Hi everyone. Welcome back. Let us take this moment to worship God in spirit and in truth, wherever we are. Let’s prepare our hearts for the Word of God.
• We have been looking at the works of the living Christ through the book of Acts.
• In Acts 2, Peter preached his first sermon post-Pentecost, and we see the inception of the church, at the end of Acts 2. Before we read the Word, let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity to meet again, to worship you and hear from your Word.
We want to remember the many who are going through difficult times right now – those who are afflicted with the virus, in isolation and in hospitals, the migrant workers in community, the frontline workers battling the unending workloads, and our leaders who are under pressure and having to make important daily decisions – bless them with Your grace and mercy, with your help and protection. Provide them with the necessary resources to meet the needs. May all who seeks you find you. Reveal Christ to them, Lord. Open their hearts to call on you. Glorify yourself in all of this.
Thank you for your written Word; therein lies truth and hope, light and life. Bless us with your Word today, this we pray in Jesus’ Name, AMEN.
Let us read Acts 2:42-47.
We see here the inception of the church, the infant church. With 3000 new believers being added to the initial group of 120 that gathered at the upper room on Pentecost.
• This is the community of faith, the Body of Christ, the church; known then as people belonging to the Way (that’s how Saul described them in Acts 9:2).
• Luke paints for us the essence of this gathering of God’s people at its inception.
• It is NOT the picture of a perfect church, just at its infancy; still predominantly Jewish in nature, with no Gentile believers until Acts 10.
• The church will grow in maturity over time, resolving issues like whether to keep to certain Jewish customs and traditions, and accepting foreigners into their community.
• It will take time for them to grow and mature as a church, but here Luke gives us a glimpse of the essence of the life of the church. I will share these 3 points.
The Life of the Church is FOUNDED ON CHRIST
Peter did not preach to establish a movement. He did not plan to start a following, set up a sect or even a church. It is the will of God.
• Earlier Jesus said to Peter in Matt 16:18 “I will build MY church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” That was the first time the word ‘church’ was used.
• The original Greek word is ekklesia, meaning an assembly, the called out ones.
Peter preached to save souls.
Acts 2:38-39 Peter tells the crowd: "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. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off-for all whom the Lord our God will call."
• “whom the Lord our God will call” – the called out ones, those who repent and believe Christ will become the ‘assembly’, flock of God that has obeyed the call of the Shepherd.
And Luke says, “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” (Acts 2:41)
• And he tells us again in Acts 2:47 “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
• This ‘added to their number’ was the work of God. It happened through the conviction of the Holy Spirit. It was the presence of the living Christ among them.
• Jesus said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." 33He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.” (John 12:32-33)
• The birth of the church is made possible through the cross. We’re the redeemed of the Lord.
The Lord authenticates His presence by the “many wonders and miraculous signs” that were done by the apostles (2:43). Everyone was filled with awe, Luke said.
• The signs and wonders did not point to the apostles but the living Christ among them.
• Peter in his sermon said, “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know.” (Acts 2:22)
• The believers know that the living Christ is among them when they see the miracles, wonders and signs through the works of the apostles.
The church is founded on Jesus Christ.
• Take Him away and you don’t have the church, just a gathering or a social club.
• Take Him out of your life and you do not belong to the church.
• And if we preach another ‘Christ’, then we are not a church too, but a cult.
Listen to what Peter says in 1 Peter 2:4-5
4As you come to him, the living Stone - rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him - 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
• We become the church of God through our faith in Jesus Christ, and only through faith in Christ can this church be ‘living stones’.
• Through Christ, the Church lives. He is the lifeline. Take Him away and we’ll be a corpse.
How’s your relationship with Christ? Are you alive in Christ?
• Only through Jesus can we know God and live with Him. Only faith in Jesus’ work on the cross can we be reconciled with God.
• You can repent of your sin and believe in Jesus today. He is the Son of God and the Saviour of your soul. Let Him bring you back into the fold.
The Life of the Church is ANCHORED IN HIS WORD
Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching….”
They do not have the New Testament then. No writing of the Gospels yet. They depended on the apostles’ teachings.
• They were the ones taught by Christ and eyewitnesses of all that He has said and done.
• How many more matured believers do we have then? Probably the 120 in the upper room, who have been with Jesus for a longer time.
• When they were electing a replacement for Judas, Peter says he must be one “who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection." (1:21-22)
• So among the 120 were those who have seen Jesus for a longer time, at most, 3 years.
The rest of the 3000 were new believers who need to hear from the apostles, to understand the Scriptures that points to Christ and the teachings of Christ.
• For them then, that’s the only way, the only source of truth about Christ and His teachings. Now these teachings have been preserved for us in the NT.
• Jesus said to His disciples in John 14:6-7 6"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
• The apostles are His witnesses. The life of the church is anchored upon His Word. It feeds on the Word of God.
There is a beautiful Christian hymn (published 1787, author unknown) entitled HOW FIRM A FOUNDATION.
• The first stanza says, “How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word. What more can He say than to you He hath said; to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled.”
• That’s us, those who know Christ. His Word is our foundation; it is the anchor for our lives and for the church.
Prophet Jeremiah tells the people in Jeremiah 6:16
• This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” But you said, 'We will not walk in it.'
• Jeremiah was addressing a nation that has lost her way. Stop and look, then return to the ANCIENT PATHS and walk in it. Then we will find REST for our souls.
• The ANCIENT PATHS refer to the ways of God revealed to them - the timeless, unchanging truth of God.
• If that’s our anchor and we live by it, we will find rest for our souls. We don’t go for anything that’s new, popular or latest. We just need to return to the timeless Word.
Recently we have been seeing interviews with the infectious disease specialist Dr Leong Hoe Nam, who was a former SARS patient back in 2003.
In one interview he shared his faith in God. He was quarantined in a Frankfurt Hospital for 21 days while on his way back to Singapore from New York.
His life flashed passed during those trying times. There was no internet, no books he could read, being in Germany.
“There was nothing else to read except one book, the Bible,” he said.
His wife said, “Luke was a physician, read his word.” So he started reading the Gospel of Luke, all the way to the end of the book.
God prepared his heart. He accepted Christ a few years later, because of what he has read and come to understand from His Word. God grants him true rest for his soul.
The Life of the Church is MARKED BY HIS LOVE
Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.” [ESV] Other versions, ‘to prayer’.
• Instead of focusing on their activities, we want to look at the attitudes they displayed.
They were devoted to the FELLOWSHIP, a broad term meaning ‘sharing something in common’, that can includes their faith, their hopes, their concerns and needs.
• Which can also include the BREAKING OF BREAD - if define narrowly refers to the Lord’s Supper (communion) but Luke’s uses of the phrase in a couple of other places can also mean the sharing of meals together. The communion is part of a meal.
• And to prayer, more accurately THE PRAYERS, likely referring to the prayer times, 3 times a day (morning, afternoon, evening).
• Luke explains - 2:46-47 “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, 47praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people.”
Their common faith in Christ brought them TOGETHER, a word used a few times here.
• If we have 3000 believers joining the community, we can expect many of them from the surrounding regions who have come to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost.
• Having heard the Gospel and believed, we can expect many to stay behind to learn more about Christ, and that likely poses the practical needs that we see here.
• 2:44-45 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
This wasn’t a one-off situation. Luke tells us again in Acts 4:32-35
• 32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
They were ONE in Christ, learning the Word, sharing their meals and possessions with those in need, praising God and praying with one heart and mind.
• I am drawing our attention, not to the ‘activities’ they have, but to the attitudes they showed – selfless, sacrificial, generous, a loving concern for the needy. They were moved by the love of Christ; their actions motivated by His love.
Reminds me of Paul’s words in Phil 2:1-5 The Attitude of Christ Jesus
1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. [And then Paul ended with] 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…
The life of the church is CHRISTLIKE. Of course, it is the Body of Christ, marked by His love.
• It's not what we do that defines who we are. It's who we are that defines what we do.
• We are the redeemed of the Lord. We are Christlike. When people look at our community, they see Christ. Especially so during this difficult period.
• We show that Christ is real and He is our peace, hope and strength.
