And They Devoted Themselves…

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42-47 ESV

“And they devoted themselves.” Four words that have so much meaning. Say it again, slower. Soak up each word.

“Continuously devoted” comes from the single Greek word, proskartereo (G4342 in Strong’s Concordance), which means:

1. to adhere to one, be his adherent, to be devoted or constant to one.
2. to be steadfastly attentive unto, to give unremitting care to a thing.
3. to continue all the time in a place.
4. to preserve and not to faint.
5. to show one’s self courageous for.
6. to be in constant readiness for one, wait on constantly.

They devoted themselves to the Lord

This is vital to anyone’s walk with the Lord. To be continuously devoted to the Lord and His ministry. When we look at certain scripture that contains this word, we can get a picture of how we as Christians in certain roles are to operate in the framework that the Lord gave us by examining who is devoting what and the purpose or object of that devotion.

In the verses above we see the common people devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and prayer. In verse 26, day by day they devoted themselves to attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. So, in essence, the common people devoted themselves to God’s Word, and prayer.

We also see the Apostles in Acts 6:4 devote themselves to prayer and ministry of the Word. The early church grew leaps and bounds and with increased people come increased problems and needs. One such problem was the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because they felt as though their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of goods and food. The apostles agreed that because of their busyness that people have been neglected not on purpose. So, they told the people to pick out from among them seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom to manage the distribution so that the apostles can concentrate on preaching the Word of God.

It’s important to note that we see the apostles devoting themselves to a higher cause and purpose and to give others position to manage lesser ones.

They devoted themselves to each other

Not only did they devote themselves to the Lord, but also devoted themselves to each other through breaking bread, sharing their possessions with each other, and spending quality time with each other in the Lord. No one lacked anything, and since they had all things in common with each other, that common thread was the Lord. They loved one another, sacrificed for each other, and therefore were individual parts of a whole body, who’s head was Christ. They continued in the same mind. They were like-minded disciples of Christ with the same goals and desires: witnessing to others about the Lord Jesus Christ. That was not only their focus, it was their everything.

They devoted THEMSELVES

The point of this post is to show that they devoted themselves. No one had to chase them down, get on them to study, call to see how well they are doing, drag them out to go witnessing, or get together for prayer. They did it on their own. The teachers didn’t have to beg, plead, cry, whine, start a sign-up sheet, or form a committee. They devoted themselves. They just did it. They wanted to do it and put in the work. Jesus didn’t chase anyone down, the apostles never had too either, and neither should we. Jesus went further and gave his disciples the option to leave, and they chose not to (John 6:66-67).

If you have to chase people down, win them with things other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Creator and Sustainer of all, then who or what are you really promoting? Imagine telling someone that they could have the Spirit of the Living God residing inside them, and they say, “Is that it? What else do I get? But that’s exactly what we do as churches. If we have to win them with something other than Christ, we have to keep them with things other than Christ. If Christ is not sufficient, what more can we do? That’s why we have these ridiculous attempts to win the lost by dropping plastic eggs out of helicopters, special dinners, a concert every Sunday morning, meals that will not satisfy. Each and every week you’ll have to do better than that when they could have the Spirit of God living within them, free of charge. It really is that dumb.

CONTINUOUSLY devoted

There are certain things that we as humans need to do on a continuous basis. Some of which are breathing, eating, showering, brushing your teeth, shaving: all of which are important and many more. But what if we did these things only once that we were meant to do continuously? Our world, and our health, would entirely fall apart very quickly.

But this is the excuse I hear about reading the Bible, evangelism, and other things that God requires us to do continuously. “But I read it once. How many times do I have to read it?” “I shared the gospel with my neighbor. Isn’t that enough?”

The disciples and those in the first century church were continuously devoted. They didn’t stop serving, loving, growing, and sacrificing for each other. They continuously devoted themselves to God’s Word, prayer, giving, and many other things.

Are you continuously devoted?