BiblicalMastery Buddy's bible blog

Lesson 5

The Power of the Gospel

Acts 2:42-47

Approximately 37 years ago I made a decision whether a conscious one or more in the sub-conscious to begin to give a priority to the study of the word of God. Even though I did not know it at the time a verse in the book of Ezra would become not only a life verse for me but an ongoing passion. It reads, “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, to practice it, and to teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel.” (Ezra 7:10) I came to believe that every other facet of our Christian walk flows from a passion to know God’s word. Over the years I have been able to remain faithful to that commitment only because God has been the driving force and guiding light for me. There is no way in my mind that I could have spent as much time as I have in His word without His encouragement and strength. He has allowed me to do things of which I did not believe I was capable including writing, teaching and witnessing to others of His goodness.

As we look at the passage for today there are some questions to be considered.

1. If there was an influx in the church body of new people in a short period of time of even a tenth of the 3000 (300 people) or one percent (30 people) what would we do?
2. How do we normally handle the assimilation/integration of new believers into the body?
3. How effective do you believe we have been in keeping those new babies in Christ?
4. What is different about what happened in Acts chapter 2 and what takes place in our church?
5. How would we go about making disciples out of the these newcomers to help them to grow in their new found faith?

Hopefully as we look at Acts 2 we will see why the church exploded onto the scene there in Jerusalem and what encouragement we can receive from it to better reach the world around us.

Acts 2:41

Let’s back up to a verse that was covered last week. We are told, “That day there were added about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:41) Just let that figure sink in for a moment. Here only hours earlier there were approximately 120 followers of Christ. Twelve of them were the apostles who had been given the command to evangelize the world in Acts 1:8. Now they had three thousand to disciple. Anyway we look at it we would have to say the task was daunting. It would like 12 churches of 250 people or 250 small groups of 12 springing up around the church overnight. What were the apostles to do? To answer that question we might ask, What advantages did the apostles have with the 3000 new followers of Christ that we seem to be lacking with the vast majority that come into the church today?

1. The most obvious answer is that all of these first converts were all Jews. This meant that practically all of them had a good grasp on the Old Testament and the promises contained in it about the coming Messiah.
2. The second one was they were going to hear the gospel directly from the men who had spent three years with Jesus.

These two factors simplified matters somewhat, but how did the people react? What were to be the next steps in this new life? How would they know what was expected of them? We get the answer in the next verse. We are told the very first priority the church had in vs. 42. It says, “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostle’s teaching.”

For an idea of what they were teaching we can look at two passages, one is found in 1 John and the other in 2 Peter. What did these men had to say gives us an idea of what was being shared with these new believers. John says, ^“What was ^Afrom the beginning, what we have ^(B)heard, what we have ^(C)seen with our eyes, what we ^(D)have looked at and ^(E)touched with our hands, concerning the ^(F)Word of Life– and ^(G)the life was manifested, and we have ^(H)seen and ^(I)testify and proclaim to you ^(J)the eternal life, which was ^(K)with the Father and was ^(L)manifested to us–³what we have ^(M)seen and ^(N)heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:1-3)

Peter then writes, “¹⁶For we did not follow cleverly devised ^(AP)tales when we made known to you the ^(AQ)power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were ^(AR)eyewitnesses of His majesty. ¹⁷For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an ^(AS)utterance as this was made to Him by the ^(AT)Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”–¹⁸and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the ^(AU)holy mountain. ¹⁹So we have ^(AV)the prophetic word made more ^(AW)sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to ^(AX)a lamp shining in a dark place, until the ^(AY)day dawns and the ^(AZ)morning star arises ^(BA)in your hearts. ²⁰But ^(BBknow this first of all, that ^(BC)no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, ²¹for ^(BD)no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men ^(BE)moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

We will continue on the next part of this verse in a moment. To understand all that takes place after this there must be an understanding of how important God’s word to every facet of our Christian walk. There are numerous references that admonish us to devote ourselves, to persevere, and meditate on God’s word. Just a few of these will be provided for you to consider devoting yourself to God’s word.

1. 6:7-9, 11:19 Speaks of teaching children.
2. Joshua 1:8 One of many versus that talks of meditating on the Word
3. Ezra 7:10 Setting one’s heart to study, practice and teach.
4. 1:8 Calls us to delight in the word and meditate on it.
5. 119:9 Purity comes from “keeping it (living life) according to Your law.”
6. 119:11 Treasuring (hiding and memorizing) the word protects one from sinning.
7. 119:12,26, 33,66, 68 Speaks of seeking to be taught from God’s word.
8. 119:105 Provides guidance along the way, refers to light and lamp.
9. John 17:17 Set apart (sanctified) in the God’s truth revealed to us.
10. 2 Tim. 2:15 Are to handle the word properly
11. 2 Tim. 3:14-16 Are be equipped according the inspired word.
12. 4:11-13 Responsibility of leaders to equip saints
13. 2 Peter 2:2 Grow as we desire to know His word.
14. 2 Tim. 2:2 Share with wise men
15. 13:3-9, 18-23 Parable of the soils

These are just a few of the many passages that lay out before us the reasons we are to be steadfast in our study of the Bible.

The second part of verse 42 flows very naturally out of the first. Without a true devotion to God’s revealing of Himself through His word there will be no true fellowship, worship or giving. Our submission to His is the key to our actions. Men and women who are desirous of learning God’s word will become devoted to others in fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer with those who have the same priority in life. This is what happened in the early church.

1. What then does this fellowship look like?
2. How would you define the idea of Koinonia (Fellowship)?
3. In what ways is this reflected in our church?
4. What were the components that made up the fellowship in the early church?
5. What were the results?
6. If fellowship means doing things together, what did the early church do together?

We have talked about teaching and fellowship, but what about the last two important parts of what the church did. The first was breaking of bread. This signifies that as they continued to gather they celebrated what we today call the Last Supper. This was a part of what is described in vs. 46 where the church was having their meals together from house to house. Part of what was later to be called the agape feast was the breaking of the bread. They did not want to forget what Jesus had shared with His disciples on the last night before His death.

Although mentioned last Prayer was and is certainly very important to the church. I would like to suggest that there are four components to prayer that they could very possibly have observed. Luke 24:52-53 and Acts 1:12-14 which we have already studied that prayer contained

1. Adoration and Praise
2. Confession
3. Thanksgiving
4. Supplication which is bringing our petitions before the Father.

Vs. 43-47

As the early church devoted itself to teaching, fellowship, worship (breaking of bread) and prayer amazing results began to be realized.

1. There was a sense of awe
2. Wonders and signs were taking place
3. They were of mind
4. Held everything in common
5. Sold possession to take care of the needs of the people
6. With one mind continued in the Temple daily
7. Spent time with each other fellowship with the breaking of bread and taking meals together in different homes with gladness and sincerity of heart. These people genuinely wanted to be with each other in the name of Christ.
8. Continually praised God.

What was the result of everything that was going on?   As the people of Jerusalem experienced what was taking place in the lives of these new followers of Christ vs. 47 tells us, “And having favor with all the people.” They understood that, “The Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

As you look at the things that were happening each and every day to the early church, how many could you put a check mark by that you see taking place at Bethany Place? What do you see going on in churches today that were not evident in the early church at this point in time? (Ambition, greed, divisiveness, gossip, rumors, strife) Why? Is there time in your life when you could say that you had the kind of devotion displayed in the lives of those disciples? If there has been such a time what difference did it make in the way you looked at life? If not what is missing ingredient? Remember it is never too late to make a new start.

This passage can be a good wake up call to all of us to reprioritize our lives. Just think what Bethany Place would look like if we devoted ourselves to what they considered of upmost importance. Devotion to teaching of God’s word, true fellowship, God honoring worship (breaking of bread) and Prayer (Adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication). If we will begin to do these four things, just think what a difference it would make in our church.   We might be able to look at the list above and put a check mark by many of them. It is doable. Then we would find favor with God and man and we would experience the coming into our body more who want what we have.