The True Church, Acts 2:41-47

The True Church

Acts 2:41-47

The book of Acts tells us the story of the Holy Spirit’s work as the church begins and the gospel begins to grow and multiply the Kingdom of God.

Throughout the book of Acts there are descriptions and there are prescriptions for us to follow. In our passage today we pick up in Acts 2:41-47. The passages preceding this section remind us that Jesus was resurrected, appointed His followers to be His witnesses throughout the entire world, and that Jesus ascended back to the throne room of heaven. And, in ascending He promised to send the Holy Spirit to comfort, convict, and work in the hearts and minds of men so that the truth would spread and the world would be saved.

Luke wrote his gospel so that we would know who Jesus is, what he said, and what He did…the purpose of the gospel of Luke is to provide certainty to the message about Jesus. And the purpose of the book of Acts so that we wold know the way the Holy Spirit works and what the church is and is about.

In some parts of Acts we have descriptions, in other parts we have prescriptions, and in our passage today we have both.

Acts 2:41-47

[41] So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.[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.

When we look at this passage, we find a description and a prescription of the church.

The church is made up of sinners who have been saved by faith in Jesus Christ and have surrendered their life to follow Him from that point forward.

It is important that we don’t move on to the word “devoted” without recognizing that the word “devoted” is describing what those who have been saved by faith in Jesus are like. The devotion that we see in Acts 2 is connected to the saving and life changing work of Jesus Christ.

So those who received his word and were baptized…

What is his word that they received?

Acts 2:22-24

[22] “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—[23] this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. [24] God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

Acts 2:32-33

[32] This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. [33] Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

Acts 2:36-40

[36] Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” [37] Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” [38] And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. [39] For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” [40] And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”

Salvation in Christ comes with an “and”

Story about Eleuthera, Bahamas mission trip. Sunday morning sermon where a lady sitting on the front row kept saying the word “and” instead of Amen…

I share this because following Jesus is about salvation, baptism, and…

Baptism is not the finish line of your faith, it’s the starting line.

anytime we come to the word “and” in Scripture we should make sure to keep it connected to what has come before. In verse 41 is says “So”. And we can look back what came before and see the message and circumstance of the preaching of the gospel at Pentecost. When we see the word “and” we see that it transitions from the foundation which is Jesus to the life that flows from the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and minds of true believers.

True followers of Christ receive, repent, believe, get baptized, and “and”.

Christianity has often been viewed or taught as an “either, or” religion. What I mean by that is that when you follow Jesus people will say that as a Christian you can do _______, or you can do _________. But only one of those options is acceptable. And it’s true that you can either follow Jesus or the world, but for the true follower of Christ it is a life of “both, and”

There are still more Christians who are also either, or in their approach to following Jesus, and what this group does is they choose to follow one clear thing in scripture, but not another. And, as we just mentioned, Jesus call us to a “both, and” when it comes to following His Word- the Bible.

Luke writes of the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit to save 3,000+ souls by faith in Jesus Christ, and the work of Christ in their live is so immediate and evident that it deserves a description that preserves priorities and values that are present in a “true church”.

To see the description and priorities of a true church- let’s look back at our passage and take note of the number of times it says “and.”

Acts 2:41-47

[41] So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.[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.

“And they devoted themselves…”

“And awe came upon every soul…”

“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.”

“And the Lord added to their number…”

Acts 2:41 shows us the who the church is, and how the church comes to be.

41] So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

The church is made up of sinners who have been saved by faith in Jesus Christ and have surrendered their lives from that point forward to following Him.

Acts 2:42 shows us what every member of the church is committed to.

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

The most recent convert and the person who has known Jesus the longest are both devoted to the same “both, and’s”:

Today there are many movements that claim to be Christian… and there are many that have tried to recapture the experience we see in Acts. And we should seek to experience the move of the Holy Spirit.. to see people converted to Christ, baptized, and living the “and”

As you read through the book of Acts and then the rest of the NT you see that there are some who will claim to follow Jesus, but then they prove to be something else- false. And this is true today… Luke writes his gospel so that people would be certain of the truth of Christ.

Luke gives us what the true church looks like in the book of Acts. The true church is the one that is the result of the work of the Holy Spirit, like the 3000 that He added to their number on the day of Pentecost. What He does is true… and according to Acts 2:42…

A true church is devoted to living by the teaching of the Gospel and building deep and dependable relationships with one another.

Acts 2:42 gives us a summary of what the church was about… this is a description of the priorities of those who were being saved… what they were about and what they were doing together in their faith.

The church was, and is, devoted to four priorities

The apostles teaching (the Gospel or the Word)

Disciples are followers, learners, imitators, etc… to say yes to following Jesus is to commit to learning… as a result the church is devoted to the Apostles teaching. It is the teaching of the apostles that makes it clear who Jesus is, what He said and how we are to live.

Followers of Christ are committed to listening to the Word read and explained

Followers of Christ are committed to learning and living according to the way of Jesus.

The church is devoted to the teaching of the apostles and “The Fellowship”

The fellowship

The fellowship is the word “koinonia” in Greek. This word means to fellowship, which means to share, be unified in, to hold in common, to have a common way of life, or to each participate and have a share in the same thing… and the fellowship we all share in, like a family is Jesus.

Remember that each person in the church has received the Word, meaning they have believed the truth, they have faith in Jesus, they have been converted from sin to life by the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Fellowship is unity and relationship.. Disciples, followers of Christ are to have a share or communion with one another. They are committed to the teaching of the gospel, and they are committed to one another.

The breaking of bread

And as a fellowship they are devoted to breaking bread… which means the Lord’s supper and sharing meals together. The early church shared in what were known as agape meals. These meals were times when they would gather with other believers to eat, but the occasion was to fellowship. To encourage one another, to remind one another, to pray for one another… these meals would have been in each other’s homes as it says in the following verses.

But they were committed to gathering to hear the Word, to building deep and dependable relationships with one another, and to celebrating the Lord’s supper together,,, breaking bread references the specific act of the Lord’s supper where we proclaim the truth of Christ, we celebrate the cross and resurrection, and then look forward to His return together. And we do this until He returns.

For those who might say they can follow Jesus without the church- Acts 2 describes and prescribes the church in a way where you cannot do this alone. The church gathers- to listen and learn, to building deep relationships and grow, to proclaim the truth of Christ in unison, and then also to pray.

The prayers

The disciples needed to learn to pray and they asked Jesus how to pray. the Bible is filled with prayers that have been recorded so that we would know what it is God wants to hear from us, the things we should be thinking about and praying about are right here for us. And, there are prayers we can pray throughout the Psalms, along with other parts of the Bible.

Jesus said that His house should be a house of prayer for all the nations. And when the people of God gather, they pray. We learn a lot when we hear others pray. We grow together when we pray the same things. We become unified in our worship and our petitions when we pray together…

Acts 2:43-47 shows us what a true Spirit led-church is like.

True church devotion is accompanied by evidences of the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.

Just like they were devoted to teaching, and fellowship, to breaking bread and the prayers… you can continue the flow of the “and’s”

“And awe came upon every soul…”

This is amazement, overwhelmed, jaw dropping, reverent, worshipful response by those in the church. The amazement is at God and what He has done. the wonder is not at the church and what it can do… the focus is on the very real and interrupting work of God in other peoples lives.

“And all who believed were together…”

Together means many things, but it will never mean less than Koinonia… which is the Greek word that is translated as fellowship-

The church in Scripture was together… they were together in their shared devotion to Christ, together in their loves, and together in person and unified in their going.

“And day by day, attending the temple together…”

In between the “sabbath” meetings they continued the tradition of going to the synagogue together to worship and remember what He had done for them

Day by day they gathered where they could be encouraged and also encourage each other. The sentiment by day by day is that their relationships went beyond just the weekly “worship” ritual.

They were in one another’s homes…

They knew each other’s situations…

They didn’t just run into one another once a week… life with Christ means life together, and life together means gathering as a whole and then scattering out to multiply the kingdom…

Their lives together and apart are marked by humility and gratitude for all that God has done… period, not just marveling at what God has done for you- but at the whole expanse of all He has done from creation until now…

the were grateful for what God has done, and as a result they hold fast to God and loose to their belongings. Their love for one another and the Lord is stronger than their love for their stuff.. They are sacrificial and generous to the church and one another for the Lord.

And being together in purpose and mission- in particular being together in testifying or bearing witness to the truth of Christ. The Christians who went to synagogue knew that they did not have to go, but those who were there were close to the kingdom… needing to hear the gospel as Jews… And the impact of their devotion and their witness is…

“And the Lord added to their number…”

Who added to their number? The Lord.. what happens when there is True conversion or salvation? well a lot! From baptism forward (application toward baptism) until the end the/a true church is marked by ______________:

Five Characteristics of a true church:

Why call it true… because true communicates devoted… this is not just true in the sense of who is saved… but true in the sense that this is what devotion looks like- it’s true. It’s true becuase it’s the work of the Holy Spirit. And where the church is devoted to the teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers… it will be characterized by what we see in Acts 2:43-47.

The true church is amazed and humbled at who God is and what He has done for us in Christ.

The true church is centered on Christ, and together in purpose, presence, and possessions.

The true church is Sacrificial in service and generosity to the Lord and one another.

The true church follows Christ one day at a time in relationship and commitment to Jesus and one another.

As you are going…

The true church is dependent on the power of God and His Gospel as it grows.

The true church is devoted and characterized by the

There is no such thing as an unchanged Christian in the NT. Everyone who is saved by faith in Jesus is transformed and changed by the Holy Spirit.