Church And Discipleship | Acts 2:42-47

INTRODUCTION

Most of us sitting here have grown up in a church. You were a part of the Sunday School and church services. You always identified yourself with a church. Then there are many of you who have come to a church setting by the way of your salvation.

Have you thought as to why God designed the church? What have been some of the contributions of the church to your life?

Today, we are going to look at:

• What Is The Biblical Vision Of The Church?
• The Idea And The Reality Of Discipleship In The New Testament Church.

Open your Bibles to Acts 1. Luke is the author of the Gospel of Luke and Acts.

BACKGROUND

Acts 1:1-3 ¹In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. ³After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

There are a number of passages in the New Testament that refer to the period after the resurrection and before his ascension. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, mentions that one of these appearances was to a group of 500 people at once who were eyewitnesses to the risen Jesus. So this is not like Jesus appearing secretly to a small group of people. It is a very public appearance, over a month, 100s and 100s of people are seeing Jesus.

Acts 1:4-5 ⁴On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

The disciples have witnessed the resurrection of Jesus and they are raring to go, they are ready to tell people, and Jesus essentially says, “Wait.”

Acts 1:6-7 ⁶ Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

Forget the timeline about the Kingdom of God but here is what I want you to do:

The Beginning of the Church

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Initially, Jesus’ followers were a community of Jewish people, but now it’s going to break out of the boundaries of just the tribe of Israel. It’s going to expand to their cousins of North and Samaria and just outside the bounds altogether to all the nations of the Earth to become included in the people of Jesus.

“The Church is a community of people who are gathering around the crucified and risen Jesus. Jesus is alive, real, and present with us by the Spirit of God. Jesus is guiding the church as a community to live in vital relational connection to Him which changes us and  empowers us to become His witnesses.”

How Does The Church Bear Witness? Acts 2

On this day, 120 Jewish believers of Jesus are gathered in Jerusalem on one of the great feasts of Israel, the Feast of Pentecost. Thousands of people are packed into the city of Jerusalem. The disciples have this profound and very powerful experience with the Holy Spirit who mediates the very presence of the creator God and of Jesus himself to Jesus’ people.

Acts 2:1-6 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ²Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. ⁵Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.

1. The Church Witnessed By Speaking In Tongues

The 120 share the good news about Jesus in foreign languages which they never have learned before. The diaspora crowd that comes to Jerusalem hears this witness about Jesus.

2. The Church Witnessed By Peter Addressing The Crowd

Acts 2:14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.

This is one of the first Christian sermons ever. Peter is preaching to thousands of Jewish people who are devout Jews and are waiting for the Messiah. Peter presents to them and demonstrates from the very Hebrew scriptures that Jesus in fact was the Messiah.

3. The Church Witnessed by Telling The Story Of Jesus

They told people of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. When you tell the story of Jesus, things happen. The Holy Spirit convicts people. So, that is one way of bearing witness and when it is empowered by the Spirit it is effective.

4. Life Of The Church Was A Witness In Itself

The life of the Church is also a form of witness.

Acts 2:44-47 ⁴⁴All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. ⁴⁶Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Now, the new believers are adopting this new routine and common life together. The life of the church is also a form of witness. The Church continues to witness. The witness does not stop.

Just the common life of the Church itself, when it is faithful to living out the story of the gospel, itself is an effective witness.

How Effective Was The Church’s Witness?

Acts 2:41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

About 3000 members were added to the church.

What Marks This Community And Their Common Life As A Witness?

Devotion

Acts 2:42  They devoted themselves to ….

We read that this community was marked by something, it’s their devotion to something.

When you hear the word in the Christian setting like devotions: I do devotions. What that means is establishing a rhythm of reading your Bible and prayer on some kind of regular basis. That is a very good thing to do. That is not what Luke is talking about here.

This is a group of people who became marked by a new set of habits, by a new set of routines that was generated as a response to the gospel announcement.

There are 4 things seen in verse 42 that they devote themselves to

Acts 2:42, 46 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,

What is a Church?

1. Teaching And Learning. First and foremost it is a community that is learning something. It is devoted to becoming learners. This is mentioned first, the apostles teaching.
2. Fellowship And Sharing. The second thing they devote themselves to is fellowship. We will look at it next week God willing.
3. Breaking of Bread And Being Together. This is sharing a meal and opening your life. What we call today communion, the early church did this as a part of their prayer, they had a meal and took the bread and the cup together to remind themselves of the body and the shed blood of Jesus. This is about creating relational connections and inviting people into each other. This is a commitment to sharing life and investing in relationships with each other.
4. Prayer And Worship. This is still almost entirely a Jewish community in which there is already a 2000-year-old tradition of the prayers that you say in the morning, noon and evening. You say the Shema prayer, Yahweh alone is our God. Love Yahweh your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Pray that three times a day. Then there are cycles of praying through the book of Psalms and different cycles and the early Christians adopted these. They also adopted the prayers of Jesus. We could translate this as they gathered to worship Jesus, to pray to God the Father in the name of Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit worship.

The Picture of the Church here

The Church is a group of people who are gathering in all kinds of different ways, big gatherings throughout homes for this core set of purposes here, learning. They are sharing their lives and their stuff together, investing in relationships with each other. They are doing it all as a response to worship and gratefulness to Jesus. That’s the Church right there.

I am sure there are already lots of communities in Bangalore that do that. A lot of communities and people do learn, share, and be together. So what makes this gathering unique? It’s the one who is the focal point of their learning and worship, we look towards Jesus, at the centre. It is also Jesus who is remaking their minds from the Apostle’s teaching.

This is the set of devotions. This is the set of habits. Becoming a Christian and joining a Church involves letting these become habits, that become priorities in my life. That is part of the vision of the Church here.

Teaching And Learning

The Apostles are teaching and the people are learning.

The apostles teaching helps me explore the different implications of that announcement of the Gospel. The New Testament is not there. So the Apostles are guiding these new followers of Jesus so what does it now mean to live as a disciple of Jesus?

The Gospel is the world-creating announcement. What the Apostolic teaching for us is in the form of the New Testament. Apostle’s Teaching: It guides us in exploring what it means to live as a follower of Jesus. The gospel creates a whole world that it takes a lifetime of learning, to learn how to let that seep into my life.

ILLUSTRATION

I remember studying Tool & Die Making which is a stream similar to Mechanical Engineering. In the first year, we are introduced to the workshop and various tools. In the second year, we were introduced to heavy machines like the lathe, grinding, drilling, etc. We thought we know the world. Then we were taken for an industrial tour in our third year and we were shocked at the various other machines out there that we never knew about. After our graduation, when I went to work, we understood that the field I studied is so vast that there are different streams of specialisation. Then I worked in HMT Watch Factory, where I had new learnings in the field related to watchmaking and minute produces which had its own manuals and books.

This is what happens at salvation. At salvation, we are introduced to a whole new story of Jesus. The apostle’s teaching gives us a guide as to how to live out that story. And it takes a lifetime and it reshapes, it’s a whole new story for how you think about money and how you think about what you do for a job, a career, how you think about relationships etc. This is going to take a lifetime. It proclaims to us what it means to live in the world created by the Gospel.

Discipleship

So, both in large gatherings and small gatherings, the apostles teaching tops the list and it frames all of these. This is discipleship.

In Matthew chapter 28, we have some of Jesus’ last words. This is what the risen Jesus said to the community of disciples in that 40-day period.

Matthew 28:18-20 ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Jesus’ personal presence is at the centre of the believer’s community.

What Is The Main Task Or Commission Given Here?

Make disciples.

The community of Jesus is a community of disciples.

The Greek word for the word disciple here is “Matheteuo” which means “to become a learner, to learn at the feet of a teacher.”

Who Is A Disciple?

It is someone who has committed themselves to become a learner.

One of the primary tasks of the Church is to facilitate gatherings and environments where people learn a way of life and a new way of thinking. As we are becoming learners, one of the primary things is that we are teaching, we are being taught the teaching of Jesus and the teachings of the apostles.

When Does One Become A Disciple Of Jesus Then?

Ephesians 4:20-21 ²⁰That, however, is not the way of life you learned ²¹when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.

What is the Greek word for ‘learn’? Matheteuo. You could equally translate this as you become disciples of Christ. You became learners of Jesus.

When Does One Become A Disciple Of Jesus?

1. One Becomes A Disciple When One Responds to Jesus

Just like Peter’s announcement in Acts 2. At some point, you heard the good news about Jesus and you responded in faith and pledged your faith to Jesus. That was when you became a learner of Christ, you became a disciple when you heard and responded. But it does not stop there cause he says you heard and responded but then continued this journey learning.

2. A Disciple Is Continually Learning In Jesus

What is the content of that teaching?

Ephesians 4:22-24 ²²You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

The word disciple actually never occurs in all of Paul’s letters. He never says to be a disciple, but he talks about the idea of growing as a disciple all the time because he talks about learning all the time and about the remaking of your mind.

APPLICATION

This is what it means to be the Church. It is that we are gathering in rhythms and routines so that we can establish habits together individually and corporately. We gather in big gatherings, at in-home gatherings and the primary thing that reshapes everything else is that we are a learning community that is learning to live out the announcement of the Gospel and its implications of that for every facet of our lives. We do it together cause you cannot do it by yourself.

So the remaking of our minds happens together through our investment, of our commitment to each other, by spending time together and all of it is active worship of Jesus.

3. Discipleship Happens One-On-One, In Small Groups, And in Large Gatherings

Making disciples is something that happens when you are learning, sharing, being together, and worshipping Jesus. Disciple-making is happening right now and you did not even know it was happening. Scriptures challenge our minds, teaching and thinking things through and what does it mean for us in light of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection? Disciple-making is happening right now.

In Acts 2 one of the biggest gatherings they had was for learning the apostle’s teaching, here we go, it’s happening right now. When we limit the concept of becoming or growing as a disciple to just one form, one on one that takes place it just makes the picture too small. When the New Testament talks about making disciples it is much more expansive and robust than that.

Some questions to ponder:

Who Is A Disciple?

If you identify as a Christian and pledged your faith in response to Jesus, you are a disciple. So the Spirit of God is in you and you are growing in your learning and you have something to offer. You have your story of transformation to offer.

So If You Are New Believer, What Does That Mean To Become A Disciple?

Well I mean we have gatherings, it is happening right here so way to go, you are doing it right now, join a community group. It is about learning each other’s stories, opening our Bibles together, and praying for each other that’s a form of discipleship.

For someone who has been a Christian, a disciple for a long time, there comes a shift and this is an important one where the mark of a growing and maturing disciple is about the shift towards another-centred view of the world. So a maturing disciple experiences the shift of seeing the Church as. Now the church becomes a place for me to contribute to making disciples.

So a mature disciple must be asking how I can contribute to the mission of making disciples here.

It may be joining the teaching department of the church.

Or joining the prayer team.

Or to involve in the mission team of the church.

The ushering team, Worship team etc.

So here is my question to you:

What does it mean for you to be a part of this church?

Commit to Grow as a Disciple. A local church helps us grow as a disciple. You have areas where you need to grow. Are you actively looking to grow in the areas of life where you are deficient as a disciple of Jesus? There is no shame in that, that is all of us, we all need to grow that’s the point.

Commit yourself to make disciples.

What Are The Benefits Of A Good Teaching And Growing In Discipleship?

1. Grow in Salvation

1 Peter 2:2-3 ²Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, ³now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

2. Be Thoroughly Equipped For God’s Work

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

3. Doctrine Bears Fruit In The Lives Of People

Titus 2:1 You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine.

We become mature disciples.

Titus 2:4 – Older men are to train younger men. V3 – Teach older women. V4 – Encourage young men.

V9 – Teach slaves.

2 Timothy 2:2 – Paul trained Timothy to train others

Ephesians 6:4 – Fathers are to train children

Acts 18:24-26 – Priscilla and Aquilla explain the word of God to Apollos.

The result of Discipleship:

Titus 2:11-15 ¹¹For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.(We become disciples) ¹²It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ¹³while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. ¹⁵These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

Your doctrine will determine how you live your life.

CONCLUSION

Today we saw that the life of a believer in Jesus, the standard for discipleship. Discipleship happens when we receive Jesus as our Saviour and then discipleship becomes a lifelong process. Discipleship happens one-on-one, in small groups, as well as in large gatherings simultaneously.

What are some of the action points from this sermon?

To connect to a local church body.

Involved in a small group.

Accountable to one or two individuals.

I need to individually grow in the knowledge of the scripture.