Reading:
And
they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in
breaking of bread, and in prayers. And
fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the
apostles. And all that believed were
together, and had all things common;
And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men,
as every man had need. And they,
continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house
to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the
people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Continue Faithfully in the Apostles' Doctrine and Fellowship
Beloved of the Lord……As
our Lord Jesus was faithful to us in every way, namely though He was
Lord, He came to serve all mankind, by laying down His life for us, so
He reminds us in the Word to be faithful to Him. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." "Hold that fast, which thou hast, that no man take Thy crown." "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised)." This
passage is especially precious, for after telling us to hold fast our
profession, He gives us the very strength needed to do so. His faithfulness is our strength. This is His promise to you, His own dear child of faith. All
of God's promises which help you to be faithful are found in the Means
of Grace: your Baptism, your Holy Communion, and the Gospel Word. When you are troubled, when you are wavering or doubtful, cling to the promises of God which cannot fail. If
God thus promises you "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us
from all sin", this is most certainly true because God has promised it. If God promises, "Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world", this promise of Jesus cannot fail you. God
has promised YOU dear weak and trembling believer, His grace, His
forgiveness, His redemption…..strength to help in time of need. God promises always comes true, and not one promise can fail. Therefore look "unto Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of
God." We can be "confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
I. They continued steadfastly in the apostle doctrine and fellowship. Because
God is faithful, we too must continue to be steadfast "in the Apostles
doctrine and fellowship, in breaking of bread and in prayers." By
the preaching and hearing of the Word, by the outpouring of the Spirit
in baptism, the Lord had just added to His Church three thousand souls. While a portion of this number certainly returned to their homelands, those local were the new Jerusalem congregation. The Lord reveals here their fidelity, faithfulness, love and devotion for Christ their Savior, and His precious Word. This "breaking of bread" in which they continued faithful would be Holy Communion. As
the Jerusalem congregation faithfully communed regularly, so we should
as often as possible commune, for with His body and blood, God assures
us all sins are forgiven for Jesus' sake. Our catechism also rightly says we should commune often "to obtain strength for a holier life." This holy life also includes prayer. They continued steadfastly "in breaking of bread and in prayers." In prayer we take our petitions, our innermost desires to the Lord in faith as little children. Philippians
4:6 says, "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Colossians 4:2 says, "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Our Lord Jesus wants us to pray, for Jesus loves to answer our prayer, and He is our good and gracious Mediator. Whatever
our problems, our troubles, our worries, the Bible says we can cast
"our care upon Him, for He careth for you", "And it shall come to pass,
that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I
will hear."
Now let us speak of continuing steadfast in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. Why is doctrine so important? The answer is doctrine is LIFE, and our life is Christ. Just as He is our Beautiful Savior who comes to us with grace in His wings, so His doctrine is beautiful. Every Word is sacred and holy, every doctrine, every teaching. In the doctrine of heaven, we know by the cross Jesus prepared a place for us, and heaven is a place of rest. Isn't that beautiful and comforting? Likewise
the chief doctrine of the Bible is Jesus by His blood reconciled God
and man, and we are justified by faith alone in Him. Isn't this comforting? Isn't this a beautiful doctrine also? In
the doctrine of the Means of Grace, there is also endless comfort, for
church (namely going to church), is not about what we do for God, but it
is all about what God has done and still does for us. In
church He gives us His Means of Grace, for "God sent not His Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be
saved." In church God gives us by the Word His forgiveness of sins, through Holy Communion and Baptism. His Words, these Means of His grace are His faithful promises to us, whereby He preserves our faith till we reach heaven. Isn't the Means of Grace a comforting doctrine? Even the Ten Commandments, God's law, is beautiful doctrine too. God in His goodness reveals our sin, only so Christ may shine as our Light. Though
the law first reveals how far we have fallen short, Jesus quickly comes
with grace after, and now loving Jesus we see God's law is good and not
bad for we have been redeemed. Romans 7:22 says, "I delight in the law of God after the inward man." Thus the main point here is simply that all of God's doctrine, God's teaching in the Bible are good and not evil. Even the law is good, even though it reveals our sin, for God has a good purpose in doing so - namely to save us by the Gospel. Just
then as a wife out of love should faithfully obey her husband, we (the
Church) should be faithful in every doctrine taught by the Lord Jesus,
for "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable."
After doctrine now comes fellowship. When we know the love of Christ by faith, we love His true doctrine and the same love rejects all false doctrine. And
since the devil, world and our flesh seek to lead us into false
doctrine daily, Jesus said "Search the Scriptures" and pastors
especially are charged to "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the
doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save
thyself, and them that hear thee." True doctrine leads to heaven and false doctrine leads to hell. It
is thus for the sake of our own soul, the Holy Spirit commands us in
Romans 16:17, "Mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to
the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them." This
means we cannot give our blessing to, nor practice prayer fellowship,
altar fellowship, or pulpit fellowship - with those who stubbornly
profess false doctrine. While we trust and believe their confession of Christ, for example, how can we pray with Catholics when they pray to Mary? How can we pray with Baptists when they deny the Spirit's power to work faith in infants? How
can we pray with the Reformed when they deny the Real Presence, or how
can we pray with heterodox Lutherans when we separated from them long
ago because of false doctrine? Is this how we mark and avoid? Where
is our love for Jesus and His Word, when we do not love the erring
enough to correct their error, but we instead pray with them? Unionism
is the teaching that we should ignore our doctrinal differences, and
worship and pray together, as if such is Christian love. But Christian love is the love for Christ and His Word and our neighbor. It is good and not evil to insist on purity of doctrine. It is good and not evil to condemn false doctrine. When the question is asked today, "Why are there so many different Christian denominations?"…..the answer is UNIONISM. Through
the ages, rather than continuing steadfast in the apostles' doctrine
and fellowship, many Christians winked at error, then tolerated it, then
united with it, and then were seduced by it (error). A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Love alone for God and neighbor is the simple reason we mark and avoid.
II. "All things in common" and public worship. Love for God and neighbor is also what causes us to use our possessions for God's glory. In the early church, because there was a need, believers were thus moved to have "all things in common" They "sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need." Those with more shared and gave to those with less. As Jesus said, "Freely ye have received, freely give." And
let us note they were not commanded to sell their possessions by the
apostles, for faith needs no compulsion or force, but the Lord loves a
cheerful giver. Such reminds us to freely give our firstfruits today, if our neighbor is in genuine need. Proverbs
19:17 says, "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and
that which he hath given will he pay him again. " This
does not mean we must give to every beggar on the corner, for some are
poor because they refuse to work, but we can if we want to. It is our choice, our free will according to faith, a matter of Christian liberty. Likewise we should understand why we put money in the collection plate at church. Such is done to support the preaching of the Gospel. The Bible says, "Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel." By
giving our freewill offerings to church, we help the Gospel to be
preached here so that the stranger, the visitor, the people of our
community may hear that Jesus is the True Son of God, who came to save
all men from sin. All who believe in Christ shall be saved from sin. Jesus
said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man
eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will
give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." When we
give to church, we can be happy knowing this offering helps the saving
message of Jesus to be preached. Lost sinners can here find grace.
Finally, beloved of the Lord, let us note the good fruit of faith, namely public worship. "They
continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking of bread
from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of
heart. Praising God and having favor with all the people." This
means they were united in the true faith, and they publicly confessed
and worshiped Christ in the Temple, just as we do in church today. When
believers publicly worship, not only do we gather and assemble together
around the Word of God, but by our public worship we bear witness to
this community, giving witness that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the
Life. Though we have different callings and
stations, different families and race, God unites our hearts and voices
with ONE ACCORD into ONE FAITH, so with gladness and singleness of heart
we sing His praises, Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me
so! In a world of spiritual darkness, our little
church, this little flock, is a Lighthouse shining in all directions
the Light of Christ. Let us therefore praise God
with united heart and mind and voice, and may the Light of Christ shine
through us by our good works, for we are His witnesses saved by hope. And may the good Lord add to this church "daily such as should be saved". Amen.
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