Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He <Jesus> explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.
In Acts 1, Jesus had just ascended into heaven 40 days after His resurrection from the dead. None of the Epistles were written at that time. The issue of the gentiles being part of the Kingdom had not even come up yet.
So, the apostles’ teaching would have been primarily about the prophesies about the Christ/Messiah and as Jesus commanded them to teach in Matthew 28:20, to obey all that Jesus had commanded. And Jesus gave very few commands.
The point I am making is that after the apostles moved on to make more disciples, the local congregation didn’t have that much teaching of the apostles to devote to as far as study; most of that would have been the application of the new commandments that Jesus gave and the explanations that Jesus gave regarding godliness. The encouragement from the book of Hebrews is to move past basic teachings, and get on with works of faith. We need to reject the model of the Sunday Morning Pastor Show, that is all teaching and no planning for action. There is no need to spend a year of Sundays to read one book in the Bible while the assembly sits idly by allowing the enemy Kingdoms free reign around them.
We don’t need to eternally expound on the teaching of the Apostles, we just need to obey what we have been given.
It is difficult for a person in a Western culture to understand the need for community because poor people in Western countries are fat and have cell phones and free healthcare. We don’t depend on one another for survival. In places where people depend on one another (third world countries), sexual promiscuity is condemned because they know the suffering that it brings. There are still social pressures and consequences for doing what God hates. But in Western “churches”, you can divorce your spouse or get an abortion after you get impregnated by the Youth Pastor and still keep coming back to the congregation week after week without repentance or shame. We learn the theory of all that Jesus commanded. Today’s churches are filled with woman who dress like prostitutes but don’t even know it because our culture does the same. If you are trying to look sexy at church, this is terribly wrong for a man or a woman.
This would not happen in an early assembly unless the leaders and members completely failed such as happened in Corinth (1 Corinthians 5:1).
In an assembly where Christ is the head, members of the congregation take initiative to address issues that the leaders of the Assembly ignore and neglect.
“Now they were steadfastly continuing in the teaching of the apostles” To be steadfast in the application of these teachings, we must give up things that waste our time. No matter if it is a sinful addiction, or recreational addiction, we must budget our time to be effective in God’s Kingdom.
Some of the most well studied and doctrinally accurate congregations are just as fruitless as those who don’t study the scripture.
These time wasters are the works of satan: Calvinism vs Arminianism. The people who dogmatically argue these positions are arrogant and wicked men, and you would do good to stay far from them. If they come into your congregation, follow this rule given to the assemblies:
Titus 3:9-11 But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the Law; for they are unprofitable and worthless. Reject a factious man after one and a second admonition, knowing that such a man is corrupt and is sinning, being self-condemned.
We do well to be devoted to the teachings of the Apostles, who passed on the teachings of Jesus, that is sufficient to get to work doing your part in the Kingdom of Heaven, The House of Jesus.
Satan has spread out many distractions and time wasters for the saints to be fruitless: Mark 4:19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
You don’t need to be watching football, posting pictures of your dinner/cat, planning a vacation, playing video games, or watching TV if you are unfruitful in the Kingdom. You need to do some work first before you take a break.
1. Christ is the head of The Assembly
2. The teaching of the apostles
3. Fellowship – Breaking of Bread
4. Prayer
5. Civics in The Kingdom
6. How do I find an assembly?