Of One Heart and Soul – Acts 4:32-35

“And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (Mark 10:20-22)

“There should be no poor among you, for the Lord your God will greatly bless you in the land he is giving you as a special possession…But if there are any poor Israelites in your towns when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tightfisted toward them. Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need. Do not be mean-spirited and refuse someone a loan because the year for canceling debts is close at hand. If you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the Lord, you will be considered guilty of sin. Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do. There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.”(Deuteronomy 15:4,7-11 NLT)

“Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Luke 12:33-34)

1. Generosity is the…

“And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (Mark 10:20-22)

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

“As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.” (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15)

2. Generosity doesn’t…

“Nothing destroys evangelism more than the duplicity and hypocrisy of the messenger. The world’s only knowledge of Jesus Christ is what it sees in the lives of Christians. If what it sees is a community more concerned for self-aggrandizement than mutual support, why should it listen? If the world sees Christians criticizing each other in attempts at oneupmanship and self-promotion, it will turn away, hardened to the message of the gospel. Instead, what they witnessed in Jerusalem was a community in which those who had much sacrificed for the sakes of those who had little. It was a tangible expression of their love.” (Derek W.H. Thomas)

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save 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 warm and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! …For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” (James 2:14-19,26)

“And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:2-4)

“He (Satan) sought to deflect the apostles from their priority responsibilities of prayer and preaching by preoccupying them with social administration, which was not their calling. If he had been successful in this, an untaught church would hav been exposed to every wind of false doctrine.” (John Stott)

3. Generosity can be…

“WARNING: Studying the Book of Acts can be very bad for your health. Specifically, it may cost you a lot of money. It could involve you in conversations leading to being dismissed, even mocked. It will very possibly undermine some of your most treasured ambitions, and even require you to abandon some of your long-cherished dreams. It may involve you in profound relationships with people very different from yourself, who speak the oddest of languages and live in the poorest, most densely populated, loneliest, or trendiest of places on planet earth. It may lead you to your adoption new disciplines in prayer, affect your sleeping patterns, and perhaps even shorten your life. So, be warned!” (Bruce Milne)

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:4-8)