There is a hierarchy in who we love ...

Read: Acts 2:44-47

There is a hierarchy in who we love…

There is a priority placed on our love for one another in the C/church / the family of God that is often overlooked in this day and age. This is not to say that we do not love those outside of the C/church, but to acknowledge that there is a priority given to those within. We have become so “outward” focused at times that we have lost this subtle nuance. What happens when those outside of the family are taken better care of than those within? Is that God’s goal? One of the most shocking elements of the early church is how tight-knit they were in community… how close they had become as “brothers and sisters” in Christ. This unity was not just “lip service” either, we see it played out in powerful ways, namely the fact that they were willing to share their “stuff”! 

“And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, according as any man had need. And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved.” (44-47) 

This picture is a picture of how “all that believed'' functioned with one another. One of the first radical ways the body of Christ is called to live is with a willingness to look out for other brothers and sisters in Christ. The C/church has a unique shift in the way it views it’s belongings… we begin to see ourselves as stewards of what God has entrusted to us. When we read the rest of the scriptures, we see that this is not some caricature of “socialism” or “communism” the way that people will sometimes try to make it out. Take for instance Ananias and Sapphira, look at the way that Peter speaks to them. They were under no obligation to sell their land. Peter even refers to the land as “belonging to them” in human terms before they sold it. (cf. Acts 5:1-11)  Or another example we have is in Barnabas, who “sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.” (cf. Acts 4:36) This is not an advocating for the removal of “private property” or the institution of “socialism” or “communism”, it is actually something much more RADICAL. Socialism or Communism is a top down structure, and Jesus is building something that begins at the HEART. This generosity was driven by people voluntarily liquidating assets to meet the needs of those WITHIN the body of Christ. When we are drawn tightly together as God’s people, our demeanor towards one another changes… we become glad to give to one another… we are willing to let go of our stuff to help meet needs. This is a truly radical transformation. The world has already seen power structures that try to force people to live this way (cf. Stalin and communism / socialism in general), and we have seen how destructive they truly are!  Christ is changing people's hearts so that they are willing to live this way on their own! Christ is NOT building something where a heavy-handed professional holy person forces us to sell out stuff and join a commune! He is changing lives so that we begin to WANT to care for one another. Jesus has always been a “bottom up” leader who “came not to be served, but to serve”. (cf.Matt 20:28) Of course his movement would be one of the people being transformed… grassroots… from the bottom-up serving one another not seeking to be served. 

The security and stability that comes into a community that lives this way is what leads to a life of “day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart praising God, and having favor with all the people…” As they were unified and needs were met, they were able to continue to worship both in their home churches as well as gathered in the larger “institutional”church (here a.k.a the “temple”). You see that the ways they were living with each other was originating more so “outside” of the organized / institutionalized “temple”… and it was strengthening them to continue to worship “inside” the “temple”. This is not to say there was no organization or hierarchy to the early church. We can see clearly that the Apostles were leading and that giving was being facilitated by them. Even the most “grassroots” and people driven bottom-up movements needs leadership and some structure! I love the phrase “they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart.” (v.46) Notice how eating together pops up again! It seems like living this way did not create enemies for the early church, they are said to have “favor with all the people”. We need to be reminded that the phrase “the people’ used in this context normally means all the “common people”. This phrase here in acts normally is not trying to include the Roman outsiders controlling Jerusalem at the time, or the Scribes, Pharisees, or Sadducees… but rather the “common” people of Jerusalem. We will see quickly that the C/church did not have favor with the religious leaders of the day as well as eventually the Romans. What this phrase does mean is that the everyday people around the church favored the values and ways they were living and were being called by God into the community: “And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved.” 

In such a tumultuous time as this, what would it look like of the C/church was a place of refuge and strength for its people? How often do we look to government, economic markets, savings accounts, or modern medicine as our source of stability and strength? God uses all these things - we see that right here! But what if the real foundation / source of strength that we rested in was the community of believers… the body of Christ… the Lord himself!?! This is how the Lord normally works out his provision… through his people… through each other. It happens in radical ways! Ways we do not expect. We have to start by looking out for the body of Christ… the family of God. People will be drawn by God into the family. We cannot read passages that speak about the internal work of the C/church and pretend they are to be applied to everyone everywhere. This breaks down. There are real and tangible ways God is calling us to look out for one another. We cannot place our hope in governments, or education, or “systems”… we place our hope in Christ! It is not the “temple” that is going to pragmatically work this out as much as it is the “house church” or smaller units of believers “in their homes” and a part of each other's lives knowing each other's needs and providing for one another. How is God changing your “wanter”? What are the radical things you are being motivated to do? Who is God calling you into deeper community with? Who has your back? Do you feel alone and afraid in the face of this upcoming season? Come in out of the cold and into the warmth of the family of God. This is what we do in the family of God, we look out for each other and Christ calls us too. This puts us in a better position to go out and care for and love the world around us. When we experience this, it has no other outlet than to overflow into “praise”. “And they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, PRAISING GOD.” Love you guys. - JDP