Last week I gave you a little history lesson on the church and we looked at 2 very important promises. Promise number one is that Jesus is going to build the church. He is the Rock, that the church is built up and secondly we learned that Jesus gave us the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. He has given us authority!
Today we are going to look at the book of Acts as we continue to understand the church and how we all fit into it. There is a certain aspect of the early church that I want to examine.
PRAY
Heavenly Father,
open my eyes so I can see Your truth.
Open my ears so I can hear Your voice.
Open my mind so I can understand Your Word.
And open my heart so I may receive all that You want me to receive. AMEN
The thing about the early church is that is grew and it grew fast.
I will admit, when I read about the success rate of the early church in regards to growth, I get a little jealous.
Most pastors I know are concerned about church growth and there is nothing wrong with that. We want to grow the kingdom of God!
There was a pastor in one community who was really concerned about his church growing. He did everything he could to get the people of the community to come to his church but it just was not growing.
He was getting really tired of working so hard and not seeing any results so he decided that he and his family would take a vacation to get some rest and perspective.
The first Sunday back from their vacation the leaders of the church met that pastor at the door and said, “Pastor, we have some good news and we have some bad news.”
The pastor said, “What’s the good news?”
They reported to the pastor that they doubled in size and broke all the attendance records.
Then the pastor asked, “That’s great, so what’s the bad news?”
And they replied, “It happened while you were on vacation!”
Ut Oh!
I remember when I was graduating from Bible College, all the pastoral students had these great aspirations of being the next Oral Roberts or Billy Graham.
We all thought that we would go to a church and that church would burst forth in growth immediately and all we had to do was just preach a good sermon.
Well, even though it is true that people will attend a church that has good preaching in it more than they will attend a church that has good music, the truth of the matter is, there is more to growing a church then just a pastor who can preach.
Last week we talked about a time when that happened.
The Apostle Peter got up and preached a message and some 3000 people gave their hearts to Jesus!
When the Holy Spirit came upon Simon Peter and the others it was a like a fire that could not be contained. The zeal of God consumed them, it burned within their souls. It was that zeal of God that became a driving force for them to share the Good News with everyone.
Listen to the last part of this account in Acts 2:37-41.
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. Acts 2:37-41 NIV
In one day, with no church building, with no elected pastor, with no church constitution, with no formal statement of purpose, no hand book, or no promises of what the future held for them, the church was born.
From 120 to over 3000 in the span of a few minutes.
They grew because they had the unhindered, boundless joy of the presence of Jesus Christ to fill up their lives. And with the presence of Jesus came the ties of love that bound the people so closely together.
The church grew.
Luke, the author of Acts records, “42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising 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 NIV
The church grew because the people devoted themselves to 4 objectives. Look at verse 42 again.
“42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:42
They devoted themselves to the teaching, to fellowship, to the ordinances that Christ handed down and to prayer.
Let’s briefly look at those.
To the teaching.
What did the disciples and the apostles preach? Their message was simple.
They taught that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Christ, sent by God, as promised in the Scriptures, as foretold by the prophets, for the forgiveness of sins, for the salvation of the world.
They taught that He was rejected by the people, condemned by the authorities; he suffered, was crucified, died, and was buried.
They taught that God exalted him on high, raised him up to new life; and he will one day return to us in glory.
They taught that in response, people must repent, believe, be baptized, receive the Holy Spirit and join the community of believers.
They taught the power of God and demonstrated that power in the laying on of hands and healing.
Guess what? We believe these things should be taught today and we teach them.
We are a church that preaches and teaches God's Holy word without apology. A church that does not add to nor take away from God's written Word. We proclaim the whole council of God's Word.
We hold up and stand upon the Holy Scriptures as the only absolute authority for every aspect of the Christians life.
To fellowship.
We often hear people talking about fellowship. We hear it said that what we need is more fellowship. But our modern ideas of fellowship have become so watered down that the word no longer carries the same meaning it did in New Testament times.
Luke tells us these early Christians also devoted themselves to fellowship.
They just didn’t have fellowship; they devoted themselves to it. This means that fellowship was a priority and one of the objectives for gathering together. They made fellowship a priority.
Today, however, we often view fellowship as what we do in “fellowship hall.” It’s the place where we have casual conversations and savor coffee and donuts.
This is not bad and can contribute to fellowship, but it falls far short of fellowship according to biblical standards and according to the meaning and use of the Greek words for fellowship.
Here in Acts 2:42 the Greek word is koinonia and it means a partnership. They shared everything, experiences, possessions, their faith. This was maintained throughout the body of believers no matter what.
It was a relationship, a partnership, a companionship and a stewardship. And that is the way it should be today.
The foundation of their fellowship was based upon Jesus Christ and the result of that foundation was a deep love and care for each other. So much so that they shared everything and helped everyone who was a part.
To the ordinances that Christ handed down.
There are two ordinances that Christ gave the church. Put simply, the ordinances are visual aids to help us better understand and appreciate what Jesus Christ accomplished for us in His redemptive work.
The first is baptism. Jesus told us to baptize those who become God’s children in Matthew 28:19-20. The apostles taught it to the church and the church continued to practice baptizing those who accepted Christ as Lord.
The second is the Lord’s Supper or communion. It was instituted by Jesus in when He shared the last supper with His disciples. It was taught to the early church by the apostles and the church continued to celebrate communion together.
To prayer. I don’t think anyone would argue the fact that prayer is important to the church. Jesus taught us how to pray, the disciples taught and practiced prayer and the early church prayer often.
As followers of Jesus Christ prayer is the best way to communicate with God.
The importance of daily communication through prayer cannot be overestimated. It is so important that it is mentioned over 250 times in Scripture.
There are at least 6 reasons why prayer is important.
First, daily prayer gives us an opportunity to share all aspects of our lives with God.
Second, daily prayer gives us the chance to express our gratitude for the things He provides.
Third, daily prayer provides the platform for confessing our sin and asking for help in overcoming that sin.
Fourth, daily prayer is an act of worship and obedience.
Fifth, daily prayer is a way to acknowledge who is really in control of our lives.
Sixth, when we pray to God through Jesus Christ we can exercise our God given authority over the enemy.
These same 4 objectives are as vital for the church today as they were in the first century.
The result of the church devoting themselves to these 4 objectives in Acts 2:42 was simple, the church grew.
The people of that time could not ignore the movement. Instead of ignoring the Christians people became curious and they began to listen to the words of the Apostles and the words of the converts.
The more they listened the more sense it made. They only viable thing to do was to commit their lives to Christ and follow Him.
People from all walks of life came to know Christ, even while some were persecuting the Christians. These new believers would be put in prison, beat, whipped and even killed and yet, history records that the church could not be stopped.
The followers of Christ were here to stay.
The ekklesia, the called out ones, which you and I are hopefully apart of must continue to grow until Jesus Christ fulfills His promise and returns to the earth to take God’s people home.
What would happen today if the church devoted itself to these same four objectives? To the teaching, fellowship, ordinances, and prayer.
Would the church grow?
If the church was to make these things a priority then the church would grow because our priorities as a church would line up with God’s priorities for the church.
Why does the church exist?
To glorify God.
To edify the saints.
To evangelize the world.
It is not too difficult a task but it does take dedication. The church has a whole has lost its way. It is time we get it back.
There is a world of hurting people who need us to be and do what God has planned for us to do.
Are you willing to do it?
CLOSE
