Acts 2:42 Amplified Bible (AMP)
42 They were continually and faithfully devoting themselves to the instruction of the apostles, and to fellowship, to [a]eating meals together and to prayers.
This week we are looking at the early church and gaining an understanding of what they were devoted to and why the Lord added daily to their number. We have seen that they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching meaning they were students of the word. They also devoted themselves to fellowship one with another, they shared things in common; they loved and accepted each other. They also devoted themselves to eating together.
There is something powerful about eating together. You never see people getting together with their enemies to share a meal. One of the most powerful times to connect as a family is at the dinner table. That is where we share a meal and also share life. The early church was deliberate and devoted to sharing meals together. They understood that they were now part of a family. I believe the conversations that came out of those meals were both enriching and life changing.
It’s amazing that when you study the ministry of Jesus you will discover that He loved eating with people and He did a lot of teaching around meals. Whether it is feeding the 5000 and the 4000, or eating at Zachaeus house or eating with tax collectors and even after He resurrected, those He walked with on the road to Emmaus recognized that it was Him when He broke the bread as they were having a meal. When Peter and others had opted to go back to fishing and caught nothing, He met them at the shore and prepared a meal for them. The last supper was a meal.
A Jewish friend of mine once invited me to share the Passover meal with his family and this is basically what we call communion in church today. It was a full meal that went on for about 3 hours and it was filled with explanations and bible reading bringing clarity as to why we were eating what we ate and why we were to remember what we were being told. It was nothing compared to what we have in church today which sometimes can be dry losing meaning.
Where true fellowship is experienced then meals will be shared and even the Lords table will be shared. Notice, they devoted themselves to this things. It was their everyday kind of life and not something they did once every three months.
How I pray that we will rediscover the power of truly breaking bread together.
