Jan 5 & 12, 2020
Acts 4:32-37
Pastor Dennis Henley
Upon a casual reading of these verses from Acts 4 you might get the impression that this passage served as an inspiration to Karl Marx – “From each according to his ability; to each according to his need.” That however, would be an oversimplification.
The early Christians still owned property, and no one was required to sell it and turn over the proceeds; when they did so, it was out of commitment, not obligation At the time of the writing of the Book of Acts, Christians expected the return of Jesus very shortly – virtually at any time, so why be burdened with a lot of earthly concerns such as property? When that return didn’t quickly occur, many began to appropriate property once again, but as we see in this text for today, they managed what they had with generosity and mutual concern for one another.