What is the “church” as God intended for it to be? It’s interesting but, for most people today, church is something they “do!” Is that what God and His Son intend? Is the church just to be a social service group? We can learn a lot about what the church is to be just from looking at Acts 2. The latter half of chapter 2 demonstrates for us what the church is to be.
1. The N.T. church preached Christ (vs. 22-36). They preached Christ as the crucified Savior whom God had made both Lord and Christ. They called upon people to hear, believe and trust in Jesus to the point it moved them to obey Him in every way. To live for Him and be like Him in every way. And, it didn’t stop here in Acts 2. It continued on everywhere (Acts 8:35; 2 Cor. 1:19).
2. The N.T. church also taught and practiced baptism (vs. 37-41). This was commanded by Jesus, Himself while He was still here with His apostles (Mark 16:16; Matt. 28:18-20). This command was directly connected to forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We find no such thing as an “unbaptized” Christian in the New Testament. Every single conversion recorded in God’s word, after the establishment of the Lord’s church, was by means of baptism.
3. The N.T. church also preached and taught that to be a true Christian, one must be committed to Christ. (vs. 42-46). What were they committed to? It tells us here in these verses they were committed to “the apostles’ teaching”, that is, the doctrine they were teaching by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Also to “fellowship”, that is, the fellowshipping of each other, putting out special effort to be together as Christians, as followers of Christ as much, as often as they possibly could. And committed to “breaking of bread”, a specific reference to the Lord’s Supper, that is, remembering and honoring their Savior for His death, burial and resurrection by which they could be saved from their sins. Acts 20:7 emphasizes this was done every Lord’s Day. And then, it also says they were devoted, committed to prayer. They were committed to communicating with God. Their commitment to Christ was demonstrated to the world by their actions.
4. As a result of all this, the church experienced daily growth (vs. 47). This tells us that when one responds to and obeys the gospel by means of hearing, repenting, confession and baptism it is God’s pleasure to add them to the church which is the Body of Christ. And, that also means it is the responsibility of those in the church to accept and receive those being converted with joy and love.
What happened as a result of all this, it says in vs. 47 that they were praising God and having favor with all the people.
Brethren, may we do all we can to insure that this describes us as the Lord’s church right here in Wagoner.
Until next week, I love you all,
Dan
1. The N.T. church preached Christ (vs. 22-36). They preached Christ as the crucified Savior whom God had made both Lord and Christ. They called upon people to hear, believe and trust in Jesus to the point it moved them to obey Him in every way. To live for Him and be like Him in every way. And, it didn’t stop here in Acts 2. It continued on everywhere (Acts 8:35; 2 Cor. 1:19).
2. The N.T. church also taught and practiced baptism (vs. 37-41). This was commanded by Jesus, Himself while He was still here with His apostles (Mark 16:16; Matt. 28:18-20). This command was directly connected to forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We find no such thing as an “unbaptized” Christian in the New Testament. Every single conversion recorded in God’s word, after the establishment of the Lord’s church, was by means of baptism.
3. The N.T. church also preached and taught that to be a true Christian, one must be committed to Christ. (vs. 42-46). What were they committed to? It tells us here in these verses they were committed to “the apostles’ teaching”, that is, the doctrine they were teaching by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Also to “fellowship”, that is, the fellowshipping of each other, putting out special effort to be together as Christians, as followers of Christ as much, as often as they possibly could. And committed to “breaking of bread”, a specific reference to the Lord’s Supper, that is, remembering and honoring their Savior for His death, burial and resurrection by which they could be saved from their sins. Acts 20:7 emphasizes this was done every Lord’s Day. And then, it also says they were devoted, committed to prayer. They were committed to communicating with God. Their commitment to Christ was demonstrated to the world by their actions.
4. As a result of all this, the church experienced daily growth (vs. 47). This tells us that when one responds to and obeys the gospel by means of hearing, repenting, confession and baptism it is God’s pleasure to add them to the church which is the Body of Christ. And, that also means it is the responsibility of those in the church to accept and receive those being converted with joy and love.
What happened as a result of all this, it says in vs. 47 that they were praising God and having favor with all the people.
Brethren, may we do all we can to insure that this describes us as the Lord’s church right here in Wagoner.
Until next week, I love you all,
Dan
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