Happy Father's Day everyone! I hope today is a special one for you and you spend it with the ones you love.
I want to focus on this passage in Acts today....
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. Acts 4:32-33
The church was in its honeymoon state, so to speak. This was a brand new church, preaching a brand new gospel, this was the New Testament - and man, were they effective!! There are already 15,000-20,000 new converts and we're only a couple chapters into the book of Acts. Now that's effective. That's remarkable. What made the new church so effective and remarkable? Our passage tells us.
In his sermon God's Passion for a Pure Church, John MacArthur says....
This church was remarkable because of its unity. It was remarkable because of its devotion to preach the gospel. It was remarkable because it was being showered with God's power and grace. And it was remarkable because everybody looked at everything they had and saw it as belonging to whoever needed it more than they did. That is a church the way God wants a church to be. We look at the church today and we wonder if there's much resemblance. Churches struggle with a lack of unity. They equivocate on the powerful straight‑forward proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and all that is involved in gospel preaching. They seem to demonstrate very little of an abundant grace being poured out upon them and they know little or almost nothing about what it means to make sacrifices or what it means to hold everything that you hold as a stewardship not really owning any of it....
in verse 32 he says, and this is a marvelous statement, "Not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own." That is the proper perspective on all material possessions. On anything you own, any money that you possess, anything in the bank, anything in savings, any stocks, bonds, properties, it's not yours. You simply hold it for the cause of the Kingdom to be released at the prompting of the Spirit of God to accomplish spiritual [goals]. God would have us have the same attitude....
let us be reminded that the church which the Lord designed is a church that is pure and holy, a church that is united in love and righteousness, a church that is committed to preaching the pure and unadulterated gospel of the resurrection, a church that is seeing and experiencing the abundance of grace poured out by God, a church where people lovingly, sacrificially and generously share everything they have for the work of the Kingdom and the needs of others. (emphasis mine)
I want to be a part of that kind of Church!
Tomorrow's passage: Proverbs 27-29, Acts 5:1-21
3 comments:
I really struggle with desiring some of the ideals we see in the New Testament churches. Yes, I want to be a part of something like that if it's already established and EVERYONE is living that way, but if I'm being really honest, I don't want to be the one to start it. Which makes me wonder exactly how badly I really want it.
I guess I just need to keep praying the Holy Spirit will so powerfully fill me and move me, that it won't matter if I end up being the only one to practice selling my possessions to meet the needs of others.
It is amazing that this Acts passage was our reading for Sunday, as the theme of our church's family camp sessions on the weekend was unity in the church (not just ours, but all the churches as a whole). A lot of good stuff in that excerpt from Mr. MacArthur!
Great thoughts. I know I would have a hard time sharing everything I had.
This verse stood out for me from Proverbs:
9 If you argue your case with a neighbor,
do not betray another man’s confidence,
10 or he who hears it may shame you
and you will never lose your bad reputation.
As a teacher I have to really be careful of what I say to parents in order to reassure them without saying anything about other students to do that. For example, if I have a parent wondering how their child is doing, it would be terrible of me to say "well, they're doing so much better than blah, and blah, and blah. If a student is having anger issues, I can't very well go into any details about what steps are being taken, what professionals are being consulted, and how many meetings we have had about it with other parents. However, the parents want to know what is being done. It's a fine line to walk and my reputation as a teacher is on it.
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