“What then were the hallmarks of membership in the church then – and what does that teach us now?
Luke sums them up in one word: Devotion: ‘they devoted themselves.’
But devotion has an object. Indeed this devotion has three objects, as we shall see.
Luke employs an interesting verb here. He uses it later in Acts when the God-fearing centurion Cornelius calls ‘two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him’ (Acts 10:7). You can picture the scene. Military officers often have someone accompanying them who seems glued to their side, whose sole responsibility is to do his commander’s every wish. In the same way these early Christians were ‘glued to’ the church. I have even seen the verb translated, somewhat daringly but quite significantly: ‘addicted to,’ which perhaps helps us sense how completely absorbing church membership is meant to be. They were addicted to:
- The apostles’ teaching,
- Their fellow Christians,
- The worship of God.
This is – if only we could see it – a triple addiction that delivers us from all other addictions; it is, therefore, a blessed addiction indeed!”
Sinclair Ferguson, Devoted to God’s Church, 52.