What the Early Church Can Teach Us About Generosity with Dr. Darrell Bock

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1:00There was not a needy person among them. That's how Acts 434 describes the early church. Hi, I'm Rob West. The first Christians practiced a remarkable kind of generosity, freely sharing what God had entrusted to them so that needs were met among them. What can their example teach us about living generously today? Dr. Darrell Bock joins us to explore that today and then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith in Finance, Biblical Wisdom for your financial decisions. Joining us today is Dr. Darrell Bock, Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies and Executive Director of Cultural Engagement for the Hendrick Center at Dallas Theological Seminary. He's also one of the world's foremost scholars on the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. And through decades of teaching and writing, Dr. Bock has helped countless Christians better

2:01understand the early church and its vision for Faithful Living, Dr. Bock, what an absolute pleasure to have you with us on Faith in Finance. Well, it's good to be with you, Rob, and looking forward to the conversation. We are as well. Dr. Bock, money and possessions receive, of course, considerable attention throughout Luke's Gospel. I want to start there. Why is generosity such an important theme for Luke? How does that theme carry from the ministry of Jesus into the life of the church and acts? Well, the use of resources to encourage one another and to show the boundfulness of the creation is really an important theme in Scripture and in Luke in particular. And so what I tell my students is that Luke tells people to hold what they own with loose hands, that what they are, they're actually stewards of the resources that God gives them. They aren't. Yes. Owners in the technical sense of that term. And so how we manage our resources to serve others,

3:04which is part of serving that we're called to be as Christians in every area, what we do with our resources, but one example of that. I love that idea of loose hands. I think you're exactly right. It's that posture of an open palm that reflects the idea that we owe nothing, but we were responsible for everything entrusted to us. Now, Acts 2 places this remarkable display of generosity immediately after Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit. What does that placement tell us about the relationship between spiritual transformation and the way believers handle their possessions? Well, the main thing that happens with the coming of the Spirit and the seeking of God's forgiveness is that an arrow that's basically been pointed towards me and my agenda in my life, you know, the old commercial that says you serve a break today, where you are the focus in the center of the universe, that arrow gets pushed up and out. It gets pushed up towards God and out towards others.

4:08And the same attitude then is reflected in the way we have resources. The resources that we have aren't just for me. It's not even just for my family, but it's for people around us and the people that God brings us into relationship with. And the early church saw itself as an extended family. All brothers and sisters in Christ, and so the extended family needed care, and when there were needs, the extended family had those needs met by the family members who were able to provide them. It's a powerful picture. Now, some readers, Dr. Bach, have looked at Acts 2 and 4 and wondered whether the early church abandoned private ownership altogether. What details in the text help us understand the voluntary nature of their generosity? Well, interestingly enough, the interesting passage in this regard is Acts 5 when Ananiyce and Sapphira are judged with death by God for lying about the fact that they gave everything when they held some stuff back. And in the midst of that, Peter says, as the judgment

5:11is coming down, you had the right to hold back to this. The lie wasn't found in your doing that. Your life found in saying you gave everything when you didn't. And so that makes it very, very clear that what we're dealing with is not an obligatory giving over, but a voluntary giving over, which actually shows how wonderful the attitude in the early church was because no one had forced them into caring for other people. They did it naturally. They did it out of their own generous heart. I love it. Well, we're going to continue to unpack this just around the corner. The remarkable generosity of the early church that flowed from a deeper reality that they were united in Christ. We're talking today with Dr. Darryl Bach. He's Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies and Executive Director of Cultural Engagement for the Hendrick Center, a Dallas Theological Seminary, much more just around the corner on what the early church can teach us about generosity. This is Faith and Finance. We'll be right back.

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7:30needy person among them. And this described the generosity of the early church. What a treat today to have Dr. Darrell Bach, Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies at the Dallas Theological Seminary. And we talked before the break about this picture of generosity that we see in the book of Acts. Dr. Bach, you've noted in your work that the Greek verbs Luke uses suggest an ongoing pattern. Believers were selling possessions and giving whatever needs arose. How does that change the picture from everyone liquidating everything at once to a community continually responding to one another? Well, it shows, how can I say this, it shows some reflection and discernment about how to go about doing this. The fact that they didn't sell everything all at once, but that they took their time doing it. You know, the example I like to use, I like to contrast what Jesus says to the rich ruler when he tells him to sell everything. In contrast, that was Sikias who said he

8:32sold half of what he had. And he ends up being commended for the fact that he's generous and holds his possessions with loose hands. And so I'm saying the requirement isn't to sell everything. The requirement is to be generous with the resources God gives you in a wise way, in a way that allows you to be generous and to continue to be generous. Because once you sell everything and give it all away, you're on the other end of the spectrum. You're going to need help as opposed to being able to provide it. So it's a very, very important idea that says that you manage this exercise. And the fact that it's voluntary is also important that what we're actually gaging, what we see, by the way, the early church does this, is the nature of their heart. And it isn't that they're forced into doing it. They must do it. It is that they choose to do it. And their heart is inclined to do it, which says something about their character. Yeah. What a great insight. Now, Acts 4 says the believers were quote, one in heart and soul, in quote, before describing how they shared their

9:37resources. So how are relational unity and financial generosity connected? And can we practice the generosity of Acts without first recovering that sense of Christian community? Well, the sense of Christian community comes from actually deeply believing that you're connected to other people that you are engaged with. So whether you're thinking about this in the context of your own congregation or whatever Christian community you operate in, the idea is that I see the people seated next to me on Sunday, if I can use a picture as family. And so, you know, we sometimes go around in church and call someone a brother or sister, but in this case, it's meant. And because it's meant, that means that I care for needs that I become aware of as they arise within that community. And that's what was happening. And so this generous spirit was a part of what was being asked for. You know, it's interesting in Luke when John the Baptist is preaching on repenting. And you think, well, he's

10:38going to say something about our relationship to God. And the crowd asks, well, what must we do to bring, you know, fruit worthy of repentance when that's the exhortation John gives? And he turns around, he says, is someone needs a shirt and you are able to provide it, provide it? That's the answer. I mean, he doesn't talk about the relationship to God at all. He talks about how we're dealing and caring for other people, which is also reflected in the great commandment because the great commandment links our love for God and our love for our neighbor. And Jesus takes two commands and says, these actually belong together. Yeah, that is so good. Now, let's go back to Acts 434 for a second. We said there was this statement and there it says there was not a needy person among them. So what should we understand by that statement is the goal that every believer have the same amount or that no genuine need exists within the community? Well, I guess the best commentary on this is in 1 Timothy 6, which is actually a chapter that has a lot to say about resources that in fact,

11:40it's the most condensed chapter in the entire Bible on this topic. And it basically says, Paul talks about if we have food and clothing with these, we shall be content. So we're talking about the ability to be provided with basic needs, food and shelter. And if you have food and shelter, if you have a place to lay your head down at night and you're able to feed yourself from day to day, you're supposed to be content with that. Everything else is luxury. And so in that sense, that's how I think when it says people's needs are being taken care of, no one's homeless and no one's going hungry. Yes. Dr. Buck Luke presents Barnabas as a positive example of generosity. And then immediately gives us Ananias and Sephira as a tragic contrast. What does that comparison teach us about generosity and honesty and motives and the temptation to appear more generous than we truly are? Well, it is, it's exactly that. It is the appearance of being something you aren't

12:44that Ananias and Sephira run into and that brings judgment. Whereas Barnabas is commended and it's this voluntary nature of what it is that Barnabas is doing that's so commendable and is so worthy of imitation. And that imitation is important even though it's descriptive because it's being praised as something worth doing. Yes. And so Barnabas is being lifted up as a positive example. This is how to engage with the resources that you have. This is the attitude to have towards them. Ananias and Sephira who misrepresent how generous they are, that is something to be avoided. Yes. Well said. Acts is describing what happened rather than issuing a direct command that every Christian sell property. But you've cautioned against using the phrase descriptive, not prescriptive to drain the passage of its force. So how should we let this example then challenge us without turning it into some kind of formula? Well, it's the nature of narrative oftentimes to tell a story

13:47in which it brings forward something to be commended rather than issuing a command. But the point is, the point of telling the story and issuing the example is this an example to be followed. It's an example that is lifted up and saying that's the direction you should be going. This is the way your heart should be inclined. And so it's supposed to be something to be embraced as opposed to being, well, how can I end up not doing this? That's not the point. The point is no. Barnabas is commended. The early church is commended for its generosity because we are supposed to be a generous people. Yeah. Let's bring this into the here and now. What might the spirit of Acts 2 and 4 look like in the local church today? Are we primarily talking about benevolence funds or disluke envisions something more relational, believers knowing one another well enough to recognize needs and then respond personally? I think it's very much the latter. It is having an awareness of what's going on to be able to meet needs. You don't even need to have to go through your church to help

14:48somebody if you know they have need. That kind of thing. There's just an orientation towards your neighbor that reflects the great commandment, which is to love your neighbor as yourself. And so if I'm doing that, most of us spend a lot of time thinking about our own well-being. The text is saying, let's think about the well-being of others like we think about our own well-being. Would you leave us with one practical question we can take away from Acts 2 and 4 that perhaps we should ask about what God has entrusted to us? Well, I think the question is given the resources that I have and the way in which God may have blessed me in life, what can I do to bless someone else who may not be as fortunate as I am? And so it just produces a hard attitude and that hard attitude as we've said, holding your possessions with open hands. Well said, folks, the remarkable generosity of the early church, flowed from a deeper reality. They were united in Christ and

15:49we believe true generosity still begins there with hearts transformed by the gospel and surrendered lives to God's purposes. Dr. Bach, thanks for your time today. My pleasure. That's Dr. Darryl Bach, Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. All right, a quick break and then back with your questions, 800-525-7000. Call right now. We'll be right back. We are grateful for support from Timothy Plan. Since 1994, Timothy Plan has shared good news with investors and advisors by offering faith-honoring mutual funds and exchange traded funds. More information is at TimothyPlan.com. The investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses are contained in the prospectus and summary prospectus available at TimothyPlan.com. Mutual funds distributed by Timothy Partners Limited and ETFs distributed by four-side funds services LLC. Investing involves risks, including possible loss of principle.

16:51Rising health insurance rates are pricing millions out of the market, and Christian health care ministries is here to help. CHM is affordable assurance, allowing believers to share the burden of medical bills together. You get simple, low-cost pricing, regardless of health history or location. Plus, you can enroll at any time with no contracts. Break free from the huge costs and hidden fees of traditional health insurance. Learn more at faithfi.com slash CHM. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. Well, let's turn the corner and talk about whatever is on your mind today or goal to help you live as a faithful steward as we come alongside you to navigate the financial decisions and choices you're making each day. So if you've got something going on in your financial life now, it's the time to call. We've got lines open. Our team is ready. And all you need to do is call 800-525-7000. Again, that number 800-525-7000. We'll look forward to hearing from you.

17:56Let's go to Georgia Faith. How can I help? Oh, okay. I have a big question. I've been very frugal through my life. We never had much, but I put money aside. I have a cross and I have some other things. But my property and house, they've estimated between 40 and 50,000 that would be sold upon my death. I'm in my 70s and I want to live in my house until I die. But I have two daughters. One is very responsible. And then I have one is 42. And she just blows through money. And I've been reading this book by Ron Blue. I read it years ago, but I'm reading it again about splitting errors. So I know that the worst thing you can do is give money to somebody that doesn't know how to use it. But my question is, the money will be divided between my two daughters. And I am working with an attorney to set up a trust. But how do I decide what and when she gets it? Let's just say that it sells for 40,000 of that's what's left. And each girl would get 20. Then how do I decide when she gets this money?

18:59And how would she get it? Because if she got a lump sum, she would take her three children and go to Disney World the first thing. And I'm just worried about her being out, not having a job. She has a high IQ. She's been working, but she never can keep a job. Part of it's something she gets bored. And then the rest of it, I don't know what happens to her jobs. But I just would like some direction books to read or what I need to do to set this up. Because I have met with an attorney and to set up a trust. And so I'm kind of on one, but I still need some direction here. Yeah, very good. Well, I'm glad you read splitting errors because that really would be the go-to resource there. And I'm glad you're thinking through this because one of the things you saw in that book is that Ron says consistently that equal and fair are not always the same thing. And then our decisions need to be guided by love and wisdom and stewardship because you're

19:59the steward of these resources. And we factor into that readiness for receiving these resources. So if faith you decided to give them equal amounts, but to handle the distribution of those assets differently, well, that's where a trust can really shine. And so if your daughter is likely to spend the inheritance quickly, you know, we could put in guardrails that emphasize stewardship and protection rather than control. Because one thing we want to be very careful about, and this is a caution, is we want to avoid using a trust to control every day life choices unnecessarily. The purpose is to encourage wise stewardship and provide protection not to micromanage an adult child's life. And that's where I think an experience to state planning attorney can help you tailor the trust to her needs. Let me give you some examples of common trust provisions. You could do age-based distributions. You could say give a portion of 35, a portion at 40,

21:02a portion at 45 instead of a lump sum. You could do annual or monthly distributions. You could do what are called hymns distributions, HEMS, health education maintenance support. That means it's legitimate needs. You could do a matching for earned income. This is where if you have a child who's, you know, not showing a real strong work ethic, you could supplement what they earn rather than replacing it. So you're matching it. You could specify that it's for educational training or home purchase assistance or medical expenses. You can also say there's no distributions while creditors or lawsuits or certain financial risks are present. All of those things, you know, would be put in places, guardrails to avoid her kind of running through the money in a very short period of time. Does any of that kind of peak your interest faith in terms of what might be helpful here? Yes, I was basically like matching what she's earning. Yes, I had considered that

22:06before that sounds good. Like I said, she gets jobs and then she loses some and then she's calling me for rent or car payments or something like that. So I mean, I'm not going to live forever and I'd like for her to learn something, but just when I think things are looking better, she'll call and have that same problem again, which tells me exactly what Rosley was been talking about. She's going to learn this before, but she never has. And the other daughter is quite aggravated with the whole thing. But I want to do something for this one. I've been looking at that college program where you can put money in and they can't get it unless they go to college or some kind of training. And so I was thinking about getting someone to help me set that up. She has three children, five, ten, and like 14. And starting that for them. So when they get ready to go to school or some kind of training, at least they would be some money for them and she couldn't get a hold of it. That's my concern. She wouldn't get a hold of that and say, well, let's just go to this new world.

23:08That's her thinking, which is so just diametrically opposed to what I taught them, which makes it really hard. But I like that about setting up that way that she has to earn so much money before she gets it. And the other thing you mentioned was like so much at 35, 40 and 45, you know, different ages. Yes. That's right. Yeah. I think given what you're talking about here, Faith, where, you know, she's losing jobs, she's struggling financially, the repeated calls for help, I think that really just strengthens the case for keeping it in a discretionary trust rather than giving her a lump sum and looking at these options like monthly income distributions or, you know, matching earned income or the periodic distributions. With regard to the 529 for the grandkids, the key for that would be to make sure that there's another trustee or trusted person who owns the 529. Because if your daughter is the owner of the 529, then she controls the account and can change the

24:10beneficiaries or withdraw the money. If she is not the owner, another trusted person is, and your grandkids are the beneficiary, then she doesn't have control over the money whatsoever. Only the owner of the account does, and if somebody, you know, you trust is in that position, then they're going to ensure that it ultimately gets to the kids for the purpose of college. So that would be a 529 plan, but the key is, you know, you and then following you, another trusted person being the owner is really essential. Yes, I'm glad you told me that. I didn't realize that. I thought once you set it up in their name, no one could get it, but yes, I can do that. Yeah, very good. Excellent. Well, Faith, hopefully this helps you. I think having a godly estate planning attorney to take some of these ideas and help you put them into action is going to be really essential, but you're on the right track. We'll be praying for you. I know these aren't easy decisions, but they're important ones. And I think you're thinking through it well. And if I can help further along the way, don't hesitate to reach out. God bless you. Thanks for calling. Well, folks,

25:13that's going to do it for us. We covered a lot of ground today. Really appreciate you being along with us. Hey, if we can do anything to serve you, don't hesitate to reach out at faithfi.com. You can download the app. And while you're there, if you'd like to support our work, we'd certainly be grateful as a listener-supported ministry. Just click give. Big thanks to Josh Taylor to hear in Omar. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye. Faith in finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.