In Acts chapter 2, we read about the birth of the New Testament church on the day of Pentecost. We are told of how God moved through a sermon Peter preached. He preached this sermon to a crowd of people who were gathered as a result of the Holy Spirit empowering the followers of Jesus to testify about the wonderful works of God. The crowd was astounded by the fact that these Galileans were able to speak in the languages of those who were gathered from all over the ancient world to celebrate the special feast days in Jerusalem.
God used Peter’s sermon to draw 3,000 people unto Himself, for "those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day," (Acts 2:41). They turned to Christ, and in turning to him, they turned away from their sins. By believing and repenting, they were saved by grace through faith. But that is not the end of the story. Our text tells us what happened next.
The key statement in this passage comes in verse 44: All the believers were together and had everything in common. The outstanding characteristic of God’s new people was that, they understood that being saved means being saved into a new spiritual community. That the Christian life is not a life lived alone - it is a life lived together.
There is no such thing as private Christianity. Christianity is always personal, of course, because it entails a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but it is never private. True faith in Jesus Christ must be professed publicly and expressed communally. Although we never lose our personal identity, as Christians we are individuals who are called to live in community with other Christians.
Whenever the Bible speaks of God’s work in the world, it speaks of God saving a people for Himself, not individuals. You see, to be included in Christ is to be incorporated into the communion of the saints.
God calls His people to live together in community, as a community. In this series, I want us to look to the life of the early church in Jerusalem to learn what living in Christian community looks like.
The first thing we notice is that the early church was a learning community. They "devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42). This commitment to learn together is an element that is essential to believers living together in Christian community.
1. A Common Conviction about God Word- "the apostle’s teachings"
The early church experienced community around a common conviction that God had given them His Word. Likewise, if we are going to experience Christian community as a local body of believers, it will be as a result of our having a common conviction regarding the Bible.
A. We should believe in the inspiration of the Bible.
We should believe that the Bible is the absolute, authoritative, Word of God Himself. All Scripture is God-breathed. God, through His Spirit, moved through holy men of old to speak and write what is recorded in the Bible using spiritual words to convey spiritual truths.
"Every part of Scripture is God-breathed" - 2 Timothy 3:16 (The Message)
Just as I breath out in speaking to you, God speaks to us through the Scripture; and because the breath of God is the Spirit of God, Paul is telling us that the pages of Scripture are holy and anointed by God Himself.
"Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
- 2 Peter 1:20-21 (NIV)
Some say that the Bible came to be written as a result of the writers interpreting historical events, and/or popular fables in light of their own personal beliefs. Instead, Peter makes it clear that the record of Scripture was directed and inspired by the Spirit of God.
"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words." - 1 Corinthians 2:12-13 (NASB)
Paul taught that the inspiration of the Bible is so precise that every word the writers used was directed and guided by the Holy Spirit!
As a result of poor planning a Texas man needed some same-day dry cleaning before he left on a trip. He remembered one store with a huge sign, "One-Hour Dry Cleaners," on the other side of town, so he drove out of his way to drop off his suit. After filling out the tag, he told the clerk, "I need this in an hour."
She replied, "I can’t get this back to you until Thursday."
"I thought you did dry cleaning in an hour?"
"No," she replied, "that’s just the name of the store."
Friends, we need to affirm that when we say the Bible is the Word of God, that it is exactly that! It is the record of God’s revelation of Himself to mankind. Therefore, everything we need to know about God and learn from God about life and eternity is found within the pages of this book!
B. We should believe in the preservation of the Bible.
"Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will remain forever."
- Matthew 24:35 (NLT)
God has preserved His word so that we can trust those translations we have today that seek to be true to the original text.
Speaking of which, the original languages used in the writing of the Scriptures are an illustration of how God has worked to preserve His Word. You see, the original languages of the Bible, Hebrew, Koine Greek, and Aramaic, are all dead languages (until the Jews revived the use of Hebrew with the re-establishment of the nation of Israel). The significance of this is that languages that are in use will evolve, develop, and change. Take English, for example. As recently as say, 50 years ago, the word "gay" had absolutely nothing to do with sexual orientation! Today, the use of the word has evolved to where we all understand that it can mean something other than happy or colorful. Consequently, when we sing a Christmas carol that says, "don we now our gay apparel," an uneducated person might think we are singing about a fellow named Don, who has a sexual orientation problem!
But the languages of the Bible are dead languages, which means that the words still mean today what they meant in Moses’ day or Isaiah’s day, or Jesus’ day or Paul’s day! Therefore, the truths that God intended to portray through their words and writings can be clearly discerned! Which means that we can understand what Moses’ words meant when he was inspired to write them in Hebrew; or what Jesus’ words meant when He spoke them in Aramaic, or what Paul’s words meant when He was inspired to write them in Greek. God has preserved His Word!
2. A common commitment to God’s Word - "devoted themselves"
Belief in the inspiration and preservation of the Bible is of no effect if I do not seek to apply its truths to my daily life. Therefore, it is important that we also believe in applying God’s Word. The Word of God is very practical and applicable.
"Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another--showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way."
- 2 Timothy 3:16 (The Message)
But we only experience the benefits of God’s Word as we seek to apply it to our lives.
"For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror; For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like."
- James 1:23-24 (Amplified)
A. The Word of God corrects what we do -
As Paul tells us, it is useful for exposing our rebellion and correcting our mistakes.
James tells us that the purpose of a mirror is to let us know what things in our appearance need to be addressed. Does my hair need combed? Do I have a zit on my nose? Is my fly opened? The reason I want to know of these things is so that I might correct them!
Likewise, the Bible tells us what things need to be corrected. If we are not willing to apply God’s Word, however, and correct those things that need correcting, then whatever time we have spent in God’s Word has done us no good at all.
B. The Word of God confirms who we are -
Again, in 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul tells us that God’s Word is useful in showing us the truth and training us to live God’s way.
One other benefit of a mirror is that it provides us with confidence as we go out to face the world. When I get around in the morning, and make sure that every hair is in place and that I am "looking good," that enables me to go out with a sense of confidence and self assurance as I face the day.
Likewise, God’s Word informs us about who we are in Christ and confirms in our hearts the truths concerning the fact that we are children of God, more than conquerors, and new creations in Christ Jesus. This sense of confidence in who we are in Christ is what Paul is talking about in 2 Timothy 2:15.
"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." - 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)
