While many churches are devoted to using entertainment to bring in new people, God’s prescription is very different. In Acts 2:42 we are told what the early church devoted itself to – Bible teaching, Fellowship, the Lord’s Supper, and Prayer. I believe we should emulate their example in order to have healthy churches today.
[powerpress]
What Should The Church Be Devoted to?
Acts 2:41-47
What should the church be devoted to? That is a question with a hundred different answers, isn’t it? Many churches in our age have devoted themselves to drama, high-powered music with laser lights and smoke bombs, recreation, entertainment, and self-help programs. Some of the largest evangelical churches in our nation have employed worldly gimmicks like slapstick, vaudeville, wrestling exhibitions, and even mock striptease to spice up their Sunday meetings. In order to increase attendance one church staged a mud wrestling match between church staff. Another spent half a million dollars for a special effects system that will produce smoke, fire, sparks and laser lights in the auditorium. The pastor of that church ended one church service ascending to heaven through invisible wires that drew him out of sight while the choir and orchestra added musical accompaniment to their smoke and light show. Evangelical churches have turned to punk-rockers, ventriloquists, clowns, knife-throwers, professional wrestlers, weight-lifters, body-builders, comedians, dancers, jugglers, ringmasters, rap artists, actors, and show business celebrities to draw a crowd. And you know what? It works! If you have the money to pour into these venues of entertainment, you can draw a lot of unbelievers to your church event. However, if you have to resort to carnal means to get unbelievers there, you’re going to have to resort to carnal means to keep them there.
Interestingly, if you survey the book of Acts, you never see the apostles strategizing as to how to attract a crowd. In other words, we never read of Peter saying to John, “What can we do today to gather people to hear the gospel?” Rather, there were three primary ways the apostles were able to bring the gospel to the lost: miracles (11 times in Acts), persecution (13 times in Acts), and synagogues (14 times in Acts). Further, we never read anywhere in the New Testament of the church putting on a special event to try to draw unbelievers to the church. There were no Living Christmas Trees, testimonies by the latest Miss America or famous movie star or sports hero. We don’t read of putting on a musical concert, and inviting the lost so the apostles could preach to them. The early church could have done all of that. Even in the first century there were sports heroes, clowns, famous political figures and ballad singers that could have been employed to try to drum up a crowd. But they didn’t. In fact, the church meetings in the New Testament were primarily for the edification of the saints, not the evangelization of the lost. So, how did they evangelize the lost? They did it Monday through Saturday, as they lived life with their co-workers and neighbors.
Are we feeding sheep or just amusing goats? Charles Spurgeon said in a sermon well over a century ago: “The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them… Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into his mission, he would have been more popular… I do not hear him say, “Run after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick Peter, we must get the people somehow. Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them…the mission of amusement fails to effect the end desired. It works havoc among young converts. Let the careless and scoffers, who thank God because the church met them halfway, speak and testify. Let the heavy laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment has been God’s link in the chain of the conversion, stand up! There are none to answer. The mission of amusement produces no converts. The need of the hour for today’s ministry is believing scholarship joined with earnest spirituality, the one springing from the other as fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire. Lord, clear the church from all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her, and bring us back to apostolic methods.”
OK, so if we shouldn’t devote ourselves as a church to entertainment in order to grow the church, what does God want us to devote ourselves to? Let’s turn in our Bibles to Acts 2:41-47 to see His answer.
Acts 2:41-47, “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
Verse 41 and 47 function as bookends in this passage. In verse 41 says, “and that day there were added about three thousand souls.” Verse 47 ends with, “And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” The Lord initially added 3,000 on the day of Pentecost, and then He kept on adding every day more and more people to the church. So, what was life like for those who were “added” to the church? Verses 42-47 give us the answer.
Verse 42 says, “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
The word devoting is a strong word. The Theological Dictionary of NT Words defines it as “to occupy oneself diligently with something”; “to pay persistent attention to”; “to hold fast to something.” Kenneth Wuest in his Expanded Translation of the New Testament translates it this way, “And they were giving constant attention to.” On ww.dictionary.com the word devotion is defined as “profound dedication; earnest attachment to.” We speak of a husband being devoted to a wife who has Alzheimer’s, or a mother being devoted to her children. It speaks of a profound dedication.
Notice also the word “continually.” This devotion or profound dedication was not temporary, intermittent, or sporadic. It was continual. It was ongoing. It was persistent. There was no letting up. This was just their way of life, week in and week out.
The early church was continually and profoundly dedicated to the apostle’s teaching, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper, and prayer. I believe this passage is given here as not just a description of what the early church happened to do, but as a model of what all churches should do. So here is the question we need to ask – are we persistently devoted to these four things? I began by asking “What should we as a church be devoted to?” Here is our answer: the apostle’s doctrine, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer.
We are going to examine these four main activities of the church this morning. Verse 42 functions as a summary statement, and verses 43-47 flesh out how the early gave themselves to these four things.
1. The Apostles’ Teaching
The apostles were those men who had been with Jesus from the time of His baptism by John, all the way until His ascension into heaven. They had lived and traveled with Jesus for over three years. They had watched Him heal the sick, cast out demons, walk on water, and multiply fish and loaves. They were the ones Jesus had personally invested in to carry on the work of the gospel after He had died and risen and ascended to heaven. So, what would their teaching have been like? Probably much of it would be retelling what Jesus had already taught. They would repeat His parables, and His sermon on the mount, and the Olivet Discourse. Additionally, they would have taught them the substance of what we have in the New Testament epistles.
Now, where would the apostles have taught the Jerusalem congregation? Remember that there are 3,120 baptized persons. If you add unsaved family members, you might have over 10,000 people who attend gatherings of the church. How would the apostles have been able to teach that many people? If they split everyone up into units of 30 that men in homes, each apostle would have to visit 9 homes every week, just to teach all the members. For that reason alone, I don’t think they were doing the majority of their teaching in homes. I believe the answer is in verse 46, “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple”. Both in Acts 3:11, and 5:12, we read that the apostles and church would gather at Solomon’s portico in the temple. This was a large outdoor covered porch area at the temple grounds. It would provide shelter from the elements, but still allow plenty of space for large gatherings. No doubt, hundreds if not thousands of believers could gather there and be instructed by the apostles. Another benefit would be the likelihood of unconverted Jews hearing the teaching of Jesus as the apostles instructed the new believers.
Of course we don’t have any of the original 12 apostles alive today to teach us. But we do have their writings preserved in the books of the New Testament. We must continually devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching just as they did. We do that through a serious and dedicated study of the Scriptures. And as we teach the Scriptures, we must do our very best to communicate exactly what the original apostles taught in the first century. In other words, we have no right to soften, or modify, or sugarcoat the message that they taught. If we find them thundering against sin and warning of the wrath to come, then so should we. If we find them insisting on repentance and self-denial, so should we. If we find them insisting on submission to Christ as Lord, so should we. If we find them declaring that God is absolutely sovereign over everything, so should we. We are wicked servants, if we change God’s Word to try to attract more sinners to our church!
So, here at The Bridge House Church we are going to continually devote ourselves to the study, exposition, and application of the Word of God. We’re going to do that every Sunday, by having a main teaching, and also by various men giving short teachings during our Open Session. We are also going to study Scripture every Wednesday evening at our Equipping the Saints evening, with a view to preparing every member for ministry. The women will continue to study the Word at their Ladies’ Bible Study, and the men at their morning Men’s Study. As much as possible, we are going to saturate our lives with God’s Word. Paul says in Colossians, “let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.” That’s exactly what we are committed to doing.
2. Fellowship
Not only was the early church devoted to apostolic teaching, but they were also committed to Christian fellowship. The word fellowship means “to have in common.” We tend to think of fellowship as socializing together after a meeting as we eat together. Fellowship is much deeper than mere socializing. It can include talking to one another about the spiritual truths and experiences that we share in common. That’s how we usually use the word “fellowship.” But Luke actually uses the word fellowship in this context in a different way. In verses 44 and 45 we read, “And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.” Right there you have the best description of fellowship in this early church.
A couple of weeks ago, I brought a message on “Loving One Another.” That’s what we see here in the early church. These believers truly loved each other, as Jesus had loved them. Their love was sacrificial, genuine, fervent, and practical. I long to be part of a church that loves each other like this, don’t you?! Well, if we do love each other, it will mean a willingness to meet each other’s needs. If one of our members is laid off, and can’t make their rent, maybe it means that some of us give to help them cover their rent. If someone finds themselves flat broke with no money for groceries, it might mean that we come over and take them shopping. Living in fellowship with each other means we must refuse to live isolated, independent lives. We’ve got to break free from our rugged American individualism that pervades our culture, and live counter-culturally as believers together.
One thing we should take note of is “And all those who had believed were together.” These believers were together all the time. They would have to be, since they were continually devoted to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer. Friends, we will never enjoy rich and deep fellowship with each other until we are committed to being with each other often. I’m sorry, but coming on Sundays alone just won’t cut it. In this church, we see them living life together throughout the week. That comes out especially in verse 46, “Day by day… breaking bread from house to house.” I know we all have challenges of balancing work and family, and then there is driving distance for some. But, if we are to really function as a family together, we need to be together often. Here’s my recommendation. If at all possible, commit to our Sunday Gathering and our Wednesday evening ETS class. Men, commit to our Men’s Study on Tuesday mornings, and women, commit to the Ladies’ Bible Study. That’s going to give us several opportunities each week where we’ll be together, so that we can really develop close fellowship. And brothers and sisters, when we are together, let’s really pursue talking about the things of God more than trivial and unimportant things like the weather or the 49’ers. I would love to see at our Lord’s Supper meals, engaging discussions over Scripture, and ideas to bring the gospel to the lost, and ways we have met with God lately.
3. The Breaking of Bread
The “breaking of bread” must refer to the Lord’s Supper in my opinion, because it is sandwiched in between three other intensely spiritual activities – the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, and prayer. Think of it – this early church was continually devoted to observing the Lord’s Supper. In wonder if we polled evangelical churches in our day, whether they would say they were continually devoted to the Lord’s Supper. However, I think we ought to be. We saw last week that it was the reason the early Christians met. They gathered together to break bread in Acts 20:7. They came together to eat in 1 Cor. 11:33. It appears that the Lord’s Supper was the focus of the church gathering. However, I often hear people say, “If we observed the Lord’s Supper every week it would get dry, and boring, and routine.” However, should we pray and read the Bible once a month so that they don’t get dry and routine? Of course not! Of course, the answer is not to decrease the frequency, but to ask God to revive us.
Now, where were these early Christians eating the Lord’s Supper? Verse 46 tells us, “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart.” There it is. They were breaking bread from house to house. Now, many people read that verse and they say, “That can’t refer to communion because it says they were taking their meals together.” However, that’s exactly why I think it is referring to the Lord’s Supper. In the first century, Christians ate the Lord’s Supper as a full meal, as I shared last week.
Notice what the spirit was while they ate the supper. Our text says it was with “gladness and sincerity of heart.” It is common for churches to eat the Lord’s Supper in a very serious, and formal spirit where every person is examining themselves to make sure they are worthy to partake. However, if you read 1 Corinthians 11 carefully, you will discover that Paul was not exhorting them to examine themselves to see if they were personally worthy to eat the Lord’s Supper. Rather, they were to examine themselves to make sure they were not partaking of the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner. In this particular church, some arrived early and ate up all the food and wine. Others arrived later, and they were left hungry. This was eating in an unworthy manner, because it showed a lack of love and unity for the brethren, the very things this ordinance was intended to convey. So, folks, when we eat the Lord’s Supper later today, I exhort you to do it with gladness and sincere hearts!
I often wished when we were meeting at City Hall that we could observe the Lord’s Supper as a meal, but it was just not possible. However, now that we are meeting in homes we plan on eating the Lord’s Supper together every week as the climax and focus of our meeting.
4. Prayer
The final activity that this early church was committed to was prayer. We do know from chapter 3 that Peter and John went up to the temple at the hour of prayer. The Jews had stated hours of prayer at the temple. So, these new Jewish believers probably continued on with some of their traditions by praying at the temple. However, it would also be very natural in the home gatherings where the Lord’s Supper was observed to spend time in prayer together there as well. This is not talking about private prayer. Literally, it reads “and to the prayers.” As the apostles’ teaching, fellowship and breaking of bread happened when the church came together, so did the prayers.
I do believe that we need to commit ourselves not only to the Word, but to Prayer. These two activities go hand in hand. In the Word, God speaks to us. In Prayer, we speak to God. So, how are we going to continually devote ourselves to prayer? I would like to take time every Sunday to pray for whatever needs surface in our Open Session. We will also spend time in prayer at our ETS classes, and our Men’s and Ladies’ studies. Further, I would like to continue with the pattern we developed earlier of taking one Saturday a month, and devoting it to fasting and prayer as a church. I will continue to bring a biographical sketch of a man that God used in church history. Then, let’s do some kind of outreach or service activity where we are out in the community meeting people and ministering to them. Afterwards, we can meet together, break our fast, and enjoy dinner and hanging out together. I would like to hear from you, if you would like to be part of those fasting and prayer days.
Conclusion
There’s one final detail of this section we need to consider. Verse 47 says, “praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” The Lord was saving and adding new believers to the church every day! Now, who was adding to their number? The Lord! Jesus said to Peter, “Upon this rock I will build My church.” Folks, Jesus hasn’t told us to build His church. He has told us that He will build His church. He adds to the church. He saves sinners. Salvation is of the Lord. Folks, we can’t save anyone, and sinners can’t save themselves. If anyone is ever going to be saved, the Lord is going to have to do it. So, the question arises, “How was the Lord saving these people?” Well, no doubt He was using the preaching and witness of these believers.
Verse 43 says, “Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.” No doubt God saved many people through the apostles when the preached to them after they had seen a sign or a wonder. That’s exactly what we have described in Acts 3, when Peter preached after healing the lame man. We find this very same phenomena all through the book of Acts. A miracle or a healing takes place. The people are awed and take notice. Then the gospel is preached and people are converted.
However, I also believe that these 3,000 young believers were also involved in witnessing. Why do I believe that? It’s because of verse 47, “praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Luke seems to connect the idea of having favor with all the people to the Lord adding new converts to the church. These believers had favor with all the people. In other words, God granted His people to be received and accepted by the Jewish people in Jerusalem. No doubt, the favorable relationships that they had with unbelieving Jews enabled them to develop close relationships with unbelievers. When the new believers shared about Jesus with their unbelievers, God worked in their hearts and brought them to faith. So, through the united witness of the church, God was adding to their number, day by day, those who were being saved.
Folks, this is the wonderful conclusion of a church that was continually devoted to Truth, Fellowship, Communion, and Prayer. It looks to me like we don’t have to try to attract lost people with worldly gimmicks. It looks to me like if we will just commit ourselves to really being the church the way God intended, He will have favor on us, and He will do the saving. Isn’t that exciting?! Folks, we don’t have to be the slickest, coolest, hippest church around in order to reach the lost. Rather, we just need to be very serious about loving Christ and His Church. That’s Good News! Let’s pray.
______________________________
© The Bridge
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by The Bridge.
Follow Us!