ACTS 4 (PART 2)
Read Acts 4:23-37
When Peter and John were released by the ruling council they went back to their fellow disciples and told them what had happened. The reaction of the Christian community was to pray. They thanked and praised God and quoted (or even sang) from Psalm 2 which speaks of the world’s opposition to God. The psalm speaks of the futility of opposing God because he is the sovereign Lord and he will prevail against all opposition; and that is what these early Christians had just experienced. The opposition of the Sadducees had come to nothing.
Having seen the early church rejoicing in God’s action in keeping Peter and John from punishment by the council, we now get a snapshot of their day to day living. They were united, “one in heart and mind” (v32) and shared their possessions between them. The apostles continued to witness to the world and we are told that the focus of their testimony was, once again, the resurrection of Jesus (v33). Of course, this is exactly what the Sadducees did not want them to do because they didn’t believe in resurrection, but we have seen how important it is – how crucial it is – to understanding who Jesus is and why he came. Peter said as much to them when on trial, “we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (v20).
What does it mean when the Bible tells us that they shared everything they had? Does this mean that they lived in some kind of commune? In the light of what is coming up in Chapter 5, I think the point is not that they renounced private ownership of property and possessions, but rather that they were prepared to share, to help those who had less and were in need. They still owned what they had but regarded their property as being available to help others. The result of this was sacrificial voluntary giving by those that did have resources to support those that did not. Some who owned land sold that land and gave the proceeds to the apostles for distribution to the poor. And we see a specific example in Joseph who did just that. There is a note here that Joseph had a nickname, Barnabas, which means ‘encourager’, no doubt based upon his character. We will come across Barnabas again later in the Book of Acts.
What we see here in the early church is a community that should act as template for our own church today. It is a group of Spirit-filled people characterised by care for one another and love of their saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Their lives are full of prayer and worship. Whenever anything happens, good or bad, their instinctive reaction is to turn to the Lord in prayer. The prayers always involve praising God and acknowledging him as creator, provider and, above all, saviour. Their prayers, worship and, indeed, whole lives, are Christ centred and their witness is based on the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.