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Five Qualities of a Healthy Church 2. A Church of Godly Priorities And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42) In this passage we see that these early believers had a regular devotion to very godly priorities. Luke says that they were continually devoting themselves to four things: 1. The Teaching of God's Word They were continually devoted to the Apostle's teaching (didachae/instructions). This is more than a statement regarding their commitment to the Word of God. It signals to us that they were eager to receive the Word through the instruction given by God's ordained leaders within the church recognizing that this was God's instrumental means of building up the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-14) The Apostle's teaching was centered upon the Word of God and therefore the church overall was committed to the one true foundation of the Apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus being the very cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:20) Their maturation as a church was founded upon God's all sufficient Word. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;” ( 2 Timothy 3:16) 2. The Fellowship of The Saints The new life of these believers was clearly manifested through their new desire to regularly engage in Christian fellowship. By its very definition, Christian fellowship denotes a spiritual relationship that is committed to the priorities of God. All peoples in the world engage in some form of fellowship, whether Christian or not. But Christian fellowship is unique in that it is to be patterned after Jesus Christ such that believers are to encourage one another and to consider the needs of others as being more important their own. (Philippians 2:1-4) It means being devoted to one-another in all things (Romans 12:10) and to encourage each other to serve and honor God. (Ephesians 5:19, Galatians 6:1-2) The early church was continually being devoted to these things! 3. Breaking Bread & Communion So grateful were these believers for the Lord's sacrifice for them that they as a church took their meals together in a manner that most often ended in the observance of the Lord's supper. This is an indication that these early believers regularly contemplated the Lord's suffering and death for sin. Such fellowship is humbling and purifying since it calls to mind the depth of our depravity and the vast extent of Christ's humility, mercy and grace. (Philippians 2:1-11) 4. Prayer The final element that we see the early church being regularly engaged in is this activity of prayer. They recognized that without the Lord, nothing can be accomplished. Their sense of dependence upon Jesus Christ was regularly magnified through individual and corporate prayer. Through prayer they sought the Lord's shepherding care and His grace to serve in His name. (Philippians 4:6-7) |
