All In - Our Resources - Acts 4:32-35

Well, good morning again. And listen, if you're a guest with here with us here today, let me just say good morning again to you as well. Um, when you came in today, you received one of the handouts and there's a connection card in there. I love to connect and I know our staff does and our members do just the people that visit with us. So, if you'll take a few minutes and fill that out, we promise we won't spam you. We promise we won't harass you. I will send you a simple text just saying, "I'm so glad you came." But if you'll fill that out and you can drop in one of our offering boxes that are located there in the back. Um, but that really helps us get to know you a little bit. And if you're new here today or this is your first Sunday, we just started began a brand new series last week called Allin. Now, let me just kind of give you an idea of this title. Whenever we have a new series, we get together, just several of us, and we try to think of what title represents the series. And really, through this series, we're trying to to to to to illustrate, we're trying to show strength in our walk with Jesus that when we're all in, there was power in that one. I mean, think about this. one. Has somebody ever walked up to you and said, "Hey, let's join an exercise program together." And there's strength in that, right? Just this like, "Yeah, we're all in. I'm all in this one." Or maybe you woke up one morning and thought you need to go on a diet. And you realize if you're not allin, there will never be behind that commitment of losing that weight. And so that's why we chose this title, allin. But we're a week into it and I'm realizing maybe we chose the wrong title because in our society I realized this that we use the word the phrase allin but we hold it really loose don't we? Like I committed to start a diet yesterday. I'm all in until somebody offered me a donut today and I'm not as allin or maybe somebody invited you to start going to the gym with you and you're all in until the alarm goes off the next morning. And so this idea of being allin, sometimes we hold it so loose in our society, when we think of that same phraseology, allin in our relationship with Jesus. Here's what I'm afraid of is that we may hold that same expression so loosely it doesn't carry power or strength in our relationship with God. And so here's what we need to understand. That when we say we're allin, we should be allin spiritually walking with God. Not just when it's convenient, but it's a commitment even when it's not commitment convenient. Like our allin when it comes to God needs to be more than just words. We need to have a little bit of oomph behind the words that we say as well. And so we've been looking at Acts chapter 4 and we'll get to verse or chapter 5 here in a couple of weeks, but we're looking at the early New Testament church and here's what we're discovering. They were all in. They weren't holding it loosely like we might hold it today in the different commitments that we have when we say allin. When they said they were allin, it was everything going forward. And so if you have your Bibles, look with me in Acts chapter 4. We're going to continue the story just to remind you the church as we call it is brand spanking new. Like it had only really been in existence several weeks because it had been 40 days after Jesus was resurrected that he spent some time visiting different people before he ascended up into heaven. And so really as theologians look at chapter 4 of Acts, the church as we know it was not organized like we have today, but the meeting of followers of Jesus had just really begun postresurrection. And here's what it says in verse 32. Says, "All the believers," notice that word there, all the believers were united in heart and they were united in mind and they felt that what they owned was not their own. And so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God's great blessings was upon them. And there were no needy people among them because those who own land or houses would sell them and they would bring the money to the apostles and give to those in need. And so here we get a description of the newly formed New Testament church. And it's important for us to realize that the newly formed New Testament church is the same model that God has for us today in the we've been around 2,000 years New Testament church. And so as we read Acts, we're not looking at some historical version of what the church was. We're really looking as a current version of what we should be as a church. And as I read those verses right there, there's really three things that pop out in my mind as just as I read it as and I want to share those with you. Here's the first one. The Bible says this, "All the believers." Okay? All the believers. That's where we get the expression, "We're all in." The New Testament church coming out of Jesus's resurrection, everybody was allin. There was no such thing as the 8020 rule that we talked about last week. The 8020 rule says this, that 20% of the people do 80% of the work in the church. It was 100% of the people doing 100% of the work. It was a 100% of the people being generous in all that they had. It was a 100% of the people showing up to pray together. It was a 100% of the people who were ministering and Jesus was the hands and feet in this world through them. This idea of all. Let me give you a living illustration of what it means to be all. On the count of three, I simply want you repeat after me. Okay? You don't have to yell and scream. Just just repeat after me. Okay? In fact, I I use your outside voice. just kind of a mediumsized voice, but just on the count of three, repeat after me and just say these three simple words or two simple words. Go Cowboys. Are you ready? One, two, three. Go. Okay.

Your Broncos didn't do much better last week. Just for the record here. Okay. Now, now watch this. Okay. I I don't have an exact scientific measurement, but I think about 20% of you said go Cowboys. Now watch this. On the count of three, in whatever voice you want to use, say, "Go Broncos." One, two, three. Go Broncos. Do you see the difference? And I wonder the go Cowboys illustration is an example of today's modern day church when it's 8020 rule. And the go Broncos was a just an illustration example of the New Testament church 2,000 years ago. When you heard the words go Cowboys, you went

when you heard and said the words go Broncos, it kind of brought some pep into your step, right? It brought some spirit into your soul a little bit, right? And I wonder that's what they had back then. They had the spirit in the soul. They had the strength in their step because everybody was all in. If you were here Friday night, Stuart and our choir and a orchestra and some other church members from other choirs were here and we had the most amazing program musical illuminari. There was a 30 piece orchestra up here. There was a 70 member choir up here. This room was full. Now, I don't want to overstress just there's energy when a room is full, but is there energy when a room's full? Energy doesn't equate with the power of the Holy Spirit. But when we're all in, it all kind of works together, doesn't it? And so the New Testament church, they were all in. They were all the believers were there. Here's something else I want you to know from those those scriptures. It says this, they were united in mind and heart. You see, when we say they were all in, we weren't measuring by a headcount. We were measuring by the heart check. We could fill this room every single Sunday, not a seat in here, have to bring extra chairs in here, but if we're not united in mind and heart on the focus and the purpose that Jesus has for us as a church, then we're just a crowded room. And so, they were all in. But when they were all in, they were united in heart and mind. They were not all in because they were all present. They were all in because they were united around the purpose [snorts] of the church. Look with me back at Acts chapter 4 that in verse 33 that we just read. Here's the purpose that that they outlined there. This is what they were about. This was their focus. This is what they were united about. It says this, the apostles, meaning Peter and John who were there with them. But all the people were there together doing this. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of Jesus. If you're taking notes, you can write this down. Here was the purpose of the New Testament church 2,000 years ago. You can summarize it in one sentence. And that sentence says this, to make Jesus known so people could experience salvation and become his followers. That was the purpose they lived for. They weren't trying to create the church. so they could have the holy huddle. They weren't trying to create a church that had some place to go on Sunday mornings. They were coming together united in mind and heart with the sole purpose of we've got to let the rest of the world know about the resurrection of Jesus so we can change their lives like it changed our lives. That [snorts] was the purpose. And that's what the Bible says there in verse 33 that the apostles and the followers of Jesus they went at it with all that all that they had. They were united in heart and mind. Let me give you a third thing. I've seen these few verses. Remember as we look at these verses we are discovering together what brought the New Testament church together. Not so we can understand the history of it. So we can understand our assignment today. They were all in. They were united in heart and mind. And then here's the third thing. Generosity became a response to being allin. Okay. When I read these three verses, I'm kind of amazed because if if you would have said, "Yeah, we're going to describe what the New Testament church was." I would have think it would have described, "And they met together and they had great Bible studies." I would have thought maybe it said and they all met together and they ate lunch and they went out door to door knocking on the doors to tell people about Jesus. These few verses they focus more on their financial generosity than anything else which is so interesting. The idea the purpose is to get the message of Jesus out. They focused on generosity. Why did they focus on generosity? because they knew this. And as the Holy Spirit came on them, the Holy Spirit knew this about them. Just like he knows this about us. You don't get all in by surrendering your possessions. You get all in by surrendering yourself. But we don't surrender oursel until we surrender our possessions. Because in the world 2,000 years ago and the world today, is it not true that, and this is going to sound harsh, but let's just all agree, our possessions own us. We don't own our possessions.

And so when the Holy Spirit was coming upon them, the Holy Spirit knew there had to be a surrender. [snorts] And the surrendering of their possessions was really more of a surrendering of their hearts. Their generosity grew out of hearts dedicated to Jesus and committed to his purpose because Jesus had captured their hearts. The possessions no longer controlled them. You see, when you read this chapter 4, it didn't say, "And they passed an offering p plate and somebody pulled out a $10 bill and stuck it in there." Their surrender was much more than that. It said they sold what they had and they brought it to Jesus or or to the disciples feet to be used in the ministry. So it wasn't given a piece, it was giving all.

Acts 4:32, let me read to you how the message puts it, talking about the people, the verses that we just read. And they didn't even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, "That's mine. You can't have it." because they shared everything.

They stopped viewing what they owned as something they needed to protect. And they began viewing it as something God could use.

Can I confess to you, much of what I own, it's mine, and I've never thought how God could use it. I've never had a conversation with God. Hey God, how do you want to use my vehicle today? Never had a conversation, God, how do you want to use my home today? How [clears throat] do you want to use my bank account today? H how do you want to use the furniture in my house today? How do you want to use fill in the blank, my time, my family? They viewed everything they had as an opportunity for God to use. Verse 34 and 35 in another translation says this. There was no one among them who lacked for all those who were owners of land or houses sold them and they brought the income from what was sold and placed at the apostles feet and it was distributed to each according to his need. See, generosity was not the goal of being allin. It was the evidence of being allin. Do you see the difference there? Like when you jump all in for Jesus, your goal is like, "Oh, I don't give everything away." No. No. As we jump in all into Jesus, the evidence is us holding our hands like this. So God will have all of our heart. And so you might be asking the question, did I pick the right Sunday to come? Because the pastor is talking about generosity again. Someone walked up to me last week because if you remember last week, there was a generosity principle. We talked about it some a few weeks ago and somebody asked me the question, "Do you enjoy preaching about generosity?" I love preaching about generosity. I just don't love the people's response when I preach about generosity. That's what I don't love about all of it. Right? Isn't true that when we talk about generosity, especially when it comes to financial generosity within the church, there's a tension that builds, isn't there? And that tension builds because all of a sudden we're preaching, talking, looking the Bible about great spiritual things, but all of a sudden we start talking about generosity. It becomes spiritual, but it becomes personal.

And so we're all squirming in our seats in such a way that we don't want anybody else to see us squirming.

You're wondering what am I going to do this? What is he going to say to it about it here? Here's the bottom line we need to understand. The purpose when we talk about generosity is not to give more of your money to God. God doesn't need your money. He doesn't need my money. The scripture says this that he owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He's got more herds of cattle. All he needs to go do is sell a couple if he needs some money. So when we talk about generosity, when scripture brings it up, when the New Testament church was experiencing generosity, it was not about God getting more of their money. It was about God getting more of their hearts.

Because the generosity with our finances is proof of the priorities of our heart. Jesus put it this way in Matthew chapter 6 verse 21. He said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Yet, we're all shaking our head this way, but inside we're like, "Oh, what's it going to cost me? What do I have to give up? Are they asking for one more something of it? And it just creates this tension in all of us. And [snorts] so I want to do this. I want to take this from a very spiritual element perspective and I want to take it to a little bit more of a practical element when we talk about the tension we feel. Okay. Now let's see if I can get us all to breathe here for a second. Okay. Nobody's going to ask you to sell your house today. Okay. Nobody's going to ask your offering to be brought to my feet. What's being done by the Holy Spirit is just having to look at your heart. But as we look at our heart and the money is a part of our lives, there's this tension. And so if you're taking notes, I just want you to follow. These are just as I work through these and read these this week and just process these, I'm going, that's it. We all feel that way. If you're not one that normally takes notes, I'm going to really encourage you for these next few minutes, just go ahead and write it down because I think it's something you can go and just as the week goes by, just God, just pray to God. God, help me, help me to understand this in my life. So, here's just the tension of generosity. Some things to consider. First of all, I need you to know this. We, when I say we, all of us, I can say this just with great confidence. We do not desire to be ungenerous. There's no one in here that came today and woke up and said, "Today my goal is to be selfish. I'm going to hoard everything I have." No one here desires to be unselfish. Okay, as we're talking about our pocketbooks, but pocket pocket books, but we're also talking about our hearts. Nobody's heart in here, I believe, desires to be selfish. No one in here desires not to be generous. But here's the second thing. If you're writing it down, we simply spend first and hope generosity follows.

This is the beginning of the tension. We know we want to. We know we wish we would. We know we wish we could. But the tension begins when we simply spend first and we hope our generosity follows. We pay our bills. We fund our lifestyles. We pursue our wants. And then we give God whatever is left over. And then you hear a sermon like this about generosity. And you're going, "There wasn't anything left over. Oo, I didn't have much to give. Oh, I wish I had more." Do you see that? Do you feel it? Do you understand? Are you identifying with it personally? So, here's your third thing. If generosity depends on leftovers, it will almost always be occasional.

If our generosity depends on leftovers, it will almost always be occasional. Anybody here like leftovers? You know what leftovers do? They just sit in my refrigerator till they just rot. You think God likes leftovers anymore? Here's the fourth thing. Here's where the tension when it comes to finances gets even deeper. Money represents more than something we spend. Now watch this. For some, money represents security. Will I have enough? For others, money represents comfort. What will I have to give up? For others, money represents control. I earned it. So shouldn't I get to decide what happens to it. And still for others, money represents our identity. What do my possessions say about my success? You see, that's the reason the tension when we talk about finances and generosity at church gets so deep because we're not just talking about money. We're talking about our identity. We're talking about our comfort. We're talking about our control. And we're talking about our security. And so, let's just all going, okay, in the middle of this conversation, take a breath. That's why we feel tense. Money is what makes our world go around. Take another breath. But I think what we're recognizing are some real truths about money when it comes to generosity. Let me give you another one.

Giving or being generous feels threatening because it requires us to trust God.

Giving or generosity feels threatening because it tr desires us to trust God. If my mealing, if my money is about my identity, it causes me to trust God with my identity. If my money is where I get comfort, it's trusting God with my comfort, if it's about my security, if it's about my control, it's going, God, here, take this. Do you see now where Jesus after the generosity? Because that's where the heart is right there when it comes to control and identity and security and all those things. That's found in the heart, not in the pocketbook. So that's why I say God is never after our money. He doesn't need our money. What he wants is our heart to be allin. So when it comes to our money, then he's really attacking what's in our heart. Here's one more for you. The tension is not between giving and keeping. Now, we think it is, right? Like, oh god, the tension is I I I want to pull this. I've had this $100 bill in my pocket and kind of got it stashed away where Denise can't see it. It's kind of my blow money and I can go get something and it doesn't really feel it's like all mine and the pastor is talking about generosity like that's my hundred he's talking about. No, giving the tension you're feeling is not about either giving it or keeping it. This is what it's about. Fill in the blanks here. The tension is about trusting God or trusting our possessions.

Do you see where it just moved from the pocketbook to the heart? And so really the New Testament church, they were in these early stages. They were being persecuted. They were being threatened. And they were just like, "God, we want to be allin." And here's what's taking place. They weren't developing and building up a big coffer of money so they can do things. They were building up hearts that had full of trust so God could do anything and everything through them. That's why generosity is so important. That's why trust comes into play. Not about a bank account, but a heart full of trust.

Give you a couple of more. The tension that you're feeling when it comes to generosity, the tension will not be solved by waiting until giving feels easier. Let me say it again. The tension that you're feeling in this whole idea of generosity, it won't go away at some point and it will get easier. So, you'll no longer have tension when the giving feels easier. Can I tell y'all a true story? So, we're going to Mexico. Denise and I are going with them. And so, we're on this team of 16. We're a team of four. And so, we're supposed to buy for the little 8-year-old girl. And so, Denise was out of town yesterday. I said, "Let me go to the store." We decided we're going to get her some art supplies. And so, I'm going, "Oo, I don't know how much to spend on art supplies." So, I thought, "Well, I'm going to go to dollar store." I thought, "You know what? Why would I cheapen this?" So, I went to Target. Do you know how much it cost costs for art supplies? And I'm thinking, h off-brand Crayas and let me get the off-brand paper over here and maybe I'll spend about $25 and that way. And here's what went through my mind. That way we don't really feel it. But then I thought, wait a second, I could get her a whole bunch of stuff. And the reason I thought that is because an hour and a half earlier I was getting with with Jerry Mcleen over here and he said, "Hey, can I give you some money to help with the family and he pulled out three $100 bills?" Said, "This goes to help the family." I thought, "I'm going to buy the best Crayas and I'm going to buy the best markers and I'mma be buy the best color." You know why? Cuz it wasn't my money. It was Jerry's money. Are you with the tension?

And I got home and God said, "Keith, you know that stash of money that you have in that drawer that we're not telling Denise about? Close your ears right now. The thing that you're holding on to because that money gives you security. Those few hundred dollar bills you have just in case there's emergency or just in case you want to do something fun with her. Just be just, you know, that money.

Don't use Jerry's money, use yours.

I felt the tension. And here's the deal. Denise and I have been generously, regularly tithing since we were just married 35 years ago. Here's what I'm going to tell you. The tension that doesn't still go away because it's mine.

The tension will not be solved by waiting until giving feels easier. Now watch this. We close with this one. The tension is solved by moving generously from leftover to a priority. That's the tension. I got news for you. I went home and pulled $100 out of that drawer and I have moved that drawer. And you have no idea where it is now, Denise, just to let you know over there. But I've moved that money. But I pulled a hund $100 bill out of there. I have less tension now than I did before I was spending Jerry's money. That's when the tension is solved. The tension is solved when we move our generosity from being something that's just haphazard, something that's full of leftovers to a regular commitment in our lives. That's what was taking place with the New Testament church when they were all in living generously. And that's what's being conveyed to us. That is what God wants from us. That we will live generously. Not so the church can get more of our money. So God can get more of our hearts.

That's the beginning of the New Testament church. That's the foundation of the New Testament church. And that will forever be our foundation of our church because it's all about our hearts. And so let me just do this. throw just a challenge out to you. There are some of you that live generously. Our church, South Sub Church, has had faithful givers for many, many years. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is not trying to squeeze more money out of you. Now, over the last year, we've had several a number of our faithful givers that have passed away or moved, and so it affects the budget and the purpose of what we're going after. But if you're one of the regular generous givers, I just want to say thank you. If you're part of the 20%.

But if you find yourself when it comes to generosity as part of the 80%, may I challenge you this? Not to give God more money, to give God more of your heart. But when he has your heart, the proof is in the finances. And you're sitting in and in the chair in front of you, there are some offering envelopes. I'm not even asking you to put money in those offering envelopes right now. If you're hearing this, you're going, Keith, I feel the tension of generosity, and I give more out of the leftovers than I do prioritizing it. I give occasional and not regular. Here's my challenge to you. If you fit in that area, if you're part of that 80%, jump in and be allin and just take that envelope and do me a favor, just write your name on the envelope and just going, Keith, I'm all in. The reason I want you to do that, it's a physical commitment on your part. But this week, I want to just send you, email you just some some things, some helps that have helped me in my just trying to ongoing generosity.

But all in. Now watch this. This is not going to seem very spiritual to end with. On the count of three, would you simply say, "Go Cowboys." One, two, three. Go. 20%. Watch this. On the count of three, say, "Go Broncos." One, two, three. Go Broncos. Isn't that the church we want to be? Not a church sold out to the orange and blue, but a church sold out to the resurrected Savior. Will you pray with me?

Father, here we are.

[music] And I will be the first to admit in so many areas of my life, but especially in generosity, I don't have it, Jesus.

And I lack trust when it comes to my identity. I lack trust when it comes to my future. [music] I lack trust when it comes to being controlled. And so Jesus, I'm just saying now, I'm not all that you want, but I'm taking a step to be allin.

I want to be all in with you, Jesus.

And I pray this in your name. Amen.