the other night i sat down on the couch to journal. to be honest, i was bitter towards the church (universal) and i sat down to read some of Acts 2. i sat down and read Acts 2:42-47. a good passage about the first fellowship of believers.
in verse 42 it says that “they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” this word “devoted” caught my eye. i have heard this passage preached many times saying that this means that they were devoted to hearing the word preached, or being devoted to reading it. i looked up a definition of devoted on a online dictionary and this is what i found…
devoted: zealous or ardent in attachment, loyalty, or affection.
syn: faithful, constant, loyal, devout
i love the synonyms. they make “devout” come to life. when i hear the word devoted, one of the things that comes to mind is marriage. i am devoted to my wife kimberly. in our relationship i am constantly learning more about her. i am learning how to respond to her. i fail alot, but because she loves me, she gives me second chances. i learn and then continue to go. because i am devoted to her i am learning and responding to what i learn. i think that looking at this meaning of “devoted” makes this passage come to life. the people in acts 2 were devoted to the apostles teaching. not just devoted to hearing it preached but to living it out. living out what they are taught. this comes out later on in the passage.
if you continue to read later on through v. 47 you see that alot of the actions they participated in are in response to the apostles teachings. this to me is proof that the believers in this early church took scripture seriously. they acted on what the apostles taught. it is encouraging to look at what things God did through them because of their loyalty to the teachings.
If only we could be that loyal to the teachings of Christ today. i am honestly getting tired of having to abide by silly rules “written into scripture” by other believers. i am tired of the stereotype. tired of the “if you are a christian you can’t do _____”. all i know is that i want to follow Christ. i want to follow Christ hard. i want to follow Him so closely that i am covered in His dust. i want Him to use me. i want Him to do miraculous things through me and through the church (universal). i am conviced that if we keep living by the lies that we have “written into scripture” then God is not going to use us. i know that God is using many churches around the world today to do great things. things that we cannot explain, but at the same time i see many churches that are stagnant, not growing, because of these rules implemented by man.
Acts 2:47 says “…and having favor with all the people.” People liked these Christ followers. nothing is said about them pushing Jesus on all of those around them. all that is mentioned is being devoted to the apostles teachings, fellowship, the breaking of bread, prayers, selling their possessions and giving to any who had need. it also says that they were thankful. because of this they found favor with all people.
it is my prayer that i can become one who follows Christ. one who follows Christ and Christ alone. may it start with me.
sorry for the ramblings.
grace and peace
3 comments
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April 3, 2008 at 1:01 pm
tODD
It’s possible you’re just blogging to work things out in your head, in which case you don’t need to read this response. But if you’re looking for dialog …
I think my first question would be: What was the apostles’ teaching? Was it a list of rules? Or things that a Christian should or should not do? Did they constantly stress to the early church how much they should be doing, and express disappointment in them if they didn’t?
Given what the apostles actually wrote, I’d say that their teaching (which was Jesus’ teaching) included rules for Christian living, exhortations on how to live and what God’s will is — in other words, the law. But that’s not all. It also included the gospel — God’s announcement of free salvation from sins.
Sure, the people in the Church are disappointing — they’re sinners, and their actions, or lack of them, show that. But we don’t want them to become devoted only to the law, to do things because they have to, out of fear, or in order to please an angry God. We want people in the church to be devoted because of the gospel — because they know God isn’t angry with them, because they know what God did for them, because they know God loves them.
It’s quite possible that’s what you meant. But I just wanted to make sure that’s why you wanted people to be “devoted”. It’s a lot easier, frankly, to motivate people out of fear — most religions get their people to do amazing things because they feel that gets them on God’s good side. But we know as Christians that perfect love — God’s love — drives out fear.
On a different note, I’m not sure what “silly rules” you’re thinking of (though I can think of one myself), but I agree. If God doesn’t prohibit something, why should man? That said, we will use our Christian freedom wisely.
Finally, as to verse 47, you know that the early church did not long enjoy the favor of all the people. Things went south quickly. But they still followed Jesus’ teaching — including his admonition to go and make disciples of all nations — because they know what he did for them. I’ll disagree, in a way, that they didn’t “push Jesus” on those around them — right before the section you quote, Peter gave a huge sermon to the crowd at Pentecost. And he raked them over the coals!
April 17, 2008 at 5:45 pm
dustin
Alright Joel, I’m gonna disagree with tODD. I’m 100% on board with ya. I’m gonna take a stab at a couple things tODD said…
1.What was the apostles’ teaching?
The apostles teachings weren’t lists of rules, but rather declarations and proclamations of who Jesus was. Remember Jesus asked Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” and Peter replied by saying, “Your the Christ!” I believe firmly that the apostles went around declaring the goodness, kindness, love, friendship etc. that they had with Jesus. Who wouldn’t be drawn to that?
2.Was it a list of rules?
No it wasn’t a list of rules. 1John says, “For this is the love of God that we obey His commandments. For God’s commandments are not burdensome.” I like this story someone told… A man goes and buys a $500 cashmere sweater. He wears it a few times and figures, “I should clean this.” Well he looks at the tag and it says, “Dry clean only”. He figures that it is just a conspiracy between laundrymats and the sweater company, so he throws it in the wash. He pulls it out and tosses it into the dryer. Next thing you know it shrunk so much his daughter could wear it. The tag wasn’t meant to bring him into bondage to dry cleaning. It was there to say, “Hey if you want to enjoy this sweater the way it was made DRY CLEAN IT!!”
If we are supposed to follow “rules” then why did Paul say, “All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful”? I believe it is because we have been set free from the rules. We are commanded to love God and love people. That is the basis of our Christian freedom in Christ.
3.Did they constantly stress to the early church how much they should be doing, and express disappointment in them if they didn’t?
Alright sorry, but only a legalistic mindset would think that they HAD to do things. James 2:18 “But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” The works are only a result of the faith. It is a response to the joy they have in their hearts because of the faith. We aren’t commanded to do good works. The good works should flow out of our hearts because of the majesty and wonderful God we serve.
To the last part about pushing God on them…
Heck no they didn’t push God on them. They lived Godly lives and people were drawn to that. It is the kindness of God that leads people to repentance. I know they urged people because they knew it was the best thing for them, but urging isn’t the same as pushing or forcing.
Joel, sorry for the long comment, but I think your right on. I have some teachings you would really eat up if you want them email me. dustin@endurelife.com
Keep it up!!
Dustin
April 18, 2008 at 2:20 am
tODD
Dustin, I’m not sure that you do disagree with me. Your sentence “The works are only a result of the faith” was basically my point — whether or not I made my point so that anyone other than me understood it is a different question.
But I agree: the “apostles’ teaching” was more than just “do this, don’t do that” — in fact, it focused on the forgiveness we have in Jesus.
I’m not sure what you mean, though, when you say that “we have been set free from the rules” or that “we aren’t commanded to do good works.” Surely we can’t do whatever we want (though we can do — and in thankfulness will want to do — whatever God wants). As you point out, we are still commanded to love God and our neighbor. That’s a law, a rule. Paul talks a lot about our relationship to the law in the first several chapters of Romans.
As for your question of “Who wouldn’t be drawn to [the forgiveness and love they had in Jesus]?”, well, the answer seems obvious: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the self-righteous, those comfortable in their sins, and so on. Preaching God’s love for the whole world doesn’t guarantee our message will be popular. Far from it. Jesus himself told us that: “All men will hate you because of me.” (Luke 21:17) And “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” (John 15:18-19)
And did they “push God on them” or merely live “Godly lives”? I guess it depends on what we mean by “push” — obviously you can’t force someone to believe by saying something. But read the sermons — street preaching, even! — of the apostles in Acts again. They didn’t mince words, and they talked about Jesus a lot, even when it made the people so made they wanted to kill them. Peter at least twice convicted the crowd of their sins (including crucifying Jesus) before telling them forgiveness could be theirs. He then did it again two more times in front of the Sanhedrin. Similarly, Stephen’s speech before he was stoned was particularly designed to show the leaders their sins. And so on with Paul.