How Generosity Changes Our World: A Commitment to Sharing Our Resources Sunday, May 28, 2017

How Generosity Changes Our World: A Commitment to Sharing Our Resources Sunday, May 28, 2017 Series: This is Us. Scripture: Acts 4:32-37 (pg. 1657) Theme: Being committed generous giving. I ve been reading a 1,000 page book on the history of the Vietnam war It s depressing more than depressing To know the horrible, horrible cost caused by failed governmental leadership. This has caused me to read up on President Lyndon Johnson [PIC] And I ve also been learning about his now-54- year-old War on Poverty. In his State of the Union Address on January 8, 1964, President Johnson declared, an unconditional war on poverty. His said, Our aim is not only to relieve the symptoms of poverty, but to cure it, and above all, to prevent it. That is a good dream ending poverty. I ve been poor and I didn t like it. [SLIDE] It s also God s dream once, a long, long time ago, God gave some economic & social & faith-based guidelines to his people, the Jews, and if they followed them, he said: - -2- Deuteronomy 15:4, Then 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. Well it didn t work then [OFF] But if you fast-forward several thousand years To the time immediately after Jesus, when there was on this earth, a brand-spankin - new, relatively small community of Christ-followers --- there was a time, when this sentence was true: And there were no needy people among them. For one, brief, shining moment among a peculiar group of men & women, boys & girls the war on poverty was won. How they got there, and why it matters to you & me is our concern today For those of you who have signed a Horizon Partner Card, or who might want to someday we are together partners in 5 mutual commitments: [SLIDE] A commitment to transformational teaching. A commitment to deep relationships. A commitment to sharing our resources which is our subject for today. So, I want to take you to the picture of that small, peculiar community that won the war on poverty Acts 4:32-37, pg. 1657, SLIDE

-3- I am embarrassed and a little ashamed to tell you that in my youthful college days and beyond I bought into the wrong & dangerous idea that if Jesus was a political figure if Jesus set up a government or if we set up a government according to the ideals of Jesus Then Jesus would have established a kind of socialist utopia. Now I believed that based on 2 things: 1) My own personal frustration with being poor and my jealousies that resulted from it 2) Much more importantly for us: I believed it because of my own shallow reading of Scripture. For example, what I missed in Scripture is that enshrined even in the 10 Commandments is the key idea that owning property is a gift from God The 10 Commandments keep in mind were given to recently freed slaves [SLIDE] And to these former slaves, God says repeatedly: Property is freedom what you never had as slaves, I am now giving you. Your poverty, which was due to the fact that your labor and your stuff belonged to someone else, I am now ending. I am giving you property. [OFF] Fast forward to this episode: Nowhere are we told that everyone had to surrender ownership We are not told that everyone sold everything and that no one owned anything anymore -4- In fact there is a story that follows this one directly in Acts 5 It follows this one on purpose because it is a perfect example of what goes wrong in community There is the danger of deception trying to look like one thing when your heart is really another If you look closely at 5:4 Peter, the leader of this community of Christ-followers will say to 2 failed people: The property in question was yours to sell or not sell as you wished. After selling it, the money was yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren t lying to us but to God! So the issue is never, never about property --- how much or how little you have property isn t the problem... It is always, always, always the human heart Which bring us to what this episode is teaching and that is: What I have and what you have- our propertygives us the opportunity to grow generous hearts. This is a picture of extraordinary generosity. It s our commitment # 3 Sharing our resources. Now let me explain how this happens: How do we become generous people? Generosity is, very simply, what community looks like. Generosity is community in action. Sharing is compassion, or love, at work.

-5- Sharing is what happens in relationships when they re working That s the meaning of that very 1 st phrase in v. 32: All the believers were united in heart and mind It s simply a picture of a group of people who are doing life together They like each other they re devoted to each other And sharing naturally happens. It can t help but happen, when you love someone. And it happens among Christians to an extraordinary level because we grow a Biblical understanding of our stuff. Notice.2 nd half of v. 32: They felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. This is key so let me explain it Back in early April, Donna & I got to spend a week w/ my granddaughter, Macie, and her mom & dad Macie & I developed this little game, quite by accident Macie would steal my cell phone and then take off running w/ it I would chase her which would make her giggle hysterically -6- I d catch her and take my phone back and say something like, That s mine, Macie. Of course, when an 16-month-old likes a game, you play it over & over & over again, endlessly Now, Macie doesn t have a big vocabulary at that point, I think she said about ½ dozen words: Daddy, Momma, hi, bye-bye, puppy, baby, and Papa W/ Papa being her obvious favorite And at one point, everyone was sitting in our hotel room watching Macie & Papa play this game Macie grabbed my phone, this time she stopped, looked at it, and she said a new word Anyone wanna guess what the word was? Mine. Macie suddenly started saying, Mine. And every adult froze looked at each other And mom and dad said, Ohhhh nooo. And Papa was banished to hotel lobby for the day. Now just so you know every expert in child development will tell you there is something good & healthy about learning there are some things that are mine Sometimes we call this learning about healthy boundaries Starting w/ my body and then extending out

-7- There are things that are mine in the sense that I have authority over them and no one else ought to be able to harm them abuse them take them by force or deceit So there is this healthy & mature view of mine. Learning that is part of growing up. However, we also know that when a child starts grabbing things and saying, Mine This is also a picture of someone who is inclined to hold things w/ a closed fist It s grabbing clutching grasping greed And it is never pretty. [PIC] It s Ebenezer Scrooge before his ghostly visits Holding tight to his gold and saying, Mine even though it means his employee suffers and Tiny Tim dies. [PIC] It s J. Paul Getty who, although he was worth $2 billion when he died in 1976 he actually installed a pay phone in his house so that no one could make a long distance phone call that he had to pay for cause what he had every last dime of it was mine. [PIC] It s Judas, who got disgusted when a woman gave an extravagant gift to Jesus because Judas had his hand in the money bag and he saw money being wasted that could have been mine And then later sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. -8- The fist closed around mine is never pretty. It s grabbing, clutching, grasping it s greed. And it is a danger to all of us all of us, from the moment we learn the word, Mine. So practice holding on to things loosely And let me give you 2 ways to do this: 1) Do you know, that one of the things we human beings do all the time it s not really even a conscious thing, it s habitual We are always comparing ourselves to the people around us It s why advertising works. Here s the thing When we compare ourselves economically we compare ourselves up That is we notice people who have more than us, or who have things we want, and we think, He has more than I do. They re better off than me. And we are constantly chasing pursuing trying to find some way to catch up to live up to what they have that I don t Causes us all kinds of stress and busyness and frustration trying to live up to their level. However, when we compare ourselves morally we compare ourselves down

-9- We notice another person s flaws and think, Well at least I don t do that compared to him, I m really not that bad. Sometimes we do both at the same time: He has more than I do and for sure he doesn t deserve it it s not fair I m a better person and work just as hard and I don t have what he does. Now: here s what Jesus invites us to do --- Jesus is always turning life upside down & he s inviting us to do the same here So why not reverse this? 1) Economically, practice comparing yourself down: That person has less than I do how fortunate I am, how blessed I am to have what I do maybe what I have could help him? 2) Morally, practice comparing yourself up: Find people who are shining examples of grace of love of hope of joy of generosity And ask, Maybe I could be more like him. What a foolish, envy-producing, bitterness-making thing it is to be chasing what other people have What a pride-filled exercise it is to be propping ourselves up by noticing the failures of others Why waste our time and our lives with either? -10- So flip it: Notice how blessed you are Notice how good you want to become. 2 nd way to hold on loosely to your stuff: Learn to think about what good your stuff can do. How do you benefit from your property? A couple weeks ago, Donna & I finally got around to doing something I ve wanted to do for years We sat down with a financial planner to ask the question, Are we gonna be able to retire? Now, it s more than a decade away, and I m probably late to the party, but the Bible tells me wisdom requires planning So we finally did it. It was a revealing meeting among other things, we discovered we are in great shape to retire when I m 97. Actually, he asked a series of questions and the last one was this: What about a legacy? When I looked puzzled, he translated, Do you want to leave anything when you pass? I almost answered, When I pass, I m leaving all of it. It s not going w/ me as far as I know. Then I tho t wait, that s not really true I remembered what Jesus taught it is possible, in a way, to take it w/ me

-11- [SLIDE] In his most famous sermon, called the Sermon on the Mount Matthew 6:20 - Store up for yourself treasures in heaven. No moth can eat it, no rust can consume it, no thieves can steal it. I can use my property in such a way that it makes a difference in eternity It s like investing here so that there s a payoff there Which means, of course, that I can use my stuff in such a way that I can, actually, take it w/ me [OFF] How? Obviously, by using my property in such a way that eternity benefits. It s exactly what Barnabas did in our episode: Economically, he compared himself down He saw people in need realized he owned a field that would solve the problem So he sold it brought the money to the church & said, Here. Use it to help those in need. It s property invested in heaven. So: Generosity grows when we hold on loosely to what we have We compare ourselves down And we use our property in ways that matter forever. -12- Now- what does generosity like this actually look like in the church? Well --- sometimes it s very organized, like it is here. People bring the money to the apostles Barnabas does the same The leaders manage the distribution of the funds. Other times, it s very loose, unorganized, individuals Jesus, for example, told a very famous story about a Good Samaritan who found a man along the side of the road who d been beaten up and robbed of everything Samaritan helped to the point where he took the man to an inn and said, I m paying the bill. If it takes more money than I m giving you now, I ll be back this way soon and we ll square up. This is on me. Jesus said, Go and do likewise. So: we do both Often we help individually I ve seen you do things like this: Someone held on loosely to his pickup truck and let a family borrow it for a while when they were w/out a car Someone else held on loosely to their house and opened up a room to a young woman trying to make a new life for herself after getting out of jail

-13- Someone else held on loosely to his wallet when a young single mom had a refrigerator die and he could tell this was far more than just a financial inconvenience it was a crisis so he said, I know where we can get you a refrigerator and he did it. Someone else held on loosely to her time and she said to some grandmothers who are raising their grandkids Bring your kids to my house for the evening and I ll watch them and then I m sending you out to dinner w/ some friends for a nice night out. Someone else held on loosely to his money when he was getting another car he knew he could do it w/out really needing the trade-in value -- so he had his current car fixed up, put good tires on it, had everything checked out and he said to a very young family, just starting out: It s yours. Meet me at the notary and I ll sign it over to you, and he did. Frankly, the list is long and that s just what I know @ -- I know there s much, much more This is us, taking care of us And it happens when we hold on loosely Compare ourselves down And know we can use what we ve been given in a way that matters for eternity. I can t say this enough: Well done and don t stop. Grow your generosity muscles. -14- I ve seen this in the lobby for several weeks: Right now, the Geiger family through Carrick House is in a must-have situation for a larger vehicle & larger house so they can continue their life-ministry to kids needing forever homes This is a chance for us to hold on loosely to our wallets and help meet a real need that makes a difference in forever Check it out-- Carrick House information is on the table in the lobby Now: There is an organizational side to this We exist Horizon Church exists only because you give. We are entirely dependent on our giving Every bill we pay every Twin Pines & Summer Camp Scholarship we give Every youth program our entire kids ministry Every life that s been redeemed here All of it happens because you make it possible through your giving We hardly ever talk about this but without our giving, we are not. Now in the church, there s a practice called tithing Tithing isn t just a word for our offering It s the Biblical concept of giving 10% -- that s what a tithe is 10% of your income.

-15- Frankly, to be quite honest, both Donna & I are quite fortunate that from the time we got our first dollar allowance, our parents taught us to tithe It s never been an issue for us It s so much a habit that it s very easy We ve always given at least 10% of our income to our church always will. I know that for some of you, it isn t easy It sounds almost absurd So, I want to introduce you to someone who did not always tithe And, like all of you, had to make a decision about whether or not this was insane or what God wants She s going to share w/ you, briefly, her story: [Malissa Yocum] Now there s a risk in talking about this Risk is that some people hear it and say, See, that s all the church cares about money. They don t want me, they want my money. Well we ve done what we can to say, no, that s not the case we don t take an offering we won t beg Try to manipulate you We have a box in the lobby like everything else, it s you making decisions about faith You and Jesus what s it mean for you to follow him. -16- But I do, understand why some people might hear talk about money and say, See, they don t care. On Easter Sunday someone showed me a text he d received from a couple that came here for a bit Stopped coming Text said, We stopped coming a year ago and no one noticed. Now that s not actually true But nothing pains me more than that kind of failure Hear what they re saying? You don t care And people want to know that someone cares That they matter that they re seen. Some time ago, you will remember a family in our neighborhood had a fire they had never been to Horizon they lost everything Everything, from pets to everything they owned. For ¾ of a year they lived in long-stay hotel Then, finally, they moved away to be closer to family. We had collected a sum of money a nice sum - and one afternoon I saw him out in front of his destroyed his w/ a contractor so I walked over & gave him the money. He was very grateful, but didn t open the envelope at that moment fine I didn t care.

-17- Now understand he & his family lived in this neighborhood for 12 years Never once in those 12 years did I ever see him at Weis Markets But 2 days after I gave him the envelope I saw him in the parking lot at Weis He came up to me started crying Thank you so much Said, My wife & I have been saying to each other over & over, Why would they do this for us? I said, Well, that s what churches do Because I tho t he was asking, Why would we do this? And he replied, No, why would you do this for us? You hear what he s asking? It s the for us part Someone is saying, You care about us we were seen we matter and it blows us away. This is what generosity does to human beings Bottom line according to Jesus we give because we care.