A Family Like No Other

The book of Acts talks about the birth and early times of the church. There are many things the early church did or believed when they were "on fire" that it seems the church today has fallen away from or is ignoring altogether.

What are things we can see about the early church that we can model today? Acts 4:32 talks about a congregation that had it going on. The text says, "The congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul." The church was unified. The text says that none of them claimed anything belonged to only one person. They wanted to share everything they had with their fellow believers. A lesson that the church needs to hear today is that we are called to be in unity with our fellow believers.

Have you ever been in a three-legged race where you have to tie one of your legs to another person's leg? What would happen if you wanted to go left and they wanted to go right, and both of you took off? You would fall to the ground and not get where you were trying to go. That is because you both had different goals and destinations in mind. The church is no different. If we all have a different plan and a different destination in mind, then we will run into each other and trip over our attempts at progress.

Let's go back to the three-legged race we talked about earlier. What happened to the team that made a plan before the race started and decided who was supposed to step in and when? They would fly by seemingly with no effort, headed to the finish line. Why? They were unified. That team had the same plan, the same goal, and the same mind when it came to how they were going to race. If the church wants to accomplish anything, we have to be unified in our plan and the execution of that plan to get things accomplished.

Another attribute of the early church was taking care of each other. Verses 34 and 35 of Acts four read, "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." Usually, the last place people turn to when they are in dire need of something is the church, which should be the exact opposite. If we are willing to mirror the early church, we should be ready and willing to take care of other believers in our family. If we are eager to give to our brothers and sisters who are in need and do whatever it takes to ensure everyone is taken care of, imagine all of the beautiful things we could accomplish. We can be like the early church even today.