The First Church Described - The Early Days - Part 1

Alright, if you would please take your Bible and turn to Acts chapter 2. Turn to Acts chapter 2. We're going to finish out this chapter and we will be in verses 42 to 47. I think most of you know that we have covered the majority of chapter 2 and we have covered quite a lot of material. We've covered quite a lot of ground there and if you've not gotten those messages or studied those verses, that's verses 1 to 41, you need to do so because this all does go together. But let me quickly zoom through what we looked at because this is all tied together.

We saw the outpouring of the promised person of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and those other believers as they were waiting as Jesus commanded. It was about 120 of them and we believe, I believe they were in the upper room. We saw the great gathering of thousands of Jews to the place where the Holy Spirit was poured out. We saw how God used the mysterious and miraculous signs of a sound like a mighty rushing wind that filled the house where they were staying, divided tongues as a fire appearing to rest upon those believers and how they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance.

We saw their reaction, the reaction of the Jews who heard and saw all these things. Some ask what these things meant. They were spiritually curious. I think they were genuinely motivated but others accused them of being drunk. They were spiritually scoffing, they were scoffers and they were not genuinely motivated. Then we saw how the apostle Peter stepped forward and he spoke out. He explained that all of the events that took place with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, those things were in fact prophesied in the Old Testament. And he referenced more than one Old Testament prophecy to show that these things were biblical.

And we saw how Peter preached the first sermon in the New Testament and how he explained that all had happened in the crucifixion of Jesus, the death of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus happened because first they crucified Jesus. So it was their fault. But then second that Christ's crucifixion was according to the predetermined plan of God. So although they were guilty of this great sin against God, it was all a part of God's predetermined will. And we saw that not only did Peter preach the facts of the gospel, I really emphasized that he personally applied the gospel to them personally.

And then last we saw the God-sized results of these things. We saw how God the Holy Spirit birthed about 3,000 souls into the kingdom of God, about 3,000 of those Jews listening received what Peter preached and they were baptized and they were added to the number of the believers. We can say it like this, they had a lot of church growth and good church growth. Now before we move on in our study, there are two things about verses 1 to 41 that I really want us to see and to remember. First here in these verses we have the giving and the outpouring of the person of the Holy Spirit, the promised Holy Spirit.

Here we have the giving of the person of the Spirit who was and is the third person of the Godhead. We could say the third person of the Trinity. Here we have the fulfillment of the promises made all throughout the Old Testament and the fulfillment of the promises made by Jesus. So here we see the giving of the Spirit. Here in these verses we have the birth of what we see and understand as the church. Of course we see a shadow of what was to come as the church before Acts 2. We see a shadow of the church in those 120 believers. We see a shadow of the church in the disciples and other believers in the Gospels.

But we do not see the church in the Old Testament. It didn't exist. The church was born here in Acts 2 and we see the early history of the church and the church being spread all throughout the book of Acts. Now as we continue in chapter 2 we will see that Luke, Dr. Luke, moves from how the church was born to a description of the church and the life of the church. From verses 1-41 Luke showed us how the church was born there in Jerusalem at Pentecost. And from verses 42-47 Luke shows us a description of the church and church life.

Before we get into the verses I want us to see that this is one of three short descriptions of the church and church life that Luke gives. Let me explain. Here in our verses tonight, chapter 2 verses 42-47 Luke describes the church at Jerusalem in the very beginning. And then in chapter 4 verses 32-35 Luke gives another brief description of this church after they have had some external opposition and testing. And then in chapter 5 verses 12-16 Luke gives another brief description.

And the interesting thing about this last brief description is that it comes after those events with Ananias and Sapphira which were all about internal opposition and great internal testing. But a question, what should we title these verses? I think you know by now that I'm big about sermon titles. And what I mean by that is this, the sermon titles should encapsulate the main thrust of the verses. Warren Wiersby titles these verses the church walking in the spirit. The church walking in the spirit, that's true. We'll come back to that at the end of the message. James Montgomery Boyce titles these verses a model church.

A model church, that's true. We'll come back to this at the end of the message. R.C. Sproul titles these verses life in the early church. I like that a little better honestly. Life in the early church. I like that better because I believe that Luke's purpose was to give us a description of this church in a very short paragraph. If he was using still photography, Luke was writing to give us a snapshot image of the life of the church. If he was using video, he was writing to give us a two to three minute video to portray the life of this church. So to me, Luke is giving us a brief description of the first church.

So I titled these verses and this message, "The First Church Described, The Early Days." Because we have those other descriptions a little later. The first church described the early days. And I'll go ahead and tell you this is a part one because we will not get out of verse 42 tonight. Now I want us to read all of the verses and then I will give you description of what we see here. I will give you the outline of all the verses because Luke shows us three things. But let's read the verses together. And they, we know who the they are, the 120 or so and the 3,000 or so.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teachings and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And all 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. Verse 45, "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." That's some more wonderful church growth. Day by day those who were being saved. Now out of these verses Luke shows us three things. Luke shows us three things. Number one, a description of their Christian duties. That's in verse 42. Number two, a description of their Christian character. Verses 43 to 47 of the beginning of verse 47. And then number three, a description of their Christian influence. That's the end of verse 47. But like I said, we're only going to cover that first major point of the message, a description of their Christian duties. Now I will give you a summary of that outline.

This may help you. We could say that this is all about their Christian duties, their Christian character, their Christian influence. We could summarize that even more by just using three words, duties, character, and influence. And I think that will all really make a lot of sense when we get through the verses. So let's get started. Number one, Luke gives us a description of their Christian duties. Luke gives us a description of their Christian duties. Now here in verse 42 we see the church, nothing but the church, nothing more than the church, nothing less than the church. There was nothing added to or taken away from the church.

Now a question though, why do I use the word duties? It's not necessarily a pleasant word. Why do I use the word duties? I say that because that is what Luke gives us. He gives us a description of their Christian duties or what they were devoted to. Verse 42 says, "And they devoted themselves." And this word devoted is key. This word means to adhere to, to be devoted to, but it means more. This verb that is translated devoted in our Bibles spoke of a steadfast, a single-minded dedication to certain things, a certain direction, a certain action or actions, plural. That is why the New American says they were continually devoted.

The Amplified says they were continually and faithfully devoting themselves. So these believers were continually, faithfully, and steadfastly devoted. And look at what this tells us. This tells us who they were. This tells us what they did. They were all genuine believers. That's who they were. The fact that they were continually devoted and they persevered faithfully and continually tells us that they were all genuine believers and that none of them were false and ultimately left the faith like false believers do. Now church, there is a critical life and death fact that we must see and understand here.

If not, we will make some critical life and death mistakes in our Christian life and evangelism. Those who were genuinely and truly born again will continue in the faith. I'm going to repeat that. Those who were genuinely and truly born again will continue in the faith. Jesus said in John 8.31 that true believers abide in His word. In Matthew 13, Jesus said that the good seed, meaning the true believer, will not wither and die. But in 1 John 2, verse 19, the Apostle John says that those who go out from the church and out from the believers will never of the church or never of the believers to begin with.

So we must understand that those who truly come to faith in Christ will continue in the faith, not perfectly. We don't believe in sinless perfection. But they will live a life that is characterized by love, far, and devotion to Christ and the things of God all throughout their life. But conversely, we must understand that those who profess Christ that do not continue in the faith were never in the faith to begin with. Those who live a life that is not characterized by devotion to Christ that produces a devotion like we see in verse 42, they're not Bible Christians.

And if we do not understand and embrace this fact, we will make two life and death mistakes. First, we will fundamentally misunderstand the true Christian life. And second, we cannot evangelize properly. So notice what Luke says here. Those 3,000 or so Jews who savingly believed in Christ, who were baptized and added to the number of the 120 or so believers, they all continued in the faith. They all were devoted to the faith.

Albert Barnes says, "They persevered in, or they adhered to." And he goes on to say, "Though they had been suddenly converted, though they were suddenly admitted to the church, though they were exposed to much persecution and contempt and to many trials, yet the record is that they adhered to the doctrines and duties of the Christian religion." Folks, I hope I don't have to preach your funeral soon. But I hope that when I do have to preach your funeral, that those who step up at your funeral will be able to say that you steadfastly persevered faithfully in your devotion to Christ and His church. See that word devoted is key. That's key.

At the day of your funeral, I hope and pray that your children will be able to stand up and say that you, we steadfastly, faithfully persevered in our devotion to Christ and His church. That word devoted is key. But notice what Luke says that they were devoted to, four things. First they were continually devoted to the apostles' teachings. Here we clearly see that all these believers were devoted continually, faithfully to the Word of God, to the God-inspired and Spirit-directed teaching and preaching of the apostles. I like what William McDonald says here. I'm really changing up what he said. This was delivered orally or by mouth at first.

Remember they didn't have the New Testament written and is now preserved and given in what we see as the New Testament Scriptures. But notice how important this is. I borrowed this from John MacArthur and I added to it and I changed it up. This is foundational and this is essential for the growth and the spiritual health of the church.

The apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 2, 2 to 3, "Like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow into salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good." Paul said to the church at Rome in Romans 12 too, "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." In Paul's two letters to Timothy and his one letter to Titus, many times Paul clearly and emphatically emphasized the importance of the preaching and the teaching of God's Word. I give you three examples.

To Pastor Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, 16 Paul said, "If you put these things before the brothers," that's the church, "you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. Be trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed." And later in verse 13 he said, "Until I come devote yourselves to the public reading of the scripture to exhortation in teaching." To Titus in Titus 1, 9, Paul explained that an elder must do two things in the church. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word is taught so that he may be able to give instruction and sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. So my point here is this.

Those believers in the first church were continually and faithfully devoted to the apostles teaching and preaching of the Word. And those other verses that I read show us the results of those things. Now before I move on, I want to make two points of application from one word, the word expectation. You may write that word down, the word expectation. Now many of you know that I like to deer hunt. And when I go deer hunting, I expect to see deer and I expect to kill a deer. Now it doesn't always happen. Honestly, this year I've had more success killing some wild pigs than deer. But think about it. When I go hunting, I have an expectation.

But that expectation is not always realized. Otherwise it would be called deer killing instead of deer hunting. But coming to church should not be that way. We should expect, we should expect that the preaching and the teaching of God's Word will impact us and will change us. We should expect the preaching of God's Word to transform our minds, hearts, and thinking. Romans 12.1. We should expect the preaching and the teaching of God's Word to nourish us. Timothy 4.6, we should expect to be reproved, rebuked, and exhorted from the preaching and teaching of God's Word.

Second Timothy 2.1-3, simply you should expect God's Word to work in you every time you come to worship. And I should expect God's Word to work in you as I study all week to preach the message and the messages that God has given me just like I should expect it to work in me. So we should all always have an expectation that the preaching of God's Word will impact us according to God's will and God's need in our life. So we see they were continually devoted to the apostles' teaching. Second, they were continually devoted to the fellowship.

Here we clearly see that all these believers, there's a lot of them, over 3,000 were devoted continually to the fellowship. McDonald points out that another evidence of a new life in Christ for these suddenly converted believers is that they had a desire to be with the people of God. Now think about this. Before they had suddenly received Christ through Peter's preaching, they were of another people. I'm speaking of the 3,000 or so who just came to faith. They were Jews, whether they were Jews by blood or by being converts or proselytes to Judaism. So they were all of the Jewish fellowship.

That is why they were in Jerusalem at Pentecost to begin with. That was to celebrate Pentecost, which was and is the pinnacle of the Jewish calendar. But after they were suddenly converted to Christ, they suddenly and supernaturally became a part of a new people and a new fellowship. Now I want to talk to you about two kinds of people, those who go from the outside to the inside and those who go from the inside to the inside. Let me explain. When I came to faith in Christ, or before I came to faith in Christ, I was an active in a church. I've shared my testimony. It's recorded. It's on the church website.

If you've not heard that, I would encourage you to go listen to that. But when I came to faith in Christ, I went from the outside of the church, not active in a church in any way, shape, form or fashion, to the inside. I got saved. I came to faith. I immediately went to Sunday school and immediately I was identified with a completely new group of people, brothers and sisters to church. I went from the outside to the inside. But then sometimes people are raised in the church. Sometimes people are born and raised in the church and they're inside the church, although they are not converted.

I remember years ago, a teenager in the life of our church came to faith and she described all that went on in the life of the church, even though she was there every time the doors were open, she always saw herself as being on the outside and not on the inside. Physically geographically, she was right there. But then when she was converted to Christ, she went from being on the inside to the inside. But whether you are saved from a bar stool or a church pew, when you come to faith in Christ you become a part of a fellowship of the brothers and sisters. And this is supernatural. But let's go a little bit deeper here.

This word fellowship, in the original it's pronounced "korn-i-neh" and it means fellowship association, but it means more. It speaks of a community and a communion and it even speaks of a mutual communion, a mutual community and participation. But notice one detail, all of the English translations say "the fellowship." And this helps us see that Luke was speaking of "the fellowship," "the association," "the community," "the mutual fellowship" and participation.

Simply Luke had in mind "the fellowship," "the association," "the community of believers who were in communion with Christ and in communion with one another and they were in communion with Christ and one another as they participated in all of the duties of the church." But before we move on we need to see something here with "the fellowship." The fellowship of the 120 and then 3,000 or so that were suddenly supernaturally added, they had a recognizable identity and they behaved in a recognizable way. Think about it. The fellowship was recognizable in its identity and in its behavior.

The fellowship had to be recognizable because they were faithfully devoted to the fellowship, faithfully devoted to one another, faithfully devoted to this mutual participation of all of the Christian duties. And here there is something I want to point out. There are two kinds of Christians that we need to see and understand. There are two kinds of Christians that we need to see, recognize and understand. Let me explain. There are believers who faithfully and continually, they are faithfully and continually devoted to the fellowship of the believers.

They are faithfully and continually devoted to the community and the communion of the local body. That fellowship is recognizable. It is identifiable and they are devoted to that recognizable, identifiable fellowship. But there are other believers who are faithfully and continually devoted to the fellowship of the unrecognizable and unidentifiable believers. There are believers, there are believers that are devoted to an invisible fellowship and we have plenty of those kind of believers in our families and in our community.

These are people who profess to be born again believers, but they are not devoted to the recognizable and identifiable fellowship. Oh, but they say they're Christian and they are devoted to the idea of the fellowship that is not found in the scripture, but you tell me which one is truly Christian. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm being a little bit sarcastic here. Do you know people? Maybe in your family they claim to be Christian, but they are not devoted to the fellowship of the believers. You don't find that in the Bible. You figured that out yet? Do you know people? They claim to be Christian.

They claim to have fellowship, but the Christian fellowship that they have is not recognizable. It's not identifiable. That's not what you see in the Bible. But on a more personal level, for us who are truly Christian now, are we as devoted to the fellowship as we should be? And are we as devoted to every aspect of the fellowship as we should be? Now I'm going to say something before I move on here in our defense. We don't weight you down with a lot of unnecessary activities. What we do has meaning and purpose. Everything has meaning and purpose. We don't weight you down with unnecessary activities.

So I'm not calling you to be devoted to certain aspects of the fellowship that don't have biblical purpose. I've been a part of churches who did that. So we see, second, they were continually devoted to the fellowship. Third, they were continually devoted to the breaking of the bread. Here we see that these believers were continually devoted to this odd sounding term, the breaking of the bread. And you may not know this, but here we have a little bit of a debate. Some say this breaking of the bread is speaking of having an ordinary meal together. But others say that this speaks of participating in the Lord's Supper. But which is it?

Is Luke saying that they were faithfully devoted to eating meals together or participating in the Lord's Supper together? Which is it? Well, I say yes. Of course, we should see that Luke is referring to the devotion to faithfully participate in the Lord's Supper. This Christian duty was not optional and it is not optional. Jesus had commanded his disciples to perform and to participate in the Lord's Supper. So it is safe to say that the apostles heeded that command and they led this first church to participate in what we see as the Lord's Supper. But a question for us right here. Why is participating in the Lord's Supper important?

Besides the fact that we are commanded to do so, why is the Supper so important? Now here I want to offer up five quick reasons why this is important. Number one, I've mentioned we are commanded to do so. In Luke's account of when Jesus instituted what we see as the Lord's Supper, we see that he commanded his disciples and us by extension do this in remembrance of me. We see this in Luke 22 starting in verse 14. And number two, Paul tells us that in participating in the Supper we are proclaiming and seeing that all believers come together on one common ground and that ground is at the foot of the cross. We see that in Ephesians 2, 6.

Number three, Paul tells us that in participating in the Supper we are acknowledging the wonderful work of Christ on the cross and in coming together in the Supper we are proclaiming and exemplifying the unity that we have as believers since all believers participate together symbolically of the same Lord in the Supper. We see that in Ephesians 4, 5. Number four, Paul tells us that in participating in the Supper we are also participating in a Cup of Blessing which we are all sharing together in the blood of Christ symbolically and in participating in the bread we are sharing in the body of Christ together symbolically.

We see this in 1 Corinthians 10 starting in verse 16. And then number five, participating in the Supper calls us to and leads us to examine our hearts, minds, and lives for sin so as to purge our lives of sin therefore purging and purifying the church. And we see this in 1 Corinthians 11 starting in verse 17. Now there is a lot more I could say about the Supper obviously. And I have preached on the Supper extensively in my years here so if you need some more questions answered I would encourage you to go look at those messages. But this leads me to some questions and application. Do we see the Lord's Supper as we should?

Do we understand its meaning and purpose? Do we understand why we should participate? And do we understand how participating in the Supper relates to our entire body of believers, the entire church? But a question that is kind of aimed at me. Do we perform and participate in the Supper enough? Do we provide the Supper and participate in the Supper at the right times? But I do believe that Luke is referring to an ordinary meal as well. And I can say that by referring to a few other passages that are right in front of us. Albert Barnes points these out. I liked it. It resonated with me.

But he says that verse 44 says that the believers had all things in common. And verse 46 says that the believers day by day broke bread together in their homes. One says that this obviously would include sharing ordinary meals together. And I do agree. Other scholars say the same thing. Now look at how this right here applies to us. I believe that we do have some wonderful times of Christian fellowship over meals. You might say, "Pastor, I kind of think that's a Baptist thing or a Baptist church." Well, I've been in churches in different places in the world.

And I have seen brothers and sisters have fellowship meals and I've participated in wonderful fellowship over those meals. That's what we do in our First Sunday fellowship. That's what we do at other times in the life of our church. But I want to give us a challenge here. Let's all work hard to create times of fellowship over meals in our own homes. You might say, "Pastor, you're getting personal." Don't we see that in Acts 2? Let's work hard to create times of fellowship over meals in our own homes. You might say, "Pastor, I really don't have a nice home. It doesn't matter." You might say, "Pastor, my home isn't quite clean enough.

It doesn't matter. When we have folks over, don't go around the corner of my house. We might pick up all the junk in the front and move it to the back." We enjoy having people in our home. Sometimes we don't do that enough. We enjoy having teenagers in our homes at times. We enjoy having you in our homes. We have small group leaders in our homes. We have different people in our homes. We have people in our home over a fellowship meal, cup of coffee, and great fellowship. I would encourage you to do the very same thing. Last time I have checked, most people don't care if you feed them a hot dog or a hamburger. They just enjoy the fellowship.

Third, they were continually devoted to the breaking of the bread. Then fourth, they were continually devoted to the prayers. Here we see that all these believers were continually devoted to prayer, but as we will see, this is more than we realize. Here I want us to see that Luke is referring to what I believe as two things. First, Luke is telling us that these believers were continually devoted to prayer. Now what Luke is saying here is simple. These believers were continually devoted to the discipline of prayer, the duty of prayer, and to what we see as Christian prayer.

This can be seen by how many times Luke mentions their prayers and praying. Luke refers to prayer and their devotion to prayer and their practice of prayer all throughout his book. We see this in chapter 1, verse 14, chapter 1, verse 24. We see this in chapter 2, 24 to 31. We see this in chapter 6, verse 4, and verse 6. We see this in chapter 9, verse 40, chapter 10, verse 2, verse 4, verse 9, and verse 31. We see this in chapter 11, verse 5, chapter 12, verse 5. We see this in chapter 13, verse 3, chapter 14, verse 23, chapter 16, verse 25, chapter 22, verse 22, chapter 28, verse 8. Now question.

If you see me do something one time, what does that say? But if you see me do something over and over and over and over over a period of years, what does that say? What I'm trying to show you is this. Luke shows us these believers in prayer, in prayer often, not just once or twice. And the point here is this. These believers were continually devoted to prayer and we see their devotion was lasting. Now a question. What about our prayer lives? How's your prayer life? How's your prayer life? Second. Luke is telling us that these believers were continually devoted to the prayer.

Now the English Standard and the Legacy Standard Bible says the prayer. Now the other translations that I mentioned do not use the definite article "the," but in the original in which this was written, there was a definite article which is translated as "the" in certain English translations. Now the point here is this, some scholars tell us that Luke was referring to the specific formal times of prayer, both the old Jewish times of prayer and the Christian times of prayer. Scholars tell us that these early Jewish converts did not completely and immediately break away from all things in Judaism and worship in the temple. That was normal.

That was natural. And these scholars tell us that many continued to attend those Jewish formal times of prayer. And the point is this, these believers were continually devoted to and faithful to specific times of prayer, even formal prayer, both Jewish and Christian. And the lesson for us is this, we need specific formal times of prayer. One is our men's prayer meeting on Tuesday mornings. I know some cannot attend that. I would encourage you to if you can. But I would encourage you to take some initiative.

I would encourage you to pick out one or two in your small group and create a time where you get together for prayer, ladies with ladies and men with men. I would encourage you to find one person, maybe someone that's a little older in the faith, maybe you see yourself as a Timothy and you see them as a Paul. Ecclesiastes talks about when two or three come together, that cord is not easily broken. Maybe you look around in your small group and you pick two brothers or two sisters and you are equal with each other in the faith. They're not necessarily a mentor. You come together for specific formal times of prayer. We need it.

Now at this point, I want to stop in our message because of time. We simply do not have the time to cover the rest of the verses. But take note of what we've seen in verse 42. Luke gives us a basic but very powerful description of the Christian life and the lives of these early believers there in Jerusalem. If this is a snapshot, this is powerful. Those original 120 or so, in those 3000 or so recently added converts, they were all continually and faithfully devoted believers. They were devoted to four specific duties.

To the fellowship, the community, the communion of believers, to the preaching and the teaching of God's word from the apostles, to the breaking of the bread, that's regularly scheduled meals, times in their homes and regularly participating in the supper and to prayer, both private prayer, public prayer, even formal times of prayer. Now I said that this is a list of Christian duties and it is. Notice how this relates to the different titles I gave us. Warren Rearsby calls this teaching, "The Church Walking in the Spirit." I agree. When a church walks in the spirit, they will be continually devoted to these four Christian duties.

Show me a church that is not devoted to these four Christian duties and I'll tell you the church isn't walking in the spirit. Jim Boyce calls this teaching a model church. I agree. This is a model we should seek to imitate. We should work to imitate these four Christian duties like we see here. R.C. Sproul calls this teaching, "Life in the Early Church." And I agree and this is what our church life should look like. We should have this kind of a church life at Grace Life Church. Our church life should consist of four Christian duties. So to me this is the first church described, the early days.

And we'll see these brief descriptions a little later on. This is obviously a part one.