Communion of Saints Together (Acts 2:42)

In the previous sermon in this series we considered the communion that believers have with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit, fellowship that is vertical as they ascend in a spiritual manner to meet with their God. Such communion is wonderful, but it is not the only kind of fellowship that believers can have. In addition they can, and should, have fellowship with one another on the horizontal level. A verse that describes such interaction is Acts 2:42: ‘And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.’ What had happened that caused such a display of togetherness?

The preaching of the gospel by the apostles had been blessed in Jerusalem and large numbers had been converted. Many of these converts were from other countries and eventually they would have returned home. It is not possible to know if any of them are included in the description of church life given in Acts 2:42, although the presence of such persons would require the practice of sharing meals in different homes which is mentioned in 2:46. In any case, eventually those from other countries would return home and the disciples would be mainly those who lived in the city. What did these disciples do? According to this verse, they had fellowship with one another in four different ways.

These early disciples had certain features of their lives that are common to all disciples, even those living today, and that is that each of them lived in three worlds. First, a disciple of Jesus in Jerusalem lives in a personal Christian world (for example, his private devotions and his personal witness to Jesus). Second, the disciple of Jesus lives in a non-Christian world (for example, his employment or among his neighbours). Third, such a disciple lives in a communal Christian world (his involvement in the meetings and activities of other believers). Luke here describes the third of these possible worlds – corporate Christian living: ‘And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.’ In this verse, he specifies their four activities as well as indicating how they performed each of these interests.

Manner of their involvement

Luke records that they devoted themselves to church life. The description that he uses points to utter dedication, almost to a sense of stubbornness, to the corporate activities of the church in Jerusalem. Nothing could prevent them attending its gatherings.

The obvious question to ask is, ‘Why did they devote themselves to these activities?’ Each of them had met Jesus Christ and was beginning to discover that he or she had entered a new world. They had been religious before, steeped in Judaism, which was why they had been in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Pentecost. But now they had experienced a new and better situation in which they could encounter Jesus Christ in the gatherings of his people.

Marks of a healthy church

As we noted, Luke mentions four regular features of the life of this congregation. It may be that Luke lists the features in the order in which they would have occurred in a Christian gathering. Their time together would have begun with teaching, followed by a time of sharing, then the Lord’s Supper, and finally a time of prayer. Whether this order was always followed cannot be proved. What is clear is that these were the four features of the corporate life of the early church in Jerusalem.

Apostolic teaching

The first feature is that these new disciples were devoted to the teaching of the apostles. This phrase does not mean that they believed the doctrines that the apostles also believed, although there is no doubt that they did so. Instead it means that they attended upon the teaching of the apostles. They came to the locations where one or more of the apostles were giving instruction to the church.

Of course, it is possible to have spiritual teaching falling on deaf ears, just as it is possible sadly to have nonsense falling on spiritual ears. The ideal situation is a combination of spiritual teaching and spiritual listening. Luke highlights the fact that the members of the church were hungry for such teaching.

How did they maintain the hunger? Perhaps an illustration from today will help. It is natural to feel hungry. Yet there is more than one way to meet the hunger. One person may resolve his hunger pangs by eating junk food. This will have two effects: he will not maintain a healthy body and he will have no space for proper food. Our minds will always be hungry for knowledge and our hearts will always be eager for emotional experiences. These expressions are part of what it means to be human. Every day, our minds and heart will get provision. We will know that we have been eating spiritual junk food if we do not have an appetite for the teaching of the Word.

These early Christians did not regard listening to teaching as intellectually stifling. Instead they wanted their minds expanded by the truth, and there is no limit to the extent by which our minds can be gradually extended, and if we persevere, we will make great spiritual discoveries as we listen to biblical teaching. We can imagine them realising in deeper ways the amazing details of the plan of salvation.

In that they listened to the teaching of all the apostles, it is evident that the church in Jerusalem was not yet affected by the tendency to follow particular teachers. This problem raised its head in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:12), and it has abounded ever since. Rather we are to be like the church in Jerusalem in that it was so hungry for teaching that they would listen eagerly to whichever of the apostles was explaining the faith. No doubt, these apostles would have differed in style and emphasis, because each would have communicated the truth through their own individual experience of Jesus.

Fellowship

Secondly, the members of the church in Jerusalem engaged in fellowship with one another. Fellowship is more than meeting together; it is meeting together to share Christian realities. I suspect what Luke has in mind here is less formal, mutual edification. It would have involved practical expressions of brotherly love (after all, many of these converts were not from Jerusalem, but must have stayed on to learn more about their new faith before they returned home), and no doubt there were many expressions of thankfulness as those in need received from those who had plenty to give.

Yet their fellowship was also verbal. We can imagine these disciples meeting together after some of them had heard the address of an apostle and saying to one another, ‘That teaching did me good. It spoke to a situation I was facing this week. Let me tell you about it.’ And his friends, after hearing about it, would promise to pray for him. Or another might say, ‘I did not fully grasp what Peter said today.’ His friends would then try and explain it, or if they could not, they would say, ‘Let’s go and ask Peter what he meant.’ Such interaction is a very effective means of writing biblical truth in our hearts and it also encourages believers to listen to one another and pray for one another.

The Lord’s Supper

Thirdly, these early Christians took part in the breaking of bread or the Lord’s Supper. References in the Book of Acts suggest that the early church took part in the Lord’s Supper every Lord’s Day. Indeed, it was by this particular function that Paul defined the regular Sunday service in Troas, although other features such as preaching and sharing also took place: ‘On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight’ (Acts 20:7).

There are many uses of the Lord’s Supper, but I will mention two briefly. First, it is a reminder that we are pilgrims on a journey. At the Supper, we not only look back to what Jesus did on the cross, we also look forward to the return of Jesus in the future. At the Lord’s Table, we express our grateful love to Jesus for taking our place on the cross, and we increase our longing for the better world that is yet to be.

Second, the Lord’s Supper is a visible picture of the common bond that believers have with one another. It is a family meal in which the children of God meet under the loving eye of their heavenly Father, recall the activities of their Elder Brother, look ahead to their enjoyment of the family inheritance, and do so under the guidance of the Spirit of adoption.

Prayers

The fourth feature of early church life was prayers. As with the Lord’s Supper, many things can be said about prayer. Prayer is an expression of dependence on God, and the degree we pray reveals the extent of our dependence. In addition, prayer is an expression of our expectation of God, of what we understand his promises and abilities to be. It is not a sign of unbelief to pray often for the same blessing; rather such repetition is an expression of ardent desire to receive from God.

Obviously, we can pray by ourselves and receive answers to our prayers. Such is an aspect of the communion of saints as we are led in private by the Spirit to pray for one another, sometimes is a striking and direct manner. Yet private prayer can never be a substitute for corporate prayer, and it is a sin to engage in private prayer if we should be at the corporate prayer meeting. It also seems to be the case that answers are given to corporate prayer quicker and in greater degree than with answers to private prayer.

Means of grace

In addition to these four features being the marks of a healthy church, they are also means of grace. By this term, we mean that Jesus is also active in each of them.

Jesus is active in the teaching ministry of the church. When these believers gathered together, they heard one or more of the apostles preaching to them. Yet behind the scenes, Jesus was functioning as the Prophet of his church. Throughout their time of teaching, he was leading his servants as to what to say, and he would have something to say to each person that was gathered there.

Jesus is active in the fellowship of the church. Sometimes he prompts some of his people to share temporal provisions with other believers. At other times he leads disciples to ask particular questions to a fellow Christian in order to identify something that is wrong. Or he may lead them to quote encouraging promises to another believer without them being aware of the individual’s needs.

Jesus is also active in the Lord’s Supper. He is not absent from the occasion, although he is not physically in the room. He comes to meet with his people, to strengthen them spiritually with graces from heaven. There may not be a connection, but I wonder why some churches that do not have frequent communion also have problems with lack of assurance. It is the case that failure to have a means of grace deprives us of occasions for receiving from Jesus.

Finally, Jesus is active during times of prayer. Like the conductor of an orchestra, he points to one member and gets him or her to pray about a particular thing.  Jesus should be in control of the vocal and silent prayers of the church. Prayer that receives answers comes from the heavenly Conductor. We speak about individuals leading in prayer, which is the case when words are spoken. But we should pray to be led by Jesus, whether our prayers are vocal or silent. If we are not praying in the secret of our hearts during a prayer meeting, it means that the Conductor does not think we are in a fit state to contribute to the harmony of the occasion.

Sometimes we search for a definition of a Christian. Often the definition concerns his private Christian life or his involvement with the world. Seldom does a definition focus on how he relates to the church. Yet I think it is legitimate to say that a true Christian is a person who wants to meet with other Christians in order to learn, in order to share, in order to remember their Master, and in order to pray. Luke describes church life in Jerusalem long ago. Does he describe ours today?