What Unity Looks Like
So far, we have seen that division comes from being united around the wrong things in sin, that the solution lies in being united in Christ, and that union with Christ provides the foundation of true unity. This week we are going to look at a case study of what a community of people united in Christ can look like. For this case study we will be going to Acts 2:42–47 where the changes we should expect to see in a community that is united in Christ will become clear.
Before we come to Acts 2:42–47, however, we need to know the passage’s preceding context. Prior to this point in Acts, the Apostle’s had been awaiting the promise of the coming Holy Spirit. When the Spirit does come it results in Peter powerfully preaching the gospel to the crowds gathered in Jerusalem. After his sermon many people are “cut to the heart,” repent, and believe upon Jesus Christ (Acts 2:37). The people who believed were then baptized and, we are told, that there were “about three thousand” of them (Acts 2:41). What we have here then is the earliest Christian community, filled with the Holy Spirit, seeking to live out their new Christian faith in their day to day lives. When we come to Acts 2:42–47 we see how they lived out their new faith in Jesus within the context of the early church, and from this we learn many practical lessons about Christian unity. Acts 2:42-27:
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.
Let us now look at each of these lessons in turn.
1: Unity in Teaching
The first thing we see the new converts united in is the Apostles’ teaching. They do not devote themselves to anyone else’s teaching, they do not devote themselves to the teaching of some blogger, or to the teaching of their favorite public speaker. No, they devote themselves to the Apostles’ teaching. Yet, what is the Apostles’ teaching?
In the context of Acts, the Apostles’ teaching would have quite literally meant the preaching and teaching ministries of the twelve disciples of Jesus: Peter, John, James, etc. As the witnesses of Jesus’s life and work, as the ones selected by Jesus to sit directly under his teaching ministry, and as the ones upon whom Jesus would build the church, they had a privileged position of authority. It was to these men that the early followers of Christ devoted themselves to learning from. However, we are no longer in a position to sit under the preaching ministry of the Apostles. So, where do we find this teaching? We find it in the Bible. In particular, we find it in the New Testament. The Apostles’ teaching is carried forward to us in Scripture.
This means that just as the early Christians were devoted to the Apostles’ teaching, we should be devoted to the Apostles’ teaching in Scripture. We should unite together around the word of God, learn from it, grow in it, and seek to focus on it. We should not allow ourselves to divide with our brothers and sisters in Christ over issues that Scripture is not overtly clear on or over things that Scripture does not directly address. Christian unity means putting these things behind us, for the sake of unity, and coming together around the word of God and the good news of the gospel.
2: Unity in Friendship
The second thing we see the new converts united in, is in their fellowship with one another. We read that they devoted themselves to “the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (2:42). In other words, these new believers are doing life together. They are not strangers who only see each other for a brief moment in the lobby each Sunday. They are intimately involved in one another’s lives. The language of this passage makes this even more clear. When the author says that these people broke bread together, he is saying that they ate meals together, probably in one another’s homes. Likewise, they would pray together. This language, therefore, suggests friendship.
In being united in Christ as believers they were also united together as one body resulting in genuine, real, deep friendships. Friendships that displayed the unity they had through genuine care for one another spiritually and materially. This is why we read that they “had all things in common” and were “distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need” (2:45). Do not overthink this. The picture here is not of one giant money pot and a centralized distribution system. This is simply a picture of Christians caring for the other members of their church—their friends—as needs arose. A few years ago, I worked at a church, where a young man’s car was broken into, and the laptop upon which he was doing all of his schoolwork was stolen. As a result of this the people in his small group came together and bought him a new laptop. That is the picture we get from this passage. Christians caring for other Christians, because they have developed real friendships with one another, as a result of their unity in Christ.
If you find yourself unable to befriend somebody in the church community because of what they think politically, or about the environment, or their views on the age of the earth, or how reformed they are, then perhaps you need to be reminded of your unity in Christ to them. Perhaps you need to be reminded that they are your brother or sister in Christ for whom Christ died. Perhaps you need to be reminded that you are united to them in Christ.
3: Unity on Mission
The final thing about Christian unity that we learn from this passage is that it is attractive. The church in Acts is living in such a way that they are devoted together to learning more about Jesus from the Apostles’, they are developing genuine friendships centered on Christian love, and they are caring for the needs of each other because of their faith in Jesus Christ. They are a church united together around the Gospel, united together in Christ, and this beautiful picture of what the church can be is attractive to people on the outside looking in.
In verse 47 we read that the early church “found favor with all the people.” This early church, because of its obvious unity, looks good to the world around them. Think about it, division, disunity, is something that we all despise. We hate it. Yet, when we are apart from Christ, we can’t help but participate in it. Imagine then, looking in on a community that is united together in love and it shows. Further, imagine a community that not only demonstrates this love towards its own members, but also demonstrates this love to their enemies, to the people that hate them. That would be a very attractive thing. It would draw you in and it would be a community that you would want to be a part of. Well, this is what was happening in this early church. We read that they were adding “to their number day by day” (2:47). People were coming to know Jesus, their community was growing, and we would be foolish to think that the attractiveness of their unity was not a factor in this growth.
Here is my point, if people in Woodland look into our church and see infighting over the same topics that they see other people fighting about in the world, then the church is no more attractive to them than the world. Our lack of unity displays nothing special about the church to the world and destroys our witness. Our desire should be to have “favor with all the people” of Woodland because of the love we demonstrate to each other and to them. Our desire should be for people to see the unity of the Church in a fractured world and whisper to themselves, “I want that.” If we are to be despised as a church let it not be because we failed to live out the gospel in our lives, but let it be because of the good news of gospel itself. Let people despise us for our “bigoted” beliefs, let people despise us for our “outdated” ideas, let people despise us for the “silliness” of the resurrection, but never should we let them despise us for our lack of unity and love for one another.
Conclusion
Over this post we have been looking at the earliest church to see what true Christian unity looks like. What we saw was that unity in Christ displays itself in unity around the apostles’ teaching which we now find in the Bible. That Christian unity displays itself in genuine friendships, love, and care for one another. And that Christian unity provides a powerful witness to the world of the power of the gospel. This is, no doubt, a year that could be full of disunity in the church. With an election coming up we could be tempted to divide ourselves up over red and blue. However, we need to recognize that no matter what we might think politically, our first allegiance is to Jesus Christ, that we as a body of believers are united together in him, and that it is our Christian duty to love one another as Christ himself loved us. When we do this, we demonstrate a powerful alternative to the division so clearly seen in the world around us.
Therefore, let Life Pointe be an example to the world of unity, let people see our unity and ask, “how is this possible?”, and then share the good news of Jesus Christ with them. Let us demonstrate to the world that Jesus can unite us, even when we might not agree on everything. That in Christ we can love one another and care for one another no matter who we vote for. Let us be united as the early church was united so that “awe” may come upon every soul as they look in on our community.