A Charge to the Church

A Sermon on Acts 2:42

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Scripture

Acts 2:42 ESV KJV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (ESV)

Sermon Description

In this sermon on Acts 2:42 titled “A Charge to the Church”, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones shows what the church is, why it exists, and why it is important. One of the primary reasons that a church exists is for the preaching of God’s word. Teaching directly from Acts 2:42, he points out that the early church “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Many churches today gather in ways to increase the entertainment value for the congregation. While Christian fellowship in a church is an extremely vital part of a Christian’s walk, this must not outweigh and overshadow the necessity of going to church to worship with other believers and to hear God’s word preached. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says that one of the great characteristics of the early church was that they were always meeting, but while the early church did gather for fellowship, Dr. Lloyd-Jones points out that Acts 2:42 clearly states that they were primarily concerned with worship and hearing God’s word. Why else does a church exist? A church, or gathering of believers, is a community where the gospel can be lived out and lost people can be introduced to it. Thus, churches serve incredibly important roles as lights to the world. Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones expounds on these points and shows how a church can be used to further God’s kingdom.

Sermon Breakdown

The church came into being as a result of the preaching of the apostles on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit empowered their preaching and brought conviction to the hearers.
The church is made up of people who have been born again, who have repented of their sins and believed in Jesus Christ. They have undergone a profound change.
The early church met together constantly - daily. They were eager to be together. This shows the change that had taken place in them.
The church does not exist for entertainment or social activities but to focus on the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer.
Teaching and doctrine must come before fellowship. Teaching is what brought the church into being and continues to feed it. It is the only way to know truth from error. It is the only way to help others.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. He inspired the Scriptures and leads us into truth through them.
The church met for fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. All of these flow out of the truth.
The early Christians were filled with joy, gladness and praise. This is essential for the church to make an impact on the world.
The reason most people are outside the church is because of the state of those inside the church. We must be joyful, Spirit-filled believers to attract others.
We need to pray for ministers of the Word and for persecuted Christians around the world.

Itinerant Preaching

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.