Last year’s census results show a new change for our region. Historically, Catholicism has had a stronghold as the most popular religion. Last year though, that changed to “no religion”. In the 5 years from 2016 to 2021, there was an 11% growth in this group. They went from 20.7% of people to 31.7%. For the rest of Australia, the number is around 40%, 8% higher again. That means that at least a third of the people you meet and see on the streets don’t identify as Christian or with any other religion. As a nation, we are moving further away from God. I find that quite disappointing.
We reflect on the past, regularly thinking it was better. Our movement, Churches of Christ, has such origins. It’s part of the Restoration Movement. In 1826, Barton W. Stone, one of the founders of the movement in the United States, summarised its purpose: “[to achieve] the restoration and glory of the ancient religion of Christ – the religion of love, peace, and union on earth”. These founders, Stone among others, saw the state of the Church in their day. One that was split between Catholicism, Protestantism and other sects and the diversity grieved them deeply. And so, they sought to return to the pattern shown in Acts. There is no better passage to describe the early Church than what we’re discussing today in Acts 2:42-47. By the end of this morning, I pray that we will all be encouraged and have a direction for how we should continue together as a church family and by the end of it, perhaps we’ll see that today’s church can still be fruitful and faithful to the teachings of Jesus and His closest followers.
Before we look at the text for today, I’ll provide a little context. At the beginning of Acts, Jesus has just been crucified and risen again. After advising the disciples to remain in Jerusalem until the arrival of the Holy Spirit, He ascended and was lifted up into Heaven until He comes again. A day we very much look forward to. About 10 days later, on the day of Pentecost – 50 days after the Passover and Christ’s crucifixion, the Spirit arrives and each follower is indwelt. The Spirit came to live inside them. This same Spirit “empowers God’s people to preach God’s word in order to proclaim God’s gospel; and as they do this, the Spirit brings others to repentance and faith, and grows God’s church”. Through Peter’s preaching and the miracle of tongues, 3000 people received Christ and were baptised into the new movement.
Our text today describes how this movement continued. From verse 42:
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
The first thing noted here is that they, being the Christian movement, devoted themselves. The modern idea of devotion hints at a profound dedication and often includes a level of observance; such as religious worship and prayer. The Greek terminology is always deeper. Human language tends to get simpler as time progresses. Think about the texting culture in LOL. We slowly lose meaning. The Greek term used here is προσκαρτεροῦντες (proskarterountes), which while devotion is a correct translation, it involves a level of adherence and constance. To be steadfastly attentive towards a certain direction or cause. It involves giving unremitting care. There is perseverance, these people are vigilant, with a strong sense of continued, ongoing commitment. Most translations use “devoted themselves”. The Message paraphrase uses the term “committed”. The New King James Version uses “continued steadfastly”. For us today, it’s probably easier to understand the idea as this: unrelenting commitment. “And they unrelentingly committed themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
This verse involves four aspects that the early church unrelentingly committed themselves to (1) the Apostles’ teaching; (2) the fellowship; (3) the breaking of bread; and (4) prayer. The verses that follow form an elaboration or commentary on these markers of the Christian Church.
From verse 43:
“And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.”
Earlier in Acts we read that a great sound from Heaven came and the Holy Spirit appeared on the Disciples as tongues of fire. They began to speak other languages as the Spirit enabled them to do so. Hearing the noise, a great multitude gathered and their response was not surprising. You must be drunk! If one of my mates started talking gibberish, or another language they haven’t previously learned, I would certainly be inclined to question the same! So Peter, the man who just over a month ago had denied Jesus three times, addresses the crowd and presents the first recorded sermon in Acts. Now, Peter was quite boisterous. He was always the first to speak, even though he often didn’t understand. But he’s passionate. In John 13 we read the following:
“Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. 38 Jesus answered, Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.”
And indeed he did deny Christ three times. At the moment of Christ’s death, Peter lost everything. He lost his Rabbi, and he also failed to live up to his own expectations. He didn’t lay down his life, instead he held onto it with the fear of losing it. This was the moment that truly humbled him. Where despair set in. Hope faded. He had failed his master.
But the story doesn’t remain here. Jesus rises from the grave. He appears to the disciples, opens the Scriptures and teaches them further and appears to 500 people. But before He ascended into the clouds, Jesus spent one on one time with Peter to care for and restore him. We read in John 21 from verse 15:
“15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you. He said to him, Feed my lambs. 16 He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you. He said to him, Tend my sheep. 17 He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, Do you love me? and he said to him, Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep. “
And verse 18: “And after saying this he said to him, Follow me”.
Jesus asks Peter three questions: “do you love me?” And that’s the basis of our faith. It’s the basis of the Apostolic teaching. Do you love Jesus? Do you love the God whose every desire was to restore relationship with us? Do you love the God who came and lived among us, to not only understand and sympathise with our nature, but also to show us how to live and love. Do you love this Jesus? The one who restores Peter, who forgives Peter, who says “follow me Peter”.
This very same Peter presents the Gospel message to the masses and 3000 people are baptised into the Church community that very day. It was these people that were awestruck. But the sentiment wasn’t mere awe where you might admire the apostles for their teaching and work. It also infers a level of fear, of respect. Verse 37 mentions that upon hearing the sermon from Peter, the people were cut to the heart. In conjunction with the signs and wonders, which only appear on a grand scale in Scripture when a new revelation occurs – they function as a confirmation as sorts, what you end up with is a community of people who deeply respect and fear the leadership of the Apostles. When we fail to heed their teaching, the outcome can be devastating. In Acts 5 Ananias and his wife Sapphira fail to take the apostolic teaching seriously – they end up dead. The Apostles may not be here now, so we seek to honour the teaching we do know – we find it in the Bible and from a tradition and community of interpretation. When people fail to respect that teaching, we get cult groups and the results can be quite sad. Think about the snake handling church in the States: they take Mark 16 literally and recent scholarship suggests this section was not in the original manuscripts of Mark – it was added later. But the misinterpretation of the text has caused over 100 deaths in these churches. We need an unrelenting commitment to the correct interpretation and application of Scripture to our lives.
The next point to discuss is the idea of fellowship. It’s a great word that we love here at church. Often we think about meeting together, perhaps in the hall and filling our bellies with coffee (or tea) and cake, while we talk with one another. Then we get tired and go home. And this picture is good – I’ve enjoyed a lot of this fellowship both here and with other congregations. You would have heard the Greek term: κοινωνίᾳ (koinōnia), which while inclusive of our idea of fellowship, it also is highly intimate. The next two verses paint a broader picture of that intimacy:
“44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.”
Our initial knee-jerk reaction is to suggest this text can’t relate to us. I don’t have to sell all I have, do I? There are certain things in our culture that just make us squirm and this idea of selling possessions is one of them. We just want to keep growing our capital, getting more and more comfortable. We want to provide for our spouses and our children, to make sure they can be prosperous and have a bright future. Selling our possessions and giving the proceeds to those in need, wouldn’t that potentially jeopardize the future of our loved ones? If this is our reaction, to downplay the teaching of the Apostles in Scripture, we need to be careful. It should immediately set off alarm bells in our conscience. It’s a problem within us that God is wanting to address. So consider it deeply.
Now, the believers had all things in common. Is this a hint toward socialism? … Not necessarily. Luke isn’t calling for Christians to sell everything. In verse 46 he advises that believers broke bread in their homes: which suggests they still owned their homes. What this text seems to suggest is an intimate level of care within the fellowship. If one member is struggling, others will sell out of their abundance to provide for that need. The fundamental virtue here is generosity.
Earlier I mentioned Ananias and Sapphira from Acts 5. Following the teaching of the Apostles, they sold a piece of property. Good on them for actively following the teaching. But they failed to live out the virtue of generosity. They held back a portion of the proceeds and lied to the Spirit, hoping to conceal the portion. But God is all-knowing. Often we fall into the same trap, wanting to firmly grasp things of this world. But we need to let them go and give them to God. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was that they failed to give God everything. They refused to give him control of their lives, to let Him sit in the driver’s seat. Don’t make the same mistake. And if you find yourself holding onto things too dearly, repent, pray, ask God’s spirit to lead you and obediently follow His direction.
So we see that an unrelenting commitment to fellowship means that we uphold one another and ensure that each member of our church family is supported. Is everything owned by the church collectively? Not necessarily. Some goods may be – such as the facilities here. But others may not, such as our own homes. Anything that is surplus to our needs and requirements, let’s be prepared to give away to further the growth of our church family. This principle goes beyond simple finances and goods, it needs to include our wisdom, experience and time. We need to be a community that is oriented toward the love and care of our fellow believers.
From verse 46:
“46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people.”
The third and fourth elements from verse 42 focus upon the breaking of bread and of prayer. Both of these can be summarised by the idea of worship. How is it that the Church ought to worship? Well, day by day, indicating regularity, they attended the temple. This was a standard practice for Judaism at the time, where members of the faith would attend the temple for worship, prayer and teaching. At this time, the Christians still considered the Jews as their brothers and sisters, so they often worshipped in the same facility. And while these meetings sought to bring praise to God and uplift the people, they didn’t remain there. Partaking in meals was forbidden in the Temple, so they met in their homes to “break bread”. Some scholars take this to refer to the Lord’s Table, to communion. Still, others think it’s a broader reference to the general idea of hospitality and eating in fellowship with other believers. Both are true; whether specifically eating the bread and wine of communion or not, the believers sought to come together in their homes. So while there was a larger community, there were smaller home meetings. The Church would come together but also part into its separate little units. And in these meetings, they would remember Christ, and encourage and uplift one another in generosity. It was a community filled with great joy and love and much diversity.
Today, we meet regularly. It may not be day to day, as our circumstances are different to those of 2000 years ago. But we meet regularly. We meet here each Sunday to praise and honour God, but also to hear God’s word; to learn and grow in maturity. We spend time in prayer. We opt to partake in communion weekly, while other churches do it less regularly. Irrespective of your position on this, the idea is to keep the grace and mercy of Jesus in our mind’s eye – we must remember and seek to follow Jesus in all things. If you’re not in a regular bible study group throughout the week, can I encourage you to join one? The regular meeting together of believers is important for our spiritual growth. Joining one another over a meal in our homes: that’s why I’m excited about the Dinners Together program. I haven’t been able to join up this time, but if it’s run again next year, you can count me in! If you have the gift of hospitality, seek to foster it and use it for the Kingdom. Invite a new family over to lunch or dinner. If hospitality isn’t your thing, make plans to go out for dinner with someone else from the church. Let’s continue to meet together regularly.
When the church is unrelentingly committed to these four markers: (1) the Apostles’ teaching; (2) the fellowship; (3) the breaking of bread; and (4) prayer, the result can be this:
“And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
If the Church continues to honour and follow these four markers, it will continue to grow. The rate may change, it may even decline in number, but the spiritual growth and transformation of its members will always continue. And that, ultimately, is what we’re called to do: to make disciples. People who follow Jesus in everything. They’re generous with their time and possessions, they dedicate their lives to honouring what we find in the Scriptures. They’re prayerful, considerate and seeking to spend time caring for fellow believers. We share meals regularly and gather to teach and hear God’s word. Collectively and over time, this results in the transformation of souls, a group of people continually praising God. The way this Church will operate within these four elements will continue to change as necessary. To that accord, if you have any ideas for how you might like to get involved, please reach out to the leadership. Let’s partner together, continuing to seek God’s glory and grow in Christlikeness, together.
As we do that, we seek to invite and include more people into this culture. We seek new believers to challenge us, to help us to continue to grow in our faith, but also to walk alongside them as they begin their new journey with Christ. We want to extend this community outwards, to share and join this community of Jesus disciples. If you’re here this morning and would like to join this community of faith, please come forward during our closing song. The journey of faith, of following Jesus is a journey that all are invited to. And I am convinced that Jesus makes all the difference in our lives.