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Acts: To the ends of the earth • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Theme: What happens when the ascended Christ pours out His Spirit on the church.
Aim: To show from Scripture how these marks of the early church are normative patterns for the Spirit-filled church today.
Pray
Pray
Recap
Recap
Last week, we stood with the crowd in Jerusalem
and heard the very first sermon of the church
—Peter, filled with the Spirit,
boldly proclaimed the risen Christ.
He showed that Jesus’ death wasn’t a tragic accident,
but the sovereign plan of God—whilst still our sin and responsibility.
He proved from Scripture that Jesus' resurrection was no surprise,
but God's long-promised triumph over death.
And he declared that this crucified Jesus is now exalted as both Lord and Messiah.
The result?
Thousands were cut to the heart and cried out, “What shall we do?”
Peter’s answer was clear: Repent, be baptised, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And they did. Three thousand people turned to Christ that day.
But what happened next?
What does it actually look like to respond to Jesus as Lord
—not just in the moment, but in the days, weeks, and years that follow?
That’s where we turn now
—because Acts doesn’t stop with conversion.
It shows us a whole new way of life,
shaped by the gospel,
empowered by the Spirit,
and lived together.
The community described in our passage today is the visible result of the outpouring of the HS into the hearts of God’s people.
Up until Pentecost we have undertsood the Apostles ot be in a transitional time of redemption history.
But now the HS has come.
This time is still tranisitional in some ways,
for example the apostles are still alive,
they are still performing incredible miracles,
the NT hasn’t been written and confirmed yet,
and so the church for now relies on both the presence of the apostles and their teachings and the prophetic gifts the HS has given them for this time.
BUt the key ingredient - the HS is hear.
So the pattern we now read, ought ot be a pattern for us today.
In short,
Luke is showing what the church looks like when it lives under the rule of the risen Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
These verses show us the normative shape of church life
—not in every cultural detail,
but in theological pattern.
Why?
Because the same Spirit who was poured out then, indwells us now
The same gospel was preached then, and is preached now
And the same Lord is building His church now.
Therefore, what we see in Acts 2 is not merely what was, but what in general ought to be.
1. The Church Devoted to the Means of Grace (v.42)
1. The Church Devoted to the Means of Grace (v.42)
If I were to ask you, how can we enjoy God more, I wonder what you would think about?
Here are some things I’ve been told in my 45 years of being a Christian.
Chanting and practicing like a Benedictine monk
Empty your mind enough and you can actually talk with Jesus
Speak in tongues and you’ll reach a new spiritual plain
and my particular favourite
The closer you sit to the front of church on a Sunday, the more of the HS you’ll receive.
SO how do we grow in faith, enjoy God more.
What are his ‘means of grace’, by which he blesses, encourages, directs and stirs our affections all the more for Him?
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Luke shows four marks of the Spirit-filled church’s daily life.
Each of these are means by which Christ nourishes His people under the new covenant.
The are the ‘means of grace’ from God,
The way the church enjoys God all the more.
And notice even in a time of spectaular miracles, prophesies and toungues, the emphasis is on these 4 things:
The Apostles teaching,
Fellowship
The Breaking of Bread
Prayer
Firstly then, they are:
a. Devotion to the Apostles’ Teaching
a. Devotion to the Apostles’ Teaching
Why the apostles?
Because they were the authorized witnesses of the risen Christ (Acts 1:8; Eph. 2:20).
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’
This is the job of the apostles.
Paul reminds all believers that:
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
The apostles along with the OT prophets, are the foundations of the Christian faith.
Don’t believe them, and you don’t believe in Christ.
Not only that but we have already seen how everythign they are teaching is an exposition, sermon, explaingin the OT prophets.
Their teaching forms the doctrinal foundation of the church.
The first believers could see it and hear it. It was a no brainer to them.
They didn’t just consider their teachings - they DEVOTED themselevs to their teaching.
LIke a puppy who can’t leave their new owner alone - devoted.
And perhaps unlike a puppy, this sort of devotion implies, complete submission to object of our devotion.
It’s not unusual to hear accusations against refropmed Christains that we love the bible ore than Jesus.
The reality is though, that the way in which we can love JEsus is to devote ourselevs to his Word. To the now wirtten accounts from the apostles.
Of course we love Jesus - he is our all and everything,
but we cannot love Him unless we are devoted to the apostles teaching in our bibles.
Jesus himself prayed for this to be the case!
‘My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
Their message is now our New Testament, built on the foundation of the Old.
So the public reading and preaching of Scripture is a normative mark of a true church.
A church that does not read and explain the bible - is not a true church.
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.
preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
And of course this includes private reading at home and with our families and frineds,
But there is an essential place to benefit fom the grace of God,
to gatehrt togetehr as the fist church did,
to read and listen to the preaching of God’s Word.
If you want to enjoy God more, come to church more, where we will devote ourselevs to the reading adn preaching of the Word.
The next means of Grace is
b. Fellowship (κοινωνία)
b. Fellowship (κοινωνία)
In union with Christ, believers are united to one another, of which Baptism is a sign.
If you remember from last week, repentance and baptism are the right responce to JEsus death in place of our sin.
And this unquestionably must lead to fellowship with one another.
For we were all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
This fellowship is not optional—it flows from the gospel.
It is rooted in the shared participation in the death of Jesus for us.
Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?
So this is not just social friendships, or for mutual benefit type fellowship.
Like we might seek at a sports club,
or business networking.
THis is fellowship based on the unconditional love and grace of Jesus that now combines us as one body.
You might not have the same social interests,
political views,
or even view on how to live life
as the person sat 2 rows behind or in front of you right now.
You might even find one another a little hard to understand -
But they are part of your body.
A left arm, an eye.
we must love one another with a deep unconditional, unshakable love.
This does not mean relationships are always easy in the church.
But it does mean we will always work together at loving one another.
And remember love is not doing what someone else wants,
but doing what is best for them before God.
Often we think of love as emotional feelings
- but in reality that leads to the most emotional controlling others by their demands.
OUr Love is based on our unity to Christ.
SO we do what is best for the body of Christ.
even when that is hard.
To withhold the drugs from an addict is still love - however much they might hate you for it.
And so it is with fellowship in the church.
Our love is in Christ,
so it looks like accountability to Jesus’ commands,
it looks like sharing when others are in need,
it looks like sharing life proactively and for the benefit of others not ourselves.
If we stregthen our left arm and an eye - the whole body grows.
And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
c. The Breaking of Bread
c. The Breaking of Bread
This phrase includes the Lord’s Supper as we’ll read in Acts 20v7, and probably includes just good old eating together - and it is intimately linked with our fellowship with one another.
After all, if our fellwoship is based on our participation in Christ and therefore our one body,
how better to remind ourselves of Jesus,
and share in him,
and share in one another,
than to share in a meal that literally shares in and remembers our union.
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’
We benfot from God’s grace,
enjoy him more,
not just in preaching,
but also in remebering the cross as we eat the bread and wine.
The Supper is not a mere symbol, nor an add-on to worship.
It is Christ’s appointed means for nourishing our faith.
Calvin said that in the Lord’s Supper, “Christ communicates Himself to us.”
A church that neglects the Lord’s Supper neglects the nourishment and grace that Christ provides.
d. Prayers
d. Prayers
How quick we are to forget the incredible priveldge, and enjoyment of God’s grace, when we pray.
“It’s possible here that the Prayers” refers to fixed patterns of public prayer, we’re not sure.
But prayer is going to mark the church throughout Acts.
It’s why we pray in our services.
Under the new covenant,
believers are given direct access to the Father through Christ by the Spirit.
For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
and becasue of this:
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
A Spirit-filled church prays together often and earnestly.
The early church devoted themselves to prayer—not out of formality but out of necessity.
Pray, alongside, the Word, the Lord’s Supper, and fellopwship
- are all ways of remining in repenatnce and faith.
They are all ways of enjoying God’s grace towards us.
They may seem normal to us,
but we should rememebr how incredible such graces are to us under God.
We must not neglect any of them, and we must not think we can achieve any of them outside the gathered church.
There is grace in private bible reading, meeting up with 1 or 2 Christian friends, eating togeterh and praying.
BUt it is truely designed by God to be enjoyed and benefitted from corporately.
As A family.
And the next few verses really just show what all this looked like in practice at the time:
2 - Living out the Spirit-filled church
2 - Living out the Spirit-filled church
Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.
Again we see how God uses signs and wonders at a unique and special time of revelation to confirm his message.
Again we see how God uses signs and wonders at a unique and special time of revelation to confirm his message.
Hebrews makes this very point:
This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
They pointed not to themselves, but to the risen Christ whose power they wielded.
Signs and wonders, from Moses to Elijah to Christ, always serve to confirm revelation.
In Acts, the apostolic signs are a continuation of Jesus’ own ministry.
This is not normative for every believer, but foundational for the apostolic age.
The result of these signs was not amusement but awe. The Greek word phobos (forvos) really means (fear)
- not a popular term today, especially amoungst those who still seek out great miracles.
These were true awe-filled, fearful, encounters with God that produce reverence.
The result? Not their own miraculaous ministry - but listending to, accepting, devoting themseslve to the Word fo God as delivered through the apostles.
We ought to read such things today,
and respond in devotion to God’s word likewise.
We do not need more miracles, we need the Word of God i
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
We need A church where the gospel is preached clearly and a church that is marked by holy responsive reverence.
see also their fellowship of love for one another:
All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.
This is loving, voluntary generosity prompted by the Spirit according to need. Notice again, it is need, not want that is important.
Love is doing and saying what is right before God.
And so the poor were cared for, the wealthier provided.
As Gal 6 10 says:
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Generosity, love, fellowship is central to the church.
Why, in case it’s not obvious to us all:
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Christ gave Himself for us, and this transforms how we view our possessions.
And how we view our brothers and sisters in need.
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
The Church Joyfully Worshipping Together as they break bread.
Such is their joy at Christs work for them - they rejoice and worship together.
And such was their joy in the gatherings of chruch family, they kept going in shareing life in their homes as well.
Do we invite our church family into our homes?
And do we do it all with Glad and Sincere Hearts.
IF you look at the person 2 rows in front of behind,
they might fill you as a person with gladness,
but that is not the point.
Christ fills us with gladness - and whatever you think of the person inf ront of behind - that is something you can celebrate togetehr.
True worship is not dry.
It is reverent, Word based, gathered, joyful, glad and sincere as we break bread, worship God, pray and listen.
We don’t need amazing bands (nothing wrong with our bands!), smoke machines, a fancy building, we need Jesus, His Spirit, His Word and each other.
And as the first church did back then, amazing things happen:
they were
praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
The church’s joy was contagious. People saw the reality of Christ in their lives.
Evangelistic growth is God’s work. Acts does not say, “The apostles added...” but “The Lord added.” Christ is building His church (Matt. 16:18).
This is both humbling and freeing.
We must of course play our part,
we must witness: proclaim the gospel faithfully
—but only the Spirit can open hearts.
this is what it looks like when Christ pours out His Spirit on His people.
Not a chaotic show of signs, but a stable community rooted in the Word,
devoted to one another, nourished by the Supper,
and marked by prayer.
This is not extraordinary Christianity
—it is normal, Spirit-filled, gospel-driven church life.
So let us not settle for less.
Let’s devote ourselves
—together—
to these means of grace, and in doing so, enjoy more of Christ."
Pray
