I've been rather troubled about how I should be living as a christian in terms of my possessions. One of the questions is, should I liquidate all my assets and give them away? How much proportion should I retain, how much should I save? Basically the practical application of living out a godly life.
Quite thankful I read this chapter from Randy Alcon's book tonight. I think it is quite insightful.
Chapt 13
Giving: Reciprocating God's Grace
The most striking characteristic of the early Christians is that they shared all they owned, liquidating their possessions to give to the needy (Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-37). In one verse, we're told, "Much grace was upon them all," and in the next, "There were no needy persons among them." Compare this description with that of Christ's bickering disciples, jockeying for position and unwilling to wash each others' feet (Mark 9L33-34, 10:35-41; Luke 9:46, 22-24; John 13:3-16). Radical giving demonstrates the life-changing power of God.
There are two common errors made in evaluating the first Jerusalem church. One is to see it as a model to be followed by all Christians. The other is to reject it as irrelevant to us today.
Those who see the Jerusalem church as a detailed model fail to understand its unique historical context. Perhaps a million Jews had made the Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The city was bursting at its seams. Many of the thousands coming to Christ wanted to stay in Jerusalem to learn as much as possible before going home. Others probably couldn't return to their homes at all. As a result of following Christ, they would have become "the victims of social and economic ostracism, ecclesiastical excommunication, and national disinheritance. Their business enterprises must in most cases have collapsed in ruins and family bonds been heart-breakingly severed."(Hughes, 1965)
The result was thousands of homeless, jobless people. This was an emergency situation that called for unusual action. It cannot serve as a strict pattern for all Christian communities, because not all congregations are faced with such extreme situations. However, the first Christians' attitude toward money and possessions is a timeless model for all Christians. Second-century Church leader Justin Martyr writes:"We who formerly treasured money and possessions more than anything else now hands over everything we have to a treasury for all and share it with everyone who needs it."
Some groups have followed a communal model and done well, whereas others have found it problematic. I don't oppose attempts to imitate the early Church. To hoard or withhold our resources from the needy is always unscriptural. But the graces of giving and sharing can legitimately take other forms than that of Acts 2 and 4. Although sacrificial giving is an intergral part of all healthy churches, never again in the New Testament do we see it manifested in the same way as in Acts 2-4.
Some have taken these texts to indicate that the early Church rejected the private ownership of property. On the contrary, the liquidation of possessions took place not all at once but "from time to time" (Acts 4:34). It was strictly voluntary. Peter told Ananias and Sapphira that their property was theirs till they sold it, and once they sold it the money was still theirs to use as they wished (Acts 5:3-5). Their sin wasn't in failing to lay everything at the apostles' feet but in claiming they were doing so when they weren't, just so to impress others.
The early Church is not potrayed as utopian. In addition to the situation with Ananias and Sapphira, the Greek and Hebrew Christians quarreled over in-equities in the distribution of food to the needy (Acts 6:1).
The "bread line" of Acts 6 is not a specific pattern for churches, but a reflection of the ongoing effects of the emergency in the fledgling Church. However it demonstrates the high priority of helping the needy and taking organisational steps to do so effectively. It would be a mistake to see Acts 2-4 as a socialistic model, but an even greater mistake to disregard the early Church's example of openhanded giving to the needy.
Giving involved money, but much more. We can give a meal, a house, dress, shovel, bicycle, sewing machine, or any possession. I may give someone a car. Or I may freely loan it to others, or use it to give a ride to my elderly neighbour, or to go buy groceries for a shut-in. There's a great deal of giving that can take place even when I retain ownership-as long as I remind myself that God is the true owner, and I am only his asset manager.
Two cautions are in order. First, we can easily rationalize owning unnecessary things on the grounds that we share them with others. The face that people often invite others out on their boat doesn't necessarily mean that owning a boat is the most strategic ministry use for the money required. We must also be careful that our ownership doesn't involve possessiveness.
Money, Posessions and Eternity
Randy Alcorn
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