Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends on this Tuesday,
I have three very important questions for us to consider as we begin our time together today:
1. What difference have you seen outrageous GENEROSITY has made in the Places or the People where you have lived?
2. Can you think of any person or organization which has “generosity” as their reputation?
3. Which has been more impactful to you as you’ve watched generosity… generosity from abundance or generosity out of sacrifice?
Those questions may require a moment or two of reflection, so I urge you to pause and not rush. You might even jot down your responses in your spiritual journal for later reflection.
Oh, one final question: do people consider YOU a ‘generous’ person?
By the way, I’m not speaking only of financial generosity. Would you agree generosity of TIME or generosity of WISDOM or generosity of PATIENCE or COMPASSION might be even more impactful, more significant than financial generosity?
Yesterday I left you in a spontaneous celebration as Peter and John had been released from their overnight in jail and their interrogation by the angry Sanhedrin leaders, (Acts 4:18-20) the same group who had condemned Jesus to crucifixion and urged the people to call for His death. They had warned Peter and John to stop speaking about Jesus and stop their miraculous activities.
With remarkable boldness Peter had made a statement which challenges me, and should challenge you, every day for the rest of our lives, especially when we find ourselves facing conflicting opinions, values, worldviews, or statements claiming truth. Peter had said: “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you or to God?” (Acts 4:19)
So, Peter, John, and all those Holy Spirit anointed followers of resurrected Jesus, made it clear they would prioritize following God’s directives even if it put them in conflict with the Sanhedrin or Rome or any other human authority whose demands require disobedience to God. Pause and reflect.
How do you reconcile God’s call for you and me to be good, law-abiding citizens of whatever nation we live in (Romans 13) while at the same time living God honoring lives. (1 Peter 2:9-12) When the laws of your land either demand that you disobey God or those human laws require you to do something that is dishonoring to God, how do you respond?
Acts 4 tells us Peter and John and the others had prayed asking God to give them even more Holy Spirit power enabling them to speak God’s truth even more boldly and to do those things that would demonstrate the power and holiness of God. And God responded with a fresh anointing of His Holy Spirit in power. (Acts 4:29-31)
I find it fascinating that the practical outworking of this fresh Holy Spirit anointing was compassion, sensitivity to need and generosity! Jerusalem, like any large city in the world, had its share of disabled, homeless, poor people.
God’s Holy Spirit saw them and moved the followers of Jesus to take action in response to this very real human crisis of every generation. The record reports: “All the believers [in Jesus] were one in heart and mind.” (Acts 4:32) Would you agree that unity of heart and mind, emotions and intellect, is a God-accomplished miracle? Only God can unite the hearts and minds of a large number of people in one place on any topic, especially social issues like poverty, homelessness, care of widows, orphans and refugees.
Today, let’s witness this Jerusalem miracle of God which has been a high standard for the world ever since that day. The practical outflow of God aligned unity of heart and mind of these Holy Spirit anointed followers of Jesus was this: “No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all, that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.” (Acts 4:32-35)
Now how do you explain this my friends? Is this Socialism at work as a new political movement in Jerusalem? No! This is genuine, God given generosity, as a work of the Holy Spirit of God, in the lives of God’s people.
One of the first words a little child learns is “mine”. Often another word a child learns is ‘more’! Those two words are rooted in selfishness and that is the antithesis of generosity. Have you noticed Pride, Selfishness, Greed, Lust and similar emotions all link together in a desperate pursuit of ‘more and mine’ regardless of how it is gained or who is harmed in the process? Have you noticed greed is never satisfied? That desperate thirst for more is never quenched no matter how much a person has.
Now the antithesis of all that is Humility, Compassion, Sympathy, Empathy, Selflessness, and Generosity.
The miracle described in Acts 4:32-35 is the work of the Holy Spirit in a large number of Jesus followers. How do I know? Because it is the opposite of what is normal for human beings in any part of the world, in any generation. Only God could bring unity of heart and mind, and compassion to meet needs with genuine generosity. Especially the type of generosity that moved people to sell land or homes or other things they owned in order to generate cash to help those in need.
Do you notice something important? Those who generated cash by selling their possessions did not distribute the funds themselves, rather than brought the money to the apostles, entrusting them to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance for WHO to help and HOW! The only person receiving praise and honor in this practical miracle of generosity was Jesus. And their generosity was actually worship, an act of overflowing gratitude to Jesus for His Generosity in His personal sacrifice of His life!
Would you agree one of the most generous actions ever made is this: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but should have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) In fact it is so outrageous that God restates it with other words in Romans 5:8 and 1 John 4:9,10.
God sets the standard for outrageous generosity by sending His Son Jesus to fulfill God’s Redemption plan for sinful, God rejecting, humanity.
Jesus sets the standard for Generosity in obedience as He fulfilled God’s plan going all the way to the cross.
The Holy Spirit sets the standard for Generosity in transforming sin filled, evil, hell bound, angry people into forgiven, joyful, loving, compassionate, generous Spirit filled people.
Now here’s the question… has your life and mine been transformed by God’s generosity and do our lives reflect an overflowing generosity in response to all God has done for you and me? HOW are you and I generous and with what attitude of our hearts? What does our generosity or refusal to be generous tell the world about our relationship with Jesus?
Oh my, we have lots to think about and maybe speak with God about, don’t we? As always, the ‘study & teaching notes’ below will be of great help to you and the worship song will draw our souls to Jesus.
Tomorrow we’ll dig deeper into this miracle of generosity in Acts 4 & 5.
Today’s Scripture: Acts 4:32-35.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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