Q3. Sharing

[Pastor Ralph]

Q3. (Acts 4:32) Why is “having everything in common” at the root of true Christian fellowship? Of koinonia? What does this have to do with the mark of disciples who are known for deep love for one another (John 13:34-35)? To what degree does the church fall short of this?

[Lekorana Matete]

I think the core issue of Christianity is God's love. He loved and gave His Son Jesus and as disciples of Jesus, we should also love and that love should be in action. What was happening at that time was what Jesus said in John 13:35, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."The Denominalisation of the Christian Church has impacted much on this issue and what happened then to the primitive church is something very unusual now.

[Krissi]

Why is “having everything in common” at the root of true Christian fellowship? Of koinonia? What does this have to do with the mark of disciples who are known for deep love for one another (John 13:34-35)? To what degree does the church fall short of this?

Christianity v. communism. I think it was Martin Luther King -- I read this a couple decades ago so it's not fresh -- who said that these two -isms were ultimately incompatible. BUT .... there are aspects of practical Christianity apparent in socialism/communism which, on the surface, make the two seem compatible (even though they're after different ends and with wholly different philosophical presuppositions).  One of these apparent compatibilities is "having everything in common."

Undergirding the Christian concept of "things" or the material world is the idea that nothing we own or have possession of is ours -- all is God's. We share because it's not ours to begin with, so if someone else needs it, it should be given. We share, too, because we genuinely love our neighbour. To love is to give selflessly, and this includes our stuff. There's a marvelous egalitarianism or levelling that happens in true christian community, albeit imperfectly, when we share our time, money, talent, etc.

In reality, however, churches often appoint, as elders, the rich old guys, not the wise old guys. There may not be paid pews, but there are status-appointed positions that have nothing to do with spiritual depth. We often give lip-service to the ideal that it doesn't matter what one does in life, that serving God and others is all that matters, but then the expensive sports cars exit the parking lot, while other believers are under the hood of their cars, trying to make them start. 

The ideal is impossible to reach on our own. But, and this may be heresy, I've never seen it reached or even close. The Holy Spirit may be in our congregations, we may be speaking in tongues and prophesying, but then ... we get into our sports cars and drive to our McMansions or second homes AS people in our own congregations need their mortgage paid, or a better job ... or whatever.

This falls under the rubric of practical Christianity. Without the leftwing bias, it could be called "social justice." Frankly, I think we fail at the practical outworking of our faith toward other believers.

 

 

[kreilly]

Who are we naturally inclined to share our possessions with?  Our family.  The hallmark of the early Christians is that they were truly a family.  Jesus referred to this when He said His followers were His mother, brother, sisters...When you give up everything to follow Jesus, you gain a new family of believers in addition to salvation. Modern day Christians in the persecuted church are forced to leave everything behind when they decide to follow Christ and be grafted into a new family-the church.  However, the modern church in the Western hemisphere falls short of this in that we are accustomed to simply meeting on Sunday or maybe a bit more often for Bible study and other activities, but generally leading separate lives from the other brethren.  Also, since we aren't forced to leave everything behind when we decide to follow Christ, we often stay stuck in a tug-of-war between the world and Christ, which keeps us stuck in an immature state.  I know I struggle with this. 

[Katy]

Q3.Having everything in common is at the root of true Christian fellowship because it is a sign of deep love for each other. Which is just what Jesus wants from each of us. “By this all men will know you are my disciples if you love one another.” John 13v35. We live in such a materialistic age that people are not always as generous and open as the early church. People are very wary about who the give things to. They are afraid resources may be wrongly used. I know this happened many years ago in our church. It makes people wary. We are all responsible to watch out for areas where we can help people in difficulty . I feel in our church it is disjointed. We all tend to do our own thing unless our Pastor asks for help for a particular situation. When doing our own thing I think people are trying not to let the right hand know what the left is doing. I am afraid it is far from the example of the early church. There is also the question of some being more able to help than others. I think it is something that I will ask my Pastor about to see if there could be a more coordinated approach to helping those who need help. Thinking about it maybe I am being too harsh. We do give to missionaries on a regular basis, also pay our Pastors salary, and a part salary to our part time assistant Pastor. I am not sure if these are part of a modern sharing of our resources! 

[Kaleb]

Having everything in common is at the root of true Christian fellowship; This should never to be misunderstood with a certain socialism or comunism, no. This is an ultimate manifestation of the true Love in which Our heavenly father was the first one to show to us in John 3:16- "God so loved the world that He gave...." This is clearly the main root of true Christian fellowship.

Disciples knew exactly what their Lord Jesus did on the cross, He was crucified for their sake and for the sake of the whole world. Therefore when persecution came upon them they found out that only loving one another could at least easy the situation, remembering the words of Jesus their Lord from John 13:34-35 commanding them to love one another that people may know that they were His disciples. 

The church fall short of this mainly because of ness among many christians. Not all but many of them, selfishness when it comes to help others who are in need, this is what makes church to fall short of this. However we have to forsake that selfishness because it hinder us to obey our Lord's command "Love one another" failure to do so will cost us not only in heaven but also here on earth we will never experience the blessings promised in the Bible.

 

 

[haar]

Q3. (Acts 4:32) Why is "having everything in common" at the root of true Christian fellowship? Of koinonia? What does this have to do with the mark of disciples who are known for deep love for one another (John 13:34-35)? To what degree does the church fall short of this? What are we going to do about it?
http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/topic/2050-q3-sharing/

 

The issue is that in the society, there are those who have possession in abundance while some hardly can meet their needs. This calls for Christian fellowship to consider everyone’s possession as belonging to everyone to be shared. This is more or less just a theory as in our congregations in Nigeria, there is quite a gap between the haves and those that haven’t.

We need to copy the fellowship of the first church where the poor ones can be catered for.

[hanks]

Q3. (Acts 4:32) Why is "having everything in common" at the root of true Christian fellowship? Of koinonia? What does this have to do with the mark of disciples who are known for deep love for one another (John 13:34-35)? To what degree does the church fall short of this? What are we going to do about it? 
After the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the disciples discovered that their own hearts were strongly united out of their common loyalty to Jesus. There was now a new society of people, the church, in fellowship with God and with one another. This unity was wonderful evidence of the work of the Holy God Spirit among them, and resulted in a change in the attitude towards each other and towards material possessions. They started regarding people more important than things, and started sharing everything they had with fellow believers. There was a sincere love of each other, shown by their selfless sharing. But it was also a higher degree of love: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another (John 13:34). The true mark of a Christian is love for his fellow Christians. This requires divine power, and this power is only given to those indwelt by the Spirit. The church often falls short of this because sincere love involves selfless giving, and self-centred people cannot truly love. God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). As a church, out of gratitude for God's love and forgiveness, we should be taking our eyes off ourselves and start focussing on the needs of others. By loving others, following His example, and giving of ourselves sacrificially. I read somewhere that this radical sharing of possessions among the early church might have been a mistake. Since the believers had assumed that Jesus was returning immediately, and this led to much poverty in the Jerusalem church later on. Need to plan carefully, and change our attitude towards possessions, and be more willing to share. 
 

[hanks]

Q4. (Acts 5:1-11) What is the central sin Ananias and Sapphira are guilty of? Why is lying to Peter the same as "lying to the Holy Spirit" (verse 3), "lying to God" (verse 4)? How can acting toward the church as a mere human institution put us under God's judgment? What does it mean to "test the Spirit of the Lord" in verse 9. Why was that wrong? 
Both Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, must have seen the great generosity of Barnabas and how well he was respected. They decided to sell a piece of property expecting to receive the same respect. After selling the property they kept some of the proceeds of the sale, only giving a portion to the church, while implying that they had given all sacrificially to the church. His wife was aware of the deception, they both wanted the image of great generosity. Besides the attempt to deceive God and the church, both were guilty of hypocrisy, and contempt of God – all because of their **** for recognition and praise. God must have given Peter supernatural knowledge of what Ananias had done. This spiritual gift, called the word of knowledge, is mentioned in 1Cor 12:8. Peter did not accuse Ananias of lying to the church or to the apostles, but to the Holy Spirit Himself. This clearly shows us that the Holy Spirit was a Person, because one can only lie to a person. He also believed the Holy Spirit is God “You have not lied to men but to God”. Their sin was also against the church, since falsehood ruins fellowship. One can only imagine if this hypocrisy had not been exposed and punished, the Christian ideal of open fellowship would not have lasted, and we would all be called hypocrites today. Peter’s question “Why did the two of you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Reminds us of the command God gave His people in Deu 6:16: “Do not test the LORD your God as you put Him to the test at Massah”. They tested God ten times and then faced the death penalty that was executed during their stay in the desert (Num 14:21-23). Jesus, when He was tempted by Satan to jump from the pinnacle of the temple, also appealed to the command not to tempt the Lord God (Mat 4:7). 
 

[Old Jerry]

To “having everything in common” is at the root of true Christian fellowship because then we can count on each other when we get into a tight spot. We know that somebody will have our back. It means that we love them and will take care of them when they are in a desperate situation. We will not let then hang out on their own. We fall way short of this in our churches. Ever since we let the government take over our welfare system, we don’t take care of those in need.

[Irmela]

Q3. (Acts 4:32)

Why is "having everything in common" at the root of true Christian fellowship? Of koinonia?

What does this have to do with the mark of disciples who are known for deep love for one another (John 13:34-35)?

To what degree does the church fall short of this?

What are we going to do about it?

True Christian fellowship is being united to one another by common beliefs, purposes and goals.  Our focus should be on Christ and not on things of the world.  But we so happen to still be in the world.  Wisdom is needed as to distribute food and goods to the community who we are apparently in fellowship with.