The Acts of the Apostles 9

Subtitle: The Lord Increases His Church

Acts 2:40-47.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 17, 2022.

We have come to a point where the people listening to Peter are asking what they can do.  To which, Peter responds that they should repent.  This brings us to verse 40.

Let’s get into the passage.

Many people repent (40-41)

As Peter speaks to the crowd, people begin to repent from among them.  We don’t know the size of the crowd, but it appears that a large percentage who were listening repented. 

Yet, repentance is more than intellectually believing something.  They could not deny that something real was happening with these Galileans who had been speaking far-flung languages unknown to them.  However, repentance is believing something enough to act upon it.

We are told that Peter preached many other words.  However, the message essentially boiled down to this: You crucified the Messiah, but you can repent and save yourself from this perverse generation.

The word translated “perverse” has the sense of something that is crooked and twisted.  In the context of that which is good or bad, crookedness represents something that is ruined.  It will only make the problem worse.  It cannot fix.  I don’t believe there is a society on the planet today, or that ever existed in the past, that is without a level of perversity.  Even believers in Jesus are tempted to twist their ways just enough to fit in with the culture around them.

Here's a question.  Just how much twisting, perversity, can the Word of God take before it ceases to be True anymore?  God’s Word is either truth or it is not.  But, let us not pretend that it is something we can fashion, like clay, and somehow make it better.  No, the Gospel was fashioned by God to actually save you.  You cannot make it any better, period.

John the Baptist came out of the wilderness quoting Isaiah 40:3-4. 

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth…’”

Repentance is all about recognizing that the proud strongholds of sin in my life have to be thrown down into the deep valleys of hurts in my life, and a way must be made for the Spirit of Truth to come into my heart.  God is in the saving business and we will all see it.  The real question is will you see it happen to you? 

Road building is difficult work, but the Spirit of God will help all those who humble themselves and recognize their own perversity.  If you are stuck looking at the perversity of everyone around you, you will insulate yourself from hearing the powerful word, that “You are the man!”  You are the one who needs to repent, and until you do, then no one else matters, period!

We are told in verse 41 that 3,000 souls were added that day.  It is most likely that there were some who would not soften their hearts enough to have a change of mind and then do what required doing, that is publicly identifying with Jesus.  Some of them let that moment pass for one reason or another.  Yet, the mercy of God will continue to try and reach us until that last breath that we breath in this life.

The 3,000 new believers in Jesus were water baptized right away.  Even though Luke doesn’t say it is a water baptism, verse 38 shows a clear progression in what Peter says.  They should believe, be baptized, and then they will receive the Holy Spirit, which is called Baptism in the Spirit, or Spirit Baptism.  He is clearly not saying to believe, be Spirit baptized, and then you will be Spirit baptized.  Rather, he is saying to believe, be water baptized, and then you will receive the Holy Spirit.

Water baptism is to the New Covenant like circumcision was for Israel under the Old Covenant.  It is that outward expression that a person has become a part of the believing community in relationship with God.  In water baptism, a person makes a choice for themselves.  It is not about your parents being Israelites, and you being genetically predisposed to be an Israelite too.

It is unlikely that they all trekked 20 miles down to the Jordan river to be baptized.  It is most likely that they went to the public mikvehs nearby (small pools used for the cleansing ritual before going to the temple).  Perhaps they had already been ceremonially cleansed to participate in the Feast of Pentecost, but now they would go back and be baptized in the name of Jesus the Messiah!

That day “about 3,000 souls were added to them.”  I mentioned in a prior sermon that Luke is using language that makes a clear allusion back to Mt. Sinai (Exodus 32:28).  God was signaling to them that they were in a similar situation with the New Covenant.  At the giving of the Law, “about 3,000 of the men of the people fell that day.”  However, at the giving of the Gospel of Jesus Messiah, about 3,000 souls were added to the people of God.  There is a reversal that is happening.  Israel under the law had become a fallen and plundered people.  The giving of the Gospel speaks to God restoring that which is broken and twisted, perverse.  The temple mount had become the site where the New Covenant with God’s Messiah was established.  If they wanted to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, they would need to connect to Jesus and follow his leadership.

It would be nice to see 3,000 people being saved all at once.  Perhaps, you have been to a stadium where someone like Billy Graham gave an appeal for people to accept Jesus as their savior.  These things do happen even today.  However, we should recognize that a lot of work went into preparing the people of Israel to hear the Gospel that day and believe.  There are seasons within the heart of an individual and with cities, nations, regions, and this world.  We cannot control the seasons, but we can faithfully do the work of spreading the truth of the Gospel, watering it, and then calling people to repentance.

Church life in Year One (42-47)

In these last verses, we get a snapshot of the early Church in that first year, even that first summer.  Down the road, their situation will change in many respects, but the many things that the believers did would not change.

There was an overlap of the new Church that Christ was building and the Old Covenant institution of national Israel and the temple.  It lasted almost 40 years.  Thus, they stayed in Jerusalem and met at the temple as long as they could.  Yet, the local of our meetings is not what is important.  It is what was being done.

There are four things in which Luke says they continued to be steadfast.  This means they were focused on these things and did not leave them undone, day in and day out.

First, they were steadfast in the apostles’ doctrine, or teaching.  The apostles of Jesus were the official representatives of Jesus.  They had spent years listening to the teachings of Jesus and helping him in his ministry.  Jesus himself had said that they would be the foundation of his “called-out-ones,” the Church.  We must not fool ourselves.  We cannot follow Jesus without hearing, learning, and obeying the teaching of the apostles, which is called the New Testament of the Bible.  Of course, our salvation is not based upon our perfection in following Christ.  Rather, repentance and faith become a new way of life for a true believer.  This is a relationship with truth, yes with propositional truth, but even more, with the One who is Truth.

They also continued steadfast in fellowship.  This word covers a lot of things, but it essentially speaks to having a portion, a share in something.  Like the children of Israel received lots according to their tribes, clans, and families, so the people of God have a portion in this new people of God.  This common lot creates a kind of camaraderie among the group.  In this case, it is a communion, a relationship, with God that infuses itself in our relationship with one another.

The also were steadfast in the breaking of bread.  Some see this as only a ritual reference to communion.  However, verse 46 says, “breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart…”  It is better to see this as speaking of hospitality, and visiting in one another’s homes.  The effect of fellowship was that they often ate together (clearly not all 3,000 plus in one home).  Of course, this would include times of celebrating communion, the Lord’s Table.

Fourthly, they were steadfast in prayers.  Prayer is both a private and a group activity.  Prayerlessness in our life will open the door for a fast retreat from the edge of a repentant life.  Compromise is nursed in the life of prayerlessness.  You start with establishing a discipline of talking with God alone, and from that foundation, also participate (perhaps lead) in praying with others.

May Jesus help his Church to be steadfast in these things today.

Verse 43 mentions that fear came upon every soul.  I believe that this is connecting back to a fear of the Lord for the believing community, and a fear of the unknown for those who weren’t believing.  Scripture tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  It is that reverent, respectful fear that one has in the presence of someone who is very powerful.  God is not whimsical.  We do not need to fear Him like a child would fear an abusive parent.  However, picture the perfect parent who speaks to their child about what they shouldn’t do.  A child who doesn’t have some level of a fear of disobeying their parents has not become something better.  They are not on the path to becoming an Uber Mensch. They are actually on the path to losing their soul.

The matters of the Gospel of Christ are serious matters, eternal matters.  If we don’t take them seriously, then we might find ourselves perishing in the wilderness like many did while being saved from Egypt.  They perished over the top of the overflowing goodness of God.

There is an overall lack of a fear of the Lord in the American Church today.  You can trust God’s Word.  He means what He says, but do you mean what you say?  May the Lord stir in us a sense of the seriousness of the times that men have always lived in, but particularly today for us.

Verse 46 also mentions that signs and wonders were being done through the apostles.  This is in the same manner as Israel saw with Jesus.  We talked about this earlier in this chapter and will see many examples throughout the rest of the book of The Acts of the Apostles.  Signs and wonders get people’s attention and point them in a particular direction, but they are always to be kept in the context of God’s Word.

The Word of God warns us of lying signs and wonders that will be prevalent in the last days.  2 Thessalonians 2 specifically warns us that those who have refused to receive a love of the truth will embrace a powerful delusion that God will send through the Antichrist and the False Prophet.

God has spoken through Jesus and his apostles like he did through Moses.  For 2,000 years, Christ has been building his Church like the nation of Israel had been built up following Moses for about 1,500 years.  Yet, this house of the Church will be tried in these times just as Israel was tried in her times.  Are you ready?  Make sure you are embracing the truth of God found in His Word.

Verses 44-45 are often read as if communism is being promoted there.  The problem with communism is not the phrase: from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.  The problem is the State forcing something that God’s Word calls us to volunteer.  Of course, the State is not actually altruistic in this matter.  Rather, it is merely being used to leverage society into giving it more and more power.  The early Church did not abolish private property and disperse it through the help of “scientific leaders.”  Rather, it pictures that as anyone had need, those who could help would do so, even if it required liquidating some of their assets.  It was voluntary and out of love, not forced.

We should recognize that this was a unique time.  There was a sense of awe in what God was doing, and people didn’t want to miss out on that.  Like Mary and Martha, they were choosing to listen to the apostle’s teaching each day in the temple.  This is as opposed to going to work, or some even going back home to the other nations.  The day would come when Paul would exhort among the Gentile churches, “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10 NKJV).  We need to understand the context of what is going on and what is actually being promoted.

Verses 46-47 point out that they were daily in the temple praising God, with the apostles teaching, no doubt.  It is easy to praise God when He is moving in such a powerful way and we are on the right side of it.  However, there would be difficult days ahead, and they would need to learn to praise God in those times as well.  Though God was demonstrating that He was with His people in power, He would not protect them completely from the persecutions of this world.

We don’t just praise God because He makes our lives have no problems.  We praise Him because, even in the tough times, He is a good Father who is watching over us for our good.  We don’t always know what God is doing completely, but we can be faithful to what we do know and trust!

The chapter ends with the point that the Lord added to the Church daily those who were being saved.  The Church was never intended to be a static group.  Like families are in the natural, new spiritual children always require everyone else to adjust, to make room, and to help them.  It is the Lord’s work that we are called to participate in doing.

There are still people whom God wants to save.  God needs people who are willing to live and speak the Gospel to them, including the message of repentance.  He needs welcoming spiritual mothers and fathers who will come alongside of young believers in order to help them face the spiritual battles that we all must face.

May God help us to see with the eyes of faith that there really is a harvest that even today is happening.  It may not be 3,000 in one day, but then again it may be.  It is our job to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be faithful in His leading each day!

The Lord Increases audio