Acts Recap – Principles and Patterns
Good morning! We have spent the last nine months or so working our way through the book of Acts and now we are bringing it to a close.
Our focus in examining this wonderful historical narrative has been to figure out the principles and patterns that the early church followed so that we can see more than just the description of events but the prescription that the church for all time is to follow.
In considering those patterns it is important for us to consider what those patterns are and who it is that is supposed to follow them.
Before we get too far, Let’s pray.
Luke wrote in Acts 1:1-2, “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen.”
Now, in his second book, Luke deals with all that Jesus continued to do and teach through the Holy Spirit in His church.
In verse 8 of chapter 1 Jesus tells the Apostles exactly what they were to do after He ascended back to the Father.
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The rest of the book of Acts describes how exactly how they did that, how they functioned as witnesses to the world of who Jesus is and what He did.
In a general sense, this is still the main principle for His church to continue to follow, to be His witnesses in our homes, in our neighborhoods, at work, everywhere we go.
But that is only the beginning of the pattern laid out for us.
The pattern breaks down like this:
By the power and direction of the Holy Spirit the gospel is preached, the Good News that though everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and the wages of that sin is death, the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. God demonstrates His own love for us in this, that while we were sinners Christ died for us. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved. Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Those who believe the Good News, who repent of their sin and turn to Jesus for forgiveness are baptized and gathered into churches.
Those churches are instructed in the Way of Christ and His Apostles.
Within those churches leadership is established in the form of Elders and served by Deacons.
Those churches then start to share the gospel within their communities and start to expand and multiply and the pattern repeats. Or, at least it should.
These are the small, mobile, personal, outwardly and upwardly focused groups, little local church families, empowered and directed by the Holy Spirit that the Lord Jesus used to spread the Good News and change the world.
Well, good for them. Is that really what we are supposed to do? Well… yeah!
Acts 2:42-47 gives us a sweet picture of what life was like for those early groups. Again, it’s a pattern that I hope sounds somewhat familiar to you, and if it doesn’t then we need to address it and right the ship.
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.
It’s important for us to remember is that the activity of these groups, and their decisions on how best to follow Jesus was unencumbered by thousands of years of church tradition and teaching. There were no thoughts of church politics or cathedrals, no popes, nor priests. What these folks had was simply faith in Jesus, the filling of the Holy Spirit, and the teaching of the Apostles.
The truth is that this fledgling church had, and did, all that was necessary to be the church: They had faith in Jesus, they had the Apostles teaching, and they had the fellowship.
Peter had proclaimed back in verse 38 of this chapter when the people responded to his message by asking what they must do, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
This is where the church starts.
There are thousands of groups that will meet all over the world today that calls themselves churches but do not teach this simple truth: that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, that the wages of that sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord, to repent, turn away from sin to follow Jesus, and be baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The church is not just an incidental gathering of like-minded individuals trying their best to be good.
The church is a body of repentant believers in Jesus, maturing disciples, devoted to His teaching through His Apostles and to fellowship with one another.
That first gathered group in Jerusalem turned to Jesus in faith, repented of their sins, received the Holy Spirit, and… they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and the fellowship.
If only the Apostles had written their teaching down so that generations of disciples could read it and devote themselves to learning it and applying it and allowing themselves to be encouraged and changed by it…
Oh wait, they did! We call it the New Testament!
The word, “devoted,” means that they continued with intense effort. Their goal was to be firmly established in the truth. Their level of devotion makes ours look a little pale I think. Every one of the Apostles would be martyred; beaten, stoned, stabbed, sawed in half, whipped, beheaded, boiled in oil.
Not just the Twelve, but countless others would follow in their footsteps, killed in an effort to silence them and turn from following Jesus.
We have great advantage here today. There’s more than enough copies of the Apostles teaching here in this building that we freely gather in. Nobody around here is getting set on fire for reading it. Maybe that’s why we take it for granted, because we think that there’s nothing at stake, but there is, there are lives at stake.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Apostles wrote down their teaching and the teaching of Jesus, and now we have great freedom to have it in our hands and to be devoted to it like the early church was.
Their devotion to the Apostles teaching was proven by the second point, the continued with intense effort in fellowship.
Fellowship is another word that gets cheapened in our modern understanding. Fellowship is not just hanging out. In fact, the rest of the passage for this morning describes what fellowship really means.
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.
The breaking of bread and the prayers.
There has been much debate over what bread exactly, does this mean the Lord’s Supper or just a regular meal?
Remember what I said about being unencumbered by thousands of years of church tradition?
When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, He didn’t use a tiny wafer and miniature plastic cup, He used bread from the table, and wine from their cups. There is no reason to make a distinction at all!
This is the reason that we celebrate the Lord’s Supper during a communal meal, because that’s the way they did it, because that is the way that it was intended.
The early church also prayed together, with prayers new and old, prayers from the words of Jesus, from the Old Testament Scriptures, as well as from their own hearts.
And awe came upon every soul, and many signs and wonders were being done through the Apostles. The finger of God was at work among them and they could feel it, they could see it. His power was at work performing signs and wonders through the Apostles and saving people daily.
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.
Now, this is not a description of the early church being socialist or communist, don’t be confused. They did hold all things in common. Each one regarded his own property, not as intended for personal use but as intended for the use of all the others. This however, was not a law, it was not forced on anyone, it was a choice to help others in need. Brotherly love, generosity, and care for one another is what motivated their giving to those in need, not compulsion, nor guilt, nor rule of law.
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.
In Jerusalem, they continued to go to the Temple as it was never the intention to create a sect, or new division of Judaism, just as the Reformation was never intended to create a new and different division of the church, but rather they both were intended to reform the old into a way that aligned with the Word of God.
They met together in each other’s homes to eat, to pray, to receive instruction. In fact, the house and the Temple, private prayer in the closet, and the public praise of God in the Temple, formed into one harmonious and complete whole as was intended from the beginning.
It’s no wonder that the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
These are the principles, this is the pattern for local church families to follow.
The church is the plan of God to make and mature disciples of Jesus Christ together as a family, and he has given us the Apostle’s teaching along with the Law and the Prophets, the entire Bible, to guide and instruct us on how to do that.
So let’s devote ourselves to those things like they did, to continue with intense effort in the Apostle’s teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, and maybe, like back then, awe will come upon every soul because we will see that the Lord is at work, and He may just add to our number day by day those who are being saved.
Amen.
