This morning as I read through Acts 2, I was amazed at the picture painted of the church and how it functioned, especially in response to what had just happened at Pentecost, following Jesus’ ascension. I would encourage you to read through all of chapter 2, but since I know that might not be realistic for you to do as you are reading this, I will give a quick summary of what happens prior to the last 6 verses.
Peter speaks at Pentecost and presents the gospel to all the people before him. The message of the gospel was more offensive than ever as Peter tells the people about the coming of Jesus which was prophesied about since King David and then Peter tells them “Let the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” These people had literally just crucified their Messiah, but the disciples did not compromise the message of the gospel or refrain from preaching the gospel in its full force, truth, beauty, and offensiveness. Just as a side note, I wonder how many times you and I have shared the gospel with people, and felt uncomfortable by the harshness and severity of the gospel and either compromised or considered softening the message of the gospel so that the audience, whoever it might be, would be more receptive to hearing about Jesus. I pray that God would rebuke me ever so quickly if I take his good news into my own hands and in doing so, strip the gospel of its truth and power. After the disciples spoke the full truth of the gospel, the Holy Spirit, now resting upon them, stirred the hearts of the people listening, and verse 37 says that “they were cut to the heart.” The Holy Spirit did the convicting, once the apostles were faithful to deliver the message of Jesus and verse 41 tells us that 3,000 souls were saved!
The next part, verses 42-47, is incredible and depicts the church’s response to Pentecost and the 3,000 souls that were saved that day. I cannot summarize these verses as they are so beautiful and powerful, and I want you to be blessed by the words too, so here they are:
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Acts 2:42-47
The church, the body of Christ, simply did what Jesus did. They acted in the way that he had led them. They devoted themselves to meeting together and eating together, both in the temple and in their homes. They were physically together and united in one mind and spirit. They were removed from their possessions in that they did not cling to what they had, but they freely gave to all who had need. Their hearts were glad and generous as they praised God- and they also had favor with all the people. The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
WOW! What a picture- a beautiful picture of what the church should look like functioning together. And when that happened, the Christians were joyful, the outsiders had favor with them and people were being saved daily…
No wonder the church has the reputation it does today. Truthfully, aren’t we often the opposite of what that passage depicts? O how we grieve our Father’s heart when we do not function how he intended us to.
Lord, please bring us back to you and establish this desire in our hearts. May we meditate on scripture, imitate the way you lived, and follow the model set forth for us in this passage. Help us Lord to be your body, for we are far from it.
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