Acts 2:42-47 describes the community that Jesus builds. God’s people are centered on Christ and linked together in fellowship. They come together and find unity around prayer, meals, the apostles’ teaching. They are also committed to meeting the needs of others. Jesus has a purpose for the community that He creates that goes beyond simply gathering together.

Acts 2:42-47 (NIV)

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

This passage tells us that God was moving and that everyone was in awe as the believers partner together. In their devotion to the apostles’ teaching, they would have learned about the instruction of Jesus to love your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:25-28) and the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37). They would have heard stories like the radical generosity of Zacchaeus after his encounter with Jesus (Luke 19:1-10).

Grace leads to generosity

God’s grace had been poured out on them through salvation in Christ Jesus and had bound them together. This grace overflowed in a generosity that reveals their commitment to caring for the needs of others.

They centered their lives on Jesus and cared for one another because they have been given everything in Christ. They shared meals and possessions because they had been rescued, saved, and adopted into God’s family. John the apostle wrote,

1 John 3:16-18 (NIV)

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

A lifestyle of blessing

The believers were actively involved in meeting needs. It was more than random acts of kindness or part of a program that involved their giving from a distance.

The emphasis is not on the method of their sharing but their habit of lifestyle generosity. They did not sell all their possessions and not everyone sold (Acts 4:34-37), but they practiced periodic acts of sacrifice to meet specific needs. Their giving was organic as opposed to organized as they responded as needs arose.

They were not coerced or forced into this generosity. Their commitment was a spontaneous expression to the Holy Spirit’s prompting of how to care for others.

A commitment that challenges

The members of this community moved beyond feel-good fellowship to embrace the tough things in life. We are challenged to a counter-cultural lifestyle that runs against the grain of our American and Western mindset. We often look for ways to explain away their radical generosity because we do not want to live this way.

Having amassed a stockpile of possessions, belongings, and material things, our closets, cabinets, garages, and storage units are full of our stuff. We are in so much debt that we do not have any margin to assist those in need.

The challenge is to be aware of the needs around us, to move to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and to hold our possessions loosely.

Missional generosity

The community that Christ builds proves that it belongs to Him when it is committed to meeting the needs of others. This requires

• Time
• Personal resources
• Money
• Energy
• Tension
• Sacrifice

Generosity is part of a missional lifestyle. It is using what you have to serve people and bring glory to God.

2 Corinthians 9:10-13 (NIV)

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.