Acts 2:41 about three thousand people were added to them. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. 44 Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. 45 They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved

Acts 3:19, Peter says, “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out.” No mention of baptism. But the promise of forgiveness is still given. And in Acts 16:31, Paul says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” No mention of baptism, but the assurance of salvation given.
If you take the whole witness of the New Testament into account, it becomes clear that we are justified by faith alone (Romans 3:28; 5:1) and that baptism is a proper and Christ-mandated expression of that faith.

in verse 40. Luke says “with many other words” he encouraged them to “be saved”! The verb is passive, not active—not save yourselves, but be saved. Which means, receive the saving grace of God.

Thousands Added

The result of Peter’s sermon and God’s gift of repentance is that three thousand people professed faith in Christ and were baptized and became a part of that first church.

There was a steady progression from 120 (1:15) to 3,000 (2:41) to 5,000 (4:4) to “many thousands” (21:20

Simple Church Structure

Verse 46-47 “Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes [note: temple and 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.”

We believe that where the New Testament commands us to do something or implies that it is right to do it in all times and all places, we obey. But there is no command in the New Testament to replicate all the structures that you see in the early church.” Some are commanded; some are not.

A Biblical Definition of “Church”

The word “church” in the NT never refers to a building or a place. It always refers to a people: either the total number of believers who have ever lived, or a local group of those believers.

A local church is a group of baptized believers who meet regularly to worship God through Jesus Christ, to be exhorted from the Word of God, and to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

Since the Church is a People, the people of it should:

1) give evidence that they are believers—that they trust Jesus as Savior and Lord. The NT makes it clear that we are adopted into the family of God through faith (John 1:12, 13).

2) must be baptized. Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:19 that the way to make disciples was by “baptizing them … and teaching them.” This was the uniform practice in the early church.

3) must be in a regular assembling. A group of people who only came together say once a year could not rightly be called a local church because there are essential activities of the church which lose their meaning when not done corporately. Hebrews 10:25.

4) must be gather for worship. This follows inevitably from the ultimate value placed on Jesus Christ who calls us together and from our relation to God through him. (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14

5) must include exhortation from the Word of God. Our life in Christ is preserved not by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

6) must celebrate the Lord’s Supper

No Christian will content himself with participation in any para church group while neglecting the regular life of the local church. They have tremendous value while working alongside and in harmony with the churches, but they can never replace the local church.

Christ builds his church.

We plant and water, but the Lord gives life. Verse 47b: “The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

The Lord uses the word of God in the mouth of his servants to grow the church.

Verse 37: “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart.” It was God who cut them to the heart.

During the reign of King Josiah, who lived seven centuries before Christ, the law had become hopelessly mixed up with common opinions. Idolatry was flourishing; contempt for theology was common. There was little or no resistance to moral erosion. Josiah, who was made king at age eight, was worried. He desired to be a good king and he was. He wanted to lead his people out of darkness. He turned to the Temple for help. The results were disappointing. The Word of the Lord could not be found! A renovating program on the Temple was started. At last the high priest, Hilkiah, said to Shaphan, his secretary, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord” (2 Kings 22:8).

3) There was one church in Jerusalem, and it was big and growing.

As far as we know, this church was conceived as one church. In Acts 8:1, Luke writes, “There arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem.” Not “churches.” One church. In Acts 11:22, Luke writes, “The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.”

4) This church met in large gatherings to hear the apostles in the temple, it seems, and in small gatherings in their homes.

Verse 46: “Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.” So it says they met every day in the temple. More likely it means: There were Christians there every day listening to the apostles, not that they were all there every day.

it seems that they had organized themselves so that as one church of at least five thousand they could be instructed by the apostles in larger groups in the temple courts and meet in smaller groups from house to
house. We don’t know for sure how they did it. We take for granted, it appears they had to wrestle with some of the same things we do, and they did the best they could structurally with several thousand people.

5) They encountered problems along the way owing to their size and their ethnic diversity.

Acts 6:1 says, “Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number [there’s the size cause], a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews [there’s the ethnic or cultural cause] because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.”

What is the ultimate goal of the church?

The ultimate goal of the church is to live in such a way that God’s wisdom (and all the other aspects of his glory) will be displayed to the world and to the hosts of heaven. The church’s job is to live so that people can see that God is real.

What does that life look like?

Jesus said, Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Is there anything planned into our lives that would cause people to look at and then conclude that because of you have done, they should praise God?

Do our lives consists mostly of actions which don’t take any power beyond human nature?

Ephesians 2:10, the church is “God’s handiwork created in Christ Jesus for good deeds.” God made us to do good deeds. We exist as Christians for that purpose. Ephesians 1, which says that we exist “for the praise of God’s glory,” because Jesus showed us that it is precisely the good deeds of his disciples which convince people that our heavenly Father is glorious.

When a church forgets that it exists for others and for God, it becomes in-grown and self-satisfied and can go on year after year like a social club with a religious veneer.

What is a Great Church?

Jesus answers: “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:44). If we want to be a great local church we must be a servant church: a church doing good deeds for the people with the greatest needs.
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