May 8
Bible Reading: Acts 2
Acts 2:42, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
Amongst its various definitions, something is said to be “fundamental” when it serves an essential or foundational role. For example, fundamental to the game of basketball are the abilities to dribble, pass, and shoot a basketball. With education, the subjects of reading, writing, and arithmetic are fundamental to future learning. So, it is with respect to the Christian life. There are certain “fundamentals” that are essential to the believer’s walk with Jesus. We can predict something of the present spiritual health and future well-being of a church or an individual believer according to how much heart-level devotion is given to these important spiritual disciplines.
The things spoken of in our verse are the things that healthy and growing Christians and churches do. They don’t just do them; they devote themselves to them. They don’t do them because they are compelled to as some kind of religious duty, but because they are Spirit-led to do them. These activities have characterized the lives of believers since the birth of the church. While there are differences in the specific ways in which churches in varying cultures around the world worship Jesus, every healthy believer or church is characterized by its devotion to these four things.
Peter proclaimed his first sermon and, as a result, “about three thousand souls” were saved (Acts 2:41). The very next verse in Acts speaks then of the activities to which these new believers devoted themselves. There is between verse 41 and verse 42 no additional information given regarding how these believers came to their understanding of the need to give attention to these things. People were saved, then those people did them. There are things that new believers in Christ are Spirit-led to do from the moment of saving faith. They do not have to be told to read the Scriptures, because like newborn babes, they are instinctively led to long for the truth (1 Peter 2:2). They do not have to be told to pray; they were Spirit-led to pray to God for salvation and are thenceforth Spirit-led to devote themselves to prayer. Like a magnet, the new believer is drawn to fellowship—by a Spirit-led attraction—with other like-minded believers. Spirit-led believers are likewise compelled to break bread together in remembrance of the Lord Jesus.
There is something seriously amiss when an individual or church abandons any of these practices. They are Spirit-led disciplines that are borne in us out of love for Jesus. They are not religious duties or practices exercised for some mundane or human-ordained purpose. Jesus is at the heart of each of them. It is love for Jesus that engenders desire for the truth. Those who love Him love to read about Him and hear from Him in His Word that they might know Him better. Love for Jesus is likewise made clear in its corresponding love for—and desire to fellowship with—His people. Love for Jesus necessitates prayer and remembrance of Him in the breaking of bread. Those early church believers devoted themselves to these spiritual disciples because the Spirit-led them to as he filled their hearts with love for Jesus.
It would be fair to say that the church in America is today both frail and anemic. And countless strategies and new fads are suggested to fix that which ails the church. Perhaps it would be good for us in this day to evaluate ourselves in light of the four-fold, Spirit-led, devotion of our predecessors. Sometimes there is a need to get back to basics. Here are the basics—love for His Word and His people and devotion to prayer and remembering Him in the breaking of bread. These fundamentals should characterize the lives of Jesus’ followers. Whenever we find a person or church devoting itself, out of love for Jesus, to these things, we know that the Spirit of God is at work. Wherever and whenever they are lacking, we likewise know that something has gone amiss.
A Spirit-borne love for Jesus leads to a devotion to the Word and prayer and fellowship. Devotion to these disciplines is essential to Spiritual health and growth.
I need Thee ev’ry hour,
Most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine
Can peace afford.
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
Ev’ry hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.
LookingtoJesus 