Acts 2: Four Marks of a Healthy Church

Introduction

The school and university year has just begun. Maybe you have just arrived in Paris to study, to look for a job or to start your first position, and you are visiting churches while wondering which one to choose. Maybe you have attended a church for a long time and you are wondering about the health of your community. Or maybe it is the first time you have walked into an evangelical church and you simply wonder: "How does a church work, anyway?"

These are the three questions Yvan, a preacher at Église Connexion, answers at the close of a short series on the first two chapters of the book of Acts. After Pentecost and Peter's speech, three thousand people repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus. Luke then describes the daily life of this very young church in Acts 2:41-47.

Yvan picks out four characteristics: a church devoted to love for others, to the apostles' teaching, to praise and prayer, and a church turned outward. For each one, he asks the same personal question: if I want to keep my church healthy, what must I do?

Outline of the message

1. A young church that grows overnight

In Acts 1:15, before Pentecost, the disciples number about a hundred and twenty. At verse 41 of Acts 2, three thousand people are converted. "I'm a math teacher, I couldn't help myself": Yvan did the calculation and speaks of growth of 2,500%.
Peter was speaking to devout Jews who had come from all around the Mediterranean or from Jerusalem. Accepting Jesus as Messiah and as Lord at that precise moment in history meant going against the political and religious leaders, and against the crowd that had shouted "crucify him" fifty days earlier.
Through baptism, these three thousand tell their families, their communities and their colleagues publicly: "I am a disciple of Jesus now. I no longer have the same hope you have."
Yvan grew up in a Christian family, and his parents were "overjoyed" when he accepted Jesus. But he knows friends who were rejected when they made the same choice, because they came from a Muslim background or an antireligious culture. In some countries, becoming a Christian means losing your job and your status, and it can lead to threats, even a death sentence.

2. A church devoted to love for others

Fellowship is the most present notion in the passage: "the fellowship" (verse 42), "all who believed were together and had all things in common" (verse 44), they shared (verse 45), they acted with one accord (verse 46).
For these three thousand, all that remains is the church and the hope that Jesus will never let them down. The church is their only family. Living out their faith individually, "as our individualistic societies increasingly call us to do," is out of the question.
Accepting Jesus is personal: a parent cannot decide it for their child. But if Jesus becomes your Lord, you become a subject of his kingdom, a citizen who lives alongside fellow citizens. You also become a target of the powers that oppose him. There is no reason to be afraid: by raising Jesus from the dead, God declared him Lord of lords and King of kings, and nothing escapes his authority.
Must we then sell everything and give it all to the church? Along with John Stott, Yvan answers no. Jesus may have called some disciples to leave everything, but he never forbade Christians from owning possessions, and no letter of the apostles commands it.
The story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) confirms this. Peter says to Ananias: "While it remained, didn't it remain your own? After it was sold, wasn't it in your power?" Their sin was not keeping part of the price, but pretending to have given everything.
So Acts 2 is not obedience to an order, still less the manipulation of "certain cult movements." It is the voluntary reaction of Christians filled with the Holy Spirit, for two reasons: the isolation their conversion had put them in, and the putting into practice of Jesus' commandment to love one another (John 15:12).
Not everyone sold their house: others opened theirs almost every day to eat and break bread together (verse 46). Luke comes back to this solidarity at the end of chapter 4 with the example of Joseph, who sells his field.
All of it is lived "with gladness and singleness of heart": with no ulterior motive, without expecting anything in return or any particular recognition. "I think that's a beautiful definition of what it means to love another person."
Last year, in Yvan's community group, someone in financial difficulty shared it as a prayer request. Several members, without consulting each other, organized a collection in the following days. "I was so happy to see that happen."
The conclusion: a healthy church is a caring church, where people are generous with their time, their energy and their money. And if I want to keep it healthy, I must apply this commandment of Jesus myself. Groups of 5 to 15 people, meals after the service, outings, church tasks: "it's up to us to roll up our sleeves" so that everyone feels they belong to this family, especially those for whom following Christ has meant being cut off from their own family.

3. A church devoted to the apostles' teaching

"They continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching" (verse 42). Luke does not say how this teaching was organized, perhaps a kind of Bible school. One thing is certain: it was not limited to one sermon a week.
These new believers were hungry to understand how the Old Testament spoke of the promised Messiah, and to discover Jesus' teaching as passed on by the apostles and everything it implied. This learning was received with seriousness and humility, and confirmed by God, as the wonders of verse 43 show.
Today, the apostles' teaching is found in the New Testament: the Gospels, Acts and the epistles. It gives the keys to reread the Old Testament with Jesus Christ in view.
The math teacher's last calculation: at the rate of one sermon per Sunday on one chapter, it would take five years to cover the New Testament and twenty-three years to cover the whole Bible. The Sunday sermon is not enough.
Hence his advice: study the Bible alone or in a group, with Christian books; start with the Gospels and the New Testament; talk about it with church members; look for a reading partner; join a community group.
A brother pointed out to him that being devoted to the Word is not theoretical knowledge. It shows in action: the brotherly love of the first part is the putting into practice of Jesus' teaching, under the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.
The conclusion: a healthy church is devoted to the Word and to putting it into practice. If I want to keep it healthy, I must persevere in studying the Bible myself and help others study it.

4. A church devoted to praise and prayer

"It may seem obvious to us, but at church, we praise God and Jesus Christ." Songs, readings, declarations of faith, prayers: praise takes many forms.
Luke mentions the breaking of bread twice (verses 42 and 46). It refers to the Lord's Supper, the meal Jesus asked us to share in memory of his death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins, until he returns.
Nothing indicates that it was celebrated only once a week, as in most evangelical churches today. Yvan even believes that the first Christians observed it much more often, perhaps at every meal, as verse 46 suggests. From this, Yvan draws a simple idea: make it a reflex, during a meal, to recall the work of the cross, to talk about the sermon, the passage read during the day or what God has given us to live through. "That could help us, and me first of all, to avoid talking about work or our worries as soon as we step out of the service."
The first Christians also devoted themselves to prayer. Yvan confesses that taking part in prayer meetings is not one of his strengths. Yet it was in prayer that the disciples sought God's will to replace Judas, and in prayer that they waited for the promise of the Holy Spirit.
"Praying is not asking God for what we want him to give us, but tuning in to God to ask him what he wants to give us."
The conclusion: a healthy church prays, praises and remembers Jesus' work on the cross. If I want to keep it healthy, I must get involved in prayer, in praise and in bearing witness to Jesus' work in my life.

5. A church turned outward

The believers do not stay isolated in their homes; they go to the temple, a public place. Not to offer animal sacrifices: they understood that Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. The rest of the book shows that they go there to proclaim Jesus' resurrection.
They have "favor with all the people" (verse 47). Does this contradict the rejection mentioned earlier? Luke does not say how long it lasted; Yvan thinks it was several weeks, perhaps less. The people had just seen the miracle of Pentecost and were not unmoved by these joyful people, filled with the Spirit, who spoke of the wonders of God. The opposition of the religious leaders comes later in the story.
This church is turned outward because the Spirit was given to it to bear witness in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). And it is God who works: "The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved."
These Christians are not seeking performance. They act out of love for one another and love for Jesus, and it is God who makes them effective.
The conclusion: a healthy church proclaims the good news. If I want to keep it healthy, I must talk about the gospel around me as often as God gives me the opportunity: with my friends, my colleagues, my neighbors, on evangelism outings or a mission trip.

6. The health of the church rests on each of its members

One last detail strikes Yvan: in the text, the apostles are the subject of no active verb. The church perseveres in their teaching, Jesus does miracles and signs through them, but they are not the epicenter of the action.
The members gather with one accord and put themselves into action on their own, without waiting to be told what to do. In time, the apostles will appoint elders to guide the church spiritually and deacons to organize community life.
Yvan has just entered, with another brother, a year of observation and training toward the role of elder. This text reassures him: "the health of the church does not rest on the shoulders of the elders. It rests on the work of the Holy Spirit in each of its members, who moves each of us into action."
His closing prayer sums up the call: to persevere in the Word, prayer and praise despite distractions, to receive boldness and zeal for the gospel, and above all to "give up our comfort and our selfishness in order to serve one another."

Key takeaways

A healthy church is a caring church, where people are generous with their time, their energy and their money, with joy and without ulterior motives.
The sharing in Acts 2 was not an order: it was the free response of Spirit-filled believers to Jesus' commandment to love one another.
The Sunday sermon is not enough: persevering in the apostles' teaching means studying the Bible and putting it into practice.
Praise and prayer keep the cross at the center, even in shared meals.
The health of the church rests not on its leaders, but on the work of the Holy Spirit in each of its members.

Personal application

Who in your church may have been cut off from their family by following Christ, and how can you include them in your circle of relationships?
How generous are you toward your brothers and sisters with your time, your energy and your money?
Does your knowledge of the Bible depend only on the Sunday sermon? Who could you read it with this week?
At the next meal shared after the service, how could you steer the conversation back to Jesus and the work of the cross?
Are you waiting to be told what to do in your church, or are you letting the Holy Spirit move you into action?

Verses cited

Frequently asked questions

Do we have to sell everything and give it all to the church, as in Acts 2?

No. Drawing on John Stott's commentary and on the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5), Yvan shows that there was no obligation to sell. The sharing in Acts 2 was the voluntary reaction of believers filled with the Holy Spirit who wanted to help their brothers and sisters. Others simply opened their homes.

What does "the breaking of bread" mean in Acts 2:42?

It refers to the Lord's Supper, the meal of the Lord, which Jesus asked us to share in memory of his death and resurrection until he returns. According to Yvan, nothing indicates that it took place only once a week: verse 46 suggests that the first Christians may have observed it at every meal.

On whom does the health of a church rest?

Not on the shoulders of the elders. In Acts 2:41-47, the apostles are the subject of no active verb: it is the members who gather and put themselves into action on their own. The health of the church rests on the work of the Holy Spirit in each of its members.