Common Signs (2)

Acts 2:42-47

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Acts 2:42-47 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had 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, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Driving across the nallabour, I saw plenty of new signs that I hadn’t seen before, especially beware of wombats was one of my favourites others like the sing to the Big Banana and Big Pineapple , spider/crocodile crossing, Beware of UFOS near New Balladonia

The ones that my braing stopped picking up waqs the 5km marker signs. easily missed.

Day of Pentecost (Festival of Barley and Wheat) it was based out of religious origins but had become just another reason to party. Like modern day Marti Gra based on christian holiday but hijacked by secularism. (This displays that God will meet you where you are at, not for you to clean up a bit and meet him part way)

3000 out of about 180k (conservatively) at once become born again believers (imagine the line at the Baptismal)

Still an amazing miracle

One of the most awesome signs ad miracles was the tongues of fire, - were actual languages (like if a German Back packer came in here today and Brian spoke to him in fluent German, with the right accent (minus the aussie twang).

Debate about signs especially in speaking in tongues etc. Can God use extrordinary signs,wonders, miricales? Yes (eg in Vietnam)

Often it coincides with the establishment of the word (gospel) church beginning

what about the super-ordinary, the mundane the 5km common signs? What are they

4 Markers of a growing church 1. Devotion to the Word 2. Devotion to one another in genorosity 3. Devotion to breaking bread together 4. Devotion to prayer and joyful Christian living

Verses 42-47 is not a presciptive list or church runsheet for a Sunday service but markers of a community doing christian life together

Acts 2:41 “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”

Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

As a response to

Acts 2:43 “Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.”

Devotion to the Word

What is Devotion?

Oxford dictionary “given over to the display, study, or discussion of”

‘devoted’ to stress the degree to which they were committed to practical expressions of their common life. In other words they read Jesus’ teachings and acted upon it in a very practical way.

What was the message - you killed Jesus, not very seeker sensitive or non offensive. Romans 3:23-25 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—” “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Recap of Zephaniah message and the grace that ensues.

The great exchange of

2 corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Acts 2:46 “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,”

Acts 5:21 “At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles.”

They did theology, bible study discussing in the courts of the temple the things of God and the joy of his salvation.

We have the most access to theology and yet as a whole still infants in the gospel. We need more time in the temple courts than the courts of public opinion. More gossiping about the gospel than gossiping about each other or the latest series on Netflix.

Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

2. Devotion to generous fellowship

What did the devotion look like? - Acting out the gospel in love to one another selling part assetts to ensure they each had enough and also taking care of the poor outside the circle too.

Acts 2:44-45 “All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”

Emperor Julian, writing in the early fourth century, regretted the progress of Christianity because it pulled people away from the Roman gods. He said:

Atheism [i.e. Christian faith] has been specially advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers, and through their care for the burial of the dead. It is a scandal that there is not a single Jew who is a beggar, and that the godless Galileans care not only for their own poor but for ours as well; while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them.

Acts 2:44-45 “All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”

What is sin? it is a de-humanisng act that makes us less like God, not more like God. We see a huge groundswell of concern over vaccine mandates and worry about the Governments intentions. Whilst I can see the appeal and I personally think that Government s can use these times as a giant social experiment, and how far they can push boundaries.

Yet I don’t feel it warrants the level of hostilty or that it is particularily a hill to die on. In fact I would go one step further to say that I think the greater issue/sin is how christians have attacked one another and others on social media, and is in stark contrast on what God is showing his church to be like, its disharmony rather than harmony. What would Emperor Julian say about us if he was writing what he observed? would it be the same or would he mock us

The utmost of importance is the gospel, it is the only hill to die on. I believe the vaccine mandates are not that at present. I believe it is a smoke screen to cover what is coming. Who here has heard about the Meta-verse? this new world, I beleive, is going to devalue, destroy, dehumanise humanity and is more of a gospel issue than what we are facing now.

Yes these mandates have caused some lonliness, and isolation and it is painful when schools get shut down and kids are affected and yes, it makes me angry at times. It is priming us for an isolated exsistence and it us be ok with it

You might say it is just talk, however it is on the rise. In my work place they have replaced some training and interaction style learning with a virtual reality headset. Church’s are also embracing such things. A mega church in the States are having virtual baptisms and totally virtual services. taking out the human interaction of our community and church family. This is in direct opposition to not onl these 4 markers, but the gosple itself that these markers are based on.

How can we be generous with one another if we do not know each other

Maybe we should have been a bit more vocal about the disrupters leading up to these times, Netflix, our smart phones, our social media platforms, our internet usage and our other distractions. Its a gradual slide into dehumanisation lets be aware of it and settle more for face to face than facebook. And look toward the common signs, lets set up more consistant 5km markers and be super-ordinary in this post-christian world

Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

3. Devotion to Eating together

Who else use to have a roast dinner on Sundays aas a family. My Nan would make the most wonderful roast pork with crackling or a roast lamb with all the trimmings.

Read the bible long enough and you will recognize that there is many passages about food & eating together. Also, we are called to the most important and wonderful dinner date “marriage supper of the lamb”

You sit down at the end of the day and eat when your work is done. I don’t think it to be to much of a stretch to draw that we are called to even dine in the presence of our enemy (satan) because thework is finish, Jesus’ work was completed in full on the cross. He even sat down at the right hand of the Father as a sign of completion

Breaking bread = eating together - with glad and sincere hearts. Their gladness was doubtless motivated by more than the provision of daily needs. They were aware that God was at work in their midst in a new way and that they were enjoying the benefits of the messianic salvation

The phrase translated sincere hearts (aphelotēti kardias) occurs only here in the Greek Bible. But there is a related expression in Ephesians 6:5 and Colossians 3:22 (‘with sincerity of heart’; cf. 1 Chr. 29:17; Wis. 1:1). God’s kindness to these believers bound them wholeheartedly to himself and to one another in a fellowship of generous self-giving. They expressed their gladness and devotion to God by constantly praising him and caring for one another.

Some of the best times I had with fellow brothers and sisters was around some food picked up at coles or some leftovers from the fridge. As we laugh, talk about God and open up about our pasts. You would learn so much about each other.... seeing the beauty of the Imago Dei made in the image of.

Seen a hardened drug dealer come to the Lord by seeing the love of the gospel happen. Introducing God we would have a meal once a week and show a video and talk about God.

Have a BBQ with your neighbours, invite members of your church to lunch. Be seen together. Let even the haters of Christianity praise you, just like the early church did.

Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

4. Devotion to prayer and Joyful Living

Won’t spend to long here, but to note that the disciples saw Jesus raise the dead, walk on water, feed the 5000, make the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame walk. And the one thing they asked Jesus to teach them was how to pray. A prayer life leads to a joyful life, as it is communing with God in relationship, just as we share life and talk to one another likewise we talk with our Father.

God added to the Church daily

Acts 2:47 “praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

These summary passages have several functions in the narrative. First, they indicate how growth and development progressively took place through the preaching of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, they highlight the fact that God was building a new community and not simply dealing with individuals in isolation. Thirdly, they suggest that Luke was presenting something of an ‘apology’ for this group, shaping the response of his readers from the beginning of Acts. As well as disarming any criticism that might rise from subsequent episodes, Luke was also commending the positive example of the earliest community of Christians to his readers. he implies that the church in Jerusalem was a model of what could happen when people were bound together by a belief in the gospel, an understanding of its implications, and an enjoyment of its blessings. Elsewhere, he touches only on aspects of what believers did when they met together, or emphasizes historical events to which the activities of a gathering were something of a backdrop.

Peterson, David G. 2009. The Acts of the Apostles. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Piper “May God raise up super-ordinary Christians”