Your Money Or Your Life

4 – The Mighty Acts of God

Exodus 35:1-9, 20-22, 29 Psalm 139 :32-5:11

June 3, 2018 Second Sunday after Dr. Edwin Gray Hurley

Do you remember the old Jack Benny skit from his show where he is held up by a robber, who points a gun at him and says, “Your money or your life?” Jack Benny pauses, looks reflective, finger on his cheek, silence. The robber repeats, “I said, your money or your life!” Jack Benny replies, “I’m thinking! I’m thinking!”

As the early believers are growing in their new faith they are finding their values turned topsy turvy. The things they previously valued greatly, they now value less; and the things of little value they now place great value in.

It has been said that Christianity is like being in a department store where someone overnight swapped the price tags and put the expensive tags on the cheap things, and the cheap tags on the expensive things. Christianity has been likened to an inverted pyramid where we are climbing down not up and caring for the least and the lost, not the greatest and the highest.

I As the Early is forming in , they are, as we saw last week, enjoying an intimate transformative life together in the aftermath of the resurrection. A sense of awe and wonder surrounds them. The resurrection has changed everything. Now they are living under a new Master, seeking new values sharing together in most everything. The passage today paints an idyllic “it’s-so-wonderful” view of how they shared their lives. Nobody cries out “Mine” but rather lives out “Thine.”

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common… (and) there was not a needy person among them.i

One early Church leader, not far removed in time from this early Church in Acts, Justin Martyr wrote, “We who once coveted most greedily the wealth and fortune of others, now place in common the goods we possess, dividing them with all the needy.”

Some have called this “communism at its best;” the idea that if communism could ever work, this was a great example. Start talking about money and who controls it and it brings out both the best and the worst in people. Actually this early style of communal life did not work out in the long run, or become the norm for the church then or now, because of what happens right after this. We have the positive selfless example of , who sells a field, and brings the money and lays it at the apostles’ feet for them to distribute to those who have needs. We 2

also have the deceitful selfish example of Ananias and Saphira, who both keel over dead for their lying.

Which is to say, there is no messing around when it comes to the things of God. Did you note the similar emphasis on paying attention to God in the Old Testament? “Whoever does any work on the 7th Holy Sabbath Day shall be put to death.”

On the recent Friendship Journey Gayle and I helped lead to Israel with a group of 48 Jews and from Birmingham, we were guided by an amazing Israeli scholar named, Julian Resnik. Julian, who is about our age, emigrated from South Africa back during the days of apartheid. He became an Israeli citizen, serving in the army, and living on a Kibbutz. Most of the early Jews who came to Israel lived on Kibbutzes. There are many varieties of these and most of them were based on a socialist model. Julian still lives on the same Kibbutz.

We visited it on the very significant eve of the 70th Anniversary of Israel’s Declaration of Independence in 1948 - all quite moving. This Kibbutz in its early days was one of those pure socialist experiments. All decisions were made jointly. All meals were taken together. Everyone was required to participate in duties assigned by the leadership council. Houses were allotted according to the number of children in a family, not by a particular job or income level. This particular Kibbutz, which has a population of about 1000 today, has had and still has some of the most renowned Israelis in the nation living there - leaders in medicine, the military, education, cabinet officials, as well as ordinary laborers, factory and office workers. It is a premier Kibbutz.

But over time, the living style of the Kibbutz has changed. The socialist charter has been changed. Houses are now privately owned. Most meals are taken in homes among families. They found they had to evolve into something other than a purely socialist style or the kids would leave.

It was something like that for the early Church. The idyllic beautiful experience of life together was to evolve into different forms. The important fact remains, a new way of living, a new sense of what it is to be a human being came upon these early believers. The key was relationships; their relationships with one another; their relationships with God through the Lord . “See how they love one another,” it was said of them. Something we experience here. People come to this church because of their desire to live in meaningful relationship with God and one another.

Awhile back, a story in Newsweek on happiness featured research done by some psychologists at the University of Illinois. When they started asking people what made them happy, do you know what was the answer that consistently topped the chart? The number one answer was “close personal relationships.” And the number two answer was “religious faith.”

Good relationships are, according to the research, what makes people most happy. People in unhappy relationships are the least happy, even when they are young, wealthy, successful and respected in the community. People in happy relationships are the most happy; even when they are old, poor, unrecognized or forgotten by their community. 3

II Barnabas was one of these sorts of happy people. Barnabas was a life enhancer - a Levite, a native of , with the given name of Joseph, who upon becoming a follower of Jesus, is given a new name, “Barnabas, “which means ‘son of encouragement.’ ” It would be hard to have found a more fitting name for him. Barnabas appears a number of times across the story of Acts. He is a “can do” sort of guy, who is always courageous to stand up for people and causes he believes in, who is always alongside with help.

We do not know the background of his resources, we are not told that he sold everything he had, simply that “He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”ii That’s it, pure and simple. Barnabas heard there was a need within the community, namely caring for those less fortunate, the poor, the orphans, and he does something about it.

This pattern doesn’t stop with a little real estate sale. Later we find Barnabas bringing Paul, who had been the murderous Saul of Tarsus until God dramatically knocked him off his horse along the road to Damascus, and he came to believe in Jesus whom he had been persecuting. After some time in Damascus among the believers there, Paul makes his way to Jerusalem and wants to meet the leaders of the church there, but they are terrified of him. After all – he had terrorized, imprisoned, and murdered followers of Jesus.

Barnabas speaks up for him! Barnabas brings him to the apostles and tells them how he had changed. Because Barnabas speaks up for him, they welcome Paul in and he “spoke boldly in the name of the Lord.” All because of this “son of encouragement,” Barnabas.

Later Barnabas brings Paul to , where for a year the two of them meet with and teach the church. Later still Barnabas travels with Paul on the first missionary journey. Then after the Jerusalem Council, is sent with him to the churches to carry the decisions made by the Council about welcoming in the Gentiles as followers of Jesus without them having to become Jews and follow the Jewish laws.

After some time in Antioch, Paul wants to take Barnabas and go visit the believers in the cities where they had proclaimed the Lord. Barnabas wants to take along . Paul says no way, because Mark had let them down and abandoned them on an earlier journey. Barnabas apparently saw the change that had occurred in Mark, and this “son of encouragement” wants to see him restored, too, like Paul had been. But, Paul objects, so Barnabas and Paul separate, Barnabas choosing to take Mark with him.

Barnabas is an encourager, a healer, a restorer, a man who comes alongside with help.

III After Barnabas has set this good example by voluntarily selling his field and giving it to the Apostles for the needy, others start doing the same. One couple, Ananias and Sapphira, sell some property too. Only, unlike Barnabas, they keep back some of the proceeds deceptively. They are posers, seeking to impress, seeming devout and giving. Instead they are scheming and 4 deceitful. They lie and for this there is a terrible consequence, one after the other falls dead right there in front of everyone. Falls dead, not for saving some back for themselves, but for lying about it. As Peter explains, “You did not lie to us but to God!”

A prayer of confession puts it like this;

O God, we confess our relief at the secrecy of our vows and pledges – for if they were public the discrepancies would show… Discrepancies between the things we say are important and the things we actually celebrate as important… Discrepancies between the things we say we believe and the prioritizations which reveal what it is we truly believe. Forgive us the sin of idle words. Forgive us the sin of idle promises. Focus our character on what really matters and guide us to live with integrity. Amen.

You see, though the price tags have been changed by the Master from Nazareth, we still struggle with living into these new values. We admire Barnabas and want to be like him. Yet, we know there is a little Ananias and Sapphira in us too. How did Jesus say?

No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

Remember it was for a little money that one of the Twelve went out and betrayed his Lord.

In my first church there was a man on the Session who was always being critical of the church leadership. Not a meeting went by that this man did not have a complaint about someone or something! He had a critical spirit. Well, it came time for new Session elections, and this man – well, fact is – he nominated himself. As is common procedure, that church like this one, had a policy that no one is placed in church leadership who is not giving meaningfully to the ministry of the congregation. In that church, as this one, a confidential check of such things was undertaken by the Nominating Committee with the Financial Office. Do you know it turned out this man, while he made a pledge every year, he turned in a commitment card every year, he had not given anything toward these pledges in over five years. Needless to say, he was not re- elected.

As Paul writes to the Galatians,

Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.iii

“Your money or your life?” This is literally the case here. Not surprisingly - the sort of thing that happened to Ananias and Sapphira had a galvanizing effect on the community. “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard of these things.”iv

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It is still true for you and me. Is God the master of your money, your possessions, your time, your life, your all? Do you believe that God’s promises can be trusted and that God will provide for you? If so – you will experience life abundant. If not- maybe, hopefully, you won’t drop dead – but you will die within.

The Israelites in the wilderness are called to bring their offerings to the Lord to build the wilderness tabernacle. Result, “All the Israelite men and women whose hearts made them willing to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done, brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.” Not a tax – a freewill offering.

The Early Church met the needs of the poor among them. “There was not a needy person among them.” Result, one man sold a field then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and others followed doing the same. Barnabas is still encouraging us.

Out of many one. “E Plurubus Unum,” One heart. One soul. One bread. One cup. “One Lord. One Faith. One Baptism. One God and Father of us all who is above all and through all and in all.” God give us grace to bring our all before God and to trust God with our all. Who is your Barnabas – your encourager? Whose Barnabas are you? Who are you encouraging?

Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold; Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose, Every power as Thou shalt choose.v

You can sing it. Now do it?

i Acts 4:32, 34 ii Acts 4:37 iii Galatians 6:7 iv :11 v The Presbyterian Hymnal, 391, “Take My Life”