LIBERATED FOR LOYALTY
ACTS 4:32-5:16
This morning I want to look at Acts 4:32-5:16 because it is the best possible way to communicate what the Holy Spirit wants to enable our congregation to do - before He can guide us on to all that He intends us to do in the world.
In the previous chapter we saw the gift of boldness that the Holy Spirit gave the disciples for their witness. Now we turn our attention to the blessing He helped them to be to each other.
The courage the disciples displayed outside their own fellowship was dependent upon the quality of life they experienced within their own fellowship.
This passage has a cause and effect progression of thought. In beginning, I'd like to start backwards and give a brief statement about the effect...
In a very stirring way Luke describes the effectiveness of the church. There were signs and wonders done among the people of Jerusalem. Power was being released through them.
Changed lives, reconciliations, healings, and joy were the evidence of a church alive with the Holy Spirit. The church was growing and dynamic. Wouldn't you like to be a part of a church like that?
The church was a vital movement. That's the effect. What was the cause? Now we are ready to go back to the beginning of the passage for the answer.
Luke tells us about an essential ingredient of a great church...and that is an unlimited commitment to Christ and to each other which is expressed in unrestrained loyalty...not only to the Lord - but to one another.
Within this passage we've find a moving narrative description of this ingredient and also two illustrations...one to show what loyalty really is, and the other to alarm us as to what happens when it is lacking. The first is very positive and the second is equally negative.
READ v. 32-35 ......In chapter 5, Luke uses the word "church" for the first time. The verses we just read are an excellent description of what the word meant to him.
Originally, for the followers of Christ it meant an assembly of believers gathered together for prayer and fellowship. The idea developed of their being called out by the Lord, called into oneness with Him, and called into the world to serve.
Do you remember that Paul was Luke's teacher in the faith? And when Luke uses the word church it carries with it all the implications of Paul's teachings. Paul's favorite phrase was "the body of Christ."
In I Corinthians Paul explains how the members of the physical body are interdependent upon each other...and uses that as an example of how Christians are to be mutually dependent upon each other.
There are four things that were part of the loyalty of the members of the church to one another. They were of one heart, one soul, one blessing, and they were all rooted in one great conviction.
The heart, kardia, is used by Luke in the Hebrew sense meaning reason, emotion, and will. It stood for a person¡¦s entire mental and emotional activity.
But why did Luke add soul? The soul is the life spirit in a person which can be touched and quickened and then filled by the Holy Spirit.
So in a nutshell, what Luke was saying was that the early Christians has their minds, emotions and wills open to each other...and by the Spirit each one enabled oneness with the others.
The one thing about which they were one heart and soul was the resurrected Christ who lived in them. That prompted them to know that all they had and all they were...belonged to Him.
No one said that what he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. That's a shocker for the "what's mine is mine" Christians we have today.
And yet, sharing our material blessings may be the least of our difficulties with this passage. These early Christians had "all" things in common.
To be of one mind is to have the mind of Christ in common...not our ideas about Him, or even our carefully polished theology...but our very heart and soul.
That means our inner selves...our thinking and feeling. We can be supportive of each other only if we know what's going on inside each other. And the handle of the door to our lives is on the inside. We must ƒawantƒ` to be known.
One of the finest gifts we can give our church is our openness to talk about what we are thinking and feeling. Because it's then that our intellectual difficulties we have in growing in the faith can be given the insight and experience of others who have struggled with the same doubts.
How we are feeling about ourselves, other people, and life in general affects everything we do and are. So often we greet each other and say, "How are you"...and the answer is always "Just fine or I'm hanging in there"
But if we were ƒareally oneƒ` as the early church was, those flippant statements would take on a whole different meaning.
The questions "How are you feeling - really - and "how can we help" often clear away frustrations, fears, and tensions that would render us incapable of either knowing the mind of Christ, or doing His will unless they were shared and cleansed.
The same is true for the joy of answered prayer. Christ blesses each of us for each other in the fellowship. The good things that have happened to us, if they are not shared, will become a block to us also.
The issue is one of being Christ's friend and befriending one another. And how foolish it would be...to be with a really good friend and not allow him or her to share the burden or the blessing.
Congregations that are really becoming alive must have some strategy for members being together in smaller, more informal gatherings where they can study the Word, and share needs and gratitude¡¦s and prayer for one another is offered.
Prayer and Bible study groups enable this, and so do classes which not only teach, but share their mutual adventure in the new life. It is out of really knowing what's happening in each other's lives that we know how and when to help in a specific or tangible way.
These people we read about are people of one heart and one soul caring about each other because of the conviction that Christ is risen, is now living in them, and has called them to be a church, in the truest sense of the word.
But - all this would not be possible without the assurance of loyalty. We all need a handful of people who are loyal to us and to whom we are loyal...because of Christ's unwavering loyalty to us.
He is for us...He will never leave us nor forsake us whether we succeed or fail. And when He lives in our heart and soul, He'll give us the ability to be loyal...first to Him and then to people.
We will open up our innermost heart and share ƒaonlyƒ` when we have an assurance of loyalty which keeps confidences and supports under the fire of criticism from others. Luke gives us an example of that kind of person. READ v. 36-37
In two brief verses we are introduced to one of the most admirable men of the whole New Testament. If all we had to help us to know this man's character were these two verses, we'd still have enough to stand in admiration of him and then desire to be like him.
We're told that his name was Joseph, that he was a descendant of the tribe of Levi, who were the priests, and that he was from Cyprus. But he had strong ties in Jerusalem because of members of his fathers family who lived there.
John Mark was his cousin. He was introduced to Christ by the apostles, received the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and committed all that he had to the Lord's work.
His experience of Christ's love motivated him to sell his land, probably in Cyprus, and give all the proceeds of the sale to the apostles for the support and work of the early church.
That prompted the apostles to give him a new name. Now, in the O.T. God had given a new name to several people in recognition of His blessing and the person's potential with His power..Abraham...Jacob
Jesus also gave new names in promise of a new nature. He gave Simon the name Peter, the rock. But this was a different situation. It wasn't just his potential, but what he had performed that caused him to be given a new name.
He was given the name Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement. It is exciting to understand that the same basic Aramaic word for encouragement - parakletos - was used to translate Jesus' promise of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
In John 14 Jesus said, "And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Counselor...again "parakletos" which means one who is called to one's side to help, who strengthens and helps us to stand.
Joseph was clearly that kind of person. But a clear understanding of the words Luke uses indicates that what was evident in his life was an endowment of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit had showed Himself through Joseph. His life became like that of Jesus who lived in him.
Wherever we see him throughout Scripture he is helping, encouraging, affirming, and uplifting...claiming the very best for people. And it was the Holy Spirit in him that enabled him to be such a man.
And it was all focused in his loyalty to the Lord, to his friends, and to new believers. What would we do without people like Barnabas? But with the Holy Spirit in us, can't we go beyond just imitating Barnabas and become the Lord's own unique encourager.
The true nature of the life of the body of Christ is the fellowship of the sons and daughters of encouragement. We are called to stand with each other, helping each other to learn from the difficulties and to rejoice fully in the delights of life.
We are called out, and called into a loyal body of believers...a church...to be a source of liberation and uplifting for each other.
Perhaps Luke heard Paul dictate Ephesians 4, which I believe he had in mind when he described the body life of the early church. It is a guide and a challenge for our congregation today...
"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ forgave you.
I purposely skipped the prayer time because I believe it is necessary for us to begin to put into practice what we find in the Word. Luke has given us a key ingredient to being a healthy, ministering church..
And that is to be a source of care and comfort, support and prayer. I want you to break into groups of no more than four, and preferably not members of the same household. And with no more discussion than absolutely necessary, pray for each other.
If we are ever going to be the church God desires us to be, then we must become one...and this can only happen as we open up to each other, and care enough to pray one for another.
