The Sharing Society

Bartering, car-sharing, bicycle-sharing, Uber and Lyft, the Lending Club. These are all signs that people are trying to share resources today.

What would you call a group of people who share their cars, their clothes, their couches and their computers?

Communists?

Well, maybe. But not necessarily.

They might be Christians.

The book of Acts tells us that "the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common" (v. 32). In first-century Jerusalem, the members of the church shared what they had with each other.

They were trying to build a sharing society.

Unfortunately, we don't have many positive examples of common ownership. Communism around the world has been a disaster. On one occasion during the days of the Soviet regime, an American, a Czech and a Soviet agreed to meet. The Czech was late.

"Sorry for being so late," said the Czech. "I was waiting in line to buy some meat."

The American asked, "What is a line?"

The Soviet asked, "What is meat?"

So communism didn't work for the Soviets or the Czechs. Even the People's...