Easter Series: The Sharing Heart of the Early Church
Acts 4: 32-37
INTRODUCTION
This is a very challenging passage as there is little evidence of Christians living in this way today, and we can come up with many reasons why this is not the case. The early Christians (largely Jewish) were not the first Jews to try communal living. Around the Dead Sea a covenant community formed around the “Teacher of Righteousness” in the 1st century BC. They believed that the ancient ideal of Israel as God’s covenant community was coming true. The first Christians likewise saw themselves as a new covenant community, perhaps reflecting the words of Deuteronomy 15.4: ‘However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you’
READ the passage - Acts 4: 32-37
The opening sentence shows the wonderful evidence of God’s Spirit at work among the early believers. “This unity is not conformity, where everybody is exactly alike. It is not organizational where everybody must be forced into the same denomination. The worst times in the history of the church have been when everyone has been part of one large organization. It is not that kind of unity.” (Boice)
Do you agree with this comment? What would our church look like if we were truly “united”?
They held all things in common – do you see this as an early form of communism? Why was the particularly important at this time?
What was the result of their actions (33)?
It does look as if the system was soon abused, as later Paul had to give instructions as to how Christians should support one another. Consider the following verses:
1 Timothy 5: 3-4
1 Timothy 5: 8-1
2 Timothy 3: 10-12
Thessalonians 4:11
1 Timothy 5: 5-10
1 Timothy 5: 9-13
1 Timothy 6: 8
Do these verses have anything to say about the use of Foodbanks today?
“What you do with money and possessions declares loudly what sort of community you are.” (Tom Wright) Do you agree/disagree with this comment?
It should come as no surprise that unbelievers analyse the lives of the Christians around them to decide if their gospel is true. This was one of the reasons that the early church grew so rapidly, and it may be a reason why the western church is declining just as rapidly too.” (Phi Moore) Do you agree/disagree with this comment?
“Too often the church has been a sign of wealth rather than of poverty and has aligned itself with the rich and powerful on earth more than the weak and lowly.” (Johnson) Do you agree/disagree with this comment?
How do we TODAY embody the message of Jesus by our life together – if at all? The Greek ideal was based on the principle “Among friends everything is common” (Aristotle) what would you say should be the Christian ideal in our society today?
PRAYER
This study may have raised some challenging issues for the group, and it would be right to bring such issues to God in prayer.
The income our church receives is one that most churches would envy, so pray that those responsible for how it is spent may do so with godly principles and with the challenges of this passage in mind.
Pray for our Government as it seeks to alleviate the needs of those who genuinely struggle in our society today.
Foodbanks have become a feature of many communities today, so pray that they will increasingly make a real difference to people’s lives. How wonderful it would be if Foodbanks were no longer needed.