Life Together
Acts 4:23-37
When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
The apostles had just walked out of the highest court in Israel. Peter and John had been arrested, interrogated, threatened, and commanded to stop speaking about Jesus. The Sanhedrin made their position clear: silence or suffer. Now these two men return to their community. We might expect fear. We might expect strategic planning sessions or heated debates about how to respond. Instead, we find prayer, generosity, and witness. The early church's response to opposition shows us something essential about what it means to be the people of God.
Luke records this scene in Acts 4:23-37, and he wants us to see three interconnected realities: united prayer that seeks boldness rather than safety, radical community that breaks the grip of possessiveness, and generous living that testifies to resurrection life. These aren't separate programs to implement. They flow from the same source, the Spirit's work creating a new kind of people.
When Peter and John returned, they went "to their own people." That phrase carries weight. This is family language. The believers weren't just a religious club that happened to meet in the same place. They were family. Peter and John came home. And they came home with full transparency, reporting everything the religious leaders had said, the threats, the warnings, the commands to stop. No spinning. No minimizing. Just honest accounting of what they faced.
The community's response was immediate and unified. Luke uses a distinctive Greek word, homothumadon, meaning "with one mind" or "in one accord." This word appears repeatedly throughout Acts to describe the early church. It points to something deeper than organizational unity. These believers weren't just praying at the same time. They were praying as one. Corporate prayer, not parallel private prayers happening in the same room.
The content of their prayer reveals their theological instincts. They didn't rush to their requests. They started with who God is. "Sovereign Lord," they prayed, "you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them." Before they mentioned Herod, Pilate, or the Sanhedrin, they established who was actually in charge of the universe. The Greek word they used for "Sovereign Lord" is despota, which refers to absolute authority, the kind of power that admits no rivals. Their prayer was God-centered, not problem-centered. They oriented themselves to reality before addressing their circumstances.
Then they turned to Scripture. They quoted Psalm 2, a royal psalm about opposition to God's chosen king. Four categories of enemies appear: nations, peoples, kings, and rulers. Two targets of conspiracy: the Lord and his Anointed One. The early church didn't interpret their circumstances through their feelings. They let Scripture frame their experience.
They saw Psalm 2 fulfilled in the crucifixion of Jesus. Herod represents the kings. Pontius Pilate represents the rulers. The Roman soldiers represent the nations. The crowds crying "Crucify him" represent the peoples. The conspiracy against God's Anointed found its ultimate expression in the cross. These enemies "did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen." Human conspiracy accomplished God's purpose. The most wicked act in history, the murder of God's Son, was simultaneously the free choice of sinful humans and the predetermined plan of God. This isn't fatalism, which would remove human responsibility. It isn't a view that removes God's sovereignty. It's biblical mystery. Human beings remain fully responsible for their choices, and God remains fully sovereign over all events.
This matters for how we face opposition. If God's sovereignty extends even to the crucifixion, then no circumstance in our lives falls outside his purposes. The Sanhedrin thought they were in control. They weren't. They were unwitting servants of a purpose far greater than their opposition. They didn't pray for the threats to stop. They didn't pray for protection from harm. They didn't pray for the Sanhedrin's hearts to change. They prayed for boldness. The Greek word is parresia, which originally referred to the right of citizens to speak freely in the public assembly. In the New Testament, it means bold, confident, fearless speech. The early church prayed to continue the very activity that got them arrested.
This should challenge how we pray under pressure. Do we pray for escape or for boldness? Do we pray for comfort or for courage? "Lord, make us bold" is a far more dangerous prayer than "Lord, make them stop." But it's the prayer the early church prayed. God answered. The place was shaken. Everyone was filled with the Holy Spirit. They spoke the word of God boldly. Notice what happened: God didn't silence the Sanhedrin. He empowered the church. Prayer didn't change the situation. It changed the people who prayed, aligning them with God's purposes.
Luke then shows us what this Spirit-filled community looked like in everyday life. "All the believers were one in heart and mind." Heart in biblical thought refers to the center of will and intention. Soul refers to the seat of life and identity. This is comprehensive unity, not just intellectual agreement but deep solidarity. They weren't uniform in opinion. The church included fishermen and tax collectors, former Pharisees and former Zealots. They disagreed on many things. But they were united at the deepest level. One heart. One soul. One Lord.
This unity expressed itself in transformed possessiveness. "No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had." Now we need to read carefully here. This is not the abolition of private property. The believers still had possessions. The text says so. What changed was their attitude toward those possessions. Ownership remained. Possessiveness was broken. This matters because the passage has been misused to support mandatory wealth redistribution or socialist economics. But notice the key features. The giving was voluntary. No compulsion is mentioned. Private property still existed (as Acts 5:4 explicitly confirms). Distribution happened according to need, not equality. The motivation was spiritual transformation, not political ideology. This is generosity flowing from resurrection life, not a system imposed from outside.
The result was noticeable. "There were no needy persons among them." This echoes an Old Testament promise. Deuteronomy 15:4 says there "need be no poor people among you" if Israel fully obeys the Lord. What Israel failed to achieve under the law, the Spirit-filled church achieved under grace. The church became the community in which God's ancient purposes found fulfillment.
There's a connection between this community life and evangelistic power. Luke tells us the apostles testified to the resurrection "with great power" and "God's grace was powerfully at work in them all." Unity and generosity didn't distract from witness. They strengthened it. A divided church undermines its message. A selfish church contradicts its gospel. But a community marked by supernatural unity and sacrificial generosity becomes a living argument for the resurrection. People see how we live together and ask, "What makes them like this?" The answer is a risen Lord.
Luke closes this section by introducing us to a man named Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus. The apostles called him Barnabas, which means "Son of Encouragement." He must have been so consistently encouraging that encouragement became his identity. The apostles saw something in him that prompted a new name.
Barnabas sold a field he owned, brought the money, and put it at the apostles' feet for distribution. This is the first appearance of Barnabas in Acts, and his actions match his name. He embodies what Spirit-filled community looks like in one person.
Luke places this positive example here intentionally. Immediately after comes the tragic story of Ananias and Sapphira, who also sold property and brought money to the apostles, but lied about the amount. The contrast is sharp. Barnabas gave freely and fully. Ananias and Sapphira pretended to give fully while holding back. One is the work of the Spirit. The other is lying to the Spirit.
So what does all this mean for us? Three questions press in.
First, how do we pray under pressure? Do we start with our problems or with God's sovereignty? Do we pray for removal of obstacles or for grace to overcome them?
Second, what is our relationship to our possessions? Not whether we own things (of course we do), but whether our things own us. Is our grip on our security so tight that we cannot respond to need when we see it?
Third, what would the church call us? Barnabas earned his name through consistent character. What would our community name us based on what they consistently see?
The watching world asks why. Why do these people pray with such confidence? Why do they share so freely? Why do they care for one another so deeply? The answer isn't better organization. It's a risen Lord whose Spirit creates community that cannot be explained any other way. One heart. One soul. One Lord. May it be so among us.
Luke records this scene in Acts 4:23-37, and he wants us to see three interconnected realities: united prayer that seeks boldness rather than safety, radical community that breaks the grip of possessiveness, and generous living that testifies to resurrection life. These aren't separate programs to implement. They flow from the same source, the Spirit's work creating a new kind of people.
When Peter and John returned, they went "to their own people." That phrase carries weight. This is family language. The believers weren't just a religious club that happened to meet in the same place. They were family. Peter and John came home. And they came home with full transparency, reporting everything the religious leaders had said, the threats, the warnings, the commands to stop. No spinning. No minimizing. Just honest accounting of what they faced.
The community's response was immediate and unified. Luke uses a distinctive Greek word, homothumadon, meaning "with one mind" or "in one accord." This word appears repeatedly throughout Acts to describe the early church. It points to something deeper than organizational unity. These believers weren't just praying at the same time. They were praying as one. Corporate prayer, not parallel private prayers happening in the same room.
The content of their prayer reveals their theological instincts. They didn't rush to their requests. They started with who God is. "Sovereign Lord," they prayed, "you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them." Before they mentioned Herod, Pilate, or the Sanhedrin, they established who was actually in charge of the universe. The Greek word they used for "Sovereign Lord" is despota, which refers to absolute authority, the kind of power that admits no rivals. Their prayer was God-centered, not problem-centered. They oriented themselves to reality before addressing their circumstances.
Then they turned to Scripture. They quoted Psalm 2, a royal psalm about opposition to God's chosen king. Four categories of enemies appear: nations, peoples, kings, and rulers. Two targets of conspiracy: the Lord and his Anointed One. The early church didn't interpret their circumstances through their feelings. They let Scripture frame their experience.
They saw Psalm 2 fulfilled in the crucifixion of Jesus. Herod represents the kings. Pontius Pilate represents the rulers. The Roman soldiers represent the nations. The crowds crying "Crucify him" represent the peoples. The conspiracy against God's Anointed found its ultimate expression in the cross. These enemies "did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen." Human conspiracy accomplished God's purpose. The most wicked act in history, the murder of God's Son, was simultaneously the free choice of sinful humans and the predetermined plan of God. This isn't fatalism, which would remove human responsibility. It isn't a view that removes God's sovereignty. It's biblical mystery. Human beings remain fully responsible for their choices, and God remains fully sovereign over all events.
This matters for how we face opposition. If God's sovereignty extends even to the crucifixion, then no circumstance in our lives falls outside his purposes. The Sanhedrin thought they were in control. They weren't. They were unwitting servants of a purpose far greater than their opposition. They didn't pray for the threats to stop. They didn't pray for protection from harm. They didn't pray for the Sanhedrin's hearts to change. They prayed for boldness. The Greek word is parresia, which originally referred to the right of citizens to speak freely in the public assembly. In the New Testament, it means bold, confident, fearless speech. The early church prayed to continue the very activity that got them arrested.
This should challenge how we pray under pressure. Do we pray for escape or for boldness? Do we pray for comfort or for courage? "Lord, make us bold" is a far more dangerous prayer than "Lord, make them stop." But it's the prayer the early church prayed. God answered. The place was shaken. Everyone was filled with the Holy Spirit. They spoke the word of God boldly. Notice what happened: God didn't silence the Sanhedrin. He empowered the church. Prayer didn't change the situation. It changed the people who prayed, aligning them with God's purposes.
Luke then shows us what this Spirit-filled community looked like in everyday life. "All the believers were one in heart and mind." Heart in biblical thought refers to the center of will and intention. Soul refers to the seat of life and identity. This is comprehensive unity, not just intellectual agreement but deep solidarity. They weren't uniform in opinion. The church included fishermen and tax collectors, former Pharisees and former Zealots. They disagreed on many things. But they were united at the deepest level. One heart. One soul. One Lord.
This unity expressed itself in transformed possessiveness. "No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had." Now we need to read carefully here. This is not the abolition of private property. The believers still had possessions. The text says so. What changed was their attitude toward those possessions. Ownership remained. Possessiveness was broken. This matters because the passage has been misused to support mandatory wealth redistribution or socialist economics. But notice the key features. The giving was voluntary. No compulsion is mentioned. Private property still existed (as Acts 5:4 explicitly confirms). Distribution happened according to need, not equality. The motivation was spiritual transformation, not political ideology. This is generosity flowing from resurrection life, not a system imposed from outside.
The result was noticeable. "There were no needy persons among them." This echoes an Old Testament promise. Deuteronomy 15:4 says there "need be no poor people among you" if Israel fully obeys the Lord. What Israel failed to achieve under the law, the Spirit-filled church achieved under grace. The church became the community in which God's ancient purposes found fulfillment.
There's a connection between this community life and evangelistic power. Luke tells us the apostles testified to the resurrection "with great power" and "God's grace was powerfully at work in them all." Unity and generosity didn't distract from witness. They strengthened it. A divided church undermines its message. A selfish church contradicts its gospel. But a community marked by supernatural unity and sacrificial generosity becomes a living argument for the resurrection. People see how we live together and ask, "What makes them like this?" The answer is a risen Lord.
Luke closes this section by introducing us to a man named Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus. The apostles called him Barnabas, which means "Son of Encouragement." He must have been so consistently encouraging that encouragement became his identity. The apostles saw something in him that prompted a new name.
Barnabas sold a field he owned, brought the money, and put it at the apostles' feet for distribution. This is the first appearance of Barnabas in Acts, and his actions match his name. He embodies what Spirit-filled community looks like in one person.
Luke places this positive example here intentionally. Immediately after comes the tragic story of Ananias and Sapphira, who also sold property and brought money to the apostles, but lied about the amount. The contrast is sharp. Barnabas gave freely and fully. Ananias and Sapphira pretended to give fully while holding back. One is the work of the Spirit. The other is lying to the Spirit.
So what does all this mean for us? Three questions press in.
First, how do we pray under pressure? Do we start with our problems or with God's sovereignty? Do we pray for removal of obstacles or for grace to overcome them?
Second, what is our relationship to our possessions? Not whether we own things (of course we do), but whether our things own us. Is our grip on our security so tight that we cannot respond to need when we see it?
Third, what would the church call us? Barnabas earned his name through consistent character. What would our community name us based on what they consistently see?
The watching world asks why. Why do these people pray with such confidence? Why do they share so freely? Why do they care for one another so deeply? The answer isn't better organization. It's a risen Lord whose Spirit creates community that cannot be explained any other way. One heart. One soul. One Lord. May it be so among us.
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