WHAT’S MINE IS YOURS

Before we owned a car, we had use of several, thanks to the generosity of church friends. One lady lent us her new car when she went on holiday, days after its purchase. For Luke, these kinds of actions are marks of God’s grace (v. 33). A powerful work of grace may be evidenced by many coming to faith, but Luke associated it with every need in the Christian community being met (v. 34), which of course became a witness to the world.

Some of the main signs of God’s grace at work were unity (v. 32) and generosity (vv. 32, 33). When God met Jacob at Bethel and Jesus befriended Zacchaeus (Genesis 28:22; Luke 19:8), the immediate result was a desire to give. In neither case was pressure exerted to elicit that response. Similarly, those in the early church who sold pieces of land or houses and gifted the proceeds seem to have done so freely and without coercion. Their laying of the money ‘at the apostles’ feet’ said they were not dictating how the money should be used, as if their wealth gave them power to determine its allocation. Barnabas, who would play such a significant role in Acts (9:27; 11:22–26; and chapters 13–15) was introduced as a stand-out example, his integrity contrasting sharply with those in the next story (5:1–11).