Fellowship and Prayer

Do you belong to this church? I wonder what you’d say to that question.

Maybe you’d say, ‘I’m just a visitor here tonight, so obviously I don’t belong.’ Well, you’re very welcome. Or maybe you’d say, ‘I’m not even a Christian yet – I’m just finding out.’ Well, you’re also very welcome. Because the number one role of a church is to help people who don’t yet know Jesus to know Jesus. But if you are a Christian, you need to be able to answer that question: Do you belong to this church? Not for the statistics – so we can say how many hundred people there are. There’s a far more important reason. The reason is: that when you read the Bible, you find there’s no such thing as a Christian who doesn’t belong to a church.

And yet people often say, ‘But you can be a Christian without going to church, can’t you?’ And if you ask them to explain they might say something like this: ‘Well, being a Christian is an individual thing. It’s a personal relationship with Jesus. Whereas belonging to church is just an optional extra… It’s a bit like owning an MG sports car. That’s an individual thing. Whereas joining the MG Owners club is an optional extra. You may not feel you need to join the club; you may not feel you want to join the club – after all they might be geeky car enthusiasts who talk about cylinder heads.

So, just like you can be an MG owner without belonging to the club, can’t you be a Christian without belonging to a church?

I’ve had Christians ask me that. Eg, the student who came to faith through friends on campus and just joined in their Bible study. And I’ve had people just finding out about Jesus ask me that, too. They’re on the brink of turning to Jesus. But then hit the awful question: ‘Will I have to join in with that lot [ie, us]?’ I mean, look around you. We can be one of their biggest problems. ‘Can’t I be a Christian without belonging to a church?’ they ask.

Well, as always, we want to know what the Bible, what God’s Word, says. So would you turn to Acts 2. We’re in a series aiming to learn from the very first church. Let me remind you where we are. In Acts 2.36, the apostle Peter has just preached the very first Christian evangelistic sermon, ending, v36:

Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Ie, ‘Jesus has died for you, he’s been raised from the dead, he’s alive, he’s your rightful Lord and you’ll one day meet him as Judge.’ And they get the point. The point is: we need to come back into relationship with him while there’s still time. So, v37:

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent [ie, turn to Jesus as Lord] and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins [ie, trust Jesus as Saviour - and go public about it]. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit [ie, by his Spirit, Jesus will come into your life and help you live for him. Skip to v41:] … Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 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, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Now since we’re going to unpack vv42-47 in the coming weeks, let me say a few things about how to read this book of Acts.

The first thing to say is: narrative is not normative. This is a narrative of what the very first church was like and did. But it does not say, ‘You must be like this or do this.’ The fact that something happened then does not mean it must happen today. Eg, v46, ‘they continued to meet together in the [Jerusalem] temple courts.’ Does that mean we should be holding our services in Jerusalem, rather than Jesmond? Instinctively we say, ‘No.’ And we’re right. Because narrative is not normative.

But, narrative is educative. It’s part of God’s Word to us today. We’ve just got to be careful not to make it say what it isn’t saying. And most of the time we get that right, instinctively. Eg, we looked last week at v42 – ‘They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching’. And we instinctively think, ‘That sounds like an example to follow today.’ But there’s more than instinct to go on. And a good general principle is: that if we find something in a Bible narrative, we should only say it must happen today if the Bible explicitly teaches that elsewhere. So for each thing I say tonight, I’ll give you a cross-reference as well.

Next thing: the golden rule for trying to work out the lesson of a Bible narrative is: look at the big picture. So the big lesson of the whole of Acts is to teach God’s purpose until Jesus returns. And you can sum it up like this: God’s purpose is: the spread of the gospel to all people… leading to… the growth of the church as his Spirit turns people to Jesus… leading to more spread of the gospel, and so on. Everything in Acts is about those two big areas: and Acts 2.42-47 is about the second – about being the church.

So, ‘Can’t you be a Christian without belonging to church?’ Let’s ask this part of the Bible. Verse 38 again:

Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you…

So we do become Christians individually. ‘Crossing the line’ of turning to Jesus as Lord and trusting him as Saviour is an individual thing. But look what happens the moment you cross that line:

Those who accepted his message [individually] were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They [corporately] devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

And from then on, it’s ‘They, they, they.’ We turn to Jesus individually to live for Jesus corporately - ie, together, as God’s family. And those of us from the west find this really hard to get. Because our culture is all about the individual - all about ‘me’. It doesn’t really believe in family or community. And we’re so infected by that, that we think we can be Christians just individually. We think it’s basically about ‘my personal relationship with Jesus’. And either I don’t need church – I can keep up my personal relationship on my own. Or I use church like a petrol station where I drive in, fill the tank and then drive out again. But I don’t want to get involved with these other people on the forecourt.

But for the Bible, there is no such thing as a Christian who doesn’t belong to a church.

So, Acts 2.41 – someone has turned to Jesus. What should they do next? You may be a new believer, in which case this is tailor-made for you. But for all of us, this is a) what we need to keep doing, and b) what we need to help new Christians do. So, what should we do once we’ve joined God’s family? Four things to say:

1. LEARN HOW YOU GOT IN

Verse 42:

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching

We looked at that in detail last Sunday. I just want to put the verse back into its context and see the lesson Acts is teaching. The lesson is: having been saved by the gospel (‘the apostles’ teaching’) the first thing we need is to go back over the gospel.

Eg, I was saved by hearing the gospel and turning to Jesus on 27 September 1982. If you’d asked me 5 minutes later to explain the gospel, I wouldn’t have got very far - eg, if you’d asked me how exactly Jesus’ death dealt with my sins. And new Christians are often like that: saved through the gospel, but needing to go back over what’s just saved them.

That’s why our Christianity Explored course isn’t just for people finding out. It’s equally good for new Christians because what you most need as a new Christian is to go back over what’s just saved you. And what we most need however long we’ve been Christians is to keep going back over the gospel – to keep our eyes on Jesus.

And notice: they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. We individualists would probably have told them to go away and start reading the Bible on their own (‘Here are some Bible reading notes; off you go!’) Which is an important habit. But we need to get into the Bible with others – whether in Christianity Explored or Engaged; CYFA, Focus, Home Group. Because where we’d get stuck or discouraged or give up on our own, other people can explain things, encourage us and give us the sheer discipline of meeting up so that at least we open the Bible with them, even if our individual reading is more ‘off’ than ‘on’.

2. BE PART OF THE FAMILY

Verse 42:

They devoted themselves to the fellowship…

‘ Fellowship’ literally means to share with others in something. You have fellowship in something – like in getting the ring back to Mount Mordor (or wherever it was...) At exam time you have fellowship in stress – you share in that experience with others. You have fellowship in family – you share in relationship. You also have fellowship if you’re in business. In fact, this fellowship word was the one they used for business in those days. They didn’t talk about a ‘law partnership’, but a ‘law fellowship’ – where you share in a business.

Well, what do Christians have fellowship in? Do we have any shared experience or relationship or business? Or are we just like people who all own MG sports cars but basically have nothing in common?

Well, if you’ve turned to Jesus and I’ve turned to Jesus, we have the most massive things in common. We’re both sinners forgiven through the death of Jesus. Both adopted back by God into his family. Which makes us, spiritually, brothers or brother and sister. Both part of the family. Both part of the family business – which, like we saw, is the spread of the gospel to all people. Oh, and both going to spend eternity together in heaven, so we better start learning to get on now (cf Philippians 4.1-3).

That’s an awful lot in common. Which is why we’re to be ‘devoted to the fellowship’. Now I said I’d give a cross-reference each time. Here’s the one for this. Ephesians 4.1:

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. [Because think what you have in common:] There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Ie, ‘God has brought you together with others into his family. Now, be family! Realise other Christians are your family and treat other Christians as your family.’

I said that in a talk elsewhere and a young guy came up to me afterwards and he said, ‘You didn’t mean that, did you?’ I said ‘I think I meant all of it, but which bit are you thinking of?’ He said, ‘Treating them like your family?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘What, beating them up like your brother and not talking to them at mealtimes and that kind of thing?’

And that’s where the Bible is so realistic. Why does it have to say, ‘Bear with one another’ as if sometimes you might not even be able to bear a fellow-Christian – they’re so different, or they behave so badly towards you in some way. And why does it have to say, ‘Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit’? Well, because being family is an effort, isn’t it? Because you don’t get to choose family, do you? I mean just look around you again. Apart from Jesus, how many of these people do you think you’d have even met, let alone got involved with? How many of them would have made it into your circle of friends - whom of course you do get to choose?

Whereas, family is different. We’re not all one another’s type; not all natural, hit-it-off-just-like-that friends. You may have joined a small group in church and thought after the first few times, ‘Help! What do I have in common with these people?’ Well, if you’re Christians, the answer is ultimately, everything. And what I’ve always found is this. When I set myself to love Christians I don’t naturally like, I not only find myself growing in my liking of them, but I find they enrich my life and knock corners off me just where God knew I needed it.

So, if you’re a Christian, be devoted to the fellowship. Realise other Christians are family; treat other Christians as family. And that must mean meet other Christians as family. Make the effort on Sunday. Make the effort to join and make it to a small group in church. Make the effort to find and join a church when you leave – either temporarily over the summer or for a year out or work placement, or permanently. Make the effort to talk to and welcome new faces on a Sunday. It doesn’t matter if it turns out they’ve been coming for years. It does matter if someone who’s come for the first time goes out of that door this evening without anyone having spoken to them.

Be devoted to the fellowship. And if we do that, people will come in to our church family and see a quality of relationship that points to the Lord. I remember a student who came to faith and we interviewed him about that here in a service, and he said he was first drawn to Jesus by the Newcastle Christian Union (CU). He said, ‘Every other uni society I’d seen was a clique of the same sort of people and really hard to get into. The CU was the only group I saw that united completely different people and welcomed whoever came.’

Wouldn’t it be great if the same could be said of our church family?

3. MEET FOR THE FAMILY MEAL

Verse 42:

They devoted themselves to the breaking of bread…

The ‘breaking of bread’ was a Jewish term. At a Jewish meal-time the father of a family would break a piece of bread and say a prayer of thanks before the family ate together. So where we talk about ‘getting a bite with someone’; they talked about ‘breaking bread with someone’. It just meant sharing a meal.

Now on the Thursday night before he died, the Lord Jesus broke bread with his apostles, like we heard in that Gospel reading from Luke. And here’s the cross-reference for this point: Luke 22.19. During that supper, v19:

[Jesus] took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." [He didn’t mean the piece of bread was his body, he meant it represented his body; just like if I draw you a map of how to get to my house and I put an ‘X’ on the paper and say, ‘This is my house’, I don’t mean literally I live in this ‘X’ on this piece of paper, but that this represents my house, this stands for my house.] In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is [ie, represents, stands for] the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’

So Jesus told them to remember what he was about to do for them on the cross and to express their shared trust in it by breaking bread. Which is why we still have communion services like this 2000 years later.

Now in Acts 2.46 we’re told, ‘They broke bread in their homes and ate together.’ They had no church buildings. When they wanted to meet all together, they did so in the temple courts, v46 again. And I assume in their homes they had both: meals remembering the Lord’s death and normal meals – probably both rolled into one - a bit like our communion supper next Wednesday where we have a normal meal (quiche and baked potatoes, etc) within which we have a ‘token meal’ like we’re having here tonight – a piece of bread and a sip of wine to remember the Lord’s death.

So the application of this bit is not just that we should meet for communion services; true as that is. It’s also that we should eat together. Because it’s a real sign of having something in common. That’s why we do a lot of eating together as a church – eg, today we’ll have had Parish Lunch and student supper. But we need to be inviting one another into our homes for meals, too.

But getting back specifically to ‘communion’ as we’ve come to label it – this ‘token meal’ as I’ve called it. It reminds us of what we have in common – a forgiven relationship with God through Jesus - if our faith is in his death on the cross for our sins. The bread and wine stand for his body and blood given in death. Our taking it stands for inwardly trusting him. So if you’re not trusting in Christ, you shouldn’t take communion.

But this token meal also prompts us to examine our relationships with one another. 1 Corinthians 11.28 says:

A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup…

All I’ve got time to say is that Paul meant: examine the way you’re relating to one another. Eg, imagine I needed to forgive someone here and was refusing to do so. That means there’s a family relationship which isn’t right. And it’s hypocritical for me to take communion (expressing my need for God’s forgiveness) if at the same time I’m refusing to forgive a Christian brother or sister. So, if there’s broken relationship with a fellow-Christian that you’re not willing to work to mend, you shouldn’t take communion. (For more on that, see my sermon The Lords’ Supper, 1 Corinthians 11.17-34, 30 June 2002 – available at the Tape Desk and www.church.org.uk.)

4. MEET FOR THE FAMILY PRAYERS

Verse 42 one last time:

They devoted themselves to prayer [says the NIV translation]

Literally, it says to ‘the prayers’ which almost certainly means the times when they met together for prayer.

Again, the individualist thinks of praying on our own. And, like reading the Bible on our own, that is an important habit. But we also need to pray as a family, not just as individuals, and we need to pray for the family and the ‘family business’ – not just for our individual concerns.

Now my question was: what did they pray in these meetings? Here are some of the references I looked up. I asked myself, ‘Where does the New Testament (NT) tell the whole church family what to be praying for as the whole church family?’ And the references I came up with are: Eg, Acts 4.23-31; 1 Timothy 2.1-7, 2 Thessalonians 3.1-2; Romans 15.30f; Ephesians 6.18-20; Colossians 4.2f.

Let’s look at one to finish with – 1 Timothy 2.1:

I urge, then, [says Paul to the churches] first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness [ie, that believers may be free to live Christianly and share our faith]. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

The thing to notice is that when the family gets together we should pray for those ‘big picture’ things like we saw at the start – the spread of the gospel and the growth of the church - and the influence of the church on world history and nations. Because the family business, God’s purpose for the church, is that big.

So that’s the kind of praying that should mark the prayer time in a Sunday Service. Equally, that’s the kind of praying that should mark our fortnightly Wednesday prayer-meetings. It’s ‘big-picture’ praying for things that are not always what we’re individually involved in - which is why I find that kind of prayer hard work, because I’m not praying about my easiest and favourite subject – namely, me. Instead, I’m having to exercise the discipline of taking on concern for others’ needs – eg, missionaries needs, needs of ministry areas I’m not involved in – because I need to pray about us, not just about me.

Well, we began with a question: Do you belong to this church? It’s not a question (yet) for a visitor or someone just finding out. But if you’re a Christian, it’s a question you need to answer. Do you belong to this church? Not, ‘Do you like it?’ or, ‘do you come to it?’. But, ‘Do you belong to it?’ In fact, have you stopped thinking of JPC as ‘it’ and started thinking of it as ‘us’? Do you belong to this church? And one way to answer that question is to ask yourself are you devoted with us here to the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer? And if not, will you join us and help us to be – and God willing, we’ll help you to be to?