We’re moving into a new series today titled “Picture Imperfect”. In this series, we’re going to be exploring Acts 2:42-47. It’s the same section of scripture as our previous series but now we’re focusing on the five commitments that the early church made as a family of faith.

So, why is the series titled, “Picture Imperfect?” Well, it’s because Jesus tells us that one day the church will be perfected, but until then, this imperfect mix of people that are part of the family Jesus brought together, is still the best picture of a family faith.

Let’s read Acts 2:42-47 (ESV)

⁴² And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³ And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. ⁴⁴ And all who believed were together and had all things in common. ⁴⁵ And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶ And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

When we are given our first description of life in the early church it looks perfect. Everything is in place. It looks so perfect on paper. But, if you keep reading in the Book of Acts, you’ll see that the people of the church were far from perfect. Our church is no different. Woodside Bible Church isn’t perfect and the majority here knows that our church isn’t perfect. We make mistakes, we overlook, we are sometimes faithless. If you’re visiting with us and you’re looking for the perfect church, stop looking, you’re not going to find it because as soon as you join, that church will become imperfect. Really, that’s a true story.  

However, I want you to see that this passage is describing how life in the family of God looks when imperfect people follow the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit in community. That’s something our imperfect church, filled with imperfect people can take away from here. Can we go back to verse 42?

This verse comes on the heels of a multitude of new Christians, who placed their faith in Christ following Peter’s sermon of the gospel in the previous passage. These people placed their faith in Jesus Christ first, then chose to be baptized as an act of committing their lives to Jesus, and then in verse 42, we read: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” 

The word “devoted” that’s used here (pros-kar-te-re-o), well that word is used ten other times in the New Testament and means to be diligently persistent in continual attention. It’s not a one time devotion to something, it’s an ongoing practice of devotion that they have.

Now notice some other grammar here in this passage:

• First, look for the word, “to” and look at where it’s placed. “to the apostles teaching and the fellowship,” “to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” The word “to” indicates like pairs that summarize the practical applications of spiritual life.
• Now notice the placement of the article word, “the” in this verse: “the apostles teaching”, “the fellowship”, the” breaking of bread”, “the prayers”. “The” describes the unique acts of practicing faith. The early church committed to the apostles teaching and the fellowship and also, they committed to the breaking of the bread and the prayers.

Here’s why this is important: I know how to take a good picture: subject is in the middle, the background should be the background, focus, etc. But most of the pictures I take are definitely not Instagram worthy. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture illuminating my photographer savvy, well because they are deleted off my phone. But there’s one that my younger brother had digitized from the early nineties of my family which may explain why despite my knowing how, I still take horrible photos. Can we put it up on the screens?

Like, first, what’s the point of this picture? Is it our family, the pink flamingoes, the concrete block, my brother’s neon green pants? The plastic shopping bag? Second, where am I? Wasn’t this a family photo? Was my face going to break the camera, why did only half of me make it?

What good did good photo taking knowledge do for this photo? That’s right, very little.

Likewise, with our faith life. It’s easy to say how we should do things, it’s much different, when we’re actually practicing them. Our faith is not about knowing what we SHOULD be doing. It’s being committed to actually doing them. Today, I want to focus on the bookend acts of faith in verse 42. Family, I want to challenge all of us here to devote ourselves to the apostle’s teaching and to the prayers by

Committing to a life in the Word and Prayer

So, allow me to dive deeper with you on how we can cultivate a life devoted to God in the Word and prayer and then follow through with it.

So, Devoting yourself to the Bible.

That is to consistently engage in the regular reading, listening, study, meditation, and application of the Bible.

Show of hands, and don’t anybody look around, but answer honestly – how many of us here pick up the Bible or read at the Bible more than just on Sundays? Quite a few of you. Great. Now, how many of us, actually apply what we read? Yeah, we all need some more work in this area.

Remember, this early church was formed on Pentecost and 3,000 people just committed their lives to Jesus. They are all new to the faith of Jesus. Since they placed their faith in Jesus, they now require foundational instructions on the identity of Jesus and the nature of God’s grace which they received by faith. They had to understand what it meant to be a follower of Jesus in everyday life. When Luke speaks of the “apostles teaching” he is referring to the authoritative, doctrinal, explanation and application of the words and works of Jesus.

What is apparent in reading through Acts, and the New Testament, for that matter, is that the apostles were anchored and tied to explaining and developing the Christian faith in accordance with the already established in the Old Testament. Instead of detaching themselves from the OT, the apostles explained everything in light of the Old Testament Scriptures. They taught what God was teaching them through the Bible. This is most apparent in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5. Look at what Paul says to the church in Corinth about Bible teaching.

³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. (1Corinthians 15:3-5 ESV)

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ was “in accordance with Scriptures.” Look at what it says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: ¹⁶ All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

This is important because it establishes the pattern of how we can position ourselves to apply apostles teaching in our context. Let’s go to verse 46. “And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts…”

Verse 46 talks about the regular day by day attendance at temple and the home. At Royal Oak, this is takes shape as our Sunday gatherings and our groups. These are two of the primary places we can regularly expect to read, study, meditate, and pray over God’s Word.

Just as the early church would gather together in a public place to hear the apostles preach the Scriptures and apply it to their lives. For us today, hearing the preaching of the Word as a church family gathered together is just as important.

Gathering at church to hear and respond to the Word of God is an irreplaceable part of what it means to be part of the church family. We don’t just gather as a church each week to meet a quota or listen to some good live music. We gather to hear and respond from God’s word.  

If this is the 1.3 times this month you’re joining us on a Sunday, I want to challenge you to step it up and make worshipping with your faith family a priority. If you’re here more than 1.3 times a month, I’m so grateful for you. You chose to overcome all the distractions and all the inconveniences and any other issues you faced to come hear from our God with your spiritual family! Nothing can replace the church gathering together for public worship!

But the early church didn’t just stop with public gatherings to hear the word. The people of the church also gathered together in homes to study, ponder, and apply the teaching of the apostles to their lives. We’ll hear more about this in depth in the weeks to come.

This is a demonstration of group life. Being part of a group helps us be devoted to the Scriptures outside of church on Sundays. For those of you who don’t know what group is, it’s a gathering of an extended faith family outside the weekly church gatherings. It’s when we are in small faith families together around the Word that we can press home the realities of the gospel, and make specific how to live out the teaching of Jesus in our everyday lives. If you’re not part of one, join one now. Write your name and contact info on a connect card and drop it off at our connect desk. I bet if you gave it a shot, your faith will grow, you will read the Bible more.

But there’s more to devoting ourselves to the Bible than just engaging with it on Sundays and during groups—we need to be in the word even when we’re not at church, or having group. Here some excuses that you’ll give me for not engaging in the Word outside of church and group:

• You don’t own a Bible. In the seat in front of you, there is a hard back, black Bible, take it, it’s our gift to you. There’s no Bible in front of your seat, ask your neighbor for the Bible in front of them. Or hit our connect desk after the service, they have some. Or buy a nice one from our bookstore.

• You don’t like reading Then, download a free Bible app and you can listen to Morgan Freeman reading the Bible to you. I’m not going to lie, I listen to the Bible a lot at the gym or when I’m driving because I get it, sometimes you don’t want to read it, I get it.

• Here’s my all time favorite reason I get when people say they don’t read the bible – they just don’t understand the words on the page or the context. That’s not a real excuse people, that’s just lazy.

I want to eliminate the barriers between you and reading God’s word. I know, it’s hard opening the Bible and getting started without a plan, so get a plan and commit. We’re going to help you do that, go to any of our social channels tomorrow and you can download a Bible reading plan.

• The one year plan, goes cover to cover, the entire Bible in one year. I use that plan, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes a day, I use it because I’m forgetful and I have to read it over and over to remember.
• But maybe that’s not for you, we also have a two-year plan, it’s what Pastor Jon uses, which takes about 7 to 10 minutes a day.
• If that’s also too much, text the word “DEVO” to the number up on your screen and you’ll get a 5 minute a day bible verse and devotional every day during this series and every subsequent series.

Now you have a plan to read the Bible, you need something tactical to make it worthwhile. When I read the Bible, I use the SOAP method for reading the Bible Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer.

• I take my daily one year Bible reading plan and I read the scripture for that day (Scripture).
• Then I look for a verse that particularly spoke to me (Observation).
• Then I paraphrase that verse and think about how I can apply it right now (Application).
• Then I pray about it (Prayer). So easy.

I’ve been doing this for about 6 years now, and let me tell you, God constantly gives me a new application and a new verse, every single time. I challenge you, open your Bible every single day and read it, really read it, every day for 90 days and see what happens at the end of the 90 days. If your life doesn’t change, then you come see me. 

The early church didn’t just stop at hearing Bible teaching, “they [also] devoted themselves to… the prayers.” So it also means we must…

Devote yourself to prayer.

Let me tell you something about genuine prayer: God does big things when his people are praying. Genuine prayer seeks God’s direction and is dependent upon God because it is an act of submission to God’s direction.

It’s easy for us to say that we’re devoted to the idea of prayer. It’s something totally different to actually practice it. One book I’ve found tremendously helpful in understanding and practicing prayer is Timothy Keller’s book Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God. I recommend it. In the book you’ll find the philosophical reasons for praying, the history of various types of prayers, and how to hear from God in your prayers. He makes prayer something real we can all do in our lives because he talks about how to actually do it.

Family, we believe that through prayer, awe will come amongst us because God is doing amazing things. It’s what happened to the early church in verse 43.

I want to pray the same way the early church prayed so that God leaves my mouth gaping because of the awe inspiring things God will do through our prayers. Like I want to see dead men walking. I want to see incurable diseases cured. I want to see the pain and mourning turned to laughter and joy.

I need you to understand this about the power of prayer: It doesn’t take perfect people to change the world, it takes praying people to change the world. Can we turn to James 5, for a minute.

¹³ Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. (James 5:13-18 ESV)

This is what it looks like to pray like our prayers are going to change the world? Elijah prayed with expectation. That means we can pray with expectation that God is listening and answering our prayers. We’re not just saying thank you Jesus for this leftover meal from three days ago that I’ve heated up for lunch, but praying, God, this food that you’ve provided, let be used so that energy it gives me can actually work for your glory. Our prayers need to have greater expectations. God isn’t dead, our prayers shouldn’t be either.

Let me tell you about expectations of our prayers on a Sunday morning. Before you get to church and park crooked in the parking lot, and sit in these seats with your coffees and your bulletins, there are people praying for you, specifically you, whether they know you or not. They are praying over the seats you’re sitting in. They pray because they know that by your sitting in these seats God will change your life, your kids lives, your neighbors lives. They prayed when they invited you to church hoping God will take the mumbled mess of the words coming out of my mouth and use it to transform your perspective.

Family, we need to set aside time each day to pray and to seek God to make his will here on earth as it is in heaven. Let me share with you what my prayer life looks like on a daily basis, and I’m not praying 3 or 4 hours a day, although, it’s my goal to get there. But I want you to see that prayer can be hard, but it doesn’t have to be:

I get up every morning and read the Bible. I use that to give me perspective for the day. It’s so important that the word of God colors my perspective because I’m not that great of a person otherwise. I’m praying through what I just read, that is part of my SOAP Bible reading.

Then I’m just petitioning God for my anxieties, the people I’m meeting on my calendar, the people I’ll meet who are interrupting my calendar, the anxieties of my wife and daughter, then issues my staff are having or the issues some of you are facing and I’m praying God’s victory and His will in those things. I’m praying that there are opportunities I can witness God do his amazing works.

I’m praying these things because I can’t do anything about these things except to pray and beg God to do something. I want him to do something about the church member’s son who can’t get his life together; to heal a church member whose illness that can’t be diagnosed by the large array of doctors and experts; to allow an 8 year old in kids ministry understand the love of Jesus because they don’t experience love at home. I pray these things because I’m expecting God to be listening and responding to what I’m praying. I expect him to do something that I can’t. I believe God will do something greater than I can pray for. We all need to.

When I’m on the road and driving to work, I’m praying, and not just the “please get the idiot off the road” prayers, I’m praying for those distracted drivers and that God would give them a greater sense of life.

At work, I’m praying in between meetings, not just that I’ll have favor, but that I would have a chance to witness God’s power and mercy.

Then I come home and I’m praying that I get to witness God’s power and mercy at my home because the night is long and I need God to make me a better father, and husband because you know as well as I do, there are things that I didn’t get around to doing or fixing that needed to be done six months ago.

Commit to praying and pray with expectation, and watch the world change through God’s power.

Being committed to the Word of God and prayer is not something that makes us more acceptable to God. It would be a great mistake to think that these commitments would grant us any type of salvation. You don’t have to do anything to earn God’s love and favor in this. Just believe that Jesus became a human being, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, and was raised to life again on the third day for us, for our sins, which saved us. Being committed to the Word of God and prayer is evidence, a practical demonstration, of our faith in Jesus Christ.

If you are here today and you want a life filled with the same type of awe that was encountered in the early church; the type of awe that comes from living devoted to the Word and prayer. Then I want you to make the decision today to turn from your sin by embracing Jesus as your Lord and savior. Make that decision by saying, “Jesus, I fall short because of my sin, I believe you Jesus, for rescuing me from my sin through your life, death, and resurrection. I commit my life to you. Amen.”

Maybe this morning you have received God’s free gift of grace in Jesus already, but you haven’t committed yourself to read the Bible or to pray. Let me encourage you to commit yourself to the Word of God and prayer. If you committed your life to Jesus today, would you let us know. Fill out a connect card and drop it off at our connect desk so we can walk with you in next steps.

Let’s pray.

Heavenly father, you showed us a glimpse of life where your wonders can come into our lives and fill our souls with awe when we commit ourselves to your word and to prayer. We pray that we can have the fortitude to pray dangerous prayers regularly and be encouraged to study your word and be filled by the truth in it. Lord, I am asking for special favor to those of us who have made the decision to place our trust in you this morning, help us take the next step of faith and choose to be baptized as a public declaration of our faith in your son Jesus. Allow those of us who have placed our faith in you previously, recommit ourselves to your word and to prayers which will fill us with your power and your immeasurable inheritance. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen