Pentecost—The New Church -- Economics & The Virtue of Labor as a Value
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Pentecost-The New Church • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 2:31:26
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· 308 viewsReview of Acts 4:32-5:16. The authority of the Apostles. The economic view of Scripture. The economic view of Acts 4:32-5:13.
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The Temple Mount in AD 30
Here is the Temple Mount as portrayed in a painting by Artist: Balage Balogh, Archaeology Illustrated.com in the Rose Guide to the Temple written by Randall Price.
What I want you to see in this picture - is the view from where the artist is positioned in the upper Jewish Quarter, where the Apostles come from staying in the Upper Room.
As this event unfolds they presumably cross the from the Upper Quarter to the Temple Mount, via the bridge now know as Wilson’s bridge and arch named after the archaeologist who identified it in modern times.
Here is another view:
And another
Sunday March 10, 2024
Sunday March 10, 2024
Review
Review
We are examining the Doctrines of:
Scripture Based Prayer
Prayer When Facing Opposition
The Importance of Prayer
Last week we began a review, in Acts 4:23- of the prayer of Peter and John with their own in response to having been released by the Sanhedrin under the command to not speak at all nor teach in the name of Yeshua.
Acts 4:23
23 And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
Interestingly, the word companions is not in the text, but is inserted by the translators to try to make more sense. The variously translate the single word [ιδιος — idios = their own] own with own company, own companions, own people, own friends, and mos accurately in the NET translation as “fellow believers” .
23 When they were released, Peter and John went to their fellow believers and reported everything the high priests and the elders had said to them.
The NET translator notes tell us “this phrase is most likely a reference to other believers rather than simply their own families and/or homes, since the group appears to act with one accord in the prayer that follows in v. 24.”
“At the literary level, this phrase suggests how Jews were now splitting into two camps, pro-Jesus and anti-Jesus.”
Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Biblical Studies Press, 2005).
The book of Acts is beginning to break out the paradigm of of Jews who have embraced and are followers of Yeshua Moshiac, and those who are opposed to Yeshua Moshiac. Interestingly this tension will follow throughout the book, and also set the tone for what we read in many of the epistles.
Acts 4:24
24 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them,
So we find then, that the followers of Yeshua Moshiac are in agreement, in one accord. They appeal in the next verse to the Great Hallel of Psalm 46. Now remember that Hallels are Praise of God. הַלְלוּ־יָהּ Hallelu-Yah is Praise Yah = Praise YahWeh or Praise YHWH.
The main take awy from our study last week, is that the Hallel’s are a reference to the creator, speaking of the sovereignty of God.
In dealing with difficulties, we are to follow this example and raise the issue of God’s Sovereign Role and Position as we consider, prepare, and enter into prayer. It is also how we successfully walk in faith in our prayers - by concentrating on God’s Sovereign Role.
James 1:2-5 addresses this same perspective which is only possible by an awareness of the sovereignty of God.
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
This particular Hallel that they reference in prayer is the beginning of the Great Hallel that runs from Psalm 146 to Psalm 150. This was used in the morning daily service. Peter and John were on their way to the temple for prayer at 3 pm which was the same time that the Lord Yeshua-Jesus had died. Interestingly the morning prayer time was when the Great Hallel was typically quoted.
Hallels
Hallels
Hallels
There are 150 psalms. The last five, 146-150, are called “the great Hallel.” There are a couple of different hallel groups.
There is the Egyptian hallel, which was sung at Passover— Psalms 113-118. We've mentioned this in our review of the Passover. But didn't note that they were called the Egyptian hallel. The Egyptian Hallel was recited during the first evening of the Passover supper and on occasions of great joy. These psalms were chanted in the temple during specific Jewish festivals of assembly, including the Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, and Dedication (Chanukkah). The Levites would chant these psalms verse by verse, with the people responding by repeating the verses or intoning “hallelujahs”. Jesus and His disciples likely sang these psalms during the Last Supper (Matthew 26:30 ; Mark 14:26 ).
30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Other groups of Hallel Psalms:
Psalms 104-106
Psalms 111-113
Psalms 115-117
Psalm 135
Psalms 146-150
In the synagogue worship, specific Hallel Psalms were used in the daily morning service.
Psalms 135-136
Psalms 146-150
In the final collection of Hallel praise psalms found in Psalm 146-150, we have our Psalm which the Acts 4 believers are praying:
Psalm 146:1
Psalm 146:1
1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!” the author or reciter of the Psalm refers to himself, calling upon himself to praise the Lord and focus people's attention.
Then, there is a declaration of praise where the psalmist vows to sing praise to God.
Psalm 146:2
Psalm 146:2
2 While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
We can see that there is a synonymous parallelism here. The first line is mirrored in the second line.
Then having made his declaration or his vow of praise he begins to express in the next two verses his convictions about praise and why God is worthy of praise. This is seen specifically in vv. 3-5. Why is God worthy of praise?
Psalm 146:3
Psalm 146:3
3 Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
He is worthy of praise because only God is immutable and all-powerful. He is contrasted to the fallibility and finitude of human beings. Don’t put your trust in mortal man -- there is no salvation there. All the promises that politicians make cannot provide health and happiness. They can only do what the US Constitution says, and that is to provide an environment where the individual citizen in utilizing his volition can decide to pursue his path for health and happiness. The government can’t provide it.
Psalm 146:4
Psalm 146:4
The reason is explained. Psalm 146:4
4 His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish.
Man doesn’t live forever. He is going to die, and his spirit will leave the body. Man is finite; he is only here for three-score and ten, as Moses said in Psalm 90. His life is like a vapor; his thoughts perish. This is not saying that there is no life after death, it is saying that as far as the impact that any of us is going to have on this earth it ends the day we die.
Psalm 146:5
Psalm 146:5
But in contrast. Psalm 146:5
5 Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the Lord his God,
The God of Jacob preserved Jacob's family by bringing them down to Egypt, where He had earlier brought Joseph. It is the God of Jacob who delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and brought them back to the land, etc. “… Whose hope [confidence] is in the LORD his God.” So in vv. 3-5, the psalmist is saying that God, because of who He is, because He is omnipotent and infinite, is the one who is worthy of praise.
Then, the quote that Peter and John pick up in Acts chapter four. This God is defined. He is not just the God of Jacob. He is the God who made heaven and earth.
Sunday March 17, 2024
Sunday March 17, 2024
Review
Review
Based on Acts 4:23-31, we are examining the Doctrines of:
Scripture Based Prayer
Prayer When Facing Opposition
The Importance of Prayer
We reviewed the meaning last week of Acts 4:23 which is reflected best in the NET translation:
23 When they were released, Peter and John went to their fellow believers and reported everything the high priests and the elders had said to them.
This sets the stage for understanding the context of the prayer to come, which is based on the division between those who are Jewish follows of Yeshua Moshiac Yisrael, and those who are rejecters of Yeshua as Moshiac Yisrael.
This is the opposition that is being faced by the New Church. Understanding that this is being responded to by the Apostles and New Church by appealing to the sovereign God of Creation, and who is the covenant God of Israel.
But Israel is split, and the book of Acts is demonstrating for us the magnitude of that split which is not incidental, but is earth shattering. Remember that Yeshua Jesus himself said that he who is not with Me is against Me?
But you may not reflect in your thinking that this is entirely Messianic. But let’s check it out before we move forward, and understand what we are dealing with, seen in Matthew 12:22-30 , Mark 3:22-27, and Luke 11:17-23.
22 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.
23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
First, let’s look at Isaiah 35:5-6
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert.
This was a sign predicted for the Messianic Kingdom, and therefore fulfilled by Peter and John when they healed he-who-was-lame-from birth, and also fulfilled by Yeshuah-Jesus in the healing of the blind and mute man.
The Messianic Bible Study Collection B. The Casting out of a Dumb Demon
The act of casting out demons was not all that unusual in the Jewish world of that day. Even the Pharisees, rabbis, and their followers had the ability to cast out demons. But casting out demons within the framework of Pharisaic Judaism required one to use a specific ritual, which included three stages. First, the exorcist would have to establish communication with the demon, for when a demon speaks, he uses the vocal cords of the person he indwells. Second, after establishing communication with the demon, the exorcist would then have to find out the demon’s name. Third, after finding out the demon’s name, he could, by the use of that name, cast out the demon. There are occasions that Yeshua used the Jewish methodology, as in Mark 5, when He, being confronted with a demoniac, asked the question, “What is your name?” The answer on that occasion was, “My name is Legion for we are many.”
However, there was one kind of demon against which Judaism’s methodology was powerless, and that was the kind of demon who caused the controlled person to be dumb or mute. And, because he could not speak, there was no way of establishing communication with this kind of a demon; no way of finding out this demon’s name. So, within the framework of Judaism, it was impossible to cast out a dumb demon. The rabbis had taught, however, that when the Messiah came, He would be able to cast out this type of demon. This was the second of the three messianic miracles: the casting out of a dumb or mute demon. In verse 22, that is exactly the kind of demon Jesus casts out.
In verse 23 that raised the very question among the Jewish masses, which the miracle was intended to raise: And all the multitudes were amazed, and said, Can this be the son of David?
Was this not the Jewish Messiah? After all, He was doing the very things they had been taught from childhood that only the Messiah would be able to do. They never asked this question when Yeshua casts out other types of demons. However, when He casts out a dumb demon, they raised the question because they recognized from the teachings of the rabbis that this was a messianic miracle.
24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”
25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.
26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.
28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29 Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.
Jesus is here revealing that there are two authority systems at work. Those who have rejected His Messianic miracles are under the authority and in harmony with the evil one. By virtue of proclaiming that He cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub, they revealed their inner darkness, the evil treasure that brings forth evil things Matthew 12:36-37 .
36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
It is quite revealing to our text in Acts 4, that although the leaders of Israel rejected the Three Messianic Signs which they themselves taught only the Messiah could produce, yet they still sought after a Messianic sign in Matthew 12:38-50. We won’t go there today, but do take note that Yeshua responded that the only sign remaining was the sign of Yonah/Jonah. As Yonah must have been a miraculous sign to the Ninevites, the resurrection of the Messiah would be to all Israel.
We now come back to Acts 4:24 , which quotes from Psalm 146:6, which is the pinnacle of Psalm 146, and we continue our review of Psalm 146.
24 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them,
As mentioned previously, the Hallel or Praise Psalms are all addressed to the creator, who is uniquely understood as the sovereign of creation. Praise then, is always a reflection of God’s sovereignty.
Let’s pick back up in verse 6, of Psalm 146.
Psalm 146:6
Psalm 146:6
Psalm 146:6
6 Who made heaven and earth, The sea, and all that is in them; Who keeps truth forever,
We have here an incredible overarching view of God’s role in relation to man. Peter and John go to this verse because it emphasizes the authority of God over His creation—which includes the Sanhedrin and the religious leaders in Jerusalem who are threatening them and are in opposition to them. But there is something else that goes on as we read through the rest of this psalm. We begin to see ten things that the psalmist emphasizes about what God provides for us. And this is an excellent lesson for us on how to pray from the psalms and be reminded of God’s character, His attributes, and connect this to other promises.
The first thing he says after he has made the identification in verse 6 is,
“… Who keeps faith [truth] forever.” That means He is faithful. He holds to the truth; He doesn’t vary. He is the one who keeps faith or keeps truth forever. The word emeth [truth] is a word that could mean faithful, meaning stable, non-changing, and truth also has that idea of that which is eternal and never changes.
This reminds us of Lamentations 3:21-23 , written by Jeremiah after the first temple was destroyed.
21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Hope doesn’t come from our emotions, it comes from what we are thinking about—eternal truth.
Psalm 146:7
Psalm 146:7
The next attribute mention is in the first part of Psalm 146:7 NASB “Who executes justice for the oppressed…”
7 Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners.
A reminder of Psalm 37:5-6
5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday.
The idea here is that there is the oppressed who are being treated unjustly but God is the one who will take a stand for us and bring forth our righteousness.
7 Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners.
The second thing: “…Who gives food to the hungry.” He provides the physical sustenance that we need. E.g., Elijah at the brook Cherith, the feeding of the five thousand, the supply of manna for Israel in the wilderness. Luke 12:22-23
22 Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.
23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.
Jesus said that we are to put our focus on spiritual food. Matthew 4:4
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
7 Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners.
“…The LORD sets the prisoners free.”
This is what happens at salvation. We are freed from the tyranny of sin. Cf. Romans 6:6 ; Galatians 6:1 .
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
Psalm 146:8.
Psalm 146:8.
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord raises those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous.
Cf. Ephesians 1:18
18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord raises those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous.
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord raises those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous.
…The LORD raises up those who are bowed down,” those who are depressed, overwhelmed by their circumstances. He is the God who encourages and gives us real comfort from His Word.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord raises those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous.
“The LORD loves the righteous.” His love is not based on who we are but on who He is.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Psalm 146:9
Psalm 146:9
9 The Lord watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow; But the way of the wicked He turns upside down.
The Lord is the one who protects us. He watches over us and those who cannot protect themselves.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.
3 Be my strong refuge, To which I may resort continually; You have given the commandment to save me, For You are my rock and my fortress.
4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
Psalm 146:10
Psalm 146:10
10 The Lord shall reign forever— Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!
The focal point of the opening part of the prayer in Acts 4 is God’s power.
9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’
When we say God is the God who created the heavens, the earth and the seas and all that is in them, that sets the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob apart from all other gods and goddesses that human beings invented, because this God is not a God of human invention.
Our Apostolic focus in Acts 4, after their encounter with the Sanhedrin is on who God is … on who God is AND that God is bigger than their problems.
Importance of Prayer and how we Pray
Importance of Prayer and how we Pray
As we are studying this tremendous prayer of the apostles following the arrest of Peter and John, their interrogation by the Sanhedrin, and their release by the Sanhedrin. Then, we saw that they came back to the other disciples, where they gave a report of what had happened. Once they had told everything that had happened—which emphasizes the importance of getting all the facts before we pray—they put together and thought through a prayer.
We do not always emphasize the importance of prayer as much as we should. Prayer is to characterize everything in our lives.
Colossians 4:2
Colossians 4:2
We have had commands like Colossians 4:2 that we are to devote ourselves to prayer, which means we are to make it a consistent priority in its habit pattern.
2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;
It is something that we need to do to overcome a lot of distractions and a lot of things that come into our lives to interfere with prayer; we have to make that a point.
I Thessalonians 5:17
I Thessalonians 5:17
1 Thessalonians 5:17 says that we are to pray continuously.
17 pray without ceasing,
The purpose of the communication is:
To acknowledge sin. That relates to confession.
To express adoration and praise to God. This can be anything from just a rehearsal of His attributes that have impressed us to how God has answered prayer.
We should give thanks and focus on our gratitude to God for what He has provided us and how He has worked in our lives.
Interceding for others.
Praying on behalf of our own personal needs.
Our prayer that we are studying begins in verse 24 and extends through verse 30 is primarily a petition prayer.
It is a prayer of petition for God to strengthen them in terms of the mission He has assigned them in light of the adversity and opposition that they are experiencing.
So, there is no expression of thanksgiving here, not a confession of sin here.
There is an expression of orientation to God in terms of His character in the opening address, expressing it in terms of the sovereign authority of God over everything in creation. That is a passage that comes out of Psalm 146 and relates to one particular verse that is tied to the character of God, specifically God as creator.
Then, the next verse talks about the God who executes justice for the oppressed, which is where they are. They are pulling out of a particular psalm which deals within the psalm with the problems that they are facing in terms of a government authority that has out-stepped its authority given by God.
End of 3/17/24
End of 3/17/24
Sunday April 7, 2024
Sunday April 7, 2024
I want to start today’s class with some clarification and review of the the differences between
The Inspection and Sacrifice of the Lamb at Passover in the Temple vs. in the Family Setting.
The Inspection and Sacrifice of the Lamb at Passover in the Temple vs. in the Family Setting.
During the Second Temple era, the Passover lamb (also known as the Korban Pesach) was a central feature of the Passover celebration. For clarification let’s explore the differences in the timing of inspection and sacrifice for personal use versus temple use:
Personal Use:
Inspection: On the 10th day of Nisan, each family would select a spotless, unblemished lamb or goat to be used for their Passover meal. This lamb was brought into their home for a period of four days.
Purpose: The four-day period allowed the family to carefully inspect the lamb, ensuring it met the requirements of being without any defects. This process emphasized the importance of selecting a worthy and pure offering.
Sacrifice: On the 14th day of Nisan, in the late afternoon, each family would slaughter their lamb. The blood was collected in a basin, and the lamb was roasted and eaten during the Passover meal at night.
Temple Use:
Inspection: The priests and Levites were responsible for inspecting the lambs brought to the Temple. These lambs were intended for the public Passover celebration.
Purpose: The inspection ensured that the lambs met the same criteria of being unblemished and pure. The priests and Levites meticulously examined each animal.
Sacrifice: On the 14th of Nisan, the priests would slaughter the paschal offerings in the Temple courtyard. The blood was caught in basins, and the lambs were prepared for roasting. This public celebration marked the climax of the Passover festivities.
Why the Four Days?The practice of bringing the lamb into homes for four days had several purposes:
Commemoration: It served as a memorial to the Israelites’ deliverance from Egyptian slavery.
Notice to Egyptians: Taking the Egyptian deity (the lamb) into their homes for four days was a bold act, ensuring that the Egyptians noticed and were reminded of the Israelites’ defiance of their gods. The Passover lamb symbolized redemption, freedom, and the covenant between God and His people. Whether for personal use or temple use, the lamb’s sacrifice held deep spiritual significance during this sacred festival. 🐑🔥🍞
Symbolism and Ritual:
The lamb symbolized **redemption** and **deliverance**. Just as the blood of the lamb protected the Israelites from the angel of death in Egypt, it represented God's saving grace.
Families participated in the **ritual** of selecting, inspecting, and sacrificing the lamb. This process reinforced their identity as God's chosen people and their connection to the Exodus story.
Emotional Attachment
Families likely did become **emotionally attached** to the lamb. It lived with them for four days, sharing their space and becoming part of their daily life.
The lamb was not merely a ritualistic object; it was a living creature. Children would have interacted with it, fed it, and cared for it.
The emotional attachment allowed families to **internalize** the symbolism. The lamb's innocence and purity represented their hope for redemption.
Anachronism?
While many view emotional attachment to the lamb as anachronistic, it aligns with the **human experience**. People throughout history have formed bonds with animals.
Ancient families were no different. They likely felt a mix of emotions—awe, responsibility, and perhaps even sadness—as they prepared to sacrifice the lamb.
Parental Role
Good parents would indeed explain the concepts to their children. They would emphasize the lamb's role in the Passover story and the greater purpose behind its sacrifice.
However, **shielding children from emotions** was not necessarily the goal. Instead, parents would guide their children through understanding the deeper meaning.
The impending death of the lamb was a **teachable moment**. It allowed parents to discuss themes of sacrifice, redemption, and faith.
In summary, the emotional attachment to the Passover lamb was both **natural** and **intentional**. Families grappled with the tension between attachment and sacrifice, ultimately connecting their personal experience to the broader spiritual narrative. 🐑❤️🔥
Review
Review
Based on Acts 4:23-31, we are examining the Doctrines of:
Scripture Based Prayer
Prayer When Facing Opposition
The Importance of Prayer
The prayer that we have been studying begins in verse 24 and extends through verse 30, and is primarily a petition prayer.
It is a prayer of petition for God to strengthen them in terms of the mission He has assigned them in light of the adversity and opposition that they are experiencing.
There is no expression of thanksgiving here, and no confession of sin here.
There is an expression of orientation to God in terms of His character in the opening address, expressing it in terms of the sovereign authority of God over everything in creation.
That is a passage that comes out of Psalm 146 and relates to one particular verse that is tied to the character of God, specifically God as creator.
Then, the next verse talks about the God who executes justice for the oppressed, which is where they are.
They are pulling out of a particular psalm which deals within the psalm with the problems that they are facing in terms of a government authority that has out-stepped its authority given by God.
We pick up our study in Acts 4:25-26.
Acts 4:25-26
Acts 4:25-26
25 who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things?
26 The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ.’
We see that in vv. 25 and 26, they pull a quote from Psalm 2 which is the first great Messianic Psalm about the Triumph and Kingdom of the Messiah. The point of this is focusing on the fact that their argument—laying a foundation—is an appeal to God to intervene in their life in a certain way.
The next plank in the development of their thought is to say that God was the one who told us that we are in a battle, and ultimately the battle will end, but the character of the battle throughout history is that the kings of the earth will gather against Him.
There will always be this battle between human authority independent of Him seeking to control and dominate history. This focuses on hostility against God and His Messiah.
Still, ultimately He will have victory, but what the disciples were experiencing in Acts chapter four by application is part of that battle. They know that that battle will never cease until the Messiah returns. They are quoting the Psalm to emphasize to God that His revealed will is to put down the attack of secular powers against the Messiah.
Notice that they are praying in terms of what God’s revealed will is. A lot of times, we don’t know what God’s revealed will is. We are to pray according to His will. Still, we don’t know what that is, so in many cases, we can’t pray with as much certainty as here because here they are praying in terms of specific principles that God has laid down: that His revealed will is to defeat the secular powers that are arrayed against Him. This reinforces their sense of confidence, which is a major part of their petition: as they face opposition and hostility, they will have confidence and boldness to fulfil the mission that God has given them.
They state their petition in verse 26 which is a quote from Psalm 2:2.
Psalm 2:2
Psalm 2:2
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
—in the original psalm, it says that the rulers will gather together against the Lord [Yahweh] and against the Anointed one [Messiah]—their application is stated in verse 27:
27 “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
They are taking two or three concepts out of Psalm 2 and specifically weaving that verbiage into their appeal to God. They are laying a foundation, building a petition, for why God should answer their prayer. They build a biblical case for His intervention based on His Word, based on promises.
So when we get into passages like 1 John 5:14-15 , talking about
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
This is how we know His will: if we can articulate our petition in terms of the promises and procedures that God has laid down in His Word, so that we are basically coming to God and using these passages from Scripture correctly within their contexts and applying them correctly and creating this kind of an appeal, that God would be honored and glorified.
Acts 4:28
Acts 4:28
28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.
The paradox of this verse: on the one hand there are these human rulers who are antagonistic to God and are gathered together to oppose God, exercising their volition freely to oppose God, and yet what it is that they are doing actually is God’s plan.
Throughout the Scriptures, we find use of metaphor for the power of God. The Scriptures talk about the arm of God or the hand of God, and it is with our arm or hand that we do things. So, the arm or hand of God is usually a metaphor for God utilizing His power to intervene in human history. It is anthropomorphism, which means that it is using an aspect of human anatomy to relate something about God’s character or His attributes.
To paraphrase this, it is “to do whatever your power [or will] wishes to accomplish.” Then the second part of this is “Your purpose predestined to occur.”
Robby Deans, Dr. Dean says that Whenever we have the word “predestined,” something happens to people’s brains; they just have some spiritual seizure and either go off in one direction or another and immediately, there are all kinds of problems. Because the English word “predestined” has come to communicate something more in the order of fatalism, there is a certain course of action that has been set forth that we cannot deviate from in the plan of God. That really isn’t what the word indicates in Scripture or the original meaning of the English.
If we break down the word predestined, there is the prefix “pre,” which means beforehand, and the word “destined,” which concerns a destiny, goal, or objective. The basic meaning of the word “predestined” is merely to establish or to set forth a goal or an objective ahead of time.
We do that every morning when we make a to-do list for the day. That really captures the idea of the Greek word proorizo [προορίζω], which is translated into English as “predestined.”
προορίζω means to decide upon a course of action ahead of time, or prior appointment, to appoint something to a position beforehand.
Iπροορίζωt is a verb, a rare Greek word.
It is used six times in the New Testament: once in Acts and five other times by Paul. Where there are only five instances of a word, it is really difficult to nail down the specifics of the meaning.
This word is only used once in classical Greek literature, which we know of before the New Testament, and that was in the fourth century BC. The root idea seems to be the idea of appointing someone to do something ahead of time.
When we look at this word, we find no use for it in the Old Testament; it is not used in the LXX at all. It was used once by Demosthenes in the 4th century BC. He writes in the context of a court case document “Against Onetor” in which he was trying to recover in court a house that he had inherited but had been fraudulently taken from him by a man named Onetor who was attempting to steal this house from him.
So in court, Demosthenes wrote: “To prove that these statements of mine are true, that he [Onetor] even now declares that the land is mortgaged for a talent, but that he’d laid claim [προορίζω] to 2000 drachma more on the house.”
The question we should ask is, what does laying claim on something have to do with predestination?
When we look at such a well-known passage as Romans 8:29 it brings some insight into this use.
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
“For those whom He foreknew, He also LAID CLAIM {to become} conformed to the image of His Son…”
That gives a whole different focus on that passage now.
Hypocrites also used it in about the 3rd century AD to describe the early diagnosis of a disease, like a prognosis which is from the Greek word proginosko [προγινώσκω] meaning to know before hand—so a prediction about what the course of the disease will be. It was once used in the 3rd century in Egypt for a day set aside for a wedding day. So the basic idea of proorizo seems to be that as God plans ahead of time He appoints or sets aside certain people for certain tasks and certain objectives.
A related word, horizo [ὁρίζω] means to limit or to set a limit, or to fix or to appoint something, to establish it. proorizo would mean to establish it ahead of time. It is used in Luke 22:22
22 And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”
Acts 2:23 uses it in the same sense:
23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;
We could say, “by the previously appointed plan and foreknowledge of God.”
So, God had a plan. Nobody has a problem with saying God has a plan. When God created the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, He certainly had a plan.
42 And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead.
It is the idea of God appointing Jesus to be the judge of the living and the dead. Acts 17 expresses it as well.
31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
In Romans 1:4, it is translated as “declared”—sometimes designated.
4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
He predestined Him to be the Son of God with power. That is not the idea that is there in the text. It is important to understand that predestination does not reflect this Greek word well.
End of 1st Service 4/7/24
End of 1st Service 4/7/24
The Greek word aphorizein [ἀφορίζω] is used ten times in the New Testament with the idea of to separate—Romans 1:1 ; Galatians 1:15 ; Acts 13:2, to indicate that God is setting apart or separating something for a particular reason. Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (which always has to be evaluated on a somewhat cautious basis) says the word's core meaning is God marking something off for His purpose or for His service. That is the main idea; it is not predestination. It is God in His plan defining and determining something within a specific role.
1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God
15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace,
2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
If we translate something along the lines of “previously appointed” it is the best idea in Acts 4:28 : that they were to do “whatever your power previously appointed to occur.”
28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.
God’s plan was for the Messiah to be crucified, and as much as they went against God, nevertheless, God used it to bring about His purpose in the crucifixion. God did not violate their volition; they freely chose to rebel against God and to crucify the Messiah.
We know that God is the sovereign of the universe and has a plan for His creation consistent with His omniscience because His omniscience is always the same; it never increases or decreases. He always knows simultaneously and intuitively everything that is ever going to happen in all of eternity. So when He establishes a plan for creation, His plans take into account everything that He knows could possibly take place. So, it ends up being a perfect plan.
Isaiah 14:24 , 27 talks about this plan.
24 The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, And as I have purposed, so it shall stand:
27 For the Lord of hosts has purposed, And who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, And who will turn it back?”
God has a plan and a purpose in history. That doesn’t mean there is no volition, but it means that God has constructed history, and so oversees history to bring about His purpose.
9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’
11 Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
When we think of it, we see that as believers, we are appointed to a goal. God wants us to be conformed to the image of Christ. That is the destiny that He has established for believers. It doesn’t have anything to do with determining who will go to hell and who will go to heaven.
God’s plan includes appointing specific people for a specific task, and we could add two specific goals. Above all this involves appointing the Lord Jesus Christ to the task of carrying out and fulfilling our salvation.
The paradox in Acts chapter four is that, on the one hand, when we think of it, we see that as believers, we are appointed to a goal. God wants us to be conformed to the image of Christ. That is the destiny that He has established for believers. It doesn’t have anything to do with determining who will go to hell and who will go to heaven.
God’s plan includes appointing specific people for a specific task, and we could add two specific goals. Above all this involves appointing the Lord Jesus Christ to the task of carrying out and fulfilling our salvation. Rulers of the earth representing a foreshadowing of those kings of the earth in Psalm 2:2 are gathered together, but what they accomplish is exactly what God had determined would be accomplished in terms of salvation, the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then we come to the petition. They have set up the rationale now for God to act a certain way and now they are going to call upon God to act in a specific way.
Acts 4:29-30
Acts 4:29-30
29 Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word,
30 by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”
They are saying —validate what we are teaching by giving us power in terms of signs and wonders and miracles that you promised would validate the ministry.
The first thing that they are asking is for God to observe the threats, to be aware of the fact that they are facing opposition and to deal with that opposition and protect them while they carry out the ministry that God had commanded them.
Secondly, that God would give them the ability to speak the Word with confidence, with boldness. The Greek word here is parrhesia [παρρησία], to speak with boldness or confidence so that they would do what God had said to do per Acts 1:8 .
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The third thing is that God would give them the power in terms of signs and wonders and miracles that would go forth as their credentials.
We know from 2 Corinthians 12 that signs and wonders were the sign of the apostle; they weren’t something that every Christian did, only the apostles because it validated their message that God was working through them.
So their prayer is specifically related to these promises from the Old Testament and from the command that Jesus had given them just a few weeks earlier.
Praying in the will of God.
They knew exactly what God’s will was: for them to stand up against the rulers and the kings of the earth and to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. That is a great way to pray: look at a problem, a situation in terms of how does God say I am to act and deal with this kind of a situation; then pray that God will give the wisdom, the ability, the skill, the insight to do what I am to do in that circumstance, and at the same time that God is going to deal with whatever the other forces of opposition might be: I do my mission while God accomplishes His mission.
A lot of times we don’t have that kind of specificity. We can think of examples where we know that God’s will is contrary to what we are praying for.
For example, in 2 Samuel 12 Bathsheba had become pregnant, David had been involved in the conspiracy to get her husband Uriah killed, and going was going to discipline him.
God had already announced that part of that discipline would be that the child born from Bathsheba was going to die. David knows that is God’s will but David continued to petition God to let the child live.
David wasn’t wrong in doing that. James said we have not because we ask not. There are numerous examples in Scripture where God has answered prayer and changed what appeared to be a specific course of action due to petition.
In other cases we really don’t know what to pray for. Romans 8 says that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. Romans 8:26-27
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
The “groanings” is inaudible from the Spirit to God. It can’t be articulated, we don’t know what it is but what the passage is saying is that when we don’t know what the specifics should be in terms of prayer the Holy Spirit does, and He straightens out our muddied-up prayer requests on the way to God.
Another example of the kind of general prayer that is the best we can offer is in Luke 18:13
13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
He can’t even go beyond that, all he wants is God’s mercy. Sometimes that is the bets we can do in a prayer because we just don’t know we ought to pray. Paul has the same kind of prayer in Romans 1:10
10 making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.
He tried to go to Rome several times and hadn’t gotten there. He still wasn’t sure when he would get there but was convinced that God would eventually get him there. But we just pray, Lord if it is your will hopefully someday we will accomplish this but it is in your hands.
Here though, in Acts chapter four, they are praying for something specific and it is in terms of what the Lord Jesus Christ commanded them in Acts 1:8 and what God had promised in terms of Old Testament principles. Now here is the answer.
Acts 4:31
Acts 4:31
31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
Where else did this shaking happen? Act 2 is on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit comes. This is the same kind of thing.
They are praying in terms of Acts 1:8 ;
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
God gives us boldness and confidence in the midst of opposition. So, God answers their prayer. The place is shaken just like on the day of Pentecost and they are all filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:4
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
This is not the word for filling that we have in Ephesians 5:18—a different Greek word, different preposition, and different grammatical construction. Here, “they were all full of the Holy Spirit.”
It is a genitive of content.
When this Greek word pimplemi [πίμπλημι] is used it is almost always followed by some speech event—with Zachariah the father of John the Baptist, Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist, with Mary the mother of Jesus, with Peter in Acts 2.
This is not normative in any spiritual life, either in the spiritual life under the dispensation of Israel, with Elizabeth, Zachariah, or Mary, or with our dispensation; it is a supernatural act of God.
So they are all full of the Holy Spirit, and what is the result? They spoke; they spoke the word of God with boldness.
What was the prayer request? That they would all speak the Word with boldness. They have the confidence to witness and to go out into the community around them and continue to explain the gospel, the truth about Jesus’ resurrection, even though they know that the powers of the Sanhedrin are against them.
Acts 4:32
Acts 4:32
See how this works itself out. Acts 4:32
32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.
They were unified in their motive to serve God and in their mission to fulfill the command that Jesus gave them.
The promised kingdom would not come until the Jewish people had turned to Christ.
That can’t be forced; it is going to happen on God’s timetable. But these first century, the first decade, first-year believers were so convinced that the times of refreshing were right around the corner that they understood that when the kingdom came, personal possessions and property rights were going to be all redefined in terms of the Mosaic Law and in terms of the redistribution of the property designations to the twelve tribes of Israel.
So property ownership to them was something that when (in their thinking) a few years from now Jesus was going to come back, everything is going to be different, and it didn’t matter what they owned or didn’t own.
Because of their sense of the imminency of Christ’s return and the coming of the kingdom they recognized it was not about them and their stuff, it is about the mission. Let’s make the mission happen. It was something that was motivated internally by each individual. The church didn’t say everybody needed to do this.
This isn’t socialism. Socialism is when the government taxes people to do things. In the Old Testament it is not the government’s responsibility to take care of the poor, it is the people’s responsibility.
The issue is genuine individual motivation. If it isn’t coming from the individual, to motivate them to help other people, the government is a sad, sad substitute for the inner integrity and virtue of the citizenry.
Acts 4:33-35
Acts 4:33-35
Notice the answer to the prayer. Acts 4:33-35
33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.
34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold,
35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.
This not Marxism, it was all done voluntary by these individuals in a small community because they thought Jesus was coming back any moment.
End of 2nd Service 4/7/24
End of 2nd Service 4/7/24
Sunday April 14, 2024
Sunday April 14, 2024
Review
Review
Let’s review by reading our passage of context in Acts 4:31-35
31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.
33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.
34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold,
35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.
Divine Institutions and Economics. Acts 4:32
Divine Institutions and Economics. Acts 4:32
32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.
First, before we enter into the study of Acts 4:32, I want to note that one of the responsibilities of a pastor is not only to teach the word but ultimately if we believe Romans 12:1-2 we have to teach our sheep how to think biblically.
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
The only other place that ἀνακαίνωσις -- anakainosis = make new, spiritual regeneration occurs is in Titus 3:5.
If you don’t have this passage memorized, you should be very aware of it. Titus 3:5 is the main passage that teaches us of the doctrine of regeneration.
5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
Let’s read the passage in Titus for context. Watch as it follows the form of Romans 12:1-2: .
I will quote Romans, using an expanded translation, and show you Titus.
Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is logical and reasonable to conclude, as in Titus 3:1
1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work,
Do not be conformed to this world, as in Titus 3:2-3
2 to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.
3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
But be transformed by the renewing of your mind as in Titus 3:4-5 a
4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
demonstrating and proving through the supernatural life of Grace what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, as seen in Titus 3:6-7
6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Between these two passages we must see the spiritual benefit and transformation that comes by the Holy Spirit as the same that comes by means of the Word of God —Scripture, as seen in Ephesians 4:18 cf. Colossians 3:16 with the exact same fruit, or benefits, as seen by the list of active imperative verbs which are set in relationship to the commands to be filled by means of the spirit and to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
We also see that noun for regeneration, παλιγγενεσία -- palingenesia = rebirth, regeneration is used slightly differently in Matthew 19:28. The word occurs 3 times, twice of those in Romans 12:1-2 and Titus 3:5 in the same way, and then differently in Matthew 19:28.
28 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.
30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Here it is in reference of the regeneration of all bodies. So this is a reference to glorification; in context specifically a reference to the glorification of the apostles as the rulers who sit on the 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel during the Messianic Kingdom, under the regency of King David. But there will be surprises in the allocations of seats of power and the order of the rulership established by the Messiah.
Now as Pastor-Teachers, given to the body of Christ, as a unique gift that provides leadership, means of life, and means of correction to the body of Christ and to each local congregation, as an extension of the teaching authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the Apostles, we have to teach what the Word says; we have to teach from the explicit teaching of the Word and the patterns and examples given in Scripture. We have to teach the body of Christ to think as God has revealed that we should think according to His Word and not just on the basis of our own background, experiences, and prejudices.
Believers are not only directed but are even commanded to let the Word of God completely reshape our values and priorities regarding what we do. That means we have to learn to think and to exercise discernment. That is probably one of the most difficult aspects of the Christian life. And that is what we are here to do today.
I pray silently as I drive to church, as I step into the pulpit, as we engage in silent prayer. Lord, let not my words be spoken here, but yours. May you be the teacher here with authority and precision that matches your will. May you be the one who opens the hearts of those who listen that they might have clarity of thought and willingness to hear and obey your word.
As we enter into study, in prayer preparation, do you pray for the Lord to speak His will through doctrine in your listening? For His Holy Spirit to mold and make your mind anew, to regenerate your spiritual thinking, to revisit your norms and standards that you might exchange them with His?
Many people want to hear from the Bible what confirms and validates their own prejudices. They don’t want to hear the arguments set forth in the Word for taking certain positions, especially concerning controversial topics and issues that occur within history, including what is happening in the world today. Or in the body of Christ today. Or even what is or isn’t happening in our congregation. And yet, if he doesn’t talk about those things, a pastor really hasn’t done the job he maybe should be doing as a pastor.
End of First Service 4/14/2022
End of First Service 4/14/2022
8 For thus says the Lord of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.
The idiom “the apple of His eye” refers to the pupil, one of the most sensitive parts of the eye, an area that demands protection. So, the imagery here is of Israel as something that is prized by God but is in a vulnerable position that must be protected by God. That promise was stated when the Jews returned to the land from their captivity in Babylon. Many believe it also has a prophetic significance in that it focuses forward on the future restoration of Israel. All that is based on the promise of Genesis 12:3, the covenant with Abraham.
3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
These promises are true. The Jewish people, whether they are in a state of obedience or disobedience to God, are still God’s chosen people. The Jewish people have a unique role for the in God’s plan. God's promises to Abraham are not forgotten, even though it may seem God has put them on the shelf for a time.
One of the great applications of looking at how God has dealt with Israel over time is that no matter how chaotic things became, no matter how horrible things became in their lives, and no matter how defeated circumstances seemed to indicate that they were, God never went back on His promise.
This is the context for Jeremiah’s famous statement in Lamentations 3:21-23 as he is surveying the ruins of Jerusalem and the destruction of the southern kingdom after the Babylonian assault, and everything looks like the end of the Jewish people and the end of the promise of God:
21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
God is always faithful to His promises. And He is always faithful to us in those promises. Even when it looks the darkest when we are going through the most difficult times, God never goes back on His promises; He is always going to be present there and will fulfill His promises. The same thing is true for Israel.
If we believe that God is the God of history and that God is a faithful God who is true to His promises and true to His covenant with Israel, then we believe that Israel today is important and that we as believers should be the most supportive of the Jewish people and of the state of Israel and understand what is going on in the world.
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Divine Institutions and Economics. Acts 4:32
Divine Institutions and Economics. Acts 4:32
32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.
A biblical view of economics is based on reality—reality as God defined it. That doesn’t mean that we are not going to find economists out there who are conservative and in whose views of economics, money doesn’t fit a biblical pattern. It does fit, often because they are realists, not because they are biblical. But as Christians, we want to start with what the Bible says and then build our view of economics and money from the Bible because we want to be as closely aligned in our thinking to the way God actually created things, which means we want to be aligned to reality. We don’t want to live in a fantasy world, so we have to come to understand these things. As we have seen, the Bible isn’t an economic textbook, but it gives us a framework for understanding and evaluating everything, including economics.
The foundation is understanding the divine institutions. The first three occur before the fall—individual responsibility, marriage, and family. Each of these is established and instituted by God before sin. That tells us something. First of all, we have to recognize that the reason we have these things instituted has nothing to do with sin, controlling sin, or dealing with the consequences of sin.
They are instituted to promote productivity among the human race and to enhance the lives of human beings as opposed to restraining evil. The next two come in after the fall—government and nations—whose primary purpose is to restrain human evil.
But the first three are to promote productivity and happiness in the human race. Individual responsibility takes place when God created Adam, placed him in the garden, and gave him everything he needed for food, but there was a test. That test was a test of obedience, and he was not to eat of one tree, the tree of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. But when Adam was placed in the garden, he had responsibilities. There was labor, but there was no toil. There is an important distinction there.
They had responsibility, and there was work to be done, and this is indicated by several passages. Genesis 1:26-28
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
So God places Adam over all of the resources on the earth, and this idea of ruling isn’t the idea of being a tyrannical abuser over the planet. There is no sin or evil at this point.
Man is given the responsibility to rule, which means to govern, administer, and manage all of the resources that God has put on the planet. It is man’s job, then, to investigate the creation, to learn the properties of all of the resources that God has given them and how to properly and responsibly use them so that he can rule over the planet. He is not put there to exploit and destroy the resources that God put there.
Initially, because there is no sin, man is given all of the herbs of the field to eat, and all of the animals are omnivorous, not carnivorous. There is no death, and so there is the perfect environment. Man was to fill the earth and to subdue the earth. None of this was done within a context of evil or self-centeredness because it is a perfect environment.
Genesis 2:15
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
That was part of his responsibility. He was to labor as a steward, an administrator under God, over creation. But it is not toilsome.
After the fall, after sin, God addresses man, and He says:
“Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil, you will eat of it All the days of your life.”
Before the fall, there was non-sweaty, non-toilsome labor. It is not laborious, but there was responsibility to produce from the land; there was production involved. We see that the very idea of labor, being a craftsman, a worker, an artist, and creating things is part of what it means to be in the image of God.
There are a number of different aspects of the first divine institution that need to be brought out. First, there is the idea of volition. Man has an option. He can choose to obey God or choose to disobey God. Second is the idea of accountability: he is accountable to an authority over him for what he does with the resources given to him. And third, he is involved in responsible labor—serving God in terms of administering the planet under the authority of God.
Economics is the study of value, and that value is going to be impacted by the amount of labor that goes into producing things. So we see that from the very beginning, God places value upon human labor and work. This begins to lay a foundation for us to understand one of the core elements of economics.
In this section we face a passage that is perhaps one of the two or three passages in Scripture that most people will go to to try to argue and show that the Bible really does support some view of socialism or communal living. What we actually find is just the opposite.
At the core of the Mosaic Law’s theology of money is the idea of property, property rights and ownership rights. When we look at the Ten Commandments one of the commandments is, “Thou shalt not steal.” That would be meaningless unless people have the right to own property and to keep it for their own personal use, and to determine how to use that property however they wish.
Other people do not have the right to take that property. So that implies the theology of property rights which you have running throughout the Mosaic Law. There are also provisions in the Mosaic Law related to inheritance rights. There is a lot said in the Mosaic Law related inheritance rights, the accumulation of wealth and property, and how that is passed on from one generation to the next.
While there were taxes in the Mosaic Law, called tithes, and Jesus also in the New Testament recognizes the right of government to tax, the Bible never authorizes property tax. What property tax does is act as if the ultimate owner of the land is the government.
Biblically speaking the ultimate owner of the land and property is God. So property taxes are an intrusion upon divine prerogatives and the state arguing that they are the owner of the land over against the people. Property taxes also are an assault on the accumulation, preservation and the passing on of wealth from generation to generation.
And a study of the inheritance laws in the Mosaic Law reveal that what God intended as a nation prospered was for wealth to not only be accumulated but for it to grow within a family from generation to generation. So there is not an antagonism in the Scripture towards the accumulation of great amounts of wealth. What we do find is a criticism of the mentality that goes after wealth as a source of meaning, value and happiness, and that is described usually as covetousness.
When we get into the New Testament it does not contradict the economic principles of the Mosaic Law at all, but it transforms those laws in the Old Testament which were designed for a theocratic nation to a broader universal context because now there is no longer going to be a theocratic nation of Israel but God is going to be working through a new universal group of people, the church.
So there is a transfer of the nature of these laws related to money because of this new entity, the church, which is now trans-national. But in both the Old Testament and the New Testament the one thing that stands out is that money and the use of money and wealth is a personal responsibility, not a government responsibility.
In the Old Testament, when we look at the prophets, never was the government accused of not taking care of the poor—unless what was happening was that the tithes mandated by the Mosaic Law that were taken every three years for the care of the widows and orphans was being abused. The government was accused and condemned for misusing those funds.
But as we go from the Old Testament to the New Testament the government has the right to tax but the entity that is being judged on the misuse of money is always the individual. The emphasis in the Bible from the creation of man in Genesis chapter two on is always on individual responsibility. That doesn’t contradict our compassion and care for those who have misfortunes, those who don’t have money, or hose who are on the edges of financial collapse. But that is another principle.
Those responsibilities for care and concern and compassion to be personal and what we see in Scripture and in history is when governments take over those responsibilities to take care of people individuals give up their responsibilities and people have less care and concern for those who are elderly and those who are less fortunate. It is always the trend. The more responsibility we give up individually the less responsibility we feel for ourselves and for one another.
Scripture also has various things to say about money in terms of its use and priority. Money in and of itself is not evil or sinful, it is the mental attitude and the use. Jesus said: Matthew 6:19-21
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
If the focus is on the accumulation of wealth then there is nothing wrong with that but it shouldn’t be the ultimate focus. Because then it will always crowd God out and there is always the threat that money and possessions become a god unto themselves.
1 Timothy 6:10
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
This doesn’t say money is evil; money is morally neutral. It is the love of money. The Greek word there is philaguria [φιλαργυρία]. The first syllable is philos which has to do with more of an emotional attraction to something, so it is a synonym for greed.
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
The pursuit of money as the source of happiness, stability and hope is the path to self-induced misery.
Speaking of the latter days. 2 Timothy 3:2
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
It is that focus on money that then becomes a root for the spread of evil in society.
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
15 And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
This is really important for understanding what happens in Acts chapter five. Life isn’t our possessions. In fact, Jesus will go on to say that they need to seel their possessions at times.
5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Covetousness and greed is idolatry; it becomes religious because you are replacing God as your priority in life to job, money, and that as the source of stability and happiness.
The value of labor and profit: 2 Thessalonians 3:10
10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.
End of 2nd Service 4/14/20204
End of 2nd Service 4/14/20204
Sunday April 21, 2024
Sunday April 21, 2024
Review
Review
Acts 4:32-35
Acts 4:32-35
We are in Acts 4:32-35 and have begun to deal with the issues of the economics theory of the Bible.
Let’s re-read the passage:
32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.
33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.
34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold,
35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.
The reason we are reviewing the economic teaching of scripture is because this particular passage has been used extensively by those who advocate for socialist and communist views of how money operates. But this text, examined in the context of scripture, does not support that conclusion.
Much of the turmoil in society today is from those who hold to these same views. Not only do we have the obvious socialist advocates who are seeking to live off of others without doing work — often present in movements like the leaders of black lives matter who have been exposed as charlatans and fraudsters, buying expensive houses from funds donated to the cause.
We saw extensive references to it in the Jesus People revolution — the so called Charismatic movement as Christian communes popped up all over the west coast, with quite a concentration in Oregon, and even in our own southern Oregon area. There were even communes that were not Christian, but which pointed to this passage as justification for their philosophy.
We learned that money and both macro-economics and micro-economics are based upon the pre-fall understanding of the value that God places on labor and work, according to the economy he established of having dominion over creation.
Money is the means of quantifying and exchanging work and the resultant benefit of labor and industry.
Most people want to emphasize giving to the poor. This is a Christian value.
But this is a Christian value also: if people won’t work, they won’t eat. And this is exhibited throughout the Mosaic Law.
In the Mosaic Law there was a provision that was to be made that when a farmer harvested his grain he was to leave some grain in the field. He wasn’t to leave ten per cent in the field and take it to the welfare market so that it would then be distributed to the poor while they sat at home as couch potatoes.
They still had to work for it. They had to go out in the fields and glean for the grain that was left in the fields. It wasn’t free.
God was the originator of the idea that there is no such thing as a free lunch. In all the provisions that are given in the Mosaic Law there is a responsibility of labor to get that which is that provision.
To demonstrate the virtue of understanding the value of labor, let’s turn to Proverbs 31.
Proverbs 31, the virtue of understanding the value of labor
Proverbs 31, the virtue of understanding the value of labor
The focus of Proverbs 31 is a godly, virtuous wife. It begins in Proverbs 31:10. We have looked at it in other doctrinal views, but today it will be a primer for us on the doctrine on the value of labor as a virtue, an ideal to be sought after, and to be cultivated.
10 Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies.
So immediately there is a positive value association with a precious jewel to the value of a productive wife.
11 The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain.
She is going to take care of things within her realm of responsibility that enables him to be more productive and to make more money so that they together can be more prosperous. This is how she is a blessing to the home.
verse 12 seems self explanatory
12 She does him good and not evil All the days of her life.
Yet we find that the next verse has set the context. Good and evil are bringing the benefit of labor and profit to the family, verses the evil of bringing debt or being a burden.
Proverbs 31:13 She is involved in the labor.
13 She seeks wool and flax, And willingly works with her hands.
So she is involved in also bringing profit into the family from her labors.
15 She also rises while it is yet night, And provides food for her household, And a portion for her maidservants.
So it is because of her work and how she prospers that she is able to take care of those and provide jobs for those around her.
16 She considers a field and buys it; From her profits she plants a vineyard.
So she is good at real estate investing. She buys and sells later for a profit, and that is a good thing. So this supports a free market society. What the principles of the Bible support are more consistent with a free market based economic system because that emphasizes personal responsibility as opposed to government responsibility.
17 She girds herself with strength, And strengthens her arms.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is good, And her lamp does not go out by night.
She is industrious.
Proverbs 31:19
19 She stretches out her hands to the distaff, And her hand holds the spindle.
She spins and weaves as part of her labor, presumably for a profit.
20 She extends her hand to the poor, Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy.
Her profit is not taken selfishly. She is not just accumulating wealth for herself but she recognizes that as God has blessed her with financial resources then she has a responsibility to use that to help those less fortunate.
She doesn’t say the government needs to tax me more so that it can use my money to help the poor.
It is individual responsibility, not government responsibility that is in view here.
Acts 4:32-35
Acts 4:32-35
In Acts 4:32-35 we have a general description and also part of the response to the prayer that they had uttered in vv. Acts 4:24-31 .
32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.
This isn’t mandated; it is not required. It was something that came out of their own desire for the Lord. So we have this description of power that God gives to the apostles and their authority as indicated through the signs and wonders. They gave up their physical possessions, their lands, their houses, and they brought the proceeds and laid them at the apostles’ feet.
33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.
34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold,
35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.
There is the summary here of the fact that the apostles are growing in terms of their authority, there are confirmatory miracles, and the people have a unity where they are so devoted to one another that they willingly sell their real possessions and give that to the apostles.
Notice that nowhere else in the New Testament does this happen. Nowhere else in all of the history of Christianity does anyone ever try to do this, it doesn’t happen. This is a unique situation and it is related to the fact that Acts is a transition book.
The next thing that happens as one instance of the generosity that they have is that Barnabas, a Levite from the diaspora, had land, sold it, and laid the money at the apostles’ feet. That sets up as the introduction to what happens in chapter five.
Acts 4:36-37
Acts 4:36-37
36 And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus,
37 having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Acts 5:1-11
Acts 5:1-11
In Acts 5:1-11 we have the episode of Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias and his wife sell a possession (one piece of property) and from that they gain a good price. But they decided they wanted to have the same respect and the same notoriety that they see these other believers having—and remember, nobody mandated that they sell anything or give anything—and they also want the money. Nobody said they had to give it all to the church, so it is all their decision. They are making a series of wrong decisions. Ananias kept back part of the proceeds though he gives money to the church. He doesn’t take into account of the apostolic authority and that the prophets of the Old Testament have now been replaced by apostles who are the spokespeople for God and they have a hotline to heaven. So he comes in and lies about it and Peter knows the truth.
Acts 5:3-5
Acts 5:3-5
3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?
Some people believe that Ananias was possessed by Satan, but that is not the sense of the language there. His heart is not filled with Satan. Satan influences him to lie and so he lies to the Holy Spirit. Lying to the church which is the body of Christ formed through the baptism of the Holy Spirit is lying to the Holy Spirit.
Acts 5:4-5
4 While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.
This was an act of divine discipline, the sin unto death.
Acts 5:9
Acts 5:9
But why didn’t God do this to everybody else who has lied to the churches? We have to look at the context. It is always important to consider the context. His wife Sapphira isn’t with him. She is about to come but before she arrives they wrap Ananias up, carry him out and they bury him. About three hours later his wife Sapphira comes and she has no idea what has happened, and Peter now is going to test her.
9 Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”
Acts 5:10-11
Acts 5:10-11
Notice “the Spirit of the Lord,” identified back in verse 3 as the Holy Spirit.
10 Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband.
11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.
Acts 5:12
Acts 5:12
Then we have an addendum. Acts 5:12
12 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch.
We compare this with Acts 4:32, where the breathren “were of one heart and soul; and Acts 4:33, where we are told that “with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”
32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.
33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.
Those two statements bracket this episode. And what are those two statements focusing on? They are focusing on the authority of the apostles now over the church. This isn’t about what happened to Ananias and Sapphira, it is about God protecting the authority of the new institution, which is the apostles. They are the new leadership.
Acts 5:13
Acts 5:13
13 Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly.
So it is all about developing respect for the leadership of the new church. Then in verse 14-16 there is another progress report.
Acts 5:14-16
Acts 5:14-16
14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,
15 so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.
16 Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
This whole section has to be understood as a whole and it is all about establishing the authority of the apostles and establishing this infant organism called the church so that it isn’t going to be torn apart by a lot of people who are self-centered and more concerned about their own wellbeing than they are about the context of the church.
Observations/principles to help us understand what is going on in Acts 4-5
Observations/principles to help us understand what is going on in Acts 4-5
1. We always have to remember that Acts is a transition book.
Things are changing, removing from the age of Israel to the church age. There is a transition from the dispensation of the Mosaic Law to the dispensation now of grace. It was transition from a time of incomplete or partial revelation, and incomplete canon, to the time of a complete revelation. Within 60 years of this event the New Testament canon would be completed; revelation would come to a close. The Old Testament was a time which anticipated the coming of the Messiah and this is a time which is announcing that He has come and that of the Jewish people will turn to Him then the times of refreshing will come. So there is an expectation that the kingdom is within historical sight.
2. Acts is a narrative.
It is telling a story of what happened. It is describing what they did; it is not prescribing what they did. It is telling us this happened to the apostles, it is not saying this is what every church needs to do. This is restricted to a unique time within this transitional period. Never again in the New Testament period or in church history would anything remotely resembling these events take place. It wasn’t supposed to be duplicated; it was historically conditioned. Another thing that is important to understand is that when they are giving up everything, selling their properties and giving their money to the church, they are not starting a commune. But what happens when you divest yourself of all of your property. You are free; free to move. You can go anywhere.
3. The most important aspect of this transition is that it is a transition of authority and worship.
Up to this point the focal point of worship has been at the temple. Because of that it gave additional value to the real estate in Jerusalem. There were three times a year where the population of Jerusalem would triple as all of the people came to visit to go to the feast days. A lot of people in Jerusalem would just rent out their spare bedrooms to the pilgrims who were coming to town. It gave them an additional source of income and it also gave their property as a source of income additional value. And Jesus told them in Matthew 24:2 and Luke 21:5-36 that it wouldn’t be long before judgment would come to Jerusalem and no stone would be left unturned of the temple. If you were to believe Jesus completely and totally and you owned real estate in Jerusalem, would you want to sell now or wait? This is also part of the background. Jesus is building a new organism (the church) that is built on the foundation of the apostles, and so God is showing their authority. When Peter and Ananias and Sapphira had this encounter and the consequences of that were seen the result was that people were afraid. There was respect for the authority.
4. In the broader context Jesus had predicted that Jerusalem would come under judgment and be destroyed in their generation.
So it is not a good idea to own property in Jerusalem. Part of their thinking was that they didn’t need to be tied down to their property.
5. They also lived with an expectation that the kingdom would come soon.
There would be judgment and then the kingdom would come. And when Messiah returned to the kingdom all the land God promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would be their and the property lines for the different tribal allotments would all be redrawn, so why should they have all their resources bound up in their property when everything was going to change soon? They developed an eternal perspective in relation to their temporal resources.
6. The authority of the apostles is in focus.
In the transition the focus is on the authority of the apostles and why it is dangerous to go against their authority, because they are the divine representatives on the earth.
7. In Acts 4:35 we are told that the people who sold their property brought the proceeds and laid them at the apostles’ feet.
Then we are told in verse 36 that Barnabas sold land and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. They didn’t throw it at the apostles’ feet because this is a formal orientation where they are submitting to the authority of the apostles and giving all that they have to the apostles for the apostles to do with as they will.
They were recognizing their authority. Then in Acts 5:2 Ananias brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Three times there is this phrase about laying it at the apostles’ feet. This shows that they were submitting to the authority of the apostles. The problem with Ananias was that he wasn’t submitting to the authority of the apostles.
8. Think in terms of the flow of the events in Acts.
The events in chapters 3 & 4 happened fairly close to one another, close to the beginning, probably within the first three or four months after the day of Pentecost.
These events were probably some six months to a year later, we don’t know how much time went by, and then there is going to be some more opposition by the end of chapter five when Peter and John are going to be arrested again.
In chapter six something happens. There is all of the wonderful love and unity at the end of chapter four, but what happens in chapter six?
Now there is a problem because distributing the money to the poor is not that efficient. The Hellenistic widows are being neglected in the daily distribution of resources.
This led to a further development in the administration and they appointed seven men. We are introduced to Stephen who gets arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin.
He preaches a message of confrontation and condemnation in chapter seven and he is stoned. Then in Acts 8:1
1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
What happened in Acts chapter five? They all sold their property. Now they get kicked out of town. We see the sovereign hand of God behind all this. This isn’t just we are going to give our money to the church. That is part of it but it is broader than that. They understand what God is doing in that time in history and they want to be aligned with God’s plan and purpose and not opposing it. This is also a tremendous act of trust.
9. The transfer of their personal wealth to the apostles and to the church was a manifestation of their trust in God.
The apostles represent God. Previous to this time they are trusting in their own personal wealth and possessions to give them stability in difficult times.
Now they give it all to the church, a manifestation of their trust in God.
They have no trust in the long term stability of Judea because they understand that Jesus prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and Judea. They give up financial independence and replace it with total dependence upon God. They are not valuing their physical assets over the spiritual assets; they realize that they need to be laying up treasures in heaven and not treasures on the earth.
They trusted God as the ultimate source of their security in life.
10. The consequences of their actions.
In the immediate future we learn that there was no economic need in Jerusalem and they are taking care of each other. They have all of the financial resources they need to face whatever problems and difficulties they had.
But this situation doesn’t last. By the time we get to Acts chapter eight there is a persecution that arises and they are scattered.
By the time of Paul’s second missionary journey, another fifteen years down the road, a famine comes which is part of God’s judgment and discipline on Judea at this time.
Paul is out establishing churches among the Gentiles and now is collecting money from the Gentile churches to bring back to Jerusalem, and the way the church in Jerusalem survived was on Gentile generosity.
So we are seeing the transition from the focus on a Jewish church to a more Gentile church, the transition from Israel to the church at this time in history. Romans 15:25-26, 1 Corinthians 16:1-3 .
25 But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints.
26 For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem.
1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also:
2 On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.
3 And when I come, whomever you approve by your letters I will send to bear your gift to Jerusalem.
During this time the church in Jerusalem became economically dependent on Gentile churches.
11. As word of this spread it became a powerful testimony that something radically different was taking place with this community of Christians.
They were trusting in God in ways that nobody had seen before. So it was a testimony to the grace of God, His provision for them, and it is also a witness to the dispensational transition.
12. It is not motivated by any form of utopianism or a reduction in their view of the total depravity of man.
They don’t have some high view of man where they were all just going to sell everything and go off and live in the desert, and we are all going to take care of each other and bring in a utopia. That is the root of the idea of modern socialism from the beginning of the 19th century. It is always associated with we are going to solve all of man’s social ills and social problems, and we are going to bring in social justice by confiscating wealth from the wealthy and giving it to the poor. It doesn’t work, and that is the essence of both socialism and communism.
13. This transfer of property, this giving of their wealth, was not mandated by the apostles.
It wasn’t a requirement; it wasn’t an obligation; it was something that was done on a pure private, voluntary basis. What we will see in this issue over what the Bible teaches about how to handle money versus modern views of communism and socialism is this emphasis on collectivism versus private responsibility. That is really the bottom line. Do you believe in individual responsibility or do you believe in collectivism? And what are the implications?
Overview of Systems of Economics
Overview of Systems of Economics
Some of the passages in the Gospels that are used to support the idea of a Christian socialism are the same passages that are used to support replacement theology. This is because a number of those are used to relate to God’s plan for Israel and they are not talking about society at large or an economic theory per se but they are talking about specific circumstances related to Israel. But when we look at those passages within this grid of amillennial theology that dominated Roman Catholicism—which was much of European Christian thought for more than a thousand years—we realize it develops into different types of interpretation, one of which leads to replacement theology and it the seed bed for the anti-Semitism that characterized much of European history. Also, another fruit of that approach to utilizing Scripture leads to the same idea of Christian socialism.
Economics.
Economics.
The Bible establishes the fact that money in and of itself is not evil. It is the love of money that is evil—1 Timothy 6:10 .
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
How are we going to define economics?
How are we going to define economics?
The basic word for “economics” comes from the Greek word oikonomia [οἰκονομία] which is also where we get the Greek basis for the term “dispensation.” According to the lexicon oikonomia refers to a manager of a household; the position, work, responsibility or arrangement of an administration, as of a house or of a property, either one’s own or of another.
It is a spiritual dispensation, a management or an economy. It has to do with the management of a household, a country, an estate, and the management of those resources that are in the house, in the estate or whatever.
Thomas Sowell, quoting from Lionel Robins: “Economics is the study of the use of scarce resources which have alternate uses.”
Take, for example, time. If we spend an hour in the afternoon taking a nap what is the value of that nap? Well the value of that nap is relative to the value of other things you could accomplish during that hour.
So economics is the study of the use of scarce resources—food, energy, etc.—whatever the resource may be and how we could utilize alternatives in place of that scarce resource.
Later on Sowell writes:
“Economics is not about the financial faith of individuals; it is about the material wellbeing of society as a whole. It shows cause and effect relationships involving crisis [value], industry and commerce, work and pay [responsible labor], and the international balance of trade…”
Trade has to do with the exchange of goods which is property
“… all from the standpoint of how this affects the allocation of scarce resources in a way that raises or lowers the material standard of living of the population as a whole.”
As we look at his expanded definition of Lionel Robins’ short definition we notice that both of these definitions bring in the idea of how these finite resources are managed or administered.
Whether the people in a given economy are going to be prosperous or whether they are going to be in poverty all depends on how those resources are managed.
If the resources have to be managed, what does that tell us? It tells us that somebody, some group, some entity is managing how those resources are being allocated. It implies that there is someone, some group, some entity that has control or ownership over those resources. The implication that somebody has control over the resources implies ownership, control and ownership of those resources.
Whenever we talk about property right and ownership and about determining how certain resources are allocated we have brought in two critical elements: property rights and responsibility.
That is fundamental to any discussion on economics, on management, on any sort of business—who is responsible and who has ownership of the resources. If we develop our thinking a little more we see that there are some questions that ought to come to our mind when we think about this basic definition of the use of resources. Who owns the resources in a given economy? How is ownership determined? Different economies are going to determine ownership in different ways, e.g. the Soviet Union compared to the USA. Another question: Who has authority over the resources and who determines their allocation?
Another question we ought to address is the way in which ethics—right and wrong, justice and injustice, fairness and unfairness—relate to the allocation of resources.
Often we hear politicians talk about the tax code in terms of “everybody needs to pay their fair share.” But what does that fair share mean? As soon as we say that we imply a set of values in order to determine what fairness is. For some fairness is that everybody pays and equal percentage of their income for taxes. For others fairness is on a progressive scale so that if you have less you will pay a lower percentage and if you have more you will pay a higher percentage. But who is it that determines where those lines are? What is the basis for making an evaluation of where poverty is and where rich is? Rich used to be several million dollars; rich today has been lowered to a couple of hundred thousand dollars.
Who among us has the right to make the decision as to what is an appropriate amount of income and what is inappropriate? What is it that gives anyone the right to say you have made so much money, you are classified as rich? Does anybody have that right? Because if they have that right they have the right to determine a lot of other things affecting the individual’s freedom.
Another set of questions as we think about the idea of scarcity of resources.
This implies that there is a scale of values related to the degree of scarcity. In Minnesota there is a lot of water; in Arizona they don’t have a lot of water. So who is going to assign a value to the resource of water? In some places it is less valuable; in some places it is more valuable because of its presence. Some places it is easy to get to; in some places it is harder to get to. So that is going to bring in the whole idea of labor, and how you get to the resource to develop the resource.
Question: Is value intrinsic or is it assigned?
So then we have to ask the question: On what basis, then, do we assign value? In Minnesota there is an abundance of water; in Arizona there isn’t, so the value assigned to water is imputed by the people who need it. How we answer some of these questions determines how a society prospers.
As Thomas Sowell points out in Conflict of Vision the most fundamental presupposition that governs people’s answers to questions has to do with their view of the nature of man.
So if the nature of man affects how you answer these questions—whether man is basically good or man is basically flawed or sinful—that implies also a certain view of God and a certain view of ultimate reality.
We start thinking about God and man and nature which are all addressed in some way by the questions we ask related to the economy and we come back to the basic elements of theology. So economics, like every other area in God’s creation, is going to be impacted by how we understand God, man and nature. Everything ultimately goes back to religious assumptions. Whether people have thought about it or not is a totally different issue. But philosophers and theologians through the centuries have all recognized that our view of God, man and nature or creation impact our view of politics, law and economics.
The Bible is not an economic textbook but it does tell us true things that relate to these issues of economics. It says a lot about money, values, property. Property is a crucial element in relation to an economy; it is integral to how we think about economy. The freedom to own property and to dispose of that property as you will, without interference from government, is integral in experiencing freedom. If you don’t have freedom to your property then you don’t have freedom or liberty at all.
The Mosaic Law gives us much more detailed information and a divine perspective within a government framework—on labor, on the value of labor, on financial obligations, the ethics related to labor and how to treat servants, and the use of wealth.
At the very core of the Mosaic Law’s theology of money and value is property rights.
In the Ten Commandments, Thou shalt not steal recognizes the right of property ownership and that it is wrong for someone to abrogate illegally property ownership and property rights. The New Testament doesn’t contradict any of the things said in the Old Testament. It doesn’t address them in the same way because the church is the focal point and the church isn’t a national entity, it is a trans-national entity, and so the focus is different. But the principles that are seen in the New Testament are still consistent with those in the Old Testament.
Many of the parables relate to a property owner and a steward, and that the property owner (not the government) has the right to set wages and determine how much he will pay.
We often hear today that the problem with capitalism is that it is motivated by greed. There are a lot of people who want to better themselves and that may be classified as greed. There are some who just accumulate a lot because they value possessions and money and are going to be happier, more secure by what they have. That would be classified as Greed, and the Bible condemns greed. So whereas one person can be motivated by personal greed to amass great wealth another person can be motivated by a desire for social approbation, and his greed is not for money, for things that money can buy or for property; his greed is for social approbation and recognition. So the path that his greed takes is to try to legislate some of the property and the wealth of the one person to redistribute it to those who don’t have—just as much an aspect of greed as the greediest capitalist. Greed doesn’t have to be greed for money. It can be greed for recognition, for power, for approbation, and any number of different objects. Often materialism is camouflaged by some sort of socially justified position but who is to say that their greed is better than the greed of the CEO or the property owner.
Basic definitions
Basic definitions
Capitalism:
Capitalism:
It has a variety of definitions but generally it is defined as an economic system where the means of production—property, land, machinery—are privately owned, operated for profit from investment and in competitive markets. (There is no such thing as basically a free market economy. That is what we would strive for but it doesn’t exist and hasn’t really existed anywhere. The closest it came was maybe a few years after the United States was founded, but since the rise of central banking and the use of tariffs prior to the War Between the States, there has been government control. When you have government control to produce certain economic results you no longer have a free market.) It is operated from profit. There is a legitimacy to making a profit. If there weren’t people making a profit and people who made a lot of profit, then just think how culturally impoverished we would be as a nation. When the government comes in and tries to pick the winners in the competition you start having problems. This happens in a lot of different ways—agricultural subsidies paid to farmers who are paid not to grow rice, corn, etc. If those restraints were taken off [it is feared] and they grew all the rice and corn they wanted it would so upset the balance of economics that we couldn’t survive it. So the government has to control it by paying subsidies. So a lot of tax-payer dollars are paid to people for not growing certain things. Question: Who has the omniscience in any government to make those kinds of decisions? It is a manipulation of the market place.
Communism:
Communism:
This is the other end of the spectrum. It is technically defined as a social and political economic movement that aims at the establishment of a classless and stateless communist society structured upon common ownership of production. This means nobody owns any property; the government own the property, the means of production, the factories. This destroys all competition and guarantees that people will quit trying hard. Communism tries to guarantee the results. When the government guarantees results it destroys incentive, any kind of desire to improve.
Socialism:
Socialism:
The last train stop before you get to communism. It is an economic system in which the means of production are commonly owned or controlled cooperatively. The government either owns or controls the means of production. In a lot of situations the government doesn’t own the companies but by legislation and regulation it controls the production. And the government through taxation is the only entity that comes out ahead. Modern socialism originated from 18th century intellectual and working class political movement that criticized the effects of industrialization on society.
Every one of these systems has to do with private property, the ownership of private property.
The Democratic Socialists of America: They believe that both society and the economy should be run democratically, to meet public needs, not to make profits for just a few.
The only way to accomplish that is for the government or some entity to control all of the forces of the economy to guarantee the results.
They have to be able to control the outcomes and the results. This means people can’t really own things, and by ownership is meant the right to determine how those resources are going to be used for themselves or for others.