In the sermon 'The Traits & Character of Christ’s Body' by Peter Allison, the speaker explores the defining traits and characteristics of Christ's church as depicted in Acts 2. Preaching plays a central role in building the church, as it is through the proclamation of God's Word that people are convicted and converted. Believers are encouraged to separate from the 'perverse generation' and live according to biblical principles. Baptism is highlighted as a crucial sign and seal of membership in Christ's body. The importance of sound doctrine is emphasized, as it forms the basis for fellowship among believers. The church is described as a community where members partake in the apostles' doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. The sermon underscores the necessity of corporate prayer and hospitality, with believers supporting one another and meeting each other's needs. Ultimately, the message calls for Christians to live out these traits in their present context, recognizing the maturity and grace available to the contemporary church.

Please turn in your scriptures to Acts chapter 2 In verse 40, and I hear God's word, And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation. Then those who gladly received His Word were baptized, and that day about 3, 000 souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all as anyone had need.

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. May the Lord grant faith to believe His commandments and teach us good judgment and knowledge. Heavenly Father, we give thanks for this word. We ask for Your Holy Spirit to give understanding of this word.

We ask for your Holy Spirit to sanctify us through this word. We ask for faith to believe your word. And I ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips that from a vessel of clay, the riches of Your grace might be proclaimed to us this morning. In Jesus' name, Amen. The last number of weeks we've been looking at Peter's sermon.

In this passage, his sermon concludes, draws to a close, and we see a description of the traits and the character of Christ's church, of His people, of His body in these verses here. What is the church, and how does the church act? What does the church look like? What traits characterize the people of God? That is what we want to look at this morning.

And I've picked ten traits and characteristics of Christ's church that are described here in this passage. And the first is the most obvious, and that is that Christ's body is called and built through the preaching of the Word. It is the message proclaimed, God's Word proclaimed, that brings these people, as we saw last week, to be convicted in their heart and to cry out, what should we do? And it is this preaching of the Word that takes this crowd of people who were just minutes ago mocking the gift of the Holy Spirit and saying that these people who were speaking in other languages were babbling as drunkards that they were drunk, to those who are convicted and cut to the heart that they had crucified the Lord of glory. Paul said in Romans 10, How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed, and How shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher?

And how shall they preach unless they are sent? How shall they hear without a preacher? Because God has ordained to gather that his people, his church, would be built by the preaching of his Word. He hasn't ordained that it would be built by prestidigitation or other feats of marvel and amazement. And so we don't have people here this morning doing wonders to draw people in.

Because you see, what you draw people in with is what you draw them to. And those who are be drawn to Christ will be drawn only by the preaching of His Word. We see also that good preaching involves not just teaching, which it does. Peter has been teaching through much of the sermon. He's been preaching Christ.

He's been teaching about Christ, who Christ was, his humiliation, his exaltation, The fact that he wasn't left in the grave. He's been teaching. But now we see that he moves with many more words into exhortation. And Luke doesn't give us all the exhortations that he gave to this congregation. He was applying the Word to their situation.

But He does give us one that we'll look at. But He's giving exhortations here. But with many other words, He testified and exhorted them. He's calling them to action. He's calling them to do things.

Faithful preaching applies God's Word to every area of our life. Because the Scriptures are sufficient to equip us for every good work. And every good work includes every work in our homes. And every work outside of our homes. See, there's no area of human endeavor that is outside the scope of God's Word or the preaching of that Word.

Peter wasn't here just talking about Christ and that Christ died for them. Yes, that's true, and yes, that is the message of the Gospel. But there is much more. God's Word is much deeper and fuller than that one simple fact. And Peter goes into that.

He's with many words, it says. He is testifying and exhorting them about what to do. He's calling them to start living as Christians. Christians are those who are Christ's followers. Christians are those who walk in Christ's ways and not their own ways.

Christians are those whose lives are dedicated to Christ's glory and not their own glory. Christians are those whose lives are dedicated to Christ's kingdom and its righteousness, and not to the riches of this world or our own ease. Jesus taught us to pray that His kingdom would come, that His will would be done here on earth as it is already being done in heaven, as well as praying for our needs and the forgiveness of our sins, and that the evil one would be overcome. So if we are to pray for these things, that means we are also to be working for these things. It means we are to be practicing these things.

So Peter's message is an exhortation to live as Christians, to apply the Gospel to every area of their life, to work out its implications for them in their situation. He's making those applications. But the one exhortation that Luke does give us is be saved from this perverse generation. See, this second trait of God's people, of Christ's body, is that she separates herself from this perverse generation. Those who separate themselves from the wicked and corrupt people may find themselves bringing the wrath of the wicked upon them.

And so, to some, it might seem to be safer not to resist this perverse generation, Not to stand apart from it and say no. Not to swim upstream when everybody else is swimming the other way downstream. But Peter says just the opposite. We are to be saved from this perverse generation. God's people, His body, are separate from what is crooked and perverse.

They are separate from the world. And this is not just a New Testament trait. God has always separated His people, called His people to be separate from the world. He's called them to be a separate people. That's what it means to be holy.

To be separate. Leviticus 20 says, I am the Lord your God who has separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean. You shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground which I have separated from you as unclean, and you shall be holy to me. For I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples that you should be mine." You see this clean and unclean distinction did not go away in the New Testament.

What changed in the New Testament is that the Gentiles are no longer considered unclean. That Gentiles no longer had to become Jews in order to be cleansed, in order to be part of Christ's body, in order to be part of the holy people. Rather, Gentiles could become a part of Christ's body as Gentiles. But see, we are still called to be separate from this generation. Peter says in the first chapter of his epistle, verse 17, Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord.

Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. That's Peter talking to the New Testament church. Come out from what is unclean. Be separate. And I will receive you.

That's a condition of being a part of God's body, that we come out from what is unclean, that we separate ourselves from the world. From, as Peter says, this crooked and perverse generation. Paul told the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians, Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness, and what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial, or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

For you are the temple of the living God. And God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people." Remember, that was the promise. Peter said, we looked at it last week, that to you is this promise, to you and to your children. And Peter says, we can't have fellowship with God, we can't be a part of God's body if we do not come out and separate ourselves from what is unclean. Now that doesn't mean that we don't associate with unbelievers, or Does it mean that we don't live in this world?

Does it mean that we live up on a pole like a stylite? Or live in the cave like a hermit? That's not what it means to be separate from the world. And to separate ourselves from this crooked and perverse generation. Some people have thought that.

Some people still think that. That separation of the world means that we somehow don't live in the world. That we somehow have to separate our lives from the world. But no, God has called us to live in this world. He said don't be of this world.

We are to be lights in this world. We are to be salt of the earth. We can't do that if we're living as a hermit in a cave or out in the wilderness. No, not wrong to live in the wilderness if that's where God has called you for some reason. But there should be a kingdom purpose to where you live.

There's a big difference between being in this world and being of this world. This distinction is to differentiate between what is wicked from what is inanimate, an inanimate object. For some people, Being separate means they don't use electricity, or they don't drive cars, or they don't speak on cell phones. But that's not what it means to be saved from this perverse generation. It is to separate from the evil uses of all of those things.

Now I grew up in a home that didn't have a television. Back in the day when that was very common to have in most homes. Today it's less so. But it's not because there's anything wrong with the television. It's not wrong to have a television.

There was one point after we got married that we ended up with a television. I didn't buy it, we ended up with it for whatever reason. We had it and we kept it for a while. There was nothing wrong with it. But after keeping it for a while, this thing has just taken up space.

There's nothing good in it. Why do we have it? So we sold it. It wasn't actually ours. So we sold it and gave the money to the people that owned it.

There's nothing wrong with these things. But sometimes There's no use for them. It's to separate from the evil uses of these things. It's to be separate from this generation is to reject the thinking of this perverse generation. It's to reject their definition of success.

Sometimes their definition might go something like this. It's a degree. Never mind that you had to live in the sewer to get it. It's a good job. It's a nice house on Elm Street.

It's fashionable clothes like everybody else is wearing. It's all the toys of this age. It's a beach vacation every year and lots of fun on at least one day of the week, if not more. See, it's to reject that way of thinking, and instead to hold to the ideal that's presented in Scripture. Paul urged the Thessalonians to aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, as He says as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside and that you may lack nothing.

You see, Paul doesn't say don't use cell phones and don't drive cars and don't use electricity because it's worldly. No, you're to use these things. You're to work with your hands. You're to aspire to lead a quiet life and to have to be able to give to those in need. You're to be able to have these things.

Paul told Timothy, we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain, it is certain that we can take nothing out. Naked we come, and naked we go. And so he says, in having food and clothing with these, we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition." He didn't say being rich is a sin. He said those who desire to be rich, those who have adopted that as their focus, as their purpose, as acquiring of wealth.

That's what governs and dictates their decisions. That's, he says, what is wrong. It's those who fall into temptation and asnerin, many foolish and harmful lusts, and they drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, from which some have strayed from their faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." when Peter speaks of being separate from this perverse generation, he is speaking of separating ourselves from the foolish thinking, from the unbiblical thinking, the unbiblical mindset, the unbiblical ideals, the unbiblical goals of this generation. And to rather make our ideal life the life that God calls us in the Scriptures to live.

Now the third characteristic of Christ's people, His body, is that they receive the word gladly. Peter is exhorting. He's preaching this message. He's calling them to separate themselves from the crooked and perverse generation in which they live." And they received that word gladly. Gladly.

They're not like Lot's wife who couldn't leave the world that she was in. Even when her body left, her heart was still back in the city and she looked back longingly. No, Christ's people, when they hear His Word, when they hear its exhortations, when they hear its call to separate themselves from this crooked and perverse generation, they receive that Word gladly. They embraced it. They welcomed it.

They admitted the truth of it. And they accepted the offers of that Word. They trembled at its warnings. They feared God. They put weight and respect behind His words that were coming to them.

And they received that message as the Word of God, even though it came through people. See, when we're fighting the truth, which would be the opposite of receiving it gladly, then we're looking for reasons why it doesn't apply to us. We're looking for reasons why we are the exception to the rule that's being stated. We're resisting. We're saying, do I really have to do this?

I can't do this. That'd be too hard. To receive the word gladly is to receive these exhortations of God's Word and say, yes, I can't do that in my own strength, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It's to recognize that where the word pinches our desires, where it corrects our thoughts, our thinking, and even our actions, that we recognize that It's us that need to change. It's our thinking that's the problem.

It's our loves that need to be refined. Notice that All of these words and exhortations have come after they are cut to the quick. They want to hear more. They're listening. See, the Word of God is like food to a believer.

It's like food to a hungry person. We live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And so these, God's people receive His Word gladly. Christ's body will seek the preaching of His word. They will prize that preaching.

They will feed on it. We might say, well, why do so many churches not preach the Word of God? Why is the Gospel watered down to 20 minutes or 15 minutes? Well, we can say yes, the preachers are at fault, and they are. But there's another group equally at fault, and that's the people that are hearing it.

That's us. God's people desire and want to hear His Word, and where they desire and want to hear His Word, He sends messengers to bring it. And where they don't want to desire that word, where they aren't interested in it, where they don't prize it, then He shuts it up. So the fault is just as much. If there is a lack of preaching of God's Word, the fault is just as much the people as it is the preacher.

It's both. God's people receive His Word gladly. They seek it out. The fourth thing we see is that God's people are baptized. Christ's body desires and receives the sign and seal of His covenant.

This is the sign of the promise to be God to us and to our children that we looked at in detail last week. See, these believers, these Christians, Christ followers receive the sign of union with Christ. That's what defines us, is that we are in Christ. That we are Christ, that we belong to Him in life and in death. And those who belong to Him want to receive the sign of His promise to them.

See, baptism points to the work of the Holy Spirit, but it also publicly identifies Christ's people as His people. We're told not to get markings for the dead. Tattoos and things. Because that marks people for Satan. But Baptism marks people as gods, as Christ, in both Matthew and Mark.

Jesus' final instruction to the apostles included the command to baptize. Matthew 28, go make disciples baptizing them and then teaching them. In Mark 16, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, and he who believes and is baptized will be saved. Acts 8 tells us that when those who heard Philip's preaching believed they were baptized, and not everybody that was baptized was regenerate. We know in that chapter.

Both men and women were baptized there. When the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius and his family as Peter is preaching to them, Peter said, can anyone forbid water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have, and He commanded them to be baptized. In Acts 19, when Paul came to Ephesus, he asked some of the disciples if they had received the Holy Spirit when they believed, and they said to him, well, we haven't heard so much as if there is a Holy Spirit. And Paul's immediate response to them is not to teach them about the Holy Spirit, but to ask them, well then in what were you baptized? Into what were you baptized?

And they said into John's baptism. And Paul said, well, John's baptism was a baptism of repentance, but that people should believe on Him who would come after Him, that is on Christ. And so when they heard that, they were then baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. So of course in describing baptism, believers and their children are always baptized when they are converted. So there is this, they are baptized and that day 3, 000 souls are added to them.

Souls. This is a harvest of souls. In Exodus 34, God told Israel, you shall observe the feast of weeks, Pentecost, of the first fruits of the wheat harvest. This is the, remember this was the second first fruits. There were two, right?

The barley harvest, which was Christ's resurrection. But then there was also the first fruits of the wheat harvest, the Feast of Weeks that happened at Pentecost when God gave the law. And in Exodus 34, 26, God's people were instructed to bring the first of the first fruits of their land to the house of the Lord their God. And so here at Pentecost, at this first fruits of the wheat harvest, This coming of the Holy Spirit, it's not a wheat harvest that is consecrated to the Lord, but that to which the wheat harvest pointed, this first harvest of souls that is consecrated to the Lord as they are baptized that day. And it says that 3, 000 souls were added.

Soul is often the word used to speak of a mixed crowd, men, women, and children. Like, let every soul be subject to the governing authority. Is in Romans 13. Or Peter talks about eight souls being saved on the ark to refer to the men and women that were on the ark. And here there were 3, 000 souls that read it.

Peter has been talking about to the men of Israel, to the men and brethren, and so on. But it doesn't say that 3, 000 men were added to the church. 3, 000 souls. So this I think is counting a mixed multitude. Women and children.

The thing we see is that Christ's people are members of a local body. Three thousand souls were added. Those who are baptized are not baptized to Rome as free agents. God's people are baptized into Christ's body, into the church. Luke doesn't say here, who did the adding or to what they were added.

Although it would be obvious they were added to the church. But in verse 47, he leaves no room for doubt, saying that God does the adding and He adds His people to the church. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. The church here includes men, women, and children. It's souls.

It's souls. And they're added to a specific local body. The institutional church, as it's sometimes referred to by its critics, is often denigrated as being the institutional church, as having lots of problems. And there have been a long line of people that condemn the institutional church and that believe that Christians can and should separate themselves from local church bodies and just be a member of this universal, visible church. But there is no such thing.

The concept of a Christian not being part of a local church is not found in the New Testament. Christians were always added to the church upon baptism. And the New Testament letters were written to churches defined as bishops, deacons, and saints in Philippians. Or bishops and deacons or the like. Even letters to individuals place those people inside of churches.

In 3 John, the letter to Gaius is love is evidenced before the church. Philemon, the church in his house. Many of the directives in the New Testament implicitly assume church membership. Elders are to keep watch over the souls entrusted to them as those who must give an account." That's a command. Does that mean every elder is responsible for the spiritual well-being of every Christian who is supposedly in this universal, visible church?

I hope not. I can't pray for every believer in that non-existent body. I don't even know who they are. How can I be responsible for their souls? So obviously, that doesn't mean that every elder is responsible for the spiritual well-being of every Christian.

So the question becomes who are the ones, who are the souls that that elder is responsible for? And to answer that question is to define the members of a particular local church. Now how did that elder get that responsibility? It's a responsibility of a covenant. To be responsible for somebody's soul is a major responsibility.

You don't just get it by accident. There has to be a covenant. Christians, we're told to obey those who rule and to follow their example as they follow the Lord. So if someone is not a member of a local church, whose example are they to be following? Who are they being commanded to obey?

Are they supposed to obey everybody that walks down the street and says they're an elder? That hangs the elder shingle in front of their house? Well, obviously not, because they're all contradictory, many of them. See, the presumption of this text is that saints are members of a local church. They're not just members of a non-existent, universal, visible body.

If people are not members of a local, visible church, then They can't obey this command. And they're really out of order in this area of their life. And so you have these two commands, elders that are to be responsible for souls and souls that are to be living in submission to elders. And how does that relationship happen? Is the church eldership responsible for everybody that just decides to walk in and sit down in a pew?

Well, no. A woman can't just become protected by a husband just by walking up and saying, well, you're my husband, you have to protect me now, because I said so. No, that has to be obviously a two-way mutual agreement, mutually entering into this covenant relationship. And the same with church membership. People can't just expect elders to be responsible for their souls just because they walked in.

There needs to be a covenant. The elders have to be willing to assume that responsibility. The members have to be willing to be put into that body. An elder can't just walk up to somebody and say, well, I'm an elder, you have to listen to me. There has to be a mutual acceptance of that person in recognition that they are an elder.

And so this is what a church covenant does. This is why when we all joined the church, we took vows of membership. We entered into a covenant. This mutual recognition that we are in a special relationship. We are a part of this particular local church.

And this is the church that we are committed to serving in and to laboring in. Christians are not to forsake the assembling of themselves together. Well, who are they supposed to assemble with? Are they to assemble with every other Christian? No, that's impossible.

So that body that they are not to forsake the assembling of themselves with, that's the definition of a local visible church. The session or elders of the local church are given the keys of the kingdom, which includes admitting and barring from the Lord's table. Referring to church discipline, Jesus says that what the church binds on earth has already been bound in heaven, and what the church looses on earth has already been loosed in heaven. According to Romans 9, the covenant belongs to those in the church which is called the Israel of God. In Galatians 6, who are Israelites, Paul said, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, and the covenants, the giving of law, the service of God, and the promises.

Psalm 147 says that God shows His Word unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments unto Israel. These are both terms to describe the church. The New Testament expresses the same thought when it calls the church the pillar and ground of truth. And it is unworthy participation in the Lord's Supper that brings judgment. And what is that judgment?

What is that unworthy participation? It's failing to discern the Lord's body. Failing to discern and recognize who is a part of Christ's church and who is not. And that is why church membership is a requirement to partake at the Lord's Supper. Some churches will only serve communion to members of their own church, or to people with whom they have met beforehand.

And that's typically called closed communion. Other churches like ours will serve saints who are not members of our local church as long as they are members of a local church somewhere. And that there are some elders somewhere who are responsible for their souls, and There are some elders somewhere who are responsible for their souls, and there are some elders somewhere who have admitted them to the Lord's table. You see, if you ask the average person walking down the street today if they are a Christian, there are a number that will say yes, not nearly as many as there used to be. When I was in college, somebody wrote a letter to President Reagan, and It was really very, very early in his presidency.

And it started out, We the Christians. And I saw this letter sitting in a very public place where everybody could sign it. There was about 120 people in this group that I was in. And I was shocked. I was like, we the Christians of this company?

I didn't really know very many other Christians in that company. I didn't think so. I turned that paper over and 80% of the company had signed the letter as We the Christians. You see, many people will say yes, that have no idea what the Gospel is. That's why good elders examine people to see if they are in Christ.

It is the elders of the church and not individual Christians that control the access and serve the communion. And so a Christian who is not a member of the church has placed himself outside the covenant in the same category as unbelievers. And such a person should not be receiving the Lord's Supper. They very well may be elect, they very well may be regenerate, but if so they need to be numbered with God's people. They need to have written with their hand that they are the Lord, as Isaiah 44 talks about.

And That's what we have a written covenant. Now God's body also continue in the Apostles' doctrine. They continue, and there's four characteristics that are given here, and the order is significant. They continued in the Apostles' doctrine. They continued to study the Scriptures as those Scriptures were taught by the apostles.

Calvin says that true doctrine is the bond of brotherly fellowship among us. True doctrine. To continue in it means ongoing study, means continually feeding upon it. Doctrine is the teaching. The doctrine of the apostles is the teaching of the Scriptures.

Remember, because the New Testament church was built upon the apostles and the prophets. They were the foundation. Christ the cornerstone. And so we could think of that doctrine in many ways, but one way to think of it is as systematic theology, understanding how the scriptures tie together. You remember when Jesus demonstrated, proved to the Sadducees the resurrection?

How did He do it? I've always found this interesting. He doesn't go to Job where Job clearly says, yet in my flesh these eyes will see the Lord and not another. He doesn't go to passages that speak about the blessedness of dying in the Lord or of being with the Lord. He makes a logical argument to prove the resurrection.

And it's not one you would immediately think of. Remember what it was? He said to the Sadducees that God is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. They immediately acknowledged that. That's very plainly stated in the Scriptures.

God is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. They agreed with that. And then he said this, God is not a God of the dead, but of the living. That means Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are living, even though their bodies are in the grave. They're living.

And that's how He proved the resurrection to them. That's called systematic theology where you take two different passages of Scripture and you show what the logical implications of those two different passages are, those two premises, those two truths. What is the logical implication? Jesus didn't go to a verse that says bodies rise from the dead. He proved it logically by two passages of Scripture, bringing them together and saying, this proves the resurrection.

So that's what it means to study doctrine, to study the Scriptures. To see how the Scriptures, when all the different Scriptures are put together, the implications of those truths in God's people. Pay attention to doctrine. This is the first thing. True, true, the true faith, the doctrine, the teaching of Scripture.

Secondly, Christ's people continue in the fellowship of the saints. Out of doctrine, out of common understanding of the truth of Scripture, flows fellowship. Fellowship is companionship. Society. An old word is consort, which just is an intimate associate.

It's even used of spouses, consort. But that's a sense of what fellowship is. Fellowship is a mutual association of people on equal and friendly terms. It's more than just casual acquaintance. It's knowing people.

Knowing people. Fellowship is dwelling together as Psalm 133 describes it. And Amos famously asked, can two walk together unless they be agreed? And that obviously no. And so walking together is dwelling in harmony.

And it means agreement on the doctrine. That's why it follows the doctrine. Gordon Keddie says, Fellowship is Christ-centered mutual affection and action and includes everything from joining and worship to conversations, meals, and working together in all the activities of the Christian community as it grows. As it grows in grace and in knowledge, as it grows in obedience, as it grows internally, and as it grows reaching out and being salt and light in the world. You see, we need each other.

We need that kind of presence in our life. It's big. It's very important. We need each other. We learn graces from witnessing the testimony, the perseverance, the gifts and the strengths of others.

We learn from that. We're encouraged by that. We're blessed to see those good examples. We need to see those good examples. How many times have you thought to yourself, well, if they can do that, or they're doing that, I should be doing that?

How many times has an example spoken to us, to you? God uses one another. The fellowship that we have with one another that comes from being in community. We also learn graces from dealing with the faults of others. Because we see that when you get into close companionship, you're going to run into the faults as well.

And we learn from that. We learn what's in ourselves, as we're seeing in this Gospel Center parenting. The faults of others show us what's inside of ourselves that we maybe didn't know was there. Because When we're upset, then what's inside of us spills out. We may be able to very carefully hide what's inside of us, even from ourselves, when there's no upsets.

But when there are upsets, then it spills out before we can stop it. So we learn grace. We learn grace from fellowship. It's important. It's the second thing.

And out of that, then, when there is that fellowship, When there's doctrine, there's true doctrine, and we continue in it, that brings fellowship. And then when there is fellowship, the next sign is the breaking of bread. The breaking of bread. This is speaking of communion. But this is actually also fellowship with the Lord.

1 Corinthians 1, 9, God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are called as Christians into fellowship with Christ. 1 Corinthians 10-16, the cup of blessing which we bless, speaking of the Lord's table, is it not the fellowship of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the fellowship of the body of Christ. The koinonia.

Some of your versions may have communion there. But that word is koinonia. It's the same word here. It's the fellowship. You see, in Breaking Bread, we are celebrating our fellowship with Christ.

That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. If we have fellowship with God, we will walk in the light. And we won't practice the truth. But if we have fellowship with God, we will also have fellowship with one another.

If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we don't have fellowship with one another, we can't be in fellowship with God. If we're out of fellowship, the Bible says we're to leave our gifts at the altar and go and be reconciled immediately. We're not to come to this table and presume that we have fellowship with God if we are not in fellowship with one another. We can't be in fellowship with God if we are not in fellowship with one another.

Now it doesn't say stay home and don't go to church or don't take the Lord's Supper because you're out. No, it says go and be reconciled immediately. Leave your gift there and go and be reconciled. That's one advantage of getting up and coming to the Lord's table. Because if you need to be reconciled with somebody, you can do that.

It's all it takes is to repent. It doesn't mean that the other person has to repent and be forgiven. It just means what we have to do Where we've wronged somebody And we need to make it right before we try to presume and having fellowship with the Lord and Lastly or this these four things They continued steadfastly, I want you to notice this some of the translations, and I don't know why They continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and in the fellowship and in the breaking of bread and in the prayers." Did you see that? It is, continue steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine. Continue steadfastly in the fellowship.

Continue steadfastly in the breaking of bread. And continue steadfastly in the prayers. And a lot of translations leave the thes out there. But the the is there. And so they continued steadfastly in each of these things.

They continued in the prayers. This is referring to corporate prayer. We are a body of believers in fellowship with one another. We hear God's Word together. We eat together.

We partake of communion together. And we are to pray together. God's people pray corporately together, regularly, as well as in times of special need. In fact, in the very next chapter, we see Peter and John going up to the temple to pray at the hour of prayer. In that case, it was the ninth hour.

They're going up. They could pray in their house, but they're going up to pray corporately at the hour of prayer. The hour of prayer. That means there was a time set apart in the lives of this church that they corporately gathered for prayer. And they did so in a public place.

And later on in Acts, we find them gathered for corporate prayer in a house of somebody, praying for a special need for Peter to be delivered from prison. But they are gathered corporately, and that's why it is important. We need to pray with our families, and I hope you are all praying with your families corporately Every day. Husbands, pray with your wives corporately. Fathers, pray with your families corporately.

But we as a church body ought to be praying corporately. And that's why we have a corporate time of prayer. But the last thing we see is that Christ's people are given to hospitality. They meet needs of the body. Now this was a very unique time.

People from all over the world are in Jerusalem. Think about what's happening here. Three thousand souls have just been added to this church. It went from 120 men, and there were probably a few more there, to three thousand. That's massive growth.

And that brings problems. Can you imagine what it would be like if we had even a hundred people show up today? We'd love that, but it would be a lot of problems, wouldn't it? Can you imagine 3, 000 people showing up? Added to the church in one day.

There's a lot of problems there. And then later on, just a few chapters later, the number is up to 5, 000. And God is adding daily to His church those who are being saved. So there is great needs here. This is an unusual time.

And so they are, they believed together. They had all things in common. They were even selling their possessions and goods and dividing them among all as anyone had need. That could be in preparation for having to flee, which they were to do a little later. There is a dispersion due to persecution.

It's kind of hard to flee, or you lose a lot if you have property. A lot of people that have had to flee lose their property. So this was a unique time. This is not speaking of socialism. And there's a number of reasons why this is not speaking of socialism.

This is not what everybody is commanded to do, to sell their house. And in fact, we see that just from Acts 5 where Ananias and Sapphira sold their house and lied to the Holy Spirit. Peter said this, You didn't have to sell your house. You didn't have to sell it. That was in your power.

While it remained, was it not your own? So he's saying you didn't have to sell it. That's not a requirement. That was something you chose to do. And after it was sold, was it not under your control?

Even after you sell it, this money is yours. You don't have to give it to the church. So see, this passage is not teaching socialism by any means. It is teaching though that Christ's people are given to hospitality, that they meet needs as they arise in the body. So this is a picture of the church.

It's a wonderful and beautiful picture of a people who are studying the Word of God, continuing in the doctrine. They're in fellowship with one another. They're living in community. They're sharing their lives together. They are celebrating communion together.

And they are praying together as Christ body the church. And we might be tempted to think, well, wouldn't it be wonderful to live back then? Well, no, it wouldn't be. We live 2, 000 years later from this. We are a much more mature church.

And we should be thankful for that. When you turn 20, you don't want to say wouldn't it be nice to be two again? No. No. The church is growing.

This church faced a lot of difficulty. When you have this kind of growth, there's a lot of trouble. So look at the Corinthian church. There are all kinds of troubles in that church. Heresy comes into the church.

Organizational issues came into this church. There are a lot of things that are true of this church that are true of an infant church. And so this shouldn't be something that we shouldn't want to go back to this church. We should want to take these principles, these traits and characteristics of God's people, and work them out in our life today, recognizing that we live in a day of greater grace and greater maturity. And we can thank the Lord that we live now in this church, that He's put us in this body with our present needs and our gifts and our graces and seek to work out these things in our midst.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that your Word endures forever, that it is always true, and that it is given to us that we might be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Lord, your Scriptures are sufficient for us. We ask, Lord, that we may be students of Your Word, continuing in the doctrine of Your Word, continuing in fellowship with one another, and in the sacraments and in prayer. We thank You, Lord, that You have brought us into your church.

We thank you that you have redeemed us with your own body. We thank you that you have loved us and given yourself for this and that you have given to us this sign of communion with you. We pray that we may prize what you have given to us. In Jesus' name, Amen.