Birthmarks of the Church: Stories from the Book of Acts
11/06/2005 - Devotion to the Breaking of Bread
Africans, like Americans, love to eat. And in West Africa they enjoy spicy foods like groundnut soup and yam fu fu, plantain fritters and dried crayfish. They love to make stews and mix all kinds of stuff together in one big pot. But their favorite dish is chicken and rice. They love to eat chicken yassa and jollof rice.
During our first week in Nigeria we had chicken and rice for lunch on Tuesday and chicken and rice for lunch on Wednesday and rice and chicken for lunch on Thursday and guess what we had for lunch on Friday? Not hamburgers! And the menu didn't change a whole lot during our time in Liberia.
In fact, it didn't take long before I couldn't wait to get back to our hotel room at night and pull out my very own jar of Skippy peanut butter that I had smuggled in from the United States and enjoy a balanced meal of peanut butter along, crackers, and strips of beef jerky that Eric had brought from home. We were living large!
Africans eat chicken and rice like Americans eat hamburgers and French fries. But unlike Americans, Africans like to take their time when they eat. Eating a meal together in Africa is a social event. They don't understand the concept of "fast food." Nothing's fast when it comes to food in Africa. It takes time to gather the food and then to prepare the food and finally to eat the food. Eating together is a social event.
Food was always meant to bring people together. Food and fellowship, food and community go hand in hand. You know that, especially if you grew up in a Baptist church where pot luck suppers were as important as worship!
Food brings people together. Not many people like to eat alone. Since my father died back in April, dinner time has become one of the loneliest times of the day for my mother. It's about all she can do to make a bowl of soup for herself. Those of you who are single know how lonely it feels to eat by yourself day after day.
I can remember when I was in seminary. The loneliest day of the week was Sunday, because the cafeteria in our dorm was closed on Sunday. And everybody kind of went their own way. And there were many Sundays when I found myself in a restaurant somewhere eating alone.
It's tough to eat alone. Food was meant to bring people together. The early church shared meals together. The Bible says they were devoted to the breaking of bread.
This morning we continue our series in the book of Acts called Birthmarks of the Church. Together in this series we're learning what's at the core of the church that Jesus died to create. What are the non-negotiables for God's people? What should we be devoted to at Valley View Community Church? Where should we be investing our time and energy? What are the practices that will transform our lives and make a difference in this world for Jesus Christ?
We started the series by looking at the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the first birthmark of the church. Jesus wouldn't allow his church to start until he sent the Holy Spirit. We need his presence. We need his power operating in our lives. "Without him," Jesus said, "we can do nothing."
And the Holy Spirit arrived on the Day of Pentecost described in Acts 2. That was the baptism of the Holy Spirit and from that day on every one of Christ's followers is baptized by the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit places us into the body of Christ.
Every believer is baptized by the Holy Spirit, but not every believer is filled with the Holy Spirit. Throughout the book of Acts we read this phrase "filled with the Holy Spirit or full of the Holy Spirit." And some believers appear to be filled with the Holy Spirit at certain times while others do not. To be filled with the Spirit means to be controlled by the Spirit. And the evidence of that control is found in the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
The gift of the Holy Spirit is the first birthmark of the church. The second birthmark of the church is a passion for Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the rock on which the church is built. And followers of Jesus, like Stephen and others recorded in the book of Acts, gave up their very lives gladly convinced of the truth that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
Or as Peter put it in Acts 4:12, Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.
The third birthmark of the church is a devotion to the apostle's teaching. And what did the apostle's teach? They taught about Jesus. They taught that Jesus was the Messiah promised in the Hebrew Scriptures. And as eyewitness they taught that Jesus was the one who died on the cross for our sins, in our place, to satisfy the justice of a holy God who must punish sin and he rose again from the dead so that all those who believe in him can enjoy eternal, abundant life.
Now this morning we look at a fourth birthmark of the church. And it is a devotion to the breaking of bread. Look at Acts 2:42, They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship (or to the community which we'll look at next week), to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
When I first read that phrase, the breaking of bread, I thought to myself, "What in the world does that mean? What am I going to say about this? The early church loved to eat? So do we. Nothing's changed about that!" What does it mean that they were devoted to the breaking of bread? That seems like an odd thing to be devoted to.
Especially when we understand what the word "devoted" means. The word "devoted" is one of Luke's favorite words. He uses it in Acts 1:14 to say they were devoted to praying together in the Upper Room while they waited for the Holy Spirit. He uses it here in Acts 2:42 and again in Acts 2:46 to say they were devoted to meeting together in the temple courts.
The first church was marked by devotion. They were passionate about some things. In Greek the word "devoted" means to continue steadfastly, to stick with something, to persevere in, to be faithful too. The birthmarks of the church that we're talking about in this series are the things that the early church was devoted to. And one of those things was the breaking of bread.
So what does it mean that they broke bread together? I think it means two things. First, it simply means that they ate together. They shared meals together in their homes. Look at Acts 2:46, They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.
The early church loved to hang together and meal times gave them an opportunity to do that. Hospitality was a huge value in the early church. They didn't have church buildings like we do today. In fact, the church met in homes for the first 300 years of its existence. And when they met they often enjoyed a meal together because it brought them face to face.
Making time to eat together can be a real challenge, especially for families in America today. This week I read an article that referenced a survey that was taken in a school of upper-middle-class American children. The survey asked how many times per month each child sat down to an evening meal with the family. The average answer was once. One time a month the family broke bread together.
Actually, I wasn't too surprised by that statistic because I know how hard it can be in our family to gather around the dinner table. It's a real challenge with work schedules and part-time jobs and school activities and practices and games. And as the children get older it gets harder. And yet the benefits of family meals are well documented ... better communication, better nutrition, better school performance, better social adjustment.
Breaking bread together is an important part of community life, whether it's in a family or in a church. One of the reasons the Alpha Course has become a worldwide phenomenon in bringing people to Jesus is because of the meal that's offered week after week after week. Breaking bread together is such a vital part of the Alpha experience. Every evening for ten weeks you sit around a dinner table and enjoy homemade lasagna or a chicken casserole and talk and laugh and build community with the folks who are taking the course. In fact, at the end of the ten weeks you get nervous and wonder, "What am I going to do for dinner on Tuesday nights when Alpha's over!"
This past Wednesday night we had a bunch of people in our home for "What We're All About." And at the end of the evening, about 9:00, Jennifer brought out the food and people just hung out around the refreshment table till 9:30, 9:45, 10:00, 10:15 p.m. Finally, I went up to bed and said, "Turn the light out when you're done!" Food brings people together and keeps them together longer and that's so important for community life.
For centuries food defined who God's people could hang out with. In Leviticus 11, God gave Israel a menu and said these are the entrees you're allowed to eat and these are the entrees you're to avoid. You can eat animals that have a divided hoof and that chew the cud. Cows were okay, but pigs weren't because pigs, even though they have a divided hoof, don't chew the cud. And you can eat fish that have fins and scales. Flounder and salmon work, but forget about lobster and crab and oysters and any other kind of shellfish.
The menu God gave his people restricted their diet and that limited the community that they could have with the surrounding nations. They couldn't eat with Gentiles. They couldn't fellowship with them. And back then that was God's way of protecting and sanctifying his people. In fact, the phrase that sums up Leviticus 11 is be holy, because I am holy.
But all that changes in the book of Acts when Peter has his vision in Acts 10 of a sheet being lowered down from heaven with all kinds of animals, clean and unclean, and God says, "Kill and eat. Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
And Peter is horrified at first. He says, "No way, Lord! I've never eaten anything impure or unclean." But three times God drops the sheet until he finally realizes that God is doing a new thing.
In the vision, God is saying I want Gentiles to now be included as my people. The church is open to all. We are all one in Christ Jesus. No longer do you need to eat from a different menu. No longer do you need to keep your distance. I want you to enjoy community with those you once called pagans. They are part of the church. And lifting of the dietary laws opened the door for community for the first time between Jew and Gentile in the body of Christ. The breaking of bread, eating together, is an important part of a strong community which is why the early church was devoted to it.
But there's another significance to the breaking of bread. Not only does it mean that they ate together, but it also means that they remembered the Lord together in the way that he instructed at the Lord's Table. In fact, it's very possible that at the end of every meal they remembered the Lord through the bread and the cup.
In Acts 20:7 we read, On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Many scholars believe that this is an indication that the early church gathered on Sundays for worship, not on Saturdays as the Jews did, to celebrate the resurrection which occurred on a Sunday and to observe the Lord's Table.
We know from the book of 1 Corinthians that the Lord's Table was often part of a major meal known as a love feast. And during the love feast the church would gather together and pool their resources for a major pot luck supper that would end up with a precious time around the Lord's Table. The meal and the Lord's Table were all meant to emphasize the oneness, the unity we share with Christ and each other.
The night before Jesus died he took bread and after he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this to remember me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, to remember me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
The early church was devoted to the breaking of bread, to remembering the Lord's death until he comes. And we're devoted to the breaking of bread here at Valley View and remembering the Lord's death until he comes. The Lord's Table is always a special time for us to reflect who how much God loves us and the price Jesus paid to give us abundant, eternal life.
I love the encounter that Jesus had around the table with two men that he met on the road to Emmaus on the day of his resurrection. Luke puts it this way in Luke 24:30-31, When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.
They broke bread with Jesus on that first Easter Sunday and then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.
There's something mysterious that happens at the Lord's Table. You can't explain it. There's often a deep sense of joy and peace and gratitude that wells up inside our soul when we celebrate the table. Often our eyes are opened to see and appreciate Jesus in ways that we haven't seen him or appreciated him in awhile or even ever at all. There's something about getting out of our seat and joining a line of people who are all coming to the table to remember Jesus that just moves us. There's something very special, very sacred about sitting in our seat with the bread and the cup in our hands worshipping Jesus for who he is and for what he's done.
Breaking bread together at the Lord's Table is a birthmark of the church. It's a non-negotiable among God's people because Jesus said that's how I want to be remembered. So now we see why the early church was devoted to the breaking of bread and why we will be devoted to it too. So let's get ready to come to the table.