Steadfastly

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.  - Acts 2.42

If we are looking for some basic instructions are what a New Testament church should do we don’t have to look very far from the beginning.

The people were saved, they were baptised, and they continued steadfastly in doctrine, in fellowship, in breaking bread, and in prayers. In other words they got saved, they got baptised, and they got busy.

The phrase ‘continued steadfastly’ means that they constantly gave attention to these things. When they got saved the things they paid attention to new things.

  

They gave constant attention to Bible teaching. They didn’t miss a chance to hear the disciples teaching on what it meant to be a Christian. They focused on learning more about the word of God.

They gave constant attention to fellowship with each other. The recognised that they really needed each other to survive in the perverse generation they had been saved from and they spent time is sweet Christian fellowship.

They gave constant attention to breaking bread.  This was not the Lord’s Table, but regularly sharing what little food they had with each other.

They gave constant attention to regular seasons of prayer. They knew right away that they needed to pray and made prayer a vital part of their church life.

But what amazes me is the ‘gave great attention to regularly’ aspect of this. It looks like their faith was the most important aspect of their lives. Going to church and fellowshipping and sharing and praying were first on their list. They weren’t things they just squeezed in when it was convenient.

I think we get that confused sometimes. We let the distractions of the world turn us away from what should be our priorities.

Maybe we need to look at to the beginning and learn a few lessons from those who came before.