The Acts of the Apostles is widely accepted to be the second volume of a two volume book written by a Gentile physician named Luke who also wrote the Gospel of Luke which was accepted as his first volume. In the book of Acts the birth and growth of the early Christian faith into what was called the Early Church is well documented. The work of the Apostles, especially Peter in the first part of Acts and later Paul in the second part of Acts, is also well documented.
Everything began at Pentecost and I will talk about Pentecost in a later sermon.
Today, we want to reflect on what it was like for those early believers and the example their faith and actions set for us today. It must be noted that Luke is the only writer who provides this amount of detail about what happened among those believers in the weeks and months after their conversion on the day of Pentecost itself and following this momentous event.
We learn from Luke that they did some specific things.
They devoted themselves to learning from the disciples and fellowshipping with each other, breaking bread, an early version of the Holy Communion, and spending time in prayer. In terms of their outward activity, they shared everything including the willingness to sell their possessions and give to those among them who were in need. Because of this transformed community, more people were being added to their numbers daily. This was the hallmark or the characteristics of the early church.
There are a few important things that I would like us to reflect on from this text which we can certainly use to gauge the extent to which we have shown our own commitment to God as Christians.
First of all we notice that they were a community who understood the importance of learning about God and communicating with God.
These believers were committed to their spiritual growth and so they committed themselves to learning about God and ultimately to learning how they could serve God best. Today we struggle to find such enthusiasm and commitment to studying the Word and growing together because everybody is too busy or everybody has something more important to do. In a world where so many distractions exist, we shouldn’t be surprised that plain old bible study is not a priority for too many Christians. Yet it is the plain old bible study in whatever form you have it, online in person or otherwise that is the key source of spiritual food and nourishment for all Christians. You simply can’t tell others about God or the redeeming love of Jesus if you don’t know about it and you can only know about it through personal experience and knowledge.
Secondly, these early Christians, saw the importance of fellowshipping with each other and doing so as often as possible.
In their day, the Temple in Jerusalem was the most convenient meeting place and they clearly utilised this manner of meeting together to worship until later in Acts when Paul came into focus and the Christians began to meet more in homes. This fellowshipping together was clearly the glue that held these believers together. They worshipped together, they broke bread and ate together, they prayed together and shared their possessions as members of the community had need. The believers’ spiritual devotion in their feeding on the word and praying together resulted in their commitment to practical actions such as selling possessions and giving to those who had needs among them. All Christians must see their social responsibility to those who are vulnerable and in need as a core reflection of their commitment to God.
Thirdly, it was the unity of purpose and practice that made these early Christians distinct from any other group.
You may notice the concept of unity which undergirds the passage. Two words sum up this concept. One is “together” and the other is “common” as seen in verse forty-four. This verse is arguably the key distinguishing verse in the text which describes what this community of believers was like after their conversion to the new faith. It says, “All the believers were together and had everything in common.” (Acts 2:44 NIV) The unity of their faith clearly had a dual effect. As a result of this the early church grew spiritually as well as numerically. We read that the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. All of these distinct acts came together to show what the transformative power of God can do to anyone who comes to know Jesus for him or herself. What we must take from this is that the people who we would like to know Jesus can only come to him through the example of the life that we live. It was clearly the lives of these new believers as they shared together and worshiped God together with great joy and devotion that made others feel the tug of the Holy Spirit to become believers too.
Fourthly, the Holy Spirit’s transforming power in the hearts of these believers led to a change in their mindset towards God which showed in their actions.
We read that they praised God with glad and sincere hearts and they were devoted to learning about God. The Christian who goes through life just carrying out the requirements with no feeling or passion behind it is really an empty vessel. The power of the difference Christ makes in the life of Christians is seen in the attitude and the spirit with which they carry out their daily lives. That is what tells other people who Christ is to you more than what you actually do. The Christian who lives out his or her Christian faith as if it is an unpleasant and laborious task will show this to the world and no one will want to accept the faith that he or she follows. On the other hand, the Christian who shows real passion and commitment to following Christ is the one who is most likely to encourage others to come to know Christ as well.
When the Christian community demonstrates such attributes the obvious result is growth. In the text we saw that a number of things happened as a direct result of the commitment and joy with which these early believers approached their new-found faith. We read that there were signs and wonders being performed by the apostles at which people were in great awe. We read that they also enjoyed the favor of those who observed the difference in them and lastly their numbers continued to grow as the Lord added to their number.
This is a picture of a community that people wanted to be a part of. The template for growth among us is right before us but we have to see that it begins with true conversion of each one’s heart.
Do we think that these believers had nothing to do but spend all their time keeping church or attending to church-related matters? Certainly not. They had their own lives to live as well just like any of us today. The key difference is that these people were Spirit-convicted and Spirit-led to make the work of the Lord their priority. For them, growing in faith and demonstrating this in their daily lives was key to the early Church’s growth. We may wonder why so many of our churches are disbanding and at such a rapid pace today, especially United Churches which are closing faster than any other. The answer is simple. We really are people who claim to love God with our lips and our fickle actions but in truth our hearts are far from God according to the prophet Isaiah. (See Isaiah 29:13) Everything else in the world that we have to do takes priority in our lives. The devil has found the master strategy to get Christians away from the Church. He does this by keeping us busy with the things of life that may seem so important to our sustainable existence.
Our social and cultural contexts today are far removed from the first century but our passion and commitment as Christians should still be seen in our desire to know Christ and fellowship with him and live the life that is an example to all around us, our family, our friends, our co-workers, and strangers alike.
May God stir us as people of faith again and again to live lives that show today how truly devoted we are to Christ who gave His life that we may have life to the full. Amen.