This lesson starts off with verses that celebrate how the early Christian believers were strong and bold in the way they testified to the Gospel (Acts 4:31). Hooray! We can all agree and be grateful for that witness.

But, then, boom! Their boldness takes on another dimension, and we are probably just a little less excited. This boldness is not in public speaking, but in what those disciples did with their money and their property (Acts 4:32-37). Suddenly, the text not only wants to hear how I speak the truth of the Gospel, but the “whole group of those who believed” (v. 32) wants to look at my checkbook! I don’t mind showing you my sermon notes, but I ain’t quite ready to let you stroll through my checkbook and my credit card statement.

I remember a discussion we had one time in my Sunday School class. The question was “Should the pastor know how much each member of the church gives to the church?” Some argued that knowing who the “big givers” were would tempt the pastor to show favoritism to those “heavy hitters.” Others protested and said a member’s generosity or lack thereof was a spiritual issue, so the pastor needed to be informed so he or she could bring pastoral counseling as needed. What do you think? Why do you think that?

The word in Acts 4:31 that is translated in the New Revised Standard Version as “boldness” is parrhēsia. In the Common English Bible, it is rendered “with confidence.” The Emphasized New Testament puts it as “with freedom of utterance.” In The Twentieth Century New Testament¸ the word is “fearlessly.” “Courageously” is the way it is put in The New Testament: A Translation in the Language of the People. Do these words describe the way I use my financial and property resources?

Again—as we have noted in our earlier looks at the Book of Acts—it is the Holy Spirit who makes such boldness possible (v. 31). Luke, in writing these accounts, reminds us over and over again that if we have boldness in speaking, have boldness in giving, and boldness in healing and signs of Christ’s presence, it is not because we are so wonderful, but because the Holy Spirit is so generous.

What Someone Else Has Said: Kenneth Carder (Living Our Beliefs, Discipleship Resources) has written: “The God whom we follow into the future is present to guide, sustain, and shape us as individuals and as a church.”

Prayer: As you prepare this lesson, let your prayer begin: “Shape me as You would have me be, O Lord…”