(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but are fashioned to consider some answers to the fundamental questions Law and Gospel preachers have about how the Word functions. See my brief guide to Law and Gospel preaching, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, to learn more about this genre of preaching. It is available at wipfandstock.com or amazon.)
1. How does the Word function in the text? This text is pure testimony, lifting up the results of what had been mentioned in 4:31b: "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness." Because the church was filled with the Holy Spirit, they were lifted out of their self-centeredness and given the ability to live generously with one another. This could be seen as a Gospel function, celebrating the good news of what God's power does, or as a Law function, showing us how far we fall short of this ideal.
2. How is the Word not functioning in the text? Nothing is explicit here. There is no clear Gospel word about what God has done for us in Christ, nor is there a clear word of Law, showing us our need for Christ.
3. With whom are you identifying in the text? We are the ones receiving this testimony. Perhaps it inspires us, or maybe it shames us. In any case, the Word is bearing witness to the power of the Spirit in the Body of Christ.
4. What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text? This entire text could be approached as a call to obedience, as every community of God's people is called to emulate this community. We must pray that the Holy Spirit might descend on our community of faith as it did on this one, and empower us to live generously.
5. What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text? We might try using some of the terminology in the text to come up with couplets here. Some ideas: needy/filled; looking after self/looking after others; life of death/life of resurrection.
6. Exegesis: One notices immediately in the Greek text the difference between two types of living: idios and koinos, translated as "calling something one's own" and "holding all things in common." In this early Christian community clearly koinos prevailed. How this came about is universally understood as the work of the Spirit. Note Augustine's words: "For... the love that God puts in people makes one heart of many hearts and makes the many souls of people into one soul..." (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT, vol. V, p. 56) Cyprian, a hundred years before Augustine, said that living in the way of koinos is to truly show one's new birth in Christ: "This is truly to become a son of God by spiritual birth. This is to imitate the equity of God by the heavenly law." (Ibid., p. 57) William Willimon, in his contemporary commentary, is even more specific, saying that such living is "evidence for the truthfulness of the resurrection." He continues: "The most eloquent testimony to the reality of the resurrection is not an empty tomb or a well-orchestrated pageant on Easter Sunday but rather a group of people whose life together is so radically different, so completely changed from the way the world builds community, that there can be no explanation other than that something decisive has happened in history." (Interpretation series, Acts, p. 51)
7. Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic? Charles Rice urged preachers to help listeners recognize their shared story in the text. It might be worth considering helping our listeners recognize when the Spirit has worked in their lives to lead them to generous living, and then to consider those obstacles to such continuing.
Blessings on your proclamation!
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