Teaching & Fellowship

Intro: The 5 Characteristics of the Early Church

Biblical, Jesus-centered preaching & teaching

2. Sacrificial fellowship

3. “Emotional” worship

4. Outrageous generosity

5. Powerful evangelism

Acts 2:42 NIVUK84

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Devoted

Steadfast, perseverance

The Greek phrase for “devoted themselves”, (esan proskarterountes) repeats an earlier description of this ongoing compulsion of the Apostles and others to prayer found in Acts 1:14

Acts 1:14 NIVUK84

They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

I tend to go “all in” on a new interest and can let everything else in my life take a secondary position.

I used to race motorcycles when I was in high school.

Before I moved here, fly fishing

If I wasn’t careful, it would consume areas of my life that I did not intend.

What are you committed to?

Hobbies?

Work? Career?

Relationships?

What occupies your time?

What occupies your conversation?

What occupies your resources?

What makes up your identity?

What we are devoted to is expressed by the fruit visible in our life.

There is a connection in this passage that I missed before that I want to be sure we see now.

I was not great in English class in school but there is an interesting set of connections in verse 42.

We see two sets of pairs in Luke’s description of the church.

I see this as an invitation for us to explore not just a grammatical link, but something more in these connections.

Devoted to…the Apostles Teaching

This refers to the first-hand testimony and witness of the Twelve about Jesus’ ministry and resurrection.

Through preaching & teaching, the church is born.

We don’t have an innate understanding of the person and work of Jesus. We have to be taught.

We believe that the Bible is the only book that God inspired human authors to write.

We believe that it is perfect, it is in authority, that everything else is to be subject to its truth, and that the big idea of the Bible is the person and work of Jesus Christ, that the Bible’s not about us—it’s about Jesus.

It’s for us, but it’s about Jesus.

Where there is no preaching and teaching of the Bible about Jesus, there is no church.

Paul’s charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2

2 Timothy 4:2 NIVUK84

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

logos - word, spoken or written, often with a focus on the content of a communication. “The Word” is a title of Christ (Jn 1:1), emphasizing his own deity and communication of who God is and what he is like:

What does it mean to be devoted to the Word, to the teaching of Christ?

We have the luxury of having the canonized collection of writings accessible anywhere and everywhere.

We have numerous Bibles in our homes and our bookshelves. Some of them we even read.

We access to every translation and in most every language.

Yet, are we committed to the Word? To the teachings of Jesus?

Do we spend time reading and studying it? Do we invest in meditating on it allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to us about it?

What does it mean for us today to be devoted to the teaching - the Word?

Devoted to…the Fellowship

Not only was the early church marked by Jesus-centered Biblical preaching, they were real big on one of our favorite Christian words. Fellowship.

Now, growing up a good Nazarene, I thought fellowship just meant hanging out and eating some delicious food after church, but here, this word for fellowship takes on a whole new meaning!

This kind of fellowship didn’t even exist before the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost!

Seriously, the Greek word used here isn’t even found in the Gospels. This is the first time we see this word in the New Testament.

koinōnia - fellowship, the close association between persons, emphasizing what is common between them

From here on out, every time this word is used in the New Testament, it denotes some kind of sharing.

It denotes either sharing something with someone or sharing in something someone else is experiencing.

Here in Acts, the emphasis of this word is on contributing or giving. Fellowship cost something in the early church.

Fellowship comes through giving. True fellowship costs something.

So many people never know the joys of Christian fellowship because they’ve never learned to give themselves away.

They visit a church or a Bible study or any small group with an eye only for their own needs, and they go away saying, “There was just no real fellowship there.”

The truth is, we will have fellowship only when we make it a practice to reach out to others and give something of ourselves.

Fellowship is a work of the Holy Spirit, and when we think about this word, I want us to think of it not in terms of food or hang out time.

I want us to link fellowship with giving. Wray Naz, do you want to have fellowship? You must be a giver.

And you must be vulnerable.

The Connection

I mentioned earlier there is a grammatical connection between the devotion to the teachings of Jesus, the Word, and the devotion to the fellowship.

I think this connection is intentional.

The fellowship around the Word and teachings of Jesus is an amazing thing and I believe is something that is desired deep within each of us.

Gathering together, opening the Word and each, in true fellowship with the spirit of and intention of giving is what I believe is intended and pictured here.

What does this look like for us today?

We gather in worship services and listen to the Word and worship together. We may even go to a Sunday School class.

But are we devoted to the Word and to the fellowship as Luke describes here?

Are we consumers only?

Are we willing to be in fellowship where real discipleship takes place?

Consumerism permeates our American culture, including the church. It is time that changes.

Devoted to the Word, the teachings of Jesus and to the fellowship requires us all to be vulnerable, requires an open hand and heart of allowing God to work in all areas of our lives and live this out in community and fellowship with one another.

No wonder the Acts church experienced what Luke describes in verse 47.

Acts 2:47 (NIVUK84)

And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.