let us give

I've been thinking a lot about the biblical workings of the Church as God intended it - spending a lot of time in the book of Acts, trying to find an explanation for the apparent discrepancy between the passionate, unified outworking of the early church and the rather formulated, imbalanced version that we find common to modern America.

And I find that, distracted I think by our efforts to "do" church a certain expected way, we have entirely forgotten how to BE the Church.

Does showing up on Sunday morning for twenty minutes of singing and forty minutes of preaching make us the Church? Does putting a few dollars in the offering plate count us in to the work God wants to do through His body? Does even joining a small group or Bible study really mean we are being God's Church the way He intended?

I've already written about biblical community so I don't want to repeat myself, but I do want to expand a little, starting with a passage from Acts 4:

And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.
- Acts 4:31-35

This congregation characterized every trait of community that I wrote about previously, and the result is something I don't think many of us can envision for our own churches: a selfless generosity that could be born only of the grace and power of God, inspiring every single soul in the congregation to GIVE.

And it created a unity of heart that was ready to be used to reach the world for Jesus Christ.

I don't want to make this about tithing, because I don't think that would do any justice to the profundity of what God was doing in this scene. Yes, the congregation was giving money, but what really matters is that they were holding nothing back from the use of God - even their own homes. And if my observations of American believers are any indication, we are more than willing to "pay" someone else to do the grunt work of ministry; it's resources like OUR OWN time and talents that we tend to grasp in a closed fist.

Meeting for an hour on Sunday mornings to merely sit and listen while a handful of others put their spiritual gifts to use for your benefit does not make you an effective part of God's Church.

The body needs the part you play. And, church leaders - let them play it! Don't look down on your congregation as a group of "laypeople" that are relegated merely to helps ministry and the nursery. God has given His Church a treasury of gifts waiting to be laid at His feet to fulfill His vision for the Kingdom - gifts of service, of mercy, of faith, of teaching, of discernment, of knowledge, of administration, of shepherding, and more. Seek them out and let them give.