Grace and Sin in the Early Church. Acts 4:32-37
We have certain boundaries which are
established within the Scripture and they are all built on one important
foundation, the foundation of personal responsibility. The first divine
institution: we are all responsible before God in terms of living our life as
He would have us to live it—serving Him. One of the primary missions of Adam in
the garden was to guard and to serve (work) the garden. This aspect of
Christian service unfortunately has been distorted by many within so-called
fundamentalist or evangelical circles as a means of spirituality when it is actually
a result of spirituality. It is the result of spiritual growth, not the means
of spiritual growth. It is part of our responsibility as believers. We don’t
worship God to grow. We worship God as a result of learning about God, learning
who He is and what He has done for us. Worship isn’t a means of spiritual
growth. Giving isn’t a means of spiritual growth, it
is a result of spiritual growth. Christian service, serving in many different
ways within a local church—teaching prep-school, singing in the choir, serving
as an usher or a deacon, or whether it is some sort of behind-the-scenes
ministry such as praying for others, visiting people in the hospital, people
who are sick, people who are home-bound. All of these things are important facets
of the ministry of the local church and should be the normal out-growth of
people’s spiritual maturity.
Unfortunately
the way church have developed historically in the USA and because in our missions programs we export our problems as
well as out good points. We get people into church and want
them to do certain things as part of their spiritual growth rather than as a result
of their spiritual growth, and to be self-motivated. It is not the
responsibility of the deacons or leaders of a church to assign everybody a job
or role and to hyper-organize the church in terms of numerous cell groups. That
is the model that we see today in the church growth movement.
In Acts 4:32-37 we have a progress report
by Luke. Luke does this periodically as we read through Acts and he tells us
what is going on. Previously we have seen progress reports where he is talking
about 3000 being saved in Acts 2:41, then in Acts 4:4 he talks about 5000 men
being added to the church. Here at then end of chapter four we come to another
progress report. All of the events in this period probably cover the first six
months, certainly not more than a year, after the resurrection.
Acts 4:32 NASB “And the
congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one {of
them} claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were
common property to them.” “One heart and one soul” is simply a
picturesque idiom for emphasizing the unity that existed among all of these
believers. Luke doesn’t give a number here, he just
talks about the multitude [congregation]. Think about how large the body of
Christ has become in this period of six months to a year. We can only get some
parameters. At the minimum we are told in 1 Corinthians 15:6 that after the
resurrection Jesus not only appeared to the eleven but also to 500 at one time.
So we know that there were by the day of Pentecost at least 500 believers. In
Acts 2:41
we are told that three thousand were saved, so at the end of the day of
Pentecost we have 3500 church age believers, minimum. Then in Acts 4:4 which is
arguably within the first couple of months we have 5000 men saved. If every one
of those men is married and has two children, and the average family size of
someone at that time in Israel
was probably many more than just two. So if every man was saved and has a wife
and two children then by now there are about 23,500. Some of those men there on
the day of Pentecost were of the diaspora, outside of
Israel.
So let’s just subtract about 5000 or so who went home and we
are left with somewhere between 18,000 to 20,000 church age believers within
the first six months. That is a sizeable number for that short period of
time. But if we are a little more generous and likely a little more realistic,
because during the ministry of John the Baptist and during the ministry of
Jesus there were many more than 500 who became believers and trusted in Him as
Messiah. If we say that Israel at the time of Christ had a population of Jews
of maybe one and a half to two-million and three per cent of the population had
become believers then we have a number of, say, 60,000 or more who had become
believers during the years of Jesus’ ministry. There are passages that indicate
multitudes believed in Him as the Messiah. So if we add that number to the
number saved in Acts 2 and Acts 4 we might have as many as seventy-five
thousand believers in Israel within the first six months or a year.
If we just take the lowest possible
conservative estimate of 20,000, Josephus tells us that there were no more than
6000 males who were officially Pharisees. There weren’t quite as many Sadducees—about
4000. So just suppose that there were in just a period of six months 20,000 (or
40,000 or 60,000) Christians and 10,000 Pharisees and Sadducees, can anybody
say there wasn’t jealousy, envy? They were losing out in the competition and
they were really upset. This new following of Jesus was just exploding and many
of their own members are dropping out and are becoming identified with Christ.
So there was a lot of growth taking place.
With regard to this growth, they are not
using a set methodology to evangelize this large number of people. People are
excited about the fact that they are forgiven, that the Messiah has come, that
they have salvation. And they are telling other people. They don’t have a set
blueprint. People have this idea that if you just get the right pattern, the
right presentation (like salesmanship), if you have the right hook and say the
right words then you are going to have success and are going to build a huge
church because you have the formula for presenting the gospel down. It has all
become advertising and salesmanship rather than the Holy Spirit.
Years ago a pastor said that anybody in
the power of the flesh can build a huge organization—Christian, non-Christian,
business or whatever—if they have talent and they work hard, and it is all done
in the flesh and not in the Spirit. The only thing that matters for eternity is
that which is done in the power of the Spirit and on the basis of the spiritual
gifts that God has given us. It is not about finding that one methodology. What
we find today is that in the latest permutation of apostasy in American
evangelicalism—in the “emerging church” which is the new form of Christianity
which must emerge to communicate to the post-modern mindset of the teens and
twenties and thirty-somethings today—you have to
compromise a lot of truth in order to make Christianity palatable. What happens
when you compromise that truth is that it is no longer Christianity. You have
diluted it and taken out critical doctrines so you are left with something that
really isn’t biblical Christianity at all.
One of the battles we fought with the modernist
church was over methodology. A right thing done in a wrong way is wrong. In
evangelism there are a lot of these evangelism-type methodology that are just a
sort of program that says if you get into it and follow the formula then you
are going to build a great big church. Today they don’t talk about methodology
in the “emerging church” anymore. If you don’t talk about methodology then
anything goes and you throw more and more absolutes out the window.
So this is really important to understand
how the church grew. It didn’t grow by following the business model. A lot of
what goes on in modern evangelicalism, a lot of organisations and a lot of
churches, is really patterned after what happened in the industrial revolution
and the growth of the modern corporation. In a modern corporation you have a
board of directors; in a modern church you have a board of deacons. In the
early church there was a pastor and a pastor appointed deacons, mature men in
the congregation, and gave them responsibilities. The churches grew because
they trusted what the Scriptures said, and then they went out and did what the
Scriptures said and lived as if the Scriptures were true. One aspect of this is
they became grace oriented very quickly, and that is what gets brought out in
this passage: “the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and
soul.” There is a unity.
The thread that runs through these six
verses 32-37 is the thread of the authority of the apostles. Acts 4:33 NASB “And with great
power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and abundant grace was upon them all.” Verse 32 talks about the
multitude; verse 33 talks about the power of the apostles. Then
vv. 34 and 35 talks about their selling of land. What did they do with
the proceeds? They laid it at the feet of the apostles. It is recognizing that
they are the leaders in the church and they are the ones who0 are going to
oversee how the body takes care of itself. Then there is the example in vv. 36,
37 of Barnabas who has some land, sells it, and lays the money at the apostles’
feet. So there is the thread that runs through here of the authority of the
leadership of the church and their oversight of the business of the church. In
chapter five there is going to be a challenge to that because of the deceptive
characteristics of Ananias and Sapphira.
So the church is growing rapidly. It is
not doing it on the basis of a program or methodology; it is doing it on the
basis of the power of the Spirit. And the apostles are consistent in
proclaiming the truth about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then it says, v.
33, “and abundant grace was upon them all.” The church was becoming grace
oriented.
1.
This first
century AD in Israel
was probably a lot worse than what most of us have thought about. We know that things
get really bad from the mid-forties up to 70 AD when Jerusalem falls. In
66-72 there is a rebellion, but that rebellion is preceded by a tremendous
amount of economic and social collapse in Israel.
In that first century Israel
it was becoming more and more perverted and decadent in Judea. It was really a cesspool of moral
perversion at the time of Christ. It was fragmenting the nation, so that by the
time of the 60s there were Jewish insurrections by Jewish insurrectionists.
They are all claming to be messiahs and there were Jews fighting Jews and they
can barely unite together to fight the Romans. This was beginning about the
time Jesus began His ministry or a little earlier.
2.
The second thing
to remember that would be part of the intellectual-spiritual component for each
believer was their understanding of the predictions Jesus made about the
soon-coming destruction of Jerusalem in Luke
chapter twenty-one. Much of Luke 21, other than these verses, relates to the
sign of Jesus’ coming. It is parallel to Matthew 24, the Sermon on the Mount,
but this section talks about what will happen soon. Jesus warns them, Luke 21:20
NASB “But when you see Jerusalem
surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near.” This is a
prediction of AD 70, not the Tribulation. [21] “Then those
who are in Judea
must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must
leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city.” That verse was
remembered by the Christian community who still lived in Jerusalem in 69
and early 70 prior to the final assault on Jerusalem. When
initially Vespasian had brought his troops to Israel
to put down the insurrection Nero died and he went back to Rome to become
Caesar. The troops pulled back to Caesarea
for several months and it was during that hiatus of the siege that the
Christians just evacuated like rats leaving a sinking ship. That was the
foundation of a lot of subsequent problems between Christians and Jews because
a lot of Jews blamed Christians for leaving them in the lurch. But the
Christian realized that this was what Jesus was talking about in Luke 21 and
they fled to the mountains where they survived. The story is that no Christians
lost their lives in the siege of Jerusalem. Luke 21:22
NASB “because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which
are written will be fulfilled.” This was just the prophecy related to the fifth
cycle of discipline on Israel
because of their disobedience to God, their rejection of Jesus as Messiah. [23]
“Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those
days; for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people;
[24] and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led
captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the
Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” The phrase “and will
be led captive into all the nations” is how we know this is not talking about
the Tribulation. At the end of the Tribulation are the Jewish people led
captive into all nations? No, Jesus returns and establishes the kingdom. This
is talking about what happened in 70 AD when Jerusalem falls,
the Jews are led away. This didn’t start the times of the Gentiles. The times
of the Gentiles started in 586 BC when Jerusalem was
destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. From 586 BC until Jesus
returns Jerusalem
and the politics of Jerusalem
will be dominated and determined by more powerful Gentile nations. That is the
times of the Gentiles. It is not a term for the church age, it is a recognition
that because of Israel’s
apostasy in the Old Testament that they will not return to ascendancy until
they return to the Lord. Deuteronomy 30:1, 2. The Christians know that very
soon Jerusalem
is going to be destroyed. So when it comes to property ownership in Jerusalem in terms
of the long-term investment it is not such a good thing. How long? They don’t
know, but they know that it is going to be soon and in their generation.
3.
In this period employment
opportunities were declining and as hostility developed towards Christians
those who were not Christians were putting economic and social pressure on the
Christians. They were the objects of prejudice and discrimination and in the nation
they would not get hired, would lose jobs and it would make it difficult for
many within the church to make a living and provide for their families. What we
see in the next few verses is a response to this situation that is unique in
history in terms of its degree. There is a huge outpouring of generosity by
those who have property and assets and who convert these into cash to support
those who could not support their families anymore. They had come to understand
the grace of God and this is really the motivation for their giving and the
degree of their generosity. They understood what the Old Testament has taught
about taking care of the poor.
Acts 4:34 NASB “For there was not
a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell
them and bring the proceeds of the sales. [35] and lay
them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had
need.”
The first phrase, “For there was not a
needy person among them.” It should be translated, “Neither was there anyone
among them who was poor.” That would raise a question. How come there weren’t
any poor among them? There are two passages from the Old Testament that would
come to people’s minds at this point. One was Deuteronomy 15:4 which actually
predicts what will take place only during the Millennial
kingdom. NASB “However, there will be no poor among you, since the LORD
will surely bless you in the land which the LORD your God is
giving you as an inheritance to possess.” The picture was that if Israel
was obedient to the Lord there wouldn’t be any poor. However, that is the
ideal, the condition, the circumstance—if they are obedient. They never
really were. There were times when they approached it, but only during the time
of David and Solomon for a very brief time. That is why Jesus gives the
description (not a prescription) that the poor will never cease from the land. He
is not saying to make sure the poor never cease from the land. They will never
cease from the land because they are never going to achieve the level of
obedience to be fully blessed by God so that poverty is wiped out.
The Old Testament gives us a little bit of
a framework. What we are seeing here is that along with the message of the
kingdom we see almost an idealized snapshot of the early church where they are
doing what they are supposed to be doing, and there is no poverty there. But it
is just a snapshot for an instant. Those who have means recognize principles in
the Old Testament. Proverbs 14:21 NASB “He who despises
his neighbor sins…” We know the reason for despising
his neighbour is economic from the next part of the verse. “…But happy is he
who is gracious to the poor.” [31] “He who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker,
But he who is gracious to the needy honors Him.” Proverbs 19:17 NASB “One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD,
And He will repay him for his good deed.” When you
are giving to someone who is in need it is as if you are giving to the Lord. The
Lord will take care of you in proper recompense.
So when we look at Acts 4:34
in the background of the minds of these believers is what the Old Testament
taught about taking care of each other and taking care of the poor. We should
ask the question as to why there were not any poor among them. The last clause
in the verse begins with gar [gar], which
indicates an explanation, so he is answering the question that is expected. “ …
for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the
proceeds of the sales [35] and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would
be distributed to each as any had need.” This is a reference to property
owners. Sometimes people look at this and they think all the property owners
sold all the property. But it just says “as many as owned property.”
The verb is that they brought something—an imperfect tense verb, and in the
Greek the imperfect tense has a continuous action, e.g. John 1:1, “In the
beginning was the Word” which means continual existence, it doesn’t ever stop. But
an imperfect tense would also be used for saying, “They always went to church.”
That doesn’t mean that they were always at church, going to church continuously
and they never stop going to church, but if they only went to church every
Sunday they continuously went to church. It is iterative, it is individual past
actions but they are separated by time. There are numerous actions but they are
ongoing. It is something that happens again and again and again rather than continuously
non-stop.
So we are talking about many different
situations where they did this, where they sold property and brought the proceeds
to the apostles. The object clause is the price of what was sold. They brought
the price. It is the word time [timh],
which normally means “honor” but it is also used for
the payment of a salary, the payment of money. In the pastoral
epistles it talks about a pastor being worthy of double honor. That is how it is treated in the English because
translators didn’t feel that it was right to say that pastor’s were worthy of a
double salary—which is what it says in the Greek. The participle is when it was
sold. They brought the proceeds when they sold the property. It doesn’t mean
anywhere in the Greek that there is an implication that they sold everything
that they had. The picture that is presented here is that those who had means
in the congregation were aware that they had a huge administrative problem here
and they had a lot of out-of-towners who came to town for Passover and
Pentecost, and now that they had become Christians they have stayed. But they
don’t have any jobs, any means of support. So they had to take care of them.
When they learned of a need, if they had the financial resources or property or
a house they sold their assets and gave it to the leadership of the church
because they were the ones who would have their pulse on who was qualified and
who needed what and when.
Then we are introduced in vv. 37, 37 to
this individual named Joseph. He is nicknamed Barnabas which means “the son of
encouragement” or “the son of exhortation.” We are told he is a Levite of the
country of Cyprus.
Levites were prohibited from owning land in the Old Testament but Barnabas
owned land. We know from Josephus and other sources that after the return of
the Jews from captivity that the Levites owned land. In fact, many of the Sadducees
were Levites and they owned a lot, they were extremely wealthy. They were also
somewhat corrupt. Barnabas recognized that everything we have is from the Lord
and if there are believers in true need then if we have it we need to share. Their
mentality was truly grace oriented. They did this out of their own internal
motivation, their own spiritual growth. In Hebrew the term “son of” often
expressed an attribute about somebody. Barnabas is mentioned 24 times by Luke,
mostly in a narrow range of chapters. He goes on the first missionary journey
with the apostle Paul. He is mentioned five times by Paul. But he is really a
behind-the-scenes player. He is one who is so trusted by the apostles in Jerusalem that
when something starts happening up in Antioch where
the first believers were called Christians they sent Barnabas to investigate. Barnabas
had met Paul after he was saved and when Barnabas got to Antioch and saw
what was going on he said the person who really needs to be here is Paul. He
plucks up Paul from obscurity and says: “You are the man.”
He goes on the first missionary journey
with Paul and his cousin, John Mark. John Mark is young and not ready for the
discipline and the stoicism of the apostle Paul so by the end of the missionary
journey Paul has had enough and does not want John Mark to accompany him
anymore. For that reason there is a difference of opinion between him and
Barnabas and Barnabas goes off with John Mark while Paul goes on his second and
third missionary journeys without him. But later on he tells Mark to bring the
scrolls, so they are reconciled. Mark matured.
But Barnabas is one who worked behind the
scenes. People often look at somebody like Billy Graham and say they want to be
like him. But why not want to be like the guy who led Billy Graham to the Lord?
They want to be like Dwight Moody. Why not want to be like the guy who led
Dight Moody to the Lord, to serve the Lord in obscurity and have great impact.
Look at the guy who led Billy Graham to the Lord and just think of the impact
he had. The person who labours for the Lord in obscurity is just as important
in the body of Christ as the person who seems to be out there in front of everybody.
Barnabas was that kind of person.