Today I was encouraged with the fact that we can continue steadfastly in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles. In the Lord’s recovery, we are being recovered back to the teaching of the apostles (the proper teaching of the New Testament concerning Christ and the church) and the fellowship of the apostles (the fellowship with God the Father and Christ the Son, and also the fellowship in the Body of Christ).
The teaching of the apostles is simply the unveiling of God’s New Testament economy concerning Christ and the church. “And they continued steadfastly in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42) – here’s the footnote on what are these four things the first believers continued steadfastly in:
The first group of believers produced through the apostles’ preaching and ministering of Christ on the day of Pentecost continued steadfastly in four things: teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. Teaching is the unveiling of God’s New Testament economy concerning Christ and the church; fellowship is the communion and communication between the believers in their communion and communication with God the Father and Christ the Son; breaking of bread is the remembrance of the Lord in His accomplishing of God’s full redemption; and prayer is cooperation with the Lord in heaven for the carrying out of God’s New Testament economy on earth. The first two, teaching and fellowship, conjoined by and to be one group, are of the apostles, but breaking of bread and prayers are not, indicating that besides the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, the believers in Christ should not have any other teaching and fellowship. In God’s New Testament economy there is only one category of teaching revealed and recognized by God — the teaching of the apostles — and only one category of fellowship that is of God and is acceptable to Him — the fellowship of the apostles, which is with the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3 and note 3), and which is the unique fellowship of the unique church, the Body of Christ. The last two, the breaking of bread and prayer, also conjoined by and to be another group, are practices of the believers in their Christian life and are not related directly to God’s economy for the keeping of the oneness of the church, the Body of Christ. Hence, they are not of the apostles, who brought in God’s New Testament revelation and His fellowship among all the believers in Christ.
I particularly enjoyed the fact that we need to remain and continue steadfastly in the fellowship of the apostles, which is in the realm of the teaching of the apostles! All the churches around the globe are part of the one recovery of the Lord – there are no boundaries of separation among the churches, and there are no set “regions of work”, nor any such things.
The work does not belong to someone, and the church itself does not belong to someone either – it is the LORD’S recovery, and we are all the Body of Christ where He is the Head! Therefore, we all need to fellowship with one another – fellowship with other saints in other localities, other churches, even other countries and continents!
Just like the blood in the human body taking away all the negative elements and discharging them + adding the fresh new elements of life, so our fellowship with other members of the Body (and not just the local immediate ones) will keep us in a fresh flow of life!
The circulation helps us and helps others – we need the fellowship, the Body of Christ needs the fellowship!
Of course, this doesn’t mean that we just visit other places and have a good time with the saints there, but rather that as we fellowship with one another, we abide and continue steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship! If there’s no teaching, there’s no realm for the fellowship.
We fellowship with one another based on the apostles’ teaching. What a privilege, what a limitation, what a preservation, and what a safeguarding to be in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles! We love blending with other localities and countries, and we continue steadfastly together in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and the prayers!
We pray together; we break bread together (eat and drink together, even take the Lord’s Table together), and we abide in the healthy teaching and fellowship of the apostles.
It is so easy to create/generate special fellowship and special associations, but by remaining and continuing steadfastly in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles, we are being preserved in the unique fellowship of the Body of Christ and we keep the oneness of the Body!
Lord, may we practice this day by day – continuing steadfastly in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers! Thank You for the teaching of the apostles – such a healthy teaching of the New Testament economy of God! Thank You for the fellowship of the apostles which is based on the teaching of the apostles! Lord, we just want to continue steadfastly in these!
