well as to survive in a violently negative culture. I begin today a series that will take us through the month of April called In Search of Company. In Search of Company, and I've already alerted you that I think that if you will come to terms with what I'm going to say over the next month, our lives as a church and your life as an individual will be changed. I guarantee you'll be challenged. It's up to you whether or not we'll be changed. In Search of Company, let me define company as the Bible uses it, and in fact, this is how company is defined in the dictionary. This is the first reading, first line to the dictionary definition, a group of people, an assemblage, people assembled for a special purpose, companionship, or fellowship. We think of a company most often as a business enterprise, really the first definition of company is a group of people assembled for a special purpose. When you have someone over to your house today after church, what do you call them? Don't say nuisances, say company, all right? Company. And the church was a company. In fact, it was made up of many little companies. Interestingly, we are all part of little companies, aren't we? Every one of us. Some of us company together at basketball at noontime at the YMCA. Some of us company together at bridge club. Some of us have a little company of women's aerobics. We company together with a group that goes golfing, if you can imagine, once a week. All of us have little companies. The elders who constitute a company here in our church went on a fishing trip about a year ago, and I discovered that there's a company within a company of the elders. It's the elders who fish and the elders who don't fish. Now, the elders that fish became a real strong company. They pulled out their fishing hats with all the stuff on them, the lures and the tackle boxes that took two arms to bring in, and the fishing rods with the pearl handle with the little notches on it, you know? And those of us who are not of that particular company quickly realized that we were about to be given a real lesson in what it means to be fishers, not necessarily of men. The main thing that that elder company did was to tell stories, and I want to tell you, when an elder is allowed to lie, then you ought to hear him lie. You ought to hear the stories that they came up with. But they were part of a company. All of us have groups, little groups that we gather with, and generally it starts around a common interest, a common value that we hold. Many times, we'll find ourselves pursuing something, and we'll meet somebody that likes the same things. Some people here like stamp collecting. And so, you go to a stamp show, you meet someone at the stamp show who also likes stamps, you get to know each other. The next time you get together, you're friends, and you further your interest in stamps. It's the way it goes. We have a little over here to show the progression. It starts with a common value, a common interest, and then it grows on to a shared relationship. And from that shared relationship, then you fuel, you encourage the common value even more. I go down to play tennis. I'm hitting the ball against the wall. Someone comes down. We pick up a game. Next thing you know, another couple comes down. We get on a foursome going. We become friends. The next time we meet, we talk about tennis. We say this. We do that. You see, it's that way. It's so many arenas. You can think of your own illustration. The point I want to make is, church, that in God's Word, the same principle works. The church met around the common interest, the common value of what? Jesus Christ. The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. But then they built relationship around Him so that then when they met, they were friends fueling on one another in their love and devotion and affection for Him. That company life became the very core of the New Testament church, and it's continued on through the centuries. In some parts of the world today, believers are risking their future, their safety, their security just to company together. About two years ago, some of our people went to China for a mission trip, visited all the circuit of home churches, and what they told us was that at nighttime, in total darkness, groups would meet all around different parts of the city just to assemble together, risking literally imprisonment if they were caught. Why do believers do that? Because when they get together, they fuel that common love. They contribute to their passion for their Savior. From the days of Jesus, it's been that way. Jesus had His little company. What were they called? Disciples. The New Testament church had its companies. The book of Acts talks all about it. Paul had his company of disciples who went out in Acts 13 and evangelized most of the world. Now, you know, it's no secret to us that our culture is getting more and more isolated. How many of you have ever lived out west? Part of the standard features of a new home out west is what? A wall. You get a wall with your house, whether you want one or not. They'll put a wall up. The higher, the better. The thicker, the better. I literally, just a few months ago, visited a friend in Phoenix, and he lives in one of these new housing plans. The house doesn't even have to be big. The wall's always big, and the house is small. Every house out there has big walls and automatic garage door openers. So you can get in your car, in the house, drive out. The door goes down. You know, you have a smoked glass around your car windows. Drive away. No one knows who you are. You come right back in. You're going to work. Up goes your garage door. You go in. No one ever sees you. Friend's been living there for several months. Hardly met anybody. And that's the way the culture's moving. More and more depersonalization. And church, I'll tell you, even though that's happening because we are fed the idea that we want to be isolated, most people are yearning for relationship. They're looking for something. A few years ago, someone here this morning in worship with us was very intrigued by the fact that every week, Pastor Scott and Missy had a group of cars assembling in their driveway. Steady time. Steady group. Used to get there at 7, 7.30. Stay until 9.30, 10.30. And this neighbor, right across the street, couldn't figure it out. It really bugged him. He wanted to know what's going on in that house. He'd go over at night and look in the window. No, he didn't. He couldn't understand it. Finally, through a series of events, this brother came to Christ. And now he's an active member in the church. And he told Scott after that experience, he said, I just wanted to know what was going on. And I wanted to be part of it. I wanted to know why I wasn't part of it. He said, I believe that's really true today. Now, strangely, a great number of you here today, despite all that I've said this morning, find yourself today not part of any company. You do not have a group of people that you identify with. For some reason, perhaps you were part of a company in the past and you've been badly burned. The company members betrayed you. The company leader deceived you. Some of you here today, you're hurt so bad, you don't care if you ever get in with another group of people. This is as small as you want it to get right here today. Others of you are here and you've never taken a step into a company. You've always thought that Christianity was a personal thing. As long as you and God are happy, the world's happy. Well, I want to share with you today what I think are some vital. The reason it's vital is we cannot go on as a congregation unless God puts it in our heart that everyone, every one of us, are part of a little company of believers who can enjoy the fulfillment. You see, the purpose of the company is that we grow together to know Christ. I want to know Him, but you can't know Him on your own. If it was possible to be a Lone Ranger Christian, who would have been the greatest Lone Ranger? Who? Jesus. And He chose to have a company. They weren't the coolest of companies, were they? But He gave us a model that we're to follow. Sooner or later, you're going to discover that most everything you desire as a believer, to know Christ, to be fulfilled in the ministry, to have a clear sense of calling and empowerment, to be full of the Spirit of God, that can only be achieved by sharing with those who have like passions. It's the only way that it can happen. I'm not talking here about a fanatic fringe group that some people get serious and others won't. Church, I'm talking about every one of us need to be with a company of believers. How many of you would think today that you could climb Mount Everest by yourself? None? And yet the highest goal that any of us attain to is to what? Know Christ, and many of us are climbing the mountain by ourselves. Oh yeah, you have a friend that you smile at, someone that maybe you go to a Bible study with. That's not the same thing as a little company. It's not the same thing. And I want to say a word specifically to some of you who've been hurt. You've tried and you've failed. I just need to say a word. You know, coming back, as I said last Sunday, is the privilege of every believer. It doesn't matter how far down you've gone or how badly burned you were. God has the ability to bring you back again. When Paul left the Ephesian church in Acts chapter 20, they wept on his neck. They said, Paul, Paul, don't leave us. He said, I have to go on. I've got to go on to Rome. I've got to go on and fulfill my destiny. And he blessed them and left. And you know something? The church at Ephesus continued to thrive because the people realigned their companies and moved ahead. Several months ago, I had fellowship with a brother that was part of a company that I was involved in in the mid-70s. He and I were talking at length about some of the things that he'd accomplished, very successfully involved in a major ministry. He'd shared with me how he'd been part of churches, that he'd been part of ministries that would go into other nations and literally see people running up to the altar. And he saw the power of God in all kinds of ways. He said to me very pensively one day, he said, Jay, despite all that, I really miss my company. I really miss. And he named the names of the brothers and the sisters that we had partnered with. He said, something in me has been missing, and I haven't found it anywhere else. And I urged him, I said, find yourself a new company. Get together with some other people of like spirit, of like purpose. And set a new course and a new goal. I want to say to you today, don't let yourself have the false luxury of thinking that this doesn't include you. Every one of us need a company. Every one of us need to know what it's like to be surrounded, encouraged, supported, challenged and bugged from time to time by people in our company. If you don't do that, you'll never make it up the mountain of knowing Christ. You won't make it. You'll fall short of your maximum potential in the Lord. I want to share today quickly with you several reasons why. If you've never considered this, here's why. Why be part of a little company. Number one, we perceive the pattern of God's Word. Hey, it's loud and clear, folks. If this was North Way or Paul Cho or someone's idea, that would be one thing. This is God's idea. The Lord said to Moses in the book of Exodus, you have too many people. Too many people. How many were in his group? Two million. Thank you very much. Two million people in the book of Exodus came out of Egypt. He said, there's too many for you to be judging, so get them into some companies. And he broke them down into hundreds and fifties and finally tens. Jesus we talked about. Paul we talked about. The early church. We see it over and over again all through the Bible. Get yourself in a company. Number two, when we get into a company of believers, we partake of one another's grace. When you are related in a specific, ongoing way with people who love you, something of what's in them comes into you. When I was in seminary, I got into a company of men, and one of our roles together was to go out and witness. How many of you really love just to go out and face someone and start talking about Jesus? About ten of you. That's what I thought. Most of us do not like to do that stuff. What we find is to get around somebody who can encourage us. And I had this one guy who was really good at this stuff, so I'd always try to get together with him. And we'd go out and I'd say, oh there's one. And we'd go up and say, I'd like to meet my friend right here and start talking. I had grace to make the introduction. He had grace to give the presentation. But we'd come back and our little companies would share and talk and build up one another. Dear ones, there's something dynamic that happens when you company together with people. Eight and a half years ago, I got hooked up with eight men in a company that started North Lake Christian Community. I knew that the Lord had put it in my heart to start a church. I knew it. I couldn't escape it. But I also was smart enough to know I couldn't do it alone. No way I could do it alone. And God sent me eight men with whom a partnership began to develop, a linking, a joining together of spirit. And I want you to know something. We did lots and lots of praying together. We did lots and lots of laughing together. There'd be times that we'd look at ourselves and say, I can't believe we think we're going to do this. And we'd laugh about the ways in which one person would perceive that this thing was supposed to go this way and another would go that way. Over and over again, we'd see God using each other to shape and mold the overall vision. I needed their wisdom. I needed their encouragement. I needed their support. And I still need a company. But that servant's council was a special group. A special group. God put us together. God knitted our hearts. And I drew on the grace that was in each of them. And I know to this day that we wouldn't be here, this church wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that company of men and their wives. Because we struggled together. We did a lot of eating together. I mean, every company eats. We did a lot of fasting together. I mean, we cried sometimes it hurt so bad. We went on one retreat, I remember. Eight of us were in pain. We'd been fasting and asking God to show us what the next step was to be. One brother was real happy. He was slapping everybody. I said, man, what a godly guy. We're in the middle of this fast and we're all dying. We're on this liquid fast. He said, how are you so encouraged? He said, it's a milkshake fast, isn't it? It's liquid. He was eating milkshakes. And he's sitting right here now smiling at me. We needed one another and we still do to this day. Number three, we need to be part of companies because we participate in the building of lives. I don't know what you do with your life. I don't know what company you serve or what career you're in. But let me ask you a question. In the end of it all, when you wrap up your life, what can be the most important thing you're going to say? What is going to be the final thing that's written about? Is it how much you accumulated for your grandchildren over the next 20 generations? Is it going to be how many buildings had your name on the cornerstone? I doubt it. For to me, the most important thing anyone can do in life is build into lives. Parents know that. Building lives is what living is all about. That's why teachers teach. That's why doctors doc. Really. They want to build into lives. They want to make a contribution to better people. That's why elders eld and that's why company people company. Because they know they can build into another person on a consistent basis. I'm not talking about just meeting in the hallway and saying, gee, I hope you're doing well. I'm talking about consistently loving, encouraging, calling into accountability, bringing out the best in another person. Dear ones, that often is an expensive proposition. There's a couple of men here today in this service that someday I want to introduce to you, but I want to tell you a little bit about them right now. We were together yesterday afternoon, and I took my kids along with them, and we went out a little bowling time and kind of knocking around. And on the way home, we were talking about what these two guys do. One brother answered the question. He turned and he was looking at my sons, and he was saying, I work in the inner city. I go in and I hang out in the street corners with people. I talk to kids. I play basketball with them for hours. At the end of those few hours of being with them, I tell them about Christ. I tell them what Christ has done for me. I tell them how God turned my life around and how he wants to touch their lives. And then he said this. He said, there's hardly ever any response, except that the next day they come back, and the next day, and the next day. And it isn't long before those kids realize that there's somebody else in the world that cares about them. That 75-year-old grandmother who's raising them alone isn't the only one in the world that cares about them. And these two men and their others along with them, they're pouring their lives to building up other kids that they've never seen before and may never see again. But they're building lives. They're making an investment. And that little company of guys in there, they don't have promise of great publicity and lots and lots of people beating their doors down for contracts, but they're making a difference in lives. Are you doing that? Is there someone you can say at the end of 1989, I've made a difference. I've built your life. Finally, I just discovered this in a new way last night, number four, the Holy Spirit travels in company. We put ourselves in the path of the Holy Spirit when we company with other people. In my studies, I was amazed at the number of times in the book of Acts, in fact, I didn't find any exceptions, the Holy Spirit fell when people were together in companies. Think about it, Acts chapter 2, what famous thing happened in Acts chapter 2? Pentecost. Where did Pentecost happen? In the church? In the temple? Where did it happen? In the house, in the upper room. It was in the house. The company of disciples were there in the house. The Holy Spirit fell. Acts chapter 4 we just read. It says the Spirit fell on the people in the house as they accompanied with Peter and John. Acts 10.44, the Holy Spirit fell on Peter at Cornelius' house. Folks, listen to me, please. Many of you say, well, I wish we had more things happen here where the Holy Spirit fell. But somehow we want him to fall on Sunday morning and Wednesday night, and I want to be here today and say very clearly, the Holy Spirit will fall on your company. You don't need to say amen or anything, I'll just say it again. The Holy Spirit wants to fall on your company. God wants to meet you in that group of people. And something very supernatural can happen. When you're willing to risk your life, you know what I think it is? I think God sees the unity of people saying, I love you enough to be with you on a consistent basis. And the Holy Spirit sees that unity, and he loves it. And the Bible says he pours down oil over that little company of people. If you're not part of that, it isn't going to happen. If you are part of it, the sky's the limit. I was talking to one of our home group leaders last night. I said, tell me about some of the things that have happened in your little home group company. And he told me these stories. In fact, I began to do three or four pages of journaling here as we're writing down all this. He said that just a few weeks ago, maybe it was a month ago or so now, the home group was praying and seeking the Lord for personal needs. And they began to do it fast. And one couple had been looking for a house for months and hadn't found anything. And they prayed and said, Lord, provide this home. Well, that day in that prayer time, the couple had a vision of what the house was to be like. The Lord showed the gal exactly what the kitchen was like. It was supposed to be a sunken kitchen and a couple of other things. A very unusual configuration. Twelve hours later, they walked into the house. The Lord had showed them. Twelve hours later. And now they're living in it. God had provided. And story after story, people finding the Holy Spirit in power in their little company. Let me ask you a question as we conclude. Are these just words to you? Can you already think of the reason why you don't need to be part of a group? Have you already decided that you're too busy, that your schedule's too full, that you have too many other things to do? Or can I ask you, will you consider the fact that maybe this isn't just God's suggestion, but it's God's plan? My own conviction is that unless we do company together over the next weeks and months and years as a church, we will not allow God to do all that He wants to do. We'll put the cap on our life. Why? Because it's just too big. It's too big. But if we'll decide that, hey, I'll be part of a company. Maybe your company will have a specific focus of ministry. Maybe your company will just come to share. Maybe it'll be a new company of youth or of singles. I just want to say, if you're going to company together, now is the time to say, Lord, show me where I fit. Show me what I can do. Show me what benefits can happen in my life and what I can contribute to others. As I prayed about this, I know all the resistances. We're afraid. But dear ones, I want to say this. If we learn to company together, I believe we'll see God do more than we ever imagined in our personal lives. Because He promised that when two or three of us gathered in His name, He would be there in the midst of us. That's a company. When we company with God, we're going to know the fullness of His presence and of His joy. Amen? Let's stand together. Heavenly Father, as we've listened to Your Word today, I'm reminded, I'm reminded, God, that this is a risk that many of us don't want to take. But I believe, Holy Spirit, that it's a risk we all must take. The risk of being known, the risk of giving, the risk of sacrificing. And Lord, even if it takes adversity, even as the Almers shared, if it takes adversity to see how much we need one another, let it be so, Lord, that we'd not be fat in our spirituality, but giving away ourselves to one another in Jesus. Do you want to hand with someone? Sing this with me. We're the people of God.