"The Nature of Devotion"

Acts 2:42-47 (click to display NIV text)

June 14, 2009 ("The Church: A Devoted People" series, Week 1; see also Week Three, Week Four, Week Five)

Pastor Dwight A. Nelson

"Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

            I was 29 years old when I arrived in Mt. Vernon, Washington, to be the pastor and sole staff member of the church there. One of the first things I did was to contact one of the older pastors in town and ask him to show me around a bit, the hospital, the funeral home, a few nursing homes, and to talk about ministry in that community. That began a good relationship that lasted a number of years. One day Bill was reflecting about his years in ministry, and said that while he had significant periods of time of whole-hearted commitment, he realized that it had been difficult to sustain a consistent commitment through the years.

            I have discovered that he spoke the truth. It is true for all of us. We go through times when our energy is low, or times of disappointment, when just going through the motions is about all you can do. There is a reality to spiritual wandering; the old hymn has it right, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love." Sometimes criticism takes the wind out of the sails, sometimes failed plans lead you to pull back, and sometimes there is an inner resistance to the work, when self-protectiveness or fear take hold.

            I begin this series on the church as a devoted people by confessing that inconsistent devotion or commitment is a reality. To pretend otherwise is dishonest. But I also want to say that through all these seasons what I have discovered most of all is the faithfulness of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to bring renewal. The issue for us is not to deny or avoid the low times, but to face them honestly and to allow God to work faithfully in our lives to bring healing and salvation. Quite often that leads us to return to the foundations of our commitment. By the Holy Spirit we are, and we can be, a devoted people. Todayh we talk about the foundations of devotion.

           In the book of Acts we discover that the church is formed by the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is not a human invention. The gift of the Spirit brings power to a group of people who then express their devotion by making significant changes in their lives, by living out commitments that build up their faith and sustain them through difficult days. They bear fruit in Christ.

            On the day of Pentecost, 3,000 people were added to the circle of believers that had numbered about 120. Imagine what it would be like if one Sunday we had 3,000 visitors, and all of them joined the church! What would we do? The surprising thing about this text is that it does not focus on what the 120 did, but rather on what the 3,000 did. It says, "They devoted themselves…"

            What does that word "devote" mean? It carries the meaning of "persist," "engage in," or "endure patiently." In verse 46 the word is used again, there translated "they continued to meet." The definition I like best came from a commentary by Ajith Fernando. He says the word means "persisting obstinately in something." As the 3,000 new believers came to be formed in Christ, they found that devotion was a very important quality in their lives, an essential characteristic. The church is a devoted people, people who give consistent time and energy to the formation of their souls and the formation of the community.

            What were these 3,000 people devoted to? They needed to be formed in faith; they needed to become a community of faith. So they focused their persistent behavior on four things: the apostles' teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer.

            "The apostles' teaching" would have been focused on the life of Jesus, the material we find in the Gospels. The apostles would have taught people all that Jesus said and did. These believers formed their souls by learning all they could about Jesus.

            "The fellowship" was simply their life of sharing. They shared food together. They shared their possessions where there was need. Some sold property and used the money to care for widows or people in need. Howard Marshall explains that they did not live in communes, but they "held their goods at the disposal of others as need arose." Simply put, they learned how to give, how to be generous.

            "The breaking of bread" is actually a technical term that came from Judaism. At the beginning of every meal a blessing was said and bread was broken and then distributed. So at the Lord's Supper Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body." So "The breaking of bread" became in the early church a way of saying "The Lord's Supper." This was normally part of a fellowship meal. So to be devoted to the breaking of bread meant both a commitment to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper and also learning the ways of hospitality. They ate together in their homes.

            They were devoted to prayer. They met in the temple and took part in the regular set prayers there. They also prayed together more freely in their homes and perhaps used the Lord's Prayer as their model. In this way they learned to pray together.

            What do you suppose would be the result of that kind of focused attention? People who were learning the teachings of Jesus, learning how to give, learning hospitality, coming regularly to the Lord's table and praying together. I think they would become individuals who were able to serve the Lord in a consistent, mature and discerning way. I think that church would be one I would like to attend. Out of that kind of life would emerge very significant ministries.

            But what if one of the four elements was missing in their formation? What if they learned the Bible but did not learn how to give or how to show hospitality or how to pray? Then I think before the church tried to do too much else, it would need to rebuild the foundations. Perhaps rebuilding the foundations is something every church must actively engage in. Perhaps devotion to these four things is essential to us as well.

            In many ways, that is what Natural Church Development does. Each year we pick a foundation area to strengthen and rebuild. This year it is prayer and Bible reading. We desire to be devoted to the apostles' teaching and to prayer. We are rebuilding those foundations. That forms the souls of individuals, and it forms the church, the community, so we can go on to make disciples and obey the call of Christ.

            A number of years ago, Kathy's brother and his wife bought a nice house in a newer neighborhood in a town in Kansas, and thought it would be a good place to raise their family. All went well for a few years, and then they started to get water in their basement. That led to the discovery of cracks in the foundation walls, and then to the realization that the builder of the houses in that neighborhood had not put in proper drainage. So water had nowhere to go and pushed against the foundation, eventually causing the walls to lean and threatening the stability of the house. It was a big job to go back and repair the foundation walls and install the proper drain tile. It was a slow process, discouraging at times. It took lots of energy, patience, money and time. But now it is finished, and the basement is completely re-done and it all came out very nice. It was worth it to do all that work. It saved their house, and even improved it.

            In our spiritual lives, it is worth it to build the foundations properly, to devote ourselves to the Word of God, to generous giving, to hospitality and sacrament, to praying together. If one or more of those was missing in your earlier years, it is very important to go back and re-build the foundation. It is not wise to ignore it. If you missed out on Sunday School as a child, it may be tempting to say, "I will just live without knowing too much about the Bible." If you are nervous when trying to pray out loud in a group, you may be tempted to say "I just will avoid praying with others." But it is worth it to go back and rebuild the foundation walls.

            We are trying to give attention to each of these four themes of devotion. It takes time and it takes some patience, but we can do it, we are doing it, depending on the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul prays that God "may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." A devoted people attend to foundations in faith that strengthen them individually and enable them to be a church that makes disciples of Jesus. Let's be a devoted people of God.

            Amen.