Encouragement in Community

Acts 2:40-47

Peter is concluding his sermon at Pentecost and there is this monumental alter call

3000 people are saved

But the church doesn’t have the ability to take in this many people

The church decides to sell everything as a temporary solution

They devote themselves to 4 things

Breaking of bread

the fellowship

The teaching of the disciples

the prayers

What happened as a result?

They bore witness to incredible things the Lord was doing in their lives

Their numbers grew significantly

They were encouraged together

Biblical Fellowship Is Simple

4 essential elements that the church has prescribed for NT believers

The Apostles Teachings

Surrender and submission of authority together

everyone is at equal standing at the foot of the cross. Biblical unity under the authority of scripture and what it teaches allows for unity of mind and heart

Engineers in the same classes can both suffer and rejoice together as they experience the learning of the same material

The Breaking of Bread

Speaks to the daily intimacy to which we are called to take part in. We are not merely called to gather at once a week times with believers then forget about them in between these gatherings

The early church did this out of necessity in this particular passage, but quite literally how many times do we see Jesus have a meal with someone?

The wedding at Cana (Jesus’s start to ministry) (John 2)

Pharisees questioned him for eating with tax collectors and sinners (John 9)

Feeding of the 5000 (Mark 14)

The last supper (Matt 26)

Post resurrection meal with his disciples (Luke 24)

The Fellowship

Intimacy of day-to-day individual relationships

Part of being a member of the body of christ requires us to spend time together

Do you know some classmates better than some of your friends? Why?

Proximity

Jesus was regularly found eating with tax collectors and sinners, but he spent his ministry life with 12 apostles

The Prayers

Likely a reference to some form of worship that was commonplace

Communal sense of worshipping the Lord

Why do we come to church?

If we only come to church to learn, can we not do that in our homes? especially today?

We come to church in order that we may be united with other believers to do what we are made to do: worship the Lord

When we worship together, we witness the edification of the saints

Biblical Fellowship Is Simple

Yet in application, often this can feel overwhelmingly complicated

This complication is emphasized in the message that the world has given us of individualization

Be better than everyone else. Be the best

If we can just become independent, then life will be better

Driving for the first time

In a dramatic turn of events, as the kingdom of God often entails, the call is to not lean on ourselves for dependence but to come alongside the body of Christ