Sunday, February 19, 2012, "Acts of Prayer: Snapshots from the Prayer Life of the Early Church." Snapshot 3, "The Church Alive"

- So far in our journey we've examined Acts 1: 12-26 and 2:1-11. We have seen that, "If we would learn the forward way, then the answer is to pray," and, "Answered prayers are a matter of God's timing for his glory and kingdom."

- This week marks our third snapshot of the prayer life of the early church as we look at the closing versus of Acts chapter 2. These verses are among some of the most influential and widely known versus of the book of Acts and for good reason.

- They follow Peter's first sermon to the crowd that had gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost in which Peter declared Jesus Christ crucified, buried, and his bodily resurrection; warning his hearers to save themselves through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Let's turn to Acts chapter 2:41-47 and read Luke's record.

41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

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. Acts 2:41-47 (ESV)

- As we begin to unpack these few verses we see that there was no small response to the good news of the risen Lord Jesus. 3000 lives were added to the first group of disciples on that day and they demonstrated that they truly had repented of their sins and received Peter's word through baptism which represents the forgiveness and cleansing of the new life found in Christ.

- Well-known pastor, preacher, and Bible commentator, John Stott describes the early church as a learning church, a loving church, a worshiping church, and an evangelistic church.

-These are four excellent observations about the church. We can be certain that the church alive is a learning church, a loving church, a worshiping church and an evangelistic church.

- But I want us to zero in on verse 42 for a few moments.

- 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

- It says, "they devoted themselves" and this phrase carries with it the idea of persistence or perseverance. These were things that they kept on doing, things that they saw as holy habits.

- Devotion to the apostles teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers was and is part of the fabric of the ongoing lifestyle of the church.

- And it is important that we see these things as top priorities and holy habits that help us to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ.

- Let's also notice that these four devotional habits of the church were not something that was practiced in isolation or solitary confinement. These devotional habits of the church were community habits, exercises that the church participated in together.

- Since we are looking at snapshots of the prayer life of the early church I want us to focus in on that fourth habit; "they devoted themselves to…the prayers..."

- Luke emphasized here the Christian community at prayer. He saw prayer as one of the pillars of church community life.

- Luke reminded his readers that the people of God do not work by their feelings or their intuition, but through active dependence upon God in seeking his direction for the life of the church.

- In this snapshot of the early church what does Luke teach his readers about prayer?

- Luke taught his readers that continual prayer is the standard pattern of the life of the early church.

- Now, at this point it is relatively easy to be caught up in debates about just what exactly Luke meant by "the prayers" because our natural response is going to be what prayers, which ones, what does Luke mean by that?

- Did the church use set prayers which everyone knew by heart and often recited together?

- Well, I want to suggest that the obvious answer is, "yes, indeed they did."

- And I think that is the obvious answer because we do it too. We often turn to the Psalms, the Prophets, to the prayers of Moses, David, Solomon, Asaph, the apostle Paul, the Lord's Prayer, and all the prayers of God's people that are recorded in the Scriptures in order to bolster the prayer life of the church.

- Arguments aside, Luke stressed the church's devotion to prayer as a community of faith to highlight the fact that continual prayer is the standard pattern of the life of the early church.

- And since continual devotion to prayer is the standard pattern of the life of the early church, then continual devotion to prayer must become the standard pattern of life for the church today.

- Continual prayer is the standard pattern in the life of the church.

- In the book of Acts, prayer is something that is ongoing and continual in the life of the church even though, from this point on, we only get occasional glimpses of it.

- We saw devotion to prayer in Acts chapter 1 and we saw that continual devotion bear fruit in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the 120. And we see it again today in the response of the 3000 to Peter's sermon as well as in the fellowship of the church.

- Listen to this: 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. Acts 2:41-47 (ESV)

- Friends, if these lines do not describe the work of the Holy Spirit in answering the ongoing prayers of God's people, then I don't know what does.

-  As we look at these verses, what do we see?

- We see every life affected by a deep sense of awe. The Greek here says fear. The church has a strong handle on the truth that God is an awesome God who is holy and to be feared.

- We see the Holy Spirit working miracles through the apostles. The ministry of the Holy Spirit was re-creating the ministry of Jesus through the church.

- We see the walls of selfishness and individualism replaced with a joyful, generous, and sacrificial love for God's people.

- We see a church that meeting together in the Temple and in homes, in public worship and prayer as well as home-based, private, small prayer-and-share groups.

- We see a church that is passionate and inspired about worship because they know that worship is not about us, rather it's about the one who created us and freed us from the doom of sin and death.

- And we see God faithfully growing his kingdom.

- Doesn't that inspire you?

- The prayer filled life of the church comes out of a sense of mutual devotion to one another and to Christ which arises from transformed and renewed hearts.

- What we see in these verses with regard to prayer is simply this: as prayers in Christ thrive, the church comes alive. Publicly in large groups and privately in home-based small groups, the church comes alive as prayers in Christ thrive.

- There's a story told of the preacher who was a slave to his manuscript. He not only wrote his sermons, but he read them, word for word, from the pulpit. One Sunday night the lights went out in the church. The preacher thought someone was playing a practical joke on him. "Turn the lights on," he demanded in a stern voice. He was told that the lights were definitely off. What could he do? He could not speak unrehearsed and without notes, even in an emergency. He wisely concluded, "If the power is off, it is time to pray!"

- Friends, if we lack in power, then it is from a lack in prayer.

- As prayers in Christ thrive, the church comes alive.