They Devoted Themselves
Text: Acts 2:42
Introduction
1. Illustration: Recently Tina and I traveled to Ohio for my brother-in-law’s funeral. He was a lifelong farmer who fought cancer courageously for over 12 years. At his funeral, two of my nieces got up and talked about their Dad. They said that his life was built on three pillars, faith, family and farming. But I think that his life could be summed up in one word – devotion. He went through more than most human beings should be asked to endure, but he never waivered in his devotion to faith, family or farming. In fact, on his last day on earth, rather than feeling sorry for himself, he spent time praying, time with his daughters, and weeding his garden from an electric wheelchair.
2. This reminds me of the early church. They also had three pillars – The Word of God, Fellowship and Prayer. But those three pillars can be summed up in one word – devotion.
3. If we want to be a church that is modeled after the NT church, then we too have to be devoted to the three pillars of:
a. The Word,
b. Fellowship, and
c. Prayer.
4. Read Acts 2:42
Proposition: Our goal as a church should be devotion to The Word, Fellowship and Prayer.
Transition: The first thing we need to be devoted to is..
I. The Word
A. Believers Devoted Themselves
1. Luke begins with “All the believers devoted themselves…”
a. Dr. Luke tells us something very important about the NT church, and that is that they were devoted.
b. Now what did he mean when he said they were devoted?
c. When we think of that word, we usually think of someone being devoted to a spouse or a parent to their children.
d. Another way to think of the word devotion is to passionately pursue something like a skill, a sport or a hobby.
e. This is a very important word in the Book of Acts, in fact, it is used 6 times in Acts. It is the same word that is used in Acts 1:14, where it says that they were “constantly united in prayer.”
f. Here it means that they “persisted obstinately” about the things that Luke is about to mention. The NT church was passionately devoted to these things.
2. So what does Luke say they were devoted to? First, he says they were devoted to the Word.
a. What do you mean Pastor? Luke says they were devoted to the Apostles teachings. Well, who wrote most of the NT? The Apostles did! John, Peter, and Paul, as well as some of their disciples, wrote most of what we know of as the NT portion of Scripture.
b. Now where did they get this teaching? They got it from Jesus himself. In fact, teaching was part of the Great Commission.
c. “Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:20).
d. So, we can clearly say that they were devoted to Scripture. Now, if we want to be like the NT church, we need to be devoted to Scripture also.
e. Here’s the reason why. Paul tells us in 2 Tim. 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”
f. Reading Scripture everyday shows us what is true and what isn’t. It shows us the things that we are doing that are wrong and tells how to do what is right.
g. My theology is pretty simple, if the Bible tells you to do it, you do it, and if the Bible tells you not to do it, you don’t do it!
h. It also equips us to be workers in the Kingdom. How do we learn how to witness to people? We read the Bible!
i. How do we learn to be effective in ministry? We read the Bible!
j. To put it plainly, if this book isn’t a part of your daily ritual you are doing yourself and the Kingdom a great disservice. Because God has already told you everything you need to know, and all you have to do is read it and study with great devotion!
B. Value of the Word
1. Illustration: A story was told of a man who loved old books. He met an acquaintance who had just thrown away a Bible that had been stored in the attic of his ancestral home for generations. “I couldn’t read it,” the friend explained. “Somebody named Guten-something had printed it.” “Not Gutenberg!” the book lover exclaimed in horror. “That Bible was one of the first books ever printed. Why, a copy just sold for over two million dollars!” His friend was unimpressed. “Mine wouldn’t have brought a dollar. Some fellow named Martin Luther had scribbled all over it in German.”
2. The church needs to rediscover the power of Scripture.
a. For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. (Heb. 4:12, NLT).
b. The Bible is alive! This is not some dead piece of literature written thousands of years ago. It still speaks to what we are going through in our daily lives.
i. It tells us about life.
ii. It tells us about love.
iii. It tells us how to treat one another.
iv. It tells us about how to deal with problems with others.
v. It tells us how to deal with our money.
vi. It tells us how to deal with politics.
c. The Bible is also powerful!
i. Do you want to know how to deal with the devils’ tricks and temptation? Then do what Jesus did; quote Scripture to him.
ii. When Jesus was tempted three times in the desert by Satan he said, “It is written!”
iii. There’s also power in Scripture in understanding our identity. It tells us we are the children of God.
iv. There’s power in the promises of Scripture. James tells us that if a person is sick that they should come to the elders of the church, be prayed for and anointed with oil. And that the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. I believe miracles still happen because the Bible tells me so and because I have seen them with my own eyes.
v. There is power in grace.
3. If we are truly going to be devoted to Scripture, we need to be reading it daily.
a. Follow some sort of Bible reading plan.
b. We have one in our bulletin.
c. You can download one to your phone or computer.
d. You may even have one in the back of your Bible.
e. Read it daily because it is your spiritual food. You wouldn’t start your day without breakfast, so don’t go without feeding your soul.
Transition: The next thing they were devoted to was…
II. Fellowship
A. Fellowship
1. Next, Luke tells us that they were devoted to each other.
2. Luke says they were devoted to fellowship, and to the sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper).
a. Now where Tina and I come from, when people use the word fellowship, it usually means “let’s eat!,” because we always called church dinners as “fellowship meals.”
b. However, the word used here in the Greek actually means to share in something and close mutual relationships.
c. Although the early church was devoted to God and building a relationship with Him, they were also devoted to building relationships with each other.
d. This means that they spent time together, ate meals together, and were invested in one another’s lives.
e. Now I personally think that this is just as important for the church as spiritual things like prayer and the word.
f. When Tina and I arrived at our last church, not only were we not convinced they loved one another, we weren’t sure they liked one another!
g. The moment I said, “Amen,” at the end of the service people bolted for the doors. It was at that time that I made a conscious decision that this had to change.
h. So, we started going out to dinner with one another after church. At one point so many of us were having dinner at the local cafe after church that the owner asked me to take a head count so they could accommodate us.
i. It created a sense of family and a mutual bonding with each other.
j. Church should be a family, because we are all God’s family.
k. Fellowship also drives home the idea that we are all in this together. Another way to translate this word fellowship is partnership. We never going to get anywhere if we don’t work together. No one can do it all, we all have to kick in and share the load. We have to be devoted to each other.
B. Partners
1. Illustration: In his book, Rediscovering Church, Bill Hybels tells of a message by Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian, who said, "The only kind of fellowship many know in church is after a service when men stand around and ask each other superficial questions. Then they find their wives who are having similar conversations and go home. But biblical fellowship has the power to revolutionize lives. Masks come off, conversations get deep, hearts get vulnerable, lives are shared, accountability is invited, and tenderness flows. People really do become like brothers and sisters. They shoulder each other’s burdens - and unfortunately, that was something that few of the people today experience growing up in church in America." (From a sermon by Dave McFadden, A Golden Lampstand, 6/8/2010)
2. People today aren’t looking for a church to go to; they are looking for a family to belong to.
a. The power of fellowship can be seen in the rest of Acts 2 (read vv. 43-47).
b. They shared everything they had.
c. They sold what they had and gave to anyone who had need.
d. They worshipped together.
e. They ate together (including the Lord’s Supper) with great joy and generosity.
f. Praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people.
g. Now who wouldn’t want to be a part of a church like that?
h. The Lord added to their fellowship everyday those who were being saved.
i. Because they were devoted to each other.
Transition: The third thing they were devoted to was…
III. Prayer
A. Prayer
1. The third thing they were devoted to, and in my mind the most important, was prayer.
2. Prayer was clearly a high priority in the early church. We can see that everything that they did was bathed in prayer.
a. Again in Acts 1:14 it says they were “constantly united in prayer,” and the word used is the same word in Greek for devotion.
b. When Peter and John were released from jail, they church all met in prayer, and in 4:31 it says that while they were praying the building shook!
c. The engine that fueled the early church was the Holy Spirit, but what started the engine was the igniting power of prayer.
d. Where there was much activity of the Holy Spirit there was much prayer; and where there was much prayer there was much activity of the Holy Spirit.
e. Years ago, I was Pastoring a church in Arkansas, and the people in that parish liked to talk about the good old days! Once I asked one of them what made those days so good? She looked at me and said, “those were praying saints back then!”
f. We need a move of the Holy Spirit, and to get that we need to get back to the altar and back on our knees and plead with God saying, “God we need you to move!” We need to be devoted to prayer!
B. The Furnace Room
1. Illustration: “The memory of Charles Haddon Spurgeon has been cherished among evangelical Christians for over the past 100 years. Many Christian leaders consider him to be the greatest preacher England ever produced. He is commonly hailed as the "Prince of Preachers". Over 63 volumes of published sermons still bear witness to the richness and success of C. H. Spurgeon’s ministry. Though known as a great preacher, it was not preaching that made Spurgeon great. Mr. Spurgeon repeatedly acknowledged his success as the direct result of his congregation’s faithful prayers. "It has often been remarked that the whole church helped produce Spurgeon." When visitors would come to Spurgeon’s church, he would take them to the basement prayer-room where people were always on their knees interceding. Then Spurgeon would declare, ‘Here is the powerhouse of this church.’"
2. Prayer is the key that starts the engine of the church.
a. “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matt. 7:7-8, NLT).
b. When Jesus needed to be refreshed, he prayed.
c. When Jesus was in anguish at the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed.
d. When the early church needed a miracle, they prayed.
e. When they needed answers, they prayed.
f. So, if these foundations of the church needed prayer, guess what, so do we!
g. We need to pray that God would cause this church to grow again.
h. We need to pray that this church would be energized and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
i. We need to pray that people in Floyd County would hear the Good News and be saved.
j. We need to pray that revival would overtake our nation.
Conclusion
1. The early church was built on 3 pillars:
a. The Word
b. Fellowship
c. Prayer
2. But it was all about devotion; they persisted obstinately.
3. What’s the point?
a. When we persist obstinately in the Word, Fellowship and prayer we will begin to see miracles begin to happen.
