Four Pillars of the Primitive Church

INTRODUCTION

1 Peter 2:11 ESV

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Ephesians 2:19 ESV

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

Peter says that the church is a community of sojourners and exiles. People who have no home.

Paul says that the church is a community of people who are not strangers and aliens. People who have a home.

Well which is it? Is Paul right or is Peter right?

Are we exiles or are we citizens?

The answer is yes.

In both cases, Peter and Paul are speaking of the Christian’s relationship to the world and the local church’s relationship to the world.

The church should be eager to pursue purity and not look like the world because the church is filled with people who have been called out of the world.

So in one sense, Peter is right...we are sojourners and exiles.

Spiritually we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. That is our home.

But physically, we trod this earth as pilgrims. We don’t have a final address here that we point to and call home.

And yet, in another sense, Paul is right…we are no longer strangers and aliens.

See, when we were dead in sin, we were alive to the world.

We followed its way and walked in its course.

And when that was our state, we were alive to the world and dead to God. Hearts of stone.

But now, God has called us out of the world. We have repented of sin and looked upon Christ in faith.

We have hearts of flesh.

And being alive to God, we now citizens of His Kingdom.

Transferred out of the domain of darkness.

We are now strangers to the world, but we are known to God.

We are are aliens to the world, but are native to the household of God.

So they are both right.

Sojourners and exiles.

No longer aliens and strangers.

This is our identity.

And that being the case, the church should be distinct.

Different from the world.

Set apart and consecrated.

And that should be evident in how they live and worship together.

This morning we see the result of 3000 people being called out of the world and into the household of God through repentance and faith.

Baptized into the church

Alive to God and dead to the world.

And they are the first ones.

They are the primitive church—as Matthew Henry called them.

The earliest church.

What did they do when they gather? What was primary? What did community look like?

Well it is all here in the text.

And what we see in the text, we need to have here in this church.

This is back to basics.

This is the local church stripped down to the essentials.

And this is everything that your pastors want for us and nothing more and nothing less.

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

THE FOUR PILLARS OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH

My favorite resources for the book of Acts are as follows:

Commentaries by:

Tony Merida

Matthew Henry

Brian Vickers

RC Sproul

I. Howard Marshall

Albert Mohler

Wide range there

I have also loved overviews done by:

Kevin DeYoung

Patrick Schreiner

They all had basically say the same thing about these verses:

There are four clear pillars of the first church.

The church that directly or indirectly planted all the other churches.

The mother church.

They don’t all use that language. I just like the word.

But they all clearly identify four things that marked the spiritual life of the church in Jerusalem.

They are as follows:

The Apostles’ Teaching

Community

The Breaking of Bread

Prayer

We will go through them in order and then we will take a look at the results of it.

We starts with the Apostles’ Teaching.

PILLAR I: APOSTLES’ TEACHING (v. 42)

Luke records that the church was devoted to the apostles’ teaching.

Meaning, they were devoted to learning apostolic doctrine from the Twelve.

And today, that doctrine is recorded in the New Testament.

So what Luke is saying is that these brothers and sisters were devoted to learning the Word of God.

Not just that, but we can see that their devotion to God’s Word is primary.

It is the first thing that Luke lists out.

They did not start by devoting themselves to learning how to run an organization

They did not start by devoting themselves to collecting tithes

They did not start even by devoting themselves to evangelism.

Their primary passion is God’s Word. Their primary direction is God’s Word.

And this is the case because they are following Jesus’ blueprint:

Before Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, He left important instructions for the apostles.

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The apostolic teaching in Acts 2:42 is just this—Peter and the others teaching everything that Jesus commanded to the church.

And now we have that doctrine recorded in the New Testament.

Jude 3 ESV

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

The faith once for all delivered to the saints—this is the Gospel of the Kingdom...

Given to us by the Word of Christ

Taught and recorded by the Apostles

Used to lead and govern and purify the church for centuries by pastors and teachers

The primary nature of the teaching of God’s Word and good Christ-centered doctrine is obvious in the early church.

You see it here and then you see it again in chapter 4.

Acts 4:33 ESV

And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

Luke gives us another check in on the nature of the earliest church after the trial they go through with Peter and John’s arrest and once again we see an emphasis on the preaching of the apostles.

And then in chapter 6, seven men are set aside to deal with a very practical widow issue.

Why is that even necessary? Why not just have the apostles deal with it?

Acts 6:1–2 ESV

Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.

And here in Acts 2:42-47, Luke means for us to see that everything else that happens in these verses happens because of this dogged devotion to the Word of God in the apostolic teaching.

The church is in community and in prayer and sharing meals together because they are a Word-centered people.

The early church shows us that the Word of God must be our life and authority.

See—the early church were sovereignty people. They have demonstrated that. We saw it in Peter’s teaching.

Jesus died because of the actions of lawless men, but it was also the definite plan of God (Acts 2:23)

The promise for everyone that is far off—everyone whom the Lord calls to Himself, that is (Acts 2:39)

They believed God was in control of salvation from beginning to end, just as they believed He was in control of all things from beginning to end

In light of that, they counted His Word to be final. He is Sovereign; we are not.

That means His Word has more authority than ours and more authority than the word of any other person under the sun.

So then, when it comes what we believe, we do not assume to make things up or base our idea of God off our own opinions. No—we surrender to the authority of the Scriptures, believing that life is found in God’s Word and no other.

When it comes to what the church must be and how it must operate—we don’t choose our actions based on tradition or preference. No—we bow down to the authority of the Scriptures believing that the church will have health and life if they are obeyed because they come from the mouth of the Source of all life.

When it comes to how we live, we look different. We looked called out. Sojourners and exiles. No longer strangers and aliens. Because we have rejected the practical wisdom of man for the peaceable, gentle, divine wisdom of God.

And the main way that God has designed for this wisdom to be disseminated into the hearts and minds of the church is through the mouths of preachers and teachers.

He has ordained for men to stand up and declare the Word of God to the sheep of the fold.

He has chosen mere men to be mouthpieces for His heavenly words.

And for those words to not be deformed into TED talks and self-help principles

They are to be heralded passionately and clearly so that God’s Word can saturate the mind.

And then, the Word pierces the heart and invades the conscience.

And then, once conviction has set the heart on fire, the hands and feet are moved to action.

The life and authority of the local church shape and orient the lives of its members.

Jonathan Leeman

It can only be the Word that is allowed to do this work.

But if it is not the Word that does this—if it is not the good, Gospel-centered, Christ-exalting, Apostolic doctrine that is doing this, then something else will take its place.

Churches will move people to action with:

False promises

False doctrine

False rules made up by man—legalism

False interpretations to justify the action of man—liberalism

And then something else becomes the life and authority of the church

The wisdom of man

This is how churches end up ingrown, overgrown or they just flat stop growing.

This is how churches die on the vine—by separating themselves from the Word of Christ

When a church treats the Word as its life and authority, it is doing the most important thing correctly

Many errors will be corrected

Many errors will be avoided

Many hearts will be stirred

The Great Commission will be fulfilled

PILLAR II: COMMUNITY (v. 42)

Let’s keep moving along. We see the first and most primary pillar—Apostolic teaching.

Now we look at the second—Community.

Look verse 42. The English Standard Version uses the word fellowship.

The Greek word is koinonia.

It is a very special word that means fellowship or participation.

And it is a Christian word.

The idea is that only believers can share in community and fellowship like this.

You see just how deep this community run in that they “had all things in common” (v. 44) and they are selling their goods and belongings in order to distribute the proceeds as any had need.

Luke elaborates on this communal generosity in chapter 4 when he says:

Acts 4:32 ESV

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.

Acts 4:34–35 ESV

There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Some have jumped at the opportunity to call this communism or to say that the Bible is promoting communism or socialism or the state-sanctioned re-distribution of wealth.

That is not what this is about. And I don’t say that because I have a problem with communism (I do), but because I have a problem with people bastardizing God’s Word for their silly political agenda.

This is not communism because Peter isn’t going to shoot anyone or starve anyone if they refuse.

This is not coercion.

This is free-will, cheerful generosity that is produced by the worship-rending grace of God.

God has shown grace to these sinners in Christ and now, having been called out of the world and into community with one another, communal generosity is the natural response to the preached Word.

The Apostles are teaching them about the sacrifice of the Cross, therefore, they sacrifice for one another.

The Apostles are teaching them about God giving His Son, therefore, they are giving to one another.

The Apostles are teaching them about how Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you”, and they are responding with benevolence.

You see the communal life of the church expressed in how they worshipped as well.

In verse 46 we are told that they attend the temple together day by day.

This should be no surprise. These are Jewish believers who have come to believe Christ is the Messiah who has been promised.

Why would they stop going to Temple and worshipping God? They have all the more reason to do so now.

You also see this in verse 47. They are praising God.

Luke speaks of them doing this as one body. As a community.

In verse 46, the “Day by Day” aspect of their lives shows that the church was truly living life together.

They had been summoned from the wilderness of the world into the fellowship of the church.

This made them distinct, but also under isolated.

To their Jewish contemporaries, they were blasphemers

To their Greco-Roman contemporaries, they were a joke

And when the swords of the world inevitably turned on them, they only had each other.

The church in Jerusalem would find the Western idea of church being just a slice of life’s pie as odd.

Many people view church as just one of many things they do:

They belong to a social club

They belong to a gym

They go to work

They have family

They go to baseball games

They attend church

It is a part of life. It is this important element that is needed to keep things balanced and raise our kids with morals and give back to the community

No—for the early church, they were clinging to God in community together on a daily basis, just to survive.

It wasn’t something they gave time to in between travel sports and business trips

It was their family as they knew it

There seems to be this idea floating around in 2023 that you can do church and Christianity without community.

That is like saying you can do America with democracy.

NASCAR without going fast.

Popcorn without heat.

It simply isn’t how the Lord set it up.

And if you believe the Scriptures are our life and authority, how He set it up will matter to you.

Do you realize just how many New Testament “one another” commands we get for how we are supposed to live in community?

Romans 12:10—love one another deeply

Romans 12:10—outdo one another in showing honor

Romans 5:14—instruct one another

1 Corinthians 12:25—have concern for one another

Galatians 5:13—serve one another

Galatians 6:2—carry one another’s burdens

Ephesians 4:2—bear with one another in love

Ephesians 4:32—be kind and compassionate with one another

Ephesians 5:21—submit to one another

Colossians 3:9—do not lie to one another

1 Thessalonians 4:18—encourage one another

1 Thessalonians 5:15—Pursue what is good for one another

Hebrews 10:24—stir one another up to good works when you gather together

James 4:11—don’t criticize one another

James 5:9—don’t complain to one another

James 5:16—confess your sins to one another

1 Peter 4:19—be hospitable to one another

1 Peter 5:5—be humble toward one another

1 John 4:7—love one another

You think you can do all of that from home? You think a livestream or a TBN show can do that for you?

No. Church—by definition is community. It is a people, formed by their summoning out of the world and into Christian family.

See--the Lord has designed for the entire Christian witness to be born out of real community.

After He gets down on His hands and knees and washes their feet, He says to them:

John 13:34–35 ESV

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

To love one another, we have to be with one another

To be loved well, you must put yourself around other Christians and give them the opportunity to love you

I am convinced that Christian people and families should build their lives around the activity of their local church.

Let the sports and the PTA get the leftovers

Let your smart phone time and your TV time shrink down

Build your schedule around the life of the church

Because when you make the shared community of the church a priority, you get to experience the blessing of love and sacrifice that happens within these walls.

You get to bless and be blessed.

You get to give and be given to.

You get to confront and be confronted.

You get to pray and be prayed for.

You get to worry and have someone remind you that you don’t have to worry.

You get to see people that you didn’t even know cared, do things for you that your blood family wouldn’t even do

And why is all of that so important?

Because this is how God means to show His love and wisdom to the world, through the witness of the church.

In the Old Covenant, the tabernacle and temple showed what God was like.

In the New Testament, God’s building is His church.

And His church shows off what God is like, just like the tabernacle and the temple did in the OT.

So when you and I love one another as Christ has loved us, we are showing each other and the lost world what God is like.

We are saying something about His love and mercy and His coming Kingdom.

That is worth re-arranging our lives for

That is eternal work that will one day be a part of your soul’s reward if you are faithful to it.

So then, when people fall away from the community of the church, I am sad for two reasons:

One—I am sad for their soul because I am worried for it.

If you can stay away from in-person local church attendance by choice, for prolonged periods of time, I have real concern for your salvation.

But secondly—I am sad for your soul because you are missing out on the greatest institution on the face of the earth, outside of the family itself.

There is nothing like the church.

Are you alone? Are you scared? Are you in need? Come to the church.

Are you in sin? Are you in trouble? Are you in crisis? Bring it to the church.

Do you need friends? Do you need a pastor? Do you need to the preached Word in your life? Then you need the church.

Are you lacking a witness of love in your life? Get in the church.

PILLAR III: SHARED TABLE (v. 42, 46)

Let’s keep going. The third pillar is very much attached to the second, for born out of their Christian community were these important shared times at the table.

What table is Luke referring to? Well that has been the subject of some debate.

Some say Luke is referring to the Lord’s Supper.

Others say he is referring to shared communal meals that were an important part of the early church.

And then some say it is both.

I will argue that it is the third option. I think Luke is referring to both here.

When you see the “breaking of bread” in verse 42, I believe that is more than just a potluck.

And I think that because of how Luke writes in Acts 20:7

Acts 20:7 ESV

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

That sounds like Sunday worship.

They are getting together on the first day of the week

They are practicing the Lord’s Supper

Paul is preaching..for so long that poor Eutychus falls asleep and takes a briefly deadly spill out of the window

Then when you go down to verse 46, Paul says they are “breaking bread” in their home and they are receiving their good with glad and generous hearts.

That sounds like more than just the Lord’s Supper.

That makes it sound like there is more a meal happening.

It reminds me of how Paul talks in 1 Corinthians 11.

1 Corinthians 11:20–21 ESV

When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.

Paul mentions the Lord’s Supper, but he connects it to this larger meal that takes place.

A meal being abused by some of the more wealthy in the Corinthian congregation.

So with all of that being considered—I would say it is both of these things.

It seems the church was gathering together and having a large common meal that included the Lord’s Supper.

It is important for a church to come to the dinner table and the communion table together.

It is a good thing for churches to eat together.

There has always been something about God’s people eating together as a sign that they are a covenant community before the Lord.

For example, in Exodus 24, when God confirms His covenant with Israel, it results in a shared meal:

Exodus 24:9–11 ESV

Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

See, it might just look like a covered dish, but the reality is that the covered dish is a covenant activity.

We have made a covenant with God and with one another.

Our covenant with God is life for a life.

He gave us the life of His Son and we are giving our lives to Him as a living sacrifice

Our covenant with one another is life on life.

We will climb mountains and tread valleys together as the people of God, called out of the world and into relationship with Him and one another.

We have made a promise to one another that in light of our accountability to Him as the Head, we are accountable to one another as the members of the body.

So when we eat fried chicken and green beans and rice krispy treats after church next week, we are not just saving everyone some money on lunch.

We are sharing a meal with generous hearts.

We are looking forward to the fellowship of heaven.

We are stepping away from the cares of earth.

We are maintaining the unity of the Spirit.

We are tending the garden of our community love.

We are practicing our Christianity and saying, “When I do the most basic things in this life for God—like eating and drinking—I want to do with all of you.”

This is why Midweek matters.

It is a sacred thing to come together each week at 5:30pm and simply share a meal and laugh.

It is the sights and sounds of family.

And if you want that sort of backyard cookout community feel at Seaford Baptist, Midweek is the place to get it.

But it is not just the shared meal. The main of event of the shared meal in the early church was the Lord’s Supper.

Eating the bread to remember the life that Christ gave.

Drinking from the cup to remember the blood that Christ spilt.

Jesus instituted this meal in Luke 22 and told the disciples to “do this in remembrance” of Him until He comes again and eats and drinks at the table with them.

We do not have time for a deep dive into the Lord’s Supper this morning. We did that a few months back when we were in Luke 22.

But I do just want to take a moment to point out that this is the church’s back door.

This is how the church knows who belongs.

Last week, we saw 3000 come to know Christ and they were baptized.

That was the front door.

But the Lord’s Supper table is the back door.

Baptism is how we know who is coming in, but the Supper Table is how we know who has stayed.

They have not gone out from us—instead, they are by our side, depending on the body and blood of Christ for salvation just like you.

In the same way that I am concerned for people who can miss in-person church attendance for long periods of time and not be bothered, I am gravely concerned for the person who can forsake their place at the Lord’s table and feel pretty much nothing over that.

When your church is taking communion the first Sunday of every month for years and you know it, and you are comfortable being other places regularly and missing that—that isn’t a good thing.

If you went to a spiritual doctor and they ran your vitals and they saw you were just fine with missing the Lord’s Supper regularly when you could be there—well, they would send you to the hospital for scans.

See—to not break bread together and to not remember the Lord together through the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, is to come to peace with not practicing basic Christianity.

And what it ultimately shows is a lack of surrender to the Word of God in your life.

That lack of surrender is shown in what you prioritize.

Do you see how connected the pillars of the church are?

If you aren’t surrendered to the Word, you become disconnected from the community that the Word is shaping.

If you are disconnected, you will forsake your place in the community—including your place at the Lord’s table.

PILLAR IV: PRAYER (v. 42)

And then the final pillar, which you see at the end of verse 42—prayer.

They are a church that prays together.

There are two types of prayers that have been regularly practiced by Christians throughout history.

Informal Prayer: This is when we are talking to God without a prompt and we aren’t on a certain schedule.

Set Prayers: This is when we talk to God using written prayers from the Scripture or from prayers books and it might be on a schedule.

You can see Peter and John are practicing a more set form of prayer in Acts 3:1 when they go up to the temple to pray at the 9th hour

Whether you are praying an informal prayer or a set prayer, what matters is that it is sincere and it demonstrates a real dependence upon God.

Throughout Acts, we see the church continuing to do this. They continue to depend on God in prayer.

Acts 4:31 ESV

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Acts 12:5 ESV

So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Acts 13:1–3 ESV

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Free prayer and formal prayer. Individual prayer and corporate prayer. Prayer without ceasing. Prayers of lament. Prayers of praise. Prayer in the temple. Prayer as they walked along the way.

Prayers when people are sick. Prayers before the Word is heard. Prayers when sit down to eat. Prayers after a long day.

Whatever the form, whatever the cause and whoever is present—the church should be honoring God by taking what we have learned from Him about prayer and returning it to Him in practice.

The Lord did not teach us to pray so that we would be silent.

And church that is submissive to the teaching of God’s Word will be a church that prays.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be submissive.

If we do not pray, we will be out of step with God.

Healthy churches are praying churches, from the very start of Christian history.

And it sets us apart from the world in the sense that they do not depend on God.

The world has other plans and others means.

We pray because we knows that apart from Him, we can do nothing.

We pray because we know that the Lord is all we have.

He is our strength and our portion forever.

THE RESULTS

Now before we close, I want us to look at the results that we see in verse 43 and in verse 47. There are three.

The world is in awe (v. 43).

Because of the signs and wonders that God is doing through the community of the church, unbelieving Jerusalem is in awe.

You could safely translate that word to fear or terror.

Just as they were perplexed at the tongues spoken at Pentecost, the world is in fear over what they are seeing in this peculiar community of 3,120 people.

The church has approval (v. 47).

They have favor with the people. They are well-liked.

We will see in chapters 3 and 4 that this sentiment is not universal.

We will see in later chapters that opposition is going to increase.

But often, the world will have no choice but to tip its cap to the church and say, “Those are nice people.”

There is no law against love and when we practice it, even unbelievers will often give a distant approval.

When you hear people say things like, “I don’t go to church, but if I did, I would go to that church,” you are hearing what is sounds like for the church to have favor in a lost person’s heart and mind.

The Word is advancing (v. 47).

The Lord is saving people daily through the church’s ministry.

The Gospel is being preached and people are responding and believing.

More baptisms are being performed.

More places at the Lord’s Supper table are being made.

The Kingdom is growing and advancing—just as Jesus promised it would.

***ASK BAND TO COME***

Now, I can’t think of too many churches who wouldn’t want these things to be said about them.

Who wouldn’t want the world to be fearful over how God is working in our midst?

Who wouldn’t want to have favor with the world and see more Gospel doors opened?

Who wouldn’t want to keep the baptism waters stirred on the daily?

But here is what we must understand—the early church was not in control of any of that.

They were just obedient.

They counted God’s Word to be their life and authority and they submitted themselves to it.

They shared life with one another.

They ate together and remembered the Lord’s death at His table.

And they prayed together.

Those are things they could control in the sense that they made a willful decision to be communally obedient to God in these areas.

God, in His time and in His plan, saw fit to bless them with awe, advance and approval.

But that is in His control—not theirs.

God, in His time, chose to glorify Himself with thousands Jewish people repenting at once, but that was His choice—not Peter’s.

See, our church can control obedience in the sense that we can make the same decisions as the early church:

Submit ourselves to God’s Word as our life and authority

Share our lives and tables with one another

Pray on our knees together

But we can’t control the outcome.

We leave that to God.

We cannot control how people will respond.

We cannot control how our prayers will be answered.

We cannot control who will even show up here next week.

All we can do is commit to that which the Lord demanded our commitment for.

We are sojourners and exiles. We are no longer strangers and aliens.

We are the people of Christ, living on the Word of Christ, depending on the ear of Christ, seated at the table of Christ.

Our job is just to fight for that.

To refuse to lose that.

There is no sin, no opinion, no tradition, no new fad, no single person and no preference that is worth giving up on that.

Because we can see—this is the authentic Christianity we have been called to.

This is what we left the world for.

This is who we are. Let’s pray.