2:40 And with many
other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this
perverse generation.” 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized;
and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued
steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread,
and in prayers.
It's maddening to me how many of us treat God and religion as
some kind of transaction. God has something we want and religion becomes a
system or formula or list of things we do to please or appease Him so we can
get what we want from Him. In short it's just business. See in business there
is no relationship. Perfect strangers can conduct business, both go away from
the exchange happy, and never see each other again.
Sadly too many people treat their marriages that way too.
They calculate what they need to give in order to get what they want. It may
"work" but it's not marriage, not the way God intended or the way
that will bring deep happiness and deepening love.
So if religion isn't a system, a formula, or a business
transaction what is it? What do happy healthy Christians "do" and why
do they "do" What they do? The question itself exposes our warped
thinking but since Luke wrote down a list of things they were "doing"
let's explore it.
Here are the four things he listed:
1, doctrine
2, fellowship
3, breaking bread
4, prayer
First of all note that they GLADLY received the news Peter
preached that day. They were happy to be baptized. This was joyous for them. If
you coming to God in any other frame of mind you missed something. They are
joyous because they realized that in spite of what they did to Jesus He loves
them and has forgiven them and wants to bring them Home. They have their
Messiah and He is better than they were taught or ever believed! They are free
from the tyranny of religion and systems and lists and safe in the arms of a
loving God.
In that context Luke is not giving a list of things they had
to do to "get right with God." Rather he is describing the things
they did in response to the soul restoring, happiness inducing Good News.
Doctrine: They simply wanted to learn as much as they could
about Him because to know Him more is to love Him more.
Fellowship: When you find something (or Someone in this case)
you want to be around others who "get it". We were meant for
relationships. We were designed for community. No man is an island. One of the
first benefits of understanding the love, grace, and forgiveness of God is that
it radically increases our capacity to love others and have healthier, happier
relationships.
Breaking of bread: Some believe this refers to sharing meals
together while others believe it indicates the breaking of bread associated
with remembering Jesus' death for us. Frankly it was both. Sharing meals
together brings people together. Many many times you find Jesus eating
surrounded by people. One of the most consistent accusations against Him was
that He ate with "bad" people. Remember the cafeteria at school? No
one wants to eat alone. Being invited to sit at a table was saying "You
are one of us. We like you and accept you." A group of believers that
never eats together is weakened by not doing so. It indicates a gathering or
strangers rather than a family of faith. However again note that Luke is nor
saying "Christians must ear together to be true believers." He is
simply telling us what happened among them as a result of finding the Good
News.
Prayer: Many things have been said about prayer. My two
favourites are these:
1, Prayer is the breath of the soul
2, Prayer is talking to God as if talking to a friend.
Luke says these first believers talked to God a lot. There is
a doctrinal reason for this. In other words they learned something about Him
(doctrine) that opened the floodgates of communication. We'll explore what that
was tomorrow...
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