Sunday, October 20th, 2024: "Step Up, Step Forward: Rakes and Riches"

Watch the Sermon here

First United Presbyterian Church

“Step Up Step Forward: Rakes and Riches”

Rev. Amy Morgan

October 20, 2024

Acts 4:32-37

32 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. 33 With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 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. 35 They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 There was a Levite from Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”). 37 He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

When I was visiting my Granny a few weeks ago, she decided that the river rocks in her backyard needed to be spread out with a rake. There were two problems for her. One: she didn’t own a rake. And two: she couldn’t physically do the raking. With her family gathering for her birthday, she figured one of us could handle the physical task of raking. So that just left the problem of the lack of a rake. So Gran asked her neighbor, Dan, who walks her dog every morning, if he had a rake she could borrow. The next morning when Dan showed up to walk the dog, he held up a weathered, splintered pole with a piece of mangled metal barely hanging from the top. Gran kindly declined to borrow Dan’s poor excuse for a rake, and when she closed the door after Dan left, she turned to me and said, “I’m going to the hardware store today to buy two rakes – one for me and one for him.” I gave her a puzzled look and asked, “Why would you buy yourself a rake you can never use? Why not just buy one for Dan and ask to borrow it?” It seemed like the obvious course of action once somebody said it out loud, and that’s exactly what Gran did. Later that afternoon, Gran joyfully carried a new, solid rake to Dan’s house to tell him she was giving him this rake, but she was going to borrow it first. 

When folks read about the early Christian community described in the Book of Acts, Communism is typically the first thing that comes to mind. And since that economic system is not terribly popular in our part of the world, the whole idea of common property gets written off. We read these accounts squeamishly and say, “Good for them,” and move on with our lives. In fact, most of the things the Bible says about money make us uncomfortable. Our society is so deeply steeped in an economy of private wealth and personal acquisition and perpetual growth that we cannot entertain the idea that Jesus is really encouraging us to sell everything we own and follow him or sell our land and lay the proceeds at the feet of our church leaders. The cognitive dissonance is too great. We can’t even sort out what a practical application of these economic paradigms might look like in our day and age. 

Which is why I started with the story of Granny and her rake, I mean, Dan’s rake. Gran paid for the rake. She had right of ownership. But it was also a useless object for her without the physical strength of someone like her neighbor. Dan didn’t pay for the rake, but he could use the rake, for himself and likely also to help Gran and other neighbors. He’s that kind of person. So only when the rake ceases to belong to any one person does it actually become useful. The rake is only effective as a common good. 

And this is the economic system that is operative in the reign of God and among the earliest followers of Jesus. The end goal of holding community ownership of possessions was not pious poverty but rather collaborative abundance. Unlike Communism, the aim was not equality but generosity. 

But we should note that the early Christian community does not develop this economic system out of nowhere. There is a clear process we see in the story of Acts that shows us how and why the followers of Jesus decline private ownership. 

First, the disciples and converts experience and practice devotion. Earlier in the story of Acts, the disciples are constantly devoted to prayer, and new converts to the Jesus movement devote themselves “to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” They are devoted to Jesus and to practices that deepen their connection to Jesus. 

Second, those devoted followers of Jesus are filled with the Holy Spirit. This happens very dramatically for the disciples at Pentecost, but new converts are also filled with the Holy Spirit as the gospel spreads. 

Third, they participate in a community of abundance and gratitude. They become friends, they learn and pray and break bread together. Acts says that they “broke bread and ate with glad and generous hearts, praising God.” 

And finally, this community inspires confidence in God. Those fearful, doubting, deserting disciples who scattered after Jesus was arrested, who denied knowing him and hid out after he was crucified, begin to speak boldly and refuse to be silenced. The fledgling Christian community prays to be able to speak the word of God with boldness, and the Holy Spirit empowers them to give their testimony with great power. 

And it is only after the community of Jesus-followers goes through these experiences that they give up private ownership of possessions, sell their land and lay the proceeds at the feet of the apostles. Common property was not something demanded as the price of admission. It is a practice of devotion, a gift of the Holy Spirit, a grateful response, a testimony to their confidence in God. It is the outcome of these life-altering experiences. 

Jesus talks a lot about money, and one of the first things the Christian community does is set up an economic system. But we don’t like it when the church talks about money. It feels unspiritual. 

But I honestly don’t know how we can be the church if we don’t talk about money. Because money is not what we’re really talking about. We’re talking about the reign of God. We’re talking about living the Way of Jesus. We’re talking about restoring relationships between God, creation, and humanity. We’re talking about what it means to be the Heart of Christ in the Heart of Loveland. So I’m one of a very small minority of Christian pastors who loves talking about money. Because I truly believe it is one of, if not THE, most spiritual things we can talk about.

But we don’t start the conversation with a mandate to give, or even with a suggested percentage to donate to the church. We don’t start with our budgetary needs or even our missional goals. 

We start with devotion. We are devoted to Jesus and to practices that deepen our connection to Jesus. That’s why we’re here. To pray and to learn, to remember and tell the stories of how we have experienced God’s love in Jesus Christ. 

And then we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Maybe there are no flames dancing above our heads, but the things we do testify to the indwelling of God’s Spirit among us. Like the first disciples, we translate the gospel message into the multitude of cultures we encounter, so that people of every economic status, health condition, education or skill level, political persuasion, age, race, gender, or any other distinctive characteristic can know the love of God in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit doesn’t advise us to say, “All are welcome here.” She empowers us to become people who show God’s love to every person in every aspect of our lives. 

And the Holy Spirit draws us to participate in a community of abundance and gratitude, to become friends, to learn and pray and worship and break bread together with glad and generous hearts. From this community, we gain confidence in God that enables us to speak and live boldly in ways that are contrary to the culture we live in. 

Because we have experienced these things here at 1^st on 4^th, we see possessions and financial resources in a new way – not as our private and well-earned property but as gifts to benefit the whole community. Because we have participated in this process of devotion, community, and confidence, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we generously share what we have. 

Selling a plot of land and turning it over to the church may sound like a radical idea and totally out of the question today. But friends, I have witnessed that kind of radical generosity in this church. When folks have experienced an unexpected windfall – from the stock market or a home sale or a tax return – they gave generous gifts to the church. Folks have given incredible legacy gifts and memorial gifts. And many, many folks have given consistently for years and years, whether it’s a dollar a week or hundreds of dollars a month. 

This may not sound as radical as the first-century Christian community, but when you look at the culture around us, it really is. Less than half of American households reported any charitable giving in the last couple of years. And giving to churches dropped from 58% of all charitable giving dollars to 27% in the last 40 years. It is a rare and exotic thing these days to take what you own and lay it at the feet of church leaders. 

This is a really odd phrase in this text, “laying things at the feet of the apostles.” But there are two reasons this language was used in the first century. First, it was an indication of spiritual authority. The apostles were those who had physically been in the presence of the risen Christ, had followed him on earth and heard his teaching and witnessed his miracles. The community trusted that they had the spiritual wisdom and experience to faithfully manage the community’s goods. The second, and maybe more impactful, reason this language is used is because it is a contrasting image to laying votive offerings at the feet of pagan idols. The Roman state religion encouraged offerings made to gods with the expectation of reciprocal blessing. But in the Christian community, offerings are made for the good of the whole, to ensure “there was not a needy person among them.”

So in entrusting our gifts, our offerings and pledges, to the leaders of this church, we are continuing that early Christian practice of trusting our leaders to be spiritual authorities, to be discerning and faithful in their management of our communal goods. And we are a tangible sign to the world around us that Jesus does, in fact, transform our lives through this community. Instead of giving our money to things that we hope will benefit us individually, we are giving to the good of the whole. 

As we each prayerfully discern our commitments of time, talent, and treasure for the coming year, we might consider where we are in this process of participating in Christian community. Some of us may need to deepen our devotion to Jesus and the practices of prayer and spiritual growth that draw us closer to him. Some of us may need the Holy Spirit’s guidance, inspiration, or energy. Some of us may need to connect more regularly or intentionally with this community of abundance and gratitude. Some of us may need to pray for confidence in God that leads us to speak and live boldly. 

I don’t expect most of us will start selling off land and giving it to the church – though we won’t refuse those gifts should they turn up. But all of us have something that is more useful as a community resource than it is to us alone. That goes for rakes and for riches, for physical strength and spiritual wisdom. All of us have things that can do more good in the community than they can for us individually. We may not finally share all things in common, but we can share more. And that will enable us, by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, to do more, so that there is not a needy person among us and so that we can be a sign to the world around us of God’s love.

To God be all glory forever and ever. Amen.