What Did the First Church Look LIke? - Acts 2

Having been a pastor for 25 years, I know the church is constantly looking for the "silver bullet".  What do I mean by this?  The "silver bullet" is the one program, slogan, new ministry that will make the church grow.  It is good for every church and every pastor and leader to want the church to grow, but is there a "silver bullet"?  I would say no. I think a church is more like an organism.  Healthy organisms grow, unhealthy ones do not.  So if a church is healthy it should grow right?  

Let's look at the first church and its DNA.  What did it focus on did which created the enviromnment for the church to grow?  My assumption is that the purpose of every church is growth.  According to the Great Commission Jesus gave his disciples in Matthew 28, it certainly seems to be his assumption.  Let's look at Acts 2 as a blueprint for a healthy church that grows naturally. 

Acts 2:42-47 The Fellowship of the Believers 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 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, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

I like the term the "devoted" themselves.  This means they were intentional about it.  They didn't just do everything anyone felt like doing.  So let's breakdown what was happening in the early church community, as they met every day in the temple courts and broke break together in their homes.  So what did they devote themselves to?

1. Listened to the apostle's teaching.  They were steadfast in hearing God's Word through the apostle's teaching about who Jesus was and what he had done for them.  They also taught what it mean to live like Jesus did. Notice the teaching focused on the person and work of Jesus Christ, and our response to what He has done for us. 

2.  Breaking of Bread - This is a reference to the Lord's supper where they gathered to remember what Jesus had done for them on the cross.  They remembered the meal where Jesus explained how the bread was his body broken for them, and the wine was his blood poured out for them for the forgiveness of sin. 

3. Prayer - The way the passage is written in the original language it should read they devoted themselves to "the prayers".  This indicates it was a formal part of the gathering.  We don't know exactly what the prayers consisted of but we see the results in the next passage. 

The passage says, "the people were filled with awe at the many signs and wonders performed by the apostles".  The result of hearing God's word, remembering his death in a meal and the prayers created a spiritually potent combination where the Holy Spirit worked powerfully.  Supernatural things happened that could only be explained by God.  

Does this sound exciting to you?  It does to me.  Even more exciting was the result of such a community.  The passage concludes by saying, "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Notice the church did not produce any of its own growth.  They were faithful to what Jesus had called them to do.  The Lord was the one who added to their number and how often? Daily!  

Shortly thereafter in the book of Acts we will see the early church was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.  No church is perfect because it is made up of imperfect people like you and me.  Yet, today's description of the first church is a great model for us to follow.  It shows that God wants to grow His church His way.  His Son died for the church so that it could share the message of God's love and grace with the whole world.  Let's become more like the first church and see what God does!