Devote Yourselves to These Things

In the 2^nd chapter of Acts we read that the early church “devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

The early church devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. That is, they devoted themselves to the Word of God. God’s Word that reveals our eternal hope - the hope of salvation – of being made right with God and sanctified by His Spirit. They devoted themselves to God’s revelation that brings us hope in the promise of Christ’s second coming, when all things will be made right. They devoted themselves to the Word of God, which tells us to hope in the resurrection – that one day we will no longer bear the curse of death and decay because Jesus defeated sin at the cross and rose victorious over the grave. We rejoice in this hope because we devote ourselves to the Word of God.

The early church devoted themselves to the fellowship. That is, they devoted themselves to the church; to what Christ began as he challenged Peter to love Him by feeding His sheep. We are to devote ourselves to the church, as the writer of the book of Hebrews says we ought to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25). We are to devote ourselves to the church because Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

The early church also devoted themselves to the breaking of bread and prayer (Acts 2:42). This breaking of bread likely referred to both communion and their Christian fellowship as they ate a meal together. Devote yourselves to communion: to focusing on the gospel (what Christ has done), uniting, as the body of Christ, to our bread of life, and remembering that He is risen and coming again. And devote yourselves to Christian fellowship in a meal: to eating together, making new friends, and sharing and encouraging each other in the main thing we have in common … each of us joined together as a body, with Christ as our head.

And as the early church was devoted to prayer, so we ought to pray that God’s name be hallowed in the church; pray that He be glorified in our own hearts; that He be seen as holy and wonderful in our families, our community, our nation, and world. Pray for these, as we pray:

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

- Pastor Brian