ACTS 2:42

On the day of Pentecost three thousand souls were saved. Some of these went back to the countries that they came from, but many of them stayed in Jerusalem and became a part of the first church. What was that first church like? That might be a good thing to know so that you can see if your church is like it. The church as it existed after the day of Pentecost is described in Acts 2:42-47. It says “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” There are five basic things that took place in this early church as described in these verses: 1. Bible study and Bible preaching, 2. Prayer, 3. Praise, 4. Christian fellowship and Christians helping one another, 5. Soul-winning.

Concerning the importance in the church of Bible study and Bible preaching and Bible teaching, it says here, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.” The apostles’ doctrine refers to the teachings of the apostles. Today we have those teachings in the New Testament. All of the books of the New Testament were written by the apostles or the direct associates of the apostles. It is mentioned first here and it is probably the most important thing that must take place in a church: the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Find a person that is called and gifted and prepared, and have them preach and teach the Word. Paul said to Timothy, “Preach the Word.” Only the Word can feed hungry souls. Only the Word can help Christians to grow spiritually and to become more like Christ. Jesus is the living Word: the Bible is the written Word. If only more churches understood better the importance of continuing “steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.” No church will be spiritually strong or doctrinally sound without this faithfulness to the apostles’ doctrine. Don’t teach a system of theology: teach the Word.

The second thing that this early church did was to have a lot of Christian fellowship. There was no such thing as going to church, sitting in a pew, and then getting up and going home. In the early church Christians spent time with each other. Just think of the meaning of the word church. It means literally “those that are called out.” Of course, that means called of the Lord and called out of the world. Those that have been called by Jesus should have a bond and an affinity that no one else in the world can have. Of course they are united; and of course, they are close; and of course, they spend time together. Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you have love one for another.” If you want to have a church like the early church, then try to find ways where believers can spend more meaningful time together instead of just sitting in pews. Church dinners are good for that. Why not have preaching, prayer, and a church dinner every Sunday instead of an evening service? The early church had “fellowship” and “breaking of bread.” By the way, Christian fellowship means to talk about the things of the Lord.

Of course, the early church went beyond even good Christian fellowship. They took care of each other. They made sure that none of their number suffered in poverty or starvation. It was a remarkable time of sharing such as is not seen very often in any society. Acts 2:45 says, “And they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.” There is plenty in this world to go around. When God gives you more than you need, it is not solely for the purpose of hoarding it for yourself. It is also to give you the means to help others. It is not your substance anyway. It all belongs to God. God wants to give you the blessing of a being a part in helping others. James gave a warning to wealthy believers who do not use their substance generously for God’s glory. He said in James 5:2-3, “Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” When Paul wrote to the Corinthians asking them to give to the poor believers in Jerusalem, Paul reminded the Corinthians, “God loveth a cheerful giver.”

The early church had prayer. Why did they pray so much? Maybe because they realized how much they needed the Lord in the first century Roman Empire. We need the Lord’s help just as much as they did, so we need to be praying just as much as they did. Maybe they remembered the example of Jesus. He prayed before He ate. He prayed at night. He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was crucified. Jesus told the apostles, “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” And Jesus taught us all how to pray: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.”

The early church had preaching, prayer, and praise as a part of their gatherings together. It says that they were “praising God.” We certainly have a lot for which to praise God. We can praise Him for sending His Son. We can praise Him for salvation. We can praise Him for the precious promises He has given to us. We can praise Him for the future that He has planned in His Kingdom. We can praise Him for the opportunities and challenges of life. We can praise Him that He will be with us every step of the way. We can praise Him for faith and hope and love, and all the great things of a Christian character that He has given us to aspire to. If you want to be happy, look on the good side. Identify the things for which you can be thankful and praise God for those things. That is what the early church did. They were not down in the dumps, depressed, or discouraged because of persecutions. They praised God. Praising God should be a part of church gatherings. Songs that praise God, and testimony services that give believers a chance to praise God can help. The Psalmist said in Psalms 100:1-5, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before his presence with singing. Know you that the Lord he is God: it is he that has made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endures to all generations.”

Preaching, prayer, praise, and Christian love and fellowship, and soul-winning: those were the activities of the early church. The consequence, the result, of being involved in such things in the right way is made clear in the last of these verses in Acts chapter 2:47, “And having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” When you do the right thing, sometimes you are persecuted for it, but generally speaking people will honor you for the character and the life that you are living. People in society will approve of good behavior. That is why Jesus said, “They will see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” People who do not believe get attracted to the gospel of Christ when people who do believe live the way the members of the early church lived. The Lord will touch hearts. The Lord will add to the church daily such as should be saved.

There is one more thing to notice about the early church in Jerusalem. It says in Acts 2:46 that they were “daily with one accord in the temple.” The temple was a part of the Jewish religion, and yet we are talking about the early church. What was going on here? We must point out one more time that this was a transition period. Yes, the day of Pentecost had come, but these believers were almost all Jews; and they still had lessons to learn about what changes were brought by Jesus and by the Holy Spirit. It is also another place in the book of Acts that shows us that the book of Acts is an accurate record of what the apostles did, but it does not mean that we are supposed to copy everything that they did. Some of the things they did because they were of Jewish ancestry.

The Bible says in Acts 3:1-7, “Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have I give thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.” Again we see Peter and John doing one of the things that the early church was so good at doing: praying. At least they were on the way to the temple to pray. If you keep at the things that God wants you to do, then you will come across the things that He wants you to come across and you will meet the people that He wants you to meet. It works that way for lost souls also. When you are a lost soul, at just the right time in your life God will send someone to cross your path because God is going to use them to reach you.

That is what happened to this lame man. One question that is worth asking is: why was this man healed? Surely he was healed in order to help him and give him an escape from his low estate. And undoubtedly he was healed in order to bring honor and glory to the name of Jesus. When the man was healed Peter said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” But there was something else going on here also. God was showing that He was still doing the works that were done in Christ through the apostles of Christ. Jesus rose from the dead, and therefore His works did not cease. The miraculous works of Christ continued in and through the apostles. Of course, these miraculous powers that were manifested through the apostles were done to also emphasize the authority of the apostles. Where do you find the answers about God and about Christ and about truth? You find the answers in the doctrines that the apostles taught. The apostles are the authorities. No preacher or teacher today, and no church or denomination is the final authority. The doctrines of the apostles as they are recorded for us in the New Testament are the final authority. That is why those in the early church “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.”

Concerning the man that was healed, the Bible says in Acts 3:8-11, “And he leaping up, stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God; And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon, greatly wondering.” This man was healed, and everyone knew that he was healed because they had seen the lame man every day as he sat and begged. Unless you really know someone and are personally aware of their situation, you do not know if they have been healed or not.

There are a lot of phony healers today. There are a lot of fakes who pretend to heal when they do not really do so. They do it to get money, and they do it because they start with a false premise. They falsely think that they should be able to do what the apostles did. The reason that the apostles could do such things is because they were apostles, but there were only twelve apostles. They had a special task during the transition period when the church of Jesus was being established, and when the New Testament doctrines were being written down and distributed. We no longer have apostles because we have the scriptures now. The apostles had the gifts and calling that only the apostles had. Once their tasks had been fulfilled, their gifts were no longer needed. Now other gifts have been given to the followers of Jesus: gifts of preachers and evangelists, and pastors and teachers. These gifts have been given so that the doctrines of the apostles will be opened up and fed to the believers of Jesus. We have the Word. Now who will take the Word and feed Jesus’ sheep with it? Those who are gifted and called and prepared will do it, if they do not neglect the gift that is in them.

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