Sacrifice and Serve
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The last mark of the New Testament church is perhaps the hardest one for the 21st century church to truly grasp and wrap its head around and embrace and participate in. We find the description in the middle of Luke’s writing in Acts 2.
And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
The church made personal sacrifices in order to share with any who had need. The Spirit of God drove the church of Christ to abandon and surrender their own personal greeds, and He drove them into a world with genuine needs.
Sadly, there’s something I see far too often today. It’s an unfair criticism, but it’s leveled none-the-less. Why doesn’t the church do more? While people forget the number of hospitals, orphanages, and care centers set up by the church. That doesn’t even touch what the church does in secret. Nobody is going to know, outside of a few people, whenever we help even with small things like paying a bill or filling a gas tank or providing a meal.
Still, is there some validity to the statement:
“Until there is real sharing…a lost world is unlikely to remark about the quality of our fellowship.”?
Truthfully, a church on mission should be meeting spiritual and physical needs, and for some reason, those two have been divorced. I think there is a fear from those who tend to emphasize mercy ministry that the gospel preachers don’t do enough to meet needs, and I think there is a fear from the evangelists that those who tend to focus on the social needs and programs never get around to meeting people’s deepest need. But, truthfully, both are needed.
The early church? They didn’t retreat to monasteries and separate themselves from the world. They didn’t hide in their bulwark buildings with giant steeples. Instead, they looked at Jesus’ scandalous love for the hurting, broken and battered, and said, “We should do the same.” And today, in a world that seems to be searching for the authentic, a world that is overburdened with social circles but desperate for genuine relationships, should it not be the church that holds up the torch of love as it serves the outside world?
The truth is, the gospel and social concern go hand in hand. They’re both essential in our witness of the gospel. So it was with the early church. Their faith was not compartmentalized, and their service coincided with their gospel witness. We shouldn’t be content just to “be a good Christian,” whatever that means, especially if the love of Christ isn’t driving us to see and love our neighbor well. After all, isn’t this exactly what Jesus did with us? Did He not see our poor condition and give of Himself for our sake?
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.
I think Jesus intends to break the back of greed in the lives of His followers, but some of us...man, I have a titanium backbone.
The early church? They took serious the words of Jesus:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Here’s a couple of diagnostic questions that we need to ask ourselves. And listen, this isn’t difficult. This is simply a “see it, do it” mentality.
Number 1:
Are we hospitable?
Do we eagerly open our homes to love and serve and share life with others?
Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
So, it’s a clear command from Scripture that we should all be practicing. Why, then, don’t we?
Number 2:
Do we gladly provide for the needs of others?
The verses here are abundant.
Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.
But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Number 3:
Do we minister to the helpless?
The Bible often calls them the fatherless or the widow. So we find:
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.
You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.
What will it take to do this? Sacrifice, which should be a key aspect of our worship anyway. No, not bringing the fat of well-fed rams and cattle. I’m talking about sacrificing ourselves on the altar of surrender. I’m talking about dying to self that we might live for something bigger than ourselves. I’m talking about a life of sacrifice that says it means more to us to make much of Jesus than to pour investments into my own personal kingdom. I’m talking about a life that looks to Jesus and says, “He who had every right to demand being treated like a king humbled Himself, became a servant who was obedient even to the point of death on a cross, that I might be made a co-heir with Him if I have faith in His death and resurrection. What other choice do I have than to lay myself down as a daily and living sacrifice…for His kingdom, for His glory, showing His love to others…as a reasonable act of worship?”
And here’s the kicker: we can do that…right now…wherever God has us. Serve your co-worker. Serve your neighbor. Serve your family. Serve a stranger. Take what you have a give it for the sake of others.
So, can this type of life together still take place today? Or, is it an idealism that the early church was able to live out maybe because of their social situation or their nearness to Christ that simply can’t be repeated today? Here are a couple of things that I’d point out.
First, remember how dependent the early church was on the Spirit of God. Sadly, for whatever reason, the church has been in the business of “professionalizing” the ministry, and it removes personal responsibility from the equation. Let the Spirit of God open your eyes to the hurts and needs of those around you. This harkens back to last week — practicing the presence of God, being mindful of Him continually, and cultivating a “state of prayer” as much as we prioritize what we’re praying. Then, with open hands, serve. Don’t wait for someone to tell you to do it. Listen to the Spirit and respond in obedience.
Second, remember we’re called to plead for the vulnerable and serve the needy. However, as long as we’re first concerned with ourselves and only giving out of the abundance of the left over, I’m confident we’ll never reach the sacrificial part. The natural question, then, is how much do we give? Until we feel it? Is a tenth enough? That’s hard for me to say. As much as we MUST depend on the Holy Spirit, He is not me. And, if we’re looking for a number or percentage, at what point have we abandoned grace and embraced law? What I do know is this: we live rather comfortable lives. Could we settle for less? Could we calm our appetites for the things of this world and give a little more? Have we become comfortable with just the tithe while neglecting the offering? And listen, I’m not pointing fingers at anyone. I’m not talking to anyone but myself.
So what was the secret? How…why were they able to do this? I’m not sure…not completely. What I do know is this — “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will…witness in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.” He changes us. So, imagine what would happen if we walked more in step with Him. This type of “radical” living would, I believe, become normal again.
If the early church shows us anything, it’s that Spirit-filled living will always overflow in Spirit-led giving. The gospel is not just a message to be believed — it is a life to be lived, a cross to be carried, a kingdom to be pursued. What we see in Acts 2 is not some utopian ideal we admire from a distance; it is the normal Christian life empowered by the Holy Spirit.
So here is the challenge: let’s stop waiting for “someone else” to meet the need. Let’s stop excusing ourselves because we don’t have as much as someone else. Let’s stop assuming generosity means “big gifts” instead of faithful obedience. Instead, let’s walk in step with the Spirit, open our hands, and let God use what we have — our homes, our time, our wallets, our energy — for the sake of others.
This week, ask God to show you one tangible need and then meet it. Invite someone into your home. Pay for a stranger’s meal. Visit someone who is lonely. Give toward a need that costs you something. Not to check a box, not to feel better about yourself, but to display the generous, sacrificial heart of Jesus — the One who became poor so that we might become rich.
If we live this way, our fellowship will become impossible to ignore. A watching world will not just hear the gospel from our lips — they will see it with their eyes. And when they ask why we live like this, we will have the joy of pointing them to the Savior who first loved us and gave Himself for us.
