Over the last couple of months, we have been looking at many characteristics concerning the power of the gospel. I will not review all of those messages, but just to prod your memory I’ll remind you of some of the titles; the power of the gospel over demons, the power of the gospel over anxiety and depression, the power of the gospel over philosophy, the power of the gospel over lameness, and the power of the gospel to save. And today is perhaps the last one; the power of the gospel is the life of the church.

Now if you have read ahead, you will probably suppose that I’m going to talk about the young man that fell to his death and use that somehow as an illustration or metaphor for the life of the church. But I doubt that is an accurate way of exegeting the text. Rather, I think I will let that example simply be a warning to some of you here today who may have already put your shades on and are planning on catching some z’s during the message. I should warn you that if you fall asleep and if by some reason or another you die in your sleep here this morning, I do not have the apostolic gift of raising the dead such as the Apostle Peter or the Apostle Paul had. So go ahead and sleep if you want, but consider yourself forewarned.

However, what I do think this passage illustrates is the power of the gospel in the life of the church. This whole passage taken together shows a slice of the daily activity of the church, the way the church was conducted. In fact, in verse 7 we see the first time that Sunday services are really described in the New Testament church. Some people have claimed that Saturday services were not changed to Sunday services until much later during the rule of Constantine and by his decree. But according to this scripture that is not true. This text clearly describes what would have been a church service in Troas on Sunday.

Notice in vs. 7 it says on the first day of the week, when they were gathered together to break bread. Now that is a reference to communion, to the Lord’s supper. And many theologians believe that the Lord’s supper was a weekly part of the service in the early churches. So you have here a description of a typical Sunday service at a typical New Testament Gentile church.

But just for the sake of clarification for anyone who is not a regular at our services, let me point out that when we talk about the church, or church life, we are not speaking of a building, nor a denomination, nor an organization nor a program. Ekklesia, the Greek word for church, means the called out ones. The assembly of believers. It refers to the body of Christ. And we are the body of Christ, if indeed the Spirit of Christ dwells in you. Do you understand that? We are the flesh and blood body of Christ, you and I, if we have the Spirit of Christ living in us, using us for His glory and His purposes. That is the reason for the gospel; to make us righteous, so that we might be filled with His Spirit and do the things which He tells us to do.

That is the purpose of being saved. Not just to escape hell, though that may be sufficient motivation. Not just to be forgiven of our sins, though we should desire that. But that we might do the works of God and so that we might have fellowship with God which was impossible when we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Now that we are made righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ, we are made temples of the Holy Spirit, we offer up acceptable sacrifices unto God in our bodies which is simply by obedience to the Word of God.   We are now by the grace of God made a part of His body.

But listen, remember what Paul told the Corinthians; no part of the body can exist without the support and connection to the other parts of the body. No man is an island. We were made part of the body, the church of God so that we might join one another in a local fellowship, in a local assembly. And all the parts are made to work together, just like in your human body. The hand, Paul said, cannot say “I don’t need the rest of the body. I just want to go off and do my own thing.” But it finds it’s life in the body and usefulness and purpose in the body. So each of you are called to be part of a local body of believers. And that is exactly what we see going on here in Troas.

Now there are several characteristics of this church presented here which should be emblematic of the church today. And some of these I just want to mention in passing, and some we will spend a bit more time on. But let’s follow the order in which they are presented.

First of all, there is the matter of giving. Church life is revealed by their love for one another, and one major way is by giving to supply the needs of those who are in need. And the church in Jerusalem was in dire need. They were being persecuted by Jews and Romans alike, people could not hold a job because they were excommunicated from Jewish life, there was no way to feed their familes, or support their families. And so Paul in 1 Corinthians 16 says that he was collecting an offering from all the churches in Asia and in Europe as he traveled and his intention was to deliver it to Jerusalem by the feast of Pentecost. 1Cor. 16:2-3 “On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem.” You might note in that passage a reference again to the practice of meeting on the first day of the week, Sunday. So that is the day they would take up an offering. And notice back in our text in vs. 4 that Paul is accompanied by various members of churches who will make up that delegation to Jerusalem.

Jesus said they will know you are my disciples by your love for one another. And love offerings are one tangible way that we show love for one another. James said in chapter 2:16, if you say “’Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?” So a characteristic of the body of Christ is that we will supply the needs of one another and give freely even as Christ gave Himself to the church.

Secondly, a characteristic of the church which we have already alluded to was that they met on the first day of the week. Now that is not the only day that the church met. In the last chapter, we saw that Paul was teaching daily in the school of Tyrannus and we have often read how they met in houses and were taught throughout the week. But there is a definite description here of corporate worship on Sunday. Hebrews 10:25 tells us to be mindful of “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Listen, church is the assembly of believers. I already went over that. We are to be part of a local body. Today in this age of technological advancements, there is a tendency among some to think that you can watch a TV show or download a message on the internet or something and accomplish church without having to get out of your bathrobe. But folks, that is not church. Church by it’s definition is a physical assembly of spiritually and physically connected parts of Christ’s body in a local congregation.

Some pastor once said to me that if you do not have membership then you do not have a church. He was talking about being on the church rolls. Well, I beg to differ. But I will say that if you are not deliberately participating in and regularly in the assembly of a local body, then you are probably not a part of the church of Christ. Local church participation and fellowship is essential to the Christian life. It is not optional. In fact, if you want to become a backslider, if you want to fall away from the Lord, if you want to fall into temptation and the snare of the devil, simply stop going to church. You will do so to your ruin.

Thirdly, we see the characteristic of the life of the church is communion, or breaking bread, or the Lord’s supper. I would take issue with the idea that the Lord’s supper has to be taken every week, or even should be taken every week. Jesus said on the night before His crucifixion, “As often as you do this, do it in remembrance of Me.” And what were they doing? They were celebrating the Passover. And how often did they celebrate the Passover? Once a year. Now there is no prohibition against celebrating the Lord’s supper every week, but neither is there any command to do so. There are commands however as to how it should be conducted.

But more importantly than how often we do it is what it represents. It is a physical reminder of the Lord’s death. 1Cor. 11:26 “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” So what does that mean then? It provides us with an opportunity for introspection and repentance, for getting right with God. Vs.29 “For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.” Then Vs.31 “But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.” Now that introspection and repentance is the essence of the gospel, and it is illustrated in communion which is part of the life of the church. You can’t do that at home alone watching television by the way.

Fourthly, the life of the church is characterized by the preaching of the gospel in vs. 7. Now I would love to camp out on this one. But I won’t belabor it. However, notice that Paul preaches until midnight. Modern Christianity cannot suffer a preacher to speak longer than about 20 minutes on average. And even then, you better keep it interesting and tell lots of stories and jokes or you soon won’t have much of a congregation.

1Cor. 1:18 says “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” You know, the preaching of the word of God is sort of like taking your spiritual temperature. If you can’t really stand to hear the gospel preached, if you find it boring, or can’t understand it, or are disinterested, you should be as alarmed as if you have a 104 degree temperature. Because if you have the Spirit of God in you, then you will appreciate the Word of God being preached. It will be your food, your drink, your sustenance that will be life to your spirit and sustain you throughout the week.

In fact, if you find it that boring and uninteresting, then perhaps you are like the young man sitting in the windowsill named Eutychus described in vs. 9 who fell asleep and fell down three floors and was dead on arrival. Maybe you too are spiritually dead. Maybe you need to be revived by the Spirit of the Lord. Becoming spiritually alive is a supernatural event, ladies and gentlemen. Eutychus is lying there dead, he cannot pick himself up by his bootstraps. He cannot speak life to himself. He needed the supernatural miracle of the Spirit of God to give him life. And if you are unsaved today, if your body is not the temple of the Holy Spirit, then you must be born again by the Spirit of God. That is not something you can do by coming to church, or trying to be good, or by cleaning yourself up. It can only occur by the power of the Holy Spirit as we are forgiven of our sins and given new life by the gift of God.

Well, in the interest of time let’s move on, I don’t want any of you perishing along the way. Luke changes gears from the church at Troas to the church at Ephesus in vs. 17. Paul has left Troas and is on his circuitous route to Jerusalem, and he stops in Miletus and sends for the elders, that is the pastors, of the church in Ephesus. Now these probably were pastors from several churches in the city of Ephesus. And Paul gives a message to these pastors. We could easily spend a Sunday just studying this message of Paul’s. But for the moment I want to continue our train of thought concerning the characteristics of the life of the church as a result of the power of the gospel. And there are some characteristics of the gospel presented here which I want to point out.

The first thing of note in Paul’s message is he explains or describes the gospel that he has been faithfully preaching. And Paul starts by saying that he has been serving the Lord and them even through tears, through trials and persecutions. Nothing has deterred him from preaching the gospel. That is his calling, his stewardship, and nothing would stop him from faithfully declaring the whole truth of the gospel.

I find it kind of sad that Paul always seemed to have to be in defense mode about his ministry. He sacrificed everything for the sake of the gospel. He says in vs. 24 that he gave his life for the church, for the sake of the gospel. That doesn’t necessarily mean he died for the church, but it means he died to everything else in life for the sake of the church and the gospel. And I believe that is a mark of a godly shepherd of the flock. I find myself feeling jealous sometimes of these pastors that can take off for several Sunday’s a year for all kinds of reasons, conferences, sabbaticals, vacations, you name it. I have a book at home that was given to me which is called “On Being a Pastor”, written by a couple of guys who I really respect, but I was floored when they talked about the time off that they expected to receive, and what many pastor’s routinely get as part of their benefits. They talked about a month long sabbatical – goodness, I had to look up the word sabbatical to make sure I wasn’t missing something. I don’t know, I guess that would be great. I don’t want to start a pity party, but I haven’t missed a Sunday in 9 years of preaching. And I think I have taught at least 50 Wednesday’s a year for I don’t know how long. I don’t say that to make you feel sorry for me. I want to be here. But I do say that to make the point that a true shepherd willingly gives his life for his sheep. I dare not leave my flock any more than I can possibly help, even if my flock is but a little one. It is still my charge. And I believe that is what Paul is saying in so many words. He spent his life preaching and serving the church above all other considerations. Acts tells us that Paul went on 3 different missionary journeys over the course of his life, lasting many years. And coming up we will see that he spent the rest of his life in and out of prison. But I will tell you something. You will never read that Paul went on vacation. Never happened. Nothing wrong with a vacation. I hear they are fun and quite relaxing. But you don’t see Paul doing it.

And then notice the nature of the message Paul was preaching. It’s one thing to say he preached the gospel, that we are saved by the power of the gospel. But what is the gospel? And what makes it powerful? I would hope that those of you that have been faithful here this summer could answer that question. But if not, Paul reiterates what I’ve been saying all summer; the gospel rests on two essential pillars – repentance and faith. And that is the message that Paul was preaching. He makes it very clear in vs. 21 , he was “solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” That is the gospel. And that is the power of the gospel which gives life to the church. That is the way to have life in Christ, to be supernaturally made part of His body, through repentance and faith.

Now please forgive me, but I cannot move too quickly from this point, because it is so essential. I’m afraid that the gospel is being misrepresented today and as such it is robbed of it’s power to save. And the way that it is being misrepresented is by an over emphasis on faith alone and neglecting to preach on repentance. First of all, there is a reluctance to preach about sin at all in the modern church. But if you preach on sin, then you must preach about repentance, in order to receive forgiveness of sin. The great disconnect between faith and practice so often seen in contemporary Christianity hinges upon the lack of repentance.

The great English preacher Charles Spurgeon put it this way: “Repentance and faith must go together to complete each other. I compare them to a door and its post. Repentance is the door which shuts out sin, but faith is the post upon which its hinges are fixed. A door without a door-post to hang upon is not a door at all; while a door-post without the door hanging to it is of no value whatever. What God hath joined together let no man put asunder; and these two he has made inseparable—repentance and faith.”

Now let me try to define repentance briefly for you by saying what repentance is not. Repentance is not merely feeling a sense of shame because your sins have become exposed. Repentance is not merely grief because of the consequences of your sin. Repentance is not simply a horror at the future prospects of punishment of sin. All of those may be felt at the exposure of your sin, but they are not necessarily repentance.

Let me say clearly what repentance is. Repentance is the realization that you have greatly offended God. When David repented of his adultery and murder in Psalm 51, he said, “Against You and You only have I sinned.” Sin is first and foremost a grievance against God. It is recognizing our rebellion against our Creator.

And to extrapolate on that idea, repentance is recognizing our neglect of God. God designed us for His purposes, and instead we served our purposes, even when it caused our own destruction. Though you may never have been convicted as a murderer or an adulterer, yet you are guilty of neglecting God all these years and serving yourselves. You have robbed God of what was due Him as your Maker.

And we must not compare ourselves to one another and so excuse our sin as less than someone else’s. Repentance requires that we compare ourselves to God’s standard of righteousness, which is no less than the spotless Lamb of God.

Furthermore, repentance is increased as your faith is matured. Some people think that because they repented when they were converted, that they need not repent any more. But the truth is that the greater the faith, the deeper the repentance. That is why Paul said, “O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?” As righteous as Paul was, he was ever more aware of his own weakness, and found himself doing the very things that he hated.

Repentance and faith will each grow as the other grows: the more you know the weight of sin, the more will you lean upon Jesus, and the more will you know his power to uphold to you. Repentance is looking at the way you have been living – at fulfilling your fleshly desire, at your dependence upon the old nature – and changing your mind. That is what repentance means. To repent means to stop thinking and acting and living the way you have been. Instead, step out in faith. Trust the living Lord who is in you to operate through you, and walk in obedience.

The Bible tells us that when we are born again there are still two natures, the old man, and the new man. Faith is choosing to live according to the new nature, and repentance is putting to death the old nature.

So you see, there are the two basic steps, and you must take them over and over again. The way you begin the Christian life is to repent and believe. And that also constitutes your walk through the Christian life. A walk is more than a single step. When faced with a situation, you should take the first step and repent, think through the old way of life and say to yourself, “I’ve been going at this the wrong way.” But that is not yet a walk. You must take the next step and believe, have faith in the Spirit of God who leads you through the Word. Then, on the next occasion that comes, you go through the same procedure over again — you repent, and then believe — repent and believe — repent and believe — and you are walking! That is what the Christian life is all about. In every circumstance, every situation, this is the two-fold way by which the Christian lives in the power of a living God: repent of the old way and act in faith in the new way.

Now that we are Christ’s body, our body is not our own, we are bought with a great price, the price of Jesus’ blood. So we live from now on no longer to fulfill our desires of the old man, but to fulfill God’s desires as we live in the new man. And we find the strength to do that by the Spirit who is within us, as we lean on Him and trust in Him.

There is one final aspect to Paul’s message that just bears mentioning for now, I will not go into great detail as it really needs very little explanation. As Paul gets ready to depart from the elders of the church he expects that he will not see them again. Some commentators say that he did in fact see them once more. But at that moment, they were preparing for the worst. And so Paul gives them a warning. The first warning was to feed the flock. Vs. 28, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” The Greek word used for shepherd the flock there is better understood as feeding the flock. And pastors are to do that by preaching the word of God, the whole counsel of God, undiluted, unadulterated. Not trying to please people, but telling them the truth, because only the truth can set you free.

And secondly, he tells them to guard the flock because savage wolves will come in to devour the church. Vs. 29-30 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” Jesus said that too. He talked about wolves in sheep’s clothing, unregenerate men and women who, talking and acting like Christians and perhaps even thinking they are Christians, but who are not born again, will come into the church. They will be religious but will deny the power of true faith, they will deny the fundamentals of the gospel, and they will disturb and try to ruin the church of God. They rob people of the truth, and so they deprive them of the salvation that comes from truth.

So he says, be on the alert. The devil goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. You know wolves tend to prowl around the edges of the flock, looking for stragglers, looking for ones who are weak, who are not within the safety of the flock. That again emphasizes how essential it is to stay in fellowship in the church and not go off on your own.

And then stay in the Word. “I commend you to the Word,” he said. Everything you need is in the Word. It is the life of the church. It is able to build you up and complete you. It contains the power of the gospel which is able to give you life, life in Christ, the power to walk the walk. It is able to convict you of sin. It is able to lead you in righteousness. And so Paul concludes with that emphasis, to preach the word, to stay in the word, and to obey the word. That is the source of life in the church. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. I hope that you have that life in Christ. If not, you can receive it through repentance from your sins and faith in what Jesus has done for you on the cross by paying the penalty for your sins so that you may be forgiven and made righteous. Call on Him today and trust Him, and commit to live no longer for the flesh but for God by the power of Christ which is given for you.