Well they didn’t go Home right away. They continued to live in this Community enjoying fellowship and learning more and more about Jesus from those who lived with Him and learned from Him. It took severe persecution to move them out.
When the “dispersion” had cleared all but some of the Apostles out of Jerusalem you might expect there’d be changes. People returning to their Homes or settling in other parts of the world would resume the lives they’d known before. It would be pretty much normal life in an oppressive “dog-eat-dog” world. But not exactly. As-a-matter-of-fact they still practiced this re-discovered principle. Not much later many of the Christ-followers who remained in the region near Jerusalem were hit with at least one famine. There’s reason to believe there were several similar instances. In this one case the scattered, growing Church took it upon themselves to provide for the needs of these stricken fellows. Saul “Paul” of Tarsus personally conducted a fund-raising campaign. In his second letter to the Corinthians Christians he writes, convincingly, about how this principle of “generosity” would apply to the Christian Community. His instruction takes up most of two chapters, 2 Corinthians 8 & 9. He begins by telling about how one group put the principle into dramatic practice. “I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians.” Inspired by such generosity he addresses the Christ-followers in Corinth. “You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us—in one stroke he became poor and we became rich.” Apparently these Corinthians were better off than the Macedonians. “You've got what it takes,” he writes. Yet he insists that they “do what (they) can, not what (they) can't,” reminding them that, “the heart regulates the hands.” The funds he’s raising must be given from hearts that are like the heart of Jesus Himself. Not “stingy” but willing to “give it all away,” if necessary, out of sacrificial love. And he reassures them that, “this isn't so others can take it easy while you sweat it out. No, you're shoulder to shoulder with them all the way, your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit. In the end you come out even. As it is written, Nothing left over to the one with the most, Nothing lacking to the one with the least.”
He concludes with one of the most powerful challenges to Christ-followers concerning the way they use their wealth. “Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.
God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it, He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.
This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.
Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God. This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone. Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they'll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need. Thank God for this gift, his gift. No language can praise it enough!” (2 Corinthians 8 & 9 Selected Passages THE MESSAGE)
Wow!
This is as articulate a statement of the principle as you’ll find anywhere. The generosity of God is most clearly demonstrated in the practice of Jesus. He gave to the point of radical personal sacrifice. This “sacrificial love,” is the mandate He gives to His followers. “Love one another the way I love you.”
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