It is very unfortunate that we live in an age where someone can be recognized as a respectable church member without being a true disciple of Jesus Christ. People like this remind of cartoon that had a rather large lady saying to a friend, “My reducing club is a great success. We’ve lost 148 pounds. However none of it is mine personally.” Some church members keep their names on the list, attend every Sunday morning, criticize the congregation’s short comings and even boast in the accomplishments. However, they have never committed themselves to becoming personally involved in the ministry of the church. They want to have a church for assistance when there are births, marriages, illness and funerals. They desire all the benefits but ask they to become personally involved and they just don’t have the time. What these people have failed to understand is that church membership without discipleship is a slap in the face to Jesus Christ. These types of attitudes completely go against everything that the Lord has taught. If this type of church membership is meaningless then what should a church member do? To answer this question we need to once again turn to page one in the history of the church. The first Christians had noting casual or nominal about the commitment; they consider themselves to be disciples. We need to examine the word disciple which appears 232 times in the Gospels and 27 times in the book of Acts. It does not appear in the epistles where the predominate word used for Christian was saint which appears 57 times in the epistles and the book of Revelation. Disciple means learner, student or apprentice. It was used in Greek and Roman society to designate someone as a follower of a philosopher such as Aristotle or Socrates. The word saint is a much broader term reflecting the idea of someone being set apart for God’s exclusive purpose. Today we want to concentrate on the word disciple since we modern church members have lost touch with the true meaning and challenge of the word disciple. If you recall, Jesus did not commission His followers to go into all the world and make church members; especially with our modern compromised idea of church membership. He ordered them to make disciples which are to be made according to His definition of church membership. Today let’s answer the question: “So…I’m a part of the church…now what?
I. The early disciples met together to study and learn from the apostles teaching.
A. These new Christians naturally wanted to learn everything they could about their new Lord.
1. "The apostles’ teaching" refers to a body of material considered authoritative because it was the message about Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed by accredited apostles.
2. These new believers accepted the fact that Jesus was the chosen one of God.
3. However they just didn’t know that much about Him and wanted to learn so much more.
4. Since the New Testament hadn’t been written yet they relied of pre-Christian scriptures and the testimonies of the apostles and others who had know Jesus first hand.
5. It undoubtedly included a compilation of the words of Jesus, some account of his earthly ministry, passion and resurrection, and a declaration of what all this meant for man’s redemption.
B. “The apostles’ teaching” provided the foundation of their faith. As is evident in the New Testament documents, this teaching was always Christ-centered, yet relevant to life.
1. These new believers wanted to do anything they could to fulfill Christ’s expectation. (John 8:31-32)
2. They were to learn all that the apostles could teach them.
3. Like the first century believers Christians are to be students of the Word of God.
4. We should be driven to learn all we can about the one who loved us enough to die for us.
II. When they met together they not only studied, but they devoted themselves to fellowship and the breaking of bread.
A. This familiar term refers to two important elements in the life of the church.
1. They met together in each other’s homes to sit down and share a meal together.
2. These were very much like our church dinners today where everyone pitches in to make sure there is plenty for everyone.
3. At the meals according to the ancient customs of hospitality, all participants were treated equally and experienced unity in Christ with other members.
4. Nothing expresses friendship and fellowship more than eating together.
5. In a Christian setting, where hearts were warmed by devotion, it would have been an occasion for joy, love, and praise connected inevitably with Jesus.
B. In addition to the common fellowship meal the early believers share together in the Lord’s Supper.
1. From Acts 20:7 we learn that the practice of the early Christians was to break bread on the first day of the week.
2. During the early days of the church, a love feast was held in connection with the Lord’s Supper as an expression of the love of the saints for one another.
3. Here it is sufficient for us to mention that at the end of these types of meals the leader of the group would take a loaf of bread and prayerfully distribute it to everyone and then ask blessing on a cup of wine to be shared among all the members.
4. This simple act reminds each person of Jesus sharing with His disciples in the upper room and His sacrificial love for each of us.
5. This was also a much dramatized lesson in discipleship. (Matthew 10:38)
III. Through their devotion to prayer they new disciples kept in personal touch with their Master.
A. References to “prayer” are frequent both in the summary statements and the narrative of Acts.
1. Luke shows here in Acts the parallelism between the Spirit’s work in relation to Jesus and the Spirit’s work in the church, so he also sets up the parallelism between prayer in the life of Jesus and prayer in the life of the church.
2. They had been faithful Jews or believers in the one true God before becoming Christians so the discipline of prayer was nothing new to them.
3. Since they had always prayer they just added to their prayers in the name of Jesus.
4. In Jesus’ name they addressed God and through Him they worshipped.
B. In the temple daily, in their homes and privately they talked with God.
1. A disciple seeks to stay close to their Lord.
2. The early believers expressed complete dependence on the Lord for worship, guidance, preservation, and service.
3. Since the believers continued to make the temple central to their gatherings, it is not surprising that they continued to recognize the times for prayer.
4. To them prayer was a lifeline and they strived to always keep the channels of communication between them and God open.
IV. The new disciples apprenticed themselves to Jesus, the desired to become like Him in every point even if it meant carrying their cross like He carried His.
A. Jesus did call His first disciples to simply occupy a pew. The realized to follow Him meant go wherever He leads.
1. The Christian life is to be an adventure, the excitement is in the fact we are on our way but we are not sure where we are going.
2. Our ultimate destiny is sure, but the journey is uncertain.
3. Our only assurance is that our Master knows. His is to lead and ours is to follow.
4. The life He calls us to a life that is not easy and it involves great discipline.
5. Disciples are not concerned about respectability. In fact Jesus was criticized for hanging with society’s respectable, he was criticized for hanging with society’s outcasts and sinners.
B. The Christians remained devoted to Christ and each other because the realized they could experience the fullness of life alone.
1. In one respect our society is much like first century Jerusalem.
2. There were then as there are now very few places where people can and not be abused, used, mistreated or manipulated.
3. The church grew rapidly not because they simply held on to each other but because the pick others up on their way.
4. The disciples were quickly found on the streets, in the temple, in the homes of neighbors and friends sharing the good news that had transformed their lives.
5. Fearing no one, they were filled with enthusiasm and the desire to save others as they had been saved.
C. What do Christians do? What does it mean to be a true disciple of Jesus?
1. It means to attach ourselves to the Master and learning from Him what we are to do and how to live.
2. It means to pledge ourselves to one another as we walk hand in hand on this heavenward pilgrimage.
3. Christians have so much love for Jesus and others that it shows in our concern for those who haven’t joined us on this great journey.
4. We need to see everyone as being precious and being ones for whom Christ died. That’s what Christian’s do!
In What’s So Amazing about Grace?, Philip Yancey recounts this story about C. S. Lewis:
During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith.
They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death.
The debate went on for some time until C. S. Lewis wandered into the room. "What’s the rumpus about?" he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity’s unique contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, "Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace." After some discussion, the conferees had to agree.
The notion of God’s love coming to us free of charge, no strings attached, seems to go against every instinct of humanity. The Buddhist eight-fold path, the Hindu doctrine of Karma, the Jewish covenant, and Muslim code of law—each of these offers a way to earn approval. Only Christianity dares to make God’s love unconditional.
