Please do turn to Acts in chapter 2. Thank you, Michael. Acts in chapter 2, verse 40. I'm going to finish this section, Lord willing. With many other words, Peter testified and exhorted them, saying, be saved from this perverse generation. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. And that day about 3,000 souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Shall we pray? Oh God and Father, help us to glean the insights that is here in this passage that you would create these realities in a greater measure in our church. Give us a heart to long for this. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Now I'm just going to say at the outset, in case it was perhaps you got the sense this wasn't the case in the way I preached this morning. In preaching this, I am, just so you know, I do believe, my conviction is, I do believe that these qualities exist in our church in some measure. So that's just so you know where I'm coming from. This is not a rebuke. But this is an exhortation to say, whilst that is the case, oh, there's so much more. There's so much more to be known. There's so much more to be experienced in the life of this church. There's so much more to pursue. We're really paddling We're paddling in the shallow waters of church life. We haven't yet fully realised all that is possible for a local church that has been birthed by the power of God and is being sustained by the power of God. Friends, here we come to a real church. This is a real church. A real church. and this is the church I long for us to be. In fact, to be honest, let's just say as is. If a church does not have these things in some measure, they're not a real church. Someone says to you, hey, you need to come to my church. And you say, oh, OK, then. You say, do you continue steadfastly in the Apostles' Doctrine? Oh, well, no, no. We just have 20-minute messages with a PowerPoint. Oh, OK. Do you spend time together? No, we don't really spend time together. Are you in one another's homes? No, we're not in one another's homes. Do you break bread? Well, once a year, we break bread. Do you pray together? Well, about a third of the membership come and pray. Beloved, they called it a church. It's not a church. if we were to apply this standard as a template and place it on a church, there you would have your answer of whether you're dealing with a true church or not. So my heart has begun to burn again as a result of studying these verses with longing but also with hope. With hope! This is possible because this is of God, we saw that this morning, not of man. Apart from the Lord, we can do nothing. We cannot do this, but the Lord, he can do this. He can do what we cannot do, but we must abide in him. If we abide in him, we will bear much fruit. Turn with me to John 15. Let's just read those beautiful verses again of encouragement to us. John 15, the Lord Jesus speaking to his disciples and to us, I am the true vine. and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away. That's why some churches do close, not all but some. And every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit. That's what we're praying, is it not? We're saying, prune us, Lord, so that we will bear more fruit. I have witnessed the fruit of God's work in this church as I've been here. Praise the Lord for that in your lives. I trust in my life. But I want more. I'm quite happy to say that. I want more. Prune us, Lord, that we may bear more fruit. Verse 4. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. This is really the result then, it's not even so much a striving, there's a longing and a striving in prayer, but actually, this is really what happens when we're united to Christ, when we're united to the vine. He has the sap, and we receive our life and vitality from Him, it flows from Him. And so a church that bears no resemblance to this, the question we have to ask is, is the branch united to the vine? are the members united to Christ because if they were out of our hearts would flow rivers of what? Living water. The Lord's life would permeate through the members of his body and there would be fruitfulness. Today we think things have gone well if there's bottoms on seats regardless of whether they're true believers or not. I would say better to be few and be a church like this than to be many without these things. This passage should indeed make us mourn the spiritual state of the church, but also cultivate hope and longing. Oh, that God would do this here. Why do you think God has given us this passage? To torture us? To make us feel miserable? Look how they used to be like and you're nothing like that. Is that what God's done by giving us this passage to scold us and to tell us what an awful church we are? Or is it not to give us a vision in our heart to long that we would see these things and seek these things and labour for these things and pray for these realities in our lives? And this needs to be not just my vision for the church, not just my hobby horse, not just the elders, not just the deacons, you all, you members need to have a vision for this church. I would hope that if someone visited us and said, what kind of church are you? You would be equipped to say, well, this is a church we're striving to be. I've said before, we use the language, we are a reformed church. It's fine. We're identifying with the historical movement of God and a particular understanding of salvation and the way God saves sinners. But we are always reforming, aren't we? We're never fully reformed. I'm not fully reformed. I need to be continually reformed by the word of God. Now listen. to what Spurgeon says, particularly on this reference in John 15 that I read to. He says, see these thousands of branches, proceeding from such a stem as Christ Jesus, and with such sap as the Holy Ghost flowing through them. Why, surely the vine must soon clothe the mountains with its verdure, and there shall not remain a single barren rock unadorned with the blessed foliage. Then shall the mountains drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. Not because of any natural fertility in the branches. He's saying the growth isn't because of any life in us, but because of their glorious root and stem and sap. Each one shall bear full clusters and each fruitful bough shall run over the wall. Beloved friends, have you not such strong desires to see such a consummation in our midst? That's Charles Haddon Spurgeon and what he was longing and preaching for is what is in my heart. today. This is what omnipotence can do among us but we must be united in this or it will not happen. Turn to Matthew 18 verse 19 to 20. I say to you that if two of you agree on earth Concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. He will be there in the midst of a church when we are of one heart, one mind, and one soul in these things. And by God's grace, I think the Lord has done a great pruning work in our church, and I came to a church that was what once heart, soul, mind. There's been some challenges to that over the last few years, but by God's grace, I think we're at a place where I do think we are, unless I'm unaware of something that's brewing that's gonna come around the corner and I'm gonna get hit by a blindside storm. There does seem to be a sense of unity among us and that's encouraging that in such a time as this that we're considering these things and I pray that we can push for these things together. Jesus said, I will build my church and dear friends, this is the kind of church he's committed to building. He's not building your church, not building my church, it's his church. He's not building a church that fits your agenda or the world's agenda. or the old person's agenda or the young person's agenda or the student's agenda he's building his church and if we are building this kind of church then we are building his church now so far we've seen the ministry of a healthy church in verse 40, it's bold and pressing we've seen the change that takes place in the hearts of God's people who he's called before the foundation of the world we've seen the separation that comes from when you're converted that there becomes a complete separation in your heart from the world which you've left behind and this evening they're going to see the first main fruit in a healthy church is that it is a devoted church. That's what we see. Here is a church that is entirely working hand in hand. They continue steadfastly in apostles doctrine, in fellowship, in breaking of bread and in prayers. It wasn't some. It wasn't a little group. It wasn't a group within the church. It wasn't a remnant within the church. It was all the church. They were all hungry for the word of God. They all wanted to pray. They all wanted to break bread. They all wanted to fellowship. Notice how they loved being together as well. Verse 44, all believed were together. They were just together. They were of one mind soul. They had all things in common. They were caring for one another. They were meeting in house to house, they were praising together, they were a devoted church, devoted to Christ, devoted to each other, devoted to the truth and devoted to the lost. What does their commitment and devotion say to us? I ask you, can you actually blame the unbeliever for concluding today, based upon the lives of Christians in general, I'm not talking about necessarily you in particular or any of this particular church, but in Christians in general, what would they conclude about the importance of Jesus Christ from the commitment of his followers? Is the belief among a lot of the culture that Jesus is irrelevant to them Not in some measure, not exclusively, it's fundamentally an outworking of the human heart, but is it not in some measure a reflection of the Lord's people's lives is so half-hearted that Jesus doesn't seem to convey any importance to them because not even those who claim to know him believe he's that important to be inconvenienced for, to give up anything for, to suffer anything for, to pay a price for. That's where we are today. Now let's look at these qualities in detail. Firstly, they were devoted to truth. They continued steadfastly to the apostles' doctrine. There, the apostles' doctrine is not merely speaking of a set of intellectual propositions. The word is actually translated in Mark 1, 22, Luke 4, 32, 1 Timothy 4, 13, sorry, to speak of the act of teaching and preaching that truth. So it's not merely me and Jesus and my Bible at home over coffee. This is a commitment to hear the apostles boldly, clearly unpack the truth as it is in Jesus Christ and its application to their lives. Now this word continues steadfastly, it's a very powerful word as well. It means to adhere with all of your strength. I bought one of these Pilate bars, they have cables and you can do a whole workout with them, they're superb. And some of the exercises rely on, you do it working your legs, they rely on you holding here, and it's actually about the strength you have in your arms to hold the bar stable so you can lift your feet up and down. And if I let go of the bar, the whole exercise comes to a crashing halt and my foot hits the floor and I hurt myself, which has happened a few times. This is the picture. They are gripping to this truth. They will not let anyone or anything keep them from missing an encounter with God by His words. In fact the word also means overcoming all the obstacles that are in the way. So it's presuming that the devil's not just going to let you happily go to church and listen to the word of God. He's not going to be happy about that. He's going to do all he can to put obstacles in the way. Have a bad night's sleep on Saturday night or Friday night. Overwhelm you at work and tempt you to work instead of church or whatever it is. There will be pressures crashing in on you all the time to keep you from being here or at the very It's not much better than that really. If you're here, you're not really here. You know what I mean by that? You're here, but you're somewhere else. Because it's hard. It is hard. It's not help when the preacher's not good one Sunday, but it is hard to pay close attention to the word of truth. to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is hard, and so these early Christians, they were so hungry, nothing will keep us, nothing can get in the way of my commitment to be under the authority of the word of God, because they've come to experience how powerful it is. It is the apostles preaching. It is the preaching of the truth concerning Christ that has caused them to be saved from their sins. They were once a wicked and perverse generation. They were once guilty of the blood of Christ. They were lawless and through the preached word they were cut to the heart. They know how powerful the word is. It's like a hammer. It can completely change your life in a moment and set you on a new path. And so they say, right, I want to hear more of this apostle's doctrine. I want to hear more of this word. Because though I've been saved from the punishment of sin, I have not yet been completely saved from the remaining sin. Sin has made inroads into my life. Sin has created pathways in my life, and in my habits, and in my thinking, and in my doing. And only the word of truth will set me free from those things. I need to hear God's word. It conveys the idea of persistence. You keep on keeping on. Does that describe you? Don't say that to make you feel rubbish. This is what we're called to. This is what it is to be a disciple. What is a disciple? A disciple is someone who's taught by a teacher. And we again have a very different idea of discipleship today. We think discipleship is, and again, and I do this with people, so there's nothing wrong with it, and it's a function of discipleship, but discipleship is meeting with a believer and reading a book. Now, that may happen, but what did discipleship involve for the 12 with Christ? It was 24-7, wasn't it? They went everywhere with him. They ate with him. They laughed with him. They cried with him. They asked him questions. They talked on the road. They talked on the journeys. Peter even took out a sword and sliced someone's ears off. Their discipleship was living their life with Jesus and being with him at all costs and listening to him and being taught by him. And this is the idea here. Wherever Christ is, I must be. You remember Zacchaeus? He heard that Jesus was passing that way. I've got to be there, even if it means climbing up a tree, ripping my garments and looking silly. I have got to be there because he is there and I want to see him and what he is like. You know, we are not, it's interesting, isn't it? What does the Great Commission say? Go and make converts of every nation. Go and make decisions of every nation. It says, go and make disciples of every nation. I don't really care what one says about their faith in Christ. I care if one's a disciple. Is Jesus Lord of your life? And is his will paramount to your life? And will you go wherever he tells you to go? Will you forsake whatever he tells you to forsake? Because that is what it is to be a saved man or saved woman. We're living in a day, oh, you have two, you're one of those churches that have two services. And people apply for membership and say, you mean you expect me, as far as it's possible, to be at the prayer meeting, at the morning service, and at the evening service to join this church? That's a bit much commitment. They were devoted to the apostles' teaching. They continued steadfastly in it. They continued daily together in the temple. They met house to house, verse 46. A young Christian once asked his pastor, why he thought people should attend two services on the Lord's Day. After all, he protested, there's not a verse in my Bible that says we have to attend two services. I wish I was as witty as this pastor was. He says, well, said the pastor, I agree that you don't have to come twice on a Sunday, provided you do agree to do what the Bible says. Okay, fair enough. Right, said the pastor, I'll see you for preaching and worship on Monday morning, Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning, Thursday morning, Friday morning, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning. And he read Acts 2. verse 14 to 46. You see the point? Now, I do not believe that this section is telling us you're disobedient if you don't meet every day of the week. It's descriptive. What it's rather describing for us is so devoted were they, that's what they did. It's not therefore, well, because there are different times and different seasons and different circumstances that we all find ourselves in. It's not always possible For example, we know that in the revival, do you know how early George Whitfield and Wesley were preaching sometimes? Five o'clock in the morning. I ask you, if I announced that we're meeting tomorrow at five in the morning, how many of you are gonna be here? I'm sorry if you're disappointed that I don't have more faith in you, but I don't expect to see many of you here. But you see, many of them were miners, weren't they? Colliers, and they were up very early for 12, 13 hour shifts. And so the only time they could hear such preaching and teaching, and they would never hear it on the Lord's Day in their state churches, was to rise that early. And the point is, I guess what I'm saying to you, if that's the only time you could hear Christ, would you do it? If that was what was necessary for us to hear him, hear him speak to us through his word, that was what was required. That was the only way you could. You know, I read a preaching book once about how to keep people from falling asleep. It hasn't necessarily done me much good, I don't think, because sometimes people do fall asleep still. It was called Saving Eutychus. Eutychus, you may remember, fell asleep when Peter, when Paul was labouring his sermon till midnight, it says. and Eutychus fell asleep and he fell out the window and died and Paul raised him to life. But the point is we often think, well does that mean Paul was like preaching from six o'clock till midnight? I don't think so. I don't think as much as I might like the idea of it, you'd hate the idea of it, I don't think he's suggesting we should have six, seven hour sermons. The more likely fact is Eutychus is a slave's name. It most likely means then that Eutychus was serving as a slave from six in the morning, maybe till eight nights, finishing at 10 o'clock in the evening. And most of the early church, particularly among the Gentiles, were converted slaves. And therefore, the only time they could meet was late at night. And so, when it says poor labor until midnight, it may have still been a standard one hour, two hour service. But the point was, Eutychus was very tired. And not even Paul was enough to keep him awake. But the devotion, what I'm getting at, the devotion that was there of these Christians to be under the apostles' doctrine. For the modern church, church is merely a Sunday activity. For us, it's a lifestyle. We are people of the book. We are people of the word. And to highlight for you how devoted they were to the apostles' teaching, have you ever asked the question why it was that possessions were being sold and the proceeds of the lands and the possessions were being distributed? Turn back to Acts in chapter 2, where were most of these people from? Some were from Jerusalem, but many were Parthians, verse 9, Medes, Elamites, from Mesopotamia, that's in Iran. Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya. Point being, what happened here was that many of the converts weren't actually indigenous to Jerusalem themselves. They were Jews, but they were Jews that were still part of the dispersion from the days of Babylon. They've come back. And they realise, here's the point, they realise we can't go back. Not now, maybe at some point. We can't go back now. This is a critical moment. The apostles are here and they're teaching and if we go back on our own without knowing, our left hands by right and without knowing what it means to be a follower of Jesus, well we won't last five minutes. We need to stay. Hang on a minute, where are we going to live? What are we going to do? And so it seems that the Jewish believers that were resident to Jerusalem and Judea, they decided the circumstances required sacrificial forsaking of excess. So those who had five lands would sell two lands in order that those who had nothing could have a land and make a living whilst they were there. Those who had five properties would sell one property so that those who had no properties had a property to live in. This is not advocating communism. This is not destroying the rights of private property. Rather, what it is highlighting is that it shows that so committed were they to the doctrine of the apostles that they were willing to pay a price to be able to be under it. And when need required, they paid that price lovingly and joyfully. Secondly, they were devoted to prayer. They continued steadfastly in prayers. I think it's right, and I've proved this another time, I could do a word study on it, I think it's right to acknowledge that prayer here speaks of not just saying prayers, it speaks of the whole act of worship. For example, like in 1 Corinthians 11 when it talks about when a woman prays and should have her head covered, there it's not just saying if she prays, it's speaking of when she gathers for public worship in the house of God. So often in the New Testament prayer is used for the comprehensive act of prostrating oneself in worship before the living God, which includes saying prayers and praying to God. And here then we're told that this early church, they were committed to dependence on God. Nothing would crowd out the need to seek God in worship and in prayer. And they know the power of prayer, don't they? They were just once lost. How shall we be saved? You have to call on the Lord. Everyone who calls on the Lord, Joel said, shall be saved. And they called on the Lord, and they were wonderfully saved. And they say, well, what else can God not do? If he saved my soul, if he delivered me from sin and the devil and hell, well, I'm going to call on him as long as I live. Whenever I have a problem, I'm going to call on him. This was a church that understood the wonderful power of prayer. And actually, it's not a coincidence, if you actually ought to realize that in the scriptures, this phrase, continuing steadfastly, is often used in relationship to prayer. Romans 12, verse 12. Rejoice in hope, in patient tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. Ephesians 6, verse 18. Praying with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for the saints. Acts 6 verse 4. When the apostles were being distracted by the practical needs and they needed help in the practical needs, why? So we will give ourselves continually, it's the same phrase, to prayer and to the ministry of the word. The importance of prayer. They were not living their lives based on their own feelings, their own wisdom. They understood the need for God to do all that needed to be done in their lives and in their midst. Prayer changes things. Things happen when people pray because I want to actually highlight for you the way Luke in particular, and this is really more Bible studies, but the way Luke in particular emphasises the relationship between prayer and something happening. You would read Luke's gospel and the book of Acts, which is also Luke, Luke's work, it's astounding to see the relationship between prayer and God intervening and God working. So let's look at a few of these. Luke chapter one, verse 10. Luke has been called by some the book of Jesus' praying, and it really highlights for us the power of prayer. Here, of course, not Jesus praying, but Zacchaeus is in the temple, And in verse 10 we read, the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And what happened after? The angel appeared to Zacharias and told him about the birth of John the Baptist. God broke in after people were praying. Luke chapter 3 verse 21. When all the people were baptized it came to pass that Jesus was also baptized and while he prayed the heaven was open. You pray, heaven's open. God breaks in. He sends blessing. He sends a spirit and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon him. Luke 6 verse 12. It came to pass in those days that he went the Lord Jesus out to the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God and what happened? The appointment of the 12 apostles. Luke 9 verse 18. It happens as Jesus was alone praying. What was he praying for? I think what he was praying for was what happens next. That his disciples joined him and he asked them saying, who do you say that I am? What did Peter say, verse 20? the Christ of God. In Matthew's account what did Jesus say? Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my Father who is in heaven. Point being I prayed for this and God has revealed this to you. Luke 18 verse 1 He spoke a parable to them. He says, O Lord that men ought always to pray and not to lose heart and then the conclusion of the parable he tells in verse 7 is shall not God avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him though he bears long with them I tell you he will avenge them speedily prayer brings down God's intervention into situations Luke 22 verse 41 and by the way there are more I'm just I'm sifting here power of prayer Luke 22 verse 41, he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw and he knelt down and prayed, Father if it is your will take this cup away from me nevertheless not my will but yours be done. So Jesus is praying there to do the will of God effectively. He expresses how he would wish there was another way to do the will of God but in his prayer not my will but your will I will do your will what happens after he prays an angel appeared to him from heaven strengthening him to do that very will to give him the strength he needed to go to Calvary's cross and to bear the weight of our sins upon his shoulders and to pay the price of sin for sinners. Acts well we've seen Acts 2 verse 1 They were all of one accord in one place and we know they were to tarry in Jerusalem until the Spirit came. That's what they were praying for. And then suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were. At six, verse six, they laid hands on these seven men that had been chosen to help assist the apostles in their ministry and in their work. Not just in the serving of tables, that's the immediate help, but also through actually, we find out that Philip and many of the others, they actually helped the apostles in their apostolic work further and beyond. But notice the outcome of having prayed and sought God's blessing on this appointment. The word of God spread and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. And a great many of the priests were obedient to faith. Prayer changes things. Acts 8. verse 15 apostles pray that the believers in Samaria might receive the Holy Spirit verse 17 they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit Acts 9 verse 11 an anion is told to go to Saul arise and go to the street called straight and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus for behold he is praying and it is in response to his praying isn't it that he receives his sight and he's filled with the spirit verse 17 and verse 20 immediately he preaches to Christ in the synagogues that he is the son of God and all who heard were amazed we could go on and on Acts 10 Peter prays and receives that vision, declaring all foods clean, telling him to go and preach the gospel to Gentiles. And then he gets an invitation to go to whose house? Cornelius's house. Guess what Cornelius was doing? Praying. Just prayer. In the book of Luke and in Acts, whenever you see action, you'll probably find that there was prayer before the action. God works in answer to prayer. Acts 12, I love Acts 12, that's one of my favorite ones. Peter's in prison and we're told in Acts 12 and verse 5, constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. Please release Peter, we need him. He's our elder, he's our apostle. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him. Verse 7, a light shone in the prison. Arise quickly, his chains fell off his hands. He was set free. He turned up at the church. They didn't even believe it was him, did they? They couldn't believe it. Peter knocked at the door. Verse 13, a girl named Rhoda came to the door. When she recognized Peter's voice because of her gladness, she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. And they said, you're beside yourself. You think, well, you were praying for this. God's given you what you prayed for and you don't even believe it. Now it's happening. Prayer, the power of prayer. Acts 16, verse 25, Paul and Silas. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. The prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake. Yeah, you pray and it just happens to be an earthquake. So that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. It's amazing stuff, isn't it? This is deliberate. This isn't coincidental. Luke is saying in both his gospel and his account of the first church, I want you to see the power of prayer. There are others. So back to Acts 2, they devoted themselves to prayer. You know, we often look at the early church and go, well, they had apostles and, oh, well, it was an unusual time. And yes, there's a sense, that's true. The apostles did have authority and power to do things that neither you or I can expect now. But the principles the same. Even their signs and the wonders they did, they did in reliance on God and in answer to prayer. They prayed for the Spirit to come. So the work that we are called to do, we're not called to be apostles, we're not called to do the work of apostles, we're not called to raise people from the dead, we're not called to make people's arms grow back. But what we are called to do as Christians, to live holy lives, to be faithful witnesses, to preach the gospel, and by God's grace to see sinners saved and caught in the gospel net, that's something God can do. We must pray for it. You do not have because you do not asked. And again, notice the emphasis concerning Peter's arrest, the church made constant prayer to God for him. There was a persistence to this. Well, I'll maybe get away with the next point. Hands up if you think I need to stop, because I'll be, you can be honest, I won't take offence. The last, the third thing I'll say tonight is that they were devoted to each other. They continued steadfastly in fellowship, Verse 42, they had all things in common. Verse 44, 45, and they met daily together and broke bread together. I think we're seeing this more and more in our church. People are staying together longer and longer and longer after the service. And again, I don't give you a false hope. Sometimes you have to get home. There are things that have to be done. But there's a desire, isn't there? There's a growing desire to be together as a church. And that's what you see here. The church is meant to be what the nuclear family is to each other. What is a nuclear family? You provide mutual support. You share burdens. You help one another. You relieve one another. You watch out for one another. You eat together. You pray together. And that's exactly what you're seeing here. It should not be the case that someone disowned by his biological nuclear family comes into the church and finds no replication of what he had. Rather, he should say, there's a better family here than I ever had out there. That is really what you see here. They needed one another. As I said, verses 44 to 45 is not advocating abolishing private property. It's not saying that we should all put everything we have in a common pot. No. In fact, Acts 5 and Annihilation Fire, when they lied to the Holy Spirit, what did Peter say? Before you made the promise, was it not yours? There's nothing inherently wrong with owning property. But it should not be the case that some have abundance and others in the church family have nothing. The teaching of Scripture, Proverbs 3, do not withhold goods from those whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so. This was natural. This was the overflow of a heart that says, how can I sit here on my seven fields whilst these people need to be under the word of God and they have nothing. That's the idea here. They're eating together. Now, commentators discuss here this method of breaking bread. Is it talking about just having a meal together regularly, like a fellowship lunch you might say, or is it talking about breaking bread in the official sense, the communion? and they get the knickers in a right twist debating this, the answer is yes and yes. Okay? What do I mean by that? When the Lord Jesus first instituted the Lord's Supper, was there a meal involved? It was the Passover meal, wasn't it? And he broke the bread and gave the cup after the Passover supper. And it seems to me then that the early church continued that tradition of gathering together for a fellowship lunch and then the Lord's supper. would occur after that time of sweet fellowship in the Lord Jesus Christ and they did this continually. They continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread. I think the breaking of bread has to be a reference to the Lord's Supper simply for the reason of what we consider the communion that the Lord was known to them in the breaking of bread. He took bread and broke it. And Luke wrote that in Luke 22. So this is an explicit reference from Luke to say they continually had the Lord's Supper, weekly at the very minimum, possibly even more. What is Christian fellowship? Christian fellowship is not merely just getting together and socializing, though it involves that. Christian fellowship is coming together for the purpose of edifying one another spiritually in Christ Jesus. Having spiritual conversation, talking about the Lord's dealings with you in your life, speaking a word of exhortation, encouragement, rebuke if necessary, there together to build one another up in the things of God. Our God is a fellowship in God. What's one of the names of Jesus Christ? What's his name? Emmanuel. Do you know what Emmanuel means? God with us. Now doesn't it seem a bit strange to you that the God who is with us has a people who are never with each other? Doesn't that seem a bit unusual to you? What was the great evidence of God with us? Well, what did the Lord Jesus do? He ate and drank with tax collectors and with sinners. Now I I'm trying to think how to say this carefully. I think you've heard me say that I have issues and concerns about much of the modern small group movement today. I have only seen them cause strife and problem in many churches. And you get self-appointed shepherds who have not been called to shepherd starting factions within the church, and then you get these church splinter groups and break-off groups around particular individuals. If you are going to have small groups, it needs to be under the oversight of the elders. And if you've only got one elder, I would propose to you it would be unwise to have small groups. If you have five elders, like they do at Grace Community Church in California, where MacArthur has a massive eldership, all the elders lead small groups, and they're one eldership, and they're working together. I could see that that could work in theory. I think small groups are dangerous for many reasons. However, however, this is the important caveat, there is a reason I think believers are craving for this kind of thing. is because their desires are actually inherently natural. I want to spend intimate time with my brothers and sisters. I have so many questions to ask about living as a Christian, being a godly father, being a godly mother, being a godly husband, being a godly wife, that the official church meeting doesn't make it easy to do and I want to spend time talking and opening the scriptures and discussing these things. And I'm not here to say I've got a solution to that, but I do believe that we need to think about how do we do that in our midst. We should be in one another's homes. We should be prayerfully together. We should be eating together. The Methodist movement, it's been said by Dr. Campbell Morgan, who was Martyn Lloyd-Jones' predecessor, he argues that one of the secrets of the success of the Methodist churches was its societies. So Wesley would preach, or Whitfield would preach, they would be converts, and then Wesley would organise them into house societies. They would have appointed leaders that would report back to the Wesleys, and it was there that the pastoral care and support and the burden carrying was shared between them. And the argument is that the Methodist movement was so powerful and so effective because there was so many opportunities for Christians to discuss the spiritual life and to strengthen one another. And I do wonder whether we're a bit weak in that. As churches, in this particular moment, we sort of come to church, we go home, and maybe we don't really know what's going on in one another's lives. all who believed were together. It's a long time since I read the story, but have you heard of John Fawcett? John Fawcett was a particular Baptist of the 18th century, pastoring up north. I can't remember the exact town now, it's escaping me. He was struggling to feed his family, and the church was very poor, and he was coming to the conclusion that he needed to seek a new pastor, and a church from London issued a call to him, and it was far better paid and provided all the needs that up until now he was struggling to meet. He got as far as boarding the train to London to accept and take up this pass that had been offered to him. He didn't board that train. Sorry, it wouldn't have been trains, it would have been carriage before train. But he didn't get on the carriage. to go to London, because he couldn't. Because so deeply were his ties to the church that he'd ministered in, he couldn't separate from them. And there's a hymn that we sing that bears the name John Fawcett, and he wrote this hymn as a result of how he felt in that moment. It's this hymn, Blessed be the ties that bind. Our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above. We share our mutual woes, our mutual burdens bear, and often for each other flows a sympathising tear. Here is a man who knew something in his church, clearly, of what it was to enjoy sweet, intimate fellowship with his church family, and he decided that he could not walk away from them. And wouldn't that be a testimony if we could say that of ourselves? Some of us might have to move, some of us might have to relocate, some of us might be called elsewhere, but wouldn't it be a testimony to the unity and the life and the loving family this church is if doing that was an absolute wrench? That it made your stomach churn the thought of not being with this church family again. And in all of this, they were committed to Christ. In fact, the regularity of the Lord's Supper was a reflection of their commitment to Christ. Just to close with these remarks by Lord Jones on the Lord's Supper, I'm just literally reading what he said on them. It's very helpful, talking about why the Lord's Supper was so central in the early church. Firstly, it keeps the gospel central, doesn't it? We are prone to forget and to forget, lose sight of what the foundational thing is. What is it that's to be preached? What is it that brings us together? And Lloyd-Jones says that the Lord's Supper keeps the gospel at the front and centre of the preaching and the worship and the praise and the life of the Church of God. If you're really looking at the Lord's Supper and it's being taught and explained, it's very hard to abandon the gospel. with that reminder of the gospel constantly set before you. Secondly, the Lord's Supper preserves the unity of the church. We are all one. He died for all his people. We are on the same playing field. We all had to come humbly, confessing ourselves to be needy sinners. We had nothing of which to boast. And therefore, it's harder for factions and for pride and for people seeking preeminence to emerge in a church if you're gathering around the one table. And not just individually. A lot of people view communion wrongly, and I know I've said these things before, but they view it wrongly as me and Jesus. It's just a private event. No. Communion is communing with Christ and with one another. A lot of people view communion like the mass. You know, I just come and get my blessings and go home. No. And actually, because it was tied to a fellowship meal, that would have been vividly clear. It is the people of God that are doing this. Thirdly, Lloyd-Jones says, it fosters gratitude. Whatever's going on in our lives, however bad they are, whatever crisis we are walking through, we can at least be thankful that he loved me and gave himself for me, right? And again, the Lord Supper keeps that. And ultimately, communion, lastly Lloyd-Jones says, reminds us of the goal of Christianity, which is communion with God. Communion with God. No wonder then the summary of this whole section is they were praising God. They were praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who are being saved. What a wonderful picture then of a church. Under the word of God together, praying together, partaking of the Lord's supper together, eating together, being together, sharing with one another, giving to one another, praising together, glad together. Wow. And I can say, as I said, I close now with where I started. I see these things in measure, in us all, by God's grace. But by God's grace, let us strive and pray that these things would increase. Because then I believe the world will see, look how they love one another. And Jesus said, that will be the test and the proof that you are my disciples. If you're never with one another you don't love one another. If you never pray for one another you don't love one another. If you never eat for one another you don't love one another. These are all fruits of loving one another. Don't you feel sad at Christmas time if one of your loved ones doesn't turn up? Aren't we family? What a wonderful thing then it would be to be in this kind of church. We want numbers as one put it, but only such as the Lord adds and records in his book. And none, if we can help it, whose names would be only on our books. You see what he's saying there? Lord, would we add only those whom you are adding? And would we never add those whom you have not added? Would we add only those who are ultimately in your book, who are your people?