Scripture Acts
4:32-37
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. With great power the apostles gave
their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon
them all. 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. They laid it at the apostles’ feet,
and it was distributed to each as any had need. There was a Levite, a native of
Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means “son
of encouragement”). He
sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the
apostles’ feet.
Sermon
It is
only a very short time between the evening of his resurrection when Jesus
visits the disciples in that locked room and the day when the disciples are
leading people who share one heart and soul and all that they possess. Disciples hiding out in a locked room, and
then, with the courage and passion of the risen Lord burning inside of them,
they are described in the book of Acts giving, with great power, testimony to
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Testimony
to the resurrection. Some of that
testimony was in words, telling the story.
But what gave their testimony power is what it says in the very next
line. “There was not a needy person
among them.” With great power the
apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. There was not a needy person among them. And I believe that the strength of their
testimony, the reason it was convincing and compelling to others, was in the
simple fact that there was not a needy person among them.
The Roman
empire in which they lived was a society of extreme inequality. The empire had great wealth, and built
incredible structures that we marvel at to this day, but they were built on the
backs of the poor. In the empire,
especially in Israel, there were needy people everywhere. Right in the middle of that context, here is
a group of people who share all things in common so that there is not a needy
person among them. Some people needed
help, and others were well off, so their wealth was distributed among those who
had need. What a powerful alternative
was the kingdom of God, a place of common good.
It was testimony to the resurrection.
Next
month, I will travel once again to Boston with the 9th grade
students of the Confirmation class, because that is the birth place of the
Congregational Church. We will visit the
historic places of the Pilgrims who founded Plymouth, and the Puritans who came
a few years later to Boston Harbor and created that city, and also Cambridge,
and the first college of the colonies, called Harvard. Those early Congregationalists had in mind to
do something very similar to the church in the book of Acts. They came to create an intentional colony, an
alternative society to the inequality of the corrupted European society.
John
Winthrop was a leader of the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and he
is perhaps best remembered for calling this new society a “City on a Hill” in a
sermon he gave on the boat that took them to America. City on a Hill – the phrase is often used
these days as if it meant that America is especially blessed by God because of
our unique qualities. But that wasn’t
what Winthrop was saying. The sermon in
which he used this phrase was titled “A Model of Christian Charity. He was telling his fellow Puritans that they
would create a society guided by charity toward one another, especially toward
those whose need is greatest. He posed
the question “what rule must we observe [for those] in peril?” And he answered “To give out of one’s
abundance, but with more enlargement towards others and less respect towards
ourselves.”
And then
he said “we shall be a city on a hill.
The eyes of all people are upon us.”
In other words, people will see if there are or are not needy people
among us. They will see if we fail in
the care of those most in need, most vulnerable, and if we fail, what kind of
testimony would that be? It would not be
testimony of the resurrection.
We know
that there are needy people in every corner of the world, and still, the
courageous, passionate followers of Christ still work to change that. Even this week, God is working in this church
to change that. In a few weeks, we will
send several dozen people to address the needs of a neighbor in partnership
with Rebuilding Together. There is a
meeting after worship in fellowship hall for people who can serve hands on, and
last night, in fellowship hall, eighty people gathered to support this service
financially at the Starlight Room fundraiser.
They were also supporting the Youth Mission Tour, which will go this
summer to repair homes for people who don’t have the resources in Alabama.
Also this
past week, this congregation helped to give temporary housing to families who
have lost their homes with the ministry called Family Promise. Throughout the year, members of this church
have ongoing service with Miller Ave. UCC, Good Neighbors, the Akron Foodbank,
and Salvation Army, and my list is incomplete.
I want to tell you that helping to meet the needs of others is a
testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. In all these ways of service, God is building
a kingdom in which no one is in need.
We’re not there yet, but the work is being done. By faith, we know that the work will one day
be complete.
The early
Christians created an alternative community in the midst of the Roman Empire,
and in their alternative there was not a needy person. We continue that work, but there is an
important difference between them and us.
We are not subject to the emperor of Rome. We are not helpless in the face of an
oppressive government. We are the
society. As those early
Congregationalists knew, from the founding of the colonies until now, we are
the ones who shape this society. The
United States is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Which
brings us to today’s date, April 15: Tax Day.
I guess I should remind you that the deadline to file taxes is
tomorrow. I know our accountants have
been busy. We have so many jokes about
taxes, and there’s so much about paying them that we don’t like. But maybe this is a good Sunday to think
about our taxes from another perspective.
I’m not always happy to see the money go, but from the perspective of
John Winthrop, the perspective of book of Acts, I am glad that I’m not on my
own. I’m glad to be a part of a
community that is bigger than just me, bigger than just my family. We see what happens in countries of rival
tribes and sectarian factions. It’s not
pretty. I’m not happy to see the money
go, but I’m glad about where it’s going.
Over a
fifth of our taxes go to national security, including the military and benefits
to our veterans. We have the largest
military in the world, by far, and maybe that’s an issue for another day by
itself, but I am glad to be a part of caring for our wounded and aging
veterans, my father-in-law and my grandfather included.
About a
fifth of our taxes go to Social Security, a program begun after the Great
Depression. I think of Social Security
as the way our society obeys the commandment to honor your mother and
father. We will not let our parent’s
generation go to live in poor houses, on poor farms, as used to be the case,
before social security.
Again,
about a fifth goes to health care for our parent’s generation, and for those in
worst poverty. And then there are small
percentages for food to the poor, inexpensive housing, the barest of
necessities. As we pay our taxes, we are
a part of making it more true that there is not a needy person among us. Not for those who are retired, or sick, or
fallen on hard times. It’s not yet true,
but we are making it more true.
I
consider myself fortunate that I grew up in a family and in a community that
gave me lots and lots of support. My
parents provided a safe home with plenty of food and attention. My locally funded school system was
excellent, and I had the opportunity to graduate from college without massive
debt. When I was in seminary, I needed
to move back in to my mother’s house for a time, and it was available. When I wasn’t there, I had a good, honest
friend to share apartment rent and utilities (until he got married). When I had trouble keeping up with my budget,
my grandparents helped me to pay off my first car loan. My congregation helped to pay my tuition to
seminary, just as this congregation is helping to pay the costs for my
doctorate.
Many of
us were blessed by communities of support that stepped in when we couldn’t be
totally self-sufficient. Many people in
this country are not. Many people do not
grow up with support and opportunity, but with struggle and negative
influences. In adulthood, they do not
have family to live with, or to help out when the budget is tough. They do not have friends who are
reliable. In the newspaper last week I
read about a woman forced to choose between moving back in with an abusive
boyfriend or taking her kids to a homeless shelter. Not every community of family and friends is
like mine, or maybe yours. But as a
society, can’t we bridge the gap? Can’t
we make sure that no one among us suffers hunger, cold, or illness? Maybe not on our own, but I have a hunch that
God is at work, and things are possible that we have not yet dreamed.
The early
Christians gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. There was not a needy person among them. We cannot make such a blanket statement, not
yet. But surely the God who was at work
among the early apostles is not done working.
Surely the God who welcomes everyone to the communion table is not done
welcoming people to eat. Surely the God
who created each person in God’s own image will continue to work among us to
meet the needs of every last one of them.
The problems of poverty may seem large, but surely they are not as
challenging as the problem of death itself, and God has conquered the tomb.
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