A few weeks ago, we looked at the activities of the church in Acts.  Remember, they continued in, persevered in the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers.  We remembered how the early church in Jerusalem “were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” (2:44-45) 

We weren’t talking primarily about money that day.  Today we are.

The basis upon which we look at money is the same basis upon which we are called to see everything and everyone. As it’s been a while since we’ve been together, I want to repeat something that we said as we began this story of Acts together, as we consider what it means for us as the church to live life together:

The book of Acts tells of Jesus’ followers – indwelt by, empowered by, guided by, transformed by the Holy Spirit, unstoppably bearing witness (making known, declaring) in word and in deed the good news of Christ; and in so doing fulfilling the divine plan.

There’s something really key to note at the beginning of our reading this morning.  Look at verse 33 – “With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus (because Christ is risen), and great grace was upon them all.”  Look at the two verses that bracket this action – “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and one soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.”  (2:32)  Then, “There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned land or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.  They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” (2:34-35)

Christ is risen.  We’re talking about new life.  We’re talking about a new way of being; a new way of living life together.  Poverty had been eliminated in this group of Christ followers.  Wow!

We’re talking about giving.  We’re talking about living in what I like to call an open-handed stance or posture.  Living open-handedly.  This very much goes against what we see happening all around us.  Income disparity.  The widening gap between the haves and have-nots.  Reducing people to labels like 'haves' and 'have-nots'.  Relationships being reduced to transactions.  The worthy of a person determined by how much they have.  The so-called wisdom of the world.  Cash is king!  Those who have the gold make the rules.  Gotta get that bag.  We’ve come to hear good news this morning, so let us hear these words from Jesus in the midst of all that noise.  “It will not be so among you.”

It will not be so with you.  It will not be so with us, beloved and Holy Spirit-filled people of God.  Christ is risen and Jesus is Lord, and life in Christ is not only about going to see Jesus when we die and whatever happens in the meantime happens.  It is about life in Christ that goes beyond death, of course.  We want to take what it means to be in Christ (along with Christ in you, the hope of glory) seriously and be ever more coming to a fuller understanding of what this means.  Life in Christ is forgiveness.  Life in Christ is living in the grace of God.  Life in Christ is restoration or wholeness.  Life in Christ is belonging in a community where mutual support is the thing. 

Life in Jesus is not about separating spiritual matters and temporal matters.  Perhaps we should talk in terms of kingdom matters.  Everything is a kingdom matter.  I want to take this seriously.  It’s a matter of life and death.  We see this reflected in Barnabas, Ananias, and Saphira. 

Luke is describing the early church, and he’s not painting an idealized picture.  This story is harsh.  It’s also beautiful.  That line between harshness and beauty runs through each congregation.  If we look at ourselves honestly, we may find it runs through each and every one of us. 

Here’s the beauty. 

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and one soul…  The church was living in the power of the resurrected Christ.  New life.  Life in the Holy Spirit of God.  The prophet Jeremiah had described it like this: “I will give them one heart and one way…” (Jer 32:39).  One heart.  One love.  You don’t have to be in church to hear this message or to get this message – to get its inherent rightness.  Luke’s audience would have been familiar with lines like these from Aristotle – “Among friends ‘everything is common’ is quite correct, for friendship consists of sharing.”  Or this – “A friend is one soul dwelling in two bodies.”  We learn this ideal from a very young age.  It’s a lesson that we need to learn.  “Caring Means Sharing” was the title of the 9^th episode in the first season of Barney. 

Everyone can get behind this idea, right?

The thing was, in this community, it was happening.  Everything was shared, including their possessions. It’s a description of how the church was operating in Jerusalem at the time.  A whole new way of living was being enacted.  This is what the Holy Spirit was enabling in this community.  A whole new social order.  People continued to own things.  The church continued to meet in houses.  They shared.   We have become sharers in the life of the risen Christ.  We are sharers in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.  With great power, the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.  There was not a needy person among them.  Again, looking back to the OT, the commands are being fulfilled through the power of God’s grace and the Holy Spirit filling this community of faith. Deut 15:4 – “There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy,”

God’s grace was being worked out in tangible ways.  Being of one heart and one soul does not simply mean all agree on everything – we most certainly don’t.  Rather, being of one heart and one soul works out in tangible ways, including what we do with our time and what we do with our money.  This community was to be/is to be a reflection of how we were created to live, how we were created to do life together and how we are enabled to live and to do life together.  In our day we stand in direct opposition to a world where your number one concern is yourself and the accumulation of money and stuff because that, after all, is where we find our security. 

In the midst of this we stand and declare that is it by the grace of God and absolutely no merit of our own that we are sharers in the life of the crucified and risen Christ Jesus and that this truth is for every aspect of our lives.

“As many as owned houses or land sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.  They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as they had need.”  There was no requirement.  The distribution was made on an as-needed basis. No one had too much, no one had too little.  It was a principle that would encompass not only individuals, but churches.  It became a thing to such an extent that Paul had to warn the church in Thessalonica about people in the church taking advantage of generosity and freeloading (2 Thess 3:10).  The early church writing the Didache talked of welcoming people coming in the Lord’s name.  They must not stay except two or three days, the Didache outlined.  “If they wish to settle among you, let them not be idle.  If they don’t cooperate, they are Christ-peddlers.  Beware of such!”  The point here is that the concept of sharing was such a thing that the church had to be warned about the potential dangers.

And then Luke provides us with an example.  Isn’t it wonderful to learn by example from people who reflect the ways of God? We thank God for such people, don’t we?  Joseph from Cyprus.  Cyprus Joe.  He’ll reappear in our story later.  The apostles gave him a nickname.  Barnabas.  Son of encouragement.  Lord help us to live up to such a name!  Daughter of encouragement.  Son of encouragement.  The Holy Spirit was working powerfully through Barnabas. He sold a field.  We don’t know where the field was.  It could have been back in Cyprus.  The point, though, is that he sold a field, then brought all of the money that had been paid for that field and laid it at the disciples’ feet.

Distribute it as needed, so that no one would be in need.  This was the kind of thing that the Spirit of God was doing among this group of people. 

Then we have the story of Ananias and Saphira. It is not all just sweetness and light for the church, as anyone who has been around churches for any significant amount of time knows.  How much do we need God’s grace? It’s not just about threats or indifference or challenges from without.  They exist within as well.  The Spirit of God is moving and working, and at the same time, Satan is going about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.  Someone has has said this about sin, “Sin is a parasite, an uninvited guest that keeps tapping its host for sustenance. Nothing about sin is its own; all its power, persistence, and plausibility are stolen goods. Sin is not really an entity but a spoiler of entities, not an organism but a leech on organisms. Sin does not build shalom; it vandalizes it.”  The Satan, the liar, the tempter, the deceiver, wants to make his voice heard.  The same voice who said to Jesus “If you are the Son of God then serve yourself, seek fame, seek power.”  The voice that says, “This is yours, you worked hard for it.”  The voice that says, “I’m just barely getting by myself, what can I be expected to do?” or “Security is to be found in your financial assets, hold on to what you have and make it a primary goal to get as much as you possibly can.”  Where is this getting humanity? We listen to Jesus’ voice.  Why do you worry about your security, what you will eat, drink, wear, when your heavenly Father knows you need them?  My security is in Christ, and his grace is enough.  Let us ask for boldness in our generosity. It’s maybe not greed that causes us to hold on as much as fear – fear of market collapse, fear of property values dropping, fear of running out of money in retirement.  To grow and mature in our rootedness in Christ is to grow in trust that he is our security.  To grow in generosity.  Open-handedness. 

1. Giving money and goods away (funny that we call possessions goods) is not about meeting a requirement.  I’ve said before, I’ll never stand up here and make an appeal for cash.  Having said that, there are financial aspects to continuing to be the church in this context in North Toronto.  We are called to be supportive.  The ancient tithe or 10% has long been a guideline for Christians.  We all need to work that out together and with God.  There was no requirement of selling everything and laying it at the apostle’s feet in this community of faith.  There wouldn’t have been a problem for Ananias and Sapphira to say, “Hey, we sold this property for $40,000 and want to give the church half!”  Great!  It was the lying about it.  It was the misrepresentation.  It was the religious hypocrisy. 

They both die, and this seems harsh.  Let us look at the rest of that verse we looked at earlier from Jeremiah.  “I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for all time, for their own good and the good of their children after them.”  This is not to see that we need to be walking around fearfully thinking, “Holy Spirit, please don’t kill me.”  We’re talking about fear of our holy God.  Awe.  Reverence of a God who is as close as our breath and at the same time is wholly other.  God, who has promised to one day make everything right, and this making right project is already underway.  We’re called to be a part of it, and lying to one another is completely antithetical to this project.  It meant death for Ananias and Sapphira.  There are consequences to such actions.  Self-serving deceit is the opposite of life together. It is the death of life together.  Moses laid out the choice long ago to the people of Israel. “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Choose life…”

Choose life.  Choose life in the risen Christ.  Choose grace.  We’re coming to the Lord’s Table where we remember and celebrate and look forward to grace – unmerited goodness from the generous God to whom we belong.  May our eating and drinking together be a sign of our desire to be shaped in the image of Jesus, living in a posture of openhandedness.  May this be true for all of us.   Amen.