God’s Generosity On Full Display in the Early Church
Taken from a Red Rock News Article (April 19, 2024)
Rev. Dona Johnson | Jan 21, 2024
For the early church depicted in Acts, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is less a creedal statement of individual faith than a creative force of community formation and fellowship. There was great passion and fervor being expressed by these first believers in Jerusalem. They had witnessed a never-before-seen resurrection. And out of their faithful witness, God’s divine power and grace was poured out on them and on all who embraced their message.
This community was strangely different than the communities that surrounded it. There was a deep compassion and love among the people for one another. Out of this newly formed community, each person took on an “intense responsibility” for the other. So much so, they sold their homes and possessions to provide for others. They shared all they had. Luke writes, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had…the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus…those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales…and it was distributed to anyone who had need” (4:32-35).
Generosity is a mark of true discipleship and more importantly it is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). Christian’s who claim to be rich in love towards Jesus but poor in outward signs of generosity may have other things they love more than God. It’s that simple. The real tragedy is that there is often some part of our lives, some part of our activities, some part of our time and some part or our energy levels that we, for the life of us cannot let go of. And this holding on to our lives, holding on to our money and possessions with such a tight grip is very much a spiritual issue and a misreading of the gospel.
Over the centuries, the church has been extremely generous in its capacity to respond to humanitarian needs. In a 2022 survey, Barna, a research group found that people give because of who they are. It is foundational to their identity and personhood. According to Pew Research Center, 45 percent of adults who pray daily and attend church weekly volunteered in the past 7 days and 65 percent donated money to the poor and had a higher rate of care and concern for others. Christians who devote themselves to worship and prayer create webs of mutual knowledge, responsibility and Christ-like support like no other influence. Although many of us in our culture today suffer from a consumptive lifestyle, and tend to have a greater desire to protect our lifestyles than grow in outward generosity towards others, those who devote themselves to the gospel message “love God and love one’s neighbor” live in the overflow of God’s grace and thus, have an insatiable need to give generously.
Luke gives us a beautiful snapshot of the early church’s radical generosity on the heels of Jesus’ resurrection and the Day of Pentecost. Witnessing Jesus death and resurrection, they had a fire in their belly after seeing first hand God’s ultimate self-emptying and sacrifice. Jesus dies bankrupt and bereft, stripped of all earthly possessions (including clothes, Luke 23:34.) It is out of this experience of complete surrender that God’s generosity is on full display. Losing his life, Jesus saves it. Forfeiting “the whole world” of self aggrandizing profit, Jesus gains the true wealth of God’s kingdom. The crucified and risen Jesus thus inspires his followers even today to find “new” life not in accumulating more wealth for self-serving needs but instead relinquishing all they are and own into God’s hands to experience the true joy of giving! How might God be calling you to grow in generosity towards others? Amen.