Acts 2:42-47
They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers. Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person's need was met. They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.
Mark 12: 42-44 An Example of Generosity: Making Love Real
After this, Jesus sat down near the temple offering box and watched as people made their financial contributions. Many rich people clearly put in large sums of money. One poor elderly woman came up and put in a couple of small coins, less than a dollar in total. Jesus called his disciples over and pointed this out to them, saying: “The fact of the matter is that this woman was the most generous giver of them all. The rest of them just gave a percentage of their surplus, money that they will never miss. She, on the other hand, despite never having enough to make ends meet, has given all that she had.”
We don’t like reading this Acts 2 passage because we don’t like the idea of being a part of a community of believers where others would believe we should sell our homes, our cars, our furniture, and other possessions and bring the money and give it to the church to distribute to those who have need. Hey, we, cry out, if I do that then I’ll be the one in need and you’ll have to start providing for me cause I won’t have a home, a car, furniture, or clothing any longer.
Having come through the Cold War between Communism and Democracy we also don’t like the fact that living out the vision within Acts 2 appears to most of us to be some kind of communism, where you don’t get to own your own stuff any longer. We, in America, are especially proud of our possessions, especially our homes and our cars, and from what I can see from my sales position at JC Penney, we certainly want to wear the best clothing we can afford.
There is no doubt about the fact that the Acts 2 passage is an idealized telling of what happened after Pentecost when the Spirit of God came upon that brand new community of believers in the resurrected Jesus Christ and they practically turned Jerusalem upside down with their eagerness to tell others about the profound spiritual experience they had had. The record indicates that there were some amazing changes in those persons and that they did in fact impact the city of Jerusalem in miraculous and awesome ways.
Relax, I’m not going to ask you to sell your home, or to even move into a smaller place or apartment, unless that is what you personally need to do to assure yourself that you can make it financially on your income. We know for a fact from other New Testament passages that the apostles and others continued to own their own homes and continued to own their own personal possessions. What is assumed, then, from these scripture passages is that the infant church members gave property and items that they had in surplus, sold them and gave the money to the church to be distributed among those who had specific needs, especially to those who were living on the edge of life: the widows, the orphans, the homeless, the blind, the ill, those with defects caused by birth or injury. Just like Jesus the infant church seems to have had a miraculous ability to continue the same ministry of Jesus Christ by taking care of others, whoever they were, whatever their need.
There is no doubt that the miraculous kind of community that takes shape following Pentecost when 3,000 persons become believers in the Risen Christ on one day is the result of the work of the Holy Spirit. It is God who calls persons into a saving relationship with God through the work of the Spirit in their lives and it is God who then creates a miraculous, awe-inspiring kind of community described like that described in Acts 2 and later in chapter 4.
The very idea of such a community tends to both attract us and repel us. We want the positive benefits for ourselves and others that belonging to such a community could mean for us, but we find it extremely difficult to accept the level of commitment it would demand of us if we truly became a part of such a community. Some have come to the conclusion that creating such a community in 21st Century America is impossible and have given up on the hope of ever achieving a congregational life where persons are truly cared for by each other. Why? Because we believe we have as much, if not more, to lose than gain by becoming this kind of community.
As we move through the rest of the book of Acts and into the Letters from Paul and others in the New Testament we realize that this idealized community of Acts Chapter 2 did not continue to exist as fully as described In chapter 2 and 4, but the unique spiritual and caring factors of this community did reappear as characteristics of the new communities of believers that were formed as the story of Jesus was carried to new cities and villages throughout the ancient world. Eventually the Good News went to Europe and then down through the ages until we arrive today at this church in this city where you are gathered together celebrating God in Christ and trying to become to each other as much of that ideal as we can achieve.
We do not always live up to that ideal as individual Christians, nor as the body of Christ the church. We often fall short of achieving the same kind of celebration of praise, the same kind of caring concern toward each other, the same kind of actions in worship, prayer, and deed that result in miracles happening among us.
Congregational Discussion:
• Why is that do you think?
• How could we overcome such difficulties?
• What is it exactly that we want to become as a community of believers? What would your ideal church look like, or act like?
• What would happen if we did achieve that kind of community? What affect could we have on our city and region?
• What could we do in 2010 and beyond that would help us make the same kind of awe inspiring effect upon Seattle that the church in Acts 2 had upon Jerusalem?
Remember that church began with 120 persons gathered together in an upper room in Jerusalem on Pentecost Day and soon grew into thousands of people in community with each other. In fact the Christian church began with one man who gathered a small group of disciples, women, friends, and family around himself.
Big things often start small. We may be a very small church but with God’s spirit within us helping us, encouraging us, we too can become a proud, worshipping, caring, generous community where your needs and mine are met and where we joyously reach out to others in the name of God in Christ Jesus.
The fact of the matter is that it is up to you. What will you do in terms of committing your time, your talents, and your treasure in the year to come?
But, you say, I don’t have much, pastor. Neither did the widow that Jesus saw who gave all that she had to God while she was worshipping in the Temple. She made a sacrificial gift that demonstrated how much she loved God. I don’t care if you can’t give hundreds or thousands, you can give out of what God has blessed you with. You can give sacrificially, giving up something to give back to God out of your love for God. And you still have your time and your talents to consider giving to God.
Some of you may not be able to give financially very much, but you may have an abundance of time and talent to offer to the church in amazing ways that will result in miracles of growth for this congregation and miracles of ministry as we care for those living on the edges in our city and region. You can make a difference.
Some of you have already made commitments, but as I reflected on my own commitment to MCC Seattle this coming year, I made a realization that what I was giving wasn’t what I would call sacrificial. I had decided to keep my commitment level at the same place as I have been attempting to give this past year. That first commitment didn’t make me readjust my priorities in life nor did it keep me from doing what I wanted to do for myself. So I went back and I prayerfully reconsidered my commitment and I increased it to the point where I have to think carefully every week, every month how I will spend my money in order to keep my commitment to God.
I am praying that several of you will do the same thing? I am encouraging you to give sacrificially and in such a way that you will think about it every day, every week, every month, all year long. Our commitments to God whether of time, talent, or money should not be things we make lightly or without thought, they should be commitments that literally change the way we think and live and worship.
You each have a commitment form. Some of you have already turned in your forms. Some of you have only turned in the financial portion of your pledge. All of us need to complete both portions of the pledge and turn it both parts so we, your pastors and leaders, can reflect on them and come up with a budget and a plan of action to make sure that we move ourselves toward the ideal community of Christ that we would like to become in the new year that will soon be upon us. Believe it or not, as we sang earlier in the service this too is part of your worship of God: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.
Do you love God? What will you commit today to God’s church in terms of your time, talent, and treasure that says that you do in fact love God with all that your are, and all that you have?
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