No Needy Among Them
Download MP3So if you would turn in your bibles to acts chapter 4. We've been working our way through acts. According to the bulletin, this is week 13 And we'll be begin reading next 4 verse 32. Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul. And no one said that any of the things that belong to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
Joel Brooks:And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And a great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them. For as many were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostle's feet. And it was distributed to each as any had need.
Joel Brooks:Pray with me. God, we ask that you would speak clearly to us tonight, that you would speak with power and authority, that your word would go forth like a hammer shattering a rock, That the stubbornness in our hearts, Lord, would melt away in light of your glory and your grace. Lord, nobody needs to hear from me. We need to hear from you tonight. And so I pray that my words would fall to the ground, blow away, and not be remembered anymore.
Joel Brooks:But Lord, may your words change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. As I mentioned, the message tonight is gonna be a little bit shorter than normal. But please don't think I can't stress this enough.
Joel Brooks:Please don't think that means that the the words I'm gonna say are not important because they're of huge importance in the book of Acts. Verse 33, if you look real quick, verse 33 says, and with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And that's pretty much what the the theme of Acts is about, giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And they were doing this with great power. Now it's not any coincidence to look at the verse before and the verse after that.
Joel Brooks:Look, before it says this, says now the full number of those who believe were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belong to him was his own, but they had everything in common. Then verse 33 tells about their powerful testimony to the resurrection Lord Jesus. And in verse 34 says, there was not a needy person among them for as many were that were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the Apostle's feet. And so you have in verse 32, this statement about giving. The church was a very generous church, and there was powerful testimony about the resurrection of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:And the church was a very generous church. You can see just right in how Luke even puts about the power of the testimony, and how he sandwiches it between those two statements about the generosity of the church, that those two things are very important when it comes to our testimony of the resurrection of Jesus. What we do with our money, what we do with our possessions is a testimony and can be a powerful testimony to the world. In Luke chapter 12, Jesus was asked to settle a dispute between 2 brothers. They were fighting over their father's inheritance, And so one of the brothers came to Jesus and said, Jesus, you decide this for us.
Joel Brooks:Jesus said, that's that's not what I came here to do. I didn't come here to settle a dispute between you 2. But then he says this to both of them. Says, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.
Joel Brooks:Now, when Jesus talks about this, when he, when he talks about covetousness or, or greed, it reveals to us 2 things about being greedy. Two things about the nature of greed in his statement there when he says, Take care and be on guard against it. One, he's saying that greed is dangerous. It's coming after. You have to be on guard.
Joel Brooks:You have to watch out. You don't have to watch out for what is life giving. But this is something that comes to destroy you, and so you need to you need to watch out for it. 2nd, thing he reveals about the nature of greediness is that it's very hard to see. Very hard to see that you only have to be, to be on guard or to watch out against something if it is hidden.
Joel Brooks:Not if it's an overt attack, but if it's going to come through a backdoor, if you're not really going to be able to see it coming at you. So you have to watch out. You have to guard yourself. And this makes greed different than many other sins. Nowhere in scripture are you going to find Jesus saying, take care, Watch out for murder.
Joel Brooks:Take care. Watch out for adultery. Take care. Watch out for stealing. He doesn't say those things, and it's not because those aren't bad sins.
Joel Brooks:It's because those sins are overt though. You know, nobody's just kind of walking on. We're like, wow. I just committed adultery. Didn't even didn't even see that happening.
Joel Brooks:You know, you you know it when you're committing it, you know when you're stealing, you know when you're murdering. You see those things, but greed is different because part of the condition of greed is a blindness to it. We don't see it in our own lives. We have to we have to take care, we have to put guards out, we have to watch out for this greediness coming in. It's stealthy.
Joel Brooks:It preys on us without us even knowing it's there. And so unlike other sins that we know about in our lives, we very well might be greedy people, and not have a clue. I've, I've been a pastor now, I guess for 13, 14 years. I have never once had anyone ever come to me and confess that they were greedy. Ever.
Joel Brooks:I've never had anybody come into my office, and I have heard I have thought just about every confession that you can confess, but I've never had one person say, you know what, I'm a greedy person. Because it's not even on people's radar. That that that they're greedy because you can so easily point to others who are. People richer than you. People who spend money just, you know, on ridiculous things.
Joel Brooks:They're greedy, not me. And we don't see the danger within us. And it doesn't matter how rich you are. Your wealth has nothing to do with whether you're greedy or not. Some of the most poor people I know are the most greedy because their thoughts about money, their thoughts about possessions, consume them.
Joel Brooks:So it doesn't matter if you're wealthy, greediness can be part of your heart. Now, one of the things that marked the early church was a total absence of greed. These early Christians were incredibly generous with one another. This is not one of them. They, they considered any of their possessions as belonging to them.
Joel Brooks:If someone was needy, they they sold their possessions, sold some property, sold their homes to take care of the poor. We're we're not talking here when we read this about the wealthy giving up, you know, their beach home. That's not what's happening here, because we know in some of Paul's letters, Paul will actually have to take up collections. He'll have to actually take up an offering to give to these people later, because they're so poor. So these are poor people selling homes, selling possessions so they could give even more than they're currently giving.
Joel Brooks:When we read this, at least to me, it seems incredible that anyone, would actually do this. And seriously, can you imagine people selling their homes today? Somebody selling their home to give to the poor. Let's be honest. I've had to be honest as I've been looking at this.
Joel Brooks:I would think most of us would have a hard time giving up cable TV. Giving up maybe going out one time a month so we could give more to the poor. That's not it's not a blast. That's not a judgment. It's just saying that we need to look at our hearts and what we struggle with and is there greediness in here?
Joel Brooks:So much we we think, we can't afford to do that and what we really mean is, I can't afford to do that and still keep the lifestyle that I want. That's, that's what we're really saying. Unlike these people who chose their lifestyle, not based on how their peers lived, but based on the needs around them that dictated how they live. And for Luke, this is not a side issue. This isn't just, you know, Hey, here's a little interesting detail.
Joel Brooks:Let me tell you about the early church. They were really generous. Not at all, but for Luke this was central to God's work in the early church. He already mentioned it in Acts chapter 2. He already told how they've, they were, they were selling things, that they were, they shared all things in common.
Joel Brooks:So he's already mentioned that in 2. And then in chapter 2 it also said, and there was many mighty miracles were being worked among them. And then here you see the same thing, this radical generosity, and once again, great power given to their testimony. And so you see the testimony of the early church, God working in power as linked to the generosity of the early church. When Christians give generously, God moves in power.
Joel Brooks:Powerful testimony follows radical generosity. And one of the reasons why is because the world sees that you're putting your money where your mouth is. You're actually doing it and so they listen to your words. So how how is this all possible? You know, why could the church be so generous with one another?
Joel Brooks:You you have to read this text in light of what we looked at last week, and in light of what happened earlier in chapter 4, that magnificent prayer that the early church prayed. So so if you if you go back to verse 24, when they lift their voices together, you you hear what they pray. They pray, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and everything in them. And so in their earlier prayer, they just declared, God, you've made everything. Everything is in your control.
Joel Brooks:Even Harrod and Pilot did exactly what you wished for them to do. You're in control of all. You're in control of all. And it says that after they declared this, they prayed for boldness and then God shook the room and God gave them boldness. And that boldness is not only necessary to speak, it was necessary to live the way they lived.
Joel Brooks:I mean, one of the things that really keeps us from being generous people is we're just scared. Honestly, we're scared. What what would what would happen if I just started giving some of my money? Wait, you're scared. So you've got to have this great understanding of God's sovereignty.
Joel Brooks:You got to pray for God's boldness. And when you're gripped by those things, then yes, you can start to give. You know, the reality in my life is as I'm I'm studying this, I just ask myself the question, what makes me feel better about next week? Just next week. Is it the money that I have in the bank Or is it that I worship a sovereign God?
Joel Brooks:What makes me feel better about next week? Man, it hurt to ask that question. These early Christians declare that God is the one who's in control of their life. And let me tell you what that is medicine for the greedy heart to declare that. In declaring God's sovereignty, they're declaring that God made everything.
Joel Brooks:And they're declaring that everything is ultimately God's. When they when they say that God made the heaven, God made the earth, God made the sea, and everything in them, that means that God made pretty much everything. He made everything from nations to the $20 that's in your wallet. All those things he owns, because he is a creator. And what happens is when we understand that God owns everything, we can never close our hand around it because it's not ours, it's God's.
Joel Brooks:And so every one of our possessions we hold very loosely with an open hand. One of the best illustrations that I read about this was from a man named Juan Carlos Ortiz. He wrote a book called A Handbook for New Believers. And in this book, he was telling how he and other pastors started preaching the gospel in a place where Christ was not known. And the gospel just hit.
Joel Brooks:I mean, and we're in power and people were converted. And then he said he was so surprised that members of their congregation brought to them the titles of their homes. And they they they said, here, here's the title to my home. Here's the title to my car. Here's all the money I could give, and people people kept giving this.
Joel Brooks:And so they had all these titles of homes, had all these titles of people's cars, and they didn't know what to do with it. They prayed for 6 months, Ortiz said. He goes, they just prayed and they prayed. And after 6 months they decided to give it all back. And this is what he, he said, Said, the Lord showed us that he does not want empty houses.
Joel Brooks:He wants a house with you instead taking care of it. He wants everything to be ready for him. He wants you, he wants your car with you as his driver. And so we're giving your titles back to you, but just remember it still all belongs to him. And that is just such a great perspective on possessions.
Joel Brooks:God very well might tell you to sell, give, Or you very well might might say, no, the car you keep because I'm gonna need a driver. Okay? And I'm gonna need you to use that car for my glory. Your home, your bed, keep because I have people who might be in need of that at some point. And so I want you to use it for my glory.
Joel Brooks:And so the key is that we hold all of these possessions, we see them as they're the Lord's, and we just hold them openly. So use however you see fit. Everything we have is the Lord's. From the car he has given us, to the bed we sleep in, to the car we drive, to the home we live in. And so when when I look out at a church our size, and our wealth, we are a wealthy church.
Joel Brooks:We are a wealthy church because when I look out, I see all these homes. I see all of these cars. I see all of these gifts that we have. And you just think of all of those things we held freely and we used for his kingdom. Now we don't live this way out of guilt.
Joel Brooks:Man, it would be great. I could put, you know, slide show up here, you know, just show some really starving children. I could lay it on thick, you know, collect an offering afterwards, and just, I guilt is a good motivator, you know, it works. You know, if if you can actually hold a person's attention, you know, and and lay it on thick, people are going to give. But nowhere are you gonna find a scripture that God loves a guilty giver, As if God just needs your money.
Joel Brooks:That God's up there is like, I'm broke. You know, I don't I don't care how I get it. I just gotta get it. I'll manipulate people out of it. I'll guilt them out of it.
Joel Brooks:You know, whatever works. I just need to get people's money. God's not up there as if he needs your money, but he's allowing you to worship him. We don't give out of guilt, we give, because we have generous hearts. Cheerfully, we give.
Joel Brooks:We give out of joy to our king. We recognize, that in the gospel, our King Jesus, our Lord Jesus became poor on our behalf. We hear this Corinthians 8, when it says for, you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich yet for your sake, he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich. So it's not guilt that motivates us. We we're so moved by his love.
Joel Brooks:It transforms us. And he could go through through all of Paul's letters, and so many times when Paul could lay it on thick, and he could just say, husbands, love your wives. Treat them with respect and dignity. He doesn't just command them. He says, Husbands, love your wives because of the gospel as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
Joel Brooks:And so, and gave himself up for her. And every time when Paul could just give a command, he doesn't just give a command. He says, you're supposed to do this. Why? Because look at Jesus.
Joel Brooks:The Corinthians are getting drunk at communion. If ever there's a time you could just blast it to people, as a pastor, I think I have license to blast it to you guys if you are getting drunk during communion. Paul doesn't blast them. He says, hey, you know what? Remember Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Remember the gospel. Jesus made himself a servant. And he served us, and we ought to serve one another. And he always pointed to the gospel as our motivator, and not as guilt because the gospel is the only thing that produces lasting change in us. And when we realize the poverty that Christ took on, in order that we might be rich, in order that we might someday be resurrected from the dead, and enjoy life eternal with him, when we realize that we become very generous people.
Joel Brooks:Some questions before we partake in communion that celebrates this gospel. Questions to think about tonight and this week. Is my lifestyle dictated by how my peers live or by the need of others? Does fear control the way that I give, or does the sovereignty of God? Have I, at any point, consciously laid everything down at the feet of my King and joyfully said, it's all yours.' How can I be more generous this week?
Joel Brooks:I heard a pastor talk on this one time and somebody's like, just so what are you saying? I mean, how much more should we give? Give me a number. Tell me. He goes, you wanna know how much you should give?
Joel Brooks:More. Because how about that? Let's just start there. Give more. Whether that's withholding from that one meal, so you can give just a few dollars more.
Joel Brooks:So you can give joyfully and cheerfully as an act of worship to our Lord. We, we want to pray, how can we do that?
