Wednesday
Wednesday
Sharing
All the believers were together and had everything in common [koin
nia].
Acts 2:44
A few miles east of Jerusalem at that time the Essene leaders of the Qumran community were committed to the common ownership of property, and the members of the monastic community handed over all their money and possessions when they were initiated.
Certainly Jesus does call some to total voluntary poverty, like the rich young ruler, Saint Francis of Assisi and his followers, and Mother Teresa and her sisters, maybe to witness to the truth that a human life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions. But not all Jesus’s followers are called to this. The prohibition of private property is a Marxist, not a Christian, doctrine. Besides, even in Jerusalem the selling and the giving were voluntary, for we read in verse 46 that they “broke bread in their homes.” In their homes? But I thought they had all sold their homes and their furniture! Apparently not. And the sin of Ananias and Sapphira recorded in Acts 5 was not that they kept back part of their property but that they kept part while pretending to give it all. Their sin was not greed but deceit. The apostle Peter was clear in his words to Ananias: “Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal?” (Acts 5:4). In other words, all Christians have to make a conscientious decision before God how we use our possessions.
Nevertheless, we must not avoid the challenge of this passage. Those early Christians loved one another, which is hardly surprising, since the first fruit of the Spirit is love. In particular, they cared for their impoverished brothers and sisters, so they shared with them their goods. This principle of voluntary Christian sharing is surely a permanent one. Those of us who live in affluent circumstances must simplify our economic lifestyle, not because we imagine that this would solve the macroeconomic problems of the world, but out of solidarity with the poor.
So a Spirit-filled church is a generous church. Generosity has always been a characteristic of the people of God. Our God is a generous God; his people must be generous too.
For further reading: Acts 5:1–11