Pentecost Call: Share All Things, Restore Dignity

But guess what? Pentecost changed all of that. When the Holy Spirit came down on all people, all people, it says so clearly, that changed the way people lived their lives. It changed the way people viewed one another. It changed the way people viewed personal property. And so we're told that, you know, the Holy Spirit came down on them, the apostles were able to preach with great power, they were able to heal people, and then because of that presence of the spirit, they were able to share all things in common, to share everything they had. What an amazing gift that would be. [00:45:12] (50 seconds)  #PentecostChange

Think about what that requires to share everything you have with other people. First of all, it requires trust. Right? It requires trust that God is going to provide for your needs so we don't have to hoard things. We don't have to be worried about what's gonna happen in the future because God is going to provide for us. And so it takes trust, but it also takes this sense of seeing everyone as being equal in the eyes of God, as recognizing that what gives every single one of you value and worth is not your money, it's not your four zero one k's or your IRA's, it's that you were loved by God. [00:46:03] (47 seconds)  #SharingNeedsTrust

And that means that everyone has the same value and worth. And so your net worth, if anyone ever asks you, is infinite because we have the infinite love of God that gives us our worth. It's not how much we have. It's the amazing love that God pours down on us, and that makes all of us, all of us, of infinite value and worth, whether we have money or whether we're living in the woods behind the church. All of us have that worth. [00:46:50] (37 seconds)  #InfiniteWorthInGod

And the third thing that it did was it said that they then became one of mind and spirit. And so you think about it. When you're sharing things with people who need, then who's gonna steal if they don't have any need? And so, you know, there's this sense of being one because everyone had exactly what they needed. They said there was not a needy person among them, and that was part of their witness. That was a powerful part of their witness. [00:47:28] (37 seconds)  #OneMindOneSpirit

In fact, if you read some of the, extra biblical writings of that time, many of them will talk about the fact that these Christians, look at how they love one another. These Christians, look at how they take care of the sick, not only their sick, but our sick as well. Early Christians were known for the ways that they shared everything in common, and they took care of everyone. It was the shared life that was so powerful. [00:48:04] (30 seconds)  #EarlyChristianCare

And so it was contemporary with biblical writing, but it wasn't in the canon. But it talked about the fact that as it's as they were preparing people for baptism, they used these teachings. That's what it stands for. That's what it means in Greek, teachings. And so they they used these teachings to help prepare people for baptism, and one of the things said, share everything with your sibling. Do not say, oh, it's private property. Share with your siblings. So this was something that they literally practiced. This was how they lived. They shared all things in common. [00:48:48] (43 seconds)  #TeachingsForBaptism

But isn't it interesting that in our society, we place worth based on money. Right? I mean, people will say, what is your net worth? And so if you don't have any net worth, does that make you worth less? And oftentimes, it does. Oftentimes, wealth equals power, which equals status, which equals, you know, all sorts of privileges, whereas poverty equals a sense of being less than, almost invisible oftentimes. And so there's this struggle in our society, to understand what makes a person have value and worth. [00:43:01] (50 seconds)  #WorthNotWealth

They also have college scholarships. And so they live very simply, but they give so much away. And so many lives have been changed because they were willing to say, it's not mine. I'm gonna share it. I'm gonna share this $422,000,000 not only with my employees, but with a wider group of people who need it. Now, most of us, sadly, aren't selling our businesses for $422,000,000. So what can we do? Wouldn't it be amazing if all of the churches in Sussex County decided that we were going to live in such a way that there was no one needy among us? [00:57:20] (50 seconds)  #ChurchRadicalGenerosity