The Early Church - God's Provision - Acts 2, 4, 5

0:00Life hands us hurt we never asked for, leaving us anxious and secure and stuck. But what if your healing is not only possible, but could actually bring healing to those around you? In her new book, Collide, Willow Weston invites you to start bravely stepping into the places you've avoided because Jesus meets us in our mess. If your past is still haunting your present, if being in self-protective mode is hurting you more than protecting you, if you're longing for wholeness, discover healing with Collide, available now at Amazon.com. Purposely Your life, God's purpose. Listen at Purposely.com. Hey, this is Jen. You're listening to the Bible for Busy People podcast and we've been talking this week about God's provision. Years ago, my husband had to travel for a job quite a bit for days at a time. I had two small children at home and we were driving here and there for school and soccer clubs and church. I was planning and making meals on my own. I was handling bed times and

1:02tantrums, ones that seemed to escalate when there was only one parent in the house. I was absolutely exhausted and I was frustrated to tears one day when a friend reached out to see if we wanted to come over for dinner. I quickly responded with a yes and what can we bring? Meanwhile, I was calculating when I could actually fit in a trip to the grocery store but my friend responded, don't bring anything just come. We showed up and we were all fed with dinner and dessert. My friend's husband turned on a movie for all the kids so that my friend and I could relax and eat and talk. The kindness of it brought me to tears. I just needed to receive in that moment. I really needed that to not have to bring anything or to show up any certain way and I try to keep that in mind when I'm giving to others too. Sometimes others can easily come and bring something to share. That's great but other times they're barely making it and could use the extra relief of just receiving. We are part of the provision for each other. God intends it that way. Acts 2 gives us a picture of the early church and it's significant for us

2:07in a culture where we can often be isolated. This is in verse 42 and Acts 2. It says they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their numbered daily those who were being saved. In his book The Anti-Greed Gospel Malcolm Foley points out that teaching, eating together and prayer are all common things associated with the Christian community, but fellowship is more than just hanging out. It's sharing with one another as the verse continues to talk about. Foley says in his book, The Kingdom of God is a place of true equity. The church, the community whose one purpose it is to bear witness to the kingdom is supposed to be that kind of

3:10place. The church is meant to be a community in which no one has economic needs because the people of God see their resources righteousness as gifts to be shared. In his book, he makes the point that inequality, especially racism and domination of one group of people over the other, stems from greed and that's never what God intended for us. We see more of this way of life in Acts chapter 4. In verse 32, it says, All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power that the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. Can you imagine? For from time to time, those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnipus, which means son of encouragement, sold a field he owned and

4:11brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. There were no needy persons among them. Again, Giuliana Klausons talked about this in her commentary on the mana in the desert. This kind of dependence and trust in the provision of God reminds us not to hoard resources for ourselves, but to share them. God's abundance creates enough not just for us, but to share. Also, God takes it personally when we don't share his abundance, when we are greedy about what we've been given. Acts 5 shows us an example of this. In verse 1, it says, Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Safira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge, he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. Then Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings,

5:11but to God. When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died, and a great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later, his wife came in not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land? Yes, she said, that is the price. Peter said to her, how could you conspire to test the spirit of the Lord? Listen, the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out also. At that moment, she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. It seems like a really extreme reaction. Why, God, did they have to die for this deception? The word-by-word commentary on the Logos Bible app gives some insight on this, that Ananias and Sapphira go in stark contrast to the community of the church, acting for individual gain and image. It parallels Aiken's sin in the book of Joshua,

6:14where he keeps spoils of war meant to be dedicated to God. It's the greed of keeping for self what is meant to be God's and isn't it all God's really, and they give in to the devil in trying to deceive and deny the Holy Spirit. There are many warnings against pride and greed in the Bible. These things keep us from God, but I don't know about you. Sometimes these sins can be downplayed in my experience. We can still pursue accumulating more and more and trying to get the best for ourselves. We can joke about being prideful, but ultimately we can brush these things off as compared to those really bad sins, but both of these sins lead to spiritual death, and honestly almost all sin boils down to one of these. We have to take greed and pride seriously. So how will you do that in the coming days? I know I'm addressing my own spending and taking a step back from shopping in recent days. How about you? How can we appreciate God's abundance by sharing with others instead of hoarding? I'll leave you with that pretty hard-hitting question, and we'll chat again next week.

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