Shared Belief

James Hall

Acts of the Holy Spirit • Sermon • Submitted 2 months ago • Presented 2 months ago

Acts 4:32–35

Deuteronomy 15:1–11

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Easter is not only a one-day event where we remember Jesus’ resurrection. It is also a season of the church. We will be spending this Easter season looking at the works of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts for us individually and as a church. The full name of this book of the Bible is “Acts of the Apostles.”

It is the Holy Spirit that led the Apostles to be able to do the works that they were able to accomplish. This week we look at how those early believers had a “Shared Belief.” Our scripture comes from Acts 4:32-35. The words will be on the screen.

32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Please pray with me…

“Why can’t we all just get along?” This is a phrase that could be used pretty much from the beginning of time until now. We can find this early on in the scriptures when we have two brothers not getting along to the point that one kills another. We find disagreements throughout the Old and New Testaments

The Jewish people had one aspect of their faith that did unite them. A need and a desire to have a Messiah. Someone who would allow them to be free from oppression. Someone who would lead them back into power.

We believethat this person came, and many of them missed him. Many were unwilling to believe that a carpenter’s son named Jesus could possibly be the Savior that they had been seeking. They chose to kill him instead of worshipping him.

The book of Acts begins with Jesus’ ascending into Heaven and the disciples going into a room in which they prayed while they awaited the helper promised to them by Jesus. That helper is who we refer to as the Holy Spirit.

We find the Spirit at work shortly after these early followers are filled with the Holy Spirit. We have Peter speaking before a large contingent of the people. He is explaining to them what has happened, and the scripture says that “three thousand souls” were added to their number on that day. People responded and believed that Jesus was their Lord and Savior.

We don’t know if it is the full three thousand that it is speaking of in today’s text or if some had returned to their home countries after Pentecost. No matter the amount our scripture tells us that they were of “one heart and soul.”

This is a short scripture, but it offers us insights into how the Holy Spirit is at work in the lives of these early believers. We find the word “great” expressed in two ways, “great power” and “great grace.”

These believers got along but that does not mean that they were not out and about within their community. They weren’t just hanging out together as followers of Jesus. They weren’t as we sometimes can find in the church, a “holy huddle.”

Those of us that believe need to be careful we don’t fall into this trap of becoming a “holy huddle.” Of choosing to only hang out with other Christians. We are called to be in the world. We are called to show those around us that Jesus didn’t just come to save us. Jesus came to save all people.

We have the apostles teaching and preaching. It is this teaching and preaching that we are told was done with “great power.” The word that we find used here for “power” is the word in which our English word “dynamite” is derived from.

We could say that the words the apostles were using were explosive. It was powerful. They were able to change the minds of those that had previously not believed. It was not the way Jesus died but that he conquered death that seemed to change hearts and minds.

It is why the death, and the resurrection are both important within our faith. The death is where the work was done. It was through Jesus dying on the cross that anyone who desires to do so is able to be saved from the power of sin.

But it is through the resurrection that Jesus’ ability to save was able to be believed. It was not how he died or what happened immediately afterwards that led to belief. In fact, for many the fact they could kill Jesus would have made it seem impossible that he could be the Messiah.

But Jesus conquered death. That was unexpected. The Jesus problem didn’t just go away. This was more of a miracle than all of the miracles Jesus had previously performed. Jesus showed them he was the Messiah through his ability to come back to life.

This led those that had previously doubted to believe that they could be saved from sin and death. That they were able to also receive the Holy Spirit. It was made possible for them to have eternal life.

The Apostles allowed the power of the Holy Spirit to work through them as they shared the Gospel, the good news, with those that were willing to listen. They offered a message of love and grace which allowed them to continue to grow in numbers.

We have the same power of the Holy Spirit within us. We have the same power that was received from those early followers of Jesus. We also have the same message. A message of a man who claimed to be the Messiah for all people. A man who died upon the cross to allow each one of us the chance to become free from the power of sin.

A man who conquered death and walked among the people after his death. A man who desires to be in a relationship with you as your God and offers each one of us love, grace, and eternal life. We have been given that same power, that same message to offer to those around us.

That leads us to this concept of great grace. We view grace as an unearned undeserved gift from God. Given to us because of the love that God has for each one of us. Those early followers received that grace to the point it was called in this scripture great grace.

We view the grace given to us by God in three ways: We have prevenient grace. We can view this as invitational grace. It is God attempting to lead us to accept his invitation to join his family.

It would be like the videos you can find on You Tube of the stepfather or mother asking the child if they would allow them to adopt them. God is doing the same he is asking and offering us reasons why we should accept his invitation.

There is justifying grace. This is us accepting the invitation. A person being willing to become a part of God’s family and allowing God to save them from the wrongs of the world and offer them salvation and eternal life.

The last type of grace is what we call sanctifying grace. We have God attempting to lead us into an understanding of what it means to be a part of his family. We could call this formational grace. God wants us to become as connected to him as we are willing to be.

It is this last form of grace that would be spoken of in our text. They have accepted the invitation, and they are connecting with God in a great and powerful way. We can be in the same situation.

We have available to us just as those early followers had the Holy Spirit to allow for the grace of God to overtake us in such a way that would allow for us to grow exponentially closer to God every day.

We do this through what we call developing our relationship with God. Leaving time for God to be able to speak into our hearts. Spending time in the word of God. Spending time in conversation with God. Giving God chances to let us know how we can grow closer to him.

But this also will lead us to put those around us before ourselves. We may have a personal relationship with God, but that personal relationship should be expressed through serving those around us.

This was expressed in our scripture through sharing what they had with those around them. Taking care of those that needed to be taken care of. Putting the needs of others before their own needs and desires.

Our first reading shows us that this was the way the Jewish people were always supposed to live. There was supposed to be this understanding that every seven years a reset would occur within the community.

Our scripture today focuses on debt and treatment of humans. We can look at Leviticus 25 and we discover that the same is true for the land. The scripture says…

“For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.”

They were to trust in God to provide enough during those six years for them to be able to survive that seventh year. Our scripture speaks of loaning money and taking servants during a six-year period and releasing those debts and people during the seventh year.

Verse 7 is the important verse for us to focus on, “you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother.” If we are not careful, we can end up focusing on the worldly instead of on the Godly.

We can look at a situation and decide that this person is in this situation because of the decisions that they made in their lives. We may be correct but if we believe that God is calling us to help this should not prevent us from giving or serving.

We are not to judge their situation. We are not to decide that they do not deserve our help because of whatever reason we can find. If God has placed this person before us, we should be willing to open our heart to them and share with them what God has asked for us to give.

This does not mean we just give to everyone that comes up to us or we give over and over again when it seems like someone doesn’t want to change. Jesus didn’t heal every person that he could have healed.

There were times he healed everyone who came to him but there were other times that he seemed to pick and choose who he healed. God can help us decide that this is who he has placed before us to help.

2 Corinthians 9:7 reminds us that we are to be cheerful givers. We are to give to the church; we are to give to those in our communities not out of compulsion but because we believe in the love of God for us and that God desires for us to give to those before us.

We have great power and great grace leading to great things occurring within this Christian community. We have the same great power and the same great grace available to us because we have the same great God who provides us the same great Spirit.

Why did they have great power and great grace? Because they were of one heart and one soul. They were of one heart, meaning they had felt compassion for those that did not believe. They understood what those around them were missing and they wanted to help them understand the need to have Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

They were of one soul. They were united under the belief that Jesus was their Lord and Savior who was the son of God and died on the cross so that they could be free from the power of sin and have eternal life.

We have the same capabilities of these early followers of Jesus. We also can be of one heart and one soul. We should desire to join together as a Christian community in our belief in God and serving those God places before us.

We have words that can help us express this belief together. Celesia pointed out a few weeks ago that we probably should recite it more. I am speaking of the Apostles’ Creed. But words are not enough; we also need to put these words into action. We need to show the love of God to those around us.

Let us end this message by joining together as one heart and one soul and recite together the Apostles’ Creed.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;* the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic** church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

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