THE FUNDAMENTALS OF BEING A CHRISTIAN

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

Acts 2:42-47

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Peter had finished his message to a large crowd that had gathered after the Holy Spirit was sent from heaven to be imparted on Jesus’ disciples and the power of that message, driven by that newly received Spirit, led approximately 3,000 people to commit to be baptized and receive Jesus as Savior. It was an incredible influx of new Christians in Jerusalem, the place where Peter spoke, and as we see in today’s passage from the closing verses of Acts chapter 2, it didn’t take long for the new Christ disciples to get started doing what all Christians should do. Let’s break these things down one by one.

1. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.

Being a follower of Jesus carries with it a commitment to learning from the word of God. The freshly saved disciples in our passage were hungry to gain instruction and knowledge, something the apostles provided. Today, we still have Christians who have been given the gift to teach others about the scriptures and every believer should dedicate themselves to those Bible educators. I’m grateful the Lord has blessed me with the ability to train others in His Word and I’m equally grateful for anyone who invests themselves in these messages with the hope to grow more knowledgeable in regard to the scriptures.

2. They devoted themselves to fellowship and the breaking of bread.  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.

Not only was it important for Christians to devote themselves to being taught the scriptures but they were to join together in fellowship, whether dining together (breaking bread) or otherwise. There is power in numbers and when Christ believers come together to share in Christian camaraderie, the collective work of the Holy Spirit as it moves through those believers creates an environment of love and caring. It moves one beyond the place of self-centeredness and isolation to a place of belonging and social acceptance where the God who makes all things possible is praised.

3. They devoted themselves to prayer.

Accepting Jesus as Savior and being baptized put the new Christians in a place where their relationship with God had changed drastically for the better. Before, they were sinners, enemies of God who were in the crosshairs of His judgment. But now, saved by the blood of Jesus, these Christians were now reconciled to God and could speak to Him freely whenever they needed to. Fellowship with one another was very important but being in good standing with God, able to communicate with Him freely at any time was more important.

4. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

Non-believers tend to take all the miraculous work of the Lord for granted. They just go through the motions day after day after day, experiencing the glory of creation without acknowledging the Creator. Conversely, Christians are constantly tuned on to all the many wonder and signs the Lord performs on His own and through others.

5. All the believers were together and had everything in common.

In our world today, we see divisiveness and a major problem. Unity seems to be in very short supply.

Perhaps the solution is to come together as the people we are, one people with one Lord who is both Maker and Savior. This is what we found the new Christians do after hearing Peter’s powerful Gospel message and deciding to become saved. They found their unity through the holy Uniter Jesus and had everything in common through Him.

6. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

When you follow Jesus and in doing so, choose to live as He did, you can’t help but adopt an attitude of selflessness and a willingness to self sacrifice for the good of others in need. After all, didn’t Jesus willingly give up all that He had to bring salvation to all people who were helpless and hopeless before God without the salvation He brought? Indeed, all sinners are in need before a God who hates sin and Jesus selflessly provided for them by giving up His life in their place.

As we look at the immediate actions of the nearly 3,000 new Jesus believers, we see how they immediately were ready to surrender what they had, their property and possessions, so that others in need could benefit. Their charitable work had a follow on impact and effect because as chapter 2 closes, we see that “the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved”.

When Christians adopt fundamental practices that show other that they are in and of Christ Jesus, then those practices will have an impact on others, especially when those who are in need receive help without any expectation of return. Selflessly caring for others as Jesus did gives them a glimpse of the very Man who willingly died in their place so they could have the chance to be redeemed and live forever.

Look to the heart of the Gospel and you find selfless sacrifice.

God selflessly sent His Son to die in the place of all mankind.

Jesus selflessly allowed His life to be taken because He loved and cared for all mankind more than Himself.

And Christians, past and present, are called to selflessly sacrifice for the cause of both God and Jesus, offering their lives to help others find the eternal life they have found through their Savior.

When we focus ourselves on the fundamentals of being a Christian, then we simply see that it means being Christ-like in everything we do. And I know I can say from experience, there’s no better life to live.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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