The Marks of a Devoted Church
Edited directly from the sermon transcript of Matthew Miller’s message at Highland Hills Church of Christ on February 8, 2026. Adapted for length and readability while preserving his voice and message.
How do you measure success? Our culture has definite ideas about it. But what does success mean for the church, for people who say they want to follow Jesus?
Churches can learn to manage activity, attendance, and budgets. We can create an atmosphere that feels special. But how do we cultivate devotion? What happens when the gospel takes root in a community? We need to ask whether we are growing deeper as well as bigger.
In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit has lit a fire among the disciples. People hear the message of Jesus in their own languages, recognize what God has done and their own part in rejecting Jesus, and are cut to the heart. They ask what to do. Peter calls them to repent and be baptized, receiving forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Those who receive the word are baptized. About three thousand are added that day. Then Luke tells us how they live: they continue steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. They share possessions, meet needs, gather in the temple and in homes, and praise God with gladness. The Lord keeps adding those who are being saved.
Conversion begins their formation. Identifying with Jesus means becoming his disciple: following close enough to learn his way, listening to what he says, and seeking to live it.
Luke’s word for their devotion conveys a steadfast commitment. In simpler terms, they hear the truth and cannot let it go. Whatever it takes, they will pursue Jesus.
Think of the difference between a warehouse and a greenhouse. A warehouse stores things on shelves until they are needed. A greenhouse places living things in conditions where they can grow, multiply, and bear fruit.
Sometimes church culture can drift toward the warehouse. But Acts gives us a spiritual greenhouse. Devotion to God creates the conditions for the life and growth we will see throughout the book.
God is the primary actor here. The signs and wonders confirm the message. Jesus’s ministry worked this way too: his teaching explained his works, and his works confirmed his teaching. These are signs of God’s activity breaking into everyday life.
Luke is not giving us a romantic picture of a perfect church. Steve Grubbs reminds us that all God’s people have problems. Dan once reinforced the point for me: if you find a perfect church, don’t go there—you’ll mess it up.
This church is growing and in process. Yet its shared life is a living sign that God is at work, making things new and fulfilling his promises. We are called to participate in that same story.
God’s work continues beyond forgiveness. The Spirit shapes these believers through practices they share. The apostles’ teaching grounds them in truth. Fellowship binds them in love. At the table, they remember and participate in Christ’s saving work. Prayer keeps them dependent on God. They live in wonder, and they attend to one another’s needs.
These are anchors in a rhythm of life. They are a way of living together.
When a house is built, the foundation is essential. We rarely throw a great feast when the concrete truck arrives. The celebration usually comes after the house is finished. But if the foundation is wrong, everything above it is affected.
In Acts 2, we are watching the concrete trucks arrive. The foundation is being poured. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus himself as the cornerstone. The shared practices in Acts belong to that foundation.
If we ask what makes a successful church, we need to begin there. What grounds our life? What are we allowing to form us?
God’s plan is that a people will become like Jesus. Paul speaks in Romans 8 of being conformed to the image of God’s Son. The question reaches deeper than whether we prefer traditions or innovations. Is our life anchored in the apostolic witness?
Our heritage has sought to ask what it means to be Christians only—to clear away what has accumulated and return to what the Bible teaches. At its best, that desire recognizes that the practices of Acts are foundational. Returning to the apostles should lead us toward faithfulness to Jesus.
But that vision can go wrong when faithfulness is confused with uniformity, or when pride and ill will divide people who are meant to belong together in Christ.
I love maps. If you have never learned to read one, give it a try. There is real pleasure in understanding those lines and symbols. But a map is meant to lead somewhere. We can become so absorbed in the map that we forget the destination. Looking at it all day while never going anywhere misses its purpose.
We can also go wrong in the opposite direction. Trying to correct those excesses, a church can begin chasing cultural approval and loosen its grip on the foundations that give it identity.
Think of a ship sailing into crosswinds. An anchor can hold it steady. Cutting the anchor may feel like freedom for a moment, but the ship soon drifts wherever the current takes it. A short-lived sense of relevance is a poor exchange for lost direction. And what could be more relevant than knowing God and what he has said?
Luke points us toward renewed devotion to the apostles’ teaching. We can receive it humbly and live it: listen to God, practice love, and do what he has said.
A saying about tradition puts it well: the goal is to preserve the fire rather than worship the ashes. A faithful church is filled with the Spirit and anchored in the way of Jesus and his apostles. We preserve that fire by living that way.
What comes next for us? Begin by reading the New Testament. Perhaps you know these teachings but have not spent time with them recently. Perhaps they are new to you. Set aside a regular time and keep going. We can all find a few minutes to devote to hearing what the apostles teach.
Then look around you. Fellowship happens with these people. Our brothers and sisters have needs. We can pray for them, visit, bring a meal, or let them know that we are remembering them. There are many simple ways to share life and grow in love.
How we love one another shows how we love God. How we love God shapes how we love one another. They belong together.
When the church lives these Spirit-shaped practices, the fire stays kindled. God draws people into that life. The Spirit who formed the early church remains at work today.
If we long for a community shaped by grace, truth, and devotion, this is where we begin. We follow Jesus together, grounded in his word, dependent on him, and attentive to the people he has placed beside us.
