Acts 2:42 (NIV)
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
This first Church was a group of people who had been totally transformed by their faith in Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit living and working in their hearts. They devoted themselves to four things:
- The apostles’ teaching. This consisted of all that the apostles had learned from Jesus about the kingdom of God, and their testimony about all that He had done to show the people what that kingdom was like, and to make it a here-and-now reality. It also included teachings on the prophecies that Jesus had fulfilled which He had taught them about (Luke 24:25-27). We have these teachings preserved for us in the four gospels.
- The fellowship. Just as Judaism was never designed to be a faith for individuals, so Christianity was built around the concept of community, becoming a part of the people of God. Jesus had taught this to His followers from the beginning, even embedding the concept in the Lord’s prayer, where God is to be addressed as OUR Father, not MY Father. These early Christians quickly learned that life in the kingdom had to play out in community and fellowship, all the parts of the Body of Christ united and working together to accomplish the core mission of making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).
- The breaking of bread. This was not communion, but simply eating together, sharing food. Collective meals have great benefits. The first is simply that eating together solidifies and enhances community. We experience the same thing in churches today when we have potluck meals together. But the second benefit is vital as well. When the group ate together, everyone contributed what they could. Those with means brought a lot of food, and those with limited means brought a little. But even those who had contributed little could eat what they needed. It was a wonderful way of sharing, strengthening the Body of Christ physically as well as socially.
- Prayer. In addition to social time together, and working time together, the whole group spent frequent time together in prayer. Communion with God lay at the heart of their communion with each other. Times of prayer, listening as well as presenting requests to God, ensured that everyone in the group was on the same page, and fostered a deep unity among the diverse group of people that made up the Church.
This four-fold devotion, not just activities or programs, but key focuses that were at the core of who the Church was, resulted in a unity of purpose and a genuine power among all the people that brought them success in the mission they had been left with, and made them an unconquerable force for life transformation in Jerusalem and beyond.
Father, it is easy to see how a focus on these four areas was a key factor in the success of the first century Church. But the word that really strikes me is “devoted”. Too often we see these things as good, if we can make time for them in our busy schedules. But I don’t see many Christians “devoted” to them. We tend to want our “apostles’ teachings” in bite-sized chunks that we can read in a minute or two so that we can get on with the more important things. We make time for the fellowship and the sharing of meals together if we have time. And even though we pray, we tend to pray mostly alone. And our communal prayer times lack the power and effectiveness that we want. Lord, we need You to work in the midst of us, at the core of every congregation and in the heart of every Christian, to move us back into this living center of who You are and how You want to work in and through us so the we can powerfully live out our mission in Your presence and power, just like those first Christians. We need inspiration and transformation to truly become Your Church today. Help us, Lord! Amen.
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