'first century church' Tagged Posts
DEVOTED TO BENEVOLENCE
According to Acts 2:42-47 the first century church was devoted to the Word of God (i.e. apostles’ teaching), fellowship, the Lord’s Supper (i.e. the breaking of bread), prayer, and, as we noted in the previous article, involvement. It was also devoted to benevolent activity. Throughout the book of Acts the church is depicted as a people who denounced materialism and adopted a communal lifestyle in order to meet the needs of the poor. In other words, they emphasized benevolence. In…
DEVOTED TO INVOLVEMENT
For the past few weeks we have been exploring the details outlined in Acts 2:42-47. In this brief passage, we are given a glimpse into the life of the first century church. In it, we not only learn that the first century church was “devoted…to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers” when they assembled, but we also learn that “every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts [and] they broke…
DEVOTED TO THE FELLOWSHIP
In Acts 2:42-47 we are given a glimpse into the life of the first century church, and this section begins with the simple phrase “they devoted themselves to.” In the following verses we discover that they possessed devotion to God’s Word, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper, and prayer, as well as an emphasis on giving, involvement, worship, and evangelism. And as the church’s story unfolds throughout the book of Acts it becomes apparent that their measurement of growth was not based…
THE WHY SERIES – WHY DO CHURCHES OF CHRIST OBSERVE THE LORD’S SUPPER EVERY SUNDAY?
While every religious body associated with Christianity observes the Lord’s Supper in some fashion, the congregations associate with the Churches of Christ are considered unique for observing this memorial every Sunday. But does the frequency with which a congregation observes the Lord’s Supper really matter? To answer this question let us explore what the Bible has to say about the Lord’s Supper. What is the Lord’s Supper? Prior to His arrest Jesus shared His last Passover meal with the apostles and…