Daniel told me his wife thinks it is more meaningful to spend money to help the impoverished community rather than spending money on expensive jewellery.
Can you imagine how interesting it was when Daniel actually proposed to his wife? He didn't use a ring but the donation receipt.
This is indeed a beautiful and touching story; not only did the husband give the wife what she really wanted, but also their love story's blessings extend to the needy far away.
Yes. Today's message is about giving. But not just giving. It's about the demonstration of the Gospel; together with the proclamation of the Gospel, God is glorified, and His people thrive.
Today's scripture readings from Acts shows that the early Church in Jerusalem has grown rapidly after the resurrection of Jesus. Thousands heard the word and believed in Jesus and got baptized. Of course, we know, in accordance with the custom of that time, the numbers recorded in Acts include only men. The actual total number may be twice the amount provided in the text.
In spite of the fact that the early Church was small, had no money, and the government was against them, the brand new, fast-growing Christian community achieved a remarkable unity as well as a great testimony that the Gospel was spread to many.
My sermon's focus today is that to achieve such a mission, the proclamation and the demonstration of the Gospel are equally important.
As many of you may have an impression from the texts that it's all about giving and helping those in need, v.33 is often missed out by readers. "With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all." This verse speaks of the great power by which the apostles testified to the resurrection of Christ.
Luke, the author of the Book of Acts, inserted v.33 into the middle of the discussion about the believers' shared possessions to illustrate the relationship of the proclamation of the Gospel to the demonstration of helping the needy.
To testify to the power of resurrection, the early church leaders worked on proclaiming the Gospel, while the whole community worked on demonstrating the Gospel by sharing their estates and helping the needy.
Now let me first focus on the demonstration of the Gospel. In v.32, "Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common."
The early Church's practise reminds us of the mission of the Messiah that Jesus read in a synagogue. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." The year of the Lord's favor is a year that the poor are freed from their debts, meaning everyone is free from any bondages. Everyone gets to start over and live an abundant life. The Messiah frees people not just in the spiritual dimension, but also in the physical dimension.
However, many believers missed this integrity of the Gospel. They either neglect the part of helping people physically, which means they just spread the Gospel through words and talking without demonstrating the Gospel's freeing power, or they put evangelism as a priority over helping people's physical need in this living world. In this case, helping the needy becomes the means to convert people into Christianity.
I once heard an interesting (and ironic) story. A man was trapped under the car in an accident, and it was so painful. A Christian passed by and talked to the man, saying, "Hey, do you feel pain? You gotta believe in Jesus. He cares for you, and he is the liberator of pain." However, the Christian did nothing to help the man get out of the pain.
Does it sound familiar with your experience living in a Christian community? How would this man feel? Of course, it's terrible, and he wouldn't believe in Jesus then.
The Gospel is good news to everyone that God liberates us holistically. And when we join God's mission to spread the Gospel, we do it holistically, which means we proclaim the good news, and we act to demonstrate the good news. We act to free everyone from physical plights.
In the texts today, the power of resurrection impacted the early church members; their action demonstrated Jesus's mission to free his people from poverty.
Like Jesus, they do care about the needy. They sacrificed their possessions to help them, leading to a beautiful scenario: "There was not a needy person among them." Just like the wonderful scene in today's Psalm reading: "How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!"
I say this is the result due to the impact of the power of resurrection, because this beautiful scenario in the early church community appeared not before but after Jesus's resurrection. For the early Church, resurrection is something they actually, genuinely encountered. When Jesus appeared to them before his ascension, he asked them to witness to the Gospel. There is no way the church can neglect this very command, and to them, the Gospel is not verbal but should be put into practice for others to witness
Today is the second Sunday after Easter; is the power of resurrection still with you? Or is it gone after the Easter holiday? Today's message reminds us that if we truly believe our Lord has risen, we are energized. We ought to follow His command and witness the Gospel in our community.
The early Church worked so hard to be witnesses of the Gospel as they waited for Jesus to come back. As a faith community of one heart and soul, they love one another. They cherish people more than any earthly possessions.
To cherish people more is the key to let go of our attachment to possessions. If we love our possessions more than people, we surely don't want to give away our estates. And the question here is, how do we transform our minds so that we do cherish people more? Let's turn our eyes to Jesus.
Jesus's resurrection is inextricably connected with his crucifixion. God did not just raise Jesus from any death, but death on the cross, signifying ultimate self-emptying and sacrifice. Jesus died bankrupt and bereft, stripped of all earthly possessions. Yet, Jesus didn't just die. Most importantly, He was raised from the dead, redeeming the relationship between God and His people and creation.
The crucified and risen Jesus inspires his followers to find a new life that is far more important than any earthly possessions.
Like Daniel and his wife in the story I told you initially, they undeniably live a life that cherishes people more than any earthly possessions. For them, they don’t want to be shaped by material things that the world values nowadays. Sometimes it's just the commercials' strategy to tell us it is a must to have a high-value ring for a man to express his love to his beloved. But it is not the value shown in the bible, nor the lesson Jesus taught us. The bible and the testimony of Jesus encourages us to sacrifice our possessions to help others because people are more precious.
A reminder here about the text: we should not picture that all early church members were placing all their property in a common fund. This congregation did not form a communal society that required all possessions to be put in a common pot. Donations were given on a voluntary basis.
In the coming chapter, Acts chapter 5, Peter rebukes the couple Ananias and Sapphira for trying to deceive the Church by making it appear as if they were more generous than they really were. Peter comments, "While you kept it, didn't it remain your own? After it was sold, wasn't it in your power? How is it that you have conceived this thing in your heart? You haven't lied to men, but to God." (5:4). In other words, their sin was dishonesty, not the fact that they still owned property. The gift in the community was completely voluntary.
Another clue telling us that their gifts were voluntary is, as we can observe in the New Testament, many of the believers lived in their own homes (2:46; 12:12). This tells us they had their own estates. They did not simply sell everything and pool all the money. Rather, they sold it off piece by piece, as needed. They continued to live in their own houses but were willing to give to the community when needs arose.
Sisters and brothers, to demonstrate the Gospel, we need to make sure that there is no one who is in need in our community. And the problem is not in what we have; it's in our attachment to what we have. We can have our possessions, they are good. However, we don't attach ourselves to the possessions but to the loving community, people. Like the crucified Jesus who emptied himself for His beloved people, or the united early church community, we don't claim private ownership of any possessions. When we see someone in need, we can sacrifice to help.
Today's message is not just to encourage you to sacrifice, but also to celebrate the Church's testimony.
From the beginning, the Church has been committed to the principle of giving, and it still is. Today, the Church is making a difference worldwide because it comprises millions of individuals who cherish people more than earthly possessions. Millions of Christ's followers are energized by the power of resurrection and wholeheartedly follow the example of Jesus's sacrifice.
In fact, if all the good things being done in the name of Christ were to suddenly stop, the world would spin into chaos. Thousands would become homeless; hundreds of thousands would have no food to eat; millions of children wouldn't have decent clothes to wear.
Although, there are still those in need in the world, unlike the beautiful scenario in Acts. The Church is genuinely making a difference. This the Gospel. This is a demonstration showing the whole world the power of Jesus.
Praise the Lord!
As I pointed out earlier, in the middle of the discussion of generosity. v.33 is about the proclamation of the Gospel.
"With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all."
What is "great grace"? the phrase is ambiguous here. Grace with whom? We can find out the meaning here through the text in a parallel statement in 2:47: "And having the goodwill of all the people". The Greek word that is translated as "great grace" is "Charis", the same as the one translated as "goodwill" in Chapter 2. This draws a conclusion that "great grace" means the community's favour with outsiders.
Yes. The early church community was having an excellent relationship with the district. And their generosity was so visible, witnessing Christ's power in the whole area. The community's generosity itself becomes a tangible "sign" that authenticates its message of Jesus. This becomes a "great power" for the apostles to give testimonies to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. That's the proclamation of the Gospel.
Now don't get me wrong. The Demonstration of the Gospel is definitely not a tactic to achieve the proclamation – to convert people into Christianity. To free people from physical pain and bondage is the thing that Jesus cares about so much; it is the Gospel itself; it stands alone beautifully.
To close my sharing, I would like to read the Micah Declaration on Integral Mission:
Integral mission or holistic transformation is the proclamation and demonstration of the Gospel. It is not simply that evangelism and social involvement are to be done alongside each other. Rather, in integral mission our proclamation has social consequences as we call people to love and repentance in all areas of life. And our social involvement has evangelistic consequences as we bear witness to the transforming grace of Jesus Christ. If we ignore the world we betray the word of God which sends us out to serve the world. If we ignore the word of God we have nothing to bring to the world.'
Amen
