Acts 2 v 42-47 			     The Fellowship of Believers						  21.2.99

What does a Christian Church look like?  I don't mean a building with cut stone and stain glass windows.  I mean what does a Biblically-functioning community of faith look like?  What sets apart a group of Christian believers, making them distinctive and easily identifiable from the rest of the world?  This short but rich passage from Acts 2 lays down the principles.  Observe here 2 things which characterised these early believers' attitudes and practices, and two things which came about as a result.

1. Note first that this was a community that worshipped God.  Praise is mentioned.  Prayer is high on the agenda.  Regular practice of the Lord's Supper is there.  The very first thing mentioned is devotion to the apostles' teaching.  So here are people who want to express adoration and dependence upon God.  People who want to share in the sacrament.  People who are willing to obey God's word as delivered by God's ministers.  But why?  Is this just the kind of people they are or has something happened in their experience to make them give worship such a primary place in their lives?

The answer of course lies in their attitude towards God and Jesus.  These people have a deep reverence and awe for Almighty God but more, also a deep appreciation of what the Lord Jesus has done for them, bearing their sin on the cross so they could come and know this great God as a loving Father.  They have put their trust in Jesus Christ as Saviour and their lives have been transformed, recentred on Him.  The result is a mixture of awe and grateful love and obedience.

Do we respect God like this?  Do we know & love Jesus like this?  Would we die for Him Who first loved us and gave Himself for us?  Will we live for Him, adapting our lifestyle to obey His teaching, submitting our wills to His?  You see worship is so much more than attending church on Sunday - it is surrendering every area of our lives in faith and obedience to God.   The first fellowship of believers was marked by worship.  Ours should be also.

2. Note secondly this community was distinctive in fellowship.

They devoted themselves to the fellowship.  All the believers were together in harmony.  They were devoted to each other out of common love for Christ.   Our relationship with God brings us into a relationship with each other. We sometimes struggle with this for we are flawed human beings.  Personalities clash. Views differ.  But followers of Jesus try to agree, or at least agree to differ, without bitterness for the sake of our common Lord and His Church.

These first Christians reckoned that they shared one Father, one Saviour, one Spirit, so they shared everything else too.  They practised a radical generosity everyone willing to sacrifice personal wealth, possessions, ambition for the common good, those who had more of something gladly sharing with those who had less.

This is the essence of fellowship - sharing - sharing the privileges and responsibilities, the opportunities and challenges, the good times and the bad, the laughter and the tears.

Another practical application of their fellowship was hospitality.  They met at the Temple, probably participating in some of the liturgy there but they also met in each others homes less formally.  They talked about Jesus and encouraged and exhorted each other over shared meals.  Ever notice how much of Jesus' teaching occurred at meals in people's homes?  We meet in formal, symbolic fellowship when we share the Lord's Supper in a Church service, but it's also good and recommended by this Scripture to meet more socially and informally to share in each other's lives.  To share lunch or supper, play squash or go shopping together.  Many lonely or questioning people have been blessed by someone inviting them over for a meal or just a cuppa and a chat. What a lovely way for Christians to share the love and truth of Christ with others!

Worship - reverence, praise, prayer, the Word and Sacrament, and fellowship --harmony, charity,  hospitality; these things set the early Christians apart from their 1st century peers, made them refreshingly different from the world around them.  Here were people who knew who they were, knew what they believed, where they were going and believed in what they were doing yet remained humble, joyful, caring and sharing.  What were the results of having a live, active, community of faith like this on your doorstep?  Look at two things which came about as a result of a Christian Church functioning the way it's supposed to:

1. "Many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles".  
Why?  Probably in part because of the times that were in it.  In Scripture and subsequent history an upsurge of supernatural phenomena and miracles usually accompany God doing something new.  But I think there's also a more general point. These people were living consecrated lives in the proper fear of God.  So God was at home among them.  They were effectively a living Temple where God could dwell and freely operate.  Can we expect to see wonders and signs, dramatic healings, answered prayers, in our churches and communities today?  We definitely can, but will we?  Where there is so little reverence and so much blasphemy?  Where there is so little holiness and so much immorality?  Where there is so little humility and so much arrogance?  God grant us a renewed reverence in our day to see Him graciously move in power.

2. "The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved".

The Holy Spirit overflowed this fellowship to bring conviction of sin, enlightenment concerning Christ, repentance, faith, obedience, salvation to outsiders and the church grew steadily.  The family of God is open to newcomers who are willing to accept and follow Christ.  The community of faith should be concerned to share the good news of Jesus with others with the prayer that God will save and renew them and they be added to the fellowship.  A result of the Church of Christ functioning as it ought to is winsome, persuasive effective evangelism and church growth.  When people respond positively to God's grace, He gives more grace.  When a church is faithful to the calling and vision of Jesus Christ it grows.  It may take a while.  It will involve challenge and hard work and sacrifice.  We will have to discard our idols and every sinful habit that would hinder our service.  God may need to prune the vine before it grows back stronger but grow it will and some who have patiently sown in tears of humility, grief and frustration shall reap a harvest of new life, righteousness and joy. (Ps 126)

Friends, this type of church we read of in Acts 2 has become sadly rare.  And yet this is the type of church the Lord Jesus wants every church to be.  Including this one.

So let's be prepared to commit ourselves afresh to the Lord Jesus and to building His Church in this town and area and let's begin as we intend to go on, in prayer. 

Let's pray.