Acts 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart
We live in a very fast-paced and complex world. In fact, it seems that with any institution or invention with time comes complexity. You have the founders of a country which grows into a massive bureaucracy. You have the founder of technology that grows into massive, complex, and confusing constellations of technologies. We live in a very confusing world, but sometimes we as believers allow that to swallow us whole and we lose focus on what should be our focus.
I’d like to encourage you today to live in the power of one. In Acts 1 the disciples asked, “What will happen in the future?” Jesus answered, “You are not going to get that answer. You are not going to have the answer for every day, but you are going to have power for every day.” In verse 8, Jesus said, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me.” So, they had a question about the future, and they also had a question about who the next apostle would be. They were seeking one who would replace Judas. There were a lot of questions.
You come to the book of Acts and find miraculous signs and wonders. The followers of Christ spoke in foreign languages, giving the truth to people in their own language. You find that for some time they had all things in common. We read the book of Acts and can get confused by all the details that cause us to miss the main thing, the power of our Savior the resurrected Christ. We should be living in the power of one.
In Acts 1:11 two men in white apparel, angels, spoke to these men of Galilee and said, “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go.” In Acts 2:36 Peter, preaching before this group of people, said “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” This same Jesus will come again. That same Jesus is Lord and Christ. So live in the power of one.
First, live one day at a time. Acts 2:46 says, “And they [the followers of Christ], continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.” How did they do this? They did it daily, one day at a time, every day. Sometimes we get overwhelmed because we think about the tasks ahead of us and the mammoth task of getting the good news to the world. We think, “There is no way I can do that. I don’t have enough time.” The truth is all the time you have is the time you have right now, one day at a time. So, live in the power of one. You have one Savior and one day at a time.
Second, live in one accord. They continued “daily with one accord in the temple.” One accord means these were disciples and not entrepreneurs. So many times, especially as Americans, we think that we all do our own thing and are loosely associated around the gospel. We go to church each week, but we are our own person. We do have our own identities, but life is simple; there is one Savior, one day, and one accord. We don’t need to invent everything and be all and the end all. We live in a community with other people. We are to be in one accord. There are many things which you and I may not agree on, but what matters first and most of all is the Lord Jesus and His gospel. So, remember one Savior, one day, one accord.
Third, there is one mission. The Bible says they “did eat their meat with gladness.” What a great life to live with gladness! It continues, “And singleness of heart.” That is to say, it is with simplicity of heart. They had one focus. It was simple. Sometimes we think we need to build a great ministry, a great church, have Sunday school, a youth outreach, activities, a bus ministry. We get a little overwhelmed by all the different spokes we have around the gospel, but don’t lose sight of the single mission.
God has not called you to prepare meals, do activities, or other things that may be good, except as they are supportive to the single mission, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Everywhere and all the time in the book of Acts the followers of Christ spoke of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the power that demonstrated the Lord Jesus’ ability to save. He lived, died, was buried, rose again, and lives in power.
Today we live in a complex world, but we can live a wonderful, simple life. We can have singleness of heart, not many focuses, but one focus. Jesus once said that Mary had chosen one good thing and that would not be taken away from her. The one thing is the mission of Jesus Christ; one Savior, one day, one accord, one mission. Live today in the power of one.