The Redeemed People of God (Defining Church #1)

When my oldest daughter — now twenty-four — was only five, and her little sister was two, we were driving through the quiet streets of Cedar Rapids one evening. The sun had set, traffic was light, and we were on the familiar roads home when my five-year-old suddenly blurted out:

“Hey! Look at those hot guys!”

I nearly drove off the road. Why is my kindergartner checking out men on the highway? Did I even hear that correctly? I glanced at my wife, who wore the identical stunned expression — and right then the two-year-old chimed in: “Yeah! Hot guys!”

What is happening? Why are my daughters suddenly fixated on the male species?

So my wife started asking questions. What did you say? “Those hot guys.” What guys? There were no billboards. Nobody was walking around. It was dark and quiet. And then our daughter pointed: “Right there! That hot guy!”

A car passed us. I looked over expecting to see a man — and it was an older woman. But on her back windshield was a University of Iowa Hawkeye emblem.

I was profoundly relieved to learn my kindergartner wasn’t lusting after anyone yet. She was simply all about the Hawkeyes.

One Word, Very Different Pictures

My wife and I heard one thing while our daughter was saying something else entirely.

I tell that story because I think something similar happens constantly with the word church. Someone says it, and the listener has something completely different in mind.

Say “church” and one person pictures a great cathedral. Another pictures a small plant meeting in a school, a veterans’ hall, or down at the fairgrounds. Someone in China or North Korea pictures a house church that meets in secret. Someone from rural Kenya pictures an open-air structure they walk miles to reach. Someone from the inner city pictures a group of people serving the homeless. And some people hear “church” and picture a political organization.

So what actually is the church? A cathedral? A group meeting in a home? A nonprofit? A political bloc?

Why We’re Spending Four Weeks on This

Over the next four weeks we’re going to build a definition together. This matters for a few reasons.

First, it matters that we don’t carry wildly different assumptions. As we gather on Sundays and meet in growth groups through the week, differing pictures of “church” produce misalignment. This series helps get us on the same page.

And I want to be clear: we’re not doing this as a reaction. Nothing is going wrong behind the scenes. We’re not scrambling to fix something. We’re talking about it precisely because things are healthy right now, and we want to stay that way.

Second, we’re still working out how to use this building for God’s glory. What does it mean to make the most of what God has provided — not merely for ourselves on Sunday mornings, but genuinely? Your definition of church shapes that answer.

Third, our mission flows out of our definition. Why do we exist at all? That question can’t be answered until we know what the church is. And with fall approaching and a few small changes coming in our ministry, clarity matters.

The Definitions I Wrote Before We Launched

When my family and I moved here in 2012, I knew the word “church” would land differently with everyone I met. I’d say we moved here to start a new church, and that phrase would trigger completely different pictures.

Some assumed we were here to buy land and construct a building. Others thought we were a cult starting something in our home. Some pictured a storefront operation. Others assumed church meant being out in the community serving the poor. Plenty of people found it irrelevant to their lives entirely. And I suspect a fair number quietly concluded it would simply fail.

So as I met people and built a website, and as folks wondered whether this was something they’d want to be part of, I wanted definitions that would bring clarity. We hadn’t launched publicly yet, so I wasn’t preparing weekly sermons — I used that season to write.

That’s when I landed on our definition of a follower of Jesus: someone who loves like Jesus loved and lives like Jesus lived. It’s when I clarified our mission: to invite the spiritually disconnected to find and follow Jesus. And it’s when I put together our definition of the church.

The Rules I Set for Myself

I had parameters.

It couldn’t be about style. That’s what everyone wanted to know — what’s your style? But styles change, and I wanted a definition that would carry us through change.

And we’ve had plenty. We’ve existed seven years and have met in something like eight different places on Sunday mornings. We’ve had leadership changes — the biggest being that we now have elders, so I’m no longer leading alone. We’ve changed who leads worship. We’ve changed who leads our kids ministry. Through every one of those transitions, our definition has held us steady.

The largest change was one every church in America faced. From March to May we were asked not to assemble while governments worked out how to respond to the coronavirus. We agreed to abide by that and went entirely online. But did we stop being a church? A good definition answers that.

It couldn’t be steeped in a theological distinctive. We hold real theological convictions here. But I didn’t want a secondary distinctive at the very front of who we are, because someone would hear it and think, “I was part of a church like that once — never again,” and we’d lose the chance to minister to them.

And it couldn’t rest on preferences. I wanted something simply, plainly biblical.

So I worked and reworked until it distilled into the definition we’ll build over these four weeks. I’m not going to hand it to you whole. We’re going to discover it together in Acts 2:42–47, because I think discovering it alongside me will give us greater ownership and greater clarity.

Admit It — You Skim

Acts 2:42 says: And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Now, is anyone willing to admit that sometimes when you sit down to read the Bible, you skim certain parts? Good — I’m not alone. I was genuinely worried I’d be the most heathen person in the room.

You hit a genealogy and your eyes glaze. Who begat whom? Let’s move on to the good stuff.

But it isn’t only genealogies. We skim ordinary things too. Take Ephesians — I picked it at random. It opens the way most of Paul’s letters do: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus who are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Okay, okay, same as all his other letters. Let’s get to the good stuff.

Then verse 3: blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Now we’re talking. Why is God blessed? Because he has blessed us. With what? Every spiritual blessing. That’s the sort of verse pastors geek out over.

But notice what we just did. We skated straight past verses 1 and 2.

And if we say we’re Christians, we’re saying we believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture is God-breathed — which means verses 1 and 2 were breathed out too.

Go back and look. Paul, an apostle — someone sent to establish and strengthen the church. An apostle of Christ Jesus. By the will of God. And suddenly you realize Paul isn’t doing this because it seemed like a promising career path. He is compelled. Which stops you cold and makes you ask: am I compelled? What am I giving my life to?

There’s good material even in verses 1 and 2. Now, while all Scripture is inspired, not all Scripture makes the same impact. I don’t think God included the genealogies so we’d weep with gratitude over knowing the son of Boaz. They’re there because it’s history and God is writing a story. Still important. Still worth learning from. But not every passage lands the same way — and that’s no excuse to skip it.

Two Words We Always Skip

Which brings us to Acts 2. We parachute into verse 42 and skim right past something.

I can’t count the sermons I’ve heard on Acts 2:42–47. Some of them were excellent — far better than this one — the kind that make you want to give your whole life to it. And even those made the same mistake I make in my personal reading.

Look at the first two words: “And they.”

Filler words, right? The kind you glide over on the way to the good part. Devoted themselves — now that’s good. But “and they”? Am I seriously trying to build something on “and they”?

Yes. And here’s why.

I discovered this week that several Bible translations drop the word “and” entirely. I assumed my translation had added it for readability. Actually the reverse is true — the “and” is in the Greek. It’s simply so repetitious, appearing again and again, that some translations remove it to read more naturally in English.

But that “and” matters. Because if we’ve parachuted into verse 42, the “and” says: hold on. Don’t rush ahead. What you’re about to read is connected to what just happened.

It forces us back to verse 41: So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

What Happened That Morning

Verse 41 is the conclusion of the story running through the whole chapter.

Acts 2 opens on the day of Pentecost, a Jewish feast, with Jews from all over gathered in Jerusalem. Jesus has died on a cross and risen from the dead, and word has spread. Some are convinced it’s a fabrication. Others are beginning to wonder.

Those who believe it’s true — roughly a hundred and twenty of them — have gathered in an upper room. They’re talking through everything that’s happened, reminding each other what Jesus taught, maybe singing together, reading from the Old Testament and realizing with astonishment that everything they witnessed was prophesied and had been right there in front of them all along.

And as they’re worshiping, there’s a sudden rushing sound, like a windstorm hitting the building. Small tongues of flame descend and rest on each of them, and they begin praising God in languages they never learned.

That sound carried through the neighborhood. All those visitors in Jerusalem stopped. What was that? Was that a tornado? They went to investigate, and as they got closer they heard voices — some singing, some talking loudly. Someone concluded the party had started early. Someone else pointed out it was only nine in the morning.

And then they got close enough to hear these people praising God in their own languages. They looked in and thought: that man looks like he’s from Galilee. There’s no possible way he knows my language. What is he saying? And they leaned in and listened.

A crowd gathered. Peter stood and preached the gospel — that Jesus died on a cross at the hands of Romans and Jewish leaders, that he died for our sin, that he rose from the dead, and that he now invites us to follow him.

And verse 41 tells us three thousand people believed.

“They” Is Three Thousand People

Which brings us to that second word: they.

The “they” of verse 42 is the three thousand of verse 41.

It’s the three thousand who devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. The three thousand devoted to fellowship. The three thousand breaking bread. The three thousand giving themselves to prayer.

And as you study Acts 2, you realize this is the birth of the church.

So what’s the first thing we notice? The church is not a building. It’s not a political organization. It’s not a nonprofit. It is a “they.” It is people.

That’s the first part of our definition: the church is the redeemed people of God.

Why “Redeemed” Matters

Notice the adjective. Redeemed.

These three thousand had been redeemed. Saved. They understood that their sin had kept them separated from God. These were devout Jewish people who had been keeping the laws and customs faithfully — and who recognized that they had to keep making sacrifices over and over precisely because their sin was never fully washed away. And then Peter stood up and declared that their sins had been washed by Jesus, who was not merely a man but God himself, and who rose from the dead. So give your life and follow him.

It isn’t just any collection of people. Go to a sporting event and you’ll find enthusiastic fans — honestly, it can look a lot like worship as they adore their heroes on the field. It isn’t a church. Go to a political rally and you’ll find real fervor, people electrified when their candidate walks out. It looks like worship. It isn’t a church.

It doesn’t become a church until it’s the redeemed people of God gathered because Jesus died on the cross for their sins.

But Don’t Lock the Doors

Now, some churches realize the church is the redeemed people of God and promptly close the doors on everyone else. The message becomes: to be part of this, you have to believe exactly like us.

That’s how the world operates, after all. Join a political party and you’re expected to hold their positions. Join the Flat Earth Society and you can’t go around promoting a globe. (Which reminds me of the joke: join the Flat Earth Society — we have members all around the globe.)

We’re used to organizations saying: believe like us or stay out. And the church has done exactly that for a long time.

But look at verse 47. They were praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

If these redeemed people had gathered and bolted the doors, verse 47 could not happen. You would not see them holding favor in the community. You would not see the Lord adding to their number daily as people’s eyes opened to the gospel.

The only way verse 47 happens is if the redeemed lived among the not-yet-redeemed. The doors were open. You did not have to believe exactly like them to be present. I suspect the church let people come and belong — and through belonging, they came to believe.

In America we often assume that opening up requires watering down our convictions. That is not what the church did. They remained as passionate about Jesus as ever. Unbelievers were welcome among them, and the church didn’t dilute a single conviction.

Which Means You’re Welcome Here

So if you’re not a follower of Jesus, you can absolutely be part of this church. Come Sunday mornings — that door is open to anyone. We’ll invite you into our growth groups. You can serve alongside us at the food bank.

Does that mean you could become an elder? No. Eldership requires a settled faith in Jesus and a certain spiritual maturity. But so much else is wide open. Come and be part.

I say this constantly, and I’ll say it again: if you’re not a follower of Jesus, I’m glad you’re here, because we started this church for you. Our mission is to help the spiritually disconnected. If you feel disconnected from God, we want to be your church and do everything we can to help you find Jesus — because we believe Jesus is the connection to God.

And as wide as our doors are, you should know we will not water down our conviction about Jesus. It is all about him. You hear it in our definition of a disciple: to love like Jesus loved and live like Jesus lived.

Saying we’re Jesus-centered doesn’t mean we ignore the Father or pretend the Spirit doesn’t exist. We follow a triune God — one God in three persons. We say Jesus-centered because it is Jesus who died on the cross for our sins, Jesus who rose from the dead, and Jesus who says come, follow me. We want to see people become like Christ, because our world desperately needs people who will love like Jesus loved and live like Jesus lived.

How Redeemed People Live: They Give

So how do the redeemed people of God actually live? Acts 2 shows us three things.

First, they give to one another. Verse 45: they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

I don’t believe Luke is advocating a particular economic system here, in either direction. I think he’s reporting what the Holy Spirit prompted him to report: that these people were so transformed by Jesus — having seen him sacrifice to provide for them — that they were willing to sacrifice to provide for others.

The reasoning goes something like: I have this land that’s been in my family for years. I’m not doing anything with it and have no plans for it. That person has a need right now. So I’ll sell it and give the money, because God can provide for me, and I believe God intends to use me to provide for them.

That kind of generosity stands out in a world organized around getting. I’ve heard people complain about government stimulus payments while gladly cashing the check — I don’t think they should spend money this way, but they gave it to me, so I’ll use it. Because it’s about me.

So when real generosity appears, it makes the news. I heard a story this week about neighbors buying a basketball hoop for a kid down the street, and I thought — that’s lovely, but why is that news? Because you simply don’t see it very often.

No wonder God was adding to their number daily. The not-yet-redeemed were living among the redeemed, watching that generosity, and thinking: that’s different, and I like it. They didn’t sign up hoping to receive something. They came to see that Jesus gave his life for them, and they wanted in — joining the three thousand who were giving generously.

I can talk about this comfortably because we are already a generous church. I’m not correcting anyone. Some of you have absolutely astonished me with your generosity, and this church would not be where it is without you.

What I don’t want is for us to be generous, pat ourselves on the back, and coast. Being strong at something doesn’t mean there’s no room to grow.

Which is why we’re doing a generosity series this fall. The elders and I have been working out how to buy this building — we believe that’s what God wants — and we discussed running a capital campaign. But the more we talked, the more we concluded that a capital campaign isn’t the right instrument. A campaign gets everyone to give once toward a goal, we hit the goal, we buy the building, and nothing about our generosity has actually changed.

It’s far more important that we keep growing in generosity itself, because generosity isn’t about us — it’s about what God has done for us and what he’s sending us out to do. That kind of giving makes a genuine impact. We’re not primarily trying to get people to come to us; much of what we do is about going to them. And living that way requires generosity.

Not only financial generosity, either. We talk about giving our FIST: our finances, influence, skills, and time. The Acts 2 church opened their fists to care for each other, and that rippled out into the broader community. I want to see that in us.

They Serve

Second, they serve one another.

Notice the mechanics of verse 45. They were selling possessions and distributing the proceeds to any who had need.

That distinction is easy to miss, because the American instinct when we see a need is to write a check or click a donate button and be done. We never get our hands dirty. We give money and feel good about ourselves.

These people were actively involved. They served.

Paul wrote to a church in Corinth — unlike the church in Ephesus, that one was a mess, which is why his letter runs so long and addresses so many problems. One of the topics he takes up is spiritual gifts.

Christians today love that passage. We open 1 Corinthians 12, drop into verse 8, and start working through the list — wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles — asking, so which one is mine? And in doing so we make the entire conversation about ourselves. I want to know my gift so I can use it, because then people will be impressed with me.

But jumping to verse 8 means skipping the foundation in verse 7: to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

A spiritual gift is not given for you. It’s given for others.

That’s exactly what we’re watching in Acts 2. They sold possessions and gave themselves for the common good. Life stopped being about them. They saw a need, stepped in, and didn’t merely fund it — they served it with their energy and their time.

Again, I can say this comfortably because you have been so involved — inside this church family and out in the community. You’ve been remarkable. But I don’t want us to pat ourselves on the back and call it finished, because our greatest days are almost certainly ahead. There may be an area we’ll be called to serve that we don’t even know about yet, and I want us poised so that when God brings it, we can say together: we’re the redeemed people of God, and redeemed people serve. This is our opportunity.

They Love

Third, they love one another.

I almost left this out because it seems obvious — if you’re giving and serving, of course you love them. And then it hit me: no. You can give with no love at all. You can serve purely out of duty.

But look at the second half of verse 46: they received their food with glad and generous hearts.

Does that sound like people giving out of obligation? Serving under compulsion? No. That sounds like people motivated by love — because they had seen God’s love for them in Jesus, and because God loved them, they went out and loved others.

This is why the apostle John writes in 1 John 4 that we should love one another, because love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God — while anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. And that the love of God was made manifest among us in this: that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

Because God so loved us, we now go and love others. And if we’re genuinely going to love a world out there, it has to start in here. We have to love one another — which means being quick to forgive, quick to listen, and quick to move when we find a need.

I can say this because I’m not addressing any contentiousness. I’m not preaching to reprimand or rebuke anyone. I’m saying it because you have done this, and I want to see us do it better still.

Lean In

We are the redeemed people of God. We are called to give. We are called to serve. We are called to love.

I want to be part of a church like that, and I’m thankful I already am. But I don’t want us to coast. I want us to lean in further — because leaning into Christ is what makes us better at this.

After all, who gave more than Jesus? Who served better? Who loved to the end more completely?

So if we want to keep growing as the redeemed people of God, we have to go to him — because as we do, his Spirit works in us, and we become more generous, serve more gladly, and love more purely.

Father, thank you for this church family you created and for these redeemed brothers and sisters. I pray for the person reading this who doesn’t yet know you but has come this far because you are calling them. Let them give their life to you today — confessing their sin, knowing that Jesus died to forgive it and rose again so they could follow a living Savior. Radically change their life and bring them into the redeemed people of God.

And for those who already know you: help us keep growing in generosity, in service, and in love, with our eyes fixed on Jesus — the one who gave everything, served us completely, and loved us to the end.

Where we need to repent of selfishness, of making everything about ourselves, turn our orientation outward. Let us see the brothers and sisters around us, and our neighbors, coworkers, and extended family who desperately need you — and let us love them, serve them, and give to them. Because that’s what you did for us. As Romans 5 says, while we were still weak and sinful and hostile to you, Jesus loved us enough to die for us. If a perfect, holy God can love a sinner like me, then help me to live a life that loves others, gives, serves, and points them to you. In Jesus’s name, amen.