Being the Church

Acts chapter 2: 42-47

Good Morning...

What a blessing to see you today. I know I tell you that a lot, but it is the truth, it is indeed a blessing when we gather as the body of Christ and are together in fellowship

And this is what we are addressing this morning, being the church.

You my friends, you who are born again believers are the church. As as the church, we are called to walk and act like the church.

In Acts chapter 2, we have a beautiful look at how the early church began and existed in a world that did not know or love the Lord Jesus.

My friends, today, We live in a world being led under the bondage of the evil one, but it is still the church that the Lord Jesus left here, to be present and work under his power and authority by the help of the Holy Spirit.

This morning I want to take us back to the New Testament Book of Acts, chapter 2, verses 42-47 as we consider returning to and being the church.

So lets look there at that passage with me Acts 2:42-47

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 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. 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. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

They existed and today, this serves as an example for us to follow.

I want to share with you four points today from this passage.

1 They were Devoted to the Word...

The Word of God is important my friends! It is the written revelation of our Father, given to us, to benefit and help us grow not only closer to the Father, but to enable us to know truth.

For these early believers, they were devoted to the Apostles teaching.

So what does that mean exactly...

Well, lets look at this… Who are the “they?” They are the people who make up the church, both those who had perhaps walked and followed Jesus and those who have just come and are continuing to come to faith in Christ.

What does that term mean? it is the church.

It is not a building or a space somewhere, it is a living organism. It is the complete and total populace of born again believers.

The word church in the Greek is the word “ekklesia.” The called out ones… You have been called out of the world, out of death and have been brought to life, a life that is now lived for the glory of God almighty.

Remember what has just happened here in Acts 2? If you have read this chapter fully, you have seen 3000 people being added to the church. They like us, received Christ as their Savior, these did so after Peter’s message earlier in the chapter.

Now I am not saying all 3000 are right here, obviously some who were saved that day returned to their homes, some heading to far away places with a new hope in their hearts. But there were a large number of believers, meeting together in Jerusalem.

These believers have devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching. Now this word devoted is important. It describes the churches attitude toward teaching.

The word “devoted” here means to cling to something, in our case here, the teachings of Jesus, both before and after the resurrection. The disciples shared this and all that the Holy Spirit brought to them for the edification, the building up of all believers.

These believers were devoted to their teaching. They had a desire to know the word and will of God for their lives. They didn’t have the combined Word yet, the Bible... they only had the Old Testament. So they were dependent upon the Apostles Word. The oral teaching of these men Jesus commissioned to carry forth the message.

So we see their attitude toward the teaching of the Apostles, and likewise the same should be true for us. As the children of God, but do we know the Word of God? We have the written Word, how many times have we read through it, studied it.

How are we to know the Word?

We devote ourselves to the teaching of the Word, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, His illumination, The Holy Spirit helps us to know and grow in the Word of God.

The Word of God is likened to food, a spiritual food that sustains the believer. It sustains us, teaches us.

Remember Paul says in 2 Tim,m chapter 3 verse 16.

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Here Paul reminds us that all Scripture, every page is God’s word, It is His, He is the author of it, The Greek word here is Theopneustos Theo = God, pneustos = breath, breathed out. The idea here us that God spoke these words and gave it to men, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, the word was recorded for us today.

And every word is true. Do you believe that???

And the Word is profitable, useful, helpful to man for teaching. We only learn the Word as we read it and are taught it. This is why teaching is such an important part of our intake of God’s word.

The Word is profitable for reproofing or exposing that which is false or heretical. The word exposes false teachers, but know the word will also expose in us what is false. It may be our personal or doctrinal view on some topic.

People want to justify their lifestyles, stop and just ask the question, what does the Word of God say about it. If it is sin, you better leave it alone.

It is profitable for correction. Now this idea is different than rebuking, it is taking the misguided and disobedient and revealing their error and restoring them to the right paths. This is really a system of discipline in Scripture that leads to a holy life style.

And finally it is profitable for training in righteousness… The Word, when we study it, when we attempt to walk with the Word and its true teaching, it leads to righteous living, a holy way. This is truly where our Christian character is developed.

If you take the Word of God and apply it to every area of your life, it will have a change in your life, it will help make you into the man or woman God has designed for you to be...

This my friends, the early church found itself devoted too. We should as well ...

Now lets find a practical application for this truth. If you are devoted to the Word of God and its teaching you should be in God’s house gathered with God’s people. It will teach you the corporate joy and responsibility of worshiping together.

Sadly, we care more about what we want, than what God deserves. We put our desires, over and above the purposefully worship of the Lord our God.

We should be in God’s house on the Lord’s day… I think we dishonor God when we choose other things. We make lots of excuses, but I am telling you what we should be doing and where we should be doing it.

Do not forsake the assembly of yourselves as some are doing..

Ok, I am gonna quit meddling.. You know what my purpose it, as a Pastor I am to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

We are too comfortable, we have forgot we serve and live in front of a Holy God.

Amen or Oh my...

Secondly they were devoted to fellowship...

2. They were Devoted to Fellowship...

I guess you could say that we have already been speaking about this to a degree. We have to be together to have fellowship.

So what is fellowship?

When we think about fellowship we must examine the Greek word “Koinonia” they were in close relationship with one another.

When you look at how that word is used in the New Testament, it can refer to a gathering to share a meal, it can speak to gathering for the purpose of prayer and or worship…

In any of these events, what we see is the “...commitment believers have toward one another.” There is really something special as we gather, we find unity, we find commonality, and we are His, we belong to the Lord.

We are family! You know, families love one another, they will go out of their way to help family, they will serve and hold each other close.

Friends, we are family… You are children of the Lord our God and being his child, you are brother and sisters together.

There should always be unity and peace among the people of God. But that is only possible if we are following the Lord Jesus.

Now as the body of Christ, there are two special points that we can make thinking of the idea of fellowship for the body of Christ. The breaking of bread and of prayers.

So think of this, the breaking of bread can hold a dual meaning here.

A. One is the necessarily the Lord’s Supper. These times were indeed special. This is a unique act of remembrance, remembering that time he meet with his disciples the night before our Lord’s crucifixion.

It was on that night, Jesus told them, his body would be broken for them, and as they pulled the bread apart and ate it, they would remember and symbolize how terribly he would be treated.