By Kenneth B.E. Roxburgh, Ph.D.
Chair and Armstrong Professor of Religion, Samford University
What Should We Do Now?
Acts 2:37–47
The church of Pentecost was a church that experienced the breaking down of barriers as 3,000 people welcomed the message and were baptized into the life of the triune God of holy love. They were unified around the message of their living Lord, and Acts 2:42 gives us a description of a church that was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Lead others to faith and growth in Christ. (37–41)
We sometimes speak about doing things “by hook or by crook.” Normally the phrase has a negative connotation. However, it was originally used of the twin work of the church: to win people for Christ (fishers of men) and to enable them to grow in grace and godliness (the shepherd’s crook).
The early church was evangelistically active in bringing the good news of God’s love into people’s lives. They also sought to make disciples. They had a love to discern and devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching. This would have incorporated their knowledge of the teaching of Jesus that we now have within the four Gospels. However, Hans Denck, a leader of Anabaptists in Europe in the 16th century, never tired of saying that true knowledge of God and His will cannot be achieved simply from reading the Scriptures; it must be put into practice. Denck said that “no man can know Christ unless he follows after Him in life.”
Support and help fellow believers. (42–45)
Anabaptists believed the most effective environment in which they could be encouraged to live as disciples was in the context of a community. Apart from the Hutterites, most Anabaptists did not live in communes, but they did believe that commitment to Christ could only be effective within the fellowship of sisters and brothers in Christ who cared for one another. Acts 2 simply states that the early followers of Jesus devoted themselves to fellowship, or “koinonia,” that rich expression of the life of the triune God of eternal love and encouragement. In relationship with each other they drew support to enable them to maintain their faith in and commitment to Christ as Lord of their lives.
Live lives that honor God and point to Christ. (46–47)
Luke tells us that they also devoted themselves to the “breaking of bread.” In verse 46 we are also told of how they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God. It’s difficult to distinguish between sharing food together and “taking communion” because the two events were joined together in their experience of worship, which often took the form of a common meal. Their worship experience was characterized by a sense of praise and thanksgiving. As a result they expressed their gratitude to God with a generosity of spirit in meeting the physical needs of their sisters and brothers as they had all things in common.
The final characteristic of their common life was that of prayers. Luke stresses the importance of prayer in the life of Jesus and the church. Acts begins with the early disciples constantly devoting themselves to prayer. The characteristics of the church of Pentecost, a fellowship that God blesses, is that of ordinary people who have encountered the risen Lord and who are committed to one another and the needs of the world. To such a community the blessing of God comes, and day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Share with others: