Christian Fellowship

Introduction

We’re finishing up the 2nd chapter of Acts today. It’s amazing how God has covered so much of what it means to be part of His church in these two short chapters. His Sovereignty, His Spirit, His Son, our sin, our punishment taken, our salvation. The primacy of Holy Scriptures. The centrality of Jesus Christ. It’s all in these two chapters. What we’re going to see in these last few verses is really how the nascent church behaved and the effect that had on the community around it.

When I preached to you for the first time on January 1 I said that “it seems that for the entirety of my life I have heard a constant drumbeat of the world telling Christians what the church is supposed to be. I have heard the world tell me how Christians should interact with the world. I have heard unregenerate and unbelieving people tell me how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is supposed to be shared.” What we saw in His Word that Sunday and every Sunday since is that God has decided what His Church would be. He has decided how His Church would interact with the world.

In this 2nd chapter of Acts, we see how He poured His Spirit out onto the world in a miraculous manner and He brought Peter to his feet to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He taught Peter what the Scriptures say and mean and then He spoke through the mouth of Peter to explain the miracles. He did all of that to bring 3,000 people to faith in a single day.

Those 3,000 joined the 120 who were believers prior to Pentecost. When they joined them they really joined them. They were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and that was a proclamation to the world that Jesus Is Lord. That proclamation could very well have meant their lives. From that moment, they were different people; they had a new purpose and they had a new family.

Today, we’re going to see how joining with the church results in particular behaviors. The question before us as the fellowship of Flack Church is, “do we exhibit those behaviors?”

Prayer

Holy Father, we know you are with us because Your Son told us that if we love Him and keep His word, You will love us and You both will make Your abode with us. We are here this morning to be in fellowship with each other and to be in closer fellowship with You.

Help us to understand your Word, Lord. It is clear and plain but we are fallen and weak and so we need you to guard us against error.

We ask that you soften the hearts of those who do not love you, Lord. We ask that our witness is glorifying to you and that you will use us to proclaim your Word to our community and beyond.

Fill us this morning with your Spirit and continue that work of sanctification so that we may be pleasing in Your sight. In the name of Jesus, Your Son and our Christ. Amen.

Scripture

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.

Devotion

When one speaks of devotion, I wonder what they think of? Do they think of affection? Do they think of love? What exactly is devotion? Looking up the word in Webster’s American Dictionary we see that it is defined as “the state of being dedicated, consecrated, or solemnly set apart for a particular purpose.”

We see this idea of devotion in three verses of our text. We’re going to review them together and then come back to the others. Those verses are 42, 46, and 47a.

Acts 2:42 NASB95

42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Acts 2:46–47 NASB95

46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47a praising God …

The “they” here are all the true believers at that time. They continually devoted themselves to the teaching of the Word of God. They continually devoted themselves to fellowship with other believers by breaking bread with them and praying with them. Christ established His church so that we may be one with each other and with Him; so that we may worship God - Father, Son, and Spirit - together.

We established the meaning of the English word “devotion.” Let’s look at the original Greek word that it has been translated from.

The words “continually devoting” in verse 42 is translated from prŏskartĕrĕō, pros ket tare raroh and means to “persist obstinately in”.

The King James translates this as “continued steadfastly” and the idea is that they could not be stopped from doing these things. They had to be in fellowship with each other; not that they had some requirement placed on them but that they were so committed to Jesus Christ that each one of them had the need to be together.

This same word is translated as simply “continuing” in verse 46 but the meaning is the same. That verse goes on to say “with one mind” expressing that they all did the same thing because of the same reason - Jesus Christ.

Now that we properly understand the weight of this word “devotion,” let’s look at what exactly they were devoted to.

To the Apostles’ teaching

The Apostles were the first Elders of the church. They had the job of teaching the others the Word of God. These new Christians were devoted to learning about God their Savior Jesus. Notice how this is the first thing listed as the object of their devotion. They weren’t devoted to experience, trying to speak in tongues, heal people, or anything like that. They didn’t ignore theology or doctrine. They didn’t go to hear the Apostles’ tell them anecdotal stories meant to make them feel better about themselves. No, they submitted to the teaching - to receiving instruction. They persisted obstinately in being taught.

The Apostles and their teaching was authenticated much the same way Jesus was authenticated by God before His suffering. Verse 43, which we’ll take in more detail in a moment, says “many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.” They were authenticated through miracles that only God had the power to perform.

While the first Christians had the Apostles teaching them in person, we have their teaching in Acts and the Epistles. Further, we have the Gospels and the Revelation to John and all of the Old Testament. We can devote ourselves - we should devote ourselves - in the same way as our Christian brethren did in 1st Century to the teaching of God’s Word.

There was a time in my own life when I heard people say things like “the spirit is alive here” or “this is such a spirit-filled place.” The problem was that they meant they felt tingly and emotional during worship. The sermons were designed to create damp faces by the telling of some sad story that ultimately made the listeners feel good that they weren’t the bad guys.

What we see here in Acts is the “Spirit is alive” where the people devote themselves to the teaching of the Word of God. That teaching brings about the real “Spirit-filled place” where the people’s emotions are charged by the realization that they are the bad guys but that Jesus Christ saves the people from punishment for their sins.

To Fellowship

Fellowship is not simply knowing the names of the people and saying hello occasionally. True fellowship is knowing the people, living life with them, loving them enough to truly pray for them and cary their burdens.

The fellowship spoken of in v42 is the Greek word Koinōnia (keh no knee ah) and it’s root word means “common.” Thus, it is the common life of the church expressed in two ways

First, by what we share in together. John explains this in his first letter:

1 John 1:3 NASB95

3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

We also have the fellowship of the Holy Spirit as taught to us by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 13:14 NASB95

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

Second, as John Stott points out, this common life of the church is also expressed by what we share out together - what we give as well as what we receive.

Let’s look at verses 44 and 45 of today’s text

Acts 2:44–45 NASB95

44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; 45 and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.

All those who had believed were together… the church was together as we have seen in verses 42 and 46. Throughout our text today, Luke stresses that the church was together in fellowship. They were together in the temple. They were together in their houses. This is over 3,000 people so they wouldn’t have fit in just one house. It wasn’t as if there was just one rich guy with a big house that was also quite hospitable and let folks come over for tea after church once a week. What have we read? Day by day they were continually devoted to the Apostles’ Teaching, Fellowship, Breaking of Bread, and Prayers.

All things in common… This word “common” is the translation of the root word of the word for fellowship.

These two verses have caused some serious trouble in the church. What we see here is not a commandment to sell everything you own. It is not a prooftext for secular communism. No, this is a description of the members of the church being of such a close and real fellowship that they willingly sold or shared their property and possessions with others - and pay attention here to this — as anyone might have need. They didn’t all just sell everything immediately and we know this because of verse 46 where we see that they broke bread from house to house. Some of them must have still had houses for this to happen.

They did this out of love for one another. This was not compulsory - no one required them to sell their things. No, they saw the needs of their fellow saints and they did what they could to meet those needs.

I want to show you proof from Scripture that this was voluntary. Ananias and Saphira had property and they sold it and gave some of the money to the church but lied about how much they sold the property for so they could curry favor. They made it seem as though they had given all of the money they had received from the sale of their property when they had actually kept some of it back. When confronting Ananias about his deceit, Peter asked him

Acts 5:4 NASB95

4 “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

When confronting Saphira, Peter asked if the price was a certain amount and she lied saying it was. Both of them died on the spot; but why? Well, it wasn’t because they hadn’t given all of the money but because they had lied about the thing. Peter’s rebuke clearly shows that the property belonged to Ananias and the money received from it also belonged to Ananias. The sin Peter charges him with is lying to God, not with keeping some of the money.

You see, what you give is your business. We are to give what we have decided in our hearts to give. God wants us to give and we are to give cheerfully, not grudgingly and not beyond our ability. We are not called to be fools with money by helping when we are not able or by helping those who do not need help or who lack the desire to help themselves. (2 Cor 8)

So, then, the members of the church were selling off their property and possessions to help those in need as those needs arose and they did this voluntarily.

This fellowship was characterized by the continual meeting of the church, the generosity of its members, and the devotion of its members.

To Breaking of Bread

The breaking of bread is often meant to describe the Lord’s Supper. That’s certainly the case here, yet there’s a bit more than what we think of as “communion” today.

Acts 2:46 NASB95

46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,

They came together in fellowship - sharing what they had with each other - and they broke bread in each others houses. We would hardly call the tiny morsel and sip we share once a month a “meal” in the physical sense. It is a meal in the spiritual sense, drawing us closer to our Savior Jesus Christ, but it is not a meal that will sustain our physical bodies. But, Luke says “taking their meals together” suggesting more than our simple communion. We eat together quite often and it is a time of true fellowship. We bring food from our homes and share it with each other. The ladies of our church do a lot of work on those Sunday mornings to be sure the food is warm and ready for all of us to enjoy together, just as soon as the worship service concludes. Some of our members have taken upon themselves specific tasks that just get done and if you’re not paying attention you would have no idea who does them. One gentleman expresses his heart for serving others by ensuring everyone gets their preferred drink so they won’t have to carry it and their plate of food at the same time.

These meals we have together are what Luke is telling us about here. Let’s look at the last part of verse 46. “With gladness and sincerity of heart.” This ties to more than the breaking of bread and eating together but it does apply to this part of their fellowship. They enjoyed sharing these meals together. They enjoyed sharing with each other.

They were glad to be together; they didn’t come together begrudgingly. They didn’t see assembling with their church as some kind of obligation. They wanted to be together. These are their closest friends.

To Prayer

Going back now to Luke’s list in verse 42, we see “prayer.”

Seeing how Luke lists this along with the actions of the church as a whole and knowing that the whole is made up of the individuals it’s not a jump to see that this devotion to prayer is both personal and corporate. Prayer is a hallmark of a true believer and a true church. Let me explain further, and possibly more crudely, a believer will pray - not should pray, but will pray - and a church will pray - again, not should pray, but will pray. If you’re a believer and you’re not praying you are ignoring the God who is saving you. If you call yourself a believer but don’t feel the need to pray; somehow you don’t feel the need to talk with God - I know this will sound harsh but if that describes you, how can you call yourself saved? The Holy Spirit has joined each and every believer to Jesus Christ. In that fusion we are one with Him. A believer can no more slough off the sacred blessing of prayer than a man can say to his arm “arm I don’t need you” or to his eyes “eyes you just sit on the shelf and I’ll open you when I feel the need.” Now, you may not know what to pray for or you may be so overwhelmed with life that you don’t know where to start or how to put any of it into words. But, thankfully for all of God’s children, He doesn’t speak just one language and not a word must leave your lips and not a sound must be made for Him to hear you.

We can look to Scripture to see God’s awareness of our unspoken prayers and innermost needs.

Paul teaches us in Romans 8:26 that when we don’t know how to pray as we should, the Spirit intercedes for us “with groanings too deep for words.” God searches our hearts and understands what the Spirit is communicating on our behalf, interceding for us according to God’s will.

John tells us in John 1:47-48 Christ told Nathanael that He had seen him under the fig tree and knew his heart.

Psalm 139:4 emphasizes that before words even form on our tongue, God already knows them completely. His knowledge extends to our deepest longings—Psalm 38:9 assures us that our sighing and deepest desires are never hidden from God. Jesus reinforced this in Matthew 6:8, saying your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

Beloved, God’s knowledge of our hearts runs deeper than spoken words. In 1 Kings 8:39, Solomon acknowledges that God alone knows the hearts of all people. Hebrews 4:13 declares that nothing is hidden from God’s sight—all things are open and laid bare to Him.

Beyond the Spirit interceding for us, Christ Himself intercedes for us at God’s right hand, (Rom 8:34) and He does so continually for those who approach God through Him. (Heb 7:25) This means you have multiple layers of advocacy before God—the Spirit within you and Christ before the Father—ensuring your deepest needs are communicated even when you lack words.

Continually

So, we’ve seen how verses 42 and 44-46 list the behaviors of the church but, the church didn’t do all of this on one day of the week and then spend the rest of the week apart.

Honing in on the first part of v46 we see that Day by day - every day - the church met with one mind in the temple and each others homes.

They were still going to the temple but it’s clear from what follows in Acts that they were not participating in sacrifices and rituals. There was good reason to be in the temple - that’s where the people were, it was already setup for teaching and this is a large group. When they left the temple what did they do? They went from house to house, sharing together continually. Sharing the Word, sharing their food, sharing their homes, sharing their lives.

Worship

The first Christians prayed together. They ate together. They learned together.

The final piece to this is that they praised God together. We see this in the first part of verse 47, which is really the end of the sentence of verse 46.

The praise of God is worship of God.

Luke has described for us the church’s devotion to the worship of God. The word “worship” doesn’t appear but worship is all over these verses.

I want us to look at this deeper and to do so I’m going to read from the English Standard Version.

Acts 2:42 ESV

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

There is a grammatical importance to how this is translated. The NASB-95, which I usually preach from, leaves out the definite article “the” in front of “fellowship” and “prayers.” But, it has a footnote that the literal translation is “the fellowship” and “the prayers.” The English Standard Version, which I just read to you and I use in my personal study of the Word, includes this definite article “the.”

Bear with me here, I’m not chasing rabbit trails. This definite article preceding each action is in the Greek and it indicates that this was public worship. You ask how and the answer is simple - without it and one can say it was any fellowship and any prayers. Now, fellowship with believers outside of the walls of the visible church and with believers belonging to other visible churches are important. And, of course, prayer is important, so long as it is true prayer - true conversing with God. But, with this definite article we know that it was THE teaching of the Apostles, THE Fellowship, THE breaking of bread, and THE Prayers.

All of these things are elements of worship. Praising God is worship just like sitting under the authority of the elders and pastor to learn the Word.

Learning the Word is worship just like fellowshipping - sharing our lives and possessions with each other - is worship.

Fellowship is worship just like breaking bread - eating meals together - is worship.

Breaking bread is worship just like praying - taking our concerns, our joys, our adoration, our thanksgiving to God - is worship.

Praying is worship just like praising God - signing hymns to Him, about Him, and for Him; declaring His righteousness and His power - is worship.

Fear & Favor

We have thoroughly examined what Luke meant when he said the church was “continually devoted.”

He also tells us in the middle of all of these great examples of the church’s devotion what the effect was on all people.

Fear

Looking at verse 43.

Acts 2:43 NASB95

43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

The word we see as “awe” in our text is “phobos” and is literally translated as “fear.” The idea that is being conveyed is one of profound reverence which is best understood as fear. Being fearful of something, having reverence for something, or being in awe of something doesn’t mean acceptance of it or trust in it. So, when we see this and we understand what the phrase means, we can see that while everyone had this sense of awe or fear, that sense didn’t manifest itself the same way. For the believers, this sense was manifested as devotion.

But, when the outside world looked upon the early church they feared it in an unbelieving way. They had such calloused eyes that they couldn’t see the work of God properly to understand it and so they feared it. This was a blessing to the believers because it helped them to grow in number and to do so publicly. Remember now that the Holy Spirit had brought 3,000 people to faith in one day. This little band of misfits had increased dramatically overnight and they weren’t quiet about it. We’ve just seen how they met in the temple. But, that’s not all they did; let’s look at the rest of the verse.

Acts 2:43 NASB95

43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

Christ performed miracles not to simply give sight to some people or to fill the bellies of others but to authenticate himself. Now, empowered by the Holy Spirit, the apostles were performing miracles. They had been given this special ability not to make a name for themselves but to authenticate their message - Jesus is Lord.

Also note that Luke says these miracles were being performed through the apostles; not through the believers as a whole. This gift is was given to the apostles and their close colleagues. We don’t have an example of the wholesale miracle performing giftedness of believers.

The church is very publicly worshiping and proclaiming Jesus Christ. The apostles had a special gift - one that is not in use today - of performing miracles. The behavior of the church as a whole and the apostles specifically has everyone feeling a sense of awe or fear. They have a great respect for what is going on; they may not understand it but they know it’s not something they want to trifle with.

Favor

We’ve already looked at the very beginning of verse 47. Now let’s look at the second part of it.

Acts 2:47 NASB95

47b praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

All of these things we’ve read about so far are things that 1st Century Israel saw first hand. They saw the miracles performed. They saw the fellowship of the church. They heard the preaching. All of this resulted in a deep respect for the church. A respect and reverence that Luke describes as phobos or fear in verse 43. That deep reverence allowed the believers to gain favor with the people. This favor allowed them to move about freely and to do the work that Christ told them they would do in Acts 1:8. This favor didn’t last forever, we know that just by reading on to chapter 3 and because we see that throughout history the church has been persecuted in many different ways. But, we also know that at various period of time, God ensures that the church grows unencumbered. One of those times was at the very birth of the church.

It’s the Lord’s Work

Wrapping up our text, we’ll look at the final sentence in the chapter. The final sentence of verse 47.

The Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. It doesn’t get any clearer than that folks.

Luke doesn’t say Peter added to their number or the Apostles added to their number or even they added to their number.

The Lord added to their number every day the people who were being saved. There are a lot of programs and books and strategies and human wisdom that guarantees churches will put more buts in the seats and get more people wet in the baptistry. There are a lot of authors, lecturers, and know-it-alls that make a lot of money telling pastors, elders, and churches how to evaluate their ministries based on how many people call themselves members. There are even people who call themselves pastors or evangelists who can tell you how many people “they” have saved. Some of those who understand that fear their supposed to have will say how many people have been saved through their preaching or ministry.

But, right here in the inerrant Word of God it says The Lord added those who were being saved. We see the same in Acts 11:21, 13:48. 📖

Over the past few weeks I’ve mentioned to you a couple of “solas.” Remember that “sola” is just the latin word for “alone.” We’ve discussed:

Sola Scriptura - Scripture alone is the authority on matters of faith and practice. (2 Tim 3:16–17, 2 Pet 1:21)

Solus Christus - Christ Alone justifies us, the ungodly, before God by His work. (Rom. 3:21–26)

This morning I’m going to introduce you to “soli Deo gloria” - “Glory to God Alone” - It is He who acts and saves each soul that He brings to faith. It being all of God, we have no work in which to boast (Eph 2:8-10). Luke is giving God the Glory in our text for the Work of God.

Summary

The church of Christ is an ongoing blessing to believers. Through the church we have fellowship with other believers. This privilege and responsibility of loving one another has been given to us by the sovereign mercy of God. His Spirit grafted us to His Son - the head of the church - so that we can be the body of the church and have fellowship with Him and each other.

How we think about this fellowship is an important indicator of how we think about the Word of God, the Saving Grace of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the lives of others. How we respond to the Word of God telling us about fellowship is also an important indicator of where we place our trust.

The true church of Christ is not a billion or so individuals living out their “very personal relationship” with Him. His church is more than that; He established it on earth for us to draw encouragement from it. For us to carry each other’s burdens by supporting each other and praying for each other. For us to exhort and correct one another with humility and gentleness. For us to enjoy each other’s company. For us to love each other as eternal brothers and sisters in Christ. That is Christian Fellowship.

In our text this morning, we have seen that the church was defined by their devotion to the worship of God through their attentiveness of the preached Word, the fellowship together, the breaking of bread, and the prayers. When they assembled for these things they were worshiping God. In like manner, when we assemble together, like we are doing this morning, we are participating in the most meaningful and impactful activity of the church. God wants us to be in fellowship with Him and through worship we are doing that. Through worship of God we set aside ourselves and lean on Him. Through worship we learn more about Him. Through worship, our Good Shepherd nourishes and strengthens us. When we read the word, share the sacraments, and pray together, Christ communicates to us the benefits of His mediation.

And worship of God is not complete without worship of His Son, Jesus Christ. Further, worship of God is not complete without worship of the Holy Spirit. We cannot forget that it was Jesus Christ who opened up this chapter when He poured out His Holy Spirit onto the world. It was Jesus Christ who Peter preached and it was Jesus Christ who the 3,000 believed in and in whose name they were baptized. It is Jesus Christ who is the central figure in our faith. Without Him there is no hope of anything beyond right now and even that is only shades of gray - lifeless and dull.

God has through these first two chapters of Acts informed us of His Sovereignty, His Son, His Spirit, His Word, and His Church. He has also informed us of our sin, our salvation in Christ, our responsibility to repent, and our blessing in the fellowship with fellow believers.

I will be available after the service if anyone has any questions. I will be right up here on your right during the closing hymn if any of you would like to make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ.

Prayer

Our God and redeemer; we give you thanks for our fellowship here at Flack, Lord. We thank you for those who know they belong to your church and have a deep desire to be in fellowship with each other. Most merciful God, we pray for those of our fellowship who cannot be with us but who would be if they were able. They are a part of our body, Lord, and we miss them and we love them. We ask you to comfort them and help them to feel the warmth of fellowship that we have when we’re together.

Father, you have told us to pray for each other - to bear each others burdens. We want to be obedient to you and so we ask that you bless our new prayer team. Bless those who will serve that ministry. Glorify yourself through this ministry, dear God.

Now as we close this service of worship, Lord, I ask that you keep your flock that you have entrusted to me safe and I ask that you fill them with your Spirit. Use them, Lord, to bring Glory and Honor to Your Name.

Saving God, if there are any here today that you are calling, we ask that you bring them to you; give them the courage to stand and proclaim their trust in Jesus Christ.

We pray this in His name knowing that you have already answered our prayer. -Amen.