WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.900 --> 00:00:01.800 Christ is risen. 2 00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:04.800 He is risen indeed Alleluia. 3 00:00:07.600 --> 00:00:09.600 Let's play a little game. 4 00:00:11.300 --> 00:00:13.800 I will give a quote by a famous person. 5 00:00:13.800 --> 00:00:19.300 You raise your hand if you know the famous person who said or wrote 6 00:00:19.300 --> 00:00:20.300 that quote. 7 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:25.700 Raise your hand if you know the famous person who said this. 8 00:00:27.200 --> 00:00:31.500 Nothing can have value without being an object of utility. 9 00:00:33.900 --> 00:00:36.000 Anyone anyone? 10 00:00:37.700 --> 00:00:38.400 Round two. 11 00:00:39.300 --> 00:00:40.300 Raise your hand 12 00:00:40.300 --> 00:00:44.300 if you know who said this the production of too many useful things 13 00:00:44.300 --> 00:00:47.200 results in too many useless people. 14 00:00:50.500 --> 00:00:51.200 Okay. 15 00:00:52.800 --> 00:00:55.500 Here's an interesting quote raise your hand 16 00:00:55.500 --> 00:01:01.200 if you know who said this. I do not like money. Money is the reason we 17 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:01.600 fight. 18 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:07.300 Let's try this one. 19 00:01:07.300 --> 00:01:07.600 No doubt. 20 00:01:07.600 --> 00:01:08.200 You've heard it. 21 00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:09.800 Perhaps even said it. 22 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:16.000 The road to hell is paved with good intentions who said that one. 23 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:20.500 Okay about what I thought. 24 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:26.500 Here's a quote that echoes some of our cultural conversation these 25 00:01:26.500 --> 00:01:28.200 days. Raise your hand 26 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:33.000 if you know who said this. The rich will do anything for the poor but 27 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:34.300 get off their backs. 28 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:39.400 Just a couple more. 29 00:01:40.800 --> 00:01:45.100 Raise your hand if you know who said this. If anything is certain it is 30 00:01:45.100 --> 00:01:48.500 that I myself am not a Marxist. 31 00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:53.800 No one knows who said that one. 32 00:01:54.900 --> 00:01:56.100 This one may be more familiar. 33 00:01:57.500 --> 00:02:02.300 Do you know who said this one? From each according to his abilities to 34 00:02:02.300 --> 00:02:04.300 each according to his needs. 35 00:02:06.300 --> 00:02:07.700 Okay a few hands we're getting better. 36 00:02:09.500 --> 00:02:13.700 And for this last one, I'll wager that most or at least more hands can 37 00:02:13.700 --> 00:02:14.200 go up. 38 00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:18.600 Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature. 39 00:02:18.600 --> 00:02:23.900 The feelings of a heartless world just as it is the spirit of 40 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:25.600 unspiritual conditions. 41 00:02:25.600 --> 00:02:28.200 It is the opium of the people. 42 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:30.500 Haha. 43 00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:35.400 If you heard any of those quotes are all of them and thought of Karl 44 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:37.700 Marx you are correct. 45 00:02:37.700 --> 00:02:41.000 They all come from the author of The Communist Manifesto. 46 00:02:42.600 --> 00:02:46.100 Not all of them from the manifesto at least according to the internet, 47 00:02:46.100 --> 00:02:48.100 but they come from Karl Marx himself. 48 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:54.300 Marx's was striving for a world in which human beings could have 49 00:02:54.300 --> 00:02:55.600 everything in common 50 00:02:57.300 --> 00:03:02.100 and that without God in the picture at all. 51 00:03:04.100 --> 00:03:09.600 In recent years the views of Karl Marx have become vogue in our 52 00:03:09.600 --> 00:03:10.500 national conversation. 53 00:03:12.100 --> 00:03:17.400 Just consider the issues of Universal Health Care or healthcare for 54 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:21.400 all as it's called or Universal basic income. 55 00:03:23.200 --> 00:03:28.300 Pay even passing attention to the pundits and commentators and you 56 00:03:28.300 --> 00:03:33.500 would hear them debating the pros and or cons of socialism over 57 00:03:33.500 --> 00:03:34.700 against capitalism. 58 00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:40.200 And you may even come across discussions of socialism and communism 59 00:03:40.200 --> 00:03:42.600 on blogs and social media. 60 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:45.800 And every now and then 61 00:03:47.200 --> 00:03:52.600 someone will use today's text to support the economic views of 62 00:03:52.600 --> 00:03:59.200 socialism and even communism. After all Saint Luke tells us no one said 63 00:03:59.200 --> 00:04:04.000 that any of the things that belong to him was his own but they had 64 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:05.900 everything in common. 65 00:04:08.900 --> 00:04:15.100 Was St. Luke advocating for a socialist or communist economic system? 66 00:04:16.899 --> 00:04:20.800 We're early Christians laying the foundation for any kind of economic 67 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:21.800 system whatsoever? 68 00:04:23.700 --> 00:04:31.100 Why did the Holy Spirit ensure that this episode even ended up in holy 69 00:04:31.100 --> 00:04:31.200 writ? 70 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:38.700 As we celebrate Easter for a week of Sundays. 71 00:04:38.700 --> 00:04:43.300 We of course rejoice in our Lord sacrificial death and Resurrection. 72 00:04:43.300 --> 00:04:48.300 His Cosmic victory over sin death and the devil. 73 00:04:49.800 --> 00:04:54.100 In addition we hear and grow in the new life that his resurrection 74 00:04:54.100 --> 00:04:56.800 bestows upon us his followers. 75 00:04:58.100 --> 00:05:04.400 You and I are baptized into Christ into his death into his resurrection. 76 00:05:05.700 --> 00:05:09.500 And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father 77 00:05:09.500 --> 00:05:13.800 we to walk in newness of life. 78 00:05:16.100 --> 00:05:20.600 And this changed all of life for the early Christians. 79 00:05:21.700 --> 00:05:25.600 They devoted themselves to the to the apostles teaching and the 80 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:29.500 fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 81 00:05:31.500 --> 00:05:32.700 But this new life 82 00:05:33.700 --> 00:05:37.100 was much more than a Sunday morning thing. 83 00:05:38.100 --> 00:05:40.100 Or just a daily Chapel thing. 84 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:46.600 The cross and empty tomb message changed their lives and their 85 00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:47.200 livelihoods. 86 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:53.300 Because of the resurrection of Jesus all who believed were together 87 00:05:53.300 --> 00:05:55.600 and had all things in common. 88 00:05:56.900 --> 00:06:00.000 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and 89 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:06.300 distributing the proceeds to all as any had need, Acts chapter 2. 90 00:06:08.700 --> 00:06:15.400 The resurrection of Jesus turned their gaze away from themselves and 91 00:06:15.400 --> 00:06:19.300 placed it squarely on their brothers and sisters in Christ. 92 00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:26.500 No longer was life merely a matter of every person for himself or 93 00:06:26.500 --> 00:06:26.700 herself. 94 00:06:28.200 --> 00:06:33.700 Now in Christ crucified and risen life became a matter of joyfully 95 00:06:33.700 --> 00:06:35.800 taking care of one another. 96 00:06:37.500 --> 00:06:43.100 No longer were money and possessions things to gather horde use as 97 00:06:43.100 --> 00:06:48.100 status symbols or even use for all good and every refuge. 98 00:06:49.400 --> 00:06:52.600 Now in Christ who died and rose again 99 00:06:54.300 --> 00:06:59.800 such things became instruments and tools to serve one another 100 00:06:59.800 --> 00:07:03.100 especially the needy neighbor. 101 00:07:07.100 --> 00:07:11.100 So how do you view the things that belong to you? 102 00:07:13.100 --> 00:07:13.800 That book. 103 00:07:15.500 --> 00:07:17.100 That laptop or device. 104 00:07:18.500 --> 00:07:19.300 That car. 105 00:07:20.700 --> 00:07:22.800 That house. That apartment. 106 00:07:24.300 --> 00:07:25.400 That bank account. 107 00:07:26.500 --> 00:07:27.900 That Roth IRA. 108 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:32.900 Can you honestly say 109 00:07:34.300 --> 00:07:35.900 it is not your own? 110 00:07:39.400 --> 00:07:44.300 Could you voluntarily put it into a common pot for the good of your 111 00:07:44.300 --> 00:07:45.900 brothers and sisters in Christ? 112 00:07:48.700 --> 00:07:49.100 Yeah. 113 00:07:50.500 --> 00:07:52.300 I would have a hard time with that one, too. 114 00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:57.900 That is not a capitalism problem. 115 00:07:57.900 --> 00:08:00.500 That is a sinful flesh problem. 116 00:08:02.500 --> 00:08:04.500 And that is exactly why 117 00:08:05.800 --> 00:08:09.100 we celebrate this week of Sundays call the Easter season. 118 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:19.400 Our Lord has conquered our sinful, selfish flesh. For you know, the 119 00:08:19.400 --> 00:08:23.800 grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your 120 00:08:23.800 --> 00:08:25.900 sakes he became poor. 121 00:08:26.900 --> 00:08:31.400 So that you by his poverty might become rich. 122 00:08:34.600 --> 00:08:40.400 So no our text today from Acts chapter 4 is not a handy dandy biblical 123 00:08:40.400 --> 00:08:42.900 proof texts for Socialism or communism 124 00:08:44.300 --> 00:08:47.600 and they're everything in common view without God. 125 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:55.600 Early Christians did not need the force and compulsion of government 126 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:57.500 to have everything in common. 127 00:08:59.100 --> 00:09:05.700 They were able to do that willingly and voluntarily because of the 128 00:09:05.700 --> 00:09:06.300 grace of God 129 00:09:07.500 --> 00:09:12.500 shown and given to them in Christ crucified and risen. 130 00:09:13.800 --> 00:09:19.000 It's only the giving goodness of our Saviour that enables prompts and 131 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:22.500 motivate the giving goodness of his followers. 132 00:09:26.100 --> 00:09:30.100 And if you want to know why the Holy Spirit and ensured that we get to 133 00:09:30.100 --> 00:09:33.400 read and hear this account from the early church. 134 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:38.000 The Lutheran Study Bible offers a helpful little insight. 135 00:09:39.900 --> 00:09:45.100 This text is not about any particular economic system in a fallen world. 136 00:09:46.400 --> 00:09:47.100 Instead 137 00:09:47.100 --> 00:09:48.800 this is too quote the study Bible. 138 00:09:49.900 --> 00:09:56.400 A preview and foretaste of the resurrection of paradise like conditions 139 00:09:56.400 --> 00:09:57.400 in heaven. 140 00:09:58.400 --> 00:10:04.000 God gives us property and resources for our neighbors benefits. 141 00:10:05.800 --> 00:10:06.500 Amen. 142 00:10:07.400 --> 00:10:10.600 And the peace of God which goes beyond all understanding will guard 143 00:10:10.600 --> 00:10:12.300 your hearts and minds in Christ 144 00:10:12.300 --> 00:10:14.900 Jesus our Lord. Amen. Please stand.