DAILY LIFE IN A GROWING CHURCH
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on June 22, 2022 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: June 22, 2022 from Acts 2:42-47
Theme: When a church family does the things that the Lord wants it to be doing, the Lord Himself causes it to grow.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
We come this morning to a portion of the Book of Acts that teaches us about church growth. But this passage isn’t describing the kind of church growth tactics that you sometimes find in popular ‘church growth’ books and seminars. It doesn’t give recommendations on how to improve the style of the worship service and upgrade the music. It doesn’t give any information on how to craft the messages to reach market-targeted subgroups within the culture. It doesn’t give advice on how to re-brand the church’s image, or how to upgrade the parking area, or how to install a coffee barista in the foyer. Instead, what this passage describes for us is the work of the Holy Spirit in the everyday activities of His church family—with the Lord Jesus Himself adding new members to the church daily.
At the end of Acts 2—after the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and after the preaching of the first Spirit-empowered evangelistic message by Peter, and after 3,000 persons were added to the company of believers in just one day—we read this:
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:42-47).
Now; we should be careful to keep this passage in perspective. This is describing a unique time in the history of the church—that is, the initial birth of the church at Pentecost. We shouldn’t expect that all of the things that we read in this passage ought to be happening in the church all of the time in exactly the same way—any more than we should expect people to drop dead in church every time they lie (as in Acts 5).
But there are things in this passage that we should expect to be happening on a regular basis. They describe the ‘ongoing’ life of the early church. This is shown to us by the grammar of the original language. The ‘imperfect tense’ is used throughout this passage—which describes action in an ongoing, habitual, continuous sense. It’s also shown to us by the words that are used. We’re told that the believers “continued” in these things “steadfastly” or “daily”. This passage is giving us a ‘moving picture’ of daily life in the early church; and it shows us the kind of regular features of church life that the Lord saw fit to bless with growth.
The Lord Jesus said that He would build His church (Matthew 16:18). Church growth must be done by Him and in His way—and in no other. And because we see in this passage that He blessed this church with remarkable growth, we should consider that it is describing ‘His way’ to us. It’s describing healthy practices and habits that are to occur among God’s people in a church family that the Lord Jesus blesses with growth. And the wonderful thing is that they are things that our own church family can—by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit—begin doing right now. No seminar or workshop needed!
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Now; let’s be very careful. The things that this passage describes should not be viewed as a list of things that—if done faithfully and regularly in the power of the flesh—will automatically guarantee a church will grow. This is not a human-based “how-to” list. It’s important to notice that certain “foundational” elements were in place in the early church.
First—from the standpoint of the larger context of Acts 2, there was the foundational element of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The first 13 verses of this chapter described Pentecost—when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers and empowered the believers. It’s what accounts for the amazing sermon that Peter preached in verses 14-40. It’s what accounted for the amazing response to the gospel. It’s absolutely vital that we remember that the church cannot grow in the Lord’s way except through the enabling ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Second, there was the foundational element of the proclamation of—and belief in—the gospel of Jesus Christ. We’re told in verse 41 that those who heard “gladly received” Peter’s message; and as verses 22-36 clearly show us, the message he preached was the gospel. This teaches us that the church cannot grow in the way that the Lord wants it to grow apart from the faithful and regular proclamation of the gospel of Jesus. That gospel alone is “the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).
And third, there was the foundational element of the public testimony of faith in Jesus through baptism. Verse 41 tells us that those who received the gospel “were baptized”; and from what we read, it appears that they were baptized that very day. The growing church was full of genuine, committed, publicly baptized believers. Jesus commanded in the Great Commission that the church was to go out and make disciples; “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).
So; those three elements—the work of the Holy Spirit, the preaching of the gospel, and the public testimony of faith through baptism—constitute the essential foundation that must be in place in order for the ongoing practices of the church family to be blessed of the Lord.
And now; what are those practices? We can see them first as the practices of the church …
1. GATHERED IN CORPORATE WORSHIP (vv. 42-43).
In verse 42, Luke wrote, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” That these things are part of the corporate worship of the church in an official way is shown by the fact that, in the original language, they all have the definite article. Literally, Luke writes, that everyone continued steadfastly (that is, with a persistent adherence and devotion)—in “the apostles’ doctrine and the fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers.”
First, we’re told that they continued steadfastly in the teaching of the apostles. They gave careful attention to the regular instruction and doctrines that the apostles gave to them with respect to the authoritative content of the faith. The Holy Spirit cared so much about this that He made sure that we today have that teaching preserved for us forever in the pages of the New Testament. A healthy church is one that gathers faithfully for regular preaching and teaching from the Bible.
Second, we’re told that they continued steadfastly in the fellowship. The Bible warns us in Hebrews 10:25 to not forsake “the assembling of ourselves together”. The very name for “church” in the original language (ekklāsia; “a called-out assembly”) requires that we ‘assemble’. We cannot do the things that are necessary for a healthy church—such as lovingly practicing church discipline, or lovingly exhorting and encouraging one another, or ministering our spiritual gifts to one another, or joining our voices together in prayer and worship—unless we are physically together regularly under the Spirit-empowered instruction of God’s word.
Third, we’re told that they continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread. Remember that in the original language, this is the breaking of the bread. And so; this implies that they gathered together for the formal observance of the Lord’s supper. The apostle Paul said, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). So; this is to be done regularly.
And fourth, we’re told that they continued steadfastly in prayers. This seems to suggest times of formal corporate prayer; and we even see this happening in Acts 3:1. It could be that the new believers—who used to gather in formal times of prayer in the temple—now felt a new sense of meaningfulness and joy in Christ in doing the formal gatherings for prayer. They made sure that they prayed together corporately in the power of the Holy Spirit.
And note from verse 43 that, in the course of these regular ‘foundational’ practices as they gathered together, “Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.” The Holy Spirit authenticated the ministry of the apostles in powerful ways; and a sense of reverent awe—a holy fear—prevailed through the ongoing sense of the Holy Spirit’s ministry within the church. Obviously, we shouldn’t expect those same authenticating ‘apostolic’ miracles to be repeated today. That was something unique to the early church. But shouldn’t there still be a sense of holy awe and miraculous power whenever God’s people gather together in worship?—doing the things that the Lord wants it to be doing?
So; those are some of the practices of the church gathered in corporate worship. But then, notice what this passage tells us about the practices of the church …
2. SCATTERED INTO EVERYDAY LIFE (vv. 44-47a).
How the church behaved in a gathered corporate meeting was one thing. But how the believers behaved outside of that corporate gathering is another. That too is a part of the church’s practice that results in the Lord’s blessing.
So; first we see that there was togetherness. Verse 44 says, “Now all who believed were together …” This too is in the imperfect tense, suggesting a regular “togetherness” as a habit. The Lord blesses a church in which its believing members cherish being together. They became one another’s best friends. Cliques and disagreements didn’t separate them from each other. (As a pastor, I always love it when I see empty cars left in the parking lot after church. It means that fellow believers went off somewhere to be together.)
Second, we see that there was a mutual care for one another’s needs. Luke says in verse 44 that they “had all things in common”. Now; this was not the same kind of thing as compulsory ‘socialism’ or ‘communism’. This was not a government-run system. Rather, it was a voluntary impulse in response to the ministry of the Holy Spirit; and was according to the needs of the saints as those needs arose. It was done out of love for one another in Christ. We’re told in verse 45 that they freely and lovingly and voluntarily “sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need”. We have a wonderful picture of this in Acts 4:32-37.
Third, there was a unity of spirit. Luke says in verse 46 that they were “continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house …” There were no church buildings for them to meet in at that time. The temple was the place to go for worship; and to one another’s home was the place to go for fellowship. They loved to be together whenever they could.
Fourth, there were fun times together. They enjoyed sharing meals together—with all the laughter and love that would have gone along with it. Luke says in verse 46, “they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart” (that is, without any hidden agendas toward one another). No one tried to impress anyone else or keep up with each other. As one of my own former pastors said, “Have people over for dinner. And if all you have is beans, then serve beans and don’t apologize for it.”
Fifth, there was a prevailing sense of joy and thankfulness to God. Luke says in verse 47 that while they ate and enjoyed times together, they were “praising God …” They actively praised Him while in the midst of the daily activities of life. They rejoiced together in the ways that God blessed them and cared for them. They didn’t just ‘praise’ in the formal worship, but in all areas of life together.
And sixth, there was an ongoing witness to the watching world. Luke says in verse 47 that they were “having favor with all the people”. They were conscious of the impact that their lives together were having on others around them. They sought to live their faith openly toward those who were outside the faith; and in such a way as to bring honor to the name of Christ. They paid their bills on time. They didn’t speak evil of other people. They contributed positively to the community.
And none of this seemed like the result of anyone putting a workshop together and encouraging everyone to adopt this list of behaviors. It seems as if it all happened spontaneously—as a natural product of what happens when a group of believers yields themselves to the work of the Holy Spirit. It was a lot like what we read in Ephesians 4:11-16;
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love (Ephesians 4:11-16).
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Now; look at what the conclusion of it all was. Luke says, in verse 47, “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” He blessed the church with growth.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; let’s quit worrying about ‘growing the church’. It’s not our job to grow it. Instead—through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit—let’s give all our energies into ‘being the church’ … and trust the Lord Jesus to grow His own church as He wishes.
AE
