The Church: Friends that Care for One Another

Introduction

Acts 4:32-37 are another of Luke’s summaries statements, each of which serve as a transition point in the narrative that is the book of Acts.

This one is hopeful, but humbling.

It is hopeful, in the sense that we will see how the church cared for one another as a community of friends.

However, it is humbling because from this point forward, the church will experience rising opposition followed by persecution.

We’ve already seen the beginning of the opposition, but it will get worse. Much worse.

Caring for one another within the church is a vital part of living in community with one another, regardless of whether we face opposition, persecution, or times of peace.

In fact, a church that doesn’t truly care for one another will die.

During our marriage retreat this weekend that speaker pointed something interesting: before the Fall and introduction of sin into the human experience, man faced another difficulty. Namely, loneliness.

Genesis 2:18 “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.””

We were not created to be alone. We we created to live in relationship with other people.

Part of living in relationship with others is caring for them. Not just saying we care for them, but showing our love for other people.

The closest of these human relationships are husband and wife, followed by parents and children and immediate family. But, it doesn’t end there. We have friends who we care for. And, as the church, we live in a community of friends, bound together by our identity as the blood-bought sons and daughters of God.

Friends care for each other. The church as friends care for one another. We’ve already seen this in Acts 2:42-47.

Acts 2:42–47 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

Now we are going to see how the first century church cared for one another in the face of rising opposition, and from that, learn the timeless truths about how we are to care for one another as well.

Body

Verses 32-33

Big Idea: How did the early church care for one another?

They were unified with one another

...one heart and soul...

Aristotle is said to have said a friend is “one soul dwelling in two bodies.” Of course, Aristotle didn’t know the One True God, but his point is well taken. True friendship is a bound in which I’m actually invested in your life.

The early church was bound together because of the unique relationship created by Christ Jesus believers have with one another.

Thus, even though they were different people, they lived in unity with one another.

They showed sacrificial generosity to one another

Not communal living...living in true Christian community.

Didn’t make personal property rights the core of their existence...

This isn’t to say that personal property is evil. Or that wealth is something bad. The idea here is that they sacrificed their own wealth for the good of others, without being forced to do it. They did it because their dedication to Christ and to other Christ-followers was greater than their dedication to themselves.

How they did this: verses 34-35

When needs arose, they willingly sold their own property and goods in order to take care of others within the church.

Again, don’t think that this is socialism or communism. This is not done out of obligation or force. They chose what to do with their own personal property.

They preached the Gospel in power to all who would listen

They preached the Gospel both to the lost and the believers.

But wait, why would they need to preach the Gospel to believers? Haven’t they already received the Gospel?

The Gospel isn’t simply for non-believers. The Gospel should inform and guide every aspect of our lives. It not only tells us of our need for forgiveness of our sins and that forgiveness was won on the cross by Jesus for all who would believe, but it also teaches us that because we, the undeserving, have received the greatest of all gifts, salvation, then I ought to live my life to honor that gift and share the gift with others.

Martin Luther said: “When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares that we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus: "I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation? By no means. For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where he is, there I shall be also."

So the Gospel was preached to believers and non-believers, because the Gospel is the only message the church has ever, or will ever have until Jesus makes all things new.

They experienced God’s grace.

I love that we see in verse 33 that the apostles experienced great power (μέγας δύναμις in Greek) and they also experienced great grace (or μέγας χάρις in Greek).

Despite the fact that they are experiencing opposition now for the first time, God’s grace shows itself over and over again.

We will see some of that grace illustrated throughout the book of Acts, but not an exhaustive list. God’s grace is varied, but it is always present for His people, in small ways and in big ways.

Verses 36-37

A good example of caring for the church: Barnabas

So What?

How can we care for one another today?

We need to work for unity through the power of the Gospel and our mission as a church.

Unity is something that the church needs to work at. As we will see in the life of the early church, people figure out ways to be ugly towards one another.

They lie, they gossip, they are selfish, they can be mean-spirited, moody, unreasonable, focused more on personal wants than the needs of the larger body. Thus, unity doesn’t just happen because we love Jesus. We have to work at it.

But, the power behind our unity is most easily found when we keep two things at the forefront of the church:

The Gospel...

“How does _____ benefit or detract from the Gospel in our church and in our community?”

“What do I need to do to support the work of the Gospel in our church and in our community?”

The mission...

Our mission at First Baptist Castle Rock is to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness by Loving God and our Fellowman through Worship, Ministry, and Fellowship. Furthermore we are to carry out the Great Commission according to Matthew 28:19-20 by Evangelizing, Teaching, and Baptizing locally and throughout the world.

We are in the process of updating this, but the core remains the same as it did when the church first started.

At times we will also have a purpose that is focused on something in particular we believe God would have us do in our church and community. We are working on a five year purpose right now...

This mission and the subsequent purposes should unify us as a church because we have a common goal.

We need to be generous with our time, talents and treasure.

Treasure:

Should the selling of possessions for the good of others be the practiced of the church today?

Yes & No. Yes, people should volunteer to help those in need and should have an attitude of giving. No, people in the church should never be expected or have it demanded of them.

2 Corinthians 9:7 “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Talents & Time:

While the focus of this text is wealth (or treasure), we also need to give of our talents and time.

Each person in a church as spiritual strengths. I call it your gifts, skills, passions, and willingness...

These were intended to be used for the benefit of the church. But, in almost every church today, 20% or less of the people do 80% or more of the work...

We will never be all that we are supposed to be as a church until 80% of the people or more are doing the work of the church.

BTW: don’t wait to be asked...volunteer!

We need to make the proclamation of the Gospel core to our life and ministry.

As we saw in our mission statement, the proclamation of the Gospel is to be core to what we do.

But, as we saw earlier, we proclaim the Gospel to both believers and non-believers.

As believers, the Gospel should be constantly visible in our words and our actions.

As Ray Ortlund says in his wonderful little book The Gospel, “Your church is called to be a pillar lifting high the truth of the gospel. The one truth that will outlast the universe, the one truth that can help sinners and sufferers right now, deserves to be put on clear display. We must not allow anything in our churches to compete with the high visibility of the gospel. A church has no right to act like a community bulletin board down at the local grocery store, covered over with business cards, ads for apartments for rent, notices about lost pets, and other agendas that compete for people's attention. A church exists to be a pillar that holds up the truth of Jesus so obviously that everyone can see it.”

We must take seriously the call to proclaim the Gospel in our church and our community.

When we make these things a priority for our life and church, then we will experience God’s grace in ways we never have before.