The Early Church Might Be Closer Than We Think

Matt has been preaching a series in Ecclesiastes. Solomon stresses that we could never be satisfied with the riches of this world. Everything under the sun is utterly worthless. Vanity, vanity says Solomon. If you take some time to listen to some of the sermons (www.thevillagechurch.net) or read up in Ecclesiastes you'll find Solomon doesn't exclude ANYTHING. EVERYTHING is vanity.

Through this series (which isn't even close to being over) I am starting to come face to face with some bitter truths but it hasn't hit me so hard because it really is going along with what my heart desires. Everything i've been dreaming up in reaching out to the community and reaching out to my friends. I'm pretty sure i've found (and recently experienced) what true joy is and that it will never be in the American Dream or in how many things you dream about owning (cars, houses, guitars, etc.). It is simply letting God work through us and giving unselfishly to others. I love this exert from The Irresistible Revolution:

We dreamed ancient visions of a church like the one in Acts, in which "there were no needy persons among them" because everyone shared their possessions, not claiming anything as their own but "sharing everything they had" We knew we could end poverty. The early church did, and the homeless families were doing it.

Shane and his buddies had been living with a community of homeless people who had taken shelter in an abandoned Catholic church in a suburb of Philly. The 'members' who lived in that church realized that they all needed each other and that when sharing with one another, they would all survive.

It really struck me that these poor, homeless people might be closer to the Kingdom of Heaven than most of us.

In community when one weeps, everyone weeps. When one rejoices, everyone rejoices. No poverty exists in community because everyone shares. What God has given to us is not meant to be held back for our selfish needs. Maybe we don't give everything we have to the poor but lets atleast find joy in giving what God gave to us in the first place.

We tend to ask God why so much poverty exists in the world. I think God would come to us with the same question...