The Call of The Early Church to Mercy

, but when I came back through that year, all my needs were met. I was, I did the math last night, and I, my support level was at 114%. And Some of you are like, OK, that's cool, that's not normal. Missionaries go out and it's usually, they're going out at 75, 80, they might be going out at 90, but, just being at 114%, that just proved, God's hand.

And I just want to say thank you. Listening to God. after the 2nd service today, Terence is going to be That's going to be in the modular building, right? And he'll be giving a report on just what God did while he was over there, what Terence was able to do.

So if you want a fuller report and be able to ask him whatever questions you have after the second service, you can meet with him in the modular. To hear that presentation. OK? Is that cool?

OK Well, good to see you all here this morning. Let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. For our time of study in the word, we are Continuing in our series entitled A Call to Mercy.

And, where we are opening our hearts and allowing God to speak to us in this area. already, we as a church have a lot that is going on in the area of mercy, ministry. We define, mercy as compassionate ministry to someone in need. Often that need is dire need that they are not immediately able to address, themselves.

So, And there's already a lot of that that happens in the life of our church. We have a food pantry ministry that provides food for people in our fellowship and also a couple of times a month to people in the community who know every other Wednesday that they can come by and sit down with someone from our church and be talked to about the Lord and about the gospel, and then food can be given to them in the name. Of, Jesus. There's also outreach to the homeless, that we have going on from time to time.

we also have, just the administration of our Agape Fund that we give to once a month, that we're able to provide funds, for individuals in this church family. who have needs that are pressing in a crisis type of a situation that they may not be able to immediately address and so we're able to provide those funds for them. Some of those funds go to the food pantry ministry as well. In addition to that, there are so many of you, so effectively, in fact, I, I refer to them as the cornerstone angels.

There's just angels in our church that in a time of crisis, they just float in and they're just always there. And the angels I want around me when my time comes to have some significant crisis or health crisis or what have you. And so there's a lot of that that's already happening in the life of our church. There are people that visit the shut-ins and the nursing homes and what have you.

but what we're realizing is a couple of things. Number one, we need to go further, we need to do better as a church, and then secondly, all of these things need to be closer to the heart of what we're all about as a church. It needs to be more to the center, more to the fabric of our personality., as a church. And so what we're doing in this series is we're just looking at the sweep of scripture, and just observing what God has to say to us in this area of ministry, of mercy, calling us to mercy.

And I feel like we've been living in this forest for so long, with a million trees around us. And right now we're doing a series wherein people are coming up here saying, hey, there's trees here. because when you look at Scripture, I was struck last week as we went through the Gospel of Luke at how voluminously God speaks to this subject. So there's a ton that is said, we're trying to take in everything that God says so that we can process that and make The changes that we need to make as a church and to grow and mature the way that God wants us to grow.

Two weeks ago, we focused on the gospel, we reasoned from the gospel to this area of ministry of mercy. Last week, Mike took us through the Gospel of Luke, where we saw from beginning to end the whole story of the incarnation, the Christmas narrative, the example of Christ, the life of Christ, the teaching of Christ, just screams at us. That this is to be a central component of our lives, and that is mercy, ministry to those in dire need, especially physical need. and material need.

Well, today, we're gonna be focusing our attention on the Book of Acts. Luke is not the only book that Luke wrote. When he finished writing the Gospel of Luke, he then, picked up his pen and wrote a second volume, and that is what we call the Book of Acts, wherein he tells the story of the history of the development. of the early church.

And so what we find, in the Book of Acts is a portrayal of the earliest events in the history of the church, and there's a number of things that Luke says by way of describing the activities of the early church that are profoundly instructive for us, as we observe. these, things. And so you can call this message the call of the early church to mercy because their example will call us to this or the call of Acts to mercy, or we can call it a church worth imitating because in this area, the church that we see in Acts is well worth.

Imitating.

we are imitators at heart, are we not? without even sometimes thinking about it, we just naturally imitate. people that we admire, people that we respect, often the clothes that we choose to wear, we purchased those clothes because we saw a picture of it. We want to imitate.

that picture or something that we saw advertised on, on television, so much of what we do, we do by way of imitation. I feel like for me, there's not a lot that's original with me. I'm just, I just copy. I'm just, I'm just a collection of imitations of the people that I respect and admire throughout my life, and I think all of us would be able to say that.

about, ourselves. sometimes we imitate without even thinking. I remember when I was in college, my favorite preacher, when I was in college, who was also a professor, when he would speak, he had a nervous habit where he would just breathe deeply, stand up straight, and then he would stick his hand in his coat pocket. And then pull it out a few seconds later and his hands were empty.

He wasn't looking for anything, but he'd put his hand in his pocket, pull it out, and then adjust the flap and then smooth it out, and he would do that. Several times in every message that he preached. Well, without even thinking, I started doing that and didn't really notice it until 2 years after I came to Cornerstone, someone came up to me and said, Why do you always stick your hand in your pocket when you're preaching? Because I, I watch you and, and it's distracting and you pull your hand out and there's nothing in your hand.

You weren't fishing for anything, but why do you do that? And it was then that I made the connection, like, well, that's why I do that because that's what he did. We're imitators at heart. In fact, I got to share this with you.

I, I've shared this with you years ago, but the, the college that I went to for my undergraduate training was Bob Jones University, and that school was founded by Bob Jones Senior, back in the early 1900s and He was a fiery fire and brimstone preacher who could really bring the heat when, when he, preached the word. but he had a certain mannerism when he would preach and that was that when he would really go to yell, which a lot of preachers did back then. he would lean over the pulpit, and he would put his hand like this up against his, his mouth, and then he would just let it fly.

Just, just yell out what he was trying to say.

Well, a lot of young preachers, 18 years old, 20 years old, and what have you, they thought that looked impressive. And so they started doing that. They'd go to make a point, they're in preaching class there at the college. And They're, they're about to yell something out.

They'd lean over the pulpit, they put their hand like this up against their mouth, and then just let it fly. What they did not know was that there was a reason that Bob Jones Senior would put his hand like this up against his mouth when he would yell, and that was because he wore dentures. I'm Totally serious here. He was fearful that one of these days he would go to yell and due to the volume of air that would be coming quickly out of his mouth, that he would blow the dentures right out of his mouth.

He didn't want that to happen because it would distract from the point that he was trying to make. And so he would put his hand like this when he would yell for no other reason than to hold the dentures inside his mouth. And so we have 20 year olds who are preaching and who are doing exactly that, who did not need to do that because they were not wearing dentures. we are all imitators at, at heart, and the truth is it's the same as, as, as a church.

We are imitators. In fact, about 20 years ago, I became exposed to a church in Indianapolis, and I said, this is the church that I dream. Of having with this focus and philosophy, and a lot of what we do as a church is an imitation of some of what I believe to be biblical elements about that church, successful churches, either truly biblically successful or successful from a worldly standpoint. They have conferences and seminars where thousands of pastors come from.

the country to come to these seminars and attend these workshops where they can learn to do church the way that these churches do church, so that they can go back to their church and do church in that way and perhaps experience the blessing and success that they perceive that this large mega church has experienced. And so, We are all imitators, even on a church-wide level, and there's not necessarily anything wrong with that. In fact, I think that's a good thing as long as we're imitating the right examples.

Well, what we find in the Book of Acts is a church worth imitating.

If we're going to imitate any church, this is actually the church that that I would want to imitate the most because there is so much about the early church that is commendable and especially in this area of ministry of mercy. It is utterly commendable, and we as a church would do well to take some time. Today to observe the pattern that we see in this church in Acts and then to take steps as a church to learn to think the way that they seem to think and behave the way that they behave and to be committed to Mercy Ministry the way that they evidently were as we see it on the pages of the book.

Of Acts.

But what we're gonna do today is we're gonna make 8 observations and we're gonna go fairly quickly through some of these 8 observations that we can observe as we read through the book of Acts about the early church in this area of mercy ministry. Well, the first The first observation that we can make is that they, the members of the earliest church, sacrificially gave to meet the needs of the needy. They sacrificially gave to meet the needs of the needy. If you have your Bibles, look in verse 41.

The day of Pentecost came, the spirit descended and people began speaking in tongues. A crowd was gathered. Peter preached a message and ultimately urged people to be saved from this perverse generation. And there was a response by 3000 people to that message that Peter preached.

We at Cornerstone believe that this Acts 2 was the birthday of the church. And as Luke and his narrative, is moving along, he pauses in verse 41 and just says, let me just take a few moments to describe for you what this earliest church was like, what these believers were like once they experienced salvation. Look at verse 41. So then, those who had received his word were baptized, and that day were added about 3000 souls, and they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching.

And to fellowship, to the breaking of the bread, which is communion, and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe, and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles, verse 44, and all those who had believed were together and had all things in common, and literally they were selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all as anyone. Might have need. So here is Luke, he's like, let me describe for you the early church, and he says they were devoted to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer.

We're like, yeah, yeah, we understand that, and we're devoted to those things. And Luke says, well, let me tell you something else about these earliest believers, and that is that they had all things in common and they were selling property, possessions, and sharing them with all as any might have need. Now, when you look at the language here, He's not saying instantaneously everyone sold everything to where now nobody had anything, but he says it's the imperfect tense. They were selling property and possessions and we're sharing them withal as anyone might have need.

In other words, as needs arose, they were like, Well, we got to meet this need and I've got cash that can meet this need, or I don't have cash to meet this need, but I have property, I have possessions. what? I can sell that so that I can address this need. And so as needs arose.

They were willing to not just give of the money they had, but even if they didn't have the funds, they were willing to liquidate their assets. In order to give to those who had need. You go to Acts 4 in verse 34, just look at the screen. Luke pauses again, just a few months later in the narrative of the Book of Acts, and again, he stops and he describes the early church.

And he says there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need. And guys, let's not just skim over that. This is the early church, and Luke is like looking at them and he's like, now what can I describe about them? And one of the most prominent things that he can find to describe about them.

was how they went about meeting the needs. We know from the Book of Acts that there were a lot of poor brethren that were in the church. And yet amazingly, Luke says there was not a needy person among them. He's not saying by that that there was no one in need among them, but there were people in need, but the needs were addressed, and the result was they were not in need any longer.

So they did a very good job of addressing the material, financial needs of everybody that was in this body of believers. And they were willing to not just give out of their excess, but even sacrificially give. To meet the needs of the needy, sacrificially giving in order to engage in mercy, compassionate ministry to someone in dire need. There's a second observation that we can make.

About the early church in Jerusalem, and that is that they were generous in their hospitality. They were generous in Their hospitality. It wasn't just they would say, well, I see there's needy people over there in our church. So I'm going to give to the Agape funds so that the apostles can take care of them.

But what, those people are never coming into my home. No, they, they gave and laid stuff at the apostles' feet so that as a church body needs can be addressed beyond. what they might be able to think of or observe individually. But even beyond that, they were ministering on an individual basis, not just going to the needy, but actually inviting the needy to them and bringing them into their homes for meals.

Look at what it says in Acts 2:46. Day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, the new American Standard says they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart. That word sincerity, in places like Romans 12:8 and in 2 Corinthians is translated, liberality or generosity. It speaks of giving generously, and so they were taking their meals together with gladness and with a generosity of heart.

Listen to what Matthew Henry says about this very description. He says they did not eat their meals or they did eat their meals with singleness of heart or with liberality of heart. They did not eat their morsels alone, but bade the poor welcome to their table, not grudgingly, but with all the freedom imaginable. And so to me, when you connect this with Luke, and you see how Luke was so focused on the poor, and anything Christ ever said or did, or anything in the, the incarnation narrative that related to this, Luke was the gospel writer of all of them that would make sure to point that out and include that in his.

Gospel, we now see as he comes into Acts that anything of this nature, again, that we see in the early church, Luke is careful to note these things and record them and share them with us because it means something to him as a writer, and he believes it ought to mean something to us. And God, who inspired him, believes that this ought to mean something to us. So they brought people into their homes with gladness and with a generosity. a liberality of heart.

There's a 3rd observation about the early church. And this more gets into their mindset. This is not so much an observation about their actions as much as an observation about their mindset. Look at observation number 3.

They viewed the Christians in the early church viewed their own possessions as belonging to the whole body. They viewed their own possessions as belonging to the whole body. Look at Acts 4:32. Not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.

Luke, he's speaking of their mindset and he's saying, the way they thought was that each believer looked at his stuff and said, this is not just mine, but this belongs to the whole body. belongs to everybody. It's common property. This is how I view my stuff.

It belongs to everybody else. In the body. It is not my own exclusive private property. We already think this way even in our church when it comes to other things like spiritual gifts.

I might say that I have a couple spiritual gifts, but they're really not mine. They're yours. They have your name on them. And so any gifts, any abilities that I possess belong to the church.

They belong to my brothers and my sisters in the Lord. But we need to expand our thinking to where we genuinely look at everything we possess as belonging to the rest of the body and that we have that mindset. Now, are we comfortable with that? let me help you with this.

Does everything that you have, or is everything that you possess owned by Christ? Is everything that you possess your cars, your home, your bank accounts, your money, your possessions. Does everything you have, is everything you have owned by Christ? I think all of us would unequivocally, without any hesitation, say, absolutely, yes, it's owned by Christ.

Let me ask you this then. Is everything that you have owned by Christ's body? And at that point we might go, oh, now wait a minute, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. Yes, it's owned by Christ, but not by His body.

But when you stop and think about that mindset that maybe wants to make a distinction, it really doesn't make sense. Imagine A husband Just imagine husbands, that on Valentine's Day, you bring your wife a box of chocolates, which I did this past Valentine's Day. And it just so happened the chocolates I got her were not her favorite kind, so she ate a couple, didn't want any more, so I got to eat the rest that were in the box. so I will be giving her the same next year.

no, kidding. but imagine giving your wife a box of chocolates, and you say to her, honey, I'm giving you this because I love you and everything I have is yours, including this box of chocolates, and so I give this to you. And she's like, well, thank you, dear, you are so sweet to me. Thank you for giving these chocolates to me.

And then imagine that she opens up the box and unwraps the chocolate and starts to put it in her mouth. To put it in her body. What, what would you say? Would that seem unusual to you?

Or would you be like, no, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop right there, honey. What are you doing? I'm eating a chocolate, I'm putting it into my mouth, I'm putting it into my body. Would you say, well, honey, you've totally misunderstood my intent here.

The chocolates were for you, not for your body. Would any of us behave that way? Think that way? No, because if we gave something to her, that is for her, then it is also for her body.

And so if all that we have is owned by Jesus, then it is also owned by his body, which is the church. Everything of mine is the common property. Of the church. That should be my mindset.

And we see that the early Christians felt this way. And it evidently we're going to see it was totally voluntary, voluntary. They were not, this was not imposed on them. They were not commanded to do this.

This was not communism. This was the way they thought. This was their thinking process. This was the way each individual believer in the early church thought about what they owned.

Now, here's a 4th observation. And that is that even though they viewed their own possessions as belonging to the whole body, there's evidence from acts that they viewed the possessions of others as private property. and that's a very important distinction, to make. the Christians in the first century church, one of them would not have gone up to another and said, what, I've just been praising the Lord that everything we have is common property.

And I'm just thanking the Lord that your Mercedes actually belongs to me. And it's mine as much as it is yours. And so I just want to let, I'm gonna need your car tomorrow at 2. Can you have the keys in the ignition and make sure the tank is full, because I'm gonna need it at 2 o'clock tomorrow.

They would have never done that. Their view of their own stuff was that it belonged to the whole church. But when they looked at the stuff of other people, they were like, oh, that's theirs. That's their private property.

You say, well, how do they thought that way? Well, you guys know in Acts 6, or not Acts 6, Acts 5, the story of Ananias and Seppiara, how they sold some property, and they kept back a part of the proceeds of that sale. And then they came and presented what they wanted to give, and lay it at the apostles' feet. but the sin they committed was that the money that they gave, they tried to make people think that was the total price.

Of the property Some people who just look at that story from a shallow standpoint say they were struck dead because they didn't give at all. No, that's not why they were struck dead. They were struck dead because they lied. About what they were giving.

They wanted to look as if they were giving everything, when in fact they were deliberately holding back. And as Peter rebukes Ananias, Look at what he says. Acts 5:4. He reasons with him and he says, Why, why have you done this?

While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And an ISU could have kept this, you did not even need to sell this property. No one imposed this on you. No one expected this of you.

Had you never even sold the property and kept it for yourself. That would have been totally fine. It was yours. It was your private property.

And even after it was sold, was it not under your control, you had total liberty, and an IS to do whatever you wanted, even with the proceeds of the sales. But you have sinned. And that you have tried to pass yourself off. As giving everything.

When in fact You've deliberately held back. You had every right to hold back. But Your sin was that you lied. About it And Ananias was struck dead.

Not for not having given at all, but struck dead for lying to the Holy Spirit and to God, and ultimately to the church also. And his wife Saphra came in and Peter says, let me ask you, how much did you sell this property for? And she stated the price, and he says, you're dead. That was the sin that they lied about what they were giving.

They wanted to look more merciful than what they really were. And so just for Peter, just, just out of his mouth for him as he's speaking to Ananias, for him to say, hey, while it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? In other words, it was your own private property. And after it was sold, was it still not under your control, was not the the cash that you got from the sale of this property, that was still under your control, you could have done with it, whatever you wanted.

We never imposed this on you, Ananias. So why did you have to go and lie to the Holy Spirit? About what you were giving. But for Peter to speak this way indicates that while Luke says that everyone looked at their own stuff and viewed it as common property, when they looked at the stuff of other people, They were respectful and said, no, no, no, that's their private property and they can do with that whatever they deem appropriate.

I think this view of the possessions of other people. is an appropriate respect, and it keeps us from being too assuming, on the generosity of other people. we look at our stuff and say it's, it, it belongs to Christ's body. We look at the possessions of others, and we view it as belonging to them, and we treat it as belonging to them.

and we do not presume upon the generosity of such people. A 5th observation that is worth pointing out as we observe the example of the early church is that they distributed food and money to those who had Needs for such things. As we continue in the narrative through the book of Acts, we come to Acts chapter 6, where we find spoken about a ministry that is described as the daily serving of food in the New American Standard. If you look, if you've got the New American Standard, look at the very end of verse 1 of chapter 6.

It says, widows were being overlooked in the daily serving. And then the words of food are in italics, meaning that the words of food are not in the Greek text. It's just the daily serving, which literally is the daily deaconing. This is the word that we get our word deacon from.

And clearly it speaks of either serving food to the widows or giving appropriate funds to the widows, and commentators are actually half and half on this. So you can make an argument that it's not so much that they were serving food as much as they were delivering funds to those that had needs. So we have widows in this. Jerusalem Church, and there is a daily ministry.

this is a gospel church. They're out there proclaiming the gospel. And yet, there is a daily ministry that no doubt with a church of a few 1000 people involved a number of widows, and there were probably even others beyond widows that were involved in this. The widows are only mentioned here because they were the ones being overlooked.

certain, Hellenistic widows were being overlooked, but there is a daily ministry, a physical ministry, providing, necessary funds or perhaps food to those that had need for such things. So the church early in its history is giving focus to this. This is a part of the fabric of what they're all about as, a church. and so look at what happens, Verse one, it says, now at this time, while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving, the daily deaconing.

So the 12 summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, it is not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables. Now, you might look at that and go, well, that means food, then serving tables, we use that expression to speak of serving tables. True. but the word for tables here at times in Scripture is translated bank.

in fact, in Luke chapter 19 verse 23, this word is translated bank in the new American Standard. And so, a banker would work from a table and so funds would be dispersed and received at a banker's table. And so an argument can be made that this was basically a financial thing where money was coming in and money was being dispersed and widows could show up and they, or money would be taken to the widows and finances and provision was made for their needs. Now I'm not saying it didn't involve the serving of food.

I'm just saying it doesn't have to mean that. And so let's just stay undecided on that, whether it was food or funds. they were providing for that, and the apostles were like, what, it's not appropriate for us to be so consumed with all the finances and the income and outflow and, and so forth. So verse 3, they say to the congregation, select from among you brethren, 7 men.

Of good reputation, full of the spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. This is an important ministry, so important that we need to appoint men to be in charge of this task of overseeing these funds, men of integrity that we can trust with these funds so that this task can be rendered, this ministry can be rendered, and nobody will be overlooked in. ministry. Verse 4, but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.

The statement found approval with the whole congregation, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip and Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch, and these they brought before the apostles, and after praying, they laid their hands on them. So, The apostles laid their hands on them. We authorize you to oversee this ministry to make sure that no one is left needy, that nobody is overlooked. When you see how the congregation is summoned to the apostles, and the apostles are figuring out a plan, and they're all, the congregation then participates in selecting men who can oversee this and no doubt involved hundreds of others.

who, who were working underneath their oversight and their ministry. This was something that the congregation viewed as important. They summoned all of the congregation. everyone wanted to be involved in this, and so the 6th observation.

That we can make I That they appointed men to oversee the task of distributing food and money to those who had material needs. This was obviously a matter of great importance to them. A 7th observation, guys. And we just got two more here.

A 7th observation that we can make as we just look at the narrative of the Book of Acts, and now we're going beyond Jerusalem to the Church of Antioch. in Acts 11, we can observe that they, the early Christians, took up collections for the relief of their poorer bre. in other locations. They were not just concerned about those within their local body.

They actually thought about those who were many miles away. They thought about the needs that were there and they would actually collect funds and send those funds to meet the needs of. The poor brethren in other locations. In fact, look at, look at the narrative here.

Now, at this time, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus, stood up and began to indicate by the spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world, which by the way, this is the stunning thing to me, which would include Antioch. So the people in this church would go, OK, a famine over all the world, that includes us. And this did actually take place in the reign of Claudius, Sluke adds.

Look how the church responds, verse 29, and in proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea. So there's a famine coming all over the world, and it's going to affect us. but what, knowing how things are in Jerusalem, they're going to be impacted even harder. And so, let us take our money.

That we may actually need when the famine hits us and let us contribute to meet their needs because their needs are greater than our needs. Now they determine Luke doesn't, in verse 29, he doesn't tell us they did it. He says they determined to do this. OK.

And we determined to do a lot of things, don't we? And then we don't do them. And so Luke goes beyond telling us they just determined to do this verse 30, and this they did. All right.

They said, this is what we're gonna do. And they actually did what they decided that they were going to do. And they sent it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders, they gave it to these men, go to Jerusalem, and give this gift to them. This is not the only time, as you read through Paul's epistles, Carlos will get into this next week.

Paul, in 3 of his epistles talks about taking up a collection for the saints, and he tried to get every Gentile church involved in this ministry of providing funds to meet the needs of their poorer brethren who were in the church of Jerusalem. Well, there's an 8th and a final observation to make here as we observe what's in the Book of Acts, and that is this. And perhaps this is the most exciting of all the points, their charity, the charity of the early church contributed to the power of their witness, and the growth of the church.

There's no other way to avoid this conclusion, certainly a church growing and power and gospel proclamation.

Ultimately, that is the work of God. But the connection that Luke deliberately makes in the grammar of this book, And the way he puts certain things side by side, make it very clear and inescapable that in Luke's mind, the charity of the early church contributed mightily to the power of the witness of the church, their gospel proclamation, and even to the growth of the church. In fact, look at this. Let me show you, just a few places where we see this.

Acts 4, and the congregation of those who believe were one heart and soul. Not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. Now verse 33, and with great power, This is, the word great is the word we get our word mega from. And with mega power, the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord.

And secondly, abundant or mega grace was upon them all. He says, I, I want you to know two things in verse 33 about this. Church, and that is that when they preach the resurrection of Jesus, it was with grace, with mega power. And I also want you to know, secondly, that abundant grace was evidently upon the whole church.

Now, we read that and I know for me, I want to be a mega church like this. I, I want our gospel proclamation to go forth with mega power. And I want mega grace upon all of us in this church. Is that not what you want?

This is the true biblical definition of a mega church, mega power in our gospel proclamation, and the experience of mega grace upon everybody in the church body. If you want that as I want that, you would stop here in verse 33, at the end and say, wow, how can we get that? Why was it that the early church had great power in their witness? And why was it that abundant grace was upon all of them, Luke.

Can you say anything to address that? Well, Luke anticipates that you, the reader would be asking that. And so look at what he says in the very next verse. 4.

And, and please focus on that. He's not just saying, and let me tell you something else about them. No. He says, let me explain to you why.

Abundant power was in their testimony, and abundant grace was upon them all. Here's why, because, or for there was not a needy person among them. For all who were owners of land or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sales, lay them at the apostles' feet. They would be distributed to each as any had need.

Luke tells us what he tells us in verses 34 and 35 to explain why there was power in their testimony, and abundant grace was upon them all. It was because of the way that they ministered mercy. To those and their fellowship. That had material and financial need.

In fact, we see this. connection again, back in Acts 2. It says and all who believe were together had all things in common. They were selling their property and possessions, we're sharing them with all as any might have need, day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple, breaking bread from house to house.

They were taking their meals together with gladness and generosity or liberality of heart, praising God and Having favor with all the people, and the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. Again, we see a connection between their generosity and the favor that they seem to have with all of the people, at least at this point, and the Lord adding to their number. We see this one more time. In Acts 6, we just went through the narrative of Acts 6, and after they solved the problem, they appointed the men, the congregation, picked these 7 men to oversee the distribution of funds to address the needs of the needy in the Jerusalem church, including the widows, the Hebrew widows, and the Hellenistic widows.

They brought these men to the apostles, and it says in verse 6, and these they brought before the apostles, and after praying, They, the apostles laid their hands on them. And the Word of God kept on spreading, and the number of disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem. It's just interesting that Luke, without even skipping a breath, after praying, they laid their hands on them and the Word of God kept on spreading. And the number of disciples increased.

Alexander Strou. says this about this passage from Luke's point of view, the gospel's advancement was intimately connected with solving the poor widow's problems. The needy members of the Christian community had to be supported, or the gospel message would lose credibility. And now we see why the apostles would view that as so important and And, and what, we need to appoint men, and we're gonna lay our hands on them.

We're bringing the whole congregation together, we want to talk to you about this, we got to develop a plan, we got to do this. And the plan unfolds, the apostles lay their hands on them, and prayed for them, and the Word of God kept on spreading. Meaning that had this not been taken care of, there would have been a significant hiccup. In the progress Of the gospel, but this potential hindrance.

Of having members of this congregation with needs not being met was addressed and so the advance of the gospel could continue. So what do we make of these things? Let me just sweep some things together. By way of application, as we observe the example of the early church, I think we can learn that we should be generous in our hospitality to others, especially those in need.

We need to be hospitable. When we say hospitable, that doesn't just mean having people over your home, over to your house. It actually speaks of, in fact, the word hospitality is love of strangers. That's literally what it means, love of strangers.

love for those that are different than you, who are in a different socioeconomic station than you. we can have our best friends over into our homes, and that's great and that's commendable, but can we call that love of strangers, which is what the Greek word is for hospitality? I don't know. I don't think so.

we need to be generous in our hospitality, especially to those that are in need, just like Jesus says, invite into your home, not just those that, that can pay you back and invite you into their home, but invite those that will not be able to give back to you. So, be gracious in our hospitality, especially to those that are experiencing need. This is a ministry that we can all be involved in. Secondly, view all your possessions as belonging to the body of Christ.

I'd really challenge you guys to, to think biblically. And in a gospel way about this, that if the gospel's true, Christ died, and when he died, he purchased me. And if he purchased me, he purchased everything that I am and everything that I have. Therefore, everything that I have and possess is owned by Christ.

And if it's owned by Christ, then it's It belongs to his body. And so we are not stingy, we are not, we don't, we're not private, in terms of our, our ownership, but we genuinely feel and we think that what, what I have belongs to the body. And someone, has come to me and made aware to my, to me, made me aware of a need, and what, I, the reason I have my stuff is not just for me, but it's for the body. And so, We are freed, freed up with this type of thinking process.

To be generous. And when we're generous, it's not that we're being generous with our stuff, we're being generous with With what already in our thinking belongs to everybody else. So view your possessions as belonging to the body of Christ. Also, view the possessions of others as private property.

Don't just presume upon the generosity of other people. view their possessions as private property. If you use, for example, their vehicle or some possession of theirs, you take care of it, knowing that it belongs to them. We loaned.

Our car out to, to someone in our church that needed a vehicle, and we got the car back. They had it for a little over a week, I think, and we got it back this week and the car was washed. It looked like it had been waxed and the tank was full and there was a gas card and, and they had done one minor repair to one of the lights and it's like, they treated that. Not as if it belonged to them, but as if it belonged to us and expressing gratefulness for that.

And that, man, that's just total class and a total blessing. and when we do receive from the generosity of other people. we need to appreciate the fact that from our thinking that's their private property and they are sharing that with us. So I will treat it carefully and I will also be grateful.

Also, think outside the box and your mercy giving. The early church did that. They were like, man, we gotta, we gotta meet these needs and what, I'm out of cash. I'm out of cash.

But what, I own some property. And I will sell. That property so that I can have cash to meet these needs and understand that people in the early church were exactly like we are today. Anyone that owned property and possessions, they did that as an investment.

They wanted a return on that. They were saving up for retirement and, I want this property around for when I'm, when I'm older so that I can liquidate it at that time and have my needs addressed and whatever money that they put into the purchase of that property, it was their hard earned money that no doubt they had saved and worked and sweated and toiled for. And so these properties and possessions represented a huge amount of labor and toil and carefulness in terms of saving and, and, and, and, and research and making exactly the right purchase.

And yet here they are with all this and all this going into that.

And they see a brother in need, and they're like, what, I'm gonna sell this, so that I have the wherewithal to meet the need of these brothers and sisters in the Lord. So be willing to think outside. Of the box, it may very well be that God wants you to sell something that you Have so that you can have additional funds. To address the needs of your brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Another application is to give individually, but also help enrich your local church's ability to minister to the needy. We all need to be involved in mercy ministry on an individual basis. If you're driving down the freeway on the 60 and you see someone who is, is in an accident or maybe their car broke down and they're by the side of the road, don't think, well, what, I give you the Agape Fund, so I'm gonna call the church and have one of the pastors go take care of that situation.

no, I will personally be involved in helping out this individual.

So we're individually, all of us involved in Mercy Ministry, but also we definitely see a pattern in the Jerusalem Church, the Antioch Church where people also gave to the church to enrich the community's ability, the church's ability to address needs. They view themselves as being a part of a larger community. I want you guys to know that, like, if, for example, you give to the Agape Fund, Every penny, there's no overhead cost. It, it's none of it goes to paying any salaries or to pay any rent or bills or anything.

Every single penny of the Agape Fund, 100% of every dollar you give, goes right to the people in this church fellowship. That have needs, so not a penny is wasted and, make giving to the Agape Fund a part of your, your ministry to your brothers and sisters and the Lord. Do stuff individually, but also, just like the early church came and laid stuff at the apostles' feet, give to a fund like this so that we as a community are enriched in our ability to address the needs. Of our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

and then also we learned from the early church that we need to think beyond just the needy in our own local area, we need to have an eye for where else the needs, are. And I think we've done that to a degree, like I mentioned a couple of weeks ago when Hurricane Katrina hit, we thought of, our brothers and sisters down there who not only will be suffering, but also who have a unique opportunity to minister. And so in conjunction with the IFCA and some IFCA churches that are down there, we were able to send a significant thousands of dollars, ultimately down there.

To help these brothers and sisters, even though we were untouched by the hurricane, to help them to address their needs and to enrich them and their ministry so that they can address the physical needs of others who are there and do so in the name of Jesus.

And so we need to think beyond our own borders and think beyond just our own local church and the needs that we have here. Also, we're gonna be saying more about this in coming. weeks, but help your care group in its Ministry, of Mercy. And you guys can be creative with this.

You guys may decide, what, We as a care group want to have our own Agape Fund and not to compete with the Church's Agape Fund, but we want to have our own Agape Fund that each member of the group contributes towards to where if there's someone in our care group that has a need, that we've got some funds available to help them. And we do the best we can with what we have to address needs that are represented in our care group. But if the need goes beyond what we're able to handle, well then we contact the church, the elders, and, we talk about maybe providing larger help from the church's Agape Fund.

but on the care group level, to view that as the first place.

To go, in terms of, seeking to meet the needs that arise within the lives of people within our church, fellowship. Make Mercy Ministry a part of what you do as a care group. That's the point. In fact, let me close with this.

we have frequently talked about the four values of Acts 2:42. You guys remember that? Acts 2:42, the four values, care groups are a place, we want to practice the four values of Acts 2:42, and that is the apostles' teaching, the Lord's supper, fellowship, and prayer. And we still want to hold to those, but as we have been studying, Acts chapter To, we're noticing that as Luke continues to describe the early church, he goes beyond these four and begins to talk about their charity, how they were involved in addressing and meeting the needs of their brothers and sisters in the Lord, selling their property and possessions, and we're sharing them with all as anyone might have need.

And so what we're realizing On a staff level is that we need to go beyond just thinking of the four values of Acts 2:42 and include in that 1/5 value, and that is charity. and we're going to be factoring that into our philosophy statement for care groups and even our philosophy statement for what we're all about as a church. But as a care group, and as a church, we're not just about sitting around and talking and discussing and praying and, and so forth, but we're also, in addition to that, we are a mercy ministry.

View your care group as an agency of mercy, and it is one of the arm.

of mercy, of charity for this church body, and do whatever you can, be creative, dream a little bit, talk about it as a care group, and do what you can individually to help your care group in its ministry of mercy. There's still so much that we have to learn. next week, Carlos is gonna be, walking us through Paul's epistles and seeing how voluminously Paul speaks to the subject. The following week, Mike is gonna, open up the book of James, and we're gonna see a ton of stuff that James has to say about that.

The following week, I'm gonna be preaching from John, First John, and looking at what John has to say about this. And then lastly, we're just gonna be processing, as a church about what we need to do in order to implement these things that we have been covering and learning about, as we are opening our hearts to and listening to God's call to mercy. As he delivers that call through the pages of scripture. Let me ask you to bow your heads.

I don't know if you guys realize this. I think some of you do that in the early church, even after the Book of Acts, some of the records we have from church history, That one of the apologetics, one of, one of the things that pagans talked about. Regarding the church was how they loved one another, willing to die for one another. And how they ministered to the needs of not not only each other, but how they ministered to the material needs.

Of people in the societies in which they lived, that was a very powerful apologetic. That strengthened the witness of the church and caused the world to take a second look at something that they may not have taken a second look at. Because they saw the gospel in action, not just in word, but also in deed, and we see that in the book of Acts. Truly gospel centered churches are not churches that simply sit around and talk gospel.

But we do gospel. We're not just spiritual, but we're also physical in our orientation. We look at physical needs, material needs, and the gospel. And Christ's teaching, and the example of the early church compels us.

To the addressing of those needs. Let's pray and ask God. To take us further. And they continue to advance us.

In this important area. Father, we Thank you for the grace of Christ in our lives. We thank you for the example and the teaching of Christ. We thank you for The example of the early church.

It's one thing, Lord, to just be told, do this, do that, but it just sure helps to just look at. A church that's doing these things and say, OK, we can do that. Luke did not just include this information just for our Historical interest. He's, he's telling us these things.

Because There's something that we should actually be instructed by. And in this area that we've looked at this morning, there is much to emulate. And learn from. Help us To be a church That if someone were to grab a pen and paper, And watch us For a few months and then sit down.

And then just write A 100 word description of our church. May it be That in those 100 words, They would describe Our ministries of mercy. And our charity. May that be so central.

To who we are as a church that it would be observable to others. And out of all of the things that could be said about us, they choose to focus on this. Because they see that it's central to what we're all about. So continue to teach us, Lord, we confess to you that we have much to learn, but we say to you that our hearts are open.

Lead us And teach us And help us to be doers of the word. For your glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name, and all God's people said,