What is Biblical Fellowship? | Acts 2:41-47
Luke's account of early church life demonstrates five essential practices of Biblical fellowship that every Christian needs to follow: (1) learn with one another; (2) pray for one another; (3) share with one another; (4) worship with one another; and (5) witness with one another. This sermon is part 5 of “Building the Church,” Bryan Craddock’s verse-by-verse sermon series on Acts 1-7.
It’s tempting to complain about the summer heat, but you might be willing to suffer through it to escape and find a little solitude. We don’t know what the weather was like when the Prophet Elijah fled into the wilderness, but it was better than facing the heat of Jezebel’s anger. Israel’s idolatrous queen wanted to execute him in retaliation for his victory over the prophets of Baal. So, 1 Kings 19:4 tells us that he sought refuge in the scant shade of a thorny broom tree. In exhaustion and despair, he asked the Lord to take his life.
We may not flee into the desert, but when the circumstances of life get too hot, we have our modern ways of escape. They are not much better than a broom tree, however. They provide scant shade and are often filled with thorns. Like Elijah, we think that isolation is safer, but it often feeds a dangerous sense of despair.
The Lord did not grant Elijah’s request to end his life. He led him to Horeb and spoke to him in a gentle whisper, a still small voice. Elijah thought that he was standing alone, but the Lord revealed that there were 7,000 others who had not bowed the knee to Baal. He instructed Elijah to anoint a new king who would oppose the worship of Baal, and to call Elisha to serve alongside him as a prophet. Then 1 Kings 20 mentions a new group called the sons of the prophets. They were a gathering of faithful people who supported and participated in Elijah’s work. He came to see that he did not need to go it alone.
In our study of Acts, we have learned that no Christian believer is ever alone. Since Pentecost, we are each indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but the fellowship of the Spirit is not the only solution to our feelings of isolation. Jesus promised to build his church. So, a community like the sons of the prophets developed around the apostles, and Luke describes its earliest days in Acts 2:41-47.
We all have our own ideas about what a church should be. Some look for an exciting show, inspirational messages, sharp cultural commentary, community service, or a friendly social group. But the prioritization of such preferences can turn a church into something different from what Jesus wanted.
In the days immediately following Pentecost, Luke tells us that believers focused on fellowship. But what does that mean? Terms like that can be slippery. We tend to define them in ways that fit our assumptions. Instead, we need to let Scripture speak without reading our preconceptions into it.
The Greek term for fellowship is rooted in the idea of sharing. So, Luke’s account of early church life demonstrates five essential practices of biblical fellowship that every Christian needs to follow. These should be the defining priorities of every church congregation. This kind of fellowship is what we need to persevere in the spiritual battle and to grow in spiritual maturity. Without it, we are on shaky ground. We must each actively engage in these practices.
Now you might associate them with particular programs or church activities that you are familiar with. But those specific expressions are meaningless unless they are approached with the right heart. Furthermore, we can and should change those expressions in whatever ways will allow us to best fulfill their intent in our own time, place, and culture. So, how do we engage in biblical fellowship?
Learn with One Another
With its massive size, intricate topography, and vivid colors, the Grand Canyon is one of the world’s Seven Natural Wonders. It is 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and a mile deep. It contains five distinct habitats and is said to be home to 91 species of mammals and 41 species of reptiles, some of which are only found there. You could spend a lifetime exploring it. But when I took my children there, they were ready to move on after fifteen minutes.
Now their lack of interest was mostly a reaction to the annoying behavior of the crowd at the lookout point on the rim. But they did not bother with investing any time or effort to explore it. A lot of people respond that way. They swing by on a road trip, take a superficial glance, and then say, “I know all about the Grand Canyon. It’s not worth your time.”
A lot of people treat God’s Word the same way. It is deeper and more intricate than the Grand Canyon, but they skim through a few chapters or listen to a few superficial sermons, and say, “I know all about the Bible.” Now some may be reacting to the annoying behavior of certain people in the church. But there are many believers including church leaders, who never bother with investing much time or effort to explore the truth. They are content with a few snapshots of Bible verses, so their gatherings reflect that lack of interest.
Biblical fellowship, however, is grounded in the practice of learning God’s Word with one another. Luke demonstrates this commitment as he describes how people respond on the Day of Pentecost. In Acts 2:41-42, he says,
So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Spiritual life begins when you receive the Word. It is not enough to merely hear it. You must accept it and act upon it. It must redefine your identity, and that is the point of baptism. These 3,000 people chose to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. They publicly demonstrated that they had become disciples. Everyone knew that they were now part of the group.
To be a disciple, by definition, is to be a learner. So, Luke tells us that they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. As Jews, they were probably well acquainted with the Old Testament. But they needed to learn from the apostles about who Jesus is, what he taught, what he did, and how he fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. Since Jesus often contradicted the scribes and Pharisees, these new disciples needed to sift back through everything that they had ever learned to discard all that was false. It would be a lifelong process.
In time, the apostles committed their teaching to writing, and it is preserved for us in the New Testament. So, we must explore the Bible from cover to cover, over and over again, accepting its truths and acting upon them. We need to work together sifting through all the worldly ideas that we pick up so that we can discard what is false to faithfully follow our Lord. So, the learning process becomes mutual. There are still gifted teachers who are called to preach the Word. But in Ephesians 4:15, Paul speaks to all believers and says,
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.
How do we do that? By listening to biblical preaching and talking about it. By studying the Bible personally and together in classes, small groups, or one-on-one. By discussing biblical answers to pressing issues. Our fellowship must be grounded in God’s Word!
Pray for One Another
Our society separates many things into distinct boxes. Science or faith. Possible or impossible. Public or private. That way of thinking is so pervasive, that we might fail to see the ways that our Almighty God transcends those divisions. Perhaps that is why we often fail to pray as we should.
Praying for one another is an essential practice of biblical fellowship. Luke already mentioned that the apostles devoted themselves to praying with the women who followed Jesus and with his mother and brothers (Acts 1:14). So, it is not surprising that new believers are incorporated into this practice. He also shows us the result of their prayers. Look again at Acts 2:42, and note the connection with verse 43. Luke says,
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
If you believe in the existence of God, then you must allow for the possibility that he can intervene in the natural order of things in supernatural ways. As we read through the Bible, there are certain points when he enables individuals to perform wonders and signs. These miracles occur in three brief periods over about 1,400 years. We see it with Moses, then 600 years later with Elijah and Elisha, and then another 800 years after that with Jesus and the apostles. They do things like multiplying food, healing sickness, and controlling the weather to confirm that they speak for an awesome God who is worthy to be treated with reverent fear.
Some accounts of their deeds specifically show a miracle as an answer to prayer. We see this in the case of Elijah. James 5:17-18 tells us,
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
James wants us to see that God can do powerful things through the prayers of any faithful believer. The confirming purpose of obvious miraculous signs was probably fulfilled during the First Century. But God still responds to our prayers as he sovereignly directs our circumstances, and that reality breaks through another common barrier in our thinking. In verses 15-16, James says,
And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Some of us live such private lives that we are reluctant to admit it when we are sick. If that is the case, will we ever be open enough to confess our sins? In Galatians 6:2, Paul calls believers to bear one another’s burdens, but many of us act as if we don’t need any help. Praying for one another in meaningful ways requires humility, openness, and faith to share our true needs. That kind of interaction is an essential part of the biblical fellowship that we each need to experience.
Share with One Another
God designed us to have two hands. Sometimes it would be nice to have more, but that is all we get. So, we can’t hold onto everything. We are forced to choose what we want to keep most firmly in our grasp. From a spiritual perspective, you could say that it comes down to three options: God, people, and material possessions. Which two are you holding onto?
The believers in the early church were willing to let go of material possessions to serve God and people. As they shared in learning God’s Word and in praying for each other’s needs, the next logical step in their fellowship was to meet those needs. In Acts 2:44-45, Luke describes their practice of sharing with one another by saying,
And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
Instead of “together,” one translation says that they were, “at the same place.” That is the most literal rendering of the Greek, but it probably misses the point. It seems unlikely that 3,000 people could gather in one spot in Jerusalem for very long. I’ll say more about that in a moment. Luke’s point is probably that there was a strong sense of unity in the church, so much so that they freely shared everything they had. In fact, the Greek word for “common” is the root of the word for “fellowship.”
Why were people in such need? Jesus said, “You always have the poor with you” (Mt 26:11). It is the sad reality of life in a fallen world, especially when there was no welfare system to provide for elderly widows or for those who are disabled. It is also possible that some of the people in need were out-of-towners who came to Jerusalem for the festival. They did not bring enough money or provisions to stay longer, but they needed to learn and become established in their faith in Christ.
How did their sharing work? Did they combine all their possessions? Was there a common pot of money that everyone shared? Probably not. In Acts 4:35, Luke tells us that people gave money to the apostles to distribute as they saw fit. So, that same process is probably taking place here. They were not selling off everything they owned to live a communal lifestyle. We’ll see in a moment that some people still own homes. But they were whole-heartedly devoted to caring for one another and to generously meeting needs.
This radical generosity aligns exactly with what Jesus taught. It is the practical expression of loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself (Mt 22:37-40). In fact, Luke 12:33-34 tells us that Jesus said,
Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
So, here again, we must not lose sight of the heart. Giving is about loving God and people more than we love possessions. When you have an abundance, that should lead you to be generous. But when you have a need, loving God and people should lead you to accept help rather than being proudly self-reliant. Biblical fellowship requires giving and receiving. We must devote ourselves to the practice of sharing!
Worship with One Another
We hear a lot in the news about the development of robots to do the tasks that we consider too boring and repetitive. That could be very helpful, but where would we draw the line? All of life is repetitive. As Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” Fancy machines will not reverse our tendency to become bored and robotic. They might just make it worse!
God did not create us to function as robots. In fact, he confronts that tendency in his people. They often turned worship into a meaningless ritual--sacrifices without obedience and words without heart (1 Sam 15:22; Isa 29:13). But Luke shows us that genuine worship was essential to the fellowship of the early church. In Acts 2:46 through the first part of verse 47, he says,
And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.
What were they doing at the temple? Were they offering sacrifices? That may seem inconsistent since Jesus gave himself as the one true and sufficient sacrifice (Heb 9:10-14). But you could argue that their understanding of his atoning work was still developing. Plus, we will see in Acts 21:26 that Paul presented offerings at the temple. So, the Jewish Christians in Acts 2:46 probably continued following the Old Testament forms of worship.
Another possibility is that they came to the temple to pray. It is called a house of prayer, and there was still a sense that God was uniquely present there. There were prayer times associated with the morning and evening sacrifices as the priests entered the temple to tend the lampstand and the showbread. That was probably the setting that Jesus had in mind when he told the story about the Pharisee and the tax collector coming to pray (Lu 18:9-14). Jewish Christians could not really pray together in that setting, but they could lift up their hearts to God.
Their main reason for going to the temple, however, was probably that the outer courts served as their primary gathering place. It was common for rabbis to speak to groups there. It is where many of Jesus’ interactions in Jerusalem took place. So, it would make sense for the apostles to continue that practice. The believers all gathered to learn and worship in this public space.
But the temple did not work for all aspects of worship. Luke tells us that they broke bread in their homes. This expression could mean that they observed the Lord’s Supper as a remembrance of Christ’s death. If so, it was probably done in conjunction with a normal meal. Either way it clearly served as a venue for small groups of believers to share their gladness, generosity, and praise.
Isn’t that the heart of worship? Isn’t that the right way to respond to the truths of the gospel? Paul describes a similar response in Colossians 3:16, when he says,
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Corporate worship is not about robotically engaging in some kind of ritual. We should seek to develop and maintain this worshipful heart in our fellowship.
Witness with One Another
When the coals of a fire are scattered, they begin to cool and grow dark. But if they are gathered, even several hours later, they can begin to glow again. If they are fanned, they can burst into flames to radiate warmth and light. Biblical fellowship works the same way. Without it, our passion for the Lord can begin to cool and grow dim. But with it, we begin to radiate spiritual warmth and light.
We see this dynamic at work in Acts 2. Since the believers were devoted to learning, praying, sharing, and worshiping, witnessing to the lost was a natural result. It probably helped that the apostles preached openly in the temple. Anyone who passed through had the opportunity to hear the gospel. But their preaching was also supported by the testimony of changed lives. Look again at Acts 2:46-47. Luke says,
And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Many people responded favorably to the believers. They saw their good deeds. Perhaps they were attracted by their gladness and generosity. These were people that they wanted to be around. So, the Lord used this to get their attention and to soften their hearts to the preaching of the gospel. They believed in Christ and were welcomed into the fellowship.
This dynamic was no coincidence. Jesus prescribed it to his followers as an intentional strategy. Matthew 5:16 tells us that he said,
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
So, is the light of the gospel shining through us? Do people see evidence of our glorious God’s saving grace at work in our fellowship? Are we glowing with sincere gladness, generosity, and praise? We must be a witnessing fellowship.
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We engage in biblical fellowship when we learn God’s Word with one another, pray for one another, share with one another, worship with one another, and witness with one another. These practices should be central to the life of the church, and for that to happen we must each devote ourselves to them. This description of church life may be very different from your experience and even from your expectations. Every church falls short. But this is God’s design, and it is what we each need in our lives. You don't have to go it alone.
The first step toward it is for you to start believing God’s Word. Accept it and act upon it. If you want to learn more about the power of biblical fellowship, I recommend that you read Ephesians 4. If you're already a believer, is fellowship a priority for you? Do you need to work on one of these practices? Perhaps you know a believer who is trying to go it alone. Would you reach out to them and encourage them to practice fellowship?
May God bless your fellowship!
Reflect
How does your understanding of fellowship need to change?
Which practice do you most need to work on? What could you do to grow in that area?
How would you encourage a believer who does not engage in these practices to do so?