by Terry W. Benton<\/p>\n
Just shortly earlier than the scene in Acts 3 is the story of the beginning of the church and the fellowship they had with each other (Acts 2:42f), the selling of possessions to divide among all the saints that had need (due to the unexpected overstay that they, as former unbelieving Jews turned disciples of Jesus, had now encountered). These disciples sold goods and divided out among the disciples as any had need and were with “one accord in the temple<\/em>” and were among those the Lord was adding daily to “those who were being saved<\/em>“(Acts 2:44-47).<\/p>\n The givers were believers (Acts 2:44) and the recipients were the believers who had need. It is noteworthy that the disciples did not see their mission as one in which they were seeking to collectively relieve the poor among the world of unbelievers in order to get their interest in the gospel or as an end to itself. In other words, the church did not begin seeking to relieve the poor among unbelievers.<\/p>\n If the church had set out on a mission to the poor of the city, there was a poor man that was “laid daily at the gate of the temple<\/em>” (Acts 3:2), and this would have been a case for the brethren to address in their eager desire to help the poor by collective effort. But, the church did nothing toward this poor man that they had not been doing on an individual basis before. When Peter saw this man begging he had nothing to give the man, and he did not even think of the pooled collection that had been used among the saints from the start of the church.<\/p>\n Peter had a miraculous power to share in the name of Jesus as an individual, and he used that power to heal the man, but no thought of collectively supporting this man entered their mind. The miracle gave an opportunity to preach the truth to the crowd of unbelieving Jews, but there was no mission to collectively seek out the poor of the city or country.<\/p>\n Again in chapter 4 all collective giving was toward the “multitude of those who believed<\/em>” (Acts 4:32f) and there was none “among them” who lacked (Acts 4:34). But, what about the poor who were not “among them”? Well, that was not the mission and work of the church. Discussion of giving was only toward the needs of the “disciples” (Acts 6:1). Even then it was considered secondary, not primary to the mission of the church. While seeing that the physical needs were addressed among the “disciples”, they stressed the fact that serving such tables was such business that was secondary to “prayer and to the ministry of the word<\/em>” (Acts 6:2-4). Thus, their concern for the world was not their physical needs but their spiritual needs.<\/p>\n When men get their lives right with God they will begin becoming personally responsible to “provide for their own<\/em>” (I Timothy 5:6f). So, what the world needs more than anything else is the message of the cross, because when a man learns to be responsible before God and address his sin before God he learns to be responsible for himself and his family. When a person is taught of God and comes to the saving of his soul, he becomes responsible to work and provide for his own. Thus, the early disciples were not on a mission to address the physical needs of the poor of the world. They were on a mission to give all the world the answer to their inward needs, the needs of the heart, mind, and soul.<\/p>\n As individuals, we are to do good to all as we have opportunity and ability (Galatians 6:10), but we do not charge the church with everything that individuals are responsible to take care of (I Timothy 5:16). The case of the lame man and the early church illustrates this very point. If the church wanted to be known for collective work on behalf of social needs and causes, they missed a tremendous opportunity here with this poor lame man to show it.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry W. Benton Just shortly earlier than the scene in Acts 3 is the story of the beginning of the church and the fellowship they had with each other (Acts 2:42f), the selling of possessions to divide among all the saints that had need (due to the unexpected overstay that they, as former unbelieving…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[194],"class_list":["post-40402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-benevolence"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36657,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-acts-2-justify-churches-helping-the-poor-in-the-general-population\/","url_meta":{"origin":40402,"position":0},"title":"Does Acts 2 justify churches helping the poor in the general population?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Acts 2 Christians were selling their property and giving to those in need. Were these individuals giving to individuals or individuals giving to the church and the church giving? If it was the church giving, were they giving to non-Christians or Christians only? I've heard this scripture used\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36847,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-church-at-work-in-benevolence\/","url_meta":{"origin":40402,"position":1},"title":"The Church at Work in Benevolence","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Irvin Himmel via\u00a0Guardian of Truth\u00a0XXXIX:10 p. 6-8, May 18, 1995 There is no better way to teach the plan of salvation than examining the cases of conversion in the book of Acts. Such examples as the Jews on Pentecost, the Samaritans, the Ethiopian eunuch, Saul of Tarsus, Cornelius, Lydia,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41435,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-poor-have-the-gospel-preached-to-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":40402,"position":2},"title":"The Poor Have the Gospel Preached to Them","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor The common perception by people - both within and outside of the religious world - is that churches are charitable organizations designed to help the poor. Denominational churches spend much time, energy, and money helping the poor. Those who are in need (or claim to be in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47151,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-are-the-them-in-acts-241\/","url_meta":{"origin":40402,"position":3},"title":"Who are the “them” in Acts 2:41?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Since John's baptism did not give people the gift of the Holy Spirit and the promise that we read about in Acts 2:38-39, did the ones who received his baptism receive the gift and the promise if they lived into the New Testament? Some in the church believe the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31132,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-church-treasury-only-in-an-emergency\/","url_meta":{"origin":40402,"position":4},"title":"A Church Treasury, Only in an Emergency?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gordon J. Pennock via\u00a0Truth Magazine\u00a0- January 1961 It seems that considerable controversy has arisen regarding what we call the church treasury, meaning of course the funds contributed by the members of local churches. This controversy seems to be a by-product of the discussion of scriptural and unscriptural ways in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29961,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-any-believer-cast-out-demons\/","url_meta":{"origin":40402,"position":5},"title":"Could any believer cast out demons?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Could believers who had been baptized cast out demons as well or just the apostles? Answer: \"These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}