The effect of Pentecost - 2:42-47

The Effect of Pentecost 2:42-47

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

What we read in Acts 2:42-47 is a glimpse of the effect of Pentecost, the church; or maybe we could say, the type of church the Holy Spirit produced.

1) A Church Committed to Scripture - The very first evidence Luke mentions of the Spirit's presence in the church is that, "...they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching..." The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. The early followers of Christ did not believe that because they had received the Spirit they were in no need of authority, or someone teaching them. We live in an anti-authority age; even in the church many act and think that they have the same Bible and the same Holy Spirit that chosen leaders have, which the DO, but based off of that, they make a wrong assumption, "so we do not need to be under their teaching!" they use mantras like, "let's return to the ancient church". However, this was NOT the thought of the ancient church, in fact the most ancient of churches defined themselves, according to Acts 2:42-47, as a people devoted themselves to teaching, which implies that applying oneself to someone else's teaching; you under their authority through the means of given submission. On a corporate level a 'Spirit-filled' church is one that is dedicated to teaching, studying, and submitting itself to the scriptures.

2) A Church Committed to Community - The next element that defined them as a church was the statement, "...they devoted themselves to...fellowship..." The word for fellowship here is koinonia. Koinonia comes from word koinos wich means common, and bears witness to the common life of the church on two levels: (1) It expresses what we share in together. The first being our relationship together with the triune God. This means that koinonia is a Trinitarian experience; it is our common life in the Trinity. (2) It, koinonia, also expresses what we share together, what we give, and what we receive. Paul uses this same word to describe the collection he was facilitating through the Greek Churches. The extended version of koinonia is koinonikos which means generous. We knows this is the definition that Luke was leaning towards, as he goes on to say, "all who believed were together and had all things in common (koina). And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need." In a nutshell, GENEROSITY was how they were defined in the way they related to each other in community! One person's need became every person's need. One person's illness became everyone's illness. One person's hard times, became everyone's hard times. I had a business leader tell me, "when you have a problem it is only your problem, but when you share that problem it is our problem." This is why they could all be 'in common' because their idea of community was not showing up to talk once a week in someone's home, but it was truly living life with them as responsible family members...CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT THAT WOULD LOOK LIKE! No wonder the world took notice of the way they lived out community! One more point, it DOESN'T say they were a RICH church, in fact we know they probably were not...let us dwell on the fact that rich-ness and generosity are not related...

3) A Church Committed to Worship - The third element that made this churh a church was, "they devoted themselves to the breaking of bread and the prayers..." They were not only marked as a scripture based community, and a generous community caring for each other, but they were also a community committed to corporate worship as well. The definite article in both expressions would translate this line to be literally, "the breaking of 'the' bread and 'the' prayers" and this suggests a reference to the taking Communion/Lord's supper, sometimes as part of a larger meal; and prayer/worship services or meetings all together. There are two aspects of the early church's worship which show it's balance: (1) It was both formal and casual as Luke tells us that it [the church] was "attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes" (2) It was both authentic and God honoring. Luke describes the reaction of the church as, "awe came upon every soul." God had visited them and continued to do so, and this produced a holy reverence, an 'awe' which postured thems in humility and wonder.

4) A Church Committed to Mission - The fourth element that described this church, was that it was a church on mission, or in the words of Luke, "...praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved..." Here is the way it worked, God is a missionary God who SENT his Son who then SENT his Holy Spirit, who then SENDS us. There are three elements we should reflect on that we gather from this text on 'what it means to be a church/person who is committed to mission.' First, it was God himself who added to their number. This does not give us the right to be passive bystanders, because we know that God added to their numbers through the preaching of the apostles, the witness of church, the counter-cultural community of love and generosity they lived in, their incarnational life (...having favor with all people...) and their example as they were praising God. I believe that there is a couple reasons Luke makes sure we understand that it was God who added to their number. It is so easy to fall into the 'look at what my new program can do' and be full of pride, or the other extreme, 'no matter how hard I try nothing works' and be full of despair leading to a life of passive sulking. So let us remember and rest in the truth that if we are truly a church/community/people committed to: (1) Scripture (2) Community (3) Worship and (4) Mission then we must remember that it is God who is doing the saving not us, although we get to be the tools that he uses in the lives of others!

SIDE NOTE: To God this is not a numbers game in that he is impressed with how many attend the church, Luke was not talking about attendance. So, who was God adding to their number? God, not programs, not shows, not specials, not lights, cameras, action, but God is adding to their/our number, those who are being saved. Salvation and church membership belonged together. The DAILY evangelism from of the church was not occasional or sporadic, but something that was the outflow of lives committed to scripture, community, worship, and mission - this is what a Spirit Filled Church Looks Like!