They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Think of this verse as a recipe for faithfulness. All of the things stated in the verse are very important. If you leave out an ingredient when baking something, the end result is not what was desired. These disciples devoted themselves to four necessary activities that spiritually fed them and strengthened their faithfulness. Let's examine each one.
The Apostles' Teaching
The apostles' teaching is something that should be important to you. As recorded in John 14-16, Jesus told the apostles the night before His crucifixion that He must go back to heaven and send the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was to teach them all truth and remind them of all that He had said. When we read what the apostles were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write, we are looking at the truth. Two things convinced the early Christians that what the apostles taught was true: the Old Testaments documents (Acts 17:11) and the miraculous signs that accompanied their message (Mark 16:20; Acts 4:29-30; 5:12-16; 8:6; 1 Peter 2:2; Romans 10:17; 2 Peter 1:3)
Fellowship
The second ingredient in the recipe for faithfulness is fellowship (Acts 2:42). Fellowship comes from the Greek word koinonia, which means "lives interwoven together, interdependent on each other." Christians in the first century were of constant encouragement to one another. The same should be true of Christians today, that we build each other up and spur each other on (Hebrews 10:23-25).
Hebrews 10:23-25
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Believers trusted and encouraged each other every day. They had all things in common, meaning they shared their blessings with one another. Their lives were interdependent and interwoven. This is what helped them remain faithful to the Lord.
Breaking of Bread
The third ingredient in this recipe to faithfulness is breaking of bread (Acts 2:42). This term is used to speak both of common meals and the very special meal that Jesus instituted on the night before His death. The context helps us understand what is being talked about in individual verses.
Jesus knew that we would need a constant reminder of the price of our salvation. He took the bread and wine of the Passover (the Jewish feast reminding the Jews of their release from Egyptian bondage) and made it a memorial feast for His disciples to remember Him.
Matthew 26:26-29
While they were eating, Jesus took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."
1 Corinthians 10:16
Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are the one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
Acts 20:7
On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.
Again we find the Christians meeting on Sunday for the purpose of breaking bread (Lord's Supper). This weekly reminder of Jesus' sacrifice is something that God knew that we would need. This is an important element to our faithfulness.
Prayer
The fourth ingredient in the recipe for faithfulness is prayer (Acts 2:42). The Christians were known as people of prayer. God has opened His throne room and made it accessible to us through Jesus (Hebrews 10:19). Prayer is our communication with God.
Praying for others and knowing others are praying for you is very important to your faithfulness. God wants you to depend on prayer. He says that prayer has great power.
James 5:13-16
Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call on the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Prayer is not coming to God with a long list of our requests and asking Him to agree with us. Rather, prayer is seeking to understand and submit to God's will. Prayer is our expression of dependence on God. He knows what we need even before we ask (Matthew 6:8), yet He still wants us to open our hearts to Him.
When you pray, you need to have this same attitude. God wants you to make your requests known but at the same time to recognize that He knows what you need better than you do. You must surrender to His will (Isaiah 55:8).
When you pray, address your prayers to the Father and express your praise of Him. Surrender your requests to God by asking His will to be done. Praying for daily needs expresses your constant dependence on Him. Forgiveness of your sins is your greatest need, but His forgiveness of you depends on your willingness to forgive others. Depend on God's guidance and strength to overcome temptation. Satan wants you as his disciple.
Conclusion
The Christian life is like a race, not a sprint, but a marathon. Your faithfulness to the end is vital to your eternal destiny. Seeking godly teachers and strong Christian fellowship is crucial; otherwise, you could be deceived and led away from God. The prayers in your life will draw you closer to God as you meditate on what he has done for you while Breaking the Bread.
You find each of these crucial elements of faithfulness during our Sunday Morning time together. The goal is that while we are together we may encourage one another to live a life of faithfulness to our Alimighty God.
