Small Church Dunamis

Acts 2:40-47

With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The beginning of the Church of Jesus starts right here in Act 2. In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells the disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." The word “power” is the Greek word “dunamis”. It means power, strength, ability. The power to do more than they think they can. The strength to carry on even under extreme pressure and persecution. The ability to do things that they didn’t think they could do. The beginning of the Church begins the day that the Holy Spirit comes down upon them. Notice, they were together, sharing meals, talking about things, even the gospel message and probably praising God and asking for His leading – all the things the Church might do. So why aren’t they considered a Church until Pentecost? Because they were still missing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Church is not a bunch of people getting together doing things that look like Church – the Church is people getting together doing things that look like Church in the Power of the Holy Spirit.

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes down upon the disciples and they went out into the streets and evangelized to those in the city. On that day, 3000 people came to salvation. The same people who were afraid to go out, who feared the Jewish leaders, who hid away to save their lives, now go out and make more noise than a band, are more noticeable than a parade. They go out into the streets preaching the gospel message. What happened? They were transformed by the Power of the Holy Spirit. They had now gone from being individuals who know God to being the Church of Jesus Christ. Once that day passed, they couldn’t just go on with their lives the way they had before they were saved, before they were filled with the Spirit. So, as Jesus had already explained, they became the Church.

This passage in Acts tells us what these first church members did for their worship services. There were four specific things mentioned: teaching, fellowship, worship and evangelism.

We see in v40-41 that once the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they went out and preached the gospel to those who would listen. Though there were many who thought they were drunk or these days people might think that we’re weak or simple-minded or deluded, the disciples went out in Dunamis to preach the gospel message. Today, we are filled with the Holy Spirit when we become truly saved and accept the free gift of grace from God to save us from our sins. Since that is true, we are also filled with the same Dunamis that the disciples received in the upper room that day. We also can go out and speak in power the truth of the gospel. On that day, there was the miracle of speaking in tongues. However, just that fact didn’t convert people to the truth. In fact, where it made some wonder, it made others think that they were drunk. Those who do not want to believe will rationalize God’s work in whatever way they can so that they can continue to stay the way they are and not have to change. But anyone with an open mind and open heart will be able to find God’s truth if they are honest with the answers they find. On that day, 3000 people were open and honest and found the truth of the gospel message.

The next thing we see is that the church was taught the Word of God. Today, we would say that they were learning the Bible, but at that time, there was no Bible and so the apostles taught the people what Jesus taught them. Today, if we are to be an Acts 2 church, we need to always stay in the Bible, always teaching the truth – not what tickling ears want to hear, but what God tells us through His word. Notice, they didn’t just listen to the apostles – they devoted themselves. If you’ve ever devoted yourself to anything, you can get an idea of what they did. Being devoted to something or someone means you give up your own preferences and comforts to ensure that you do what you need to do for that which you are devoted. If you are devoted to becoming a track star, you run everyday for hours, giving up you friends, hobbies, everything. If you are devoted to your girlfriend or boyfriend, you give up all your other friends, your free time, your own ambitions to please them. Here, we see the first church was devoted to the teaching of the apostles. This means that it was the most important thing they could do. They would give up their free time, their friends and families, their work, so that they could get into the Word. How devoted are we to the Word? It’s so easy for us to read the Bible, unlike the first church that had no Bible and had to depend on listening to the apostles voice, or the churches in persecuted nations where the Bible is banned and people live on a few pages of a Bible which is broken into pages and shared among the church members so that everyone can have at least some part of the Bible to read and learn. Do we take our Bible for granted, knowing it’s right there all the time and I can read it later if I want? We need to have the same passion for the Word as the first church did – we need to be in the Word and make it part of ourselves, make it the most important part of our day. We need to be devoted to the Bible.

After this, we see that they fellowshipped. The Greek word used here is Koinonia. It means fellowship, communion, community. It means a closeness of a group of people based upon the love they have for each other, which comes from the love they have with God. Koinonia comes by the miraculous. It is people loving each other even though they have major differences. It is people loving each other even though they do not agree. It isn’t loving everyone, it’s loving each other. This is one of those “church” things and it is why often people feel a church is too cliquey. It isn’t that the church is a clique, but that it may be experiencing koinonia (though I hesitate to say that this is always why a church may seem to be too self-loving!). Henry Blackaby says, “Koinonia is not an option for a believer. Koinonia is not optional for a church…Broken fellowship with a brother or sister in Christ indicates a broken fellowship with God.” The first church spoke different languages, came from different places and yet, they fellowshipped every day. We may not be able to fellowship every day, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t be in koinonia. You can be close to you sister though you don’t see her every day. You could be close to an old friend though you don’t see them every day. You can be close to a parent though you don’t see them every day. Daily physical proximity isn’t the number one requirement for koinonia. But we must have this loving community where we care for each other, pray for each other, forgive each other and love each other every day. This is true koinonia. Without this, then the church is just a bunch of people coming together once a week to learn and sing. This is not the church that Jesus built and it is not the way the first church was built.

The final trait of the first church was that they worshipped. Breaking of bread and prayer is talking about communion and prayer. It isn’t an accident that we do communion every week followed by prayer. This is the way that the first church grew closer to the God that they learned about from the apostles and the God who allowed them to love one another in spite of the differences they had. When they remember the wok of Jesus on the cross and they recognize what he did for them, their desire was to come and bow before him or to raise up holy hands and praise him. In any case, by remembering Jesus every time they came together and praying every time they came together, they ensured that they would build their relationship with God. Today, we do these things as well as other ways of worshipping Him: we share testimonials of what God has done for us the previous week, we share our prayers and concerns with each other and God, we sing praises to Him. True Holy Spirit worship brings us into a deeper relationship with God and is pleasing to Him.

So in our attempt to be an Acts 2 church, we need to make sure that we are basing every thing we do on these same foundations as the first church. We need to reach out to others who don’t know Jesus, we need to teach and preach the Word, we need to fellowship together and we need to be in worship when we come together. These things will allow us to be the church God is calling us to be. Notice what God did with the first church – he saved thousands and added to their number daily.

But we’re just a small church. What can God do with us? He can’t bring thousands to salvation through us, can He? Yes! He can! We just need to be faithful! God is looking to use the small churches all the time to do His work.

• He knows that people can get lost in large churches and never find that sense of koinonia. He depends on the small church to be the place where koinonia can be found.
• He knows that in large churches, all the ministries are based on demographics. If you’re a man, there’s the mens group. If you’re a woman, there’s the womans group. If you’re a youth, there’s the youth group. If you’re a car mechanic, there’s a small group for you. Or a biker. Or a doctor. God depends on the small church to break through those barriers and have us all work and play together. Here, people can find intergenerational groups, interracial groups, men and women together. True koinonia.
• He knows that in the small church, people have an opportunity to use their gifts that would not have in a large church. What’s your gift? Whatever it is, the small church is waiting for you to use it. God knows what your gift is and He is waiting for you to step out and use it at The Ark. So am I…
• He knows that some or many of you will have opportunities to grow in the small church that would not be possible in a large church. You can find yourself in a leadership role simply because you are best suited, not because you have experience. Only in a small church can that happen.
• He knows that a small church can have a special impact on the community. A large church has so many committees and rules and regulations that it needs to follow that some projects can never get off the ground. In a small church, if someone feels God is leading them to do something in the community, then it is very simple to start that work and to get others to help. A small church making an impact in a community can result in positive responses from the community and this is the exact kind of witness that Jesus has called us to be.

We are the small church that God is trying to use on Long Island. If we want to impact this place for God, we absolutely can because God is waiting for us to be what He has planned since the beginning of time. For our part, we need to go out in Dunamis, recognizing where God is calling us to be and doing the work he is calling us to do. Those things are to go out and spread the gospel message, teach and preach the Word of God, be in true koinonia with each other and with God, and worship Him whenever we are together.

Let’s be an Acts 2 church. Let’s go out into the world and make a difference. Let’s start right now.

Send mail to david@TheArkNY.org with questions about the church or comments about this site.
Last modified: May 24, 2009