Acts 2:42-47 A Community of Believers (Part 2)

Acts 2:42-47: A Community of Believers (Part 2) 

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of Acts, and today the next passage we come to is Acts 2:42-47 as the passage upon which today’s message will be based. Acts 2:42-47: 

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 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’ve been going through the book of Acts passage by passage, and today we’re actually going to be looking at the same passage we looked at last week—Acts 2:42-47. I thought this passage was such an important one that I decided to preach two sermons on it instead of just one. So this is part two of the sermon I started last week. And before we begin, let’s pray. [Prayer]

If I went around to random people in our area and asked them what church is, I’m sure I’d get a variety of answers. Many people would probably say that church is an event that you go to on Sundays. It’s pretty common to speak of what we do here on Sundays as “attending church”—so that’s what a lot of people think church is. Others would probably say that church is a building. And that’s also pretty understandable since there are certain buildings that we call “churches.” Then, finally, a third response people might give is that church is a religious organization or institution—kind of like a business entity of sorts. 

Yet, as we look at the New Testament, we see that none of these responses captures the essence of what church is. We see that church isn’t an event or a building or an institution but rather a community of believers in Jesus. And that’s the main idea of the passage before us. Acts 2:42-47 shows us that the church at its core is a community of believers. Now, one caveat here: we do find several references in the Bible to what we might call the “universal church”—which consists of all believers in all places and from all periods of time. However, most often in the New Testament, “church” refers to the localized expression of that—to a community of believers who all meet together in the same place on a regular basis. 

And notice that I’m using the terminology of a community of believers rather than just a group of believers. There’s a huge difference between a community and a group. A bunch of people gathered together on an elevator can be considered a group. They may not even know each other’s names or anything about each other, but they’re still a group simply because they happen to be in each other’s proximity. So is that all that we are as a church? Are we just a group of people waiting for heaven who all happen to be waiting in the same “elevator,” as it were? Hopefully everyone here can sense that that’s not really an adequate way of describing a church. Yet the question remains what exactly is the church then? What does it mean to be not just a group of believers but a community of believers? 

Well, if there’s one place in the Bible where we find a clear answer to that question, it’s right here in Acts 2. I believe this is the clearest passage in the entire Bible that shows us what a church is supposed to look like—how a true community of believers is supposed to function. Let’s look at what it says about these early Christians. Acts 2:42-47: 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. 

So from this passage, we can see that there were six things this Christian community valued. And if we embrace these six things, I believe we’ll be well on our way to understanding what it means to live as a community of believers rather than merely as a group of believers. 

Truth

First, this Christian community valued truth. That’s what makes it a Christian community, after all. Verse 42 says that they “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” And if we want to know what exactly the apostles were teaching, the most natural place for us to look is back at Peter’s sermon earlier in this same chapter. Peter’s sermon is Exhibit A of what the apostles were teaching. You may remember from a few weeks ago that Peter’s message centered on Jesus. He explained how Jesus was the fulfillment of prophecy after prophecy in the Old Testament—the genuine Messiah sent by God to rescue God’s people. Yet Jesus did that in a way that nobody expected. Instead of leading God’s people to military and political triumph, he voluntarily allowed his enemies to crucify him on a cross. Yet, Peter explains, that was all according to God the Father’s plan. 

You see, the biggest problem God’s people had wasn’t that they were oppressed by the Roman government but rather than they were slaves of sin. Not only that, but their sin deserved—and, we might even say, demanded—God’s judgment. Yet Jesus bore that judgment on the cross. He suffered not just the physical agony of crucifixion but the full, undiluted wrath of God against sin. That’s what was happening on the cross. The righteous indignation of God the Father against sin was poured out on his own Son so that it wouldn’t have to be poured out on us. And we know that the Father accepted Jesus’ sacrifice because he raised Jesus from the dead three days later. That’s actually the focal point of Peter’s sermon. Jesus’ resurrection showed without a doubt that he was and is the genuine Messiah who stands ready to save all who put their trust in him. That was basically Peter’s sermon and a perfect example of what verse 42 is referring to when it speaks of the apostles’ teaching.  

And we have to understand that this teaching wasn’t just important in the early Christian community—it was central. The narrative of Acts 2 shows us how the church was birthed by this gospel message and continued to be built on the gospel. This teaching is what brought these people together. They enjoyed unity not around a bunch of fluffy sentiments about unity or vague ideas of togetherness but around the truth of the gospel message. You see, in order to be unified, there has to be something that we’re unified around—something that brings us together. Unity, after all, isn’t just the absence of external division. Going back to the elevator example, a group of people on an elevator may be occupying the same general space and not be fighting with each other or have any animosity toward each other, but I’m not sure we would call them unified. It’s probably only by coincidence that they’re even around each other. They just happen to be crossing paths. So people in an elevator aren’t really unified in any significant way because there’s not much at all that brings them together. In order to have unity, there has to be something you’re unified around. And for Christians, that “something” is the gospel. There’s nothing more central to a healthy Christian community than the precious truths of the gospel message. So they “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.”

Fellowship

Not only that, but we see secondly that they also devoted themselves to “the fellowship.” The Greek word translated as “fellowship” refers to a mutual participation and sharing. It speaks of the relational closeness that these first Christians enjoyed. And this fellowship, I believe, is a natural result and outgrowth of what we just talked about—treasuring the truths of the gospel and ordering our lives in light of those truths and viewing our identity in light of those truths. If Jesus is at the center of my life and he’s also at the center of your life, than it’s natural for us to have the deepest connection to each other. 

I actually believe that the bond Christians enjoy is deeper than the bond even of a biological family. It’s a bond that goes deeper even than our own flesh and blood. Because the bond that we enjoy with our family will cease when we die, but the bond we enjoy as Christians will last through eternity. Earthly families are temporary, but God’s family is eternal. 

And hopefully we can be experiencing the fellowship spoken of in this verse not just in theory but in practice. You know, it says that these early Christians “devoted themselves…to the fellowship.” And that’s an indication that this relational closeness doesn’t come about automatically but rather requires effort and intentionality. You actually have to work at it and invest time into it. On a side note here, I’ve had a few people come to me over the past several years and express a desire for the people of our church to be more devoted to them in various ways and more intentional about reaching out to them. And I have no doubt that that’s an area in which we need to grow. Yet it’s also true of the church’s fellowship that you usually get out of it what you put into it. If you just show up here on Sundays and don’t really make much of an effort to connect with people in a meaningful way outside of Sunday mornings, then you can’t really expect people to act as they’d act toward someone with whom they have a close relationship. From what I’ve seen, Christian fellowship—and church membership, for that matter—are the kinds of things that you usually get out of them what you put into them. If you want to enjoy rich fellowship with other Christians in a church and the benefits that grow out of that fellowship, then you’ve got to invest time in cultivating those relationships. 

The Lord’s Supper

Then, moving along more quickly here, the next thing listed in these verses that the early Christians devoted themselves to was “the breaking of bread.” And most scholars are in agreement that this is very likely a reference to the Lord’s Supper. We understand from other passages of Scripture that the early church observed the Lord’s Supper every single week. That’s actually the main thing that led us at this church to start observing it every week several months ago. And this is another example from these early Christians of how the gospel was at the very center of their community and their fellowship. 

Prayer Meetings

Then the final item listed in verse 42 that these Christians were devoted to was “the prayers.” And notice that it doesn’t say “prayer” but rather “the prayers”—meaning the regularly scheduled prayer meetings. I think it’s interesting that most Christians in our society, when they read that, typically just assume that it’s a reference to individual prayer. That’s a perfect example, in my opinion, of something we talked about last week—the hyper-individualistic mentality of our culture that colors the way we read and understand the Bible. The grammar of verse 42 clearly points not to individual prayer—though I’m sure they also did that—but rather to corporate prayer meetings that the early Christians held. It says they “devoted themselves” to these prayer meetings. And I, of course, praise God that we were able to take a big step toward faithfulness in this area a couple of months ago when we started a weekly prayer meeting each Wednesday at our church building—and we encourage you to attend that as often as you’re able. 

Radical Generosity

Next, as we continue moving forward and look at verses 44-45, we see that this Christian community was also characterized by what I’ll call “radical generosity.”Look again at what it says: 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. Now, I don’t believe these early Christians were practicing communism, as some might be tempted to think. Several chapters later, we read about them continuing to contribute things that they owned for the welfare others in the church. So it doesn’t seem as though they abolished all private property—since they still had some of it left to give several chapters later. Rather, it seems best to say that they were extremely generous with their possessions. They held everything they had with open hands. And we find written a few chapters later, in Acts 4:34, that “there was not a needy person among them.” Every single need in the church was met not through government programs but through the generosity that these Christians exhibited toward one another. And that’s a good reminder for us as well—and, I dare say, something that should challenge us. Friends, if God has been so generous to us in sending us his own Son, how can we withhold generosity from others—especially form our brothers and sisters in the Lord? 

Evangelism

Then a final value that we find present in this Christian community of Acts 2 is evangelism—which is just a fancy word for sharing the gospel with people. Verse 47 states that they had “favor with all the people” and “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” And I think it’s pretty safe to assume that that wasn’t just a result of the apostles preaching the gospel in the public square. No, the picture we find throughout the book of Acts is that the entire Christian community was very active in spreading the gospel. 

And the interesting thing is that we don’t find any evidence of any sort of evangelistic training efforts in the early church. That’s actually true not just of the book of Acts but, incredibly, for the first three centuries of the church. It’s pretty remarkable when you think about it. For the first 300 years of the church’s existence, there are almost no examples at all of evangelistic training materials or even of church leaders teaching the rest of the Christians that they should evangelize. And yet, they were relentless in their efforts to spread the gospel. How is that? Well, I think we find the answer a few chapters later in Acts. When the Jewish religious leaders tell Peter and John to stop sharing the gospel, they reply in Acts 4:20, “we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” They couldn’t help themselves. The gospel so filled their heart that it overflowed into their conversations. 

And that’s what I believe evangelism is supposed to be. God never intended that we’d have to make ourselves share the gospel or that we’d do so out of a sense of guilt or obligation. Rather, the biblical model is that our joy in Christ would be so great and would so fill our hearts that it would overflow into our conversations. Kind of like if you pour water into a cup that’s already full. What’s going to happen if you do that? Well, the water has to go somewhere, right? And the only place it has to go is over the rim of that cup. And that’s what we should aspire to experience in our lives. As we seek the Lord and consider all that he’s done for us in the gospel, hopefully our hearts are like full cups—and not just full but overflowing, so that we find ourselves naturally talking about Jesus, not because we have to but because we want to. And that’s what it seems was going on here in Acts 2. These early Christians were so full of joy in the Lord and so excited about what he had done for them that they couldn’t stop themselves from sharing that with others—with the result, verse 47 says, that people came to faith in Jesus on a daily basis. 

Conclusion

So that’s the way this Christian community of Acts 2 functioned. That’s what they valued. The apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper, prayer meetings, radical generosity, and evangelism. What a beautiful portrait of what a church is supposed to be—not a building or an event or an institution but a community of believers who value these things and engage with one another in these ways. 

And thinking of this community of believers as a whole, I believe there are some incredibly significant implications for how you and I should relate together as a community of believers today. You know, people often wonder—especially when they first come to our church—how they can get more involved and how they can serve here and make a meaningful investment in the lives of others. And, of course, just like in any church, there are positions that we need people to fill—things like volunteering in Children’s Ministry and on the music team and setup team and welcome team and media team—things like that. Those are all very helpful and very much needed. Yet, as important as those things are, I’d say that there are other, more informal, ways to serve that are just as significant and, in many cases, even more significant than any official volunteer position you could have.

So as a way of encouraging us to live as the community of believers the Bible says we should be, I’d like to very briefly give you what I believe are the top six most overlooked ways to serve in the church. For me as a pastor, seeing a majority of people doing these things in our church would be a dream come true. And perhaps the best part is that these six most overlooked ways to serve are things that any Christian can do. You don’t need a set of unique gifts or abilities. Just about anybody can do these things. 

So, first, be intentional about engaging people on Sunday mornings. Obviously, that begins with simply showing up, as we discussed extensively last week. And when you come, try to engage people you don’t know, especially if they look like they might be guests or if they’re sitting alone or don’t seem to have anyone to talk to. You know, how intentional are you when you walk in those doors? How do you choose where to sit? How do you choose who to talk to? How to you choose when to arrive and when to leave? Coming 20 minute early and staying 20 minutes late is a great way to get to know people and have opportunities to meaningfully minister to them. 

Second, practice hospitality. Invite people over for a meal. We see here in Acts 2 that a lot of their fellowship was taking place in people’s homes, so have people over to your home. You don’t have to have the nicest home or even the cleanest home. In my experience, the care and warmth you display as a host is ten times as important as the size or cleanliness of your house. The home is a wonderful context for meaningful relationships to develop and meaningful conversations to take place. And also, keep in mind that there are other ways to practice hospitality as well, such as taking meals to people who are encountering various kinds of difficulties or challenges. I know Becky and I still remember with great fondness the people who brought us meals when our children were first born. It means a lot to people when you do that. 

Third, seek to develop discipling relationships. These are relationships in which Christians help other Christians grow toward spiritual maturity. They might involve things like getting together to discuss a passage of Scripture or to go through another good Christian book together or maybe pray together for people you’re trying to reach out to or just about any other spiritually beneficial activity. You might even have more of an unstructured time of engaging in a hobby together or something like that. So get to know other Christians and see if the Lord opens any doors for you to start investing in someone else in that way. That’s one of the most meaningful and rewarding investments you can make in your life. And if you don’t think you’re spiritually mature to disciple any another Christians, then that’s probably a sign that you need to be discipled. So seek out someone to disciple you. 

Then, fourth, pursue those whom you haven’t seen lately. If you haven’t seen someone attend worship on Sunday or attend Community Group, send them a text message to see how everything’s going and let them know you’re praying for them. And it’s really a great thing to do regardless of what’s going on with the person that’s kept them from attending. Because if they’re beginning to wander from the Lord, they certainly need you to reach out to them. And even if they’re not wandering but have a legitimate reason for not coming, I would think they’d appreciate just being missed. That’s something I’ve noticed. In general, most people just like know that they’re missed when they aren’t able to show up to something. So take the initiative to pursue those whom you haven’t seen lately. Understand that we as elders do what we can with that, but we can’t do it all. We need you to embrace that as your calling and your responsibility as well.

Next, the fifth most overlooked way to serve is to comfort those who are hurting. If you know that someone has just lost a loved one or is hurting for whatever other reason, reach out to them. Send them a text to let them know you’re thinking of them and praying for them. Even better, send them a card. And even better than that, bring them a meal—with a card that you hand-deliver. Life is full of things that bring terrible heartache, so what a blessing it is to receive comfort from others in the church. 

Then finally, number six on this list of most overlooked ways to serve in the church is to start an Evangelistic Bible Study. Those of you who are more familiar with our church are already well aware of the important role that these studies have in our church’s outreach. And for those who haven’t heard much about them yet, I’ll just say that they’re absolutely, hands down, our main method of organized outreach. Essentially, these studies consist of thinking of people you know who either may not be Christians yet or who may simply benefit from learning more about basic Christian teachings and then inviting those people over to your house or to another convenient location in order to study the Bible together—often with the help of some sort of curriculum designed for that purpose. We have a number of different resources that we like to use. In fact, if you want to know more, I’ve actually written a short article entitled “How to Start an Evangelistic Bible Study” that I’d love to email you upon request that will supply you with some very detailed instructions about how you might approach something like that. We really try to provide enough resources and ongoing support for these studies that most Christians are able to do them, even if you’ve never taught or led anything before. And even if you’re still not yet confident enough to lead something like this but know people who might be interested in being a part of an Evangelistic Study, just let us know and we’ll very likely be able to connect you with someone who’s more experienced and comfortable leading it. 

So as you can see here, there are plenty of needs in our church and plenty of opportunities that a lot of people never think of for you to invest your life in the lives other others in very meaningful way. These are the kinds of things that are going on regularly—and I would say continuously—in a healthy community of believers. These activities are what living as a Christian community is all about. If Acts 2 shows us anything, it shows us that when God saves us, he saves us into a family. And what a precious gift that family is. 

You know, we live in a society that’s fractured and fragmented in so many ways. And it seems to be becoming more fractured and fragmented almost by the day. Yet God designed the church to be a place where people can come together as a loving community and care for each other and help each other and minister to each other as the spiritual family that we are. What a gift and what a blessing.