A talk about love from Thurday, January 3rd. A portion of his talk (which I taped) regarding the 1st century congregation, verbatim:
"...There would be needs to be met, physical needs. There would be needs to be accomodated: food, clothing, shelter...Why, you can just imagine all that was needed. And of course, there would be cost involved in providing for them. How did all this come to be?
"How were these people who were so concerned with pure worship accomodated in this regard? Well, interestingly, Acts chapter 4 provides the answer. It's an evidence of love in action, generously, graciously so. Notice in verse number 34 the report says, 'In fact, there was not one in need among them. For all those who were possessor's of fields or houses would sell them and bring the value of the things sold and they would deposit them at the feet of the apostles. In turn, distribution would be made to each one just as he would have the need...'
"Now we've got the picture in mind, don't we? There were those who had physical needs and they would have to be accomodated in a loving fashion. Well, what do our brother's and sister's do who were there? Well, if they had houses, fields, possessions, properties, they disposed of them and turned into liquid assets, cash!
(This is where the interesting part begins):
"Now, interestingly, this is a profound evidence of love, isn't it? Have you ever thought about it this way: What if somebody had a piece of land and they had in mind that they'd hold it for some investment purpose? Or, what if they had some sort of a rental property that they were kind of looking to use that for income purposes? They decided differently, didn't they? They would take care of those other things perhaps later. Right now, they could see these who had needs to be accomodated. What would move them to dispose of property like that rather than to say, 'Er, well, I...I may not get fair market value now. The Market's down! I might not be able to get enough. I might lose! I might not get all out of this I put in it!' They weren't concerned about those things. See, that's the physically minded, the physically dominated person. They lovingly set all that aside. And what they said was, 'Here, I have an opportunity to be helpful. And I care. I love. And therefore I'm not worried about how this balances out on some ledger-sheet! I'm interested in doing what I can do to help my brother's. And, so, what did they do? They sold the houses, they sold the land, the possessions. They got rid of it because they wanted to be helpful to their brother's. Wasn't that a profound evidence of love? Do you think that was in harmony with the command 'love one another just as I have loved you'? Oh, yes! What a beautiful example of that!
"A little sidebar here that's really interesting, too. Evidently, right from the beginning, they recognized God's Organization and recognized the Organization's administration. Why do we say that? Did you notice? Where was it that they deposited the money they got from the sale of their possessions? Did you notice that? Yes, it was at the feet of the apostles. So, in reality, they had full confidence, full trust in the direction Jehovah was providing for His people through these visible representatives, in the reality those who would become the Governing Body. What a nice illustration of love of God and love of neighbor! It wasn't something brother's just talked about, was it? It was something they did. Their love was active. They responded lovingly. What a wonderful example to encourage God's people today, that our love be our way of life as we demonstrate it toward one another and our God as well as our fellow humans here on earth together."
I guess all JW's should think about selling their beachfront vacation properties and sending the proceeds to the WTBTS. Or, sell one of your two cars. Or, cash in that Time Share! Or...fill in the blank!
So many stupid people, so few comets! :o)