The early church was on fire for God. In a devotion written by Pastor Steve, we look at what they did which we could emulate.
Nuggets
- Choose to study God’s Word.
- Share the lives of others at more than a superficial level.
- Share meals with others.
- Pray for others.
In many places in the world, there exists dysfunctional churches. They are dying or almost dead. They don’t understand what is causing their numbers to dwindle and they don’t know how to revitalize the church.
I do not consider myself an expert in such things; however, I do know that the Bible is our guide in all things, and Jesus is our example to follow.
At this point in the history, the church was just starting out. It was brand new. They likely did not hear anyone say, “Hey, we never did church like this before!” because they hadn’t!
If they had been to temple before in their lives, they were used to something completely different before Jesus died and rose again. All of this was brand new. So, they had to learn all of what they were going to do from the Apostles as they went along.
I think we can see outlined for us in this passage of Scripture four things that they did that produced a healthy, vital church. I think that these same four things apply to the body of Christ today.
Let's Put It into Context
Devotions in the Pastor Steve Sermon Series
Devoting Themselves
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Ac. 2: 42 ESV)
Notice how the verse points out that they DEVOTED themselves to these four things. Looking at the meaning of the word devoted, we see that it means either 1) very loving or loyal or 2) given over to the display, study, or discussion of.
I believe that most of us would believe that number two is probably the way that devoted is meant in this passage of Scripture. However, I want to point out that much of the meaning in number two is driven by meaning number one. It is out of their love for Jesus and what He did for us on the cross that drives the devotedness of meaning number two.
The Apostles' Teaching
At this time of church history, the Bible as we know it today did not exist. They had the Torah (The Books of Moses) and the rest of the Old Testament, though it wasn’t called that then.
Most adult males would have been to Torah school when they were children and learned the Law from a small age.
When the church began to form, people had to rely on the Apostles’ teaching to know and understand how God was leading them. The Apostles had to rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit to know what to teach.
Eventually, as the Apostles began to send letters back to churches they had planted, these letters were used to learn and know the Word of God. Many of these letters are what now makes up the New Testament.
As in those days, we also need to be devoting ourselves to the teaching of God’s Word. Too often, people of the church treat the reading of God’s Word as an option rather than a must.
That is why the church has lost so much of it’s influence in the world today. We know so little of what the Bible says, that we end up believing whatever our sinful nature wants us to, with no regard for what God’s commands really are.
How can we be a church of strength when we are made up of wheat chaff and mud instead of stone?
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10: 17 ESV)
If we are not hearing the Word of God because of our lack of devotedness to His Word, how is strong is our faith, really? The Bible speaks about the “faith of a mustard seed”, but if you have no root in God’s word, it’s doubtful that you have even the faith of a mustard seed. You likely are portraying a form of godliness but have no power (II Tim. 3: 5).
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (II Tim. 3: 16-17 ESV)
The Bible has a purpose, teaching us God’s Word, which leads us in the other areas mentioned in the verse above. I ask you, if you have no devotion to God’s Word, to learn what it says and allow it to guide us in life, how is any of the things mentioned here going to have any impact in you at all?
The simple answer is, they won’t. We must be devoted to learning God’s Word as a part of our daily living.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col. 3: 16 ESV)
This verse is plain about what the Word of Christ does for us, but I want you to pay attention to the very first word of this passage. What does it say? LET!
The definition of let is – not prevent or forbid; allow. Let means that we can also NOT let the Word of God have the impact that God wills for it to have. It is completely up to us whether it has an impact in our lives, because we must allow it to.
Ask yourself, how am I not allowing God’s word to impact my life? How am I resisting it, keeping it from having the impact it must have?
What answers are you getting? Are you willing to let God’s word impact you?
Fellowship
I think most churches have fellowship down in some fashion, though I believe that, in many cases, the depth of fellowship varies from church to church. The more functional a church is, the more likely they have a much deeper level of fellowship than a church that is completely dysfunctional.
These days, fellowship is often thought of as simply talking with another, whether over a meal, coffee or whatever. The true meaning of Biblical fellowship is so much more than that.
The Greek here that is translated fellowship means “sharing in the lives of other believers.” Now, truly sharing in the lives of other believers takes a lot of commitment (devotedness) — and it can sometimes get messy.
"Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6: 2 ESV)
When your fellowship is so deep that you allow yourself to bear one another’s burdens, you are not only fulfilling the law of Christ, but you are also possibly getting so deep that you learn about the icky, dirty, messiness that our fellow believers can get into — intentional or not. To bear those kind of burdens takes a lot of commitment, devotion, and love.
It also takes us allowing someone to know our icky, dirty, messiness we’ve gotten into as well, so that someone can bear our burdens, too. It is a two-way street, hence, fellowship.
“Why should we be so devoted to fellowship when it can be so hard?” Well, simply put, to fulfill the law of Christ, we must love one another, the way that He loves us.
We must love our neighbor as ourselves. That is fulfilling the law of Christ.
Bearing one another’s burdens is fellowship on the deepest level possible. That is where, out of true love, we should strive to be in our fellowship with one another.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (I Jn. 4: 7-11 ESV)
“Yeah, but it’s still too hard! I want nothing to do with it!” If that’s the way you want to be, that’s between you and God, but He still requires it of us.
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (I Jn. 5: 1-3 ESV).
Breaking of Bread
Breaking of bread can be considered a part of fellowship, but there’s a depth to it here. Sharing a meal with someone can be one of the most enjoyable things in which you ever participate.
Have you ever been to your relatives’ house during a holiday, and you all gather around a table and start trying to enjoy the food and conversation. But something is said from whatever happened long ago, and it brings up long held hurt feelings and the meal turns into absolute chaos?
How happy did that feel? What enjoyment was had? I can tell you from experience that it did not feel happy at all, and enjoyment was not had by all.
Now, contrast that with what happens when you sit down to a meal with your closest friends. Your hearts are brought together to a time of enjoyment, peace, and just being together in the name of Jesus.
That is another part of the level of fellowship that I spoke of earlier. When this has happened, there is nothing that can compare to it.
I truly believe that this is a very small peak at what Heaven will be like when we all gather at the wedding feast of the Lamb. Thank God for allowing us to have a taste of it in this life.
In Prayer
“Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Mt. 18: 18-20 ESV)
Corporate prayer is a vital part of any body of believers, and it is something that we as the body of Christ should purposely devote ourselves to.
I believe that Jesus said this to encourage us to pray together as a group of believers. As we gather together to pray, we can take great courage in knowing that, as we gather together, Jesus is right there with us.
He said so. And we know that He hears us.
Many times, when we are praying alone, it’s easy to drift off into a mindset that the devil tries to make us think that God isn’t listening. He tries to make us believe that God will not answer our prayers and that He doesn’t care about us at all.
But here we see that together, there is a steadiness that comes from gathering. This, too, is another way that we are bearing one another’s burdens. Certainly, this is something worth devoting ourselves to.
Making the Connections
“And 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” (Ac. 2: 42-43 ESV)
I want to close off this devotion with “the rest of the story” of Acts 2:42 by adding on verse 43 to it. As you see above, some very interesting things began to happen because of the people devoting themselves to these four things. Check this out:
- Awe came upon every soul.
- Many wonders and signs were being done through the Apostles.
Despite where you may come down on about Spiritual Gifts, truly it’s hard to argue about awe coming down on every soul. The awe of God, when He is allowed into your life, is something to behold and experience.
Could it be that what we are lacking in the church today is a true and authentic awe of God in our souls? I believe it is.
How Do We Apply This?
- Study the Word of God.
- Grow in faith.
- Fellowship with like-minded believers.
- Bear one another’s burdens.
- Share meals with others.
- Pray for others corporately and individually.
Father God, we pray for a true and authentic experience of awe in our souls. Not a shock and awe type, but one that shows us that You are truly there. In Jesus’ Name, thank you and amen.
What do you think?
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