Life at the Table: The Fellowship of Believers

New believers wanted to know how to live a life of faith.

Notes:

“Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” – refers to all people who rejected Jesus, who were probably still mocking them, evidenced by the rumor that the disciples stole Jesus body.

In the OT, described the people of Israel who rebelled against God.

Fear and anxiety came upon every soul while they heard from Peter about who Jesus was, and many pleaded to know how they should live in response to the message given to them.

With Jesus being given all authority over all Creation, their calling for his Crucifixion made them afraid of what Jesus would do to them.

Some of the believers had some deep needs for either their health, a place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear, or maybe companionship.

All had a deep need to reconcile themselves with God so that the feelings of fear and misery when they are told the truth about the depth of humanity’s sinfulness.

When things change, we wonder how to live life anew.

Notes:

When we experience the greatest amount of need out of necessity.

We wonder how we can live life differently under the new conditions.

Grace in the Text:

Notes:

Peter’s message to all the people brought judgment to sin and correction to error but salvation for all those who believed and repented.

The disciples were known to do signs and wonders among all people; healing and restoration of real, physical & psychological needs.

They all needed to come to a place of agony of the spirit, not to be able to be truly righteous without God.

Only through agony can a person come to know the profound dept of God’s grace.

Jesus gave the disciples a character of those who live life in his Spirit: participating in the fellowship, receiving teaching, breaking bread (having a meal together), sharing all things in common, and praying together.

Fellowship:

Koinonia is communion of the people of God with God and each other.

Getting together as was their custom (Jesus and his disciples): gathering for worship in the Temple daily to share in the practices of their faith, and to share their lives together for strength, comfort, guidance, and encouragement.

Sharing what works in the life with others could only serve to build each other up.

Teaching:

Luke differentiated those on the inside, who know, from those on the outside, who do not know.

Who needed to be taught the Law of God in this text?

Those who loved and ate with Jesus? Or, those who assumed that they knew the Law of God and killed the promised Messiah?

But, there is more to the life of faith than initial belief.

While believers are be received into eternal life in Jesus Christ initially, if life continues on, we must be taught and renewed continually with the word of God through the Holy Spirit to live in fullness of the love of God, else sin and error threatens to overcome us.

We are enabled to live in happiness and holiness in the life of faith as we work and eat in the same spirit that we pray and receive the Lord’s supper.

Breaking Bread:

“They partook of their food with gladness and singleness of heart” vs.46

This is not just about the Lord’s Supper, which had not yet been codified into the organized worship life of the church, but Luke made mention of daily, distributed, communal meals prepared and partaken among the Christians in the early church.

Jesus and his disciple often ate in the homes of welcoming people while on their Galilean ministry journey.

With the Lord’s Supper not yet being formalized, every Christian meal was an expression of remembrance of Jesus Christ.

Eating a meal together builds camaraderie, thankfulness, joy, and is a clear, tangible expression of the love of God.

Experiencing the favor of God in any part of their lives, produced thankfulness and joy.

Expressions of thankfulness and joy no matter where or when the people gathered.

Bearing Other’s Needs:

Wesley said,

They did not need to be commanded to provide for each other; love provided them the motivation. “It was a natural fruit of that love,” “each member of the community loved every other as” himself. And if the church had continued in this spirit, it would have continued for ages. And that if Christ did not want it to continue, then Christ did not design this measure of love to be increased among them.

This should not be over-simplified into a political statement but a statement of the amount of love they had for each other. They did not need to be constrained by the Law of God or prophetic judgment; they gave out of the goodness of God that was birthed in their lives by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Praying Together:

Prayer indicates dependence on God, hope in the future, and desire for the continual spread of God’s work.

“In all these activities… the marks of authentic embodiment of the Spirit in the community’s life, a canon for the measurement of the church’s activity today. As one views modern congregations, many with their hectic round of activities one suspects that socialization is being substituted for the gospel, warm-hearted busyness is being offered in lieu of Spirit-empowered community. One wonders if the church needs to reflect again that when all is said and done “one thing is needful” (Luke 10:42), namely to embody, in the church’s unique way, the peculiarity of the call to devote ourselves “to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (2:42).”

These means of grace ordained of God, are the usual channels of his grace, and only through God’s grace can anyone come to the fullness of the love of God and love of others.

Today, God gives us new life through participation in the fellowship.

Notes: (Granny putting out a Spread or taking us to a restaurant)

Eating and Sharing with those you love, no matter how much you have.