What does it mean to belong to the Church?

Acts 2:42-47

This passage tells us that being part of the Church means to be devoted to certain things.

To devote yourself to something or someone, is to give your full attention and effort to it. Being devoted is to seriously and earnestly persist in something. It is not possible to be part of the church in a half-hearted or casual way. Christ said to a lukewarm church: You are neither hot nor cold, so I spit you out of my mouth!

Our text gives us a short list of behaviours that answer the question ‘What does it meant to be part of the church?’ None of the things spoken of here was done lightly or for appearances. Those Christians meant business. They were internally driven to do these things. It was not duty, not rules, not the upkeep of a tradition. They FELT something! The Holy Spirit was stirring them.

Before we pay attention to this short list of behaviours – we need to notice what drove them to devote themselves to these things. Where did the motivation come from, that brought out such devoted behaviour?

I’m sure you know the context of this chapter in Acts. Peter, the apostle, has recently preached the first public gospel message, to a large crowd that gathered in the street and courtyard of the big house the disciples were renting in the city of Jerusalem. There were 100 or so Christians at the house and Christ had just sent the Holy Spirit to be poured out in them – just as he had promised. It was the birth of the Spirit-filled Church. The resulting joyful commotion caused people to come running to find out what was going down. Peter, full of the Holy Spirit stood up on the balcony and preached loudly to the crowd packed into the narrow streets. His message had a stunning effect on the people. Listen:

37 When the people heard Peter’s message, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

A deep cut to the heart that exposed their feelings unworthiness in front of God, brought many people to repentance. They accepted the message and were baptised. This deep cut was caused by the word of God, preached by Peter.
Hebrews 4.12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

This is the starting point of the lively, significant first church that was so full of motivated people, devoted to God’s concerns: Those people had received a deep cut to the heart.

They had seen their critical need to make peace with God.
They had learned that only Jesus Christ could affect that reconciliation with God. They understood that his recent horrific execution at the cross was a sacrifice for their sin.
They repented.
They accepted the promises of the good news, including forgiveness and the refreshing, rebuilding presence of the Holy Spirit in them.
They were baptised.
They were added to the people of God.

The Holy Spirit who was motivated them to the devotion we read in Acts 2. These people didn’t just ooze into the church. They received a blow to their sinful lives - a deep cut to the heart - that transformed their outlook on EVERYTHING! Being part of the church was transformational.

The church has gone off the boil in our day; you can call almost anything a church.
We drive past run-down buildings where hardly anyone bothers to meet, but because it has a sign on it that says ‘such and such church’ or because it has churchy architecture - people call it a church.

You can have a community centre called St Peter’s that runs youth programmes, indoor bowls, Zumba, Yoga and a Bridge Club on Thursday mornings with scones – and people say that it’s a church - but it’s NOT those things that make a church.

You can rent a warehouse and fill it with a heaving mass of people listening to loud music and call it church – but it may not be.

You can have a group of people faithful to a tradition or denomination, going through the motions – carefully maintaining the practices that that denomination has historically held on to – but it is not necessarily a church.

Actually in most cases these examples are not churches. Just because something has feathers doesn’t mean it’s a duck – it could be sleeping bag or a flash hat! Likewise, not every group that meets in a building and does vaguely Christian stuff is a church. There is a much higher standard of proof required. And here it is: The test of the identity of a church is in this list of devoted behaviours in our text.
You can use this list to check to discover whether you are in a church – and if it IS one, whether YOU are part of it! This is for YOU to judge. And the issue at the heart of this is individual, personal DEVOTION.

Devotion means diving in – immersing yourself in the ocean that is Christ and his calling and purpose for you and your church. It is not sipping occasional Bible medicine from a teaspoon.

1. These Christians devoted themselves to the apostles teaching. In those times, at the very early stage of the Church, they had the apostles themselves with them - freshly taught by Jesus and freshly filled with the Holy Spirit. The apostles preached Christ from the Old Testament and they re-taught what Jesus had taught them. Jesus solemnly promised that he would give them the Holy Spirit as their teacher and that he would bring to mind all that he had taught them. John 14:
The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

We too have the apostles teaching – we have it in the New Testament in written form. So if we are devoted to the apostles’ teaching like the early church, we will be devoted to learning from the Bible.

OK, so you’re part of the church, right? I’m not going to tell you that you are. You need to know whether you are. And here is the first way you can check for yourself: Are you intensely, frequently, purposely devouring God’s Word? A follower of Jesus Christ, is eagerly - desperately even – searching the Bible and talking about it with others. These early Christians proved they were part of the church by devoting themselves to the Word of God. Do you? When you all meet together, is learning from God’s word a central feature? Are your home groups rich with people sharing the Bible with one another? When the women meet together, are they just arranging flowers – or are they also devoting time to seriously explore and apply God’s Word. When the youth or the children meet, are they just playing games, or are they also being challenged by lively committed Christians, who share God’s Word with them?

Those Christians saw amazing evidence of the power of God’s Word. There were signs and wonders. Massive personal problems were being repaired. People suffering from the love of money were being healed. People with diseases were being made well. Toxic family relationships were being purified. Filthy minds were being purged. Addict were being unchained.

Signs and wonders follow the preaching of the word. Mark 16.20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that followed (or accompanied it).

When a church gets on with preaching the Word - God will back it up with the signs and wonders he wisely considers necessary. We are not talking about fake excitement like the shows put on by Benny Hinn – but you can expect to see evidence of the Holy Spirit blowing through your church like the wind blowing through a large tree – setting everything in motion from the trunk to the tiniest leaf.

2. Next evidence that you have a Bible church and are you are part of it: They were devoted to THE fellowship. Notice that it doesn’t say ‘devoted to fellowship’. There is a difference. Devoted to fellowship, means that you LIKE fellowship – it’s pleasant – it means your needs. Well, Christian fellowship CAN meet your needs – it is MEANT to be very satisfying. But it never becomes that way by you going into it to get what you want from it. This misunderstanding is why so many people say things like: “Yeah, I used to go to that church, but it wasn’t giving me what I wanted.” The real question is: “Am I giving to my church what it needs?” As Jesus said: It is more blessed to give than to receive. He speaks the truth you know!

When you are devoted to THE fellowship – that means you are intensely committed to the people that form the fellowship. You are intent on building others up. You are intent on serving them and developing spiritual gifts that will strengthen them in Christ.

So, is this a church and are you a part of the church? Check your attitude to THE fellowship. Are you devoted to it? Or do you come and go as you feel like, with no sense of commitment to the feelings or needs of others? Are you discouraging Christians here by rarely opening your home for a shared meal, a home group, or by hardly ever having anything challenging or encouraging to share with others, or by disappearing for weeks at a time and then drifting back when you feel like it? What message does that send to others? Does it say that you love them, you care about their lives and that you want to grow and serve Christ with them? Devote yourself to the Fellowship.

Verses 44-46 expand on this commitment to fellowship. Those Christians used what they possessed for the good of the church. They saw their homes, and possessions as resources for blessing the church. Rather than possessing their possessions, they used them as messengers of love. If they had surplus stuff beyond their own needs, they gave it away or sold it and invested the money in the needs of others.

There were massive social and material needs in that Jerusalem church as it grew at such a phenomenal rate. How awesome it would be if in our lifetime we were to experience such a massive, accelerated growth of the church that we had to pool our resources to meet the needs of those jostling their way into God’s kingdom. Nevertheless – there WILL be circumstances where generosity is needed – beyond what seems financially prudent! But think like this: Is my house the best possible house to support the growth of the church? Do I know my people well enough, that if someone lacked food or blankets or child-minding, I could jump in provide some of those things? This is not a rule. This is love in action. This is spiritual problem-solving. This is what it means to be part of the church.

Verse 46 emphasises the frequent happy contact those believers enjoyed. They met in public meetings for teaching and worship - and they met in homes for encouragement, prayer and problem-solving. They ate together and enjoyed each other’s’ company.
What does it mean to be part of the Church? It means to be GENUINELY part of other Christian’s lives.

3. Next devotion: They were devoted to the breaking of bread. Devotion includes passion – you can’t be devoted without feeling something. We are not talking about duty here. There are people who maintain the Lord ’s Supper – the ‘breaking of bread’ – as a kind of badge of their orthodoxy – a kind of proof that they are the real oil. Someone might even think of themselves as genuinely ‘Brethren’ because the break bread every Sunday. But that is not devotion – that is religion. Devotion is this. You break bread because you feel the need to keep remembering personally - and reminding your brother and sister Christians – where your LIFE comes from.

Breaking bread, also called the Lord’s Supper, is something done over and over and over again – because we need to be reminded over and over and over again that without Christ we are nothing. Christ is EVERYTHING. We didn’t get his life because of any fine efforts of our own. We got it through his shame. Christ was made SIN for us! He was made a CURSE for us. He BLED for us. He surrendered his body to the cross and wrote a new agreement with God for us in his own blood. Unless we can eat his body and drink his blood we have no life in us.

Too strong? Eating his body? Drinking his blood? What is this? Well, argue with Bible. Hear what Jesus said. John 6.53ff
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

It is absolutely clear that Jesus teaches here that he is the source of life for his followers. Eating his flesh and drinking his blood means two things:
1. It means that we have identified so very closely and personally with his death and resurrection – that we take them for our own. Our own death to sin. Our own springing up to a new way of living. And we do that because the gospel invites us to. God promises to accept Christ as the sacrifice for our sins.
2. It also means that we have to GO ON eating and drinking Christ. We feed on him for spiritual life all the time, for every circumstance.

Being devoted to the breaking of bread, means confessing to God, to yourself and to each other – over and over again – that we need Jesus Christ like we need food – not just an occasional contact – we need him to sustain our lives spiritually night and day.

4. Next devotion: prayer. These first Christians were unflinching in prayer. They prayed the kind of prayers that Jesus taught his disciples. Take the prayer we know as the Lord’s prayer.
Our Father in heaven: This prayer is made to the God of the universe who is greater than the universe. He is Father – originator of everything. He occupies heaven. He can and will sustain things, change things, defeat things, build things. He is God over everything!

Hallowed be your name: This is the single big over-arching request that everything in this prayer is directed towards. Hallowed means ‘confessed as holy’. May your name be confessed – acknowledged – and kept holy. This prayer is asking that through all the various life experiences we pray about, that the name of God will be seen to be magnificent as he works them out. That his name will be magnified (which is similar to the word magnificent) that he is regarded by all as the greatest – the ultimate value – the most precious and satisfying personhood above and beyond anything anyone could imagine, ask or think. This prayer (hallowed by your name) is saying: “God assert your marvellous character and power – because that is the highest good.” It is not just stuff we are praying for. It is that we will see and possess God himself as our greatest treasure.

Now this is quite different to the mindset of much that we call prayer. How often it is that the highest aim of our prayers is US! That God will make US the highest good through our prayers. Actually, if we can share in God’s goodness, then we will be properly satisfied.

The early church devoted themselves to prayer – which means they devoted themselves to seeking God’s glory – that he should be displayed in all his magnificence in everything that happened to them. If this is a church and you part of it – one major piece of evidence will be your devotion to prayer. You will see it as a way to maximise the glory that goes to God as he moves you and your church ahead in the path of his will.

I’ve been pointing out from these verses, that the answer to the question you gave me: What does it mean to be part of the Church? is very substantially discovered by you examining your church and your part in it - to see whether you are devoted to learning from the Bible, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer.

The church is supposed to be the place in all the world where the best representation of Christ’s character and purpose for humanity is seen and heard. How are you doing?

Look at Verse 43
Did you notice the reference to fear (or awe) there?
Awe is a very strong emotion - awe is almost fear and may be terrifying in some circumstances. Clearly it is a deeply felt emotion which produces a feeling of insignificance and reverence in the presence of what is fearful or awesome. Fear has to do with punishment or attack – so terrifying FEAR is felt towards an enemy. But when that is felt towards an ally or Rescuer - it is AWE. These Christians felt awe towards God. We ‘fear God’ in the sense of feeling awe of him. We know he is utterly pure and that he will not shake hands with evil but will eventually destroy it wherever it is found. This is why we have come to trust in Christ – to find safety in him. He has absorbed God’s wrath against us.

There must be awe in the church. And if you are part of the church, you must be in awe of God. We need awe in the church. When individuals and the church are filled with awe about God, then being part of the church won’t seem small, petty, ineffective and just humans going through the motions.

The singing will swell, the respect for others will increase, there will be a strong awareness that Christ himself is leading the Church – people will be collaring you and asking you to give the reason for the hope you have. There will be seriousness – not a boring dullness – but a sense that we must not mess up what God is doing. There will be an increasing desire to please God and see his church grow.

In conclusion: It says in V47 that those who were being saved, were added to the church by the Lord. I think this emphasises the dynamic, fluid, growing nature of the church. It wasn’t a case of people being categorised or numbered as belonging to the church. The church was full of people who were experiencing and celebrating continual saving and repeated rescues by the Holy Spirit. Of course they were saved once and for all at new birth, but their salvation was being worked out in actions every day. Philippians 2.12,13 Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.

Working out your salvation is the same as expressing devotion to each of those things listed in this passage. This is what it means to be part of the church.