5/21/23 The Early Church - Part 1

The Early Church – Part 1

Acts 2:42-47

Babies – they are interesting little humans, aren’t they?

Believe it or not, there are some unique facts concerning babies that some of you may not be aware of.

For instance:

1)     Babies have no kneecaps. They have a structure made of cartilage that resembles a kneecap, but their actual kneecaps don’t develop until they are about 6 months old.

2)     Newborn babies can’t shed tears. What?? It’s true, even though they howl and scream…some quite often!...they don’t actually cry. Since a baby’s tear ducts (Or lacrimal glands, for all of you medically-oriented people) are not fully developed at birth, they are unable to produce tears until around three weeks of age.

3)     Babies don’t smile from external stimuli until they are at least 6 weeks old. Until this point, the baby might look like they are smiling, but its more of a reflex than it is an actual response to something funny or comforting.

4)     Also, at about 6 weeks of age, babies begin to laugh – a Lot! On average, babies laugh 300 times a day, compared to only 60 times a day for adults. So, I have my own theory on this. I believe that babies are actually laughing at adults. Yes, I’m quite sure that they are laughing at us for having to hold them, carry them, feed them, burp them, stroll them, dress them, bathe them, entertain them, and of course the big one, change their diaper for them. I mean, Wouldn’t you also laugh - a lot - if someone had to do all of these things for you!? 😊

5)     Babies have three times as many taste buds as adults. During the last trimester of pregnancy, babies begin to develop taste buds all over the mouth that help to orient them to a wide variety of foods….apparently my Mom ate a lot of Culver’s! (Which is impressive, given the fact Culver’s wasn’t even around until I was in 7th grade!)

6)     Lastly, Babies can swallow and breathe at the same time until they are about 7 months old. That’s why they can just keep working on that bottle of milk without coming up for air. Although, for some people, I’m not quite sure this skill ends at 7 months of age. Having played music in numerous bars back in the 90’s, I think I’ve witnessed some adults who still had that ability to slam a bottle without coming up for air…quite impressive.

Babies are special and unique, they remind us of what humanity looks like in its most “pure” form, so to speak.

Our passage for today describes the church in its infancy. The “birth” of the church had just happened during the events at Pentecost – the Holy Spirit miraculously indwelt the 120 believers who were waiting, praying for His arrival.

As we saw last week, Peter’s spirit-filled sermon cut his audience to the heart as God instantly moved in the hearts of 3,000 people. Those in attendance were filled with conviction and repented of their sinful behavior.

These events are considered to be the birth of the church.

Like a newborn baby, there were some traits concerning the early church that were a bit different than what we see today in the “adult” church, so to speak.

Our passage for today in Acts is one of the most important passages in all of scripture.

This passage reminds us of what the church can look like in its most spiritually pure form – much like how a baby reminds us of what humanity looks like in our most physically pure form.

Initially, I was intending to cover today’s entire passage in one sermon, but quickly realized that I needed to break this passage up into a mini sermon series. This is such an important area of scripture – it contains SO MUCH that we can learn about the church and what it should look like.

So today, we will be looking at just 1 verse – verse 42.

You’ve heard me say this before regarding other passages of scripture, but if you like to underline or highlight verses in your Bible, highlight verse 42!

For people wanting to understand what a healthy church ought to look like, verse 42 is (In my opinion) the most important passage in all of scripture!

Back in 1979, there was a novel by Douglas Adams called “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” In it, a supercomputer named ‘Deep Thought’ spit out its answer to “What is the ultimate meaning of life, the universe, and everything” – the computer’s answer happened to be the number 42.

Despite being complete fiction, I often think of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy when I think of this passage of scripture because verse 42 provides the ultimate answer to this question: “What characteristics/activities make up a healthy church?”

Verse 42 has the answers to this question – and today we’ll spend a few minutes looking at each of them.

The first actual characteristic of a healthy church is spelled out in the first three words of the verse “They devoted themselves.”

What does it mean to be devoted to something?

Some synonyms for devoted are loyal, faithful, true, steadfast, committed, dedicated, devout.

The four disciplines that verse 42 goes on to mention - the Apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer – are all predicated upon the members of the church being entirely devoted to these things.

How devoted are you to these disciplines?

Are you loyal to sound, biblical teaching? Does your life reflect that?

Are you faithful in finding time for fellowship with your brothers & sisters in Christ?

Are you dedicated to regularly participating in communion with other believers?

Are you committed to corporate prayer?

Back in 1978, singer/actress Olivia Newton-John famously recorded a song called “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”

Well, as believers in Jesus, we can alter those lyrics to be “Hope-fully Devoted to You.”…and the you, of course, is our savior Jesus Christ.

We are to be fully devoted – fully committed to Christ, and full of expectant hope that He will soon return for His bride, the Church.

The first specific ecclesiastical activity that the church was to be fully devoted to is “The Apostles’ Teaching.”

Today, we would say “The Holy Bible” or “The Inspired Scriptures”

Remember that in AD 33 (The Birth-date of the Church at Pentecost) the New Testament hadn’t even begun to be written. There were no Christian-specific documents for believers to study or memorize.

Therefore, it was the teachings of the Apostles that took the place of the written word until Paul began writing his instructional letters (Or Epistles) to various churches between the years of 50 – 60 AD.

This would mean that (For at least 20 years) adhering to the teachings of the Apostles would be essential to maintaining sound doctrine in the church. The Spirit-Inspired teachings of the Apostles would be regarded as inerrant and infallible – just as we are to view the Bible, the Holy Spirit-Inspired written Word, today.

Just as exercising is essential to our physical health, sound doctrine is essential to the health of the church.

Why? Because correct doctrine provides truthful instruction for personal salvation and correct doctrine results in corporate unity within the body of believers.

Churches need scripturally based Pastors, Elders, and Deacons who will boldly proclaim the full truth of God’s Word to their congregations.

Paul says this to his protégé Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2 “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”

Paul reiterates the same message to the young pastor Titus: “He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” (Titus 1:9)

Peter brings us back to the symbolism of babies when he says in 1 Peter 2:2 “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.”

In other words, we ought to crave sound, biblical doctrine like a baby craves essential, life-giving milk!

If a baby isn’t given good milk from its caregivers, it will show signs of malnutrition, and eventually starve to death.

The prophet Hosea reminds us of the importance of knowing scripture when he delivers this warning from the Lord: “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.”

As John MacArthur puts it: “The church cannot operate on truth it is not taught; believers cannot function on principles they have not learned.”

The Second activity that Christ-followers are to be fully devoted to is that of fellowship with other believers.

Fellowship is the spiritual duty of believers to encourage and exhort each other to live in holiness and faithfulness.

Have you noticed how the New Testament is full of “One Another” expressions?

Romans 12:10 tells us to “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”

A few verses later in verse 16 we read: “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.”

Peter bridges the gap between sound doctrine and the importance of fellowship when he says in 1 Peter 1:22 “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.”

The root word for fellowship (koinonia) brings forth the idea of partnership or sharing.  

For the Christian, this partnership is eternal – we are a family, and we will be praising God together for all eternity…Amen?

Fellowship is why it is so important that you are here this morning – and let me encourage you to consider fellowshipping beyond just Sunday mornings!

Our church currently offers an Adult Sunday School class, 4 mid-week Bible studies, a prayer group, a monthly fellowship dinner, and (soon) a food distribution – all opportunities in which to exercise those muscles of fellowship.

This may sound strange coming from someone who spends the majority of his week preparing and writing sermons, but the Sunday morning message is just one piece of a healthy spiritual pie.

In fact, genuine spiritual growth happens in community – in fellowship with one another. You could memorize huge portions of scripture and listen to 20 sermons a day, but if you are not exercising your muscles of fellowship, scripture says you will be a weak Christian…you will be spiritually malnourished!

It’s in fellowship where we are encouraged and where we learn from each other how to successfully live out our faith.

Discipleship is a form of fellowship that gets us out of our comfort zone and into real spiritual growth.

Fellowship gets us out of that consumer mindset of “What can the church do for me?” and changes it to “What can I do for the church?”

I recently responded to someone on social media who was moving to the area and asked this question in an open forum: “What church has the best music and worship experience?” This question represents a church-shopping mindset – a ‘what’s in it for me’ attitude.

I responded to this individual by suggesting that perhaps the question they should really be asking is “What bible-based church would be best for me to serve others with the gifts and talents the Lord has given me?” I’m not sure if that person really appreciated my response, probably not.

Why not? Because it would require that they get out of their comfort zone. It would require that they, in humility, intentionally decide to be vulnerable, to be available, to be open, to be real.

I recently heard a pastor say that “A healthy church will strive to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

The Third and Fourth activities that characterize a healthy church are both subjects that we have recently covered in sermons, so I’ll just briefly summarize them for us today.

The Third activity is that of “The Breaking of Bread”, or in other words, the Lord’s Supper (or Communion)

Members of the early church spent a lot of time together, and when they met, scripture says they made it a priority to share a meal of remembrance of what Jesus had done for them on the cross.

One tradition that I really like about our church is that not only do we regularly observe communion, but we also regularly have a fellowship dinner. It is so important to be involved in each other’s lives – that is why the members of the early church met so often.

As one of 2 ordinances that Jesus instituted for the Church (The other being baptism) - Communion unites us all at the foot of the cross.

It makes no difference who you are, your race, your ethnicity, your background, your socio-economic status, your level of education, your skillset, your talents….NONE of that matters!

When we come together for communion, what matters is that we all humble ourselves before almighty God in our gratitude for the work of Christ on the cross.

The Fourth and final activity of a healthy church that verse 42 of today’s passage mentions is that of prayer.

Last Fall, we went through a sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew chapter 6. We looked at the vital importance of prayer as it pertains to the overall health of a church.

Scripture is full of references to the essential importance of prayer.

Jesus himself tells us in John 14:13-14 “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

This promise from Jesus isn’t just a blank check for our wants and desires, but it is a promise that God will supply all of our needs.

God knows what is best for us as individuals as well as what is best for His Church.

Sometimes, the answer will be ‘No’ because a ‘Yes’ answer would end up doing more harm than good.

I think it was the famous theologian Garth Brooks who once said “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered Prayers”

Prayer is vital - there is a reason why we devote 20 minutes of our Sunday morning service every week to prayer – The early church saw it as an extremely important activity, and so should we.

Oh, and by the way, Jesus told us to pray – that should be reason enough, right?

Did you know that we have a few prayer warriors who faithfully sacrifice an hour or two of their day every-other week just to come here and pray for this church and our community?

To me, prayer meetings are the most important ministry of the church – and they are always the least attended…In EVERY church.

Why? Because praying is uncomfortable.

Praying with others forces us to move from being an observer to that of a server -  from being a consumer to that of a giver – from being individually minded to community minded. It’s acting upon the belief that God hears our prayers and that He responds to them!

In Colossians 4:2, Paul simply tells us to “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

In conclusion,

The early church has so many lessons to teach us – so many reminders of what a pure congregation ought to look like.

Let’s strive to be fully devoted to sound doctrine, fellowship, communion, and prayer.

These are the activities of a healthy church…..Let’s Pray.