City Life Starter

Written by Megan Meier

The Word

“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.” Acts 2:42-47 ESV

“…for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10b ESV

Reflection

The first church had believers from all walks of life, all statuses, and all races – truly revolutionary at a time of strict social boundaries. They had committed to learning what Jesus had done and what He had taught the apostles, one of those values was fellowship (koinonia), not making awkward small talk, but being real and honest with each other, about their families, occupations, hurts, previous values, and future dreams. Soon they would become very close friends, loving each other as Jesus loves them (John 15:12-13).

Marshall interprets the phrase where Luke mentions “breaking of bread,” that he is referring specifically to the Lord’s Supper (Marshall, 1980), Jesus had gotten to the root of what Passover truly meant and instituted it as the Lord’s Supper (Luke 22:14-20), now Christ-followers, Jew or Gentile, celebrate as well. The prayers they practiced were based on Jewish hours of prayer in the temple (Marshall, 1980): the third hour (9:00 a.m.), sixth hour (12:00 p.m.), and ninth hour (3:00 p.m.) (Dosker, n.d.), maybe reciting the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13).

What were the wonders and signs that were being done through the apostles? Peter told the crowd Jesus did wonders and signs (Acts 2:22), a few among them giving a man blind from birth clear sight (John 9:1-7), healing a persistent paralytic (Mark 2:3-12), and showing compassion and emotional healing for an outcast woman (John 4:1-29). The apostles did the same with the new believers, providing physical and emotional healing, giving hope to the new believers, despite coming from all over the known world (Acts 2:7-11), had a lot more in common than they thought:

The original twelve disciples were from the same vicinity and of the same upbringings and they had very tough time getting along (Mark 10:35-41, Luke 9:46, 22:24). You’d think it would be much more so for those of different cultures, even next to impossible, but Luke says otherwise. The newly saved three thousand souls (Acts 2:41) were from different parts of the world, and raised with different customs, different traditions, and different values. Despite all of their differences, they exemplified how Jesus intended His Church to be. They were sharing amongst themselves for those who had need (I’m not going to get into politics here, Jesus never meant His church to be political (Luke 20:21-25)), sharing meals in their homes, being real and vulnerable with each other, and praying for their respective situations. The joy of the Lord was their strength (Nehemiah 8:10b). The non-believers around them saw how they lived, granted them kindness, and even converted to The Way.

Application

What about now? Are you devoted to God and to other Christ-followers? As Pastor Chris said this week, “the church doesn’t grow by attracting people alone, it grows by becoming the kind of Spirit-filled community that the world can’t explain.”

Prayer

Lord, help me to love You and love others like You love me. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

References

Barry, M. (2020, May 27). The nations of Pentecost (updated). VISUAL UNIT.

Dosker, H. E. (n.d.). Hours of prayer in the international standard bible

encyclopedia. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Online.

Marshall, I. H. (1980). Tyndale New Testament Commentaries—Acts. Williams B.

Eerdmans Publish.