Contrasting Pictures in Acts 2 and 3

The biblical Book of Acts is amazing account of the many signs and wonders that surrounded the early church. It is also a story about how the church leadership developed in those early years of the church. Most church goers have read through many of these stories as they tend to fill us with that sense of awe and wonder about God's great and mighty power. Some times though I think we can get complacent when we go to read through the Book again as come into expecting only to see or read about certain things and thus ignoring some of the other aspects of the great stories in Acts.

This is where I was earlier this week as I began a new reading plan on my blackberry bible. I was looking forward to reading about the great miracles and acts of faith found in the book of Acts. What I was not necessarily expecting to find was an overall portrait if how different the church should look when compared to its surroundings. I found this while reading through Acts 2 and 3.


Acts 2 shows us how the power of God fell upon the Apostle. Acts 3 shows how the Apostle began to take the message to the people. We also see in Acts 2 how the new believers began selling their possessions so that none of them had need. They had essentially created the first church benevolence fund :) We can contrast this picture with how society was taking care of the needy as it is found in Acts 3. Acts 3:2 tells us that a lame man must beg for alms each day to provide for every day needs. While it is true that this man had help getting to the gate of the temple he was stilled required to beg for money. I think these contrasting pictures show us how the church is supposed to look different from the world around us.

We are called to be strangers living in a foreign land. We are supposed to act differently than the world. In fact, we are supposed to be the catalyst for change in a world that desperately needs. Unfortunately, for far too long the American church (as a general group) has been doing the opposite. We have been more concerned about our buildings blending into the surrounding neighborhood than changing the neighborhoods we are in. The end result of this is a society that sees nothing particular special or miraculous about the God we worship and love.