The Power of Common Unity (Acts 4:32-35)

The Power of Common Unity

As we go through the book of Acts, there are some common themes that we see come up. Two of the main themes are covered in this short 4 verse passage that we will be digging into today. That is the act of unity and of evangelism. When I was interviewing with the search committee to be voted on as the pastor here, I asked them a specific question. I asked them what one thing was the most important thing that I should focus on. And the answer was to cultivate unity.

To see unity come forth in a church that had struggled with disunity for so long is hard. I am not sure that many of us were expecting to see or experience much of what we did. We have seen many people decide that they no longer want to call this church their home. And that is alright. Even when someone leaves to find a new church home, we can still be brothers and sisters in Christ. We have had disagreements come forth but we have dealt with them. We have been looking to scripture to see what a truly unified church looks like as we have been studying the book of Acts together.

Unity is not always easy. If unity was easy and disunity was hard, then the church as a whole would not be sitting on it’s hands. I am overjoyed to serve in a church that is making strides in the right direction and we are getting off of our hands to Impact our Community. Remember what our mission as a church is. Build Immanuel and Impact Albemarle.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

We Share Belongings

In the 1st century church, we have this wonderful example of what we call “community”. This idea of common unity. This is not the first time that this has come up in the book of Acts. Luke addresses this same idea of radical sharing earlier in chapter 2. And if you spend any time studying scripture, you should know that when things are repeated, we should pay close attention to it. Luke said in Chapter 2:44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ac 2:44–45.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common

The verse tells us that they were of one heart and soul. They were together. There was not a question about their mission together. And they were all on board. Christianity thrives in unity. And as we will see in this passage, evangelism thrives in unity. We are told in the Psalms how good unity is. Psalm 133:1 (ESV)

1  Behold, how good and pleasant it is

when brothers dwell in unity!

The bible describes unity as good and pleasant. But in many churches today, a description of good and pleasant does not come to mind.

When I think of this idea of disunity, I tend to remember back to when we were growing up. We had this game called tug of war. You would usually have the same amount of people on both ends of the rope and each side would try to pull the other side across the middle section. The only difference with being in school growing up and the church today is that usually one side is pretty lopsided.

For a church to be a healthy and thriving church, we must get back to being able to describe it as good and pleasant. So how do we do that? This is a pretty broad question to ask. I believe that hear at Immanuel, we have been making wonderful strides towards unity. We now have a stated mission as a church (Build Immanuel, Impact our Community). We have more volunteers for Vacation Bible School this year than we did last year. We are joining together to impact our community. We have emphasized what it means to worship and praise God. We are centered around God’s word in our service.

Let us first understand that unity is not the same as uniformity. Think about the church at the time of Acts 4. It says that there were 5 thousand men. Most of these men were married presumably and probably had children. Let’s lowball the number and say 10,000 people. We know from Acts 2 that the people who were coming to faith were people from different cultures. God was building a church that was multicultural, multiethnic, and multigenerational. Unity is not the same as uniformity. We can like different styles of music and still be united. We can have different incomes and still be united. We can have different upbringings and still be united. We should be striving to build Immanuel up the same way. To have a church that is multicultural, multiethnic, and multigenerational.

But there is still so much to do. So what are some ways that we can do this? Well, the first way to do it is found in this verse.

English Standard Version (Chapter 4)

32b: and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common

It seems like sharing things with one another was a common thing in the early church. It extended all the way to selling property and houses to provide for the needs of brothers and sisters in Christ. This is a radical idea for us to wrap our heads around. Especially in our capitalistic society that we live in. This almost sounds like a type of communism.

And it could be taken that way at face value. But there are some differences. This sharing of land and property was not legislated by the church or by God. They did not have to sell these things to share. But that didn’t stop them from their generosity. They saw that they were all equals in the fact that they had experience God’s grace in a magnificent way. They had this in common. And this common experience brought them to this point of generosity.

“When every member shares consistently, the church is united powerfully.”

Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Acts (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2017), 69.

They shared so much together. We see in verse 32 that we should share belongings to uplift each other. But, as we continue, we see that we should also share the gospel

We Share the Gospel

This is something that is more abstract that we share. We can physically touch property and belongings. But we cannot physically touch this. And also, in the context of the passage we are in, they weren’t necessarily sharing the gospel with one another. But they were unified in the sharing of the gospel.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.