What is the church? Christians have called their churches a missional church, worshiping church, gospel church, Bible church, Reformed church, Methodist church, emergent church, evangelical church, non-denominational church, house church, etc. What was the first church in Acts 2:42-47 like? It was:
- A learning church: Devotion to the apostle's (NT) teaching (Acts 2:42).
- A loving church: Devotion to fellowship (Acts 2:42-45).
- A worshipping church: Devotion to corporate worship and prayer (Acts 2:42,43,46).
- An evangelistic church: A witnessing church (Acts 2:47).
1. A Learning Church
Ac 2:42 says, "They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching..." (which today is our Bible). The Holy Spirit opened a school with 3,000 pupils (Ac 2:41). They committed to learning. They did not simply enjoy mystical experiences, become anti-intellectual, nor did they dispense with human teachers. They learned God's revelation of Himself from the apostles, who authenticated their teaching with "many wonders and signs" (Ac 2:43; Heb 2:3-4). Miraculous signs confirmed the truth of God's word and helped the Christians to devote themselves to it. A church submits to the authority and instruction, not primarily of their human leaders, but of the Scriptures.
2. A Loving Church
Ac 2:42 says, "They devoted themselves...to fellowship..." (koinonia). From koinos, (common), koinonia bears witness to the common life of the church by having fellowship in 2 senses:
- with the Father, Son (1 Jn 1:3) and Holy Spirit (2 Cor 13:14); and
- with other Christians.
3. A Worshiping Church
Ac 2:42 says, "They devoted themselves...to the breaking of bread and to prayer..." This suggests a reference to the Lord's Supper and to services or meetings, which was both formal and informal, taking place both "in the temple courts" and "in their homes" (Acts 2:46). It was also
- reverent, for "everyone was filled with awe" (Acts 2:43)--probably in large group worship--and
- joyful, as they "ate together with glad and sincere hearts" (Acts 2:46)--probably in small group worship.
4. An Evangelistic Church
They experienced conversions "daily." The early church's evangelism was not an occasional or sporadic activity. Just as their worship was daily (Ac 2:46a), so was their witness. Ac 2:47b says, "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." The 1st Christians were not so preoccupied with learning, sharing and worshiping that they forgot about witnessing. Through out Acts, relentlessly the Holy Spirit drives the church to witness, and churches continually rise out of the witness. Surely, God added to their number because of:
- the preaching/teaching of the apostles,
- the witness of the church members,
- the impressive love of their common life, and
- their example of "praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people" (Acts 2:47a).
The marks of the 1st Spirit-filled church community were all concerned with the church's relationships:
- To the apostle's teaching (in submission), which is our Bible.
- To each other (in love). They were a loving, caring, sharing church.
- To God (in worship). They worshiped daily (Acts 2:46).
- To the world (in outreach). They were engaged in continuous evangelism. No inward-focused church can claim to be filled with the Spirit.
- Biblical teaching
- Loving fellowship
- Living worship
- Ongoing, outgoing evangelism
- The Message of Acts (1990); John Stott, 81-87
- Acts Reformed Expository Commentary (2011); Derek Thomas, 53-65
- ESV Study Bible (2007), 2085
- In Acts 2:42-47, Tim Keller sees the key purposes of the church as:
- Worship & Prayer
- Learning & Edification
- Fellowship & Community
- Outreach & Evangelism
- Mercy & Social Concern
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