While believers in Jesus might spend a lot of time – and rightly so – on understanding the four practices listed in Acts 2:42 (see previous articles), verses later in that same chapter continue to tell us more about what the early church did.
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:46-47 NIV
I realize that people like me don’t have access to the temple of Jerusalem. For one thing, I’m on another continent from ancient Judea. For another thing, that temple was destroyed by the Romans.
However, many followers of Jesus can meet with other believers in houses of worship. In fact, depending on your upbringing, if you felt like you “lived at the church” sometimes, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Meeting at a formal location meant for worship isn’t the only way to have community within the church, though. In some parts of the world, church buildings are illegal, and meeting in homes is the only practical option. However, even in places with freedom like I am privileged to have, getting together in homes is a great way to not only fellowship (and eat together), but also to build up the faith and Biblical education of church members.
Note that fellowship over meals was done with gladness, and the people praised God. Like fellowship and prayer, our praise to God doesn’t have to be confined to special occasions like Sunday morning, even though Sunday morning is a great time to start doing so in our week.
And, the result was people being added to the church daily. Sometimes, I think that some church-goers (at least in my country) seem to have gotten this idea that Sunday is the main day when people accept Jesus and get baptized. However, this was not a limitation in the early church.
My theory is that some of this misperception might be because more of us (including me, sometimes) have given up our responsibility to share the gospel of Jesus directly with other people in daily conversations, having traded that responsibility for letting preachers do our work for us. Of course, teachers and preachers (those who are gifted by God to share the news of Jesus) can make a great difference, including during formal events, especially when the Holy Spirit is calling people at the same time. However, I don’t believe that they were ever meant to be the only ones in the church to evangelize lost people.
And, maybe some people think that the baptistry is only available on Sundays. In my church, not only can someone get baptized any day of the week, but any large enough body or container of water can be used, so there’s nothing unique about a church building’s baptistry for baptism.
When we hear of people being added to the body of Christ daily in our local village, town, city, or region, though, I think that we will know two things:
- First, that the entire church is starting to share the good news that we have found, not just paid staff.
- And secondly, that God deserves the glory for adding to the body of Christ. Our work is just part of His plan.
Won’t you pray with me for the church to grow daily in your community?
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 