BACKGROUND:
Peter continued his witness to Jesus’ Messiahship by quoting from Psalm 16:8-11, written by King David. He explained that David was not writing about himself because David had died and was buried; his audience would have walked right past his tomb many times in their pilgrimages to Jerusalem. This quote from Psalm 16 and the one from Psalm 110:1 were both prophesying Jesus’ resurrection. The emphasis is that Jesus’ body had not been left to rot in the grave, but had been, in fact, resurrected and glorified. Peter wanted his audience to realize that David was not speaking of himself in these psalms but rather of the Messiah.
If David was not speaking of himself, then he was speaking as a prophet; he was writing about one who would be resurrected from the dead. The oath looks back at Psalm 132:11 and 2 Samuel 7:15-16, recording the promises God made to David that one of his descendants would sit on David’s throne as the Messiah. David did have children who ruled, but this promise was for someone to be on the throne for eternity. The Jewish listeners of Peter’s day understood the words of this Psalm, as well as others, as referring to the Messiah.
Peter had one more major point to make: this crucified one, the resurrected one, is now the exalted one, who occupies the throne of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand (Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22). Not only is Christ the predicted one in the Psalms, not only had he risen from the grave, but he now sits in the most authoritative, sovereign position in the universe. That is why Jesus had the authority to pour out the Spirit with results that the audience could see and hear.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
Let's continue our look at the eight things that we need to do as a church here at COV, so that if we do these things we can expect God’s blessing on our church as much as they saw a blessing on the church in Jerusalem.
#6. WE MUST MODEL CHRISTLIKE GENEROSITY
Liberal giving is what I’m talking about here. The New Testament church in Jerusalem was a giving church. Acts 4:32-37 says, “ All the believers were one in heart and one in mind [there’s unity again]. No one claimed any of that which was his possessions as his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and grace was with them all. There were no needy persons among them.”
I think that’s probably one of the greatest epitaphs a church could have. Could you image if people could say that about COV? No needy people among them. America has got the idea that the government owes me welfare, the government took over welfare when the church advocated it. There’s nothing in scripture that says the government is to provide welfare for the people. Nothing. But there’s lots in scripture that says the church should be the welfare agency. Why? Because there’s accountability. In 1 Thessalonians it says if a person isn’t willing to work, they shouldn’t eat. It doesn’t say if they can’t work. Obviously, some people can’t work. It says if they won’t work. If they won’t work then they won’t get welfare.
It says “From time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them and brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet and it was distributed to anyone as they had a need. Joseph a Levite from Cipriot who the apostles called Barnabus which means Son of Encouragement…” How would you like to be called that? Son of encouragement. That’s your nickname. “… sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”
People read this and say this sounds like Communism. No, it’s not Communism at all. Communism says what’s your’s is mine and I’m going to take it. Christianity says, What’s mine is your’s and I’m going to give it. Big difference. This was not forced on anybody. People were generous. Why? Because they were like Christ.
Notice there were four results of their generosity.
Acts 4:32 says there was unity in the church. All believers were of one heart and mind because they were all sharing with each other. Generous giving promotes unity.
There was a spirit of love. They shared everything they had.
Acts 4:33 says it was a powerful testimony to the community. “With great power the apostles continued to testify of the resurrection and grace was among them all.”
Acts 4:44 says there were no needy people. This is one of the most overlooked factors in the church in Acts. It was such a generous church. They had such a spirit of generosity that in the next chapter we have the story of Aninias and Sapphira. What was the problem with Aninias and Sapphira? They lied about their giving. They pretended they were giving when they weren’t really giving and it says God killed them. They lied about their generosity. They were pretending to be generous but really they weren’t generous at all. And it says God struck them down. I wonder if God did that today how many people we’d have next Sunday?
Why in the world did He do that? Of all the things He could have got upset about why did God get upset about the fact that people pretended that they were giving and they weren’t? These were leaders in the church. Because God wanted to preserve the Spirit of Christlike generosity that was being exemplified in the previous chapter. And He didn’t want it squelched.
Look at Acts 2:45. “Selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as they had a need.” God blesses the giving church. I’m not talking about people who are tithers. I’m talking about givers, who give more than a tithe, who are generous. There are more people who want to give than we have people to give to. Because of that, you cannot out give God. And the more we become a funnel and say, “Lord, use this church to bless the community,” God blesses us. Just like we teach that you cannot outgive God personally, it’s true as a church. You cannot outgive God.
What does that mean for COV? First let me say that I am humbled by the generous people of our church. I am blown away by so many of you who are faithful to God with you finances. Thank you.
I also want to let you know that we as a church have some needs. We're behind in our year to date giving. We have managed our resources well, but we are coming to a point where we are looking at having to make some cuts if the trend does not change. I'll be sending a letter to the congregation about this shortly, but in advance of that, I would ask you to pray about what God might have you do to meet this need. See a need - meet a need.
I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course.
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