What can we do

DEVOTION

ROMANS

WHAT CAN WE DO

Rom 12:13

Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

NIV

This is one more thing we are supposed to be, liberal with our wealth. We spent time with love being sincere, hating evil, clinging to good, being devoted to each other, serve the Lord with zeal, and being joyful, patient and faithful, and to add to all that we have to give to the needs of other believers. The early church sure took that concept literally, selling land, possessions, and having all things in common. It was sort of like a commune. Although we would have to believe they still all had their own homes and sources of income. If they all sold everything then no one would have anything and they all would become in need. Nevertheless, they took this concept to heart. We have accounts of the early church in acts, and we are given an insight as to how they lived sharing with each other.

Acts 4:32-37

32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34 There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. 36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.

NIV

The church of today does not resemble that early church very much. If people are selling their land, or possessions and bringing all the proceeds into the church no one knows about it. Of course we do not have too many poor believers who are in need either, at least in the local church we attend. That seems to be the example we see in acts, is the having in common among the local assembly. They were not yet giving to missions or sharing with God’s people all over the world. At some time later we know Paul took up offerings from one community of believers for the saints in another area, so missions did get started in the early church, but this sharing of resources was more common in the early church then in the post-modern church we attend. Most of our giving goes to paying the staff of the church and maintaining or expansion of the building and staff as the numbers of people increase. Those little churches that do not experience expansion of numbers, but instead decrease and soon just dwindle to near nothing, there resources but all dried up. What do we do that resembles anything like what this early church understood about sharing with God’s people who are in need? Surely we all look to our own needs and some of us give our tithe to the church, to pay the church needs. Some of us give a little more for missions once and a while, but that is about it. Then there are those special needs, for expansion, or repairs so we pledge we will give a little more for those needs of the church. But what if there are people in need? Do we even know about them? Everyone keeps their finances pretty close to their vest, which is being very private about their wealth or lack of it. So how do we follow this concept of sharing with God’s people in need? What constitutes a need? There are many outreach ministries which provide food to people, but are they God’s people, believers in need? This command, if we can say it is a command is about sharing with other Christians, not about outreach ministries. This is about believers having all things in common, the local church sharing together so everyone has what they need. It seems we just don’t do that one thing very well. Maybe it has been lost over the years. Should we be doing it? Does God intent we should live like that now? What would it look like in our modern culture? At times we have been impressed to give a certain among to someone, anonymously of course. But that is on rare occasions, not our normal day to day life. If we are to share, we are to do it secretly, as in our giving we are not to let our right hand know what our left hand is doing. So we have to leave it up to God to impress upon us when we need to share and with whom. What else can we do?