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Acts of the Early Church
The book of Acts is commonly referred to as “Acts of the Apostles,” but the
book is not merely limited to that. We also get insight into the acts of the
early church. Looking at the example of what the early church was doing,
we can use that as inspiration to see what things we as a church can do, or
do better. The heading in my Bible for Acts 2:42–47 says, “Fellowship of
the Believers,” and I believe that gives us a great summary of what they
were doing.
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came
upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through
the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in
common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and
distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day,
attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they
received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and
having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day
by day those who were being saved. (ESV)
Here, we can see that the church is doing a lot of things. Among those are
devotion to teaching, fellowship, and prayers. The idea of devotion is more
than just doing something. Devotion carries the idea of actively trying to do
something with consistency. The church here isn’t just learning and
praying because it happened naturally, but they are making time to do
them consistently. Devotion also carries an idea of importance. No one is
devoted to something that is not important to them. The church here knew
that prayers and the apostles’ teaching were important, and that those were
the things that would bring them closer to God.
Additionally, we see the church had all things in common, were sacrificing
personal possessions to fulfill needs of others, and eating in one another’s
homes. They didn’t just see each other when they were gathered at the
temple. They were fellowshipping in one another’s homes and sharing
meals with one another. They cared about each other and were wanting to
be around each other. Without this type of fellowship, how would they
know what needs there were to fill?
Another passage where we get insight into the acts of the early church is
Acts 4:34-37.
32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul,
and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own,
but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles
were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and
great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among
them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and
brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet,
and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was
also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of
encouragement), a Levite, native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged
to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. (ESV)
Here, we see very similar things happening. There are individual Christians
selling their personal possessions in order to fulfill needs of others. This is
a great example of people being self-less. They see a need and were more
than happy to sacrifice to fulfill those needs. Another thing that is said
about the church in this passage is they “were of one heart and soul” and
“they had everything in common.” With a group of this size, there would
inherently be different types of people. Not just that, but stark differences.
Here, the point is not that everyone is the exact same, but rather they are
overcoming those differences with their singleness of mind and purpose.
The church here is not focusing on their differences but rather their
commonalities through Jesus.
Practically, what can we get from looking at these passages? First, the
church was purposeful in prayer. This year, the elders of Cedar Park have
tasked our groups to focus on prayer. By doing this, we as a church can
grow closer together by praying for one another and our church as whole.
Second, the church was focused on fellowship. They preferred one another
and spent time with one another. This was something they wanted to do.
Because of this, they were able to understand each other and know each
other’s needs. How will we be able to help our brothers and sisters, if we
aren’t spending time with one another? Finally, they were filling needs
through the fruits of their sacrifices. Specifically, they were filling financial
needs of others. Here in the US, we are very blessed. Although there are
financial needs within a church that arise here and there, it is not as
frequent or pressing as we see here in Acts. Because of that, we may not feel
the need to be doing this. From these passages, we can see that giving was a
very big part of the early church. Although there may not be a lot of needs
here, we still need to be a giving people, looking to take care of our brothers
and sisters in other locations as well. There are many opportunities to do
this elsewhere, so don’t forsake the example of giving from a perceived lack
of opportunity. Let’s be a church that is full of the same acts.
