After recounting a great response to the good news about Jesus Christ (see the previous article for more discussion on that), the next few verses of Acts 2 – starting with those below – tell us a little about how the early church (i.e., followers of Jesus) acted. Here in Acts, we start to learn about certain practices of the early church, after its early members’ conversions.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.
Acts 2:42-43 NIV
I appreciate that, when someone gets baptized at our church (or we see a video of something getting baptized), the congregation applauds and sometimes cheers. This is truly a joyous occasion, and we join the “rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God” (see Luke 15:10).
However, we should also remember that this event is not the end of the Christian’s journey. In fact, it’s not even the last time that their relationship with God and the Body of Christ (i.e., the church) will be significant before Jesus returns. Like a classic wedding sermon, we might say that this is just the beginning of someone’s walk with Christ, and that the real excitement is just getting started.
It might be overlooked, but I think that there’s a key pivot here around verse 42, where history changes from God’s plan leading up to Jesus’ work (and then the in-person ministry of Jesus Christ) to the era of the church – the Body of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 12:12-30, Ephesians 4:11-13, Ephesians 5:23, Colossians 1:24). Understanding what following God means (the same God that interacted with people before Jesus came, but now with more of His plan revealed to humanity) is important to understand in this age of the church. Note that the people of Jesus’ church did not create this age, like some sort of new idea that the apostles came up with: we merely participate in a new form of worship that God had planned all along, which Jesus and the Holy Spirit (all part of the same God) now enable.
In fact, these early church activities shape many practices of the congregation where I worship and serve. Our congregation’s stated goals include following the early church’s example (hopefully, your congregation applies the same principles as a foundation, too). In fact, I remember receiving a pamphlet (or maybe several of them) about the practices from Acts 2:42 around the time when I was baptized, in a similar congregation, many years ago.
Let’s take a look at four key practices from this passage in the next article. However, after that list, verse 43 is one that we might easily skip over. In today’s paraphrase, we might say that being in the early church was “awesome”. However, this isn’t a surfer’s casual, “awesome, dude”. Instead, there was a true sense of awe (or perhaps reverent fear) occurring. And, when confronted with not only the presence of the Holy Spirit – God Himself – but also attesting signs from the apostles, how could people not be overwhelmed? When God shows up and we pay attention, it is truly awesome. (On the other hand, when God shows up and we don’t pay attention, it is still awesome, but we may miss out.)
What is the attitude of people who spend time around the church today? For the members of the church today, as well as those who aren’t believers but see Christians’ lives, are we in constant awe or reverent fear of the all-powerful, all-wise, all-loving God that the church serves? If not, why not? (I don’t have an answer, but it’s something to think about.)
From Sunday School lesson prepared for September 24, 2023
References:
- The Lookout, October 1, 2023, © 2023 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- New Testament History: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Acts, by Gareth L. Reese. © 1976, College Press Publishing Company.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Acts, by Dennis Gaertner. © 1993 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 