“42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 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, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Acts 2:42-47
One of the most important ways to be spiritually mature is through fellowship with other believers. We cannot grow more in love with God just by ourselves. We will always fall short of His glory. That is why we were blessed with people who share the same struggles and victories. No man is an island, as they say. So when we share our strengths and weaknesses with fellow believers, we become stronger in faith. We become more rooted in His love because someone is supporting and helping us.
When Peter preached the gospel, about 3,000 people became new followers of Christ. These new believers were united with other Christians. They spent a lot of time praying, worshipping God, and learning the apostles’ teachings. They practiced gathering together to worship the Lord because they knew that believers should be in groups to learn and study the truth about God’s Word.
When the early church grew in faith, they not only prayed and studied God’s Word together, but they also sold their possessions to help others who were in need. They knew that every believer is part of one body. This means that as part of God’s spiritual family, we are called to be sources of grace to our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are to help one another in every possible way.
Worshipping God does not stop just by serving Him. He wants us to share our lives with other believers as well. This doesn’t mean that we need to have an extravagant gathering daily. But just like the early Christians, they spent time together serving God in the most simple but joyful way- they broke bread in their homes with sincere and grateful hearts.
If non-believers encounter how we enjoy honoring God with our Christian community, they will be intrigued and attracted to Christ. You see, God will take care of growing the church in numbers if we take care of one another. He also promises to strengthen our faith if we become accountable to each other’s spiritual growth. So always be the church when the Sunday service is over.
