"They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and
to the fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
Acts
2:42
I love spending
time in the book of Acts. The early
church was in it’s prime, especially in the first six chapters or so, before
the persecution really began. The
Apostles are hands on, they are in Jerusalem, with the people, teaching and
discipling the new believers, people are devoted and actively seeking out opportunities
to fellowship. And their numbers are
growing!
It must have been
an exciting time for these early believers.
They were involved with something new, something exciting, something
powerful, something that had the power to change lives. Not only did it have the power to change
lives, the people saw changed lives on a regular basis. I imagine daily they saw the evidence of God’s
power at work transforming lives.
Today, our faith
isn’t anything new. Many of us are
continuing in our parent’s footsteps. We
grew up in the church, and for some, the same church. We sort of grew into our faith. And while most of us have stories of how that
faith became real to us, the excitement has faded. Real life has demanded most of our
focus. We no longer daily see the
evidence of God’s power at work transforming lives. And while we do occasionally get a glimpse,
witness a healing, we can quickly return to normal without thinking too much
about it. Without letting it affect us.
How did we get
here? This seems to be so far from what
we see in the first six chapters of Acts we might even question if it’s the
same faith. Have we become more
intelligent, as some might say? Do we
know better know? Or have we strayed so
far from the practices of the early church that God’s power is diminished? And if that’s the answer, can we get it
back? Do we want to get it back? Or are we too comfortable where we are?
I think there is good
news here. I think we can get it
back. And I think that deep down inside
we want to get it back. We long for a
closer fellowship with God. We long to
see that fellowship lived out in our lives.
We want to witness the power of God change lives in us, and in our
friends, and in our community. Perhaps
we’re afraid. Perhaps we just don’t know
how. Perhaps we’re a little spiritually
lazy.
Whatever is
holding us back, the answer to how we get there is found in verses 42. The early church “devoted themselves to the
apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bead and to prayer.” This was their focus. And I believe that if we can change our
focus, and devote ourselves to the same thing the early believers were devoted
to, we will see the same power that they saw.
They were devoted
to the apostles teaching. We can find
the apostles teaching in the New Testament.
Now all of Scripture is God breathed and good for us, but it is
specifically the New Testament that was written by apostles and the earliest believers. So read all of Scripture, but devote yourself
to the New Testament and what the apostles wrote and taught. Pastors are the modern-day successors of the apostles. They devote themselves to God’s Word and to
prayer, so they can teach what the apostles taught. I love teaching – come and talk to me!
Fellowship was
another of the things they were devoted to.
They met together daily (v.46), they spent time together, they shared together,
encouraging and supporting each other.
If you don’t come together daily with other believers, you’re missing
out on what true fellowship is all about. There is something going on in the church
almost daily, there are opportunities to fellowship the way the early church
did. So make sure you get yourself
plugged in – devote yourself to it. Don’t
let the distractions of the world take you out of fellowship with the
body.
When we think of
the breaking of bread, we often think of communion. In this passage, the breaking of bread was
probably a common meal that included the Lord’s Supper. But it is not limited to the Lord’s
Supper. Are you devoted to eating with
your church family? We try to have
fellowship meals monthly, are those meals a focus for you – are you devoted to
them? Try to get together every time we
share a meal. Sharing and discipleship happens
as we break bread together.
And how about
prayer? I hope you pray at home. But do you make it a practice to pray with other
believers? Do you pray together? At FBC, our prayer gathering is on Tuesday
nights at 6:30, but only a few come out for that time of prayer. But there is power in corporate prayer. There is power when we come together and lift
each other up. There is power when we
share the names of the sick, the ministries of the church, the needs of the community. There is power when the people of the church pray
together.
There is power
when the people of the church get together for all four of these
practices. Change your focus. Put aside the concerns of the day and devote
yourself to the apostles teaching, to fellowship with your church family, to
breaking bread and sharing meals with other believers, and to corporate prayer,
times you pray together as a church family.
The early church
is a witness to the power of God exhibited when His people are devoted.
