Devoted to...Goodwill Toward All The People

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

Lets look at our passage again as we discover what these characteristics mean for us as individuals and as a church body.

Acts 2:42–47 NIVUK84

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he 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 favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Devoted

Steadfast, perseverance

The Greek phrase for “devoted themselves”, (esan proskarterountes)

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

Acts 2:46–47 NIVUK84

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 favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

I was ready to move on until I discovered an insight into verse 47 that flipped some things around for me.

Lets look at how a particular phrase in these verses that will help us hopefully understand the heart of what Luke is communicating to us here.

The phrase is in verse 47, “having favor with all the people”

On face value, in most english translations, we get the impression that the believers developed a good reputation among the inhabitants of the city.

I have read this verse this way forever.

There are some important principles that come from this understanding of this verse.

Favor of the City

Living a sanctified and holy life means a life set apart.

A people committed to living life as God intends.

Not participating in things that go against the ways of Jesus

Promoting morals and values that promote a community with Kingdom values.

Means we have a reputation.

Our words should line up with what we say we believe

Our actions...

Our motives...

As a church today, what reputation do we hold in our community?

It’s hard to stay anonymous in a small community. I tried to listen to what is said of us.

Another way to ask this question, if Wray Naz ceased to exist, would anyone notice?

Would anyone care?

When we ask the question of “What reputation do we hold today?” in a broad sense of our country and culture, what would your answer be?

This understanding and impression of vs 47 is important and should keep things in mind for us as we desire to be the Church God desires us to be.

Indulge me as we consider something another translation and understanding of this verse.

I’m not a Greek scholar and a lot of what I learned this week of considering this understanding of this verse requires some understanding of Greek.

I’ll be honest, it kinda made my head hurt.

Here is the alternative translation I would love for us to consider as a church and as individuals:

“praising God and having goodwill (grace) toward all the people.”

According to Richard Thompson who wrote the NBBC Wesleyan commentary on Acts, there are 4 reasons he gives that support this translation. Two of them have to do with understanding sentence structure in Greek.

Let me read what he wrote:

“First, there is no grammatical support for translating the preposition pros in this construction (with an accusative noun as the object of the preposition) as "from" or "with." Second, in first-century texts written by the Jewish historian Josephus and the Jewish philosopher Philo, when this particular preposition follows the word charis (favor, the NT word for "grace"), it always describes the person toward whom charis is expressed (Andersen 1988, 604-10). Third, it fits the context, as those who praise God also respond in gracious ways to those around them. Fourth, such actions would account for the daily growth of the community of believers. The description of those added to the community, those who were being saved, brings to mind the promise of Joel's prophecy (v 21) and Peter's appeal to his Pentecost audience (v 40).”

I know there is a lot here and admittedly the Greek portion of his argument is a little hard to understand.

But taking what Thompson has said and considering it as what Luke meant for us to understand really places a new challenge in front of us.

Favor Toward the City

“praising God and having goodwill (grace) toward all the people.”

What did this look like for the early church?

We know what the result of this goodwill toward the city produced:

Acts 2:47 NIVUK84

praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

What does it look like for the church today?

What does this look like for Wray Naz today?

How do show goodwill and grace toward all the people?

What if this was on top of our minds as we engage our family, friends, neighbors, and community?

Ultimately, we need to submit to the work of Christ in our lives for any of this to work.

We submit our lives to him, so that the mind of Christ and the heart of the Father forms in us and becomes evident in us?

There should be a natural evidence, an organic change as this happens within us