Is This Christian Socialism ?

Read: Acts 4:31-37

“Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.” (v.32)

There is no way around it- our “stuff” is a big part of our lives. Christians have wrestled for ages with how we are supposed to interact with our “stuff”. Some Christians have a strong focus on it and have made our “stuff” a central part of following Christ: “If you follow Jesus… you will get all the “stuff” you want.” (cf. Prosperity Gospel) Some Christians have made it their goal to say all “stuff” is evil… “of this world”… and have developed this idea that rejecting “stuff” is somehow more “spiritual”. (cf. Ascetics, Gnostics, Monks) Some Christians don’t think there is any link between their “stuff” and the Lord. For them, they live in two sort of separate worlds: the world of their hard work and the things they have “earned for themselves” and then the “spiritual world" of Jesus where they worship once a week. (cf. Deist, or simply Materialistic Christians) One thing is for sure, when you start messing with someone’s stuff… it gets serious! That is why passages like this are so challenging. They give us a little snapshot within the context of something larger that involves our stuff and it rattles our cage! Here are some things for us to think about:

This change in the hearts of God’s people began with prayer, the filling of the Holy Spirit, and experiencing the miraculous work of God: “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” (v.31) As God's people, we should be praying that he would give us boldness and fill us with the Holy Spirit. We need to ask the Father to do the work of calibrating our hearts towards our stuff. This sort of disposition will never come about apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. If it is not driven by the Spirit, then it is driven by the flesh… and flesh driven generosity just breeds contempt and resentment. God has no use for “grumpy givers''!

This care was experienced by those who were “among them”. (cf. 34) Care started on the inside. This is not “communism” or “socialism”… this is “family”… “one body”… unity in the C/church. The early church had not eradicated poverty in the entire city, but rather had begun caring for one another within the C/church. This began with them being “of one heart and soul” - intensely unified around the gospel message and work of Christ. (v.32) Without this sort of unity, you cannot work out the giving and receiving of goods to meet needs with any real effectiveness. Once again, a lack of unity will breed giving that is driven by guilt or results in feeling of resentment and contention. To give this way means being unified enough with your brothers and sisters in Christ that you understand, “that could be me… in fact… IT MIGHT AS WELL BE ME!” … That is how tight the body of Christ started off as! The backdrop for this all was powerful testimony and EVERYONE receiving some sort of special measure of “grace” from the Lord: “And with great POWER the apostles were giving their TESTIMONY to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and GREAT GRACE was upon them all.” (v.33) I think the more you are involved with this type of life and ministry, the less tightly you cling to your stuff.

There was also a great deal of trust between one another and particularly for the Apostles. (v.35) The leaders of God’s people need to be accessible, transparent, and observable enough to be TRUSTED in this way. It is interesting to note that there was indeed a type of “leadership”. Resources were brought to the Apostles and they distributed it to those in need. The leaders of a church should know the needs of the people enough so that they could distribute the resources that have been given to them. It is someone’s job to know the needs of the people and seek to care for them with the resources of the church. It is hard work to keep track of needs and care for people! This doesn’t just “magically” happen on its own, but I am afraid it requires more connectivity and relationship that we expect… and more unity than we currently have. Evidently the people from within the body - within the church - came to the church when they had needs. This means that the church was not trying to push off onto the government the work of caring for its own either. It seems clear that the leadership did a good job at knowing and meeting needs because people were willing to give generously and everyone’s needs were being met. It was actually WORKING! “There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” (v.34) I am tired of the church seeing ministry to those outside the church as more important or “greater than” the care of those “among us”. We are meant to feel as though caring for our brothers and sisters in Christ is somehow less “noble” or Christ-like than caring for someone outside the C/church. If you would listen to certain people, you would think that ALL Jesus did was care for “prostitutes” and “murderous tax collectors”… you know he cared for HIS SHEEP as well!

We just finished a season where we probably got some “stuff”. That is awesome! Enjoy those good gifts as gifts from the Lord. No need to feel bad about it. But how will we, as God’s people, enter into this new year with our “stuff”? Are you willing to have God change your heart? Do you want to be a part of “bold proclaiming” of Jesus, miraculous and powerful ministry, and deep unity and connectedness… even if it means you let go of the ultimate “ownership” of your stuff? I know many of you on these Devo threads… and you represent some of the most GENEROUS people I know! For you, this lesson has been lived out 1000 times over! Keep using that gift of generosity to inspire and teach the “Scrooges” among us! LOL. May this upcoming year be one where we ALL experience “boldness” in telling of Christ as a “filling with the Holy Spirit”. May we be more unified than ever as God’s people. May we be ready to meet the needs within the body so that we can reach out and engage the world… calling them towards Christ. Do you know the needs of those around you? Can you work to meet those needs? Are you waiting for the C/church to come and ask you? Or are you proactively coming and looking for needs to meet? No one came and forced Barnabas to give! Ask God to give you an opportunity this week to have him shape how you view your “stuff”. Love you guys! - JDP