T HE FOLLOWERS of The Way (the earliest description of Christians) participate in a radical and extravagant economic system.
Here’s what we know: “From time to time,” people of means and power within the Christian community liquidated their goods for the benefit of those who “had need.” That is, possessions were available to any member of the community who had need of those possessions. This is not a redistribution of wealth where everyone had exactly the same as everyone else.
The earliest Christians accepted the reality of economic differences — some have more, some have less than others. But in spite of those economic differences they practiced a radical generosity whereby goods, possessions, existed for the benefit of the whole, not the individual. The believers didn’t hold a garage sale of used items they no longer used or valued; they sold land and houses.
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LUKE PROBABLY does not mean they sold the very homes and property in which they lived or conducted business, but is referring to the more well-to-do who owned extra property, or at least property that they no longer used.
We also know this: They aren’t advocating a change in the economic structure beyond their community. It’s also clear that the community didn’t opt out of the economic system within the empire — they didn’t live “off the grid.”
Fishermen continued to fish and sell their catch. Artisans continued to turn pottery and do business in the market. Paul, we know, made tents to support his missionary travels.
The believers regarded property as means to serving the community. Maybe the idea of cashing in a CD or selling stocks for the benefit of someone else. Giving an extra vehicle to someone who needs transportation. They didn’t regard themselves as generous; they simply did what loving family members do for one another.
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WE KNOW THAT not everyone bought into this lifestyle of generosity, as the story of Ananias and Sapphira, in the very next chapter, reveals. Still, the intent, the ideal, is clear: God welcomes everyone to the table, and when everyone shares everyone has more than enough.
This sharing what you have with those who do not have is a challenge to Christian living. This extravagant generosity requires a continual willingness to hold possessions loosely — not grasp and cling to earthly goods. This demands valuing the relationships within the community more than the (false) security of possessions.
These early church practices dare us to think imaginatively about extravagant generosity. How could radical availability stand as a witness to the kingdom of God? How do we live into the ideal that when everyone shares, everyone has more than enough?
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FIRST OF ALL, we have a mindset for giving. The impression is that the early believers spontaneously gave to meet the needs of one another. It seems that giving rose out of a natural mindset that they ought to be looking out for each other.
Secondly, we give generously. The verse “No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had” is not the description of people who looked through attics to unload what they had no use for. Gave leftovers in the Sunday offering.
How much is generous? It is difficult to set a standard.
In the New Testament, Paul made clear we are to give in proportion to what we have received. The Old Testament says that proportion is to be one-tenth of your income. What should be evident is that we give more of our money, talent, and self than non-Christians.
Third, we give out of a sense of unity and belonging. All the believers were one in heart and mind. We belong to the family of Christ, and as members in a local church, we ought to feel that we belong here — to this church and to each other.
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IF WE’RE GOING to orient our lives toward the welfare of others, we have to make a fundamental, radical change. We need to be converted from the fear that wrings its hands over scarcity to the joyful compassion that sells possessions and gives the proceeds to help the needy.
Only then will compassion for the needy become a way of life for us. And God’s grace will be powerfully at work in us all.
— Keith Cardwell
