Stay on Mission – 12th November 2017

1. Acts 2:42-47 – Devoted to learning.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who 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 favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
I have said so many times as I travel that one of the things that prevents most Christians being effective in faith-sharing is that we worship together but are left alone and isolated when it comes to telling others about Jesus. If we are going to effectively stay on mission with Jesus, we need to ensure that the times we spend ‘gathered’ are envisioning and equipping us to be effective when we are scattered.
In the passage above we read about the first church that was formed. This church came into being following the falling of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. This new church was made up of a few thousand believers who now had to learn what it meant to ‘Join Jesus in His Mission’. There are some things that we can learn from them as we seek to do the same thing today.
I want to begin by pointing out that when they gathered ‘The devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching’. The word that strikes me whenever I read this passage is the word ‘devoted’. Being devoted to something means being focused on that particular thing almost exclusively. When you are devoted to a cause, you work to achieve its goals. When you are devoted to a person, you place their needs above your own.
Being devoted to the teaching of the apostles’ means, I am sure, that what they were taught impacted the whole of their lives – they listened to what they were being taught and then applied it in their daily lives to the extent that it changed the way that they lived. Others in the community saw this transformation and as a result, many more were added!
In Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus makes it clear that we should not just be hearers of the word but ‘doers’. When we gather together either in large or small groups and study God’s word, it is imperative that we help each other not just to find out what the Bible is saying but then to DO it. My way of expressing this is ‘without action there is no devotion’.
As you gather with others this week and study God’s word, ask yourself, and encourage others that you meet with, to ask. ‘Having spent this time learning from God’s word, now what am I going to do with it?’
Dennis