Made to worship

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer... They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. Acts 2:42, 46-47

Each of us lives under a cruel master, though we barely notice it; it’s the tyranny of the urgent. It demands our time and attention. It forces us to put off the truly important for another day. There are times we realize this problem and we force ourselves to slow down and think of the toll it is taking on us. We start to analyze why we have allowed circumstances and others too much control over our lives. The ongoing streams of other people’s expectations and demands can drive us onto a mound of frustration. Oftentimes such events leave us feeling shallow and abandoned. We need to make a deliberate decision to stop and reconsider what’s important. When we do, we’ll quickly discover what we are missing; we were made for worship. From the text, Luke describes the activities of the early church. He describes what a biblical church really looks like, not only in the first century, but in every century from the Lord’s ascension until his second coming. The church was marked by teaching. Thousands of new converts needed to understand precisely how the Old Testament text was linked with the ministry of Jesus. Moreover, the new Christians engaged in fellowship. Here the believers fulfilled the words the Lord gave his disciples just before the crucifixion: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34–35). Then the believers joined in breaking bread. Paul calls this “the Lord’s Supper.” The observance was to remind believers the sacrifice on the cross and the Lord’s death. It is also observed encouraging believers to be expectant to the return of Christ. Their work also included learning how to live and love together by voluntarily selling their possessions and made sure everybody had plenty. The early church was marked by faithful attendance—meeting together daily in the temple courts. They prayed, gave, ate, and rejoiced together. The practice of the presence of Jesus is still a good idea for God’s people to do even in our times. “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25).

Blessings,