Sunday, April 27, 2008: Faith and Community

Faith and Community
Acts 4: 32 – 5: 11.

I. Introduction.

When I was pastor in Mississippi, I was expected to become a member of the Canton Rotary Club. I had never been a member of a service club before. I had been given opportunities to join clubs when I was in high school and college, but I had never joined. In high school, I played on the high school soccer team and worked during soccer season as a referee. I wasn’t a hardship case; the kind of student who had to work to help support my family. But I made a little spending money by refereeing soccer games and doing something I enjoyed doing.

In college, I had a little bit of scholarship money and a work study job in order to play soccer. We practiced every day during the season, and when it wasn’t soccer season, I managed to find plenty of things to do with my time outside of clubs.

So, I didn’t really want to join the Rotary Club…

But there were a group of 80 year old men who would not take “No” for an answer. There was one man in particular—Robert Filgo—who insisted that I join the Rotary Club. When we first got settled into town, Mr. Filgo called and told me that he would pick me up on Thursday for Rotary. I was to be his guest.

We went to the local “fish house.” I don’t know if we even have “fish houses” in Texas. In Mississippi, a “fish house” is a restaurant that just appears on the side of a two lane highway, usually in the middle of nowhere. They are places to eat fried catfish—I say fried catfish as if there is any other way to eat catfish. They aren’t the fanciest of restaurants, but the fish, hushpuppies and French fries are always pretty good.

The fish house had a large back room, reserved every Thursday for the Rotary Club. The room had seating for about fifty people. The Rotary Club had forty members and a regular attendance of 25 – 30.

When I walked into the back room, the first thing I noticed that day was that the Rotary Club was all men. The second thing I noticed was that I was by far the youngest man in the room. I estimate that when I eventually joined, I brought the average age down to approximately 89.

Mr. Filgo took me to his table and invited me to sit down. We were the first ones at our table. The next man to come to our table told me that I was sitting in his seat. So, he took the seat next to me. The next four or five men who came to our table told me that I was sitting in Cecil’s seat and Cecil was in Jim’s seat, so everyone had to find a new place to sit. It was very uncomfortable for me to know I had messed up the entire Rotary Club by sitting in Cecil’s seat.

We ate our catfish, and the Rotary president called our meeting to order. We stood. Someone said a prayer. We saluted the flag and said the Pledge of Allegiance. Then, I noticed the only woman in the room. She was the piano player. The song leader stood up and announced that there would be no song books that day, because we would sing a song everyone knew by heart. The Rotary Song.

R-O-T-A-R-Y…
That Spells Rotary…
R-O-T-A-R-Y…
Is known on land and sea…
From North to South…
And East to West…
He profits most who serves the best…
R-O-T-A-R-Y…
That Spells Rotary…

Well, it was my first time at Rotary and my first time in any club meeting, so I did not know the Rotary Song. I just stood there feeling dumb, lost and not a little bit uncomfortable.

Then, we heard a presentation from an invited guest. At the conclusion of his presentation, the Rotary president came back to the microphone and announced, “Let’s stand and say the club motto as we are dismissed.” Again, I didn’t know the club motto, so I stood uncomfortably and then shook hands with all the well meaning Rotarians as we left the fish house.

When I got back to my office, I thought about how uncomfortable the whole scenario had been and how I would probably NEVER go to the Rotary Club again.

And then, all of a sudden, rather unexpectedly…I had a thought. I wonder if this is the way people feel when they come to church?

If someone comes to our church today for the first time, how will they perceive church? Do we seem to be a genuine community of people who welcome new people? Or, do we seem like a “closed group?” Do we have strange customs and rituals that outsiders find uncomfortable and just a little disturbing?

Do new people know where to sit? Do church members draw attention to the fact that someone is sitting in their seat?

Do we sing songs that sound strange to new people? Do we expect them to know the words to the strange songs?

I don’t want to sound too negative about the church. There is a negative side to our community. But there is also a very positive side.

If you subscribe to the email prayer list, then you have seen several “Thank You” notes come through your email this week. Three of our church members communicated through this email list how God answered their prayers. And all three of these “Thank You’s” said something like this, “I just don’t know what I would do without my church family.”

Church is perhaps the only community many of us have that truly takes care of each other during the trials of life. We pray for each other in times of crisis. We bring food to people who are grieving or to people who are recovering from surgery. We provide a community of support like nothing else in the contemporary world.

But, this begs the question…Why would anyone want to be a part of the church in Twenty-First Century American culture? The answer is very simple. People will want to be a part of our community, IF they can see that we are making a difference. However, if the church is just a place to go on Sundays and kill a couple of hours, then they have better things to do with their time.

In the book of Acts, it was obvious that the church was making a difference!

Read Acts 4: 32 – 5: 11.

It seems rather ordinary. Luke gives us an ordinary look into the life of the early church. On one hand, this reads sort of like a news account of the normal ordinary occurrences inside the early church. If this were a small town newspaper, it would end with the classic statement: “And a good time was had by all…”

On the other hand, Luke reports something rather extraordinary. The church was a new and different kind of community. It was not like the Rotary Club. It was not like the Junior League. It was not like the PTA. This is a group of people who are committed to each other. They genuinely loved each other and they truly meet the physical and emotional needs of their culture.

Don’t let this Scripture worry you. I do not intend to suggest that we give all our money to the church and form a socialist society where no one has his or her own property. I don’t want to suggest this, because I don’t believe it was what was taking place in the early church.

In the first place the Scripture says that the church members sold their property “from time to time.” If this had been a socialist society, they could not sell their property “from time to time.” No, they would have sold their property ONCE. Then, no one would have any rights to claim individual or family property.

In the second place, the Scripture specifically says that Barnabas sold a field that he “owned.” This was Barnabas’ field. Perhaps it had been handed down through his family for generations. Perhaps it was a field he had bought with the money he had earned in his own employment. Either case, it belonged to Barnabas and not to the leadership of the church.

The key concept for us to grasp in this story is the concept of using our possessions to demonstrate our faith. Barnabas was a man whose life had been changed by a relationship with Jesus Christ as his Lord. Barnabas’ faith was not something he simply talked about. Barnabas lived out his faith by using his resources or his possessions as a source for blessing other people. He saw a need in his church, and he took action to meet that need. He saw a family in need, and he took action to meet that need. In other words, Barnabas allowed God to use him to answer the prayers of other people.


II. The Difference Between Barnabas and Ananias and Sapphira.

The story that comes after this, makes Barnabas’ story difficult to interpret. Barnabas sold a field and gave ALL the money to the church. Ananias and Sapphira sold a field and gave a PORTION of the money to the church. God honored Barnabas’ gift, but God killed Ananias and Sapphira.

On first glance, it seems that God wants people to give all their money to the church. Anyone who withholds money from God will be struck dead on the spot. But that is not how I read this story. I think we need to take a close look at the motives for the ones who gave their money to the church.

The Barnabas story comes right on the heels of Luke’s explanation that the church members sold property and gave the proceeds in response to real needs in the community. The Ananias and Sapphira story comes right on the heels of the Barnabas story. The need had been met. Ananias and Sapphira were not trying to meet a specific need. They were giving for another reason.

I think there are two choices for Ananias and Sapphira’s motivation. Perhaps Ananias and Sapphira were giving because Barnabas’ gift made them feel guilty. Or, and this is what I believe is the case, Ananias and Sapphira were jealous of the attention Barnabas got for his extraordinary gift. So, they tried to imitate Barnabas’ generosity. They wanted other people to think they were doing the same thing Barnabas had done.

However, Ananias and Sapphira did NOT do the same thing Barnabas had done. They sold property. They gave money to the church. They told the church they had done the same thing Barnabas had done. BUT, they were lying. They were trying to get credit for something they did not do. They wanted to be recognized by the church and rewarded for being generous.


III. Faith Leads to Community.

Money is not the only thing this Scripture talks about. Money is just the only thing we notice when we read it.

Money is actually the third and final thing mentioned in this Scripture.

Verse 32…All the believers were one in heart and mind…

There was a unity among the church members like nothing the ancient world had ever seen. This does not mean the Christians / Believers had turned into robots or that they had stopped to think for themselves. No. This indicates a kind of selflessness that is only possible through Jesus.

Naturally, all people think about themselves. It is unnatural for people to think about others or to be concerned about what other people need.

This can be true in the church as well as outside the church. Would you believe there are people who think church is all about them? I don’t mean our church. I’m talking about people in other churches. I know it is hard even to imagine this. But there are people who will go to one church as long as it “meets their needs and expectations.” And the moment things are not going the way they think they ought to go, they drop out.

This is the normal state of human life. Everyone wants the very best for themselves. It’s not normal to think about what other people need. It’s not normal, but it is possible once our lives have been changed by Jesus.

Verse 33…With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all…

Everyone who saw this church knew there was something different about the people and the community they made up. This church was not focused on itself. This church was focused on the people outside the church. They knew Jesus. They had been changed by Jesus. And, they wanted their friends, family members and neighbors to know Jesus too. They told the story of Jesus: his death and resurrection. They witnessed to everyone and invited them to become a part of their community.

IV. Conclusion.

The message of Acts 4 and 5 is a message about being changed by faith in Jesus. It’s not about money. But the way we use our money is one way we can know about the change in our lives.

In some ways, I think Twenty-First Century America is a lot like First Century Jerusalem. Money is our god. Money is our Lord. We will do anything just to have a little more money. We allow money to control us and boss us around.

If Jesus is the Lord of your life, then you can only have one Boss. Jesus is Boss. Jesus is the One who controls us. Money does not control people who are followers of Jesus.

We can use our money in ways that demonstrate our love for Jesus and the people of our community.