Culture of the Kingdom
Today’s Topic: Four Elements of Kingdom Culture: Introduction
Scripture: Acts 2:41,42
Greetings Kingdom Citizens
When we talk about Kingdom culture we need to know or examine the elements that make it up because without knowing what it is made up of or how we are to conduct ourselves, this leads to what we have today, which is chaos and man’s doctrines calling it God’s. But let’s go back to Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 because these four elements are given and they are vital for us to examine. In Acts 2:41 we see that the 3,000 souls were just saved at Jerusalem now verse 42 tells you immediately what they did. Now when you come into the Kingdom how do you know what to do? How do you know how to conduct yourself? Well someone must instruct you who has been there. Now the first century apostles had the privilege to walk with the Lord but He instructed them in the way they should go but also the things they need to know so they can disciple others. Let’s look at the four elements to the culture of the Kingdom in Acts 2:42:
“And they (3,000 saved souls) continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
So the four cultural imperatives of the Kingdom is:
1. The Apostles’ Doctrine
2. Fellowship
3. Breaking of Bread
4. Prayers
Now notice in order for them to do this, they did not have to go to various conferences or conventions. They did not need a prominent and famous speaker to entice them. The major problem we have in the church is the church has become a business. Now of course we should be stewards over the tithes and offerings of God but what I am saying is the people of the church have become consumers and the preachers have become the marketers. Instead of preaching and teaching the concepts of the Kingdom and exemplifying Kingdom culture many preachers today look for a marketing scheme to draw people in. They survey the market and see what the people like so they can do it and draw people in. The people in turn then are enticed by this and become the consumer. So as long as the church is offering this thing that they like, they will continue to attend and be members. Now if you have taken a business class then you know once you got them in, you have to keep them. Well how do you keep someone who you brought in a certain way? You either keep offering the thing or you play to the emotions of people and make them indebted to you. What do you mean? If you want to make someone indebted to you someone would say, “If you donate to this then when we build it, you will be able to….” So in the persons mind they give in the hope or expectation of seeing the thing come to reality and they stick around to see it. So the preachers play to the market to make the people consumers. This is not what the culture of the Kingdom is about. But if this is the case then we have many people who really are unpastored. See we think that people are coming to the church for information and that is far from the truth. They can stay at home and click a mouse and browse millions of websites for information. What people come to church for is for relational fellowship. Now is information important? Of course it is!
In the early church information was a critical function but it was just not anybody’s point of view. It was the apostle’s doctrine and we will start talking about that in the next set of messages. But this generation is on a constant quest for truth. Now we know in the Kingdom, Jesus is the very essence of truth. Our truth comes from Jesus. Jesus sends Holy Spirit to us. Now Holy Spirit sends this information and brings it to the Body of Christ through what is called the Apostolic.
In the next few messages we will look at the first of the four imperatives of the Kingdom, the Apostles’ Doctrine.
At the Father’s Service,
Elder Calvin Calhoun Jr.
