- Article: Foundations
Article: Foundations
“They devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:42 NIV.
The day of Pentecost was not the only one of Judaism’s religious festivals, but it was in fact the birth of the Church. When reading through chapter 2 of the book of Acts, we see that the day consisted of several dynamic events; the one accordance of the 120 in the upper room, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the speaking in other tongues as the Holy Spirit enabled them and, Peters gospel Sermon just to list a few. Together all these events inspired the believing and baptism of around 3000 new believers and the establishment of the early church at Jerusalem. I believe the future and the effectiveness of the Jerusalem church was heavily dependant on what these new believes did next.
The heading scripture above tells us that the new believers “devoted themselves to” four things; the teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and to prayer. These were the four areas that the first church members focused on developing in their lives; therefore these four things became the foundations and principles on which they built their personal Christianity and subsequently the entire Jerusalem Church.
The Jerusalem church became a large dynamic church. Some believe the Apostles and many of the later established Christian churches throughout the then known world, regarded it as the main headquarters. If we are going to build local churches that have a future and are effective in the generation in which we live, then I believe we need to look at our personal Christianity and make sure we have these four foundations in place by being devoted to the teaching of your church, fellowship at your church, breaking of bread with your church and the prayer in and for your church. You may ask how can I practically check and establish my Christian foundations? Let’s look a little closer at each of the four.
The Teaching
The early members of the church at Jerusalem devoted themselves to the teaching in the church. They loved to learn and so we should, not just about the basics of the Christian message, but we need to learn from the leadership, teachers and preachers that God has placed to teach us about truths from the scripture. Many Christians today seem to just want to hear something that tickles them emotionally and causes stimulation, but what is really needed is teaching and impartation. Now that we are saved, God expects us to be as desirous of the knowledge about him as were for the things of this world before we were in a relationship with him. Check your foundation and ask yourself “Do I digest what is being taught at my church and review what I’ve learnt at home? Do I consistently attend my church Bible Study (If they have one) and if I miss any key teachings do I get hold of the recordings?”
The Fellowship
Every Christian should be a member of a church family, where you can have fellowship. The ‘togetherness’ of the Jerusalem church was absolutely important for them to maintain the spirit of unity and ‘one accordance’. The fellowship of the church today is an important foundation as this is where the believer really becomes an active part of the body of Christ, plugging into a church fellowship by regularly attending all the main meetings and becoming active by serving in a ministry in your church; all helps to continue the fellowship. Unfortunately today we see many believers not wanting to commit and submit to a church family, wanting just to go to church but not wanting to be a part of the spirit of the church in fellowship.
If you are not a part of a church that you can call your ‘church family’ or fellowship, then you need to find one as soon as possible. If you find yourself going from church yet not knowing which to settle in then it is important for you to stay connected to the church where you find yourself growing spiritually, especially in your understanding of the word of God.
Breaking of Bread
This phase for the church in the New Testament generally is referred to as the ‘Lord’s Supper’, or what some Christians call the Holy Communion. This meal that the Lord Jesus Christ himself instituted was a major part of the 21st centaury church. This symbolic meal itself brings us into the remembrance of the real reason why we are follower of Christ and that reason is the fact that he bled and died for our sins. Many Christians today have become so pre-occupied with magnifying the material blessings that we desire. Things like the new house, the new car and more money, such that we are at risk of clouding the truth of what Jesus Christ did for us at Calvary. The Lord’s Supper always brings us back to the fact that while we were sinners Christ died for us. Every Christian and every church needs to be devoted to the ‘breaking of bread’ meal in order for us to always keep the foundation of the truth of the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Prayer
Personal and corporate prayers are both vital to the growth of a Christian and a church. Nevertheless many Christians today go to church on Sunday to praise and sing to God even though they have not spoken to him all week. Personal prayer, speaking to God as your heavenly father is important to maintain a fruitful, thriving relationship with him. This way, when you get to church and pray corporately with the other members, your combined faith-filled prayers are more effective. We seem also to be developing a culture of ~Christians today who are always wanting the latest and the greatest man or woman of God to pray for them all time, yet they have not developed their own prayerful connection with God. Many churches also have problem finding people who will come to a corporate prayer meeting at the church, yet when the church announces it’s going to have a concert there is not enough room to seat the crowds attending. The Jerusalem church members were devoted to prayer. I believe it was also the foundation of prayer that turned the Jerusalem church from being just a good church into a great church.
In many major cities of the world, we see major buildings including the Landmark Tower in Yokohama Japan, the Empire State in New York and of course Canary Wharf in London. All of these structures can be seen towering high and strong with a formidable presence. Yet in order for these buildings to stand with such grandeur, the architects and the builders had to ‘devote themselves’ in the early stages of structural development and commit to establish and laying the foundations before any of these buildings would be able to stand with any kind of longevity.
The Bible lets us know that the House that is built on rock-like foundations will be the strongest and therefore last longest. If we build our Christianity on these four foundation principles by being devoted to teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer, the I believe we will eventually become bigger, stronger Christians and ultimately have more effective and stronger churches, all because we devoted ourselves to laying and checking our foundations.