Acts 2:42-46
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
Community is the very heart of Christianity. It is not an opt-in, an extra, or a “nice-to-have”. Luke records this summary of life in the early Christian church – a description of unity, love, and mutual support. He paints a picture of Christian life at its best. He highlights the Holy Spirit moving in power among them – there were wonders and signs, and many people became believers as a result. Luke recounts some of the struggles and pain at other times: times where direction was needed, times of correction, and even extreme discipline (remember Ananias and Sapphira?). Paul and Barnabas argue over John Mark (Acts 15:36-41), Paul confronts Peter (Gal. 2:11-13), and Paul struggles with feeling abandoned by beloved ministry partners (2 Tim. 4:9-18). We know these difficult aspects of church life personally, and it even drives some of us away, resolving to love Jesus on our own, without the church. But the fact is, Christianity is a team sport; we must be together to grow spiritually and bear fruit. I’ve tried to find justification to go it alone quite a few times, and I came up empty. We belong together, there’s no way around it. That’s a good thing! We can look at Acts 2:42-46 and know that community with fellow believers is worth fighting for. The Holy Spirit moves in great power when we are together.
As we fast and prepare, make sure to create space for community. Reach out to your brothers and sisters, encourage one another, pray together, come to weekend services and open your eyes during worship. Look around the room at all the hands raised, hear the voices sing out, feel the joy of the Lord as he looks upon his church, gathered together in his name. Unity is not sameness; it is every unique individual joined together by the power of the Holy Spirit for the purpose of glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps the truest display of the power of the Holy Spirit the world can ever see is the unity of Christian believers.
Remember Jesus’s prayer for us: “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:20-23).
Each of us is gifted in different ways, but as Paul reminds us, all of these gifts come from one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:4). God is too powerful, too wonderful, to manifest all his power and glory through just one of us! But when we come together, with all of our gifts and with “glad and sincere hearts,” (Acts 2:46), his glory is displayed brightly, and his power moves. Wonders and signs can be seen when we are together. And God will bring more and more people into his family as a result.
Listening Prayer:
Ask the Lord to help you see the gifts he has given to other believers in your life. Ask him to bring to memory times when you have experienced the best of Christian community or to restore hope that you will experience it. Ask the Lord: In my times of solitude with you, am I preparing to rejoin your people, to serve them and love them as you do? Holy Spirit, how do you want me to interact with my community of believers to walk in unity?
Prayer:
Lord, we love to see you move in great power. We are your temple, a living body that represents Jesus on Earth. Help us to be unified, to glorify you and to serve others. We repent from the times and the ways we have tried to go it alone, to be lone wolves. Help us to see how each one of our brothers and sisters are uniquely gifted and empowered by your Spirit, and help us to complement each other in ministry, in community, in life as we seek to worship you with the whole body of believers. Holy Spirit, move in power through us and among us. May we see you move in mighty ways. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Resource: Bible verses on Community
Ephesians 2:19- 22
“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 12:7-10
“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.”
1 Corinthians 14:12
“So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.”
Hebrews 10:24-25:
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”