“Two-year-old” mind-set

Acts 4:32-37

Have you ever thought about a world where everyone stayed two years old?  Now, that is absurd, but please humor me for a moment.  What is the first thing that comes to your mind about two year olds, with the exception that they need someone to care for them and show love and give direction to their young lives?  Yes, you are 100% correct, they all say the same word, and as my pastor stated in a sermon, it may be the first word they learn, even before mom and dad, and the word is “Mine.”  It would be impossible to build community with a society that had the mind set of a two year old, wouldn’t it?

For some forty plus years, I have read Acts 4:32-37 and tried to explain it away as a one-time event, and there are many other things that have always bothered me.  We have few examples of this taking place outside of these verses, and many would call this communism?  So let us explore the word communism: “a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.”  We watch this form of society and it has one very large problem, it goes back to the “Two year old” that is called the State, and the State says that it is all Mine.  And the state, which is usually the strongest “Two year old” tells all others what their abilities and needs are; it is a rip-off and it has never worked, but that is not what is happening in Acts 4:32-37.

Why does Acts 4:32-37 bother me so much, maybe for the same reason it troubles you, and I must say it has taken me a while to come to this understanding.  I still have a two-year-old mindset, in fact, our foundational beliefs are centered in, “I worked hard and I earned this business, this home, this boat,” and the list keeps going and going.  Now as Christians we like to believe that God has blessed us with everything, and that we are just the caretakers of what has been entrusted to us.  And some of us do believe that, and some of us give as we feel led to do so by the Spirit of God, but that does not change that our culture both inside and outside the Church has the same mind-set as a two year old, when it comes to, it is mine.

 I understand the problem, what I do not understand is what could happen to the American Church that would drive it to having all things in common?  I must say it would be a God thing, because a two-year-old mind-set is common to man when it comes to our stuff.  But just stop and ask this question, is that the “mind of Christ,” and then go from there.  This is what happened to those folks who entered into Christ and Christ entered into them, we refer to them as the first church: “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” (Acts 4:32-35 ESV)

A “Two-year-old” mind-set will always have these questions: What about the leaders, will they also share?  The answer must be yes, for anything other than that is not Christian community, but a communistic system that is very evil.  2 Thessalonians 3:6-8 gives the Christian leader his orders.  “Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you.”  And the next question that enters a “Two-year-old” mind-set will be what about all those lazy, no good people who will join the church just to take what others have worked for?  And it a very simple answer: “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10 ESV)

A Christian with a “Two-year-old” mind-set will always look for the loopholes, and the what-ifs, because the “What if” to that mind-set is a reason to do nothing.  This writer does not know the answers to the “What if” in fact, this writer is still trying to become a three year old in Christ, and follow the instruction that the apostle Paul gave to the immature Corinthian church in this verse, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” (1 Corinthians 13:11 ESV)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice