“All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” Acts 2:43-44.
The early believers in Jesus spent much time together, growing in their knowledge of Jesus at the feet of their leaders, eating together and sharing life together, as well as their possessions. From this verse, we learn that they “had everything in common.”
We get these mystical and spiritual sensations when we read a verse like this, thinking that all followers of Jesus should live this way. But did we ever consider that these early believers lived like this in order to survive? Try to imagine the sacrifices and demands that this lifestyle would place on individuals and on families. It is difficult enough for families to get along just within their own households. It becomes much more complicated when you add new personalities into the mix. And when you add the potential of these people being from different cultures, it becomes even more ‘interesting.’
For me, the more people that are added to the mix, the more difficult I become to live with. It is usually fine for a short period of time; let’s say, three days, but when, as in this verse, it seems like this is going to go on indefinitely, it would break me! Maybe that is what this verse is getting at. They were able to break through to a new place of community with each other.
The point that I would like us to think about today is to take off our rose-tinted, religious glasses through which we see this perfect community living together. I do not think that they were gathered around, holding hands, and singing Kumbaya. Please realize that it was a struggle for them, just like it is for us, to live in community. That does not mean that we do not work towards functioning in community. It does mean that it is worth it to struggle along together and to seek to learn how to ‘do life’ together.
Prayer: Father, thank You for this picture of community. Help us wrestle with learning how to live in community with one another, looking to Your Spirit for guidance and strength, while laying down our independence and individualism for the greater good of the community. Amen.
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1 comment:
Great message! The early church seemed to be very strong in accountability to each other which echoed their accountability to God. They also valued each other to the point of laying their lives down for one another. I guess this kind of openess was necessary to welcome people from different cultures into the family.
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