BE DEVOTED TO GOD'S WORD

The first thing Luke says in Acts 2:42 is the church was devoted to the apostles’ teaching. Consider the meaning of this word, “devoted.” It means “single-eyed.” It carries the idea that there was nothing that could distract them from giving their attention to the teaching of the apostles. They were focused on it. They were committed to it. It filled their minds and their thoughts. These new Christians were so committed to the teaching of the apostles that they had to get to the temple courts as often as possible in order to hear more of it! But that’s not all! They gathered in the evenings in various homes all around the city of Jerusalem and devoted themselves to the understanding and application of that teaching. You can picture these people sitting around and discussing what Peter or James or John had said that day. They asked questions and explained things to one another and helped one another apply it to their lives.

Our lives and our schedules are so different from theirs! We are just so busy with our work and our children and our other activities that we feel good if we can just get a few minutes each day to read some of the Bible. We need to notice something here that I think is rather important. Their devotion to the teaching of the apostles was a corporate or body devotion! It was a group commitment! Reading the Bible was not something they could do because they did not have Bibles. So they listened to the teaching of the apostles together and then discussed it together. Maybe we should be more devoted to reading the Bible together and discussing it together! God has graciously seen to it that the teaching of the apostles would be preserved so we can still have it today! We can receive the same teaching those first Christians received! The church needs to be together in our devotion to God’s word. We need to meet together and learn it, discuss it, explain it to one another, and apply it to our lives together.