Dual Devotion

Background to passage: Key passage to determine values in Refocus. Today we are only focusing on one verse. Even that one verse contains what many scholars believe to be the summary of the practice of the early church - a heading of sorts for this passage of greater detail. Four things the early church drilled down on, were devoted to, that comprised what they did, therefore, who they were.

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.

Opening illustration:

Main thought: I want to think about the devotion of the early church first to Christ and then to each other as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper

1) The Third of Four (v. 42)

Acts 2:42 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

1) The Third of Four (v. 42)

Explanation: The only reason that we are separating the breaking of bread is for our observation of the Supper today. These four are inextricably linked. The apostles teaching was on the death and resurrection, the fellowship was because of the resurrection, the prayers were the continuation of the Jewish worship in the temple because of the finished work of Christ. There was always a focus on the finished work of Christ in the regular practice of the church, and the most direct was the breaking of bread.

In it we see the body and blood of Christ. The most central tenet to our faith, the most important event to the entire cosmos and beyond. Our sustenance and strength. Our only hope.

Acts 4:10–12 ESV

let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 2:44–45 ESV

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.

Ephesians 1:16–20 ESV

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

Illustration:

Application: The body: given an earthly body, fully human, he experienced our broken world just as we do, yet without sin. If Christ was only God, he would not have been able to earn legitimate righteousness on our behalf to be given or credited by faith. He couldn’t have died. He couldn’t have identified with us. He couldn’t be the one that we could go to knowing that he knows. So, Christ came to express God’s love to the highest degree, to die.

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Luke 2:7 ESV

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Hebrews 10:5 ESV

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Romans 5:19 ESV

For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

Hebrews 10:10 ESV

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The blood: if the bread symbolizes the body of Jesus and the incarnation and the righteousness earned; the blood symbolizes the sacrifice that paid for sin committed. The sinless one who became sin. The punishment that was ours given to him by the shedding of blood. He became a wrath-bearer. He paid the price for redemption. He could now provide an acceptable payment.

Hebrews 9:11–14 ESV

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Ephesians 1:7 ESV

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

1 Peter 1:18–19 ESV

knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Revelation 5:9 ESV

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,

Romans 3:25 ESV

whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

1 Corinthians 11:26 ESV

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Closing illustration:

Mark 14:26 ESV

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.