Lesson Two
Gather

Pastor Caleb Combs

The gathering of the church is a special time. It brings people from all walks of life: various ages, backgrounds, races, and experiences together to glorify the name above all names, Jesus. In many ways, our gatherings give us a glimpse of what heaven will be like.

I remember when a familiar Christian song came on while I was listening to the radio. As the song progressed, different verses and choruses were sung in different languages. I’ll admit, it sounded a little clunky, as languages don’t always mix smoothly in a song. But there was something beautiful happening underneath the music. People from different cultures, languages, and backgrounds were lifting up the name of Jesus.

This is just a glimpse of the beauty of the Church, but there is also a tension: everyone who gathers together is broken, including you. We all come carrying different experiences, different struggles, different sins, different personalities, and different expectations. Some of us had a great week. Some of us had a terrible week. Some walked through the doors excited to worship, while others barely made it through the doors. Yet, we gather around the same truth: that we are sinners who have been forgiven by a Savior who has redeemed us.

Unfortunately, because people are people, we have a tendency to add prerequisites to the gathering. We can begin to think:

You should dress like us.

You should worship like us.

You should listen to our kind of music.

You should sit where we sit.

You should be our age.

You should look like us.

You should vote like us.

You should have your life together.

And suddenly, what Jesus intended to be a beautiful gathering of redeemed people becomes a place where people feel like they have to “qualify” to belong.

Acts chapter nine gives us a fascinating picture of the early church wrestling with exactly this kind of tension. We see the early Christians afraid of Paul. Acts 9:26 tells us, “And when [Paul] had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.” You have to understand what these believers knew about Saul. He wasn’t simply a new guy walking into church; He had been the one persecuting them! He participated in the arrests and imprisonments of Christians, even approving their deaths, and now He walks into Jerusalem and says, “I’m one of you.” Can you imagine being in that room? Their fear wasn’t completely irrational.

1. Why do you think the believers had such a difficult time believing Paul had really changed?

2. Have you ever struggled to believe that someone had genuinely changed? Why is it sometimes difficult to give people a second chance?

Paul’s story reminds us that nobody is beyond the reach of God’s grace. Think about the person you believe is least likely to follow Jesus. Paul would have been near the top of the list, but God saved him. The Gospel is powerful because it doesn’t simply make bad people better. It makes dead people alive. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Paul didn’t simply turn over a new leaf. He encountered Jesus and Jesus changed him.

3. Why is it dangerous for Christians to decide who is “too far gone” for God’s grace?

4. Are there people or groups of people you instinctively have a harder time welcoming?

In Acts 9:27 we get one of the most beautiful verses in the story: “But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.” Everybody else was backing away, yet Barnabas stepped toward him. Barnabas didn’t ignore the past. He didn’t pretend Paul hadn’t done terrible things. Instead, Barnabas had apparently heard Paul’s testimony and believed that God’s grace had genuinely changed him. He became a bridge between Paul and the church.

Barnabas is one of the great encouragers in Scripture. His name means “son of encouragement.” He saw something in Paul that others couldn’t yet see. He believed the Gospel had changed him. Because Barnabas was willing to stand beside Paul, the church eventually received him. Think about what might have happened if Barnabas hadn’t stepped forward. God used Barnabas to help the church recognize what God was doing.

Paul later wrote in Romans 15:7, “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” This is a powerful standard. We receive people because Christ received us. We don’t welcome people because they have earned it; we welcome them because we didn’t earn it either.

5. What qualities did Barnabas demonstrate that helped Paul become accepted by the church?

6. Who is someone in your school, workplace, neighborhood, or church who might need you to be a “Barnabas” for them?

This brings us back to our opening question: Who gets to gather? The answer is not, “People who have everything figured out, people who dress correctly, people who have never messed up, people who look like us.” The church is a gathering of redeemed sinners. The ground is level at the foot of the cross.

The successful person needs Jesus.

The struggling person needs Jesus.

The rich person needs Jesus.

The poor person needs Jesus.

The person who grew up in church needs Jesus.

The person who walked through the doors for the first time needs Jesus.

The person who has been following Christ for fifty years needs Jesus.

We all come to the same place for the same reason. Notice something important in the passage. Paul did not compromise good prerequisites and major truths for unity’s sake. Acts 9:28-30 says, “So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.” The Hellenists had rejected Jesus as the Messiah, and that was something to confront.

This is an important distinction; not every standard is wrong. I want to highlight a few good prerequisites while also pointing out a few bad ones as well.

Good prerequisites

• Faith in Jesus

• Biblical truth

• Repentance

• We are saved by grace through faith

• Heaven and Hell

• Jesus is God

• Submission to God’s perfect Word

Bad prerequisites

• A certain socioeconomic status

• A particular style of clothing

• A preferred music style

• A specific personality

• A certain race or culture

• Political agreement

• Having a perfect past

• Looking like everyone else

7. What are some “prerequisites” churches or Christians sometimes create that Jesus never created?

8. How can we maintain biblical truth and holiness without becoming people who make others feel like they have to earn their way into the family of God?

9. What would change in our church gatherings if we became more concerned about helping others encounter Jesus than getting everything the way we prefer it?

The goal isn’t diversity for diversity’s sake or unity for unity’s sake. The goal is to honor and glorify Jesus. When Jesus is at the center, people who would never naturally be together can become family. That’s the miracle of the church. Galatians 3:28 says, “For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Our differences don’t disappear; they simply become secondary to our identity in Christ.

10. When you think about the way you participate in the church, are you more like someone who builds bridges or someone who builds barriers? What is one specific thing you could do this week to help someone else feel welcomed, loved, and pointed towards Jesus?

Every church needs “Barnabases.” People who see someone standing alone and walk toward them. People who hear someone’s story before judging their past. People who believe God’s grace can change people. People who don’t make Christianity harder than Jesus made it. People who understand that “I am here because of grace, so I should extend grace.” The church isn’t a country club for people who have figured life out; it’s a family of broken people who have been rescued by Jesus. When we gather with our different ages, races, backgrounds, personalities, stories, and experiences, we get a little glimpse of heaven. Not because we’re all the same, but because we are all gathering around the same King.