From the Rev. David Holloway of Jesmond Parish Church in the United Kingdom, here is a sermon based on Acts 4, Everything in Common, which I think does an excellent job of explaining Acts 4:32-35. This passage has been often misunderstood, and has been used to justify quite a range of economic and social views. This is Rev. Holloway’s take on this passage, and I think it is faithful to the Scriptures:
Look at verses 34-35:
“There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”
Many people misunderstand what was happening. This was not a primitive form of communism. You see, the tenses here in the original are not straight past tenses but continuous past tenses – literally they “were selling, they were bringing money, they were putting it at the apostles’ feet.” So when you repented and were baptized, you didn’t sell up everything and bring the proceeds and all your savings to the church treasurer, for good and all. No! You kept control of your own property and released it when necessary. That is crystal clear from the next chapter and the case of Ananias and Sapphira. There Peter says to Ananias, referring to his property (chapter 5 verse 4):
“Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal?”
So you see how things worked. The believers believed that they were only stewards of their money and possessions. They believed their money and possessions were ultimately God’s and should be used according to his will, not according to their own selfish interests and instincts. As a result of these beliefs they were then meeting needs. Their hearts and minds were right first. Then their cheque books (in modern terms) followed their hearts and minds.
This is where the modern world has got it so wrong. Following on from Marx there is a belief - now held by political parties in the non-Marxist world - that what is foundational to the good of human societies are not beliefs but simply economic arrangements. But the Bible says, No!. It sees healthy economies coming from right attitudes and beliefs. Where those attitudes and beliefs are wrong, you will not get a healthy society – economically or in other ways. Economic arrangements are important. But you will only get the economics right when you get the hearts and minds of men and women right. The problems with society are not fundamentally because either it has a more capitalist system or a more centralist system. The problems come from the human heart. It is from the human heart, says Jesus, that come
sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly” (Mark 7.21-22).
So to address external economic problems and changing economic systems without addressing the problems of the human heart is like trying to mend a puncture by washing the wheel. These early believers, however, got their hearts and minds right. That then led to economic needs being met. I read a social survey this week that showed that:
the most religious [and these were mostly Christians] were more likely to feel a sense of dedication to their work (97% v 66%); and find their work contributes to society (91% v 53%); and more likely to find their work interesting and rewarding (92% v 68%); and more likely to believe financial security can be obtained by hard work (88% v 70%); and much more likely to say they would reconcile marital problems at all costs rather than seek divorce (60% v 33%).
That last point is hugely significant as the breakdown of the married family is correlated with negative economic consequences and so, on average, leads to poverty rather than riches. I remember the head of Christian Community Services in the, then, Diocese of Mount Kenya East “ a remarkable organization with health care and agricultural projects (and all the things the world likes to see happening in terms of Aid) I remember him saying of the area of Kenya we support at JPC, “you know, what this area really needs is a good dose of Christian morality to solve its social problems.” That is why preaching the Gospel is so vital“ the gospel of forgiveness for sin and power for new life.
If you want to help the poor, yes, you must give money; yes, you must work for the right economic arrangements. But in the context of doing that, make sure that, like the Apostles, you “continue to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus”.
“The social gospel” can never be the cure for social problems-only the Gospel which we have been commanded to preach to all nations can alleviate these problems.This is a good sermon indeed; if you want to listen to it, you can do so here.
