LifeWay Bible Studies for Life Series for November 21: Life together

Acts 2:41-42

What’s your declaration of faith? Has there been a point in the time of your new life in Christ where you took your stand for Christ? Where you showed the world you were making a complete break from your old life and beginning a new one in Christ?

Sometimes I think we forget what baptism really is and the powerful message it sends out to the world. Does baptism itself “save” you? No. It is, however, an act of obedience and the beginning of your confession of faith before others.

 Think just for a moment about what it might have meant for a new believer to be baptized back in the time of Acts. In just a few short weeks, maybe even days, persecution against the church broke out after Stephen was stoned by the Sanhedrin and religious leaders of the day (Acts 6-8).

But even prior to this, the religious culture obviously was very tense and to side with Christ as his follower was a major statement against the religious atmosphere and influence that just had crucified him.

And yet, new believers did it anyway, even with the probability and likelihood that they too would be persecuted. To be baptized in the same way in which Jesus himself was baptized showed—and shows—the world a choice for Christ had been made and a stance took. Maybe it’s time we started seeing baptism as something more than just getting wet and something we do.

What are you devoted to? There’s an easy way to see find out—what do you spend your time doing and what occupies your mind? That’s what you are devoted to. Look at verse 42, the early church was devoted to the apostles teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. It isn’t any wonder then why the Acts church saw amazing things happen within and around it.

The wonderful reality remains that God’s desire is for our current churches to experience the very thing that happened in the early church. We are reminded again at this point that their devotion, their time and energy, was to love God and love others, and they took that seriously.

Acts 2:43-47

Community is a word we hear a lot about in churches today; it has become a buzzword of sorts. And yet, do we really understand what that is? Just because we use it doesn’t magically make it happen.

There is a great snapshot and example of community in this passage. Community is when you share your faith and life together—faults and all—and see to it that no one is in need of anything in your community. Who wouldn’t want to live in that? To know that you are supported, accepted, encouraged and loved. And that you have the opportunity and joy to do the same thing for others.

In verse 44, Luke tells us that all the believers had everything in common. This can be a bit of a strange statement for us today. Does it mean that all the believers liked the color blue and liked the same kind of music? No, but they had in common the things that really mattered. No doubt, they enjoyed and appreciated their diversity, but when it came to their reason for being—Jesus—they were all in agreement and shared even more joy because he was, and is, the source of that joy.

What we also see in this early church snapshot is the reality of believers in the church actually participating in the ministry of the church. This bears repeating: the early church family all were participating and serving their church. The idea that someone would “attend” the church but not be involved in its life would be a totally foreign idea.

How very different some of our churches look today. Over the course of many generations, we have become a people who simply attend and rarely give back of our time and resources. What a blessing we are missing out on by not serving and joyfully participating in our church’s life and ministry.

Hebrews 10:23-25

Can you feel the excitement and passion of the writer of Hebrews as they’re wiring about encouraging one another in the faith? I imagine the writer probably has the spiritual gift of encouragement, you know, those people that just lift your spirits and know just what to say to get you moving?

The phrase “let us” appears several times in this passage and carries with it the idea that we should, as a group, sit down and talk about how we can encourage one another. What would our communities and families of faith look like if we were more intentional about encouraging one another and doing it in such a way that it is beyond the typical card or phone card? Go ahead dream a little then do it.

This word “spur” that appears in verse 24 actually means to prod or provoke someone to move, almost to the point of being an irritation or annoyance. Funny, no one wants to be annoyed, but everyone wants to be encouraged. Maybe sometimes when we find ourselves being annoyed we should actually see it as encouragement and get moving.