What We Can Learn from Acts 2

As I was preparing my sermon this week on Acts 2:42-47, I was struck by something I’ve read countless times but saw with fresh eyes. The early church wasn’t just meeting together, they were being together. There’s a profound difference that I think many of us have lost sight of in our modern church experience.

Being Together vs. Meeting Together

In Acts 2:44, Luke writes that “all who believed were together.” The distinction here is subtle but crucial. He doesn’t merely say they “met together” or “came together”, though they certainly did both of those things. He says they “were together.” This isn’t describing an activity but a state of being.

These early Christians were fundamentally interconnected in a way that transformed their individual identities into a collective one. As one theologian put it, “they were each other.” Their unity wasn’t occasional or programmatic, it was essential to who they were.

I see this in stark contrast to many of our church experiences today. We’ve largely reduced community to attendance. We come, we sit, we leave, often without forming meaningful connections. The sermon ends, and we rush to our cars to beat the traffic. We’ve mastered the art of being in proximity without being in community.

The early church couldn’t get enough of each other. They gathered daily in the temple, then continued in homes, creating any excuse to be together. Regular life seemed like an interruption to their spiritual fellowship rather than the other way around.

Transcending Differences

What makes this community even more remarkable is who comprised it. The crowd at Pentecost wasn’t homogeneous, it was extraordinarily diverse. Luke tells us there were “Jews from every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5), representing different languages, cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds, and likely political viewpoints.

This challenges our common excuse that people naturally gravitate toward those who are similar to them. The Spirit-filled community didn’t form because they were all extroverts who enjoyed socializing. It formed despite their differences because the Gospel created a bond stronger than any natural affinity.

I’ve been encouraged to see glimpses of this in our own church. When friends come to visit and preach, they often comment on how much you all genuinely love each other. They’re surprised to see people arriving early just to talk, and staying late after the service ends. They tell me, “Your people come and they just seem to like each other.” That’s unusual in their experience of visiting churches, where people often rush in and out as quickly as possible.

In our fractured society, imagine what it would look like if more churches became places where racial, political, and socioeconomic divisions were transcended by spiritual unity. Not by ignoring differences or demanding uniformity, but by finding a deeper connection in Christ that makes other distinctions secondary.

The Four Essential Practices

The early church engaged in four consistent practices whenever they gathered:

1. They studied the apostles’ teaching – Learning was central to their gatherings. They were always growing in their knowledge of the gospel and of God.
2. They fellowshipped – And this required work! Just like ingredients on a counter don’t automatically become cookies without being worked together, people with the Holy Spirit don’t automatically create fellowship without intentional effort.
3. They broke bread together – They shared meals in the Jewish tradition, creating space for relationship-building across dinner tables. This wasn’t just the Lord’s Supper (though that was certainly important), but regular meals in homes where they “received their food with glad and generous hearts.”
4. They prayed together – Not just individually but collectively, bringing their needs before God and interceding for one another.

These weren’t occasional activities or special programs. They were the consistent, non-negotiable elements of their gatherings, whether in large assemblies or small household meetings.

The Results of True Community

What happened as a result of this authentic community? Two things stand out.

First, radical generosity emerged. The believers shared their possessions so that no one had unmet needs. This wasn’t a formal socialist program but a natural outgrowth of their interconnectedness. When you truly see others as part of yourself, their needs become your concerns.

Second, consistent growth occurred. Daily, more people joined their ranks. Why? Because “they had favor with all the people” (Acts 2:47). Their community was so attractive that outsiders wanted to be part of it.

How often do we get this backward in modern churches? We focus on growth strategies and evangelistic programs while neglecting the foundational community that makes the church genuinely attractive. Acts teaches us that healthy Biblical community naturally leads to growth.

An Invitation to Something Deeper

I’ve seen how a healthy church community can transform lives. Many of you have shared your stories with me:

• Mark and Cathy told me how their small group rallied around them during financial hardship and after Hurricane Helene devastated their property.
• June shared how having a community of friends helped make life’s burdens lighter during her mother’s illness and passing.
• Laura  described how having friends to do life with has been her greatest blessing, especially during losses she and Sammy have endured.
• Debbie explained she’s “not the same person” she was before our church, and that her community group has become truly her family.

Perhaps most poignantly, Lynn shared how she and her late husband David found our church to be their “saving grace” after moving here four years ago. Though David had never attended church before, he experienced such transformation through our community that when he later developed cancer, they felt God had placed him “in the right place until his final days.”

What would it look like if we continued to deepen this vision of Biblical community? If we moved beyond just attending church to being the church together? If we couldn’t wait to gather, couldn’t get enough of each other’s company, and found our differences overshadowed by our unity in Christ?

The early church wasn’t perfect, but it gives us a model worth aspiring to—a community so vibrant that it couldn’t help but grow, so generous that no one went without, and so transformative that it changed individual lives and eventually the world.

That’s the power of being together, not just meeting together.

What aspects of this biblical community have you experienced in our church? I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below or share them with me when we gather this Sunday.