Quote:
Originally Posted by nateswift
Well that makes some sense. What does "give up" mean in the context? What does "stewardship" entail? What is important to you? You have a good point, but how literally should it be read?
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Thank you, and that's the golden ticket. In that verse, Jesus sad to forsake, which means to give up. Now, I was seeing how this was applied in Scripture and what better example than the early church that was stemming its practices hot off of Jesus' teachings. In Acts 2:42-45 (NIV), we see:
42 And they
devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
43 And awe[
a] came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
45
And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
As we see here, they actually sold their possessions instead of merely renouncing ownership as so many have said they have done. Now to what extent of how much they sold and gave, I don't know. But we do know they at least kept their homes even though Jesus was homeless, as in Acts 2:46 (NIV) says:
46 And day by day, attending the temple together and
breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
And another example that isn't usually seen in this light are Ananias and Sapphira, believers selling possessions as per the ending of chapter 4 of Acts. They sold a piece of property but kept a piece of the proceeds from the true amount. Even the disciples deemed that they could have done with whatever they wanted with the money, so it seems that one is at liberty at how he chooses to give up something and how small or large it may be:
Acts 5 (NIV):
Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also
sold a piece of property.
2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?
4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold,
wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
And one more example from the book of Acts, from that ending of chapter 4 we see Barnabas also selling his possession (singular). Though the text does not say if this was his only time or nth time of doing so:
Acts 4 (NIV):
36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”),
37 sold
a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
So we see here of Barnabas selling a possession for anyone who had need under the apostle's ministry. But we see him only selling a singular field. Could it be the only one he had? Well, perhaps, but then I'm sure it would have been stressed to be an "only" field instead of "a" field, though that is just speculation on my part. Previously in the passage, it did say that the believers sold their possessions from time to time
as need arose, not just for selling of possessions sake. So there seem to be "rules" or times when to do this.
But it still stands Jesus directed this to all of His disciples (which are believers, including everybody on this thread (hopefully
)and beyond).
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