Intro:
Calgary has a new piece of public art. It used to be in Vancouver, where it was temporarily on display, and now it has moved to Calgary for the next little while. It is officially part of the Glenbow museum, on display in a park close to the Saddledome. The piece is entitled, “Device to Root Out Evil”, by a sculptor named Dennis Oppenheim, and it looks like this:
Apparently, in Vancouver it got quite a reaction. Some felt it was offensive towards Christianity, others saw more positive messages. What do you think?
A Biblical Picture of a Church: Acts 4:32-37
Let’s read the scriptures for another picture of a church: Acts 4:32-37 (NLT):
32 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. 33 The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. 34 There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them 35 and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.
36 For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. 37 He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.
Background:
This fall we’ve been studying the book of Acts, beginning with Jesus raising up into heaven in chapter 1, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in chapter 2, and the last few weeks hearing the story of Peter and John healing a man who had been lame from birth, causing a ruckus in the Jerusalem temple, getting in trouble with the authorities and being threatened, and then their response and prayer. Newly “induced” pastor Garret led us through the middle of chapter 4 last Sunday, where we saw how in the face of intimidation, threat, a night in jail, and impending persecution during which they no doubt expected to receive crucifixion like Jesus had, they prayed a remarkable prayer: it wasn’t, “Dear Lord, protect us!”; it wasn’t, “Dear Lord, save us!”; it wasn’t, “Dear Lord, change those bad guys’ minds so we will stay safe!”; it wasn’t even, “OK Lord, we’ll follow but please protect our families and loved ones”. Their prayer – again, in the face of intimidation of the highest order, and a future they reasonably expected meant their own death – their prayer was not for safety, but for boldness. Yes, boldness. They prayed that in the face of this intimidation and threat, they would not back down, cower, hide, be subtle, hint, gently influence – they prayed. “now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.” (vs. 29).
The Way The Prayer Is Answered:
Today’s passage, vss. 32-37, shows us how God answered their prayer for boldness. The result of this refusal to hide, this refusal to never again preach in the name of Jesus as the Sanhedrin had commanded, was the continued maturity of the early church. There is a growth in commitment and loyalty and care to one another, a report of “testifying powerfully”, and an example of sacrificial giving. This example of sacrificial giving is contrasted with an example in the next chapter of giving which was accompanied by deceit, so next week we’ll contrast Barnabus with Ananias and Sapphira, and this week we’ll concentrate on this brief general description of the early church.
We read a similar passage in Acts 2, if you recall. It was Luke’s first “summary statement” of life in the early church, this is the second and it is similar although there are a few indications that the fellowship is growing, being a little more organized, and continuing in obedience to Jesus’ great command to “love God and love others”. It is actually happening, and it is transformational.
At the heart, it really is simple obedience. The people we read about here are just simply doing what Jesus had commanded – what Jesus still commands. They were united, in answer to Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that His disciples would be “one”; they are sharing materially so that there is no need among them, in obedience to Jesus’ teaching that we must love our neighbour as ourselves; and they are presenting the new Kingdom of God in word and in deed, in response to Jesus’ command to “go into all the world”. And it is working. Let’s consider each of those.
United: vs. 32a
The first part of the passage says, “All the believers were united in heart and mind.”. Interesting to me that Luke includes both the heart, understood as the place of life and emotion and will, and the mind. All the believers were united in both of those – they had shared the same experience, of incredible forgiveness and acceptance and love of the God of the Universe; and they were committed to the same thing – the Kingdom of God Jesus had brought, the alleviation of poverty and suffering, the bold proclamation of Jesus, and their minds and hearts were fully engaged. They were on the same page.
Doubtless there were different perspectives, different roles, and different gifts. Certainly there would have been healthy conversations about what needs exist, and what the most helpful response would be. Undoubtedly there were people listening to the Holy Spirit, and learning how to do that accurately and obediently, and I’m positive that would have necessitated some interesting confrontations. There would have been personality clashes, difficult people to love, sins that had to be confronted. But through it all, “All the believers were united in heart and mind.”
There is only one way I know of this being a possibility: through a strength of love that overcomes personal wants, pettiness, jealousy, competition, greed, and self-centeredness, and that puts love of God first and love of others next. Through a love that does not give up, that remains loyal, that continues to hope and believe and forgive and reconcile even when, ESPECIALLY WHEN, it is hard. When that kind of love exists in a community, lives are transformed because it is the Kingdom of God in action.
Jumping into today, if Luke came and spent enough time among us to really get to know us, would he write the same thing? Would he write, “the believers [at Laurier] are all united in heart and mind”?
A Radically Counter-Cultural Perspective on Possessions: vs. 32b
The next summary description is this: “they felt that what they owned was not their own”. That is fleshed out more later on, where we see them sharing, and even selling properties to make funds available for the community, and it is easy to jump to those actions and miss the heart. Why did they share? Why sell something and give the proceeds to the apostles to use to help the poor? The answer is in this highlighted phrase: “they felt that what they owned was not their own”.
This is a radically counter-cultural perspective on possessions, wouldn’t you agree? This is the heart of Biblical stewardship: what we have is not our own. It does not belong to us. It is not “ours”. Everything belongs to God, who chooses to place things in our hands for us to use and to enjoy. And God knows that there is a great joy in seeing others experience life because we had something given to us by God that we then passed to them as they had need.
Let me ask you two questions about this second description of this early church: what would change in the perception of our world if today’s church fit this description? How would things be different?
Question 2: what keeps us from this being a reality, and what are we going to do about it?
Powerful Testimony: vs. 33a
The third phrase that paints a picture of this church is that they, “testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus”. Put simply, they told people about Jesus. They told people that once their lives had been broken and now they were whole. Once they lived in fear and now they were filled with boldness. Once they were lame and now they could walk. Once they hoped that if they tried hard enough, did all the right stuff, maybe they’d be good enough for God to love, now they know with everything that they are that they are loved unconditionally, unreservedly, unashamedly, by God the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ dwelling in them as the Holy Spirit. And they shared this transformation with others.
Again, two questions for us. First, are we really different? Have we allowed God to do those things I mentioned, and others like them, in our lives, so that we can boldly stand up and say that we’ve found something amazing. Do you know that you are forgiven, you are free, you are loved?? And if so, (question 2), what could possibly be strong enough to overpower those things to such an extent that we keep quiet about them?
The Blessing of God: vs. 33b
The summary ends there, the rest develops the next idea which we’ll leave for later, and Luke wraps it up by simply noting, “and God’s great blessing was upon them all”. Doesn’t that sound great? It does to me. That is what happens when we simply obey, and be the people of God. I like this picture of the church, and ask you one final question this morning: will you stand with me to help create it once again, in our little corner of the world? Will you stand with me to create a church that is unified, is radical in how we look upon our possessions (which, I’m more and more convinced, is the single biggest threat to genuine Christianity in the western world), and boldly proclaims Jesus is the resurrected Lord? I can’t do it myself. It isn’t Pastor Garret’s job, or Pastor’s Sue’s job, or the Elders’ job, to do these things for everyone. It takes us all, unified, unhindered, and bold. And the result will be the same – “God’s great blessing” will be upon us. And we’ll see His Kingdom come.
