Lechem Panim #125 "Doctrine & Fellowship" (Acts 2:40-42) Pastor Cameron Ury

Hello, and welcome to Lechem Panim. It is so good to have you with us today as we continue our study of the book of Acts.

“It wasn’t THAT good!”— I’d like to open by sharing with you a story of a small church that met not too long ago. One particular Sunday, [The pastor was greeting folks at the door after the service. And a woman said, “Pastor, that was a very good sermon.” The pastor says, “Oh, I have to give the credit to the Holy Spirit.” “Oh,” she immediately responded, “It wasn’t THAT good!”] Now Peter’s sermon here in Acts chapter 2 (thankfully) WAS that good because he was filled with the Holy Spirit of God. And verses 40-41 reveal what can happen when we speak with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It says in…

Acts 2:40-41 (ESV)— 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Early Christian Practice— Now immediately after these early Christians were baptized and received the Holy Spirit, they entered into community with one another; a community that was marked by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God. And in that community we begin to see expressed the fundamental practices of the Church. We see Doctrine, Fellowship, The Lord’s Supper, Prayer, Generosity and Service, and Joy Overflowing as Evangelism. 

The Most Important Things— And all these practices may seem basic without any higher hierarchical Church structure, but that doesn’t mean they are somehow less important. Picture them [like eating, breathing, and sleeping are to an infant]. Basic? Yes, but absolutely necessary to the growth of the Body of Christ. And they remain the most important things for mature Christians as well, which is why it doesn’t say that these disciples just made them a part of their lives (like some kind of tacked-on thing). No, it says they devoted themselves to these things. They became the absolute new foundation for their lives. And today we’ll be beginning to explore these practices one by one. Now the first thing it says they devoted themselves to was Doctrine. It says in…

Acts 2:42 (ESV)— 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching…

Doctrine— Now I find it interesting that the first practice listed was not fellowship, prayer, or evangelism. No, the practice that is mentioned first is Doctrine (what the Apostles were teaching). And that is because all those other things are meaningless without right doctrine. Many religions (including the cults) practice fellowship, prayer, and evangelism. And those things are important to the Christian faith as well, but the content of our belief is just as important as the practice. What we believe (doctrine) was and is of utmost importance. In fact, unity actually needs to come second to truth.

Spurgeon: Truth before unity— Charles Spurgeon points out that you’ll hear a lot of preachers say, ["To remain divided is sinful! Did not our Lord pray {to the Father}, that they may be one, even as we are one"? (John 17:22). A chorus of ecumenical voices keep harping the unity tune. What they are saying is, "Christians of all doctrinal shades and beliefs must come together in one visible organization, regardless... Unite, unite!"  Such teaching is false, reckless and dangerous. Truth alone must determine our alignments. Truth comes before unity. Unity without truth is hazardous. Our Lord's prayer in John 17 must be read in its full context. Look at verse 17: "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." Only those sanctified through the Word can be one in Christ. To teach otherwise is to betray the Gospel.]

Not always agree— And you know, he’s absolutely correct. We cannot compromise on the essentials, or we will betray the Gospel. Now does this mean we have to agree on every theological point? Of course not. Even the early Church was comprised of people who occasionally had different opinions on things; but they had agreement on the essential points of the Gospel. They knew that their fellowship must be anchored in the truth of the Word of God and in sound theology and doctrine. And this was why the teaching of the Apostles was so vitally important because remember that [In the time of Acts, there was no written NT. The earliest letter from the apostles (probably either James or Galatians) did not appear until two decades after the birth of the Church at Pentecost. {Imagine being a Christian without having a New Testament! What would you do? You’d devote yourself to listening to eyewitnesses who could verbally convey the accounts and teachings of Jesus to you, as well as explain how Jesus was the hope and “consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25) promised in the OT. And so that is what we see;} …the church in Jerusalem took in the apostles’ teaching on Jesus of Nazareth as…the promised Jewish Messiah. {And} Their Bible was the OT, supplemented by what Christ had taught them. {Now} As the various epistles of the apostles were written and delivered to churches established beyond Jerusalem, their authority came to be recognized alongside the OT (“they were} “the rest of the Scriptures”; 2 Pet. 3:16).] But at this point the verbal teachings of the apostles were absolutely essential as the means by which they could be established doctrinally.

Fellowship— Now the second fundamental thing the believers in the early Church devoted themselves to was the fellowship. 

“Fellowship” in Context— Now some have taken this concept of fellowship to mean that all the early Christians drove Hondas. And I understand where they’re coming from. The text does say (elsewhere in numerous places in and throughout the book of Acts) they were all in one Accord. However (like good Biblical scholars) I think we need to put that word against the backdrop of it’s historical context. Because when we do, we see that the word here actually means has to do with the kind of “fellowship” they shared with one another.

One Accord: OT— [In the Old Testament, the phrase in one accord is always used to describe unanimous participation in a particular action. In Joshua 9:2, the pagan kings “gathered themselves together to fight with one accord against Joshua and Israel” (LEB). Speaking of the conversion of heathen nations, Zephaniah 3:9 says, “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord” (ESV){, which in the Hebrew is}…translated…literally…“with one shoulder.” It likely comes from the practice of yoking oxen together for plowing. The NIV translates the idea with a similar English expression, “shoulder to shoulder.”] So we are to be one of shoulder with one another.

One Accord: NT— Now [In the New Testament, in one accord is used to emphasize the internal unanimity{/unity} of a community. In Acts 12:20, that community is “the people of Tyre and Sidon” who are angry with Herod. In Acts 8:6, it describes the crowd of people who are listening to Philip’s teachings: “And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did” (ESV). It illustrates how the community of Christian believers worshiped, prayed, and fellowshipped together (Acts 1:14; 2:46; 4:24; 5:12; Romans 15:6).] 

Koinonia— Now we use the word fellowship often merely to describe social activities in the context of congregational life.] If it happens in our Fellowship Halls at Church, then it must be fellowship, right? Well, often that is the case. But the word here that we translate “fellowship” is the Greek [word koinonia {and it} signifies oneness or commonality—true community. (The adjective form of the word is found in 2:44: the believers “had all things in common [koina].”] And this type of community takes things to a whole new level because fellowship was more than just their talking together, joking together, or even just about discussing the latest sermon. No, it was about being united in mind, body, and spirit with one another as they were united with Christ. You will remember how [Jesus prayed that his followers would be one with Him and the Father, just as He and the Father are one (John 17:11, 21-23; 1 John 1:3, 6, 7).] Now we could spend weeks just beginning to unpack what that means. But suffice it to say, this kind of koinonia fellowship goes so much deeper; so much higher than what we typically mean by fellowship and is in fact the key to moving not only individuals, but the whole body of Christ on into maturity and fruitfulness. It is not just a group of people having a good time together; no, it is a common bond that drives that group to complete a desired task. This is why the NIV sometimes translates koinonia as “partnership” (which we see in Philippians). It is kind of like a sports-team; it is task-driven; it is goal-oriented. It is a kind of fellowship that exists when all who partake in that fellowship are driven to fulfill the same task; to accomplish the same goal. Now there may be some disagreements at times (and we will read of some of them here in Acts) but these early Christians were able to work through those growing pains because they were focused on the prize. They shared this like-minded desire to attain the prize. And so they learned to work together and utilize each other’s gifts because (to put it bluntly) THERE’S A GAME TO WIN!!!! THERE’S A MISSION TO ACCOMPLISH!!!! Souls (people’s eternities) were depending on their unity and strength.

Our Unity— And you know, the same is true today, which is why I think Satan is working overtime to try to divide and even fracture the Church by sowing division. And some of those issues are displayed in how we are reacting to Covid-19. Do we wear masks or do we not wear masks? Do we open our Church doors again or do we stay closed? Do we challenge a government that in so many ways has set itself against Christianity? Or do we practice submission to authority? Or do we do both? And so many people have different opinions on this; and I find myself amongst a group of Church leaders and pastors who honestly are trying to please people on both sides of the spectrum. But what concerns me the most (and I thing what concerns God the most) is whether or not we are keeping centered on His Word; and on maintaining the kind of unity with one another that Christ Himself prayed for; where instead of looking out for our own wants and desires, we are compassionately looking to meet the needs of those around us. What the world sees of Christ during these tumultuous days is greatly dependent how we choose to deal with these crises we are currently facing. Will we allow them to divide us; or will we stand together as the single body of Christ?

Remaining Devoted— This passage’s challenge for us today is to remain devoted to sound teaching and to the preservation of the fellowship. If we can do that, then not just us (but the whole world) will come out of this more blessed and much stronger for having experienced Christ in us. Let’s remain devoted to sound teaching and to the fellowship. Amen.