The Transformation That Leads to Reflection...

For the past several weeks, we have been looking at a letter that is recorded for us in our Bibles called the book of Acts. This week, as we enter back into the book of Acts, we come to a story that is one of the most troubling stories in the entire Bible. This is a story that provokes strong emotions and many questions. And it is in the emotions and the questions of this story that we discover a timeless principle that is necessary to embrace in order to fully engage in the co-mission that we have been given by God to partner with God in a way that advances God’s kingdom mission as we reveal and reflect Christ to those around us. To fully understand this story, however, we first need to understand the context in which this story takes place, which Luke provides for us beginning in Acts 4:32. Let’s look at it together:

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

In these verses, we see Luke provide for us an overarching statement that summarized the state of the early church in the months after arriving on the scene. When Luke uses the phrase “the congregation of those who believed, he is revealing for us the reality that the church, by its very nature and essence, is composed of individuals who believe, trust, and follow, Jesus as Lord and Leader. While those who are searching, seeking, or skeptical about the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel are always welcome to attend church, they are not, by definition, a part of the church.

The early church in Jerusalem, and churches throughout history, are a community of individuals who had placed their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. The church has been divinely designed by God to be placed in a distinctive environment to be distinctively different, as followers of Jesus gather together in community to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world.

And that was exactly what was happening in the church at Jerusalem. Luke explains that these early followers of Jesus were of one heart and soul. From the seat and center of their beings, there was an unmistakable sense of connection and unity with God and one another. And because of that connection and unity, Luke explains that no one claimed that anything belonging to him was his own. In other words, these early followers of Jesus recognized that they did own anything. Instead, they recognized that God owned everything and had generously given them all that they had. As these early followers of Jesus gathered together,

Luke explains that with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. You see, preaching and teaching the message and teachings of Jesus and the Bible have always had a prominent place in the life of the church. As the message and teachings of the Bible is clearly and accurately proclaimed, the Holy Spirit powerfully takes the word of God to capture hearts and transform lives.

And as these early followers of Jesus recognized God as owner and provider; as God’s word was clearly and powerfully proclaimed, Luke states that abundant grace was upon them all. Now the word grace here refers to God’s divine favor upon someone that occurs as a result of God’s transformational intervention and activity in their lives. Now a natural question that arises here is “well how did they know that abundant grace was upon these followers of Jesus? And how do we know today when God’s grace is present and evident in our lives?” Luke provides the answer to these questions in the verses that follow:

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 and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.

You see, God’s grace, God’s transformational activity is present and evident in our lives as individuals, and in community with one another, when our lives are reflecting and revealing His transformational activity. God’s transformational intervention and activity resulted in these early followers of Jesus reflecting His generosity by meeting the pressing and practical needs of those around them. Many who initially came to Christ only a few weeks earlier after Peter preached a sermon on Pentecost were not from Jerusalem, but remained in Jerusalem to be a part of this new movement called the church. They did not have homes or jobs, so there were pressing and practical needs that arose.

And these early followers of Jesus responded to these pressing and practical needs by voluntarily selling assets such as land and homes and then bringing the proceeds from that sale to the leaders of the early church, who were given the responsibility for the oversight and distribution of the money to those who were in need. The continued preaching and teaching of the message and teachings of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, resulted in God’s gracious and transformational activity being evident as these early followers of Jesus reflected Christ’s character and conduct. Luke then provides an example of such a transformation in Acts 4:36-37:

Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement), and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

And just like Barnabas, as followers of Jesus, God’s grace, God’s transformational activity in our lives is most evident as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live a life that reveals and reflects Christ in our heads, our hearts, and our hands. When we are investing our time in a community group listening and learning the message and teaching of the Bible; when we are investing our talents serving God by serving others in a ministry, and when we are investing our treasure through regular and proportional giving that reflects the generosity of Jesus, the Holy Spirit transformationally moves in and through those environments in a way that results in us revealing and reflecting Christ.

After painting us the backdrop of the state of the early church to provide the context for this story, Luke then brings us into the center of this story in Acts 5:1. Tomorrow, we will explore this troubling story together...