The life of the early church (Acts 2:42-47) // On mission with the risen Jesus

So Acts chapter 2, verses 42 to 47, the fellowship of the

Acts 2:42–47

believers. They devoted themselves to the

apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of

bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at

the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

All the believers were together and held everything in common.

They sold property and possessions to give to anyone

who had needs. Every day they continued to meet

together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes

and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and

enjoying the favour of all the people.

And the Lord added to their number daily those who are being

saved. So yeah, we are carrying on in

this series in the book of Acts this morning.

And for those of you who haven't been around the last few weeks,

and especially for those of you in Sunday club who've been doing

different things in Sunday club, let me just remind us all of the

big idea of this series in the opening chapters of Acts.

So according to the book of Acts, including the passage

we're looking at today, Our Calling as Christians, our

mission, our purpose in life as a church family is that we are

witnesses for Jesus in the real world, in the power of the Holy

Spirit. So our purpose, Our Calling, our

mission, according to Acts, is that followers of Jesus are

witnesses for Jesus in the real world, in the power of the Holy

Spirit. And again, if you weren't here

last week, last week we looked at the first bit of Acts chapter

Acts 2 · chapter mention

2, which was the day of Pentecost.

On that day in the city of Jerusalem 2000 years ago, there

was a sound like the blowing of a violent wind.

There was what seemed to be tongues of fire that appeared

over the heads of the disciples, and we're told all of them were

filled with the Holy Spirit we saw last week.

That was the day when God by his Spirit came to dwell with his

people. Jesus promised his Holy Spirit

would come. And last week we saw Jesus kept

his promise. He poured out the Spirit on his

people so his people could live as witnesses for him in the

world in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And so we come to our bit this morning.

It's the last little bit of Acts too.

Quite short passage. And the writer of Acts is a man

called Luke, and he wants us to ask for a question when we get

to the end of Pentecost. And it's this, What does a

spirit filled church look like? So the spirits come at

Pentecost, but what does a spirit filled church look like?

What should we expect when the Holy Spirit is dwelling with his

people? Because after Peter's sermon

last week, the church in Jerusalem is pretty massive.

Now we're told it's over 3000 people are now in it.

That's verse 41 from last week. So what evidence do we see of

the presence, presence of the Spirit and the power of the

Spirit in this early church? Because I see, I mean, someone

might think well, Pentecost, we could see the presence and power

of the Spirit. There was this violent wind

blowing. There were tongues of fire over

the believers heads. Maybe that is how, you know, if

the Spirit is present, we should expect to see those things all

the time. So if you come to Ave. on a

Sunday, you'd expect to see little flames of fire above the

heads of believers and a violent wind blowing, not just because

the doors are open, it's because the power of God is blowing

through the place. Is that what a spirit filled

church looks like? But actually I want to say we

get a slightly different picture in this bit in Acts 2.

Now Luke does mention wonders and signs here verse 43.

If you look down at that, everyone was filled with awe of

the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

But he doesn't mention tongues of fire or a violent winds.

Actually, Luke wants to see that the evidence of a Spirit filled

church, it's maybe a bit less dramatic than the day of

Pentecost, but actually in many ways it's a lot deeper.

It's a deeper move of the Spirit that changes people in community

together. So we're going to see that a

spirit filled church in Acts 2 might not have all those amazing

signs that Pentecost did. That was sort of a unique

moment. But actually Luke wants to see

there's lots of evidence we can see in a believing church that

the Spirit is present and he is at work in that church.

And these are signs we want to see and pray for in our church

family at Ave. Because when it comes to the

Holy Spirit, it's very easy to get obsessed as Christians with

like the so-called supernatural signs, the spirit that is you,

tongues of fire, signs and wonders speaking in, in tongues

and also with the spirit can be very easy to get very

individualistic. Well, well, what gift of the

Spirit given me? What, what can I, what bit of

the spirit do I get? How come I don't have the gift

that that person has? But actually what Luke wants us

to see in this bit of Acts 2 is the power of the spirit in

community. It's not about just individual

believers having the spirit. It's about the whole people of

God having the Spirit dwelling among them and he's changing

them and making them more like Jesus as he lives with us.

So as Kate says, we're going to break up this passage a bit

across a few bits. But what does a spirit filled

church look like? We're going to see that it looks

like a learning church. That's verse 42.

They were devoted to the apostles teaching to look like a

loving church. Verse 42, they were devoted to

fellowship. It looks like a thankful church.

They were devoted to the breaking of bread and it looks

like a praying church. They were devoted to prayer.

So I want to see that the evidence of the Spirit.

We can see it in the ordinary daily life of a local church

made-up of ordinary men, women and children who are trusting in

Jesus and who by his Spirit Jesus is changing us to be more

like him in the way we listen to him, learn from him, love each

other, give praise to Him, and then trust in Him for our life

together. So let's look at that first

heading. Now that spirit filled church is

a learning church. That's what we see first of all,

in verse 42. They devoted themselves to the

apostles teaching. So the early church in Jerusalem

says, look, they were a church absolutely committed.

They wanted to learn everything they could about the living God,

about Jesus, about what Jesus had done for them and what it

means to live for Jesus in this world.

So the apostles mentioned there at this point in Acts, the

apostles were the 12 apostles. They were Jesus closest friends

when he was here on earth. They were the eyewitnesses of

his life, death and resurrection.

They were given unique authority by Jesus to proclaim the gospel

and protect the gospel. And they were given unique

authority by Jesus to do that. And that's what we learn in the

way that Luke describes them. Verse 43, if you look down, it

says Luke tells us people were filled with awe at the many

wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

And next week, if you're here, we're going to look at one of

those wonders and signs in Acts chapter 3, when when Peter the

Acts 3 · chapter mention

apostle heals a lame beggar in the temple.

So at this point in the story of Acts, it's the apostles who are

performing wonders and signs here.

So back in verse 22 and when Peter's talking about Jesus, he

says Jesus was empowered by God to do miracles, wonders and

signs. And now after the coming of the

Spirit, the apostles have got that same power of God at work

in them. And at this point, it seems

those signs and wonders are performed by the 12 as God's way

of showing these people have my authority.

Listen to them as if you were listening to me.

That is the unique authority the apostles had at this point in

the book of Acts. Now, later in Acts, signs and

wonders are performed by people other than the apostles.

We learn about Stephen and Philip, two other leaders who

weren't apostles, who performed miracles.

We learn about Paul of Tarsus when he becomes an apostle.

He's called by Jesus and he performs miracles and signs.

But at this point in the church's life, it's the church

needs to see the apostles, the 12 are the ones with authority.

They need to listen to when the apostles speak about Jesus.

And what's all that got to say to us today?

We're not living 2000 years ago, but actually as a church family

at Ave. we want to learn from the apostles.

We will learn everything we can about God, about Jesus, about

the Holy Spirit, about what it means to follow Jesus in this

world, about the message we have for the people around us.

We're committed to learning from the New Testament.

That's the second bit of the Bible the Acts is in.

That is what the apostles wrote down about what they had seen

and heard about Jesus. And we're committed to learning

from the Old Testament, the first part of the Bible, because

Jesus told the apostles. The Old Testament points to me.

It's all about Jesus too, and we need to see that actually this

eagerness to learn from God's Word is actually a work of the

Holy Spirit. It's not natural.

It's what the Spirit does in us when we follow Jesus.

There's a bit in one of the gospels where Jesus is getting

ready to go to the cross. It's the night before He goes to

the cross, and that night He tells us that was a lot about

his life, death, resurrection, and about the Spirit who's going

to come. And in John 16, he says this

Jesus speaking, I have much more to say to you disciples, more

than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth

comes, He will guide you into all the truth.

He'll not speak on His own. He'll speak only what He hears.

See the Holy Spirit, he is the author of the Bible.

The Spirit is the one who inspires and speaks through the

human authors so that we can see Jesus in the Bible, So we know

the Bible is reliable and living and it's for us.

The Holy Spirit speaks to us through the scriptures.

He opens our hearts to the truth of the scriptures.

He helps us understand the scriptures.

He is the Spirit of truth says Jesus.

And I see that's an amazing thing for any Christian.

I mean, just I don't know if you people have got a favorite book

here, but I mean sort of books that I, I love when I was, I

loved reading the Harry Potter books and they were right.

Lord of the Rings, Narnia, I dabble in a bit of Jane Austen

sometimes Pride and Prejudice quite good.

Roald Dahl books, Matilda BFG. Now someone said to me, I want

to say, imagine you're sitting reading your favorite book and

actually the author of that book sitting next to you.

Some of those authors you might want to spend time with, some of

you might not, but still imagine the authors that you go, What

did you mean when you said that? What about this bit CS Lewis

with with the lion and Aslan? What about this bit JK Rowling

with horcruxes? What about this bit, Jane

Austen, about marriage and stuff?

What, what did you mean? What did you mean?

And actually, the author can tell you what he or she meant.

And it's exactly the same for Christians.

There's something we do every Sunday.

So Kate and I in that little corridor and we were praying

that that God by a spirit would speak to us through his word.

It wouldn't just be, oh, that's some interesting facts that the

Holy Spirit would speak to us through his word.

We do that every Sunday because we know we need the Spirit, the

Spirit of truth, to open our eyes to what God is telling us.

And we do that when we're on our own.

We should do that on our own. Somebody's maybe if people read

the Bible on their own, somebody's you can just go, I've

got like 5 minutes, quick, quick, quick.

But actually we should always stop for just a real moment and

go, Lord, by your Spirit, would you speak to me through your

word? Please show me Jesus today.

Amen. And then we read.

So actually we want to be a learning church in the power of

the Spirit. Jesus has sent us, poured out

his Spirit so we'll understand more about who God is, who Jesus

is, who the Spirit is, what the gospel is, what it means to live

as Jesus witnesses. We want to do that on Sunday

mornings and Sunday club in our home groups, on Tuesday morning

Bible study in young adults groups.

Wherever we are, we want the Holy Spirit to speak to us

through his word so we can learn more what it means to live for

Jesus and be like Jesus in this world.

My disciples, if you love one another.

So actually a really key part of a church's life is we share life

together. We actually invite the people

outside of the church to come home to the God who loves them

and who made them and to join a community of people who are

seeking to follow that living God in this world in the power

of the Spirit. So our message for people

outside the church in a lonely and suffering world is you are

not alone. God has come near to us through

his Son Jesus and thy through the Spirit.

And there is a community waiting to welcome you made-up of

brothers and sisters in Christ who are very different in lots

of details, but who have everything in common because

they trust in the same Jesus. And actually, that's our message

to one another in the church as well.

You are not alone. We always know times when when

things are hard, when we feel like we're alone but actually

look as challenging and encouraging.

Churches like Ave. Be family together, walk towards

each other and walk with one another in this world.

Pray for one another, open your homes to one another, share life

together. When we don't do that, we begin

to think I am on my own and no one else is struggling like me.

No one else is like me. Everyone else is so different to

me. But but Luke assures us here we

have more in common as followers of Jesus than we do those

divisions. Those divisions are real.

Those distinctions are real. But actually we have everything

in common because Jesus came and lived and died and rose again to

welcome us home and so that we then are in a place to welcome

others home to God. And a really practical way they

did that. Luke tells us verse 45 is the

early church gave generously to one another.

So they shared life together. They were in each other's homes,

but also we're told they sold property and possessions to give

to anyone who had need. And we're going to see in the

opening chapters of Acts that when when the believers did

this, they weren't compelled to, that there wasn't a command.

It wasn't like a a commune idea. You have to sell everything.

People would sell things and they'd be then free to do what

they wanted with that money. In chapter 5, we're going to

learn about a couple that tried to lie to the rest of the church

and claim they were giving more than they actually were with

pretty disastrous consequences. But here it's people willingly

going. I have got things that other

people could use. I've got ways of helping that I

want to use to help other people.

As the believer shared life there, they thought, well, I can

maybe help with that. I could.

I've got a bit of advice on that.

Or I can actually come over and give you a hand with that.

They sell property and possessions.

They give to anyone in need. They were generous with what

they had. And why are they generous?

Because in the gospel, God is so generous to us.

These believers knew that God owed them nothing.

They used to live as enemies of God, but God in his grace

welcomed them home to himself, and now together they could use

the gifts and skills and possessions they had to bless

other people the way God had first blessed them in Jesus.

It's worth thinking, who were the people in need in verse 45

primarily? Probably they were other

believers. Again, this is a big church.

3000 plus. So they're helping each other as

believers, but I think very quickly in the book of Acts we

see that that generosity overflows the people outside the

church too. Look at verse 47 says the

believers enjoyed the favour of all the people and the Lord

added to their number daily. Those who were being saved the

world around would see the generosity of the Christians to

each other and they'd want a bit of that.

They'd go, I want to know more about that.

Again, in the early Roman world, when Christianity was still

technically illegal and persecuted, lots of Roman

observers notice, see how the Christians love each other.

It was a huge drawing point for people outside the church.

So this is what Luke wants to show us here is that as a local

church here at Ave., we want to be a loving church in the power

of the Spirit because the way we love each other is a reflection

of the love we've received from God.

We are generous and called to be generous because actually God is

even more generous than we ever will be and he wants us to

follow his lead. And that kind of links with the

the third commitment we're going to look at really briefly, which

is that this is a thankful church because we're told they

were devoted to the breaking of bread.

And in a moment, actually, we are going to break bread and

take wine together to celebrate the Lord's Supper.

Now, there's a bit of debate about this.

First, some people think maybe this is another reference to the

breaking of bread in each other's homes.

It just says they were eating together, spending a lot of time

together. That's probably part of it.

Also, Luke does say the breaking of bread.

So he maybe is talking about in particular the Lord's Supper.

And I think he probably is referring to both, actually, in

the early church, that Lord's Supper, taking bread and wine as

we're going to do, would have been part of a larger meal in

people's homes. There weren't church buildings

at that point. But actually here with the

breaking of bread, Luke is showing us the early Christians

regularly remembered, celebrated and received from God the saving

grace of Jesus demonstrated at the cross for them.

Because the Lord's Supper is a really precious gift to

Christians. We take the bread, we break it,

remembering Jesus body broken for us.

We take wine and drink it, reminding ourselves of Jesus

blood shed for us on the cross. The Lord's Supper is a picture

of the gospel, and it's something meant to help us

remember God, but also to thank him, and where God meets with us

and welcomes us afresh with all that he's won for us through

Jesus. And that's a precious thing,

because forgiveness is what we all need.

Think of the 12 apostles in that early church.

Every one of them had sort of run away and abandoned Jesus

when he was arrested. They had no illusions.

They were great, strong people. They knew they needed

forgiveness. Think of the 3000 people who

joined the church in Pentecost. Then a lot of them have been in

the crowd a few weeks earlier shouting crucify him, crucify

him. They had been enemies of Jesus

and now Jesus was welcoming them round his table.

This was a thankful community and you, God didn't owe them

anything, but he lavished his welcome and grace and

forgiveness on them and they wanted to receive that and give

thanks to God for that which is this final sign of a spirit

filled church that Luke tells us.

This was a praying church. Verse 42, he says they devoted

themselves to prayer and we've seen that again and again in

this series. If you've been here at all,

prayer is at the heart of a spirit filled church as follows

of Jesus. We need to learn we can't do

this on our own. It's not about how wise we can

be, how clever we can be. Actually, we need God's Spirit

to help us and lead us as witnesses for Jesus.

And why is prayer so central to your life?

Live for Jesus in the power of the Spirit.

Well, because prayer reminds us that we are connected to God and

we need Him. There's a there's a writer that

that put it a bit like this in a book I was reading recently.

He just wrote this. A life of walking by the Spirit

is a life of prayer, and a life of prayer is a life of walking

by the Spirit. Prayer is a refusal to do life

in our own strength and ingenuity.

It's a plea for help from above and within.

Remember, the Spirit lives in followers of Jesus.

Prayer demonstrates a heart that is hungry for God's presence and

intervention in our world. In the same way, walking by the

Spirit is a lifestyle that depending on God, not ourselves

for life and breath. Prayer is the heart of walking

by the Spirit. You're going to be really

rubbish at the end is if you thought actually we've got to do

all these characters of a church and it's up to us.

We've got to be a learning church, got to really work hard,

be a loving church, work hard actually in all these things,

Jesus wants us to come to him and ask for his spirits help in

them. If we want to be a learning

church, we need the spirit to open our eyes to what God's

telling us in his words. If we want to be a loving

church, we need the spirit to take away our natural heart of

stone and give us a heart of flesh that beats for God and

beats for other people. If we want to be a thankful

church, we need the Spirit to show us just what Jesus has done

for us and how we can praise Him for a spirit filled church is a

church that praise.