An Apostolic Church - Devotion to Four Foundational Acts

Acts 2:41-43

Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. ⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

Four foundations are the basis of a true apostolic church. Out of these four come the confirmational witness of the word through signs and wonders.

The four are devotion to 1. the Apostles Teaching, 2. Fellowship, 3. Breaking of bread, and 4. Prayer.

The first word is perhaps the most important - devotion. In the Old Testament something that was devoted was something that was completely given over to a purpose. The offerings are called devoted things.

Leviticus 27:28
'Nevertheless, anything which a man sets apart to the LORD out of all that he has, of man or animal or of the fields of his own property, shall not be sold or redeemed. Anything devoted to destruction is most holy to the LORD.

The consecration of our lives to Jesus is to be complete. We are to die to our old life and be made alive to his. We carry around a cross of death to make the way for a resurrection of life.

Luke 9:23
And He was saying to them all, " If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Matthew 10:38
"And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

We must never forget that the cross is an instrument of death. Jesus spoke these words knowing what the cross would mean in his life. Notice the demand is not optional. We cannot follow Jesus without taking up the cross. The cross is the place where death to all that is not God occurs. It is also the place where God's gift of life life cannot be denied. It is the place of devotion. The cross calls us to total surrender. As the Son surrendered fully to the Father on his cross so we surrender fully to the Son on our cross. 

Notice as well this devotion is not a one time experience. We must take up our cross daily. The cross clarifies our daily priorities. The apostle Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 15:31
I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

This is not a morbid preoccupation with death. It is a life giving principle. We no longer have to be bound by the things of the world, the flesh and the devil. We are daily set free from their power by the cross. We now can live in the newness of life God gives us through His Spirit. It says we can live today in a totally devoted passion for God's purposes. 

2 Timothy 2:4
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

An apostolic church is one that no longer considers worldly concerns to be important. They have focused their corporate life on four principles of Spirit life - Apostolic Teaching, Covenant Relationships that mark true fellowship, Sharing the grace of life found in the table of the Lord and Prayer. These are not minor aspects of their life. These are what they are devoted to. These are the central issues of their corporate life. 

I will be discussing each of these four principles separately in the next few posts. For today I want to explore a more deeply the understanding that our faith is expressed in acts in response to grace and those acts lead us to a deeper place of grace. 

Each of the four things the early church devoted themselves to were faith responses to the grace Jesus had given. As they DID them greater grace and revelation came from God.

In our age the church has so fought legalism that it forgot that the Bible is full of direct requests (commands) that we must do in order to see God's work released. This has been a central point in the teaching God has given me. It is foundational to everything I share from the Bible. It is not legalism to zealously and wholeheartedly do what God asks us to do. It is our greatest privilege! 

We have our part God has His part. We do our part and He will do His part. If we do not do our part He cannot do His part because He keeps His Word. 

The mystery is that as we faithfully devote ourselves to doing what He tells us to do grace is given. 

It is not a slavish obedience. We obey in the delight of our hearts to show our beloved that we love him. It is with the understanding of heart that it is our greatest privilege to please him. It is the most exciting life there is because daily the impossible is seen, desired, requested for and experienced. No longer a place of death, the cross becomes the door to life.

An apostolic faith is a devoted faith. It is prepared to go to any lengths to please Him who has called us to active service. 

An apostolic faith is one that sees the possibilities of every event in life in an exciting and confident way. It is looking to see the glory of God manifested. It is looking to go places with Him that are impossible but dreamable. As we have those apostolic dreams we call out to God to see them birthed. He speaks them out and they are created like He created the world - from nothing.

I know of only two men in history that have walked on water. One did it because he was destined for it. The other did it because he saw something that he wanted to do and believed the one he saw doing it could make it happen. 

Matthew 14:25-29

And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea.²⁶ When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. ²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid."  ²⁸Peter said to Him, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." ²⁹And He said, "Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

Our response to God's offer of grace needs to be exactly like Peter's. We are on the greatest journey of possibility that we can imagine. Why sit in a boat looking at others having all the fun? 

When we approach following God from the safe boat we will never know the joy of the impossible. Crossing the edge of the boat to step out on the water was Peter's cross. That's why we use the word crossing. In his act he moved from the world of the natural to the world of God's power. Peter died to safety. He died to the status quo. He died to his own ability to save himself. From the moment he stepped out he was fully devoted to the Lord's power to work in his life. But crossing the edge of the boat to step out on the water gave him access to the unlimited power of God. Which do we want? We cannot have both.

Even when he got his eyes off the Lord for a moment and began to sink he did not run back to the boat. He called out to Jesus. All of us who are fully devoted will have this final gasp of self to surrender but the work was already done when he got out of the boat. Jesus picked him up and I can see him laughingly saying, "Why did you doubt?"

I was not a religious duty, it was not a forcing to obey because "I have too." It was an awesome adventure to take hold of something that Peter knew was his to have for the asking and the acting. 

This is what devotion looks like.