Devoted to God's Word (Acts 2:42)

Introduction -

I love that song, “The Church’s One Foundation.” The Church’s One Foundation is Jesus Christ as Paul states

1 Corinthians 3:11 (ESV)

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Over the next four weeks we will be looking at the church and what we are to be devoted to and how these things help us find our foundation in Christ alone!

What are you devoted to? People are devoted to many things. We can be devoted to our families. This is a good thing. Some are devoted to their jobs. This is also a good thing as long as it doesn’t take away their commitment to their family.

Some are devoted to their sports team. I am a fan of some teams, but my lack of any long term interest in sports means I’m not a very devoted fan. I may want a particular team to win, but I have a hard time keeping up with what they are doing from week to week.

The question we are going to look at over the next few weeks is, “what are we as the church supposed to be devoted to?” What should be the thing that drives us from day to day as God’s people, both individually and corporately?

Read Acts 2:42-47

Acts 2:42–47 (ESV)

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

We are going to look at four things in this passage that the church was devoted to: the Apostle’s Teaching or God’s Word, Fellowship (which is more than just pot lucks, although we as Baptists really like that form of fellowship), Worship (which includes both the breaking of bread and the prayers), and Evangelism. This week, we will be looking at the Apostles’ Teaching.

What does it mean by the “Apostle’s teaching”?

The Apostles were those who spent time with Jesus or who were personally acquainted with Him in His physical presence. While we might be in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, none of us here have had a physical encounter with Him, so we would not be Apostles in the most literal sense.

So the teachings of the Apostles would include the things they heard Jesus teach and the things they saw Him do.

How can we devote ourselves to the Apostles’ teachings if they are no longer with us?

Each of the New Testament books were either written by an Apostle or someone who got their information from one or more of the Apostles. They wrote down their teachings for us to keep so future generations could continue to devote themselves to their teachings. And of course, we need to include the Old Testament in these teachings because through their Spirit inspired words, they referenced back to the OT constantly and showed how what they experienced were a fulfillment of what God said and did in the past. So to devote ourselves to the Apostles’ teaching would be to devote ourselves to God’s Word!

Why is it important for the church to devote herself to God’s Word?

Through God’s Word:

I. The Church Learns to Know and Love God

God’s Word is Primarily about God, However we often start with ourselves

This might seem obvious, but very often we get this backwards.

We tend to read the Bible starting with ourselves and what we want to get out of it for me.

We come to the Scriptures asking God to tell us what we should do, how we should live, or what His will is for my life.

One popular televised preacher likes to have the congregation say this before he gets up to preach:

This is my Bible: I am what it says I am; I have what it says I have; I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the Word of God. I'll boldly confess. My mind is alert; my heart is receptive; I will never be the same.

This sounds good and it is partly true, God’s Word does have things to say about who we are and what God has empowered us to do. But starting with ourselves is putting the cart before the horse. The cart cannot do anything of itself without the horse going before it.

Before we can learn anything about ourselves, we have to learn about the One who has made us and saved us.

God’s Word tells Us Who God Is

In contrast, we can learn great things about ourselves when we start where the Bible starts.

Genesis 1:1 (ESV)

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

In Genesis, we are shown the character of God as Creator and Ruler over all creation!

In Exodus, we are shown the answer to Pharaoh’s question, “Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?” The plagues show us that God is the One True all powerful Lord over all nations and peoples.

We are also shown the character of a God who saves and redeems a people for His own glory.

Leviticus shows us the holy character of the God we worship.

The historical books share with us a vision of a Sovereign God who works in history to bring about His will and purposes.

The Psalms show us the care and faithfulness of our Creator God who intimately knows all the details of our lives and lovingly reigns and leads us.

The prophets share with us the just character of God and the necessity of relating to Him in faith and obedience.

The Gospels reveal the character of God through the person and work of Jesus Christ. John 5:39-40

John 5:39–40 (ESV)

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

The epistles explain how God has revealed Himself through Jesus. In fact, Paul’s letters have a pattern setting forth who God is and His work in salvation before he calls the church to action in faith and obedience to Christ. He starts with the character of God before moving on to what the church should be or do.

Revelation, we have a vision of Christ ruling and reigning over all creation and winning the victory over all evil and rebellion.

We must know who God is so we can truly worship Him

Some might say, I don’t need doctrine, I just want to love Jesus Christ. And this is a good desire. We do want to love Jesus Christ with all of our hearts. But can we truly love someone we do not know?

Doctrine is simply what we believe about God. And it is vitally important that we believe right things about Him, otherwise we would be worshipping a false god.

A.W. Tozier - “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. ... Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

If we are truly to love and worship Christ, we must know who He is as He has revealed Himself to us in His Word. You and I don’t get to make up our own image of God, we must know Him as He is. This doesn’t mean that our knowledge is complete, but it should mean that as we learn and grow, that we are learning right things about God so we can worship Him more purely.

AWANA - A ministry that teaches boys and girls the Word of God so they too can know who God is. And as a plus, the leaders are also growing in their knowledge of God’s Word and in their own relationship with Christ!

II. The Church Knows and is Reminded of Salvation in Christ

A. The Word of God Makes Known Salvation in Christ

Second, through God’s Word, people are invited into the church, the body of Christ through salvation and the church is reminded of that salvation in Christ.

This is of vital importance. Not only does Scripture tell us of who God is, it tells us of what He has done to create a people for Himself. And if Jesus is the church’s foundation, then we need to know and be reminded of what He has done for us so we can live in right relationship with Him.

Paul reminds Timothy to ground himself in the Word of God because it is through that Word that we learn how to receive salvation in Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 3:15 (ESV)

and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

What sacred writings is Paul talking about here? We might think only the New Testament shows how to receive salvation through Jesus Christ. But Paul and Timothy didn’t have much, if any, of the New Testament yet. God is currently using Paul to write much of the New Testament. The sacred writings they did have was the Old Testament. The Old Testament points us to our need for Christ and even reveals God’s grace and the need to receive that grace by faith!

Throughout the Old Testament, we get glimpses of the plan of salvation God had in mind from the very beginning! In Genesis 3:14

Genesis 3:15 (NIV84)

And I will put enmity

between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers;

he will crush your head,

and you will strike his heel.”

You have God’s promise to Abraham that He would bless the whole world through his family, through a chosen seed or offspring.

The prophets continually point us to a coming King and Savior who would redeem His people.

Even the law reveals to us God’s holy character and our desperate need for someone to fulfill that law on our behalf!

So Jesus, God Himself, comes as a human baby, perfectly fulfills the requirements of the law by His perfect life, and then fulfills the penalty of the law by being the perfect sacrifice on behalf of sinners as He bore the curse of sin through His death on the cross.

Through the OT Scriptures, through God’s Word, we learn who God is, we come to the realization that Christ is God made flesh, and that Christ fulfilled the requirements and the prophecies of the OT.

B. Then the Word of God tells us that Salvation is received by faith in Jesus.

Jesus tells us in John 3:16

John 3:16 (ESV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

But how do we know we need to put our faith in Jesus?

Paul tells the Romans in chapter 10 of his letter to them.

Romans 10:17 (ESV)

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

We are saved and brought into the family of God and the church by God’s grace received through faith. But how can we place our faith in and call out to Him if we have not heard about Jesus? God’s Word reveals to us who God is and His plan of salvation through Jesus Christ.

C. The Word of God Reminds Us To Whom We Belong

But we might say, we already know this. Why do we have to keep going back over it again and again?

Martin Luther - “We need to hear the Gospel every day, because we forget the Gospel every day.”

Life in a sin broken world can make it hard to keep our eyes fixed on Christ and our own struggle with sin makes us a forgetful people.

1. First, we grow in faith by being reminded of the good news of the gospel!

Romans 1:16–17 (ESV)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

We are not saved by faith and then move onto trying to be good with our best efforts. No, we grow more mature by moving deeper into faith. The Gospel is simple enough and provides milk for those who are immature. But the depths of the Gospel are such that it keeps even the scholars busy continuing to search out its treasures.

We grow more mature as we live by faith and God’s righteousness is revealed to us as we go from faith into more faith. We never outgrow our need for the Gospel. And we continue to hear and be reminded of the Gospel as we devote ourselves to God’s Word.

2. Second, the Gospel also reminds us daily to whom we belong.

1 Corinthians 6:20 (ESV)

for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

We must remind ourselves of the Gospel because it reminds us that the life we live does not belong to me. That’s where we as a society are missing the mark and sadly, most mainline and progressive churches are missing it. When we think freedom, we think that I’m free to live however I want.

However, the gospel reminds us that we do not belong to ourselves. We have actually lived enslaved by sin and enslaved to my own evil and corrupted desires. Its only when I realize that Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection has given me true freedom to live the life God created me to live. Which means, I no longer live according to my desires. I live to the honor and glory of the God who saved me.

Again, this goes back to why we need to remember that God’s Word is primarily about God and not about me. It has things to say about me, but it is centered on God and tells me how I need to view life from God’s point of view, not mine!

III. The Church Grows in Holiness Empowered by the Spirit

Last, but definitely not least, as we devote ourselves to God’s Word, if we have received God’s grace by faith in Jesus Christ, and if we see that our lives are not our own, we will see that God’s Word is able to teach and sanctify God’s people by the power and work of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV)

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Notice here that in the Great Commission, conversion is not the end goal, discipleship is the end goal.

Yes, we must be saved and redeemed by God’s grace through placing our faith in Christ. But making a decision to walk down an aisle or to pray a prayer is not what Jesus commanded the disciples to do.

He told them to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all He has commanded us to do. Again, the disciples did pass on Jesus’ words that He spoke to them while on earth, but they also saw His life and His teachings as the fulfillment of what God was doing through the Old Testament, so included in what Jesus taught would be all of God’s Word both Old and New Testaments.

Listen to what Paul tells Timothy:

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (ESV)

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Please hear me, we are not saved by good works. But we are saved by God’s grace so that through the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification in us, we can be empowered for good works, which includes obedience to all that Christ has commanded us.

Here’s what I hope we will all understand: if God’s Word is primarily about God and not about us, and it reveals His work of salvation to redeem His church and to purchase her with His blood, then we must understand, we do not get to pick and choose what we want to follow in God’s Word based upon my own desires and emotions.

Jesus said we are to obey all of His commandments. Paul tells us all of Scripture is profitable for teaching and training in righteousness. Through God’s Word, the church, all those in here who have received Christ by faith, are called to live our lives according to His holiness revealed to us in Scripture.

Ephesians 2:8–10 (ESV)

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

This does not mean we will get it right. Paul also tells us that we are still struggling with the sinful nature within us. Do not give up because you still mess up. But do not be satisfied with where you are at. There’s a phrase that has been said, “It is okay not to be okay, it’s not okay to stay there.” It’s okay to admit that we still have struggles and sinful desires. But we should not want to stay in that place. If our foundation really is in Christ, we are going to want to fight our temptations and seek to honor Him with our lives and repent and confess our sins when we get it wrong.

As we devote ourselves to God’s Word, we want to ask some simple questions about the text:

What is this passage teaching me about God?

Second, what does this passage reveal to me about God’s work of redemption for His people?

Finally, as we live by faith in His goodness and holiness, we ask, what does this passage tell us about how we should live in light of His grace and mercy towards us?

Conclusion