A Model Church
Acts 2:42–47
Attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God. Acts 2:46–47
Consider some of the things that are said about this model church.
It was a Bible-studying church. A Spirit-filled church is always going to be a Bible-studying church. And what is true of the church is true for individuals also. If you are Spirit-filled, then you will be drawn to this Book. The Holy Spirit, whose chief task is to bear witness to Jesus Christ, inevitably draws the people of God to Jesus through the Scriptures.
Evangelical, Spirit-filled, Bible-oriented churches should offer many ways for people to get to know the Bible. It must be done through the preaching. It may be done through Bible classes and home Bible studies. We are going to see that the early Christians worshiped in their homes. So I am sure they studied the Bible in their homes.
It was a church that practiced fellowship. Christian fellowship means “common participation in God.” These early Christians had all participated in God the Father and in Jesus Christ, so they quite naturally participated in a common life and shared everything with one another. Fellowship with God and true fellowship with others go together. If you find yourself out of fellowship with God, you will begin to find yourself out of fellowship with other Christians. But if you come close to God, you will inevitably find yourself being drawn close to other Christians. And it works the other way too. If you spend time with other Christians, that fellowship will help to draw you closer to the Father.
It was a church that worshiped. “Breaking of bread” (v. 42) stands for the communion service, and prayer here is the formal exercise of prayer in the assembly. The Greek text actually says, “to the prayers.” They devoted themselves “to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.” Obviously, that is a reference to something formal. There is also a reference to formal worship by the phrase “attending the temple” (v. 46), probably referring to the courtyard of the Gentiles. Then, not only did the Christians worship in a formal setting, but they worshiped informally as well, as the phrase says: “breaking bread in their homes.” It means that they observed communion in the court and in their homes. They had formal worship and they had informal worship.
It was a witnessing church. This is why we find that the Lord added “to their number day by day those who were being saved” (v. 47). We know that the way God reaches people is through the spoken word and that when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, those who received the Spirit immediately began to speak about Jesus. How could they do otherwise? They had experienced something wonderful, the ministry of God’s Son. They had to share it with other people. How could they not?
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.