SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/6/2017 9:20 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Sharing Practically
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 4:32b, 34-35
Message of the verses: “and
not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all
things were common property to them…34 For there was not a needy person among
them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the
proceeds of the sales 35 and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be
distributed to each as any had need.”
Luke tells us how this
sharing was going on in verses 34b-35a “for all who were owners of land or
houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales 35 and lay them at
the apostles’ feet.” I can remember
while visiting Moody Bible Institute’s Founders Week that a Pastor was
preaching on needs and how God meet those needs. I really don’t remember what the specific
need was but the prayer that went out for the need came from Psalm 50:10
“"For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills.” People prayed that the Lord would give them
some of those cattle that He owned and it came to be that a wealthy farmer sold
some cattle and gave the proceeds to meet the needs that were prayed for. Selling houses and land and I suppose a lot
of cattle will generate more money than sharing a part of one’s income, so this
was no small thing that was being done here in this section from Acts, and to
say the least it was very generous.
Now we know that the
subject of communism or communal living comes up in this section so I will
quote John MacArthur as he writes about this subject: “Some have seen in this passage a primitive
form of communism or communal living. As
noted in the discussion of Acts 2:44-46 in chapter 7, [of his commentary],
however, that is not true. As in 2:45,
the imperfect tense of the verbs indicates continuous action. They did not at any point pool all their
possessions. Also, it is clear from Acts
12:12 that individual believers still owned houses. Further, Peter’s words to Annanias in 5:4
show that such selling of property was strictly voluntary. If it were compulsory there would have been
nothing commendatory about his actions.
Finally, Acts does not record that any other church followed this
pattern of selling property. “
Now we want to look at
how these proceeds would be distributed and that comes at the end of verse 35 “and they
would be distributed to each as any had need.”
I believe at first this distribution was done by the apostles, but later
on we will see in chapter six that once the deacons were set up they would be
the ones who did things would like this as the apostles wanted time for
teaching, preaching, and praying. John
MacArthur writes “The imperfect verb denotes the continuous nature of the
distribution. The continuous way of life
for those with property periodically to sell it as needed on behalf of others.”
Now at the end of this
section John MacArthur gives some sound biblical advice on the distribution of
funds in a local church. “This passage
illustrates an important pattern concerning giving in the local church. The donations are to be placed in the control
of the spiritual teachers, who are then responsible before God for their
use. Too often, people want to give only
if they can specify how the money is to be used. That kind of self-serving giving fails to
understand the delegated spiritual authority of God-ordained leaders and may often
merely seek the applause of men. Giving
is to be so selfless that Jesus said in Matthew 6:3-4, ‘3 "But when you give to the poor, do not
let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving will be in secret; and
your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.’”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: When I was a young boy my father gave the
example of giving 10% of his income to the church. It was something that I have never forgotten
and practice to this day. I am also open
to be led by the Spirit to give above and beyond this amount, but tithing is
probably the least that should be done.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To trust the Lord to led me in the way I
should go in giving.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:
“Syria” (Luke 2:2).
Today’s Bible question: “Who
lost his strength after his hair was cut?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/6/2017 9:52 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment