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Salt + Light Community is a SOMA church plant in the heart of Fort Worth, TX. Here you’ll find teaching and discussions from our gatherings on Sundays.
Speaker 3: Morning.
Steve said it.
Steve said that, uh, what
they get to do in DNAâ¦
Yeah, Steve preached for
us already, so here we go.
Um, what they get to do in DNA is feels a
little bit like what the early church did.
And so we, we didn't know exactly what
all of our DNA leaders were gonna say,
but, but it's a, a sweet thing to get
to see what the early church did right
after Steve explains that, like, that's
a lot of what the DNU groups are doing.
Um, 'cause that's the kind of space
that looks a lot more like history's
first church, uh, than even this or, or
larger Sunday gatherings with preaching
like this and that kind of stuff.
And so way to, way to, uh, to, to
thread that needle for us already, sir.
I'll, I'll pay you the big bucks later
since that's what you're, that's what
you're in it for anyway, so that's right.
Um, if we haven't met, my name's Ben, and
I get to be part of the servant leadership
team here with Salt & Light crew.
Um, and we are starting our fall.
Um, I know it's not,
like, officially fall.
Definitely doesn't feel like fall.
We're gonna pretend it's fall.
So it's after Labor Day.
So we're gonna start our fall, and
I'm gonna ask you the question.
I would love for you to shout out
kind of what your gut response is.
What does it mean to be
devoted to something, someone?
What, what images or themes or
definitions come to mind when
you hear the word devoted?
Ready?
Go.
Consistent.
Consistent.
Loyalty.
Loyalty.
Passion.
Several people said a lot
of things at the same time.
Committed.
Passionate.
Passionate.
Yeah.
What else?
Giving of your time.
Giving of your time.
Yeah, there's some sacrifice.
Singular focus.
Singular focus.
Surrender.
Surrender.
That's good.
All right.
So, so we have, we have this
working image in our mind, right?
Devoted is maybe not the most
commonly used term today, and yet
it's vital as we kick off this fall.
'Cause, 'cause the most common image
for this idea of devotion, and, and you
captured it, this very well, it's, it's
the thing you shape your life around.
If you're devoted to something,
then everything else gets-
Speaker 4: Devoted to it.
That'sâ¦
It's a priority.
It's, it takes sacrifice.
You're willing to give up
other things for that thing.
And so people today are
devoted to lots of things, yes?
And sometimes we feel, like, the tension
of, of being asked to devote ourselves to
too many things, to way too many things.
And some of these are good, but people are
devoted to family, to kids, to their job.
People are devoted to security
or finance or fulfillment of
whatever sort that means for you.
People are devoted to friends.
People are devoted to their health.
People are devoted to entertainment or
some hobby or politics or some cause.
Uh, people are devoted to their phones.
People are devoted to
religion or relationships.
Fair?
Like, people are devoted to
lots of different things.
And so I might ask, you don't
have to share, share this one out
loud, but what are you devoted to?
If you had to say, like, "This is,
this is what the rest of my life flows
around," what are you devoted to?
Uh, now Salt & Light is, is a church.
Surprise, we're a church,
if you didn't know.
Um, and, and so we're starting this
fall, we're kind of kicking off this
'26, '27 school year, uh, by looking
at the first church in history.
We're gonna ask the questions,
what did that church do?
How did that church act?
And then we're gonna
ask, why does it matter?
Why does it matter what some
old ancient Israeli church did?
And, and, and here's
what you need to know.
We're not, we're not looking at the
first church in history to say, well,
let's just, you know, copy and paste
that exact thing that they did then.
Um, every church has to be
exactly like that church.
That's, that's not what we're saying.
We're not saying, let's get back to the
first century practices, 'cause in many
ways, that just frankly wouldn't work.
Culture is vastly different.
Technology's changed.
For, for many reasons, we couldn't
go, "Let's do exactly what they did,
exactly how they did it," in practice.
Fair?
Um, the goal is not nostalgia.
The goal is not kind of good old days.
It's not why we're doing this.
Instead, we wanna go a step
deeper into those practices.
We wanna look at the first church
in history and ask, okay, what, what
principles are true of God's people then?
And, uh, and ask the question,
are they true of us today?
So, so some practices might stay the
same, but others will be vastly different,
and yet, throughout history and across
the world, the principles that God
created His people for and calls His
people to, the principles are the same.
So we're gonna ask what, what are
the principles in the first century
church, and are they true of us today?
What are the, what are the values, the,
the, the, the methods, the purposes
that undergird God's design for
His people, His church, His family?
And then are we, as one church among
many, in one city among many, are we
each fulfilling and following Jesus
in the way that God designed us to?
C- 'cause here's, here's
why we're doing this.
The, the first century and the
21st century, God calls His
church to be counter-cultural.
Do you believe that?
Like, when people look at
God's people, they should
think we're a little bit weird.
Or if you don't like that
word, call it unique.
They should think we're unique or weird.
The, the goals, the things that God
invites us to devote ourselves to are
not the same as the world around us.
And so for just a few weeks, we're gonna
look at d- six, six different things
and ask the question, how did God design
His people, His church to operate?
How did, what did God design His people,
His church to do, and why does it matter?
And, and the key word that's
gonna go through this whole
series is the word together.
'Cause as, as was already expressed,
like, like people need people.
That's not just true of Christians.
But in this counter-cultural,
weird, unique calling that God
gives us, we, we need each other.
So that's what we're gonna
walk through for a few weeks.
So, uh, let me pray for us.
Father, as we jump into this, Lord,
would you, uh, stretch us in ways
that you would want to stretch us?
Uh, would you encourage us in ways
that you would want to encourage us?
Uh, Lord, would you help
us to see more of you?
And, and, and this has been my big prayer.
Like, God, would you help us to avoid
any, like, sense of empty obligation
or just have to or this kind of stuff,
and instead would you, uh, would you
help us to see what you created us to be
and, and what that means for each of us.
So would you meet us and you teach
us today in each week of this series.
It's in your Son's name.
Amen.
Guys, I wanna read this text
again, and we're gonna base
all six weeks on this text.
It's the last six verses
of Acts chapter 2.
And as I read, Nicole already read
it, but, but pay attention, and
just I want you to ask what is
counter-cultural, what is weird,
what is unique, uh, about the church
compared to the rest of the culture,
whether first century or today, okay?
So what's weird?
What's counter-cultural?
What's unique?
"They devoted themselves to the apostles'
teaching and the fellowship, to the
breaking of bread and the prayers.
And awe came upon every soul
and many wonders and signs were
being done through the apostles.
And all who believed were together
and had all things in common."
Excuse me.
"And they were selling their possessions
and belongings and distributing the
proceeds to all as any had need.
And day by day, attending the temple
together and breaking bread in their
homes, they received their food with
glad and generous hearts, praising God
and having favor with all the people.
And the Lord added to their number day
by day those who were being saved."
All right, what sounds counter-cultural?
What sounds weird?
What sounds unique compared to
the world around the church?
Yeah, yeah.
If we sell something,
what do we do with it?
We distribute the proceeds to me.
So the, the, the former
owner gets the proceeds.
Yeah, so they would sell things
and then they would distribute the,
the proceeds to those who had need.
Great.
What else?
Yeah, had everything in common.
Yeah.
So it wasn't my house, it was the
house that God gave me for us.
So- someone in the room I'm
sure just went like, "Ugh."
That sounds counterculture,
that sounds weird.
Signs and wonders?
Signs and wonders.
Yeah.
Also compared to some culture and
even some, uh, within the Christian
culture, that sounds weird.
Unique, countercultural.
What else?
Speaker 5: And they will do
Would have been going to see sports,
athletics, things like that, not
attending the temple together
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Yeah.
And we'll even come back to this.
We can hear, in our world, temple
and homes and think big church
or Sundays and small groups.
That's not actually why
they were at the temple.
Christian worship didn't
happen at a temple.
We'll come back to that.
So I wanna dwell on whatâ¦
the, the, the one word that
makes all this possible.
You're right, and there's more
we could dive into as far as what
looked unique, what looked weird,
what looked countercultural.
But there's one word that maked
this, that made this unique,
countercultural, weird life possible.
Can you guess what that word is?
Devoted.
Devoted.
They devoted themselves.
You're right.
And then also together.
Yes, you're right.
So, so, so similar to the way that
we would define devotion, the way
the Bible uses the word, and I love
this, this kind of, uh, translation,
um, it was, it was referencing to
something that people would not quit.
To be devoted to something means
you would not quit that thing.
And, and that justâ¦
I don't know, that, that adds a
little bit of weight as I read that.
Like, they would not quit
gleaning from God's word together.
They would not quit pla- praying together.
Maybe playing together as well.
They would not quit sharing meals
or caring for each other's needs.
They would not quit selling stuff and,
and, and distributing the proceeds.
They would not quit witnessing
to their friends about Jesus.
They wouldn't quit doing it,
even when it got hard, even
when they faced persecution.
If you read the rest of the Book of
Acts, you know this was not an easy
culture to, to talk about Jesus in.
Even when they were told, "Quit or die,"
and when it looked countercultural or
unique or weird, they couldn't quit.
That's devotion, right?
That's a picture of
following Jesus together.
A- and so this just merely begs the
question, and again, I've been praying
that this would not come across as a
guilt trip question, but it's also okay if
it's an honest or uncomfortable question.
If we already asked,
"What are you devoted to?"
Then, then we also have to ask, what
things would cause you to quit Jesus?
What things would cause
you to, to, to quit on God?
To, to displace Him such that something
else takes the priority of your life?
Like, what other things pull you
away from a devotion to God's word?
What distractions keep you
from being devoted to praying?
When times get hard, d- does that push
you p- toward community and, and toward
asking for help, which is countercultural
and very uncomfortable today?
Or, or, or when things get hard,
does that actually push you away
and into your hidey-hole and into
isolation and away from community?
When God opens the door for you
to share the good news, talk about
Jesus, display some of His promises
or goodness to others, does your
devotion lead you into those spaces
or does fear lead you away from them?
Those questions make sense?
What, what causes us to quit?
Again, this isn't a, a guilt question.
It's, it's just an introspective question.
It, it's a way to define what you're
truly devoted to, 'cause most,
most people who follow Jesus would
say, "Yeah, I'm devoted to God."
That fair?
"I'm devoted to God."
And what, what they mean by that is like,
"He has some fit somewhere in my life.
The things of Jesus, the Church,
have, have some place in my life."
But, but follow just a
little bit of logic with me.
If the early church did these things
daily, regularly, consistently, if,
if they, if they wouldn't quit, even
under the threat, then we can look
at them and say they were devoted.
Logic?
Good?
Their time, their community.
They, they, they paid attention to Jesus.
They paid attention to the life together.
They paid attention for, for the
life that God had designed them to.
This was their top priority.
But if that's true, then the
opposite must also be true.
If, if fear of the authorities, or
if whatever my, my extended family
is going to think of me, or if my, my
work gets in the way, if my kid pulls
me away from community and Jesus and
mission, then by definition, those
things would take the place of devotion.
And God and community and mission,
those, those things get displaced by
other priorities, by other devotions
And so similar today, if, if there's other
things pulling us away from the things
that God says these are best, like the
invitation that God has into, into life
with Him, and with others, and for Him.
A, a life that, as Nicole said, is, is,
is, is formed by the Spirit and guided
by God's story, and known as God's
family, and focused on God's mission.
If there are other things that pull us
away from, from the fullness of life that
Jesus invites you into, and cause you
to quit the things that God created you
for, then, then just pure logicallyâ¦
P- pure logically is not
a good s- English phrase.
Purely logically, pureâ¦
Hmm.
Now I'm not gonna be able to do it.
Logically, that must mean the following.
If all those other things pull us away
from the things that God calls us to,
logically it must mean we're more devoted
to those things than Jesus and community,
and the life God designed you for
And, and so that's, that's the f- the
theme of today, is just simply an, an open
question of going, what are, what are you
devoted to more than the life that Jesus
made you for, the life God made you for?
What fills your time and priorities
and, and displaces the other things?
What are you devoted to more than
Jesus and community and mission?
And I'll go first.
Um, many days of the week I find myself
more devoted to 10 extra minutes of
sleep or to catching up on whatever's
going on in the news briefings
And then I feel the pressure to, like,
jump in and do, like, a full day's work.
I'm, I'm devoted to those things more
than I am sitting before my household
wakes up and chaos starts to happen
and sitting with the word and prayer.
Like, I'm more devoted
to those other things.
I want those other things more,
and so those things get displaced.
Uh, I can be more devoted to, uh, internal
monologues and thoughts, and I can look
like I'm present on the outside, and yet,
like, the quiet of, of the inside of my
mind is always going and going and going.
So that pulls me away from
being fully present with people.
I can be more devoted to saving money
than sharing the resources God gave me.
I can fear people's responses to sharing
the good news and let that pull me away
from obeying Jesus and talking about Him
That's true in me.
That's true in me most days, many days.
Those are some of the things
That I'm more devoted to than, than
the fullness of life that Jesus
tells me that I'm invited into
And you don't have to respond
out loud, but do you resonate
with anything like that?
Like what are, what are
you more devoted to?
than the things of Jesus.
And, and, and as I reflect on my own
easily distracted, easily displaced,
non-devoted self, the conclusion
I come to, like, it does, it d- it
doesn't take threats and persecution
and urgent things to pull me away
from Jesus and community and mission.
Like, it, it just takes small things.
Are you the same?
Um, a woman named Corrie ten Boom, who
was a, a Christian who devoted, I'll
use that word intentionally, she devoted
her life to saving Jews, uh, from
the, from the Nazis in World War II.
Um, she put it like this.
She said, "If the devil can't make
you bad, he'll make you busy."
It's worth repeating.
If the devil can't make you
bad, he'll make you busy.
And man, like when I read that,
man, it seems like the devil's
doing a, just fine with a lot
of followers of Jesus in the US.
A lot of us just find
ourselves to be too busy.
There are too many things
pulling at our time.
Too many things say,
"No, I'm your priority.
No, I'm what matters most.
No, de- be, be devoted to me.
If you do this, then your
kid will dot, dot, dot.
If you do this, you will dot, dot, dot.
If you climb this, then you willâ¦"
Right?
The siren call of devotion is loud
'cause we find ourselves to be too busy
for Jesus and community and mission
And, and thus kind of the, the concept
of church, which part of what we're
talking about, the first century church,
the church today, what did they do?
Why does it matter?
What are the principles that, that
God calls all of His people into?
But, but, but in, in that vein, in the,
the multiple priorities, easily displaced,
too busy for Jesus and community and
mission mindset, in that world, the,
the concept of church in the US is
often kind of reduced to, to a service.
Or, or to a, to a group that you're
called to attend at a set time.
Like, that's an organizational
view of the church.
There's a set time, a set
place, a set group of people.
Like, that's, that's thinking about
church like an organization with
obligations more than what the first
century church was, which was an,
a, a beautiful spiritual family.
A deeply messy group of folks who would
give to and receive from and belong to
each other, not just in the hour and a
half where they're studying Romans on a
Friday morning for the entire year, haha.
Not just for an hour and a half on a
Sunday morning, or for some of you,
like an hour on a Sunday morning
Like, the life that Jesus
calls you to is a life.
A life together that Jesus
calls us to is a life together.
And, and church can just get reduced to
this, this little, little time block,
this little organizational time block.
Spiritual things can be engaged
as, like, half-hearted obligation.
Just, we live in one of the,
the only cities in the US where,
like, being a Christian is still,
like, neutral to positive-ish.
At least Judeo-Christian values are.
That's, that's less true almost
everywhere else in the US
And so we can just kind of assume that
this is some of the water that we swim in.
That's, that's less and less true,
but like doing church things is
part of what's expected of us.
So we, we do them 'cause
that's part of what we do.
We do it 'cause it's kind of
just half-hearted obligation
more than out of a heart of sincerity
and gratitude and commitment.
And so we have to ask, is that,
is that the picture of devotion?
Verse 46, if we play on the
devotion, gives us a glimpse of
the posture that the first century
church did these things through.
It's as they devoted themselves
to the things of God, they did
all these things with what?
Glad and generous hearts.
And, and again, like, it's just worth
asking as we kick off this year,
like, is that your posture toward
Jesus and community and, and mission?
Glad and generous, or I do this because
I'm supposed to, or it's part of the
tradition, or it's what my family
does, or it's what's expected of me
A few weeks ago, uh, David and I
were even talking in the back just
about the, the concept of, of the,
the autodraft giving kind of thing.
Um, this is not a sermon on
money, but just like, like,
like autodraft giving's weird.
Like, it, it keeps it regular, like
it's, it's helpful, and yet, like a
lot of the way the Bible talks about
giving in the scriptures is like to
be sacrificial and to be generous
and to be thoughtful, and autodraft
giving's like out of sight, out of mind.
We don't even know exactly when
it's gonna hit kind of thing, and
it's, it's a little bit like a bill.
Like, that's a weird view of, of giving
I'm, I'm, I'm not offering a fix for this.
This is just kind of the, the,
the, the world and the culture
of, of church versus kind of this
devoted and glad and, and generous.
It's just kind of there
for a lot of folks.
And, and, and maybe not for you, but,
but, but for folks that you interact
with or engage, like spiritual
things are just kind of there.
They, they fit.
There's a devotion to something
spiritual, but it kind of fits in
this one slot among other slots
or this kind of stuff, and this is
Just, I'm just trying to, to, to call out
things that are true in our culture today
And yes, life looks different in
the 21st century US than it did
in the 1st century in Israel.
But in every culture across the world
and in every period throughout history,
time has been limited, and we can
easily look back and be like, "Well,
they weren't nearly as busy as we did.
They don't have nearly the technology
that we do," kind of stuff.
But, but for their concept of time and
the technology they did have, for every
culture around the world, time is limited
and distraction abounds and, and multiple
voices try to pull people's attention.
And so in every culture
across the world and every era
throughout history, the concept of
devotion boils down to a choice.
Boils down to a choice.
Making intentional choices.
May- maybe I would say it like
this: You never drift into
being devoted to something.
You always row toward that thing.
Is that fair?
Like, you never drift into something
becoming the priority of your life.
You- you're, you're rowing.
You're making intentional
choices to pursue that thing.
And, and so again, like, just in the
world of asking questions today, are you
rowing toward Jesus and community and
mission and the life that God called you
to, or are you drifting away from it?
And then we have to ask the
question, why does it matter?
Why does it even matter?
Um, again, we're a church, and
every church should exist for Jesus.
Hard stop.
But a church is only made up of people,
which means that God's people are
also created to exist f- for Jesus.
Like, God calls you to be salt and light,
not just when you're gathered here on
a Sunday for a couple hours, and not
just when you're in a, a DNA group or
joining Alpha, um, or not just when you're
having an, one intentional conversation.
The reason we named our church Salt and
Light Community is that's who we believe
Jesus has called and created you to be.
Every gathering on a Sunday, we send
you out saying you are the salt of the
earth and you are the light of the world.
And so as you go, be that
Our, our church's whole mission is,
is to, to make disciples of Jesus by
seeking His kingdom in everyday life.
And, and if, if the, the devotion to
God and the things of Jesus kinda just
set up on our shelves where they fit
kind of on a Sunday morning and kind
of over here on a Wednesday night or
whatever else, or the, the auto-draft
kind of world of, of Christianity,
like, that's, that's not even making
disciples of anything in everyday life.
And yet, what God sent His people to is to
be devoted to each other and to be devoted
to Him, and to be devoted to displaying
and declaring the good news of Jesus.
Making disciples of Jesus by seeking
His kingdom in everyday life isn't
just a church's mission statement.
This is what we believe we're
called to and created for
And not just the few of us who
stand up here or serve on a Sunday.
Like, this is the life that God
has given all of His people.
Do you believe that?
We view discipleship as being
with Jesus and becoming like
Him and doing what He did.
None of that has an organizational focus.
Your spiritual life isn't measured
by how many times you show up to
your DNA group and check a box.
It's not gathering scented- centered.
Being with Jesus, becoming like
Jesus, doing what He did, doing that
together, that's all relational.
That- that- that's a, that's
a, a whole life devotion
Listen, everything else
we'll see this fall,
Speaker: is not something we conjure
up or not something we initiate.
Where does our devotion
toward Jesus start?
It starts with his devotion toward us
Jesus alone was fully devoted,
first to God, and then to you.
He fully devote him- devoted himself
to his Father and to the community and
mission that his Father sent him on.
Only Jesus was fully devoted to
the point of death to see his
Father's plan play out and to bring
you into relationship with God.
And so again, when we say church is
not some organization, it's because
any church, the local church and the,
the, the global church, capital C
Church, is a God-designed, Spirit-formed
family following Jesus together
because He brought you into that
God-designed, Spirit-formed family.
Do you believe that?
We wrap up every Sunday teaching
by taking communion, and even that
word, communion, reflects this truth.
Comm, community, communication,
this kind of thing.
Comm means, uh, comm means together,
and then union means united, unity.
Anyone who's in Christ is always
welcome at these tables because
we're saying we are one together.
That's what communion is.
It's saying as a community, as a, a
body, as a spiritual family, we are
united around the things of Jesus.