The Heart of the Problem

The scriptures referred to are Acts 4:32-35and 1 John 1:1-2:2.

A professor of mine once called Marxism a Christian heresy. That is, Karl Marx, who was raised as a Lutheran, proposed an economic system that highly resembles what we read in today's passage from Acts. “The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common. With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. For there was no one needy among them, because those who were owners of land or houses were selling them and bringing the proceeds from the sales and placing them at the apostles' feet. The proceeds were distributed to each, as anyone had need.” And this is mirrored in a principle of Marxism that the production and distribution of goods and services should come “from each according to his ability” and should go “to each according to his needs.” It sounds great! And it seems to be in accord with scripture.

The problem is that Marx thought religion got in the way of his economic system, eventually called Communism. He wrote, “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” In other words, religion numbs people to their suffering and pain in a world where the rich and powerful oppress the poor and prevents them from doing anything about injustice. Marx goes one to say, “The abolition of religion as the illusionary happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions.” That is, religion is essentially about nice dreams. People need to wake up from those dreams, face reality and make their own happiness.

But did you see the contradiction in Marx's thought? He said just a few sentences before that religion is “the heart of a heartless world.” He wants people to give up the heart and soul and yet somehow make the resulting heartless and soulless world into a “workers' paradise.” But how did the early church accomplish what Marx was aiming for? Through their faith in Jesus Christ, the embodiment of the God who is love. Without that faith and love how were people to come up with the paradise Marx wanted? He desired the results of faith and love without the object of that faith and the source of that love. That's like trying to get all the benefits of our sun—light and warmth and energy—but without the sun itself. Marx wanted the Christian ideal of a generous and selfless society without Christ being involved. That's the heresy.

And how did these Communist and officially atheist nations do? Matthew White in his book Atrocities: The 100 Deadliest Episodes in Human History, found that in 1 century of existence Communism killed 20 million more people than all the religious conflicts in 25 centuries of history. He writes, “A friend once wondered aloud how much suffering in history has been caused by religious fanaticism, and I was able to confidently tell her 10 percent...” So if anything, it looks like religion is more often a restraint on most human suffering than its cause. And it means the other 90% of human suffering was caused by things other than religion. Things like human nature. Under Marx's system, put into practice in places like Russia, China, Cambodia, and North Korea, more people suffered, through political persecution, through starvation and through giving people, like Stalin, Mao, Kim Il Sung and his successors, power unchecked by the consideration that there is a God whom they ought to emulate and to whom they must one day answer. The reality is not simply that religion makes people tolerate injustice and oppression and so they must reject it. The reality is that when you give humans god-like authority, they will abuse it, whether they do so in the name of religion or of secular ideologies or for their own glory and benefit.

Communism and other utopian systems may look good on paper but as we see daily in the news, human nature can make even a good system function badly. People can exploit any economic or governmental or organizational system. We put too much faith in systems and ignore the human factor. Or as scripture calls it, sin.

Why didn't the communal sharing of goods and property that we see in our passage from Acts continue? Because of sin. In the very next chapter of Acts we see a husband and wife pretend to do what others have done. Ananias and Sapphira sell a piece of property and hold back some of the proceeds before giving the rest to the apostles to distribute. It wasn't the holding back that was the problem. As Peter says, “Before it was sold, did it not belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God.” (Acts 5:4) In other words, Ananias was free to do what he liked with the proceeds. His sin was in lying about how much he had given to God. He wanted to keep some of his money for himself but he wanted to look like he was giving it all away to the people who needed it.

That's probably why this remarkable type of sharing among the first Christians came to an end. Selfish and self-serving motivations meant that the way Christian generosity was expressed had to be changed. When Paul urged the Gentile churches to help the poor Christians in Jerusalem, he said that this shouldn't be “something you feel forced to do.” (2 Corinthians 9:5) Instead he says, “Each one of you should give just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corithinans 9:7) It had to be voluntary. Those who had more should, of course, give more than those who are poor. But even today, we see that poor churches tend to be more generous than rich churches. Probably because poor churches feel the needs of the poor more strongly.

People who come up with utopian ideas often forget about human sin. For instance, after the first World War, Germany became a democracy. Hitler was mocked as a buffoon but the right wing thought they could control him. Despite not getting the majority of votes, he put together a coalition of smaller parties that got him just enough support to be named Chancellor. After he got power legitimately he used martial law to abolish democracy. The people who set up Germany's democracy did not foresee how a really unscrupulous elected official could exploit the loopholes in their system because they did not allow for human sin.

The Boy Scouts of America has been a highly respected organization for most of its 114 years. Its mission is to “prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.” But as we've seen, men who were more interested in satisfying their own desires than in helping boys become better citizens joined it and damaged both the lives of children and also the organization so badly that it had to go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy because of the sexual abuse lawsuits.

And of course the church has similarly been infiltrated by people who are more interested in benefiting themselves than in denying themselves, taking up their crosses and following Jesus. Christ foresaw this. He said, “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.” (Matthew 7:15)

We are all sinners, including the guy in the funny collar saying this. We need to recognize this or we will keep falling short of what God wants us to become. That's why our passage from 1 John warns us that “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” When we put our trust in Jesus we have been saved from the penalty of sin. But the power of sin can still bedevil us if we do not continue to trust him and take up our cross daily and follow him. When the doctors finished the 6 surgeries on me after my car accident, I was saved from dying. But in order to take advantage of the life I now had after all they had done in putting me back together, I had to go through the process of following their orders and doing physical therapy, however painful. Our life as Christians is like that. On the cross Jesus made eternal life possible. But if we want to get the benefits of what he did, if we want to walk with Jesus, we have to follow the Great Physician's orders. Only when Jesus returns, will we be saved from the very presence of sin.

1 John says, “But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.” A real Christian will, from time to time, do a spiritual self-examination and see how they are doing in following Jesus. When they see that they are not behaving like Jesus—being unforgiving, unkind, envious, unfaithful, unloving, easily angered, etc—they will stop and ask God for forgiveness. One sign that someone who claims to be a Christian really isn't is if they never admit that they are wrong or have sinned or that they need to ask forgiveness. That's a sign of arrogance, of feeling you can do it all without any help, including God's. The humble person knows he can be and at times is wrong and that he needs God's grace to be a follower of Jesus.

So real Christians course-correct their walk with Jesus. But what do we do about those wolves in sheeps clothing? Jesus said, by their fruit—by what they produce—you will know them. (Matthew 7:16) And Paul gives us a good rundown of the works that people just following their unredeemed human nature produce: “sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murders, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things.” (Galatians 5:19-21) So not only are they letting their desires and actions run riot and so mess up their personal lives, they are causing problems for others, too. And even if they seem to be doing spectacular things for Christ, remember what he said: “On that day, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!'” (Matthew 7:22-23)

What do we do about them? Well, we don't ignore them. Jesus said, “I am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:6) There are people in churches that don't seem to like any decision the leadership makes and are called by my colleagues “clergy killers.” That is, they can stir up discontent and make the atmosphere in a church so toxic that eventually the clergy either quit or are dismissed. But most church people are too polite to stop these folks from causing the church to divide on issues that are not essential to the faith. I saw two women in my church get into a very nasty argument over the reimbursement of stamps! Both left the church. I was only able to get one to return.

Jesus outlines a method for dealing with people who sin. He says to start by going to the person and talking with them when the two of you are alone. If that doesn't work, bring one or two other people and try again. If that doesn't work, then, and only then, should you bring it before the church. (Matthew 18:15-17) Unfortunately most people start with the second or third step and talk about the person with others first. And please note that this is about a person sinning, not merely offending you. People ignore that part as well, instead making issues out of perceived political or theological opinions or out of someone's personality rather than about actual sins.

But if the person repents of a sin, we are to forgive them. Remember asking for forgiveness requires acknowledging the wrong you've done and humbling yourself. If a person can do that they are truly seeking to follow Jesus. And Jesus wants us to be very forgiving. (Matthew 18:21-22) If we want God to forgive us, we must forgive others from the heart. (Matthew 18:23-35)

The heart of all our problems is not that we need perfect systems or more and more laws or stricter punishments. The heart of our problems is found in our hearts. The reason why God decided to reboot humanity with Noah was that he saw that “Every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil all the time.” (Genesis 6:5) Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) Jesus said, “For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.” (Mark 7:21)

Just like a person with terminal heart failure must turn to a doctor to receive a heart transplant, we must turn to God when our hearts are bad. He says in Ezekiel, “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26) God tells Jeremiah that he will make a new covenant with his people, and the difference from the old covenant is “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts.” (Jeremiah 31:33)

Systems and laws can always be improved but until we change our hearts they will be vulnerable to being exploited and corrupted. We must say to God as David did in his great penitential psalm, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me...Certainly you do not want a sacrifice, or else I would offer it; you do not desire a burnt sacrifice. The sacrifices God desires are a humble spirit. O God, a humble and repentant heart you will not reject.” (Psalm 51:10, 16-17) Unless we start there, we will never get to the heart of the problem.