If you turn to the first chapter
in the Acts of the Apostles, Acts chapter 1, and draw your
attention to a few verses in this chapter, where we read the
testimony in this chapter that Christ died, that he rose again,
that he showed himself unto the apostles following his death
by many infallible proofs, he was seen of them forty days,
he spake of the things concerning the kingdom of God, and they
assembled together with him, they were assembled to wait for
the promise of the Father, which Christ says of in verse 5, that
they've heard of him, that John truly baptized with water, that
ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
When they therefore would come together, they asked of him,
saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom
to Israel? And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the
times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.
But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon
you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and
in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of
the earth. And when he had spoken these
things, while they beheld, he was taken up. and a cloud received
him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye
have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem
from the Mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath
day's journey. And when they were come in, they
went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James,
and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and
Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas
the brother of James. These all continued with one
accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother
of Jesus and with his brethren. These all continued with one
accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother
of Jesus and with his brethren. If there's one phrase in the
book of Acts that you see repeated and which characterizes the early
church, the early New Testament church as it was gathered by
the Holy Spirit following Christ's death, resurrection and ascension
and the granting of the Holy Spirit as we see in these early
chapters in Acts and the preaching of the gospel both in Jerusalem
and to all the nations round about As believers, as people
come to hear the gospel and believe, are brought to life by the Holy
Spirit, granted faith, added to the church and gathered. There's
one phrase that keeps being repeated about them and their unity in
Christ. It's this short phrase we find
in verse 14. These all continued with one
accord in prayer and supplication. with the women and married the
mother of Jesus and with his brethren. They continued with
one accord. They were of one mind, of one
purpose, believing one Christ, one truth, one gospel. They were
knit together in love, both for him and each other. Of course,
throughout Acts, We don't simply read of the work of God and the
spirit of God in saving sinners and gathering sinners. We do
of course read of the opposition of man and the effects of the
flesh and how it wars against the spirit and the strife and
the problems that this inevitably brings in. Both in the very beginnings
of the New Testament church here and of course increasingly throughout
time even to our day. wherever there is a work of God,
wherever there is a gathering of his people, wherever the truth
is preached and declared, and the power of the gospel is seen
to be at work, Satan rages against it. And the adversary, the enemy
of God, stirs up all that is against God, all that is in the
flesh of believers, all that is in the world, to war and to
fight against it. and to divide and scatter. And yet, despite all the opposition,
and despite all the onslaught, it remains as Christ promised,
that he shall build his church, and the gates of Hades, the gates
of hell, shall not prevail against it. They will fight against it,
hell will rage against it, hell will do what it can to scatter
and to divide. And for times, it seems to prevail. But in the end, it never does.
There are times when it seems to bring trouble in the midst
of God's people. But where God is at work by his
gospel, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Where
the spirit of God is in the midst of his people, they are of one
accord. They do continue with one accord
in prayer and supplication. With one accord. Here were a people gathered and
being assembled We read in verse four, they are gathered. They gathered here in an upper
room in verse 13 and 14. It says in verse 15 that Peter
stood up in the midst of the disciples. The number of names
together were about 120. They were gathered. Many people had heard Christ
preach his gospel whilst he dwelt on this earth. Many had seen
the signs and the wonders and the testimony to his saving grace. But many had turned against him
and rejected him. The mass had cried out, crucify
him, crucify him. And even his disciples at the
end, for fear of man and for various reasons, denied him and
were scattered. And yet nevertheless, he had
a people. Christ's church would be built. There were those who followed,
there were those who were saved. And at the beginning of the Acts
of the Apostles, there was a company, a small company gathered in Jerusalem. A company which would greatly
grow as the gospel went forth in power. But here we read of
120 gathered in an upper room. Gathered with one accord. the church, the ecclesia, the
people called out from this world, called out from the darkness
of sin, called out from their blindness, even in the religion
which they once had, called out, called unto Christ and his gospel,
called to the cross, called to that place where they were washed
by the blood of the Lamb of God slain for them. called to that
place where they were redeemed, ransomed, saved. The church,
the body of Christ, his people. And here we read of that people
gathered. Now whether God's people are
gathered or not gathered, whether they are gathered in an upper
room amongst 120, or whether they are simply two
or three here or two or three there or even just one on his
own there or one on her own over there. Wherever they are, whether
they can gather or whether they can't gather, and there are many
who are scattered through faults not their own, who love the gospel
and would long to be with the people of God but cannot be.
And they cannot come like this company here. in one place physically,
yet nevertheless they are still members of the church, still
members of the body of Christ, still one together in Christ
whether they are physically in the same place or not, they are
still one. Some can't be gathered and yet
they are still of one accord in the gospel, in Christ with
his people. They are still members of that
body of Christ very much and they're not to consider themselves
any less for not being gathered. If circumstances prevent, if
there's no gathering in the area in which we live, if there's
no true gospel preached in the area, then we may go off to this
place or to that place and hear a false and a mixed gospel. That
will do us little good. And we should not think of ourselves
as failing if we have nowhere to go. And yet it is in the heart
of every believer to seek others, to seek those of like mind, to
seek the sound of the gospel. They long to be gathered, they
long to be where the truth is preached. rightly so and here
we read of a company who were gathered not many just a few
we may think in at times that 120 is quite a lot many of us
would long to be with half that number in these days where few
seem to gather and most reject the truth. And yet really 120
is still but a few. Out of all Jerusalem, out of
all the Jews at this time, out of all who could have received
Christ, could have known who he was according to the scriptures,
only 120 were gathered. But they were gathered, they
were saved. They were a people washed in
the blood of the Lamb of God. They had heard Him. They had
seen Him. They had heard the Gospel from
His lips. And now He having left, having
ascended unto glory, They waited in Jerusalem for the fulfilment
of the Father's promise unto them. They waited for the coming
of the Spirit of God, for the power of the Spirit of God in
the Gospel to come upon them, and for them to know that though
Christ is absent physically, as He's absent today physically,
that nevertheless He dwells in the midst of them by His Spirit. Here we see the Ecclesia gathered,
the early New Testament church. Of course the church had existed
before in the sense that there were those of faith in the Old
Testament and the Old Covenant who waited for the coming of
Christ. Anna Zacharias, around the time of his birth and obviously
the patriarchs years before. all members of his church, but
never gathered in the sense in which those in the New Testament
were. Never gathered with the old covenant
having been concluded, and the truth of Christ having been revealed,
his person having come, the sacrifice having been made, the spirit
having been given, never gathered in this sense. And yet here's
the people who gather and wait, for the coming of the Spirit
of God. Here's the people gathered with one accord, who continued
with one accord in prayer and supplication. People called out
by grace to go forth with the Spirit to preach the gospel to
all the earth, to the uttermost part of the earth, beginning
here at Jerusalem. In this book of Acts, we read
this phrase, with one accord, in the English translation, 11
times. 11 passages where we read of
people being gathered or doing or thinking together with one
accord. And of those 11 occurrences,
seven of them relate to the unity of the people of God. There are
four occurrences of that phrase, which relate to others, for example
those who turned on Stephen with one accord to stone him. But
there are seven occurrences relating to the people of God and their
unity in the gospel. In Acts 1.14 here we read that
they all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with
the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren. They are of one accord in continuing
in prayer and supplication. In Acts 2 verse 1, we read when
the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one
accord in one place. We read there of them being of
one accord in one place. They're gathered, not scattered,
but of one mind, in one place, waiting for the Spirit to descend
on that wonderful day of Pentecost. In chapter 2 and verse 46 we
read that they continuing daily with one accord in the temple
and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with
gladness and singleness of heart praising God and having favor
with all the people. They continued daily with one
accord in the temple a figure of their being in Christ in the
temple in Christ in the temple of his body that temple which
was broken and raised up again in three days physically they
went to the temple the designated place of worship in their day
but spiritually they gathered with one accord in Christ that
was where their one accord their unity stemmed from that they
were gathered in Christ together, breaking bread from house to
house with gladness and singleness of heart. In chapter 4 and verse
24, we read of a people lifting up
their voice unto God with one accord. They were let go, having
been arrested for preaching the gospel and they return unto their
own. And when they come with their
report of what the chief priests and elders had said unto them,
the others hear them. And as accompanied, the disciples
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 in them is, who by the mouth of thy servant David
has said, why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain
things? the kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. But 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 whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. 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. Yes, with one accord they praised
God that though they were persecuted for declaring the truth, They
praise God for what He had done in Christ. They praise God that
though man crucified the Son of God, that though all these
people raised up together to put Him to death, they thank
God that this was at His decree, for it accomplished not their
end, but His end, in that Christ should die as a substitute for
sinners, in that He should die to save those that hated him,
that he should die to shed his blood, that he may wash the sins
of his people, and that he might give them everlasting life. They
fought to do evil against him, but God meant it for good. And
with one accord, the disciples praised God and thanked him for
this, and prayed for the fervorance of the preaching of the gospel. that his servants may be given
boldness, and that that gospel may be preached in boldness,
and that it might have effects, that signs and wonders may be
done. Signs and wonders that people may be saved, that they
may hear, and that those who are in darkness might come to
see the light, those who are dead might live. They pray with
one accord for the preaching of the gospel. In Acts, chapter
8 and verse 6 we read of another occurrence we read of Philip
People were scattered abroad, and they went everywhere preaching
the word. And then Philip went down to
the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. And the people
with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake,
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits
crying with loud voice came out of many that were possessed with
them, and many taken with palsies, and that were lame were healed.
and there was great joy in that city. Yes, hear the prayer of
the disciples earlier that the gospel would go forth in boldness
is answered. The people are scattered throughout
the nations and they go everywhere preaching the word. Philip himself
goes down to Samaria and preaches Christ. And the effect of his
preaching is that the people who heard him with one accord
gave heed unto the things which Philip spake, because his preaching
was not in word only. He was not persuading their minds. He was not bringing something
intellectual. He was not simply twisting their
emotions. He was not simply trying to scare
them into following God by preaching about hell, though he would have
preached about hell. But the power in his preaching
was the power of the Gospel, which brought the conviction
of sin and brought the transformation. and this is testified to outwardly
at that time by the unclean spirits being sent forth from in the
midst of people and the palsies and lame being healed. Signs
and wonders accompanied the preaching of the gospel in these early
days to prove and to testify that the Lord was with his people
in the preaching of the gospel, that the death of Christ was
that which laid the foundation for the church to be built and
far from Christ and his gospel being put to death and silenced,
what it brought about was the preaching of the gospel by the
disciples whom he sent, whom the spirit filled, whom the spirit
sent forth And that gospel went forth in power, not just in Jerusalem,
but in the nations round about, unto the far corners of the earth.
And God testified outwardly with signs and wonders to the inward
power that that gospel would have to the end of the age. Not
only were people saved, through the washing away of their sins.
But to testify boldly to these things, signs and wonders were
performed in these days, that people would look on and say,
what is this? What power is this? It is the
power of God. And that sickness which was healed
outwardly was but a figure to testify of that sickness. which
was healed inwardly in all those who heard, all those who were
given ears to hear by the Spirit of God, all those to whom he
gave faith to look and to believe, and to hear the preaching of
Christ, which Philip preached unto them. Their people, with
one accord, gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, with
one accord. Here we hear of the hearing and
believing with one accord in the gospel. The hearing and believing
of the message of Christ as he is preached unto the people. And finally with regard to the
people of God in chapter 15 of Acts we read of their assembling
again. Chapter 15 And verse 25 tells
us of an assembly in Jerusalem when the gospel had gone forth
to the Gentiles by Paul and when much confusion had come in amongst
the Gentiles regarding the place of the law of God and whether
they as Gentiles should be keeping the law of God as the Jews had
done as commanded to them by Moses. And there's this gathering
in Jerusalem to decide what should be done. Should those who have
never been under the old covenant like the Jews be put under it? Should they be told to keep the
law of God as the Jews had done? And this council is called, this
conference, this assembly, in which the grace of God in his
gospel is defended. and in which the conclusion,
the unanimous conclusion, is that no other burden should be
put upon the Gentile believers than that they abstained from
meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled,
and from fornication. They were not to be put back
under law. They had been saved by the grace of the Gospel, like
the Jews who were believed on Christ in Jerusalem. And the
law and its purpose had been to show man that he was a sinner. And having shown him that he's
a sinner, it has no more to command the believer. Salvation is by
grace. And the people gathered in Jerusalem
here, Christ's church, unanimously stood up for grace over works. It seemed good unto us, being
assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with
our beloved Barnabas and Paul. Men that have hazarded their
lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And to command
them to lay no other burden upon those Gentile believers than
those things I've said. They were with one accord, they
were assembled with one accord. And they were united in that
assembly that salvation is by grace and grace alone. Seven occurrences in the Book
of Acts of the phrase of one accord with respect to the church,
the ecclesiae gathered or the people of God, those who come
to believe and they were gathered into the church. With one accord
they continue in prayer and supplication. With one accord they are gathered
in one place. With one accord they continue
daily in Christ in the temple, breaking bread from house to
house. With one accord they lift up their voice unto God, worshipping
and praising him. and praying for the fervorance
of the preaching of the gospel for that is what gathered them
that is what saved them and that is what sustains and builds up
the church with one accord they're brought to faith in the gospel
they believe and receive it when they hear christ preached unto
them and with one accord they are assembled assembled in the
church, assembled by grace, assembled in grace and they are with one
accord that the gospel is from start to finish by grace and
grace alone. seven occurrences of one accord,
summarizing the gathering of the Church of God, the gathering
of Christ's Ecclesia, what gathers it, what characterizes it, and
what it believes. It's gathered through the preaching
of Christ by his Gospel, it's gathered by grace, it's gathered
through faith in the Gospel in Christ. It's gathered in Christ,
it's united in Christ, it gathers in one place, it continues together
in one accord, it continues in union with God, it continues
in prayer and supplication, it continues in believing the gospel,
it continues in preaching the gospel. If we are to know what
characterizes the gathering of the church, the primary Central
characteristic is that the people are gathered where the gospel
of Christ is preached. That's what gathers them, that's
what keeps them, that's what they believe, that's what gives
them grace, that's what unites them in Christ. With one accord. This phrase,
with one accord, is the characteristic The essence of Christ's Ecclesia
is Church. It is one in Christ. It is not
divided. It is not, as we said last time,
a people who all do what is right in their own eyes. It is not
one assembly act in this way and another assembly act in that
way. It is not all varied according to culture or fancy. It is not
one people believe in this thing and another people believe in
that thing. It is not one assembly practicing this baptism and another
practicing that baptism or one assembly doing things this way
and another doing things that way. They are of one accord. They believe the same gospel.
The same gospel saves and gathers them. The same gospel adds to
the church. The same gospel saves the church.
The same gospel sustains the church. The same gospel is preached
in the church, wherever the church is gathered, whether it's twos
or threes, or 120s. It is of one accord. The believers in Christ, in Australia,
believe the same gospel. that his church do in England,
that his church do in Russia, and that his church do in America.
Wherever God's people are gathered, however far apart they may be,
However impossible it may seem that they should have heard the
same things from one another, they may have never met one another.
And yet the same gospel by God's grace and providence has come
unto them in their separate localities and brought them to believe on
the same Christ and the same truth, has washed them in the
same blood, has given them that same eternal life by the same
spirit. And though scattered physically,
in the unity of the Spirit of God in Christ, they are of one
accord. Let us conclude with seven brief
descriptions of the one accord in which God's people are united
in Christ in the church. Firstly, they are of one accord
in what they were They all of one accord testify that they
were all sinners, all children of wrath just as others, all
rebels against God, all depraved totally, all sheep having gone
astray, all desperate sinners with deceitful hearts, evil hearts,
Every child of God recognizes and knows what he was. He rejoices
that he's no longer that now, that life has come in, that he's
been given a new heart, that God has quickened him unto life.
But he is not ashamed to testify. He will not shy from owning up
to what he was. What he was shames him in the
sense that he hates what he was. And he hates what he still sees
of what he was in the flesh in which dwells in him. He's reminded
of it daily. But he will own that he was a
sinner through and through. And he owns that it's only grace
that plucked him out of the gutter. It's only the grace of God that
found him and delivered him and saved him. He wasn't seeking
God. He didn't make the right decision. He didn't do the right things. He owns that his works were filthy
rags, tatters, that everything he did and fought set him against
God. He knows he was a sinner. Because
every true child of God comes the same pathway. The Spirit
of God teaches them what they are. The Spirit of God convicts
them of sin. The Spirit of God breaks them. They're given a broken heart
and a contrite spirit. They're humble. They know they're
nothing before a holy and a righteous God. Do you? Can you with one
accord with every true believer say I am nothing? I am nothing. All that I am is in Christ now. All that is of any worth is what
Christ is in me. All that I am, all that I was
was but sin through and through. But Christ by grace found me. He brought the gospel to me.
He made me hear. He made me see. He plucked me
off the dung heap. He lifted me up and made me a
prince. He gave me life when once I was
dead in trespasses and sins. I am nothing. but he is all. My works are but filthy rags,
but his wondrous grace delivered me from my sins. Yes, God's people
with one accord know that they are sinners, saved by grace,
do they not? Secondly, they all of one accord
are brought by God the Spirit to believe in the truth. It is
God that gives them faith to believe. It is God that brings
the sound of the truth in the gospel to their ears. Everyone,
everyone, none knew the truth until God revealed it unto them.
None knows the truth until God opens their eyes to see it. None
hears the truth until God opens their ears to hear it. None has
faith, none believes the truth until God the Holy Spirit comes
upon them and takes a dead sinner and breathes life into that corpse. and makes him live and puts faith
in the heart to look and to believe on the name of the Son of the
Living God. They all with one accord are
brought to faith to believe in the truth. The truth, they don't
believe a lie. The Spirit gives them discernment
to know what is a lie, what is false, what is not the gospel,
what is not Christ. When they hear someone preach
a Christ which is not the Christ that they heard, they know he's
another. When they hear someone preach
a gospel that is not the gospel that saved them, they know it's
a counterfeit. But when they heard the truth,
their spirit witnesses with the Spirit that this is the truth,
this is the way, this is the life, this is Jesus Christ who
died in their place and washed them clean. Thirdly, they are
of one accord in Christ, having died with him, having been crucified
with him, washed in his blood, redeemed, ransomed, justified
by Him. They all have been crucified
with Him and they know it, they can look back like Paul does
in Galatians. Galatians 2 and they can look
back at their old man and they can rejoice that their old man
in Adam has been nailed to the tree. They can rejoice that what
they once were has been crucified. They can say gladly I through
the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. They know their old man has been
slain, they know the old body of sin has been nailed to the
tree, and they know that's the only way they would escape from
sin, the only way that they would know life was if the old man
was crucified and slain. They know they could never have
improved it. They have not simply cleansed
the old man and improved him, but he has been slain, he is
crucified. And through being crucified with
Christ, when Christ died, they dying with him, were washed by
his blood, redeemed and justified, that they might rise again with
him. For fourthly, with one accord
they own that they live, and they reign with him. rising with
him from the grave in everlasting life. They have been delivered
from that which held them in the grave, delivered from sin
and sins, delivered from the judgment of God against their
sins, delivered from the wrath of God against what they were
in the old man Adam's sin. They've been delivered from it.
And being delivered, they are risen with Christ alive. They have eternal life. God has
breathed life into their souls and with one accord they say
that by grace God spake unto me in his gospel I was dead in
the grave like Lazarus and one came unto me like unto the son
of God and he called out unto me come forth and life was breathed
into my heart and I lived and I came forth. Fifthly, with one
accord, as members of his body, being born again of the Spirit,
they are united together in him. They all know that they are members
of Christ's body, of His body. They are in Him and He is in
them. They are part of Him. The Spirit
has given them life. They're born again of God the
Spirit and He has united them in Christ. They may be many,
but in Christ they are one. They are arms and legs. ears
and hands and feet of his body they are part of him the union
is so close and they know it's close for they know their communion
with him each and every day they know that he is their life they
know that he is their all they are members of his body one in
Christ. Sixthly they are of one accord
in their pilgrimage here below, in their pilgrimage here below.
Now this is of course the gathering of the church and the pathway
of the church, whether gathered in congregations or whether isolated
as ones and twos, looking unto Christ, following him, listening
to his gospel, seeking to follow him. Wherever the pathway, They
are of one accord in their pilgrimage. They journey through this wilderness. Whether scattered or gathered,
they are of one accord, of one mind. They all have their gaze
set upon Christ their Saviour. They all as sheep look unto the
Great Shepherd, the Good Shepherd that leads them. They all feed
upon His Gospel. They all drink of that heavenly
water eternal everlasting water of life in him they all eat of
the bread of life which is Christ which is in his gospel broken
for them when they meet they meet as a people to gather in
his presence They long to know His presence in the midst by
His Spirit through His Gospel. They meet to hear His Gospel
and in hearing His Gospel, Christ is presented to the gaze of faith
and faith is strengthened and the heart leaps and joys in Christ
their Saviour. They have their unity in that
message, in Him. They gather and they know His
voice in the midst. They come to hear His voice.
They come to know His presence with them. They long to know
His presence with them. they long to walk with Him. Whatever
the trials that are brought their way, whatever the hardship, whatever
the persecution, whatever the illness, whatever the opposition
of man, whatever is in their pilgrimage, they suffer with
one accord. They suffer knowing that He,
their Saviour, Christ, suffered before them. That no suffering
they can suffer is as bad as His suffering. And they suffer
knowing that their brethren suffer with them. They know that the
persecution they receive from the world around and from Satan's
rage against them is the common lot of every child of God. They
are with one accord and they find solace in their suffering
that they are not suffering anything that is not common to their brethren. They know that they suffer as
one people and they know that they suffer in Christ and they
know that their suffering is but for a moment and it worketh
for them an eternal weight of glory. They know that God will
sustain and help them, they know that no opposition of Satan or
hell can prevail against Christ and his church. They know that
nothing can destroy them and they know that their Saviour
Christ will never leave them. nor depart from them but he is
always with them. And finally as they journey with
one accord they have their gaze set upon that eternal glory to
come. They know that they will be all
of one accord in that day in which they enter eternal glory
when they are gathered around the throne of the Lamb of God.
They know that that day comes when they will sit there with
one accord worshipping and praising Him forevermore, when all sickness
and suffering is brought to an end, when all the loneliness
and isolation of their pilgrimage below is brought to a conclusion,
when finally whether they were able to gather as one or two
in this world or a hundred or two hundred when finally they
will gather with a countless multitude and where there will
be no more sin, no more strife, no more of the flesh coming into
the gatherings of God's people, no more opposition both from
within or without, no more sin to cause them to stumble, no
more doubts or fears but they will be perfect righteous in
Christ reigning and living with him forevermore all tears washed
away all suffering ended all glory forevermore oh what a day
oh what a day what a hope set before us what a hope and what
a tremendous description of God's people in this world of his church
A sevenfold, a perfect description. A sevenfold description in the
book of Acts. That the people were with one
accord. Why? Not because of any of their
doing, not because of their wisdom or their understanding. but because
of God's wisdom in saving them through his gospel, because of
that unity which he brought in, because of that gospel which
saved them and united them in Christ, because of that gospel
they believed when it was preached, because of that assembling by
God's power, because God reigned in the midst of them and worked
in the midst of them and built his church and made it one. So too today he builds his church
and where it is built it is built by the same gospel of free and
sovereign grace, the same gospel, the same power, the same power
which saved Paul, the same power which can save you and me, the
same gospel that builds and gathers, the same gospel which unites
sinners saved by grace as one in Christ, as those brought to
life by the Spirit as members of Christ's body, as those who
have faith given to them by God, as those who walk in a common
pilgrimage, as those who gather to hear and to love the sound
of the truth of the gospel, and as those who are heading to the
same destination. where they will all with one
accord worship the Lamb of God. one accord. As Paul says in Philippians
chapter 2. If there be therefore any consolation
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be
like-minded, having the same love being of one accord, of
one mind. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this
mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in
the form of God fought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. wherefore God also
have highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things
in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. Praise God. Amen.