Crazy Generosity and "Generosity"

I heard a pastor tell a story one time about how someone at his church got upset and left and they were looking for the church that was perfect for them. His advice to them was that if they found it then they shouldn’t join in because it wouldn’t be perfect anymore!

There are no perfect churches because churches have sinful people in them. Even the very first church, though it seems to have had a good run, finally hits its first road bump from within in the passage we’re looking at tonight.

We see a picture of how God wants us to care for one another and then we see an example of sinful and self-seeking behavior.

God wants his church to be full of people who show significant and heartfelt generosity to one another.

read Acts 4:32-5:11 and PRAY

Christians should care for one another

In real ways. In ways that may call us to give something up so another gets what they need.

Jalen Hurts 2018 season getting benched and sticking with it because he shared the goal of the team.

The church was unified on what was most important and this led them being incredibly generous with each other.

Notes in JNTI

The Church’s goal is found in the great Commission: make disciples.

Our church’s mission statement is

Glorifying...

Growing...

Going...

We’ve boiled that down some for our FBC Students mission statement…

We need to be unified in this. This is what’s most important. Then the focus is off of us and we’re led to care for each other the way God wants us to. What Paul calls the attitude of Christ.

Philippians 2:3 ESV

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Some of you may think, “why would I be that nice to people I only spend time with a once or twice a week?” Remember what we saw back in Acts ch 2, that these believers were devoted to the church. If your thought is why would you be so generous with the people you go to church with, then I think you may need consider if you have the right attitude about the church and your relationship with it.

This is what the church is supposed to look like, the attitude we should all have. This is juxtaposed against the couple we meet in chapter 5.

Christians shouldn’t seek their own glory

Seeking glory for yourself gets in the way of truly caring for one another and isn’t the example Jesus made for us.

Some of you may have had the joy of stand still traffic on the interstate already. One day, Lord willing, you all will. You’ll probably find it to be one of the most infuriating experiences you know.

There’s some kind of magic that happens for me when I get into a traffic jam on the interstate. My land won’t be moving. I’ll wait patiently for a while, but then I get tired of it and I decide to change lanes. “I’m tired of waiting behind all these people and being nice, I’m getting over in the lane that’s moving and passing all these people!” But what happens when people do that is they slow everyone down. Somehow what also happens is the lane I change to always stops. Then the car that was behind me in the other lane passes. I get back over and guess what?

That attitude of only thinking about me is bad news. Especially when it’s “I want people to see me. To think I’m great!” Think of people you know who are like that. How much fun are they to be around?

That’s what Ananias and Sapphira are thinking.

Notes in JNTI

Don’t try to lie to God

Or illustrate the lying to the Holy Spirit with Riley having mud in his nose.

1 Samuel 16:7 ESV

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

The Holy Spirit is powerful and active in the church…

There’s a lot we could unpack in this story, but it all comes out of this situation where they were trying to look impressive in front of their church. They let their pride and greed drive them.

Proverbs 25:27 ESV

It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory.

This attitude usually doesn’t stay hidden for long and people aren’t usually attracted to it and it’s not the attitude of Jesus. Be humble and love others!

I always want to get us to Jesus and to the cross no matter what passage we’re in or what the lesson is, so how in the world do we do that with a passage like this?

People seek approval. We decide on different places to go for it, but we all need it from the same place…

God disapproves of sin and sinners…

Jesus lived a righteous life free from sin, but died a sinners death both in our place…

This frees us from the burden of trying to impress others because we can have peace in being approved of by our Creator through what He did in his life, death, and resurrection!