Faith that binds us together in love

Introduction

Good morning LaFayette Baptist Family. It is great to be here with you all this Lord’s day morning. What a wonderful and treasured time this is together, getting to sing Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs together and learn from the Word together. Please go ahead and get out your Bible’s Our scripture today will be book of Acts , specifically from Acts 4:32-37. Acts 4:32-37, please go ahead and turn there in your Bible’s. As usual, the scripture will be on the screen for us in a few moments, but please have it open so that you can follow along.

So, this week Emily and I have been (and admittedly we have been for a long time) interested in fruit trees and watching lots of videos about them, dreaming about ones we would love to have; at our old house we had a few but have never gotten around to having any yet. This isn’t a new practice, but there is this thing you can do to trees that’s called grafting. Anyone ever heard of it? This is where you take a tree (and it has to be a tree with a similar type of fruit, like citrus trees need to have citrus grafts and stone fruit need other stone fruits) and you put a branch of another fruit onto it and the tree accepts it. For example, You have a lemon tree, but you can add a branch of limes onto the tree by grafting it on and wallah, you have a lemon and lime tree. This of course is a process that takes a bit of care, because the branches need to be cut a certain kind of way and go in a certain way and then a length of protective tape is wrapped around where you essentially shove a stick wedge into a branch from the tree. Great care is needed and invested into the binding and the tape, because you don’t want either the tree or new branch to dry out, get wet from the rain, or have harmful insects come in and damage the graft. With a little bit of time, and if done well, after just a few weeks the tree takes on the branch and it becomes a part of the tree. The tree nourishes it, and the branch that you added, the lime branch, will give limes, even though it is attached to a lemon tree.

This makes me think a lot about how The Church is and how our faith is. You see, we are all different, everyone’s a different person, with different gifts and different thoughts and ways they see things. Doesn’t mean one is necessarily more right or wrong than the others (but their can be right and wrong ways to see things) but that we see and think differently. When we become a believer, we are like a branch that is grafted into God’s family. We are attached and are inseparable from Jesus and we all have something to offer as the lime branch does to the lemon tree. This is because we have a Faith that binds us together in love; which is our sermon title for today.

Scripture

If you would all please rise for the reading of God’s Word today. The words to the scripture will be on the screen, please read along with me as we are reading. When I am done I will say “this is The Word of The Lord” if you will all please respond with “Thanks be to God.” Let’s Practice that for a second. First, let’s pray.

Father God, we come before You this day, as your Children, as your servants, as a group of people that are gathered for the purpose of honoring You and making You known to others. We ask this day Father, as we are here in this place of refinement and equipping Father, that You do just that to us. Refine and Equip us with You Word. We know that you Word is truth, and we thank You for that Word. We ask that help us to understand and know and apply whatever is that You are going to show us this week about Yourself and about Ourselves. Make us to hear Your message, Your word and not just believe it intellectually, but Love it in our hearts and souls. We ask during this time together, that You also take away any distraction that we may have, be it physically or mentally because we want to see and we want to know You more. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

32 Now the entire group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common. 33 With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them. 34 For there was not a needy person among them because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of what was sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet. This was then distributed to each person as any had need.36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus by birth, the one the apostles called Barnabas (which is translated Son of Encouragement), 37 sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Context

With the arrest of John and Peter for healing the paralytic man in their rearview mirror, or so they thought…. One thing is clear. Even in the face of threat, hurt, and persecution, the message of Jesus Christ and the church must go on. As it goes for us today. In today’s scripture section, we can see that a change is coming, something is about to happen. To this point, we have seen The Church grow exponentially and God the Holy Spirit being clearly seen and perceived at work. Now, this chapter ends with a sort of cap-end, a foreshadowing of things that are to come, so remember this in the week’s to come, remember these texts.

You know, it seems to me that every time we see that The Church was together in one accord, that a mighty work of God was to follow. Remember how they were and this was mentioned twice in Acts 2. Remember what happened in Acts 2? The day of Pentecost, where God the Holy Spirit came down and dwelled in the believers, as He does with us today, and they went out and spoke in languages that they didn’t even know or understand, but the audience did! So, they were doing what, they were witnessing about God, they were sharing about Jesus to everyone. Notice that theme, notice this missional theme all through Acts and for that matter all throughout the bible. When you do that, I bet you will find it much more than you expect, in fact You will find that the mission of God is on every single page of your bible. How about that. I’ve even heard, if you take mission and missions out of the bible, then all you get is the front cover and the back cover. This mission comes from what, The Love of God towards His creation humanity, towards You, and His will to redeem everyone and restore everyone who would be to a perfect relationship with Him. So, let’s dive deep into the text today, where I want you to see and have Faith that binds us together in love.

Message

First I want us to see and have One heart and mind

32 Now the entire group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common. 33 With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them.

Wow, this passage, this passage makes a statement that is quite striking. In fact, it looks quite the opposite of what our world wants us to look like. Our world wants each and every one of us to look separate, completely independent, self-sustaining, and have a prideful image of ourselves that makes us look strong. Let me be clear, this IS NOT what the early church looked like. How did the early church look? A great outline is here, everyone was together. Believers were, as they should be, together and all working together on one thing. What was this thing? Well, exactly what in our last sermon they were praying for. To share Jesus’ name boldly, share Jesus with others so that God could be further and more glorified not just in ourselves, our hearts, our minds, but in the minds of others that we come across, witness, and minister too. So far and so committed was the early church to this, that if they had something and it or it’s proceeds were useful for the body or someone else in the body, they gladly either let you use it (or borrow it as we would call today) or sold it to give the resources that was needed. This coming together, this supporting, loving on, and raising up one another creates an environment where all the pieces of the body of Christ (all the parts of the church) are clicking on all cylinders which means that people are able to share their witness greatly with their community and their mission fields. This was true for the apostles, it’s true for us as well, when we as a church come together and support, raise up, and love on another as we should then the ability of our church to do it’s good work for the kingdom of God multiplies.

This idea, runs hard against our cultures idea of individualism. Let me give you an example. One of my old pastors, his name is Chad, told me of a neighbor he had. This neighbor was a Christian immigrant from Uganda. I don’t know his name, but he was new to the neighborhood and him and pastor Chad got to talking, got on pretty well and learned that they were both Christians. Well, it was Saturday so it was lawnmowing day for both of them. So, both guys went to doing their yard work. Well, the immigrant, finished his mowing, but since he was new to town, didn’t have a weed eater, just a push mower. Pastor Chad left his garage door open, so the new friend walked in and helped himself to Chad’s weed eater. On his way out, Chad saw it and was alarmed, but then the friend realized where he was and this kind of behavior isn’t normal in America, so he looked at him and said, “Oh, I borrow this?” and kept on walking. THAT’S NORMAL FOR THEM, it’s known and expected that you support your brother. That is not something that we are used to or most of us would honestly be comfortable with!

What then, are we supposed to have one heart and one mind together about to look like the early church? Isn’t it obvious, can’t you see! It’s the Sunday school answer, IT’S JESUS!! In every decision we make, in everything we do, what needs to be the deciding factor in why do this or that; or weather we keep or get rid of this or that; or cancel this event or add this event should and MUST be answered= how will doing this help or hinder us sharing Jesus with others and how will this help or hinder our own affections and love of Jesus? This means sometimes we need to put aside what makes us comfortable; sometimes it means that we need to really lean into something that is going well; sometimes it means change sometimes it means staying the same. Either way, what is central what needs to be constant in it all is that we have one heart and mind and it’s gaze rests on Jesus and the cross.

This means that we need to see and have One’s need’s shared and met

34 For there was not a needy person among them because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of what was sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet. This was then distributed to each person as any had need.

Something to know here is that, “Theologically, the early believers considered themselves the righteous remnant within Israel. So Deuteronomy 15:4 would have been in their minds: “There should be no poor among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you.”[1]So clearly, the early church took the commands, laws, and intent of mankind from God very seriously. They gave freely, openly, without hesitation, and with a humble heart. They took what they had, the proceeds of their charity and laid it at the apostles feet. In our modern context, we would call this tithing, which isn’t just giving 10%, that’s just a starting point that was laid out as a standard in the Law of Moses, Jesus challenged believers, he challenged you to provide and give to the level that your heart convicts you. So, if that money was there and was being given. What does that imply? What does that mean? It means that there are people within the church and our community who need help!

I can say that myself, as someone who just benefited from the generosity of this church. Thank you church for blessing me and my family. If you didn’t know, the church blessed myself and Emily a few weeks ago by the church covering the costs to repair my truck, which was losing coolant so fast it couldn’t hold any. Let me be clear, we did NOT have the money to cover the unexpected expense. Between Emily’s full time work and being a part time student, and me being a full time student with part time work, we just didn’t have and I didn’t see a way forward to get it fixed for many months. That means that without the church’s help, my truck would have sat for several months, and you know what that means, it would have just gotten worse and the repairs would have been much more expensive. This means in turn that my ability to minister would have been hugely hampered. But, the church met that need, and I am so thankful for that that. Thank you and may God be glorified through that.

Now, There are people in this room right now, known or unknown that don’t need just spiritual help, they need some kind of financial help as well. Know this believer, if you truly need spiritual, financial, or what have you help, and you don’t share it with the church, if you don’t let your faith family in, then you have just sinned and need to repent immediately. Why? Because you have denied The Church an opportunity to bless you and have God receive glory. In turn, you, believer, have made the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the church, LaFayette Baptist Church a little unhealthier and less able to know God and have God known. Brothers and sisters, put aside your pride. It isn’t doing you or us any good, only harm. Instead rest in Jesus and call out to Him and His Church when you have any kind of real need and receive the love that we can offer you. Then Church, it is our job to respond and respond well. When we do this we will see one’s needs shared and met. From here we can see:

From the Bible we see and have An example of encouragement and charity

36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus by birth, the one the apostles called Barnabas (which is translated Son of Encouragement), 37 sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Rounding out Chapter 4 of acts, we see the introduction of a minor character who will become a major Character later on. This is of course Barnabas, who though not stated here, will later be referred to as an apostle himself and would be an early faith mentor of Paul. His faith was so clear, his generosity was so apparent (though he never draws attention to it himself) that it served as encouragement to all of those who knew him. So, he was given the nickname Barnabas, or son of encouragement, for selling a field he owned and give the proceeds to the apostles, to the church. His generosity led to great ministry, and though we will never know the depths of it because it isn’t recorded, we can know it must of meant a great deal to the early church and ministry because of Luke’s including it in this account of the early church in Acts. I want you to note here, even though great attention has been brought to this act of charity through all of history, this was not because of Barnabas looking for attention. God chose to honor Him here. Remember this because in coming weeks we will read about a couple who showed false charity because they wanted to be seen or given the same standing that humble Barnabas did… You know what…, here we are seeing it once again, the theme of not just mission but of God turning the way of the world upside down, the humble being honored.

Sometimes, we need an example to believe things, to understand them and know that they are true and I expect this is why Luke included Barnabas’ generosity in this section, along with the obvious need of introducing Barnabas in the Biblical narrative. Kind of like how I can describe something to you. Likkee. Try to guess what I’m trying to describe. Ok, this thing is large. It has a kind of this grayish color, sometimes it may look brown. It looks really strong and powerful, it has a trunk, and sometimes people climb on it. What am I thinking of? Emily, could you change the slide please? Anyone thinking that it’s a tree? Raise your hand if you think what I described was a tree. Well, I wish I could say close but no cigar, to bad we weren’t even close. Well, Emily, please go to the next slide please. I was clearly describing an elephant see!! Even with a good verbal or written description, often it is still needed to have an example given. Which is a reason why we share testimonies every week, so that we can all see God at work, understand what He is doing, and be encouraged by it. So, never be afraid to share those testimonies!

So, how do we get like that? How do we love one another so much? So much that we aren’t only sharing our possessions, we share our needs, but are even going a step further so that we are anticipating one another’s needs? And I want to say here, some of us here in this church do an exceptionally good job at this, some of us on a regular Wednesday night, I see you, I see you watching and anticipating the needs of the children right there, to you I say good job! Keep up the good work! Some of us give secretly, and you aren’t trying to make a big deal about it. I say to you, well done and it greatly encourages this brother in Christ. Yet still, all of us still have work to do. No matter how much we love one another, rest assured, Jesus is calling you to love the brothers and sisters even more. Also, he is calling you to love Jesus and love His creation (mankind) enough to share Jesus with others. Let love and compassion be your marching tune. So, think about this coming week. Ask yourself and then go do it, who and how am I going to show someone who is a believer that God loves them. And how am I going to show someone that is not a believer that God loves them. Believer or non-believer, God desires them to have a deeper relationship with Him. There is a great mystery of salvation in that, but you can’t go wrong by following the Great Commandments (to love God and love people) and the great commission (to go and make disciples).

Conclusion

Beloved, we each individually and corporately need to be asking ourselves these questions. Do we have and see One heart and mind? Is there anywhere that One’s need must be shared and met. We know we need to do this because we just saw An example of encouragement and charity in the bible. Why do we do this, why do we act in a way that our world wouldn’t push us towards? It’s because Christian believer’s everywhere have a Faith that binds us together in love.

If there is a non believer, someone that has not yet put their trust in Jesus yet, friend I am speaking to you right now. I know what you are thinking, what you have just heard, about how the church is supposed to behave and act, is not what you expected, and probably not even what you have heard about the church or seen yourself. To that I want to say, yes their are many examples of where churches mess up and makes mistakes. This is because there are sinners in need of the savior Jesus, just as you do, in the church, and there are redeemed (or saved people) inside the church who have a bad or wrong understanding or who make mistakes to. I’ll admit it too, I make mistakes all the time. Either way and whatever the case may be, don’t let those stories or past hurts keep you from God. You can only be right with God, in and through a relationship with Jesus Christ, who’s death can and will pay for your sins if you turn to Him as your savior and the Lord of your life. Don’t leave here without Jesus.

With that, let’s conclude. Brothers and sisters, I love you all. If you need prayer or even someone to talk, some sin to confess, or want to talk more about Jesus, then during our last song together I will be here, come on down. Let’s pray. Father God, make us a people who are so devoted to You, so devoted to You being known in the world, that we consider ourselves second. Help us be a people who love and minister sacrificially, as You have loved and ministered to each and every one of us sacrificially, even to death on the cross. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and Precious name that I pray, Amen.

[1]Longenecker, Richard N. “Acts.” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Luke–Acts (Revised Edition), edited by Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, vol. 10, Zondervan, 2007, p. 781.