Relevant Life

Act 4:32-37  The whole group of believers lived in harmony. No one called any of his possessions his own. Instead, they shared everything.  (33)  With great power the apostles continued to testify that the Lord Jesus had come back to life. God\’s abundant good will was with all of them.  (34)  None of them needed anything. From time to time, people sold land or houses and brought the money  (35)  to the apostles. Then the money was distributed to anyone who needed it.  (36)  Joseph, a descendant of Levi, had been born on the island of Cyprus. The apostles called him Barnabas, which means \”a person who encourages.\”  (37)  He had some land. He sold it and turned the money over to the apostles.

Ideas keep going through my head on how I can help my brothers and sisters in other countries. I also want to help those brothers and sisters who are struggling in my own country as well. God has blessed me tremendously and I love to give back. I am not talking about supporting a ministry in the US. This process is over rated and too expected. The scripture above did not mean it that way either.

Scripture was clear that the believers had all things in common and not one believer had a need that was not met. In today’s, American church set up, we have money and resources going to the local church. 80 to 90% of those resources are used for salaries, building expenses, and so forth. It is not too far fetch to state that many believers within the local church are struggling to make ends meet. How can I prove this point? Simple, I get to help out local food banks within my community. These food banks are not church ran but are typical non-profits. We have thousands upon thousands of churches in American. There should not be a hunger problem in America, but there is. Why? I have had religious believers even state to me, “ Why do you travel across seas to a mission field, when you have one here?” Well if America still is a vast mission field that needs every foreign missionary’s attention and there are 100 plus million Christians in American, then something is wrong.

There a few key points we can take from the passage above.

1. God’s good will was demonstrated daily in the lives of all believers.  This means that God’s great Grace was upon all His people during this time. His Charis or great influence was all over the believers and the world could see it.

2. The believers did not need anything. The Christians during this time followed an Old Testament principle by taking care of each other. This was not a welfare system per say; however,  those who had an abundance in resources shared those resources with other believers. This passage shows why we need each other.

3. The Believers encouraged each other by giving from their abundance and blessings from God. Barnabas was the example. He had extra land and decided to sell it. He sold it and made some profit from it. Barnabas decided to give all of it to the church in order to bless others.

All of these actions became natural habits for all the believers during this time. They did not have to pray about it or take up a special offering; they just followed the words of Christ. Their hearts were in one accord. Their passion and love was for God and for each other. This is how the church should be.