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.
Acts 2:42-47
Brakes
I have had my foot on the brakes since I began as your pastor. I have been slow to begin new programs, stage new events or pursue new activities. While there are several reasons for this, the most pertinent for today’s sermon is that God’s hand has been heavy upon me regarding the danger of church.
Church is dangerous because we can very easily substitute it for Jesus. We can begin to serve, trust and worship the church rather than Jesus. This happens subtly as our calendars fill with church activities that seem good, even when they distract us from Jesus.
This has been one of my primary messages as a pastor: “Be careful, be careful, be careful! Don’t miss Jesus in all your churchliness!” I don’t want to hear you say on your deathbed that you are ready to face judgment because you have been faithful to church. Faithfulness to the church saves no one. Faithfulness to Jesus Christ saves. I want you to love Jesus and then, because of that relationship, be the church.
I don’t want God to say to us what he said to Judah in Isaiah 1:11-17:
What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
Bring no more vain offerings:
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
There are sacrifices that displease the Lord. It is possible to build a church in such a way that is torturous to God. There are offerings that are an abomination to him. Many Christians hate homosexuality because the Bible calls it an abomination (Leviticus 18:22). But what about the abomination of vain worship? God hates, hates, hates vain worship. He only endures it because he is merciful.
I don’t want us to hear what the church in Sardis hears in Revelation 3:1, “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead…” Church can easily become merely a matter of eye-catching banners, full parking lots, packed schedules and cool window static clings. But all of this is makeup on a corpse if the people of the church do not have a thriving relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23 of the judgment, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, your workers of lawlessness.’”
Note that these poor souls say “did we not” do all these religious activities. It sounds like they are pleading as a group. Perhaps there will be entire churches standing before Jesus in judgment together, looking back and forth at one another, inescapably aware that though they had worked together in prophetic ministries, spiritual warfare programs and many other mighty works—all in Jesus’ name—they had never done the will of the Father and Jesus was a stranger to them.
So yes, I have had my foot on the brakes. I have been careful to point you to Jesus over and over again and hesitant to encourage organized church activities. Now, however, I believe it is time to move my foot to the gas pedal in a sense. I am unsure what it will look like. I do not think that everyone who associated with Dulin’s Grove is ready for it. But I have this pastoral sense that it is time to move forward.
This does not mean that I will stop reminding you of these things. But this fall we will think more about what we need to be doing than we have before.
Acts 2:42-47
Rather than copying the activities of contemporary churches, we will copy the original. When you make photo copies, you copy the original document because when you copy copies, the result is distortion. When churches copy other churches who are copying other churches, eventually the distortion becomes so intense that the resulting church looks nothing like the body of Christ.
As I pray about how to press the gas, I am drawn to Acts 2:42-47. This passage offers a beautiful snapshot of the first church. We will work through each segment of this passage and it is my hope that we will start to look more like them.
Context
Jesus had recently given the disciples their charge to make disciples of all nations and ascended. The Holy Spirit had arrived in great power, prompting Peter to preach a heart-rending sermon. 3,000 people believed and began to follow Jesus after that sermon. They had no other churches to learn from or compare to. They had no Christian bookstores from which to buy church strategy books. They had no seminaries or denominations. They had no dedicated facilities, budgets, boards or committees. Yet they had everything they needed to be the church.
They had forgiveness and new life in Jesus Christ. They had the Holy Spirit empowering them. They had the teachings of the apostles. They had each other. And so do we!
We have everything they had. We have Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the apostle’s teachings and each other. Beyond that, we have the apostles teaching in its complete form, the New Testament (they didn’t). We have the essential ingredients to be a vibrant church just like they were and by God’s grace we will be.
Devotion
So in the following weeks, we will examine the activities of the first church and move forward following their example. First, we need to look at the foundational endeavor beneath all these other endeavors: devotion. “And they devoted themselves…”
This word translated ‘devoted’ is a compound word in the original Greek. It is a directional word meaning ‘forward and toward’ added to a dispositional word meaning ‘strength, steadfastness and endurance.’ It can mean any of the following depending on the usage:
- To be earnest towards
- To persevere
- To be constantly diligent
- To attend assiduously (showing great care and perseverance)
- To give oneself continually
- To continue in
- To continue steadfastly
The first church did not merely attend Sunday school; they were earnest toward the apostles’ teaching. They did not merely attend church socials; they persevered in real Christian fellowship. They did not merely share potluck items in the fellowship hall or sip tiny cups of juice during communion; they were constantly diligent about the breaking of bread. They did not merely try to stay awake during the prayer times on Sunday mornings; they attended assiduously to prayer.
Five Characteristics of Church Devotion
1. Church devotion is supernatural.
Supernatural as in not human-powered. Remember the context of this passage. They did not begin to devote themselves to being the church until they received the gospel and the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Our devotion as the church has to come from our new nature. This is why being the church is impossible for non-Christians. Non-Christians cannot sustain the required devotion because they do not have new natures and the Holy Spirit. This is also why many churches short-circuit Biblical teaching, true Christian fellowship and prayer for marketing, gimmicks and activities that do not require new natures and the Holy Spirit.
If you are a Christian, you are a saint and therefore qualified to be devoted in the same way the early church was. If you are not a Christian, you are not qualified. Non-Christians can do church stuff but cannot be the church.
2. Church devotion is innate.
Innate as in not foreign or strange. This sort of devotion is in the new DNA of ‘new creature’ Christians. The Acts 2 Christians devoted themselves to being the church. Church leadership did not have to coerce them into Bible study, fellowship, bread-breaking and prayer. These things became newly natural to them as they began to live in light of their new nature.
I cannot tell you how stark the difference is between directing the devoted and dragging the dutiful. There are some who are devoted to Jesus Christ and thus persevere in learning the Scripture because they crave it. There are people who passionately desire the deep, uncomfortable relationships of true Christian fellowship. These people only need to be directed.
Others have to be dragged along because they truly have no desire for the things of Christ. They don’t want to learn, fellowship, break bread or pray; so we pastors must coax or even trick them into it.
If you have no desire for these things, and you know it, you need to examine your heart and make sure that you have been transformed by Jesus Christ.
3. Church devotion is hard.
Hard as in not easy. There is nothing easy about being the church. Yes, it is supernaturally empowered and innate to new believers; but these qualities are not the same as easy.
Even if you are born with the perfect genes to be a great runner and have ample opportunities to develop your running skills, you cannot run well without intense effort. You still must find time to run, push yourself, sweat and strain your muscles over and over and over again to be a runner. This is what it is like to be the church.
We have supernatural power and innate desire for learning, relating, worshipping and praying; but these endeavors require continual effort. In fact, if you are not exerting yourself to be the church, you’re not being the church.
4. Church devotion is consistent.
Consistent as in not sporadic or temporary. This is the difference between stars and comets. Comets may burn bright, but only for a moment. Being the church requires consistent, steady and ongoing star-like burning.
In Acts 10:7, this same word is used to describe a servant’s job. Being the church is like a job. Once you become a Christian, activities like learning Scripture, fellowship and prayer must become your default position. Your family should be no more surprised that you are studying your Bible or spending time with other Christians than if you were going to your fulltime job.
“I’ll volunteer to _____, but only for a short and well defined period of time.” “I’m old and I’ve served my time in the church. It’s time for younger generations to step up to the plate.” These are not the slogans of the consistently devoted church. We are in this together to the end. We must persevere be constantly diligent and give ourselves continually to being the church.
5. Church devotion is focused.
Focused as in not vague. Many are a part of a vague Christian-esque ideology that requires no specific action on their part. They are vaguely a part of a church without functioning in any specific way as a part of that body.
In Acts 6:1-4 the disciples were being pulled in too many ministry directions. Widows were beginning to complain that they were not being served fairly. In response, the disciples said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:2-4).
Church devotion requires this kind of clarity and specificity. As a new creature, you have been gifted by the Holy Spirit to function in a specific way in the body of Christ. This means that you will have to say ‘no’ to even really good ministry opportunities. Here the disciples had to say, “No, I will not feed hungry widows.” They said this because they knew they needed to devote themselves to their specific functions.
What is your function in the church? There are endless activities you can pursue as a new creature; but you cannot do everything. As we become the church, your part will not be vague. It will be focused and specific, and it all begins with prioritizing learning, fellowship, bread-breaking and prayer.
Conclusion
Some of you are thinking, “I am already pouring myself out to be the church.” To you I say, “Thank you!” May this sermon series be encouraging and strengthening to you.
Some of you are neck-deep in ill-fitting functions in the church. You are carrying burdens not meant for you. May this sermon series clarify your calling as a part of the church and enable you to transition into functions more fitting to you.
Some of you are so busy that you cannot imagine devoting yourself more fully to being the church. Work is hard, family is hard, school is hard—surely church can be easy! Well, I cannot make church easy. But I will submit to you that devoting yourself to being the church will connect you to the supernatural resources necessary to do everything else God is calling you to do.
Next week we will study what it means to devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching. This week, allow the Holy Spirit to examine your heart. Have you received forgiveness form Jesus? Are you trusting in him as your Savior? Are you following him as our Lord? Have you been transformed into a new creature? Have you received the Holy Spirit? Do you have innate desire to learn the apostles’ teaching, fellowship and break-bread with other believers and pray? If not, do not try to move ahead with us without addressing these things. If so, lean into it! Devote yourself to these things.
Discussion Starters
- Read Isaiah 1:11-17; Revelation 3:1 and Matthew 7:21-23. What do these passages have in common? How should they inform our thinking about church ministry?
- Read Acts 2:42-47. What are the differences between studying a narrative passage (a passage that tells the story of what was) as opposed to studying a teaching passage (a passage that states truths or makes commands)?
- Read Acts 1:1 – 2:41 (you may want to divide this among the group). Pick out the supernatural elements from this passage. How did these contribute to the birth of the church?
- What sorts of things to churches do to sidestep the necessity of God’s supernatural influence?
- Do you find that you regularly desire to learn about Scripture, fellowship and break bread with other Christians and pray? Why or why not?
- The word translated ‘devoted’ in Acts 2:42 implies a great deal of effort and perseverance. Does it surprise you that being the church requires such intense effort and perseverance? Why or why not?
- What sorts of things might distract us from devoting ourselves to being the church? How can we combat these distractions?
- Take some time to pray for one another and our church.
(Pictures by Gillie and bbyrnes59)
