42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Acts 2.42
He says we’re going to continue in fellowship. Fellowship means, basically, what we’re doing now, meeting together in the name of Jesus, having fellowship one with another.
In these times, there are tremendous pressures for people not to meet together. The coronavirus has brought that in that there was a time when we
couldn’t physically. We were told we couldn’t meet in the church.
It may be they’re going to try and bring that in again. I don’t know, I hope not.
But you can see there are pressures which are coming upon the world to stop us from meeting together and we know that that is something which is right against the will of God.
God says we should meet together. In the Epistle to the Hebrews 10.22. Paul says,
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10.22-25
‘Let’s not forsake the assembling of ourselves together but exalt one another as you see the Day approaching.’
There’s a power in meeting together in the name of Jesus, there’s a power in having fellowship one with another. There’s a power in sharing our burdens one with another and having the opportunity to also praise God together.
One of the important things in continuing with the Lord is to have times to worship and to praise God giving the honour and the glory that’s due to His name.
There’s a power in praise, a power if we feel down and oppressed. And, when we come together to worship and give thanks to Jesus, to lift up the name of Jesus, He lifts us up to be seated with Him in heavenly places, far above all the principalities and powers of darkness which are around us.
You can be sure that the devil doesn’t want people to meet together. He wants to do what he can to stop them from meeting together and having fellowship one with another.
We see so many reasons why they do that. He may stop us. We think we’re too busy, ‘we haven’t got time’, ‘friends may tell us not to come’, people may ‘fall out and have disputes with people in the fellowship’ and we see that happening even here: people have arguments with each other, and they stop coming. Perhaps they have arguments with me as well and they stop coming.
But these are not a reason to do that.
If you fall out with somebody, then, make up with them. If you disagree with somebody, talk to them and try and work it out. But don’t use that as a reason not to come to have fellowship with one with another. It’s not good.
We see that there are many reasons why people don’t meet together yet there is a power in doing it.
How many people do you need to have to have a Christian meeting?
Actually, two!
Jesus said, where two or three are gathered together in my name I’m there in their midst.
Even if you can’t meet together, find somebody you can meet together with a fellowship with them maybe Husband/wife/child, in the family.
At least, if we meet together and you read the Bible, pray together, have fellowship, we can meet together in the name of Jesus.
I know there are people out there who tune into our services, who say that they can’t find anywhere where they feel comfortable meeting other Christians.
Well, try and find somebody you can meet with and meet together and have a time of fellowship, to read the Word and to pray together.
If you can’t find two people, well, what do you do?
If there’s just one person, you can still meet with the Lord. You can still have time on your own to remember the Lord and give thanks to God.
I remember once I was with the ‘Operation Mobilisation’ (OM), a global evangelistic meeting movement preaching the Gospel all over the world and somebody shared a testimony about how they’d been going through a place in Eastern Turkey, a very remote area almost 100% Muslim and had been preaching the Gospel there encountering virtually total rejection from everybody until they found one man.
This man was the doctor in the town. It turned out he was a Bible-believing Christian and he said, ‘I’m so excited to meet you! Would you please do me the honour to come to my house and join with me as I remember the Lord?’
And he said, ‘every day for the last 15 years or so, I have a time when I remember the Lord. I read the Bible, I give thanks to God for Jesus, I break bread and have fellowship with myself and with the Lord. It would be such an honour if you could come and join with me, and I could break bread and remember the Lord with somebody else who’s a believer in Jesus.’
This just reminds us that, even if we don’t have anybody, we can still have time with the Lord and remember Him and give thanks to Him.
Fellowship with God, fellowship with one another.
Continue in the fellowship with Jesus Christ and in the breaking of bread.
What is breaking bread?
It says breaking bread from house to house.
Breaking bread could just mean having a meal together, but, of course, Jesus gave us a precious significance to the bread and to the wine as a means of remembering Him, remembering Him in His death and resurrection. In Luke 22 verse 19, where the Lord gives instructions to the disciples, it says,
19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
Luke 22.19-20
We remember the Lord every first and third Sunday in this church. So, we’ll be remembering the Lord in the breaking of bread next week. Do come along for that if you able to.
However, what is the point of remembering the Lord in the breaking of bread and in the drinking of the wine?
One of the points is that we have short memories, and we forget.
We must remember what Jesus has done for us. As we remember His death, that He died for us, we remember His body was given for us on the cross, we remember His blood was shed for us to redeem us. And we give thanks in the symbolic bread and the wine to remember what Jesus has done for us.
The central event of our faith is the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The important thing is to continue in the faith, believing that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again from the dead, and to continue in that.
The breaking of bread is part of the remembrance of the Lord, part of our faith part of the commitment that we have made to Jesus Christ and to what He has done for us.