6/4/23 The Early Church - Part 3

The Early Church – Part 3

Acts 2:42-47

About 6 years ago, my wife & I were attending a high school track and Field competition where our daughter Lexy was competing.

Has anyone here ever attended a high school track & field meet?...they can be exciting, right?...there are multiple events going on all at once. It’s kind of like a 3-ring circus but without the elephants or clowns...at least without the professional clowns!

In my opinion, the only downside of a track meet is that they last forever!!

What got me through many of those late-night meets were the concession stands….After all, if I’m going to be held hostage for 4 hours sitting on ice cold bleachers – in April – in Wisconsin – I’m gonna need a steady stream of hot chocolate and a warm walking tacos!! 😊

One night, our daughter was participating in the 4x400 relay, and if you are familiar with standard track & field scheduling, you know that the 4x400 is always the last event of the night. There’s No going home early if your kid is running in that race.….brutal.

So anyway, just as the race began, one of the participants tripped and did a nasty face-plant right into the hard track surface.

What came next, however, was even more shocking.

There were 2 girls running behind her in staggered lanes (Both from opposing teams) that saw this runner go down ahead of them.

Immediately, BOTH of these girls stopped running their races to offer aid to this athlete who was still face down on the track.

Doing this, however, had serious consequences:

Both of these runners essentially forfeited the race for their respective teams because they would never cross the finish line – rather, they helped the injured girl to her feet and assisted her to the sideline where they stayed with her until medical personnel arrived.

These girls instinctively saw something happen and their minds immediately prioritized the situation – and the priority that each of these girls instinctively reacted upon was one of self-less assistance.

It was an inspiring “reaction of compassion” on the part of these young ladies – one that I still remember to this day. I’m sure that every frozen spectator that night left with a similar feeling….

A feeling that the priority of love for one’s neighbor rose to be the most important aspect of that night. A realization that sacrificial compassion had just transcended everything else….It was, indeed, a beautiful moment.

Regardless of anything else that happened that night – the PR’s, the victories, the defeats, the strong finishes --- these 2 young ladies were the real heroes on that cold April night. Their actions spoke volumes about their character.

I’m not sure if either of these young ladies was raised in a Christian home, but I’d be willing to bet they were. At least, I would hope so, because this is what a follower of Jesus Christ should look like.

What these two runners exemplified so well is a type of behavior referred to as “Altruism.”

Essentially, altruism is when someone acts in such a way as to promote the welfare of someone else, even when there is a risk or cost involved to themselves.

To put it another way, Altruism is a desire to benefit someone other than oneself for no other reason than of that person’s well-being.

We can probably all think of instances of altruistic behavior:

-         The person who gives their lunch away to someone in need.

-         The individual who sacrifices an entire evening consoling an acquaintance who is experiencing a difficult time.

-         The good Samaritan who stops along the road to help a complete stranger change a flat tire.

-         (More seriously) The soldier who falls on a grenade to save the rest of his squadron…..or the person who shoves the child out of the way of a moving vehicle just to be struck by the vehicle themself.

As much as we *think* we know about humanity in the 21st century, Altruism still confuses the so called ‘experts’ in the fields of Psychology and Sociology. So many of these highly educated people cannot understand why someone would act in a purely altruistic manner.

Remember, the majority of social scientists hold to an evolutionary model of life. According to the principles of evolution, the actions of all animals (Including Humans) is naturally based upon self-preservation and natural selection.

At its core, natural selection involves the idea that those who are the strongest and the most selfish are rewarded with the passing on of their genetic information to successive generations. This, according to the evolutionary naturalist, is the prized trophy of life.

In his landmark book “The Selfish Gene”, world-renown evolutionary scientist Richard Dawkins attempts to persuade his readers that true altruism really doesn’t exist. He claims that every action on the part of man or beast is the result of a selfish expectation of receiving something positive in return.

In his book, Dawkins writes: “….Disinterested Altruism (In other words, acts of kindness toward strangers without the expectation of being compensated in any way) is something that has no place in nature, something that has never existed before in the whole history of the world.” (The Selfish Gene, p.179)

Tell that to the person who donates a kidney to someone they will likely never meet. Tell that to people who volunteer at soup kitchens and food pantries. Tell that to volunteer fire fighters and medical personnel. Tell that to two of our own who are in the air right now headed for missionary work in Guatemala.

Tell that to the disciples who willingly succumbed to persecution and martyrdom in order to reach those around them with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dawkins and much of the scientific-humanistic establishment simply cannot wrap their minds around the legitimacy of altruistic behavior…It doesn’t fit their framework of reality; it doesn’t agree with their paradigm of universal self-preservation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our passage for today in Acts chapter 2 (Specifically verses 44 and 45) is saturated with altruism!

In fact, Altruistic behavior is one of the central themes throughout the New Testament.

In Matthew 22:39 Jesus himself tells us that the second greatest commandment (behind the command to love God with our entire being) is to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  To actually do this, we must place the needs of others on par with those of our own.

This is altruism.

1 John 3:16 says: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

This is altruism.

Paul tells us in Philippians 2:4 that “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

This is altruism.

Remember the story of Paul and Silas as they had the opportunity to escape from prison following an earthquake in Acts chapter 16? They knew, however, that if they ran to freedom, the jailor would have lost his life. Instead, they hang around all through the night and - eventually - bring the jailor and his family to faith in Christ.

This is altruism.

Verses 44 & 45 of today’s passage paint a beautiful picture of altruism in as pure of a form as you will ever find on this planet.

Verse 44 begins by telling us that all of these early believers were “together” and that they had “Everything in common.”

Keep the context of this verse in mind: Many of these people were from distant parts of the region who had just become followers of Jesus after being ‘cut to the heart’ by Peter’s Spirit-filled sermon on the day of Pentecost.

Rather than going back home, many had decided to stay in Jerusalem to learn more about their new faith.

Obviously, in those days, they were not able to book a room at the local Holiday Inn, so where did they stay?....They stayed with believers who already were living in Jerusalem.

In 1st century Hebrew culture, it was commonplace – actually expected – that one would open up their home for pilgrims and travelers needing a place to stay, therefore, they were physically “Together.”

But they were also together spiritually as well.

The last part of verse 44 describes these new believers in the early church as having “Everything in common.”

This was certainly a very special and unique time in the history of the church. One might say that the days and weeks following Pentecost demonstrated the most spiritually pure form that the church will ever experience…just like a newborn baby is the purest form of humanity that we are able to experience.

Personally, I see the intense cohesiveness and unity displayed here in the early church as a small slice of what we will experience in Heaven. When Luke says that the believers had ‘everything in common’, he is saying that they were all completely devoted to loving God and loving each other – and that is what we will be doing in Heaven!

Luke describes the early church’s fierce commitment to unity in the first few words of Acts 4:32 “All the believers were one in heart and mind…”

For a brief time, the church exemplified its spiritual potential to the fullest– it wasn’t absolutely perfect, but it shows us what the church can be if ALL of its members choose to devote 100% of themselves to the four activities mentioned in verse 42 of today’s passage…remember those?

-         The Apostles teaching (Scripture)

-         Fellowship

-         The breaking of bread

-         Prayer

This reminds me of something called the caratage measurement in gold.

When gold is in its purest form, it is referred to as 24 carat gold.

If other metals are mixed in with the gold, the caratage goes down. So In other words, the lower the caratage, the lower the amount of gold is present in that specific piece of jewelry.

For instance, 18 carat gold contains 75% pure gold and 25% other metals such as copper or silver.

14 carat gold is 58% pure gold and 42% other metals.

10 carat gold is 42% pure gold and 58% other metals.

Did you know that gold becomes harder and more rigid when you begin to add other metals to it?  Pure 24k gold is actually very soft.

Like 24k gold, the early church demonstrated a softness of heart toward one another that shows us what untainted love for one another actually looks like…and just like pure gold, it is Beautiful !

Over time, man’s sinful impurites began to mix into the church and hearts became hardened a bit, much like pure gold hardens when mixed with other, less desireable, metals.

It didn’t take long for man’s sin to affect the early church. In just a few chapters down the road in Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira come onto the scene and lie to the other members of the church… Remember that?

A little later, Acts chapter 6 deals with a problem that arose involving certain people feeling as though they had not been treated fairly...

We begin to see hurt feelings – broken promises – careless words…stuff like that has never happened here though, right?...Well, It happens in every church because every church is made up of imperfect, sin-stained people.

If we were to assign a carat measurement to our church, what would it be? Do you think we would be 20k?... 18k?...14k?...10k? (Hopefully at least 10k – did you know that anything below 10 carats isn’t even considered gold due to all of the other metals mixed in with it…)

Likewise, what carat measurement would you give your own walk with the Lord? Personally, some days, I wonder if I even classify as gold. Perhaps some of you can relate to that.

But I am truly excited to see how the Lord is moving here at LACC…I believe that He has amazing and inspiring things in store for this community of believers – and much of what He intends to do here hinges upon our level of devotion to Him and to each other…Our “Togetherness” and “Commonality” will be key to God moving this church forward and reaching this community for Christ.

For this to happen (Despite our differences) we need to see each other as family.

Healthy families support each other through the good times as well as through the difficult times…the members are there for each other during the spiritual victories as well as after the spiritual defeats!

Healthy families don’t give up on each other! We encourage each other no matter what life throws our way.

Healthy families pray for each other. Healthy families talk to each other.

Healthy families eat together.

How many of you grew up in a home where every member of the family met around the dinner table at least once a day?....what a golden opportunity to talk about important things, right? – a time to talk about life….This is so important to the unity of the family.

In 1st Corinthians chapter 12, Paul likens our church family to that of a body. He talks about how each part – the hand, the foot, the eyes, the ears – each of these parts are special and indispensable.

In verse 27 of 1st Corinthians chapter 12 Paul concludes by saying “Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a part of it.”

How “Together” are we as a body of believers?  How healthy are we?

The overall health of a body depends upon the health of its individual parts.

Do we have a little congestion in our lungs this morning?....a little nagging cough?

Maybe our spiritual body has an earache that just won’t go away because someone was the recipient of hurtful comments, or perhaps we have a sprained ankle that isn’t healing very quickly because the body was asking too much of it and it gave way.

What Paul is saying is that for any church to be healthy, we must all agree to function properly and effectively with the gifts that God has given us.

Verse 45 of our passage for today describes the tangible results of the spiritual unity of the early church.

Verse 45 tells us that these believers cared for each other to the extent that they would occasionally sell some of their possessions to assist a brother or sister in need.

This is an amazing passage of scripture - Jesus knew how attached to wealth we humans can be, and here in Acts chapter 2 we see people willingly (dare I say, Joyfully) part with their material stuff in order to help others.

Remember the rich young ruler in Mark chapter 10? Jesus tells him to sell his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor. He walks away disheartened because he is too attached to his wealth…like many people are today.

Or how about the parable of the rich fool in Luke chapter 12 who, rather than being benevolent with his overabundance, decides to tear down his barns and build bigger ones to store his extra wealth. The man decides to take it easy, to “eat, drink, and be merry.” He dies shortly after – his life forever a testimony to the spiritual result of a selfish lifestyle.

Conversely, the believers here in Acts chapter 2 display a lifestyle completely opposite to that of the rich young ruler and the foolish rich farmer - they live (At least for a time) in a way that is completely opposite to that of their human nature.…And that is what God is calling all of us to do as well.

One final thing regarding verse 45 – Contrary to what a few people may try to assert, this verse is NOT in any way describing a primitive form of Communism or Socialism.

The kind of wealth distribution found in these oppressive economic systems are completely different on numerous fronts:

1)     The sharing of wealth in Acts chapter 2 was completely voluntary. We see in the account of Ananias and Saphira in Acts chapter 5 that they had the option to do whatever they wanted with the sale of their property – they were under no compulsion to give any certain amount to the church.

2)     These early believers still owned private property, including homes. Verse 46 of our passage for today reminds us that they “Broke bread in their homes and ate together.”

3)     Lastly, wealth-sharing is never successful when attempted through a government system or through a secular commune society because, on his own, man is simply too sinful to make it work. This has been evidenced over and over through the decades. Only through voluntary, Holy-Spirit led giving can a situation like what we see in Acts chapter 2 ever be successful.

In conclusion, like those two young track athletes who altruistically sacrificed their own chance at success and recognition, God is calling each of us to navigate our own race in such a way as to care immensely for those who are “running” alongside of us….especially our teammates – those brothers and sisters in Christ who belong to the household of faith.

Today, let’s all make the decision to live our lives completely for God and for each other…let’s pick one another up when we fall flat on our face…let’s celebrate our spiritual victories with each other…let’s laugh with each other…let’s cry with each other…and when a physical need arises in the body, let’s give generously!

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, allow God to fashion your heart into a beautiful 24 carat, one-of-a-kind work of art!

Let’s Pray.