Class Warfare and the Book of Acts

This year I have been reading a daily devotional book by E. Stanley Jones, written in the 1930s. E. Stanley Jones was an incredible missionary to India, South America, and visited many other countries. It is said that he delivered 60,000 sermons or lectures in his life time, sometimes preaching or teaching 6-7 times a day. One of the marks of his life was that he brought Christ to India. His message of Christ and His love was not tied to a church, or dogma, or even attempts to "Americanize" East Indians. His message was simply the Christ of the Bible, who loved the Indian people dearly and gave His life for them.

One of the interesting sections of the devotional book I am reading deals with Jones' view on Christians and possessions. When I first began reading through this section, I thought to myself, this hints of Christian socialism. Jones puts forth the idea that we are responsible for each other. Christ's church, the people, should look after each other, just like the first church, as described in the book of Acts. More on that in a minute. However, the more I read, the more I understood what E. Stanley Jones was trying to say.

Fast forward to one of the political hot potatoes this year. The idea of the "1% versus the 99%", "take from the rich and give to the poor", "there is class warfare in this country", etc. Part of the debate centers on the idea that the richest people, those making over $250,000 a year, can afford to pay a lot more than the rest of us. The other side argues that you stifle small business and business expansion when you tax the people who are most likely to help our economy recover. One party is hoping that the voters will want to have a government that gives them money, or goods, just because they happen to fall into a lower economic level. The other party is hoping that the American voters will understand that the economy must be stimulated by private enterprise and you do whatever it takes to help business begin to expand again.


Acts 4:32-36 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. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. (emphasis mine) For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales  and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. 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. 

This was the beginning of the dynamic New Testament church. Throughout history, when the church of Jesus Christ really acted like the church, great things happened. A government led program to level out our economy will never work. It may finally result in civil unrest and a collapse of order. But what about the early church? What a magnificent pattern of caring for each other. I'm still mulling this over, but I think there is a lot here that we, as church leaders and parishioners, need to consider. More on this...