Priorities of the Church

Introduction

Even though the great sculptor and painter Michelangelo was extremely talented, a lot of his success was also due to hard work and commitment. He would often work until he was completely exhausted.

When he painted the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo literally spent years doing nothing but lying on his back on a scaffold. He was so determined to finish the project, and so committed to excellence, that he was virtually blind by the time he was done, because paint had dripped in his eyes.

Now that’s devotion!

Because of Michelangelo’s talent and commitment, he made a profound impact on the art world and beyond. Here it is hundreds of years later and we still admire what he accomplished.

In the same way, each of our home churches, regardless of where they are, can also impact the world. And unlike Michelangelo, our impact can have eternal consequences. But we have to be devoted to something as well. Something spiritual. Something significant.

In Acts 2:42, we’re going to read about four things that the early church was devoted to. Those four things were critical to the success of that church. And those four things have been critical to the success of all churches that have followed.

Let’s look at Acts 2:42 and find out what four things we need to be devoted to.

Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

The word “they” means the 3,000 believers, the newly formed church of Jesus Christ. The fact that they’re devoted to those things show that their faith is genuine. Despite the hate and persecution from the Jews, these believers are devoted to the things that the church of Christ is supposed to be devoted to. And that’s the mark of true Christians.

John 8:31 …Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.

The key word in the passage is “devoted.”

The Greek word for “devoted” means to be earnest towards, to persevere, to be constantly diligent, to adhere closely to, or be committed to.

In other words, an obsession. When I was a boy I was obsessed with sports. I thought about them night and day. I especially liked hockey, football, baseball and basketball. I’d read the sports page every single day, and read and re-read a series of books about Chip Hilton, a fictional teenage athlete who was great at all sports. I would spend hours in my backyard pretending I was a professional athlete and playing games in my imagination.

Being devoted to something means more than just having an obsession like I had with sports, though—it also means acting on that obsession.

In my case I acted on my obsession with sports—I actually played softball, football, basketball and hockey. I was devoted to those sports.

Devoted To The Apostle’s Teaching

The first thing the early church was devoted to was the apostles’ teaching. They were obedient to the great commission in Matt. 28:19-20.

Matt. 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…

The key part of those verses is “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…”—Jesus Himself tells his disciples to obey everything He taught. To the early church, the church we’re reading about here in Acts 2, this meant hearing and obeying what the apostles had to say.

Galatians 1:11-12 says this:

Gal. 1:11-12 I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

In other words, the teaching of the apostles isn’t man-made philosophy or a figment of their imaginations. It’s words that God gave them—it was the New Testament before it was ever written. During the early church, Christians relied on the Old Testament, which was written, and the apostles and prophets’ verbal teaching.

Later, the apostles’ written teaching—the New Testament—became part of the Bible itself.

In the 21st century, being devoted to the apostles’ teaching means devoting ourselves to studying the Bible. Let’s look at 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

2Tim. 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

This passage speaks for itself. If all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for all of these things, then reading and understanding the Bible is a very high priority.

Other passages in 1 and 2 Timothy show how important teaching the Bible is to the existence and success of the church.

1Tim. 4:6 If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.

1Tim. 4:13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.

1Tim. 4:16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

John MacArthur says this:

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

He’s right. In order to be effective as Christians we have to read the Bible. Otherwise we don’t even know what God expects of us. All churches must put a high priority on teaching and preaching from the Bible. Pulpits should be used to explain what the Bible means, not a place where opinions and human wisdom are verbalized.

But remember, though, being devoted to something means more than just knowing about it—obedience needs to follow knowledge.

One of the greatest stories of obedience in the Bible is the story of King Josiah of Judah. By the time he became king in 640 BC, the northern kingdom, Judah, was immersed in idolatry, gross immorality and a long list of other ungodly things. Things were so bad that the country had lost the book of the law—God’s Word! Incredibly, Judah had misplaced its only copy of the Old Testament! Then one day Hilkiah the priest found it in the temple.

Let’s look at 2 Chronicles 34:19 and let’s read about Josiah’s reaction to finding the Bible after it being lost for so many years.

2Chr. 34:19 When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his robes.

Josiah tears his robes because he realizes he and Judah have disobeyed Scripture and the Lord. Now skip down to verses 29-33.

2Chr. 34:29 Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

2Chr. 34:30 He went up to the temple of the LORD with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites -all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD.

2Chr. 34:31 The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD -to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book.

2Chr. 34:32 Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

2Chr. 34:33 Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the LORD their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the LORD, the God of their fathers.

Now that’s obedience! And that needs to be our response to the apostles’ teaching as well. To be effective for God, we need to study the Bible and obey it. Jesus Christ isn’t just our savior—he’s also our Lord. And as Lord, we need to do what He asks us to do. God’s sovereign—He made us and knows what’s best for us.

We need to be devoted to the apostles’ teaching—the Bible.

Devoted To The Fellowship

The second thing the Church of Jerusalem was devoted to was fellowship.

The Greek word for “fellowship” is communication and communion. Unger’s Bible Dictionary defines it further as companionship, and a relationship in which parties have something in common. It has the idea of sharing.

And what did the early church have in common? The same thing we do: a belief in God and in His son Jesus Christ, as our savior and Lord.

All of us have fellowship with God.

1John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Fellowship is more that just spiritual, however. In this context, I believe the word fellowship refers to the believers spending time together and developing relationships. Hebrews 10:24-25 helps us understand its meaning.

Hebr. 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another -and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

As believers, we’re supposed to keep meeting together. That means Sunday morning and other times as well. And why should we keep meeting together? To spur one another on towards love and good deeds, and for encouragement.

Back in Acts 2, verse 46, says this:

Acts 2:46 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,

Fellowship is important for Christians. The Bible makes that clear. Like the early church, one good way to fellowship is to invite someone over for dinner. Shortly after my wife and I became Christians, we decided to take this fellowship thing seriously, so we invited a family from our home church over to our house for supper.

After dinner the adults were in the living room talking when we heard a scream from the bedroom. We ran into see what happened and found my youngest son with his two top teeth bent straight back, pushed against the roof of his mouth. It looked gruesome. It seemed that he and our friend’s daughter had been jumping on a bed together and my son’s mouth came down on the top of her head.

She was fine, but my son was hurting pretty good. We cut the evening short and took him to the emergency room for some unscheduled dental work.

Needless to say, our evening of fellowship with some other Christians didn’t exactly turn out like we had planned. On the other hand, that evening spurred us on to have some more fellowship the next night. This time it was with Brown & Crouppen, our attorneys.

Devoted To The Breaking Of Bread

The third thing the early church was devoted to was the breaking of bread.

To understand what the breaking of bread means, we need to look at Acts 20:7.

Acts 20:7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.

The first day of the week referred to here is Sunday. The same Greek word used in Acts 2:42 is used here in chapter 20. So, we can conclude that this is the Lord’s Supper. I believe the breaking of bread in verse 42 is Communion, not a meal.

Luke 22:19-20 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

Communion for the early church and for us now means remembering what Jesus did for us. It’s remembering that He paid the price for our sins on the cross. It’s also a time to examine our lives to see if there’s any sin that we need to confess.

Devoted To Prayer

The fourth and last thing they were devoted to was prayer. The Jerusalem church put a strong emphasis on prayer. Listen to Acts 1:14.

Acts 1:14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

The apostle Paul, giving directions Timothy, a young minister, says this in 1 Timothy 2:1:

1Tim. 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone -

It’s natural—and expected—that Christians pray. That includes both corporate prayer, such as during worship service, and personal prayer, outside the walls of a church. So many people look at prayer as something complicated, but it’s really just having a conversation with God.

For those times when we think it takes too much time to pray, it might be helpful to think about prayer like this: What would happen if we decided it wasn’t important or worth our time to talk with our spouse or child or parent on a regular basis? It’s obvious that the relationship would deteriorate. And that’s exactly what happens when we don’t pray. Our relationship with God suffers, and we potentially miss out on being blessed.

Jesus summed up prayer masterfully in Matthew 7:7-8:

Matt. 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Conclusion

Let’s sum up verse 42, then. The early church was committed to four things:

1. Knowing and obeying the teachings of Christ—that is, understanding and obeying the Bible

2. Spending time in fellowship with one another—in other words, spending time together whenever they could, with people they had so much in common with

3. Breaking bread/taking communion—when they focused on remembering what Christ had done for them on the cross

4. Praying together—where they could talk with God, praise Him, thank Him for all they had and present their requests to Him

So what does all this mean to us here in the 21st century? How can we devote ourselves to the same things? In order for our home churches to be useful and pleasing to God, we must be devoted to…

…the Apostles’ teaching—the Bible.

Commit to daily Bible study and prayer for at least 10-15 minutes. Two of the most reliable and easy-to-read bibles are the New International Version (NIV) and the New American Standard (NAS). You might want to consider reading either John or 1 John to begin. A One Day At A Time Bible could also be a good idea.

Don’t forget to keep coming on Sundays so you keep feeding on God’s Word. And if you don’t already have them, think about a Bible study sometime during the week, either at your home church or in someone’s home.

For those of you who are really serious about Bible study, don’t forget to memorize passages. Or you can even buy the Bible on tape and listen to it when you’re driving or at home while doing chores. There are lots of creative things you can do, things that will make you grow spiritually and become more useful to God.

…the fellowship

Keep coming Sunday mornings and make sure you try and consider attending other church events as well. While it’s very important that we not cut ourselves off from non-Christians, I believe it’s critical for us to spend a lot of time with other believers. We need the accountability and encouragement.

…the breaking of bread or communion

If you’re like most people, Sunday morning is the only time we can observe the Lord’s Supper. That makes it even more important for you to attend as much as you can. Let’s also remember that we can remember what Christ did for us on the cross, and we can confess and repent of any sins, at anytime and anyplace.

…prayer

Make sure that prayer is part of your 10-15 minutes—minimum—with God each day. Above and beyond joining in prayer with your home church on Sunday mornings, don’t forget that we can pray in the car, at work, at the grocery store, anyplace.

And let’s remember that prayer is nothing more than talking to God, the same as you would a good friend. A great ongoing prayer is: “Your will be done, Lord, whatever it may be. Show me what to do and I will do it.”

I believe if our churches devote ourselves to all of these things, God can use us in a mighty way. We’ll grow spiritually and numerically. Look at what the second part of Acts 2: 47 says: “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

A natural result of being devoted to these things will be evangelism. Your maturity level and sense of urgency for the things of God will grow like gangbusters. The Lord blesses faithful and committed churches.

Michelangelo worked tirelessly and faithfully to create beautiful art. But that art will eventually perish.

But you and your home church have an opportunity to work tirelessly and faithfully on behalf of the Kingdom of God. Something that will never pass away!

If we devote ourselves to these four things, maybe we’ll hear these words from God some day:

Matt. 25:21 “‘…Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’