Formed in Covenant Community

June 07, 2026|Formed in Covenant Community|Acts 2:42-47

JD Cutler

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A couple of weeks ago, we began a Summer series entitled Sent:Learning disciple-making from Acts.

We began by looking at the first 11 verses of chapter 1 under the heading of Spirit-Empowered Witness which sought to answer the questions…

How is Jesus going to continue his disciple making ministry post ascension? and

How does the church engage in that mission?

We laid a foundation for understanding that disciple-making is not merely a ministry of the church—it is the mission of every believer. We saw that Christ accomplishes that mission through Spirit-empowered people who live as faithful witnesses and actively obey their Lord.

Jesus gave us the mission: Make disciples.

Jesus gave us the strategy: From Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

Jesus gave us the pattern: Baptize believers and teach them to obey.

Jesus gave us the power: The Holy Spirit.

But that still leaves a practical question:

How are disciples actually formed?

How does Jesus form disciples through his church?

Many of you know that for the last couple of years I have been helping other churches through the SBTC tool called Regenesis, which is designed to help churches rediscover their disciple-making mandate and then figure out how their particular church is going to be faithful to that mandate. Not surprisingly, many of the churches we engage with are looking for some silver bullet. Some program that will magically produce disciples. Through the eight months of meeting together as a cohort, you can see the slow realization that to make disciples who make disciples…

We don’t necessarily need more programs…

We don’t necessarily need the perfect curriculum, environment, etc…

The pastor and members begin to realize that disciple making according to scripture is the slow formation of maturity in believers in the ordinary rhythms of the gathered church.

The surprising answer is that God has already shown us how disciples are made. We don't need to invent a better model; we simply need to faithfully recover and practice the one He has given us. We need faithfulness more than creativity.

The reality is that disciples are not primarily formed in classrooms, conferences, or programs. They are formed in covenant community as God's people gather around His Word, worship together, pray together, serve one another, and follow Christ together.

Here is the takeaway for us this morning, disciples are formed in covenant community.

Many of you know what I mean, but for those who may not, when I say covenant community, I don't simply mean people who attend the same church. I mean a people who have been joined together by Christ, committed to one another in love, and devoted to helping one another follow Him.

Which, consequently is exactly what we see shortly after the baptism of the Spirit when the church begins its disciple making commission. Let’s look at a few verses where Luke summarizes the early churches formation of disciples.

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

The first thing we see is that the early church’s discipleship efforts were…

I. ROOTED IN RIGHT DOCTRINE

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching..."

One of the key phrases we need to understand is the word devoted themselves.

Although it is written in the simple past tense in English, Luke is saying much more than this. This was not a one time decision. The word he uses is the present active tense. Something like they were continually devoting themselves.

Discipleship is an ongoing process that we devote ourselves to.

When you think of being devoted to something, what comes to mind? Maybe devotion to your spouse, maybe devotion to your team. Devotion means being deeply committed to a person, cause, or activity, often to the point of prioritizing it above other things.

Devotion is not casual, but continual.

The first thing Luke tells us they were devoted to forms the foundation of everything else described in the passage.

The were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching. If you have a KJV or a NKJV you will see they used the word doctrine here.

I think that is a better translation than teaching because Luke isn't primarily emphasizing the act of teaching, but the content of what was taught. The apostles were delivering a body of truth about Christ that the church continually devoted itself to.

This tells us that they were not just devoted to making sure they sat under the apostles’s instruction, but that they continually devoted themselves to what was being taught. Their devotion was to the truth, not the messenger.

At its core, discipleship happens when we encounter right doctrine from God’s word and seek to conform our thinking and acting with what it says.

Ray Comfort, a well known street evangelist, often tells people who respond to the gospel to go home read their bible and obey what it says, along with find a Bible-believing church.

The reality is that truth of God forms disciples. If disciples are going to be formed, they must be formed by truth. Right doctrine is not an optional extra for disciple-making; it is the foundation of disciple-making.

Therefore, no matter what we are doing together as a church, whether it’s during Sunday School, Wednesday Evening Bible Study, or the Sunday morning gathering, our focus has to be on teaching right doctrine. That’s the responsibility of the one who is discipling- teaching them to observe everything Christ commanded. Notice Jesus didn't simply say, 'Teach them everything I commanded.' He said, 'Teach them to observe everything I commanded.' The goal of discipleship isn't merely informed minds but transformed lives. Teachers, we must aim higher than information transfer when we get the opportunity and privilege to teach God’s word to God’s people. Whether you are using a curriculum or simply going through the Bible, the goal should be the same.

On the other hand, the responsibility of the disciple is not merely to hear right doctrine, but to submit to it in obedience. I think if we approached teaching with transformed lives in mind and we sat under teaching with the goal of having our lives transformed, we would be much closer to what Luke describes here.

Discipleship needs more than just knowledge of right doctrine, it is also…

II. SUSTAINED BY REAL RELATIONSHIPS

Luke continues, they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship...

We use the word fellowship all the time. We have fellowship meals in the fellowship hall. We say, come to this or that event for a time of fellowship. But the idea is more than a set time of being together in a set place.

The word fellowship here is the idea of the community of Christians. The intimate bond of fellowship which unites Christians. In short, they were devoted to one another.

There was a realization for these early Christians that as they came to Christ they were being joined to a community of believers. Salvation did not simply reconcile them to God; it united them to His people.

Part of the discipleship problem in the American church is that we have come to treat the church as a very individualistic and compartmentalized experience. We have a work box, a home box, a church box, a hobby box…

Once or twice a week we go to this place called church and interact with these other Christian brothers and sisters and then we go back to our regularly scheduled lives.

Does discipleship happen in those few hours a week? Yes.

Is it a stunted and sometimes ineffective process? Yes

Think about it like this. You have 112 hours a week if we deduct 8 hours a day for sleep. If you are someone who regularly participates in Sunday School, Church Sunday Morning, and Wednesday Evening. That’s about 4 hours a week. That’s about 3.5% of your time.

Listen, this is not a come to church more sermon. You know you should be here. This is a ‘why the discipleship process in the modern church is stunted’ sermon.

The problem isn't that we don't spend enough hours in church programs. The problem is that we have reduced discipleship to church programs.

The reality is the early church understood that truth is best learned, practiced, encouraged, corrected, and persevered in within covenant relationships. They got up and worshipped together, they met for prayer, they were in each other’s homes. They knew one another well enough to encourage one another, confront one another, and bear one another's burdens. This is the kind of environment where disciples are made.

If we are going to engage in disciple-making like we see in the book of Acts, we are going to have to embrace that disciples are formed together by intentional spiritual investment. Real relationships where we are known, seen, and loved.

Where we can be corrected, instructed, and encouraged by one another.

Relationships built around Christ, cultivated with intentional effort and concern for the well-being of those around us.

So far we have seen that discipleship is rooted in right doctrine, it is sustained by real relationships, and thirdly we see that it is…

III. EXPRESSED THROUGH RADICAL OBEDIENCE

(vv. 42c–46) If discipleship is rooted in right doctrine that we conform our lives to, then it follows that our lives will look very different than those around us who do not know Christ.

This is summed up in the last two things Luke includes that they were continually devoting themselves to. To the breaking of bread and to prayer.

This is obedience toward God. Because of the use of the definite article in THE breaking of bread, I am inclined to think that this is in reference to the observation of the Lord’s Supper. They were obedient to Christ’s command to do this in remembrance of me.

They were also devoted to prayer, or depending on God through prayer. Over and over again in the book of Acts we see the church coming together to pray in the face of difficulties.

They also took seriously Christ’s command to love one another as he loved them. We see this in Luke’s statements in 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

They were together and had all things in common.

This is radical.

They no longer viewed their resources as means to simply care for themselves, but as resources to care for those around them in the family of God.

Not everyone sold their possessions, but we get the sense that many did.

To our modern ears, this sounds unusual and maybe even uncomfortable.

But that's because we have been shaped by a culture that prizes radical individualism and self-sufficiency. To take care of number one. To spend any extra we have on ourselves. But if we truly obey Jesus’ call to love one another as he loved us, then sacrificial love for His people would be the natural outcome.

Because they were being discipled to follow Christ… They prayed, they remembered his sacrifice, they worshipped him together, and they cared for his body together. Luke says day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. This kind of radical reorienting of their life so that they were so involved in one another’s day to day life is what led to their radical care for one another.

There is a saying that is not original with me, but I think it's helpful.

Vertical devotion and love for Christ produces horizontal sacrificial love towards his people.

One evidence that Christ is maturing you as a disciple is that you increasingly love the people He has joined you to—not perfectly, but progressively.

Pastor Will and I have talked about the difficulty of measuring discipleship. We can count attendance, we can track giving, but the reality is that discipleship is often difficult to quantify.

Because, it happens when you invite another family over for dinner and engage with them about God’s truth.

It happens when a parent begins shaping their instruction and discipline for their kids more by Biblical measures than pop-psychology suggestions.

It happens when someone decides that they are going to create margin in their budget so they can be more generous towards others.

It happens when a husband decides to use God’s standard to evaluate whether he is loving his wife well.

It happens when a family decides to reorient their lives so that they can spend more time serving on the mission field.

You see, those things are hard for us to measure. But, if the majority of us were maturing that way, I think there would be evidences. Just like there were in the early church.

Needs were being met.

The gospel was being proclaimed in the temple and in homes.

Neighbors were coming to Jesus.

Theirs was a unity so deep that it defied cultural and socio-economic status.

Harder to measure, sure, infinitely more important than how many people show up on a Sunday, absolutely.

Discipleship is rooted in right doctrine, sustained by real relationships, expressed in radical obedience…essentially, being formed in covenant community. But ultimately, all of this is the work of God.

This brings us to our last division this morning, our discipleship efforts are…

IV. DEPENDENT ON THE LORD

At this point we might be tempted to think, if we do all the things that the early church did, we would be making disciples. That’s how you turn a movement of God into a program.

No, Luke doesn’t give us room to do that, he concludes this wonderful summary of the early church with these words.

And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

The church teaches, the church fellowships, the church obeys, but God gives the growth. Church, that should both humble us and encourage us. God does it, but he doesn’t do it magically, or spontaneously, apart from his church. He chooses to use us to form others.

Through the faithful proclamation of his word and the overflowing evangelism both in word and witness from those who are being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Salvation is a work of God by which people are added to his church.

The early church understood something we often forget. They could not produce disciples. They could proclaim the gospel, teach the truth, love one another, and faithfully obey Christ, but only the Lord could save.

Which means when God saves someone, they are saved into the body of Christ, and we as the body are the means God chose for discipling them towards maturity. What an incredible privilege Christ has entrusted to His church!

I think one of the problems is that for many years the church has been focused on and excited about the first part of that process while largely neglecting the second part.

Producing churches a mile wide and an inch deep.

That is not the pattern of the early church in the book of Acts and it is something we must fight against in our local body.

So what does it look like to be dependent on the Lord in disciple-making? I’m glad you asked.

It looks like engaging in the ordinary means of grace in the ordinary rhythms of life.

Exactly what Luke describes here for us.

Continually devoting ourselves to God’s word, to His people, to observing his ordinances, and to praying together. Taking care of the needs of one another, day by day worshipping, praying, sharing meals, and praising God. Trusting that he will do what only he can do.

This requires a posture of humility, patience, and prayer.

Humility, because we cannot save our children, we cannot manufacture maturity, we cannot force transformation.

Patience, because the work of discipleship is slow work. We have to trust that God is at work even when growth is not immediately visible.

Prayer, because apart from God’s work, all our efforts are empty and powerless.

Humble, patient, and prayerful. This is how we engage in disciple-making depending on the Lord.

God saves through the proclamation of the gospel, and He ordinarily shapes disciples through the continuing ministry of His church. A ministry every one of us is involved in.

Here’s where I want to land this morning church, if we want to be a disciple-making church, we need faithfulness more than creativity. We don't need to reinvent the wheel. Luke doesn’t describe discipleship programs or initiatives, he describes the ordinary rhythms of a believer’s life as the means of discipleship.

So, we need to devote ourselves to truth. We need to devote ourselves to one another. We need to devote ourselves to faithful obedience. And through it all, we need to depend upon the Lord who alone gives life and growth.

Because disciples are formed in covenant community by God's grace through the ordinary rhythms of life.

May God make it so here.

Let us pray.