Acts (12)

Introduction: Read and Pray.

Transition: Acts 4:32-37 are giving an update report. Luke is summarizing the state of the church at this point in her early beginnings. Six times through these 6 verses he uses a verb to describe their quality of being. He is listing the characteristics that are arising from the core of the church. It’s like walking into someone's house and you smell some amazing aroma. And upon searching for the source of those savory smells, you discover they are coming from the oven.

Follow along with me as we discover Four qualities of being Jesus’ church?

1. Unity

Verse 32 tells us that they were of One heart and soul. This means that they were unified. The heart is the center of person’s thoughts, volition, emotions, moral conscience. The soul or “psyche” is the immaterial part of a person that acts as the combustion chamber for the heart. What's the point? They were UNIFIED to the very core of their being.

How is this possible? How can the full number of new Christians, which by this time was surpassing 5’000 in Jerusalem, be unified to the core of their being? Plainly, Because Jesus had saved each one to the very core of their being. The substance of their unity was faith in Jesus Christ. Verse 32 opens by saying...“the full number of those who believed”. Each person added to the church had trusted in Christ according to the gospel preached by apostles. These were the multitudes who had heard the gospel and repented with faith. Further more, each one had testified to their faith in Christ by being baptized.

Point: Unity is at the core of being Jesus’ church!! This truth helps us navigate the ocean of church life. Perhaps as we are sailing along we happen to notice the rough waters of disunity. The solution for sailing through these rough waters is reminding ourselves of our unity in Christ. That in Christ, we do not retain our old individualistic identities… rather we are of one heart and soul. If we have been born again, then whether we are aware of our unity or not, we are in fact unified. This truth gives us the coordinates to stay on due north and navigate the inevitable tides that would tempt us away from Christ.

Also, our unity with Christ reminds us that unity cannot be manufactured, it must be maintained. (Ephesians 4:1-3). Unity cannot be manufactured, it must be maintained.How?

Application: Here are a few practical tips for maintaining unity.

1. Consider other’s interests ahead of my own. This requires the humility of Jesus.

2. Examine ourselves by asking, is what I’m thinking, saying, or doing helping or hurting the unity of the church?

3. Talk to someone new during fellowship time. Ask genuine questions about their life. Show hospitality by inviting people to lunch.

4. Serve together. Opportunity to sign up for Spring Fling. When we serve, let us be known for serving together.

5. Make the main gatherings of church a major priority. (ie. Prayer group. Worship service. Membership meetings. Etc.)

Transition: Story/illustration about unity. The first quality of being Jesus’ church that we see in this text is unity. Second, is…

2. Stewardship

Verse 32 goes on to say, that “no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own...” This is the essence of what it means to be a steward of God’s provisions. To be sacrificially responsible to share what has been entrusted to us. Notice that Luke goes on to say,… they “had everything in common.” The word common, is “koinos”. It means to have everything ordinary, shared, or mutual. It’s the same word that we get koinonia… which was used in Acts 2:42 to describe the devotion of the church to the apostles teaching and to...fellowship.

The Point is, They had possessions, they had belongings... but recognized they did not have ownership. Biblical stewardship applies to everything that a Christians possess. You and I may have many belongings, but we own nothing. Stewardship warns us against idolatry and helps us to hold everything in this life with a loose grip.

We remember from their prayer recorded in verse 24-30...that they understood they were salves to their Master, Jesus. And as slaves of Christ we own nothing, the result being we can share everything! When we belong to the Lord Jesus, nothing we have belongs to us. Everything entrusted to us is a tool, an instrument, a means of furthering God’s glory. When we are God’s possession , nothing we possess belongs to us, and so everything can be shared.

Pause for a point of application: Stewardship corrects man centered gospel. Man centered gospel is a kind of therapy preaching that makes salvation all about individuals gaining a better life. However, as we have already observed, salvation is actually about gaining a new heart. Because our sin is originating from a sinful heart, we need a new heart. So we ask...

What affect did stewardship have upon the church? Vs 34a “there was not a needy person among them.” Which means, there was not a member of the flock going without essential provisions. The poor were being taken care of. SO we go on to ask…

How did they show stewardship? Vs 34b- 35 (Read)

Lands and houses were being sold and the proceeds were being laid at the Apostles feet for distribution. A couple observations… Sometimes we read this and are amazed at the sacrifice being demonstrated by some of these early church members. We should thank God for their example. And it may be an example that some of u need to emulate. However, keep in mind, it was their stewardship that brought them to this point of decision. They may or may not have been sacrificing.

As we will see next week, this kind of stewardship was not a demand of the apostles. Rather, the members were giving cheerfully, voluntarily, and with humble submission. Notice, in vs 35- they laid or placed the proceeds at the apostles feet= feet. Point: they humbly submitted these gifts to the authority of the apostles to distribute according to need. It was not designated offering for supposed needs. There were no strings attached. Rather, they were giving as wise and faithful stewards.

By way of application: The members of Hillcrest have commited ourselves to stewardship. The Baptist Faith and Message, which contains our statement of what we believe the Bible teaches says this about Stewardship…

“God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. Christians have a spiritual debtorship to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel, and a binding stewardship in their possessions. They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time, talents, and material possessions. (Genesis 14:20; Acts 2:44-47; Romans 6:6-22; I Peter 1:18-19)”

Hillcrest members, we have each commited to… “steward the resources God has given me, including time, talents, spiritual gifts and finances. This includes regular financial giving, service and participation that is sacrificial, cheerful, and voluntary. (Matthew 25:14-30; Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 8-9).”

Pause to say; if you have been neglecting this commitment, please don’t rush to write a huge check. Please don’t leave off today mumbling the preacher is only concerned about money. I confess, a part of the reason our church offerings are lacking is because I’ve neglected focusing on stewardship. It is God’s grace to lead us to a passage of Scripture, by the normal exposition of the Bible, to address a matter that is absolutely relevant for our immediate situation.

If you are neglecting or struggling in this area, please reach out to your elders and deacons. We are ready to help you plan a family budget. Steward God’s resources so that you will give sacrificially, cheerfully, and voluntarily. We know that the way we spend money reveals our hearts. We know the main money problems we have is the cost of living too high, not the high cost of living. We know we each need God’s grace and mercy to be wise and faithful stewards… Please, if this is a commitment you are struggling to keep, reach out for help.

Transition: The early church.. were not laying up treasures on the earth, but rather preparing for an eternal kingdom. They were living like they actually believed Jesus was returning. Who among them were doing this?

Not everyone, As many as= “hosos” as much as, to the degree that, all who, had houses and property. Some kept their homes as places of refuge like we saw Peter and John coming to after their release from jail. Some kept their houses to be used as meeting places. But one guy who did was Barnabas. We will be hearing more about him through the following chapters in Acts, but in vs 36-37 he is an example of one who did the very thing just mentioned above.

Question: What needs to happen in our hearts and souls in order to be wise and faithful stewards?

Transition: Jesus’ church had the quality of being unified stewards, and in verse 33 we discover they also had...

3. Great Power

This is exactly what Jesus promised would happen in Acts 1:8 What was the power for? = apostles giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Giving their testimony= their witness, firsthand authentication

They had prayed and asked to continue to speak the word with boldness. God answered in verse 31! (READ)

Where have we observed this great power? In Acts 2:6 we saw the apostles speaking multiple languages at the day of Pentecost. In Acts 2:43 we are told many signs and wonders were being done through the apostles. In chapter 3 we see an example of this when Peter and John heal the crippled man. Later, in Acts 5:15, we are going to hear that sick people were being carried out into the streets so at least Peter’s shadow would fall on them and be healed.

Two things to keep in mind about these demonstrations of supernatural power.

First, the signs and wonders authenticated the gospel message being preached by the apostles. Peter addressed the crowd at Pentecost and preached the resurrection of Christ, He preached the resurrection of Christ at the temple. Point, they were not powerful in order to draw attention to themselves or promote their own glory. They were powerful to proclaim the gospel.

Second, their power was a result of being filled with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:8, 2:4, 4:8, 4:31 ) Being filled with the Spirit means to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. To be under His influence. To be empowered for good works by His strength.

Illustration: Being filled with the Spirit is like being fitted with a custom glove. The glove is useless unless it is filled with the hand it was created for. As Christians, we have been created in Christ Jesus for good works. However, we are powerless to fulfill these good works unless we are filled , like a glove, with the hand of the Holy Spirit.

Application: The qualities of being the church like unity, stewardship, and power are all a direct result of being filled with the Holy Spirit. We need the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit in order to live the Christian life. What could this look like today? This takes us to our fourth and final quality. The last part of verse 33 tells us.. “and great grace was upon them all.”

4. Great Grace

Grace is God’s favor. His richest blessings provided to us through the person and work of Christ. Just like great power.. the first church also had the quality of great grace. Mega grace.

How was God’s grace being evidenced in the life of the church? Obedience to love God and one another.

We need mega loads of grace in order to function as the Bible calls us to. Our communication and conversations need to be seasoned with unmerited favor toward one another. We need to encourage, correct, and help one another with great grace.

Great grace keeps us from self righteousness. Grace keeps us from pointing out all the hypocrisy and splinters in other peoples eyes. Great grace helps us genuinely confess the logs in our own eyes. Great grace equips us to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. Great grace emboldens us to speak the good news of the gospel. Great grace conditions our hearts to assume the best connotation of what our spouses are saying or not saying. Great grace makes father’s faithful to train their children in the nurture an admonition of the Lord. Great grace equips mothers to be diligent in their labor of love for their family. Great grace enables children to honor and obey their parents. Great grace makes Jesus church smell like spring in a culture of decay. Great grace causes us to walk in holiness and thankfulness. Great grace empowers Jesus’ church like jet fuel in a 747. With grace we are a flying force, without it we crash and burn.

Myself included, we are in desperate need of great grace. To crush our pride. To fight our sin. To die to our self interests everyday. To kill our independent pride before it kills us! To humble ourselves and ask for help!!! To receive help when it’s offered. We need God’s great grace to obey what He demands and be faithful to love one another.

Closing: A concluding question. Why are these qualities of being so important? Because being comes before doing. In order to do right we must be right. The quality of our work is directly affected by the quality of our being. Put it this way, if you to do better as a parent, be better. You want to do better at work? Be better. You want to do better as a student, be better? Jesus transforms from the inside out.

The reason this is so important is because we are constantly tempted to conform on the outside without be transformed on the inside. To do a lot of activity, or behavior modifications, without heart transformation. Point is... If the good works we have been created in Christ Jesus to do are going to last, we need to be transformed on the inside.

This week, children’s report cards were posted in the local news paper. Once a quarter, school children receive report cards. The report card shows an accurate assessment of how each child is doing in fulfilling their responsibilities as a student. This passage reveals a report card of the early church. There are many qualities of being Jesus’ church. This passage shows us 4; unity, stewardship, great power, and great grace.

Could this report be written about us?

For looking ahead: Interesting, there was not any needy among them, but as we will see in chapter 6 there would be some neglected among them.