05/09/2011

Devoted to The Apostles' Teaching

‘They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.’ Acts 2:42

I will begin this week with The Apostles’ Teaching.

Before I focus on The Apostles’ Teaching, why this verse?

Two things:

Firstly…. we read also…. ‘The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved’. This was a growing community of Christians. If we wish to see our numbers grow, there are lessons to be learned here.

Secondly, there is a vital word in this verse that we are studying; if we are not careful we can miss it and it is absolutely key to all that we will be speaking about and studying, it is central to our worship and witness. Without it we become what John Wesley most feared the Methodist People might turn into…. ‘a dead sect, having the form of godliness but without the power’. The word is ‘devoted’.

‘They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.’


The word is devoted, not committed. What is the difference? Think about it.

Do you get the impression that these four things were something they had to do, or something they wanted to do, because there is a difference. When Jesus said ‘Where your heart is, there will be your treasure also,’ he wasn’t just talking about money!
I tell you this;
when our hearts… yours and mine… can say with the Psalmist, ‘As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for you, O Lord.’,
when it is our deepest desire
to know God’s word so we can obey it,
to share in fellowship with complete love for one another,
to break bread with broken and contrite hearts,
to pray as 19th century preacher William Arthur calls us to, for the power of the Holy Spirit; ‘Prayer, prayer, all prayer – mighty, importunate, repeated united prayer’…. If we can reach this devotion to the things of God, we won’t need to worry about Church growth because we will become as a powerful magnet is to steel.

The apostles’ teaching, then.

What is this teaching to which the early Christians devoted themselves?

Well, it includes the teaching of Jesus himself. In the great commission Jesus calls his apostles to make disciples, baptise and ‘teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Matt 28:20.
The teaching of the apostles is primarily the gospel or Good News, which was centred around his death, burial and resurrection.
vv 23-24 of Acts 2:
This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
Acts 3:15 : You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
Acts 4:10 : then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 :. Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

The apostles’ teaching was a unique teaching in that it came from God and was clothed with the authority conferred on the apostles
2 Cor 13:10 —the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.

1 Thess 4:2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

Today, the apostles’ teaching is of course available to us in the books of the New Testament.
We do well to study them.
In recent weeks at the Mens’ Meetings we have grappled with The Sermon on the Mount, so very important, crucial to our Christian living !

What are the ways in which we can devote ourselves to The Apostles’ Teaching? How can we read, mark, learn and inwardly digest God’s word. Well I’ve been doing it for 40+ years, and I can tell you there is no easy way.
It takes time.

1. Try and follow a Bible Reading programme to read the Bible in a year.
2. Read a whole chapter or read the whole book of Ephesians for example.
3. Meditate on one verse, take it into the day with you. One verse I worked through by learning it before breakfast and thinking about it all day was this: ‘Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ever ask or imagine according to His power that is at work in us, to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever. Amen.’ Eph 3:20-21, and the same night when I was on Crossline duty I was able to help a struggling Christian over the phone.
Abbreviate it to learn the central phrase: He is able to do immeasurably more than we can ever ask or imagine according to His power that is at work in us. Eph 3:20

Meditating on God’s word is never a waste of time.
When the devil came to tempt Jesus he resisted him using the words of Scripture (see Matt 4) So must we.
4. Another way we can learn theology is through hymns and songs. This is what the early Methodists did. Many couldn’t read or write, but they could learn hymns easily, so they knew the gospel in its simplest form. This is a good tradition (not all hymns are good….not all traditions are good!) which has been handed down to us. Though we can all read and write, we still love to sing and it is a way of memorising the truths to be found in Scripture.
Look at the words of some of the songs* I have chosen for today.
Let’s page through them:
My God full of mercy
Only by grace
To God be the glory *
I’m special *
You’re the Word
Praise to the Holiest *
In Christ Alone *
Lord I’m grateful *

Use songs and hymns then to learn the truths to be found in Scripture.

5. Most of all, let the Holy Spirit speak to you. Always ask his help as you open the word.
Joyce Hugget uses 5 ‘R’s to help us.
This links beautifully with the word devotion, doesn’t it:? How might we read the Bible ‘God’s love letter’?
READ
RECEIVE/REPEAT
RESPOND
REST
REFLECT

May we devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching, the precious word of God.