Series – looking at the early church. Acts 2:43 says, “Everyone was filled with awe…” The early church was awesome!
Truth In Review:
• The local church can be awesome or it can be awful. The church is awesome when God’s Spirit is prominent and is leading the hearts and minds of His people. The church is awful when God’s Spirit is not listened to or followed.
• The significance of the Day of Pentecost is that that was when God’s Spirit took up residence in the hearts of His people. What’s supernatural about the church of Jesus Christ is that God lives in us and among us.
• The disciples of the early church were together! They not only were close in proximity, but they were close in purpose. They were one in heart and mind.
There were 3000 people who heard Peter’s message on that day. They were cut to the heart, they repented and were baptized for the forgiveness of their sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This was the day that the church was born! God was dwelling with His people!
The church was awesome because God was in it! He was creating a people for Himself, people that would bring glory to Him. He was taking ordinary, sinful people and creating the church! These people were saved through the blood of Jesus and were given a hope and a future!
The church was awesome! In this awesome church the people were TOGETHER (last week). They were also DEVOTED.
42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:42-47
If we’re going to have an awesome church and not an awful church, we must be devoted.
I love the word “devoted!” Of course we talk about having “devotions” which are an expression of our love and commitment to Christ. We spend time with Jesus. We are devoted. As with any relationship that we are devoted to there is love and loyalty involved.
The Acts church was certainly devoted that way, but there is another sense to the word here in Acts 2:42. They were devoted in that they were “steadfastly involving themselves.” They were not just loyal; they were intensely committed.
“Devoted”
• Love and Loyalty = the heart
• Steadfast and Committed = the actions
These people were involved with this new Kingdom brought to earth in these significant ways! They were loyal and committed, with their hearts and actions.
They were devoted to these four things that are mentioned:
• Apostles’ Teaching
• Fellowship
• Breaking of Bread
• Prayer
We’re going to consider each of these, but the question I want us to think through is “WHY?” Why were they devoted to these things? Why were they emotionally connected and steadfast to them?
The early disciples fully gave their hearts to the Kingdom of Heaven. And for many of them it meant being cut-off from their early families. When some of their Jewish parents found out they were following Jesus – they were considered dead to them. It cost the early believers to follow Jesus. But they fully gave their hearts to the Kingdom. They made the Kingdom of Heaven the priority of their lives. And their love for other disciples grew because, although they may have lost their earthly family, they had been given a new family called the church.
So WHY were they so devoted to this new Kingdom of Heaven?
Answer: Salvation!
God had saved them! They had heard the Apostle’s message. They recognized their need for a Savior and as they came to faith in Jesus, repented from their way of life without God and were baptized for the forgiveness of their sins – salvation flooded their lives! They received something they never had before – cleansing from sin and the indwelling of God’s Spirit in their lives!
Salvation is so miraculous, so amazing, that the event itself propelled them into this kind of devotion. Devotion where their hearts were fully engulfed in the love of God and love for one another. Devotion where their lives became expressions of worship as they steadfastly lived out the gospel they were learning about.
The church in 2007 would do better if we allowed Salvation to flood our souls like that! Too many Christians are not amazed by the Love of God that has saved them. This love that Paul wrote about that surpasses knowledge!
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17b-19
The early church was enveloped in the love of God. They were experiencing God in amazing ways that caused devotion – both of their hearts and their actions. Salvation was an experience that changed them forever! And so they were devoted.
They were devoted to:
• The Apostles’ Teaching – They wanted to learn about this new salvation; about this Kingdom that they were now apart of.
It’s the same Kingdom of Heaven that we are citizens of. It’s a Kingdom that is so totally different than the world. So how do we learn about this Kingdom? Through the Apostles’ Teaching; the Word of God.
My heart is devoted because God has acted! He has given salvation through Jesus Christ. I’m devoted to His Word in both heart and steadfastness because this salvation is so amazing – I must learn more!
• Fellowship – Many had lost their earthly families, so now they were devoted to the Family of God! They were sharing life with these followers of Jesus, many of whom also lost their earthly families (they had that in common). What they had most in common was Jesus and His Spirit and this salvation they were amazed by. They were devoted with their hearts (they were together! One heart and mind…) and with their actions. Time and energy was given to one another as they shared life together.
For us, the same kind of devotion is needed to have an awesome church. When we are sharing life and have that kind of togetherness, it shows up in how we love each other. It shows up in the priority that the church has in our lives. I will say today that the Kingdom of Heaven deserves your best! Not your leftovers… not what you can spare. The Kingdom is so amazing that being devoted is the right response.
I am devoted to the fellowship because God instructs me to in His Word, but also because we learn so much from one another! God is experienced in the community of faith!
We are not loyal to one another because of our own merits. If our devotion was based upon other Christian’s performances, we wouldn’t be devoted or committed. No, our devotion and loyalty to one another comes because of God and His character – His merits! People fail us… God never fails!
• Breaking of Bread – This is a picture of worship. The early church was intentionally meeting to remember Christ. They were worshipping the One who had provided salvation and created the church! He was worthy of their devotion. The Breaking of Bread would include the meals that they would share in their homes, but also the special meal; the Lord’s Suppper or Communion that they would participate to remember Jesus.
We are devoted and committed to the same thing! Every week we participate together in the Lord’s Supper… to remember Christ and to give Worth to Him. This is His Kingdom and we are citizens in it only because of His blood that washes away our sins. We remember Jesus. We’re devoted in heart and actions to never forget Him and what He did on the cross!
We’re devoted to worship because God has made Himself known through Jesus Christ. He is deserving of our worship! To worship any other god would be ridiculous because there is no god like our God!
• Prayer – The early church was devoted to prayer. Think of it! Now they had, each one of them, a personal relationship with their Creator through Jesus Christ. They didn’t need a priest to offer sacrifices for them. They didn’t need others to pray on their behalf – they could approach God with confidence, offering their own prayers of their hearts! The early church was committed to prayer.
Prayer is simply communication. Jesus brings this salvation and we are adopted into God’s family. God is now our Heavenly Father… He wants this relationship with us. Prayer is our talking with our Father. It is crawling up into His lap and sharing our hearts with Him. The early Christians loved this privilege of speaking with God. Their hearts were in it because it was so amazing! Naturally they prayed all the time! Why wouldn’t you? Paul would write in 1 Thessalonians 5 that we should pray without ceasing. Why? Because God invites us too and because it’s amazing that we can!
We are devoted to prayer because we need the wisdom and strength that only God can provide. We need help in life! God answers prayers… which is amazing and causes growing devotion in my heart.
It’s also amazing to think that God wants to hear from us. He wants us to ask questions, to seek help and to make requests. He wants to be our Father. If we are to have a relationship with God as Father, we must pray. And so we are devoted to it!
Conclusion
If we could see as God sees, we could look from church to church and determine which churches were awesome and which were awful. This principle of being devoted or not would determine which were which. The awesome churches are made up of believer who are devoted to the Kingdom, both in heart and actions. The awful ones are made up of those whose love has grown cold. They are not seeking the Kingdom of Heaven first… church is just what you do for an hour on Sunday. Church people are ones you see in the community and need to be nice to. Giving money is a necessary evil to keep the church operating, not an act of worship that pleases the heart of God.
Where do you think God dwells the most powerfully? If He is the variable… if awesome churches are ones that experience God, listening and following His leading, where do you think He shows up? In the churches that allow Him to lead their lives and change their hearts – no question. And God wants to be active in the life of this church, but we must be devoted to him!
For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.
2 Chronicles 16:9
Invitation – Are you fully committed to Jesus? Does Christ have His rightful place in your life? It’s easy to see, really. Are you devoted? Heart & actions…
Song - “You Are My All in All”
