Westminster Talking the Text Podcast for Sunday, April 26, 2026 | Acts 2:42-47 | with Donovan Drake, Sarah Bird Kneff, Ashley Higgins, Stephanie Boaz & Will Wellman

Westminster Talking the Text Podcast for Sunday, April 26, 2026 | Acts 2:42-47 | with Donovan Drake, Sarah Bird Kneff, Ashley Higgins, Stephanie Boaz & Will Wellman

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Life among the Believers

43 Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds[a] to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home[b] and ate their food with glad and generous[c] hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:04

Welcome to a talking the text on top of the Cumberland Plateau edition. We're on a staff retreat, and I'm Donovan.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

I'm Ashley. I'm Stephanie. I'm Sarah.

SPEAKER_06 0:16

And I'm Will. All right. Sunday we have the elder ordination and installation. And we have our text from Acts chapter 2, 42 through 47. And so before we start, let's have a prayer. Oh holy God, we give you thanks and praise for a beautiful day that you have made. We pray that your spirit be with us as we read and hear and listen and talk, um, be in our thoughts, in our hearts, and in our conversation. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. All right, Acts chapter 2, 42 through 47. Hear the word of God. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. All claim upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common. They would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. That's very nice. The word of the Lord. Okay, Acts chapter 2. What happens in Acts chapter 2? We get Pentecost, right? And uh the fire and the wind, and people start to hear each other in their own native language. And then Peter gives a speech to interpret what's going on, and then we get this text, right? And in terms of being in the Easter season, they probably throw this text in there to show this is what Easter looks like in community.

SPEAKER_04 2:24

What do you think?

SPEAKER_06 2:32

So uh what's challenging in this is what? That all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute their proceeds to all as any had need. Right?

SPEAKER_00 2:49

That's uh doesn't sound like capitalism.

SPEAKER_06 3:02

No, Ashley.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Um we're sharing, all we're sharing that feels like the key to me because if not all are sharing, who's not sharing and does that make you unsafe? Like that gets scary. Right? Yeah. Can you really trust everybody?

SPEAKER_06 3:31

My question about the early church is were people taken, were people drawn by the word or were they drawn in by the community? Oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Well, because it would have stood in such stark contrast to everything else at that time. Like it would have been like, oh, this is there's something different about them. So yeah, would it be we're drawn into the community, there's something different, and then you hear the word and you're transformed. Isn't who is it that says like belonging to become like belonging comes first and then belief? Diana Bell or Bass. Diana Bella Bass, yeah. So it's like you don't just say, I believe, and then you belong. You have to feel like you belong to belief.

SPEAKER_05 4:14

Yeah, and behavior is the other one.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

And behave, yeah, and then you behave differently, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:19

I also think that in this culture, I don't want to simplify, but could it have been that uh this was a culture that uh already needed to depend on one another more than maybe we feel like we have to depend on one another? Like there's not excess, right? And so a faith community that gets we can do this together and share what you have that I need, and I have this little bit that you could use. I just feel like that's so different from the very individual, but also excess. I mean, everyone doesn't have excess in our culture, but a lot of us have so much excess. So then the need for dependence on one another, I think can be can we can feel like it's less. So um I I just think how what a um like that like there were the there were real needs that the church was meeting, and I think that we the church today meets a lot of people's needs, but there's also haves and have nots, and maybe this was more of a community of all have nots. I don't know, does that make sense?

SPEAKER_05 5:48

Just um I I think one thing I keep coming back to with this passage is like I I I think there's been a tendency for like the last couple hundred years to like spiritualize a lot of these passages, and this one is like explicitly materialist, yeah. Um like you're pointing out actually, like everyone has needs, and so it's not like a dichotomy of the spiritual and material, but like God is calling us into communion with each other, and that is both spiritual and material. The Lord's prayer, like when we say debts, it's not talking about spiritual debts, it's talking about literal material debts. And so I think a passage like this is a reminder that like part of the call of the church is just as much to grow deeper in our love for God and each other and let that manifest in explicitly material ways. We come together in worship and we have a very embodied uh liturgy in worship, and we take the the bread and the wine, right? We're doing that over Easter. Uh, but we are just as much as responsible for the material needs of our neighbors. Um and I I think the the radicalness of this passage can oftentimes just be like looked over. Like, I mean, what what does Jesus talk about more than anything?

SPEAKER_03 7:11

Wealth, money, money, right?

SPEAKER_05 7:13

And it's like it's it's just something we like don't talk about much.

SPEAKER_06 7:17

And yeah, in Luke's gospel, especially, right? The rich are brought down, the poor are lifted up. And the magnificat. Right. And so we have Ananias and Sapphira who died because they didn't participate in the sharing, or because they lied about not participating. So yeah, I think this is really difficult for us, and we want to figure out how to get out of it.

SPEAKER_05 7:53

We want to spiritualize it.

SPEAKER_03 7:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:56

I I I think that's the challenge of this passage is like living in a time, I mean, like, granted, there are people in deep, deep poverty in the United States, but by and large, you know, the j just the wealth that we have um is is pretty like overwhelming. And like I I don't think there's like an easy answer to reading this passage and saying, well, you need to do X, Y, and Z, and then you're officially a Christian. But like I think this should be a challenging text that causes us to squirm. And we can't um be like, oh, well, that was how the church was then. Like this this is implicit to the identity of Christianity. And like everyone wants to claim apostolic succession, and this is what the apostles did, right? But this is the one part they don't want to talk about.

SPEAKER_06 8:42

But is this a response to the spirit? I mean, is it something that can't be hindered? In other words, I mean it is it a head, yeah. I always make the calculations. That's that's my sin. It's like always making the calculation, making the calculation, making the calculations uh you know, is this worth my time? Is this worth my money? Is this worth my ring? You know, all that kind of stuff. And I keep wondering if you know the spirit of Pentecost lands on these folks, and it's like this is the response. Like uh mother's love for a child kind of thing. It's like, of course.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:26

And if that's true, then we need spirit.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Then we need it, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:32

But if it's not, then we need to do some mental gymnastics, I guess, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Well, and what happened? When did when did that cease to be? I mean, this yeah, this happens close to the event, as near as we can tell, reading it, in line, in in acts. But when did it fall apart? Why did it fall apart?

SPEAKER_05 10:02

But it but it still can continues. It's just like the minority. Like there are tons of intentional communities. Um like I mean Barnier, or what what's his last name? Barney. Larsh? The Larsh community? That guy got a bunch of bad stuff came out about him. Yeah. But like there's large communities all over that um, you know, folks with developmental and and physical disabilities are living alongside able-bodied people, right? Um, and and doing that is an intentional form of Christianity.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

But that's but that's what I'm trying to get at is so this was all, like, as we read it here, if we read it just all, what happened? Like when the leader of Large comes out as someone who is not to be trusted because he has hurt people, does that blow it all up for everyone? Does that cause people to not trust us as Christians anymore? Like, can an event like that really start to blow up? And that's how we start to get away from all. That's that's what I'm wondering.

SPEAKER_06 11:08

But that, yeah, man, that's that's why we end up having the heresy, you know, like the is that the Donatus? What is that the one with the baptisms that the Donatus? Yeah, the baptism that I I was baptized by this guy, and he's just a heretic now or whatever.

SPEAKER_05 11:23

No, it wasn't even heretic, it was if they were sinful or not, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

So your baptism doesn't count.

SPEAKER_06 11:28

So your baptism doesn't count. And it's like, no, no, it's not the people. Right. It's the spirit the spirit student, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

I do think though, going back to what Will was, I I think there's such a material needness to this. So, like, did this become less all when we didn't believe that we physically needed each other so much? Like, and I still I I guess maybe because I'm thinking about like parenting too, right? Like, we're so isolated and have bought the lie that like your job is to raise your kids, and we don't always live near our families anymore. Like the the I like there's a real tangible material, like physical part to this that I think it the all can start to break apart when either when when our relationships change physically, right? Like we don't live near one another or we don't need one another because we do have more wealth. So, like, well, I can buy a lawnmower and you can buy a lawnmower. A matter of the fact that we're right next door to each other, we don't need we don't need two lawnmowers, but we can. So why why not? Right, right, right. So, like we're I just think we're we've we've bought into something that looks very different from this because we can, you know, and these people could not. They could not, there was nothing else to buy into. So I I'm with what I don't want to lose the yeah, the material, physical nature of this. And I don't think it's done any of us a lot of good to, I mean, just back to parenting. I think parents feel so isolated and so overwhelmed um because we've bought into something that says this is your job and you do this and you don't, it's your responsibility. That's not the way the world has worked for most of the world. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

In the in the last week and a half, I was surprised that I had two conversations with two different people about the number of people who are out there right now who out there in the world beyond the church's doors and fellowship because they've been wounded by the church. And to me, as somebody who's been in the church forever, I feel like I need to be willing to face that part of it because it's it's my home, it's my people, it's my family. I can criticize my family, that kind of thing. Um, and and to bring that up, people do get wounded by the church. And and what they get wounded by is not the spirit's church. They get wounded by the people in the church, or how people, how we tend to always sort of circle around authority or circle around money, or wherever we find some kind of strength that isn't true strength, that the real strength is in the spirit. And so to me, that's where the hope is. The spirit can create this kind of community, and we have to surrender to it, um, which is so hard. Like, I'm not even sure I know how to do that fully. Um, but I think that that is the call, and and to believe that the spirit can do that.

SPEAKER_05 14:59

Yeah. There, there's there's like it yeah, but it's not only like I think that's right on, and like this is obviously right after Pentecost, this passage, but like we can't just sit on our hands waiting for the spirit. No. Uh, and so it's like in uh in chapter one of Acts, where like Jesus ascends and they're just staying there open mouthed.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

And the angels Jesus ascends.

SPEAKER_05 15:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

I heard Jesus has sinned. Just clarifying. Jesus ascends.

SPEAKER_05 15:32

Uh yeah, that's my uh Florida strange accent. Um but the uh the angels show up and they're like, what are y'all doing? Get to work.

SPEAKER_04 15:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:42

And so like I think it's a give and take. It's like we have to open ourselves to the transformative power of the Holy Spirit, uh, and in that hope, uh, be emboldened to get to work.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:53

And and I think drawing back into the text, part of that is like, I don't think we need to read this and be guilty. Um, but we need to be like questioning where we're putting our priorities. Because I think as American Christians, yeah, we really don't like the Jesus that's yelling at us about wealth. Like, I've heard people exegete the heck out of trying to get um something different. Um, you know, it's easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Yeah. Just like the most bonkers interpretations. Uh but like that's because I think deep down inside, we know uh it's like Tilek talks about your ultimate concern. And like, you know, the hope is that God is your ultimate concern, but like so often, um, private property, wealth, right, these things are.

SPEAKER_06 16:52

Yeah, I was thinking about you know why do we read this not as good news, but as a threat? And then I thought, wouldn't it be interesting that on Christmas Eve we take the Bible down and we read this text and say this is what happens when Jesus shows up.

SPEAKER_05 17:08

I love that actually. Yeah, and like that that's which could get us to Good Friday pretty quick. Well, that's like the call of the disciples.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_05 17:16

It's not comfortable. They they literally leave everything. Right. And like the call of Christ should be like a challenge. Uh it shouldn't be easy, and it shouldn't be something that we just get to do when we decide. Right. Uh no, I'm not saying, you know, I'm doing this, I'm not. But I'm I'm attempting, I'm trying. Uh, and I think every day that's like the work of the church uh is is to wrestle with these kind of passages.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

Day by day.

SPEAKER_05 17:45

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

It's in the text, day by day.

unknown 17:51

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

But I'm gonna like, you know, a little bit, I I mean, I kind of interpret that, you know, just a little bit at a time. Yes, you know, like the next right thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

And also to be willing, I think in our again, not to generalize, but in a community like ours, to really understand that we aren't the call, isn't just that we have and need to be willing to give. Like we also to be willing to wrestle with, like, no, what in what ways are we needy? And what do we need from others who have what we don't? Right. This can, I think this can easily turn into like a you know, so then go out and be what everyone else needs because you have all the things people need, but we're pretty needy.

SPEAKER_06 18:39

I think I've been clear about that for me.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

So what needs do I have that someone else is you know equipped to share with me because I I need things too.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

I was just gonna say, I think it's also about trust. I mean, this is the Holy Spirit moving, it's leaning into trusting in God because we hold on to our material things because we think we're going to need them to take care of ourselves. And the spirit says, come together, you have plenty. And I and the spirit is here, just as Jesus promised. Um, and so there's trust in trust in the Lord in that, and then ultimately can help to make us trustworthy. As we trust in the Lord, we become people who can be trusted.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

It's like the the quail in manna, right? Like they like, do you trust that that there will be enough, or do you not? Well, it's gonna spoil.

SPEAKER_05 19:56

Well, you know, yeah, and it's like whose is it? It's God's. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Yes, right.

SPEAKER_05 20:02

The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Right.

SPEAKER_05 20:04

Uh there's a there's the another verse from the songs uh in 104, the like creation song, and it says the young lions roar uh seeking their food from God. I love that passage. It's just like all this is God's. And I think that's what this the Acts passage is, is like the the idea of like this is mine and that's yours, is just like a bonkers, um, a bonkers way that we separate ourselves, and like the church is being called through the spirit to recognize uh the abundance of God and that all is God's. Right? Like actually, uh the wealthy people alongside, you know, like servants. Um, and so you know, the the divisions that we create, whether that's like identity or property, um, or just being exploded by the spirit.

SPEAKER_03 21:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:08

And linguistic, right? Like that's uh that's the Pentecost.

SPEAKER_06 21:14

When you talk about people being hurt by the church, is there are people who are legitimately hurt by the church. But I s I I I get frustrated with people who get hurt by the church because it's not the church that they want.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Oh, that's not what I mean to be talking about the both.

SPEAKER_06 21:36

No, yeah, yeah, I know. But it's like, you know, if anyone has need, and you know, there the neediness of the church to be, you know, I want my church to be this and I want my church to be that. And it's like, no, you in order for that to happen, we need you to let go and let this other part also flourish.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Come alongside of us and let's let go more time. Together, right? Maybe.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

There's a like, yeah, being willing to give the to give up something. When we were in seminary, Will and Sarah, do y'all remember when the superstorm or hurricane Sandy came through? Yeah. So we were out of power for a week. And I remember at some point thinking, like, why there was a sense of like it was kind of like so restful and almost joyful. And I realized, like, I I couldn't just take a week off, but we were all forced to take a week off. So there was this sense of like no one was getting ahead. And so there I do think there's a little bit of that too. Like, if I if I like give up something, or if I scale back or off something, or if I share something, well, if everyone else isn't doing that too. Right. But if I'm falling behind, whether it's, you know, financially or well, maybe most financially, and everyone, because everybody else keeps going. So that trust piece of like we all have to be in this together. Um, I just remember feeling that so clearly, like, oh, no one's writing papers, no one's working towards a better grade than me. None of us can do anything right now. And like the the freedom in that, so I think about that too, how we have to be willing to give up. And I think it's either maybe Barbara Taylor, uh, maybe Barbara Brown Taylor that talks about this. Um like, but if I because you're talking about Sabbath, actually, that's what it is. If I stop, but everybody else keeps going, like there has to be a trust that, like, if I if we're all giving up something for the sake of all of us, then we all move forward, we're all better together. But do we have that trust?

SPEAKER_02 24:03

Isn't and I mean that's why there's some of the commands in like Leviticus where it's like if someone even so much as picks up a stick on the Sabbath, you should stone them. And I'm like, oh my word. But it's because of that, like that's the underlying thing, right? Like we are all agreeing not to do anything. Like it is a communal practice. Um, and that's what makes this so scary, is because you can't control is your neighbor gonna stop too? Okay, what does that mean? Who's gonna who's gonna get ahead or who's gonna Yeah, it runs counter to the human condition.

SPEAKER_06 24:36

We are built for survival, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Yeah, yeah. That's a good point. I like that.

SPEAKER_05 24:42

Yeah, but like in here they were social beings. You can't survive. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_03 24:49

I'm just gonna say that's survivor.

SPEAKER_05 24:51

I don't I don't think that's true though. Like if you if you look if you look historically, like the reason humans flourished and Neanderthals didn't is because humans are more socially oriented than the Anderthals were. And like that's how we built empires and all the other stuff we've done and created something is like in spite of ourselves we're communal.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

But now we're so fiercely independent, is like the the idol, right? Like, I want to do it. But the marker of success.

SPEAKER_05 25:18

But it's a lie. It's a lie, it's such BS. Like, no one can survive on their own.

SPEAKER_03 25:24

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:24

You are so dependent on so many people to live your individualistic life. Yeah, right. And so, like, I I do think we are hyper-individualists, but like underneath that is like the reality that we are intimately connected to to literally thousands, if not millions, of people.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

Well, and has I mean, that's just that's the create, you know, God creates humans and God's image, and God is in community.

SPEAKER_04 25:50

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Yeah, there never was not community, yeah. Not communion with God, and then we come out of that. How do we how has it gone so so wrong? I remember when Jake and I got married and moved to Princeton. I felt so grown that we were starting our marriage, not like under the wing of his family or my family. And then we had children, and I was like, we are idiots.

SPEAKER_03 26:15

Like, what?

SPEAKER_05 26:16

To have kids, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

To have kids away from family, no Mia and Molly.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

No, Mia and Molly. If you're listening to this, we are so grateful for you. Mia and Molly listen every week.

SPEAKER_05 26:30

Um sorry.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

Um, but just like our families are in on opposite coasts, yeah, and that has to become so clear to us. Where did we buy the lie? Right. Right that you're grown when you're doing it alone.

SPEAKER_05 26:51

Well, also like that that's just like how society is structured now. Like, you know, you get a job and you have to move.

SPEAKER_06 26:58

And so um bury these kids and they move off and never visit you and never talk to you. Well, I'm sorry. Will you got a prayer for us? Sure.

SPEAKER_05 27:14

All right. Gracious, holy, loving God, and give you thanks for this church and this community you have made in Nashville. Give you thanks for the um ability and the choice to choose it over and over again. And we ask that your Holy Spirit be present uh in all that we do, um, both as a community but as individuals, and that we may be constantly challenged by your gospel to live deeper lives of the community we know through Jesus and through the Trinity. We ask this all in Christ's name. Amen.