The Church As It Was Meant To Be

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 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 2:42-47 (ESV)

The picture painted for us by Luke of the disciples in Acts 2 is a portrait of what the church should be today: in fellowship with one another regularly. Now it would be easy for us to say "Well, sure, they could do that kind of stuff back then. But they didn't have to commute to work and take kids to all these activities, and so on and so on." And we would be right... to a point. The one point that seems to stand out with this group is that they made this fellowship a priority - they were intentional in making the time for it, not just finding the time.
There are four main areas of discipleship in this passage as well: 1. They were "devoted to the apostles' teaching"; 2. They were devoted to "the fellowship"; 3. They were devoted to "the breaking of bread"; and 4. They were devoted to "the prayers". There is little chance of a believer, and the church, not growing under these conditions. When people are given the truth of God's Word, brothers and sisters to connect and share with and a way to connect with God through prayer, spiritual growth will happen. But this cannot be just a once- or twice-a-week activity that gets mingled in with soccer practices, home projects and the TV schedule. Imagine what could happen if the Body of Christ decided to be intentional about meeting with one another regularly and really focused on what the Bible says. Imagine the transformed lives and the impact on our world. It was said of these early believers that they were turning the world upside-down. What would it take for that to be said about us?
Joy is contagious, and it's nearly impossible for a believer to not have joy when they are in the Word and in fellowship with other believers. Luke tells us that the disciples went to the temple together, ate together, and shared everything with each other. So is it any surprise that their hearts were glad and generous, and they were praising God? And what was the response of the people around them? Rather than being scorned or mocked, these early believers had "favor with all the people." And we can have the same. When we devote ourselves to becoming more and more like Christ, others are going to be drawn to us. And when we do that, I truly believe God is going to bless us by adding to our numbers daily.