Robe seems full of heritage-listed buildings. We asked the owner of the caravan park about life in his heritage stone house. It's a real problem, he told us. The place leaks. Any repairs to windows or doors have to match the original specifications. The special-profile roofing iron is hard to come by - and frightfully expensive!
Another problem - some old buildings just don't suit their modern use. Many of the old government buildings in Brisbane, for example, don't suit modern office practice, are difficult to air-condition and to adapt to the needs of computers and the new way of doing things.
In some places, the solution has been to keep the façade - removing the rest of the building and replacing it with a whole new structure.
The death and resurrection of Jesus has provided, not an outward "nice" façade for Christian faith and living, but a whole new inner structure.
Do you know what Paul says about "the hope of glory"? "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1.27b). We know that Christ died for our sins - that turns a bad Friday into Good Friday. Then the resurrection of Jesus confirms that sin and death aren't the final word. It would be true enough to say that the death and resurrection of Jesus are the hope of glory. Yet we can miss the truth that the freeing of Jesus from a limited-to-one-place body makes it possible for him to live within each one of us by his Spirit - "Christ in you, the hope of glory."
What began happening among the first Christians was quite extraordinary - "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had" (Acts 4.32). This wasn't a denial of their ownership - as Communism has endeavoured to force on people - but a totally new attitude to what were still in fact their possessions.
Paul calls on his Roman readers, "in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship" (Rom. 12.1). He tells the Corinthians, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body" (1 Cor. 6.19-20). This doesn't make us "nobodies", but new persons, alive with the resurrection life of Jesus (see 2 Cor. 5.17). These are constant themes in Paul's letters - we are in Christ, Christ is in us.
"With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need" (Acts 4.33-35).
The apostles weren't directing proceedings - telling the people all they had to do. Luke is saying that the disciples were receiving and responding to Christ's resurrection grace. As a result they had a totally new attitude to their possessions and to one another.
That this wasn't a regimented policy or demand is made clear by the words "from time to time". It was quite voluntary - they were responding to the risen Christ who indwelt them by his Spirit.
A significant example of this sharing was Joseph of Cyprus - we know him better as Barnabas (this nickname means "son of encouragement"). He "sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet" (v. 37).
We know Barnabas later in the story for introducing the newly-converted Saul of Tarsus to the Jerusalem believers (9.26-30). He was sent to encourage the believers in Antioch where great expansion was taking place (11.22-24). He went to Tarsus to look for Saul and brought him back to help in the work in Antioch (vv. 25-26). This helped equip Saul for his future ministry.
When the church in Antioch felt the Spirit's call to missionary expansion, they set aside their two leaders, Barnabas and Saul, and sent them off (13.1-3). This was the first missionary journey. John Mark came with them as their helper (v. 5) but left them before the dangerous road over the Taurus Mountains to Pisidian Antioch (v. 13).
Later Paul proposed a second missionary journey to revisit the churches established on the first journey. Barnabas wanted to take John Mark. Paul felt this was unwise because he had deserted them. The two leaders were in sharp disagreement. The result was two missionary journeys, Paul going through the areas where John Mark hadn't been with them, Barnabas taking John Mark with him to Cyprus (15.36-41).
What an encourager - the nickname fitted him well! It was an outworking of the resurrection life of Jesus in his life. We don't know anything Barnabas said or wrote, but, in a very real sense, it is because of his encouragement that we have Mark's gospel and Paul's letters in the New Testament. The risen Jesus works out his purposes through real people.
The story continues on into chapter 5. Chapter divisions aren't part of the original text, but make it convenient for us is reading the Bible together. In the present case it is important to realise that it is possible to make a false, as well as a genuine, response to the resurrection life of Jesus.
Ananias and Sapphira were evidently part of the congregation too. They decided to take part in this generous response to the need of some members of the congregation. Perhaps they were impressed with Barnabas' action. It may well be that they noted the high esteem in which others regarded Barnabas. They may even have wanted some of that kind of recognition themselves.
"Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet" (5.1-2). As we have already noted, this giving was a perfectly voluntary matter. The clear inference, however, is that Ananias brought portion of the proceeds and gave it as if he was giving the total amount, as Barnabas had done.
F.F. Bruce writes, "Ananias, in the effort to gain a reputation for greater generosity than he actually deserved, tried to deceive the believing community, but in trying to deceive the community, he was really trying to deceive the Holy Spirit, whose life-giving power had created the community and maintained it in being".
As Peter points out clearly, the land was his to keep or sell and the proceeds of sale could be disposed of as he chose. There was no obligation to contribute all the proceeds to the common pool. His blatant deception was, in fact, lying to God.
The shock of this exposure cost Ananias his life, whether through a heart attack or an "act of God". His wife, Sapphira, came in three hours later, not knowing what had happened. She shared in the deception and shared in the consequences.
Someone has suggested that it is just as well we don't see that kind of thing happening today or modern churches would all need to have a morgue attached to them! But it didn't keep on happening then either. It happened that way once as a sober reminder to us all to be "fair dinkum" in our dealings with the Lord.
Jesus is alive. He wants to live out his life, his purpose, through each one of us individually and through his body, the church collectively.
We hear his invitation, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me" (Rev. 3.20).
It is the risen Christ speaking. He doesn't batter down the door. He invites our response and waits. Have we opened the door to him - not just to forgive us our sins and give us a place in heaven, but to live his life through our lives day by day?
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