Journey Through The Bible
     Old Testament Reading: Exodus 11-12
     New Testament Reading: Acts 2

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)

In this one verse, we have the lowest common denominator of a church. When the first body of believers gathered together, they devoted themselves to four essentials. This is not only descriptive of what the early church did; it is also prescriptive of what all churches must do.

First, they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. Today, the church has the apostles’ teaching represented in the complete Word of God—the Bible. A church must continually be devoted to the teaching of Scriptures.

Next, there was fellowship. If we have teaching without fellowship, the church would be a school—a place that simply dispenses information. The original term for fellowship is ‘koinonia’ which referred to a close, mutual relationship where people share things in common and remain involved with one another. Koinonia represents close relationships that involve sharing life–the bad times as well as the good.

The breaking of bread is included along with the teaching and fellowship. This refers to the Lord’s Table, which was observed when the church gathered. An acceptable, all-inclusive term would be worship. For a church to be the church Jesus promised to build, there must be worship.

Finally, they devoted themselves to prayer. They spent time as a body of believers adoring their Lord, confessing their sins, interceding for others, petitioning God to provide, and thanking Him for His blessings—just as Jesus taught them to pray. For a church to be the church Jesus promised to build, there must be prayer.

You cannot have a church if you take away any of the four essentials recorded in this verse. You can have more than these four, but you cannot have less and still be a church. It isn’t enough to simply have the four essentials in our churches. We must continually devote ourselves to them.

The church is not a Social Club to socialize with our friends.
The church is not a Civic Club to solve the community’s problems.
The church is not a Political Action Committee to create a moral-ethical government.
The church is not a Business with a steeple on top.
The church is a Spiritual entity whose purpose is to bring people to Jesus Christ and help them develop a closer, deeper walk with him. We are to operate by Biblical principles, not by the latest business practices.