Living In Community

LIVING IN COMMUNITY

Acts 4:32 – 35

Acts 4:32-35  Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.  (33)  With great power the apostles gave 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 owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.  (35)  They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

There is the story about a monkey who reached into a jar to get his favorite fruit. As he went to pull his hand out, it got stuck in the mouth of the jar. Why? The reason why was that his fruit-filled clenched fist was too big to exit the mouth of the jar. The monkey could have had his hand free if only he had unclenched his fist. The monkey was imprisoned by his own desire. Is it possible that we share anything in common with the monkey in this story? (Russell F. Anderson. ed. Lectionary Preaching Workbook. Series V. Cycle B. Limas, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company Inc., 2008, p. 188). Do we have any ties to possessions that hold us back? How did the people in today’s text handle their material things and wealth? Did they withhold any resources? Today we will look at the greed, grace and how strong their grip is in our lives.

GREED

Do you believe greed is a dangerous thing? After all, it is one of the seven deadly sins.

1) Vice: Why is greed deadly vice? Greed is selfish, stingy, self-gratifying and self-absorbing. Greed is not about being a taker and a giver. Greed is more about taking more and giving less in return. Greed is about the love of money:   “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains” (1 Timothy 6:10 NRSV).

2) Dead Sea analogy: The ultimate worse case scenario would be for someone to be what has been referred to as a Dead Sea person. Do you know why they call it the Dead Sea the Dead Sea? They call it the Dead Sea for two reasons. First, the Dead Sea is so salty that nothing can live in it. Secondly, the first explanation by the second. The Dead Sea is a dead end. It has all of these bodies of water that trickle into it but it does not have an outlet for any water to go out because of its dead end which is why nothing can live in it. There are people that resemble the Dead Sea.

How does the issue of greed apply to salvation?

1) Salvation: Salvation is about a relationship between ourselves and the Lord. “Greed is the logical result of the belief that there is no life after death. We grab what we can while we can however we can and then hold on to it hard”. http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/g/greed.htm [source: Sir Fred Catherwood, Evangelicals Now, September, 1994]. Salvation is also about living a holy life while we strive to be holy as God is holy. What we do while we are in the here and now bears fruit that will carry on when we go on to life after this life.

2) Love: Greed runs counter to what it means to live a sanctified and holy life. Why? The reason why is that only our Lord can save us. In fact, God’s love is so great for us that He gave His only begotten Son to die for us (John 3:16)! Could that be one of the reasons that Jesus asks us in scripture “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” (Mark 8:36).

3) Greed: “Leo Tolstoy once wrote a story about a successful peasant farmer who was not satisfied with his lot. He wanted more of everything. One day he received a novel offer. For 1000 rubles, he could buy all the land he could walk around in a day. The only catch in the deal was that he had to be back at his starting point by sundown. Early the next morning he started out walking at a fast pace. By midday he was very tired, but he kept going, covering more and more ground. Well into the afternoon he realized that his greed had taken him far from the starting point. He quickened his pace and as the sun began to sink low in the sky, he began to run, knowing that if he did not make it back by sundown the opportunity to become an even bigger landholder would be lost. As the sun began to sink below the horizon he came within sight of the finish line. Gasping for breath, his heart pounding, he called upon every bit of strength left in his body and staggered across the line just before the sun disappeared. He immediately collapsed, blood streaming from his mouth. In a few minutes he was dead. Afterwards, his servants dug a grave. It was not much over six feet long and three feet wide. The title of Tolstoy's story was: How Much Land Does a Man Need? . http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/g/greed.htm [source: Bits & Pieces, November, 1991] This peasant farmer is a fictional character in what seems to be a parable by Leo Tolstoy. Sadly, what happens to the peasant in this story will be a reality for too many who realized too little, too late that life is about far more wealth. How many are there today who live life today with no thought about tomorrow or those who will come after us?