There is so much to digest from one single phrase found in the fourth chapter of Acts - “No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own…” (4:32). Over the years many people have suggested that this means that the early church operated from a "common purse" - a form of socialism. That was not the case. We read that they still had private property because later in the book we find them meeting in each other's homes. We know that they didn't divest of all that they owned and put it in a common fund because "from time to time" they sold things to help "anyone as he had need" (4:34-35).

Clearly there was something much more radical than socialism that was going on in their life together. What they believed and practiced was God's ownership of all things.

This comes from the Old Testament when God instructed His people...

          “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.” (Leviticus 25:23)

Those early Jesus followers beleived and practiced that God owned all things and that we are "tenants" or managers of His world. This has all kinds of ramifications for us today from how we handle personal belongings to how we share God's resources with others to how we care for the environment.

Just to quickly summarize what I spoke about Sunday, here are three results of that attitude:

          1. “…they shared everything they had.” (4:32)

          2. “There were no needy persons among them.” (4:34)

          3. “And the Lord added to their number daily….” (2:47)

It is important to take note of how they gave. They "brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need” (4:34-35). In other words, they gave anonymously. Anonymous giving preserved the purity of their motives and the stability of their relationships.

I encouraged all of us to take a step toward understanding God's ownership of all things. Let's do it this week by anonymously giving to someone - by taking something that God owns (and that you're managing) and redistributing it in a way that honors Him.