Acts 4:32-37 New Life In Christ 5, Giving: "More Than We Need"

I'm guessing no one would argue with me if I said everyone probably has everything they need and more.

We have so much for which we can be thankful to God.

I'm thinking all of us slept in warm beds last night in homes that protect us from the elements, especially the cold weather of the past week.

I expect that we all had three square meals each day, enough to spare, and good clean water to drink and bathe in as well.

I suspect that some of us have a little trouble deciding what to wear because our closets are full of clothes, some of which get put on only rarely.

I imagine that most of us either have money in the bank or the piggy bank and that many of us brought something to give back to God with thankful hearts this morning.

 I also expect that everyone here this morning has people in their lives that love them.  Many of you are here because you feel you belong here, that you are loved and you want to give love too.

Now, all of my reasoning leads me to a question, & that question is: Why does God give us more than we need? Why does he allow us to have so much when there are so many who have so little?

As we think about those questions, let's look at our Bible passage for today, which is in Acts 4:32-37

³²All the believers were united in heart and mind.  And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had.  ³³The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's great blessing was upon them all.  ³⁴There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them ³⁵and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.  ³⁶For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means "Son of Encouragement"). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus.  ³⁷He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.

Why does God give us more than we need?

I am sure we can find answers in those verses.

Luke displays for his readers that unity with Christ and with other believers is shown through generous giving both ordinary and extraordinary.

Let's look at Ordinary giving as shown in verse 32. (See v. 32)

³²All the believers were united in heart and mind.  And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. 

They shared everything they had.

Ordinary giving, as Luke describes it, is simply this: sharing the stuff we have and sharing it willingly, freely, gladly and generously.

It says, "No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own."

They had the right attitude about their stuff.  You can't take it with you when you die. Really my stuff, your stuff, is all God's stuff.

Truthfully, our stuff is not our stuff at all.  It belongs to God and he allows us to manage, handle, & deal with it through our lives.

How do we share our stuff in ordinary ways?

Ordinary giving happens when we invite others to share it with us or when we give some stuff away to those in need.

Ordinary sharing is like when you give to the food bank or buy food or other stuff for someone who is in a moment of need.

It can be sharing or giving away money, food, toys, games, or sharing your time, talents or abilities, and so on.

Ordinary giving is regular giving; you do it often.

Ordinary giving is also part of giving to support the work of the local church. When you put your offering or tithe in the plate as it's passed, that's ordinary giving & the Bible makes it clear elsewhere that God expects all believers to do that.

Then there's another type of giving that we find in this passage: Extraordinary giving.

Now, extraordinary giving is giving that is beyond the ordinary or more than the regular, normal ways people give.

After telling his readers about extraordinary giving in verses 34 and 35, Luke gives an example of an extraordinary giver in verses 36 and 37. (See vv. 34 - 37)

³⁴There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them ³⁵and bring the money to the apostles to those in need.  ³⁶For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means "Son of Encouragement"). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus.  ³⁷He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.

I think it is an extraordinary thing to sell property you own, whether a house or land, and give the money to someone to just give away.

I don't even own any land and I can imagine how difficult that decision would be for me.

Imagine for a moment something valuable that you have or that's important to you. Now, imagine what it would take for you to say, "They need this more than I need it. I'm going to give it to them." Whether you sell it and give the money or give the item directly is not important.

Those were the attitudes and actions of the believers in the early church 2000 years ago. Everyone practiced ordinary giving and sometimes extraordinary giving.

It says, "There were no needy people among them."

If there ever came a time of great need among us, how many would or could do what Joseph, the Encourager, did?

Sell that little property you've been sitting on as a retirement home or cash in that investment you've been saving for a rainy day because the pastor cast a vision that set you on fire or something else happened to raise a need you feel you've got to meet.

Give away your collectable toys that are in mint condition or donate your Xbox, Wii, or PS3 to a family who lost their home in a fire.

I heard part of an interview on the radio not long ago with a young girl who decided on her own to ask for money for Christmas from her family and friends.

Asking for money for Christmas is not so extraordinary, is it? But what she did with it was.  This young girl, without being prodded by her parents, asked for money for Christmas so that she could help children in poor countries.

Children who don't know what it is like to live in a warm safe house, have three healthy meals plus snacks every day, who don't have the privilege of going to school to learn reading, writing and arithmetic and whose parents don't get paid enough to provide for their families, they might not have proper clothes or even a toy.

This little girl thought about those children and thought to herself, "I need to do something. I can help them." And she did. She gave away all of the money she got for Christmas and she did it because she knew that others needed it more than she needed it. That is extraordinary giving.

In his book, It Came From Within, Andy Stanley shares the story of a man in his church who was able to retire as a 40 something year old because he was so good at making money. 

He thought God wanted him to devote his retirement days to doing full time ministry, but after talking with Pastor Andy, other believers, and prayer he understood that God had blessed him with the ability to make heaps of money. So what did he do?

He went back to work and made making money his ministry.  He put all the profits, the extra money, into supporting ministries around the world.  That is a huge example of extraordinary giving.

Friends of ours asked their kids if they'd like to do something different for their birthdays, after all, they really don't need more toys.

So as a family they came up with the idea to ask their friends to bring food bank items wrapped as gifts and the birthday boy/girl gets to deliver the items to the food bank.

It may not seem like a big sacrifice, but in our self-centred culture giving up your birthday is a big deal, even for adults. That is a way to start extraordinary giving.

Have you ever got an unexpected bonus at work or more money back on your income tax than you expected?  Normally, we would put that money away or spend it on ourselves or it would just get absorbed into the monthly expenses.

But what if you asked God what he'd like you to do with that unexpected money? I'm sure he can find all kinds of things that have far greater meaning than that new blue-ray player, iPhone, iPad or leather jacket you've been drooling over, well maybe I'm only speaking for myself, but you get the point, right?

Some of you teens get extra money for doing extra chores. What if you took that extra money and didn't spend it on yourself?

What if you took it and gave it away for an extraordinary reason?

Some of you are interested in baby-sitting, what if you looked upon your interest as a ministry? What if you decided to give away some of your time to those who need a sitter? Say like for families who need to get their shopping done and the little ones just can't take a full day in the city. That's extraordinary giving.

Well, we've looked at ordinary and extraordinary giving, but these raise another question.  Why were the believers so generous?

Let's look at verse 33 (See v. 33)

³³The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's great blessing was upon them all. 

They were generous because of the apostles’ witness of Jesus' resurrection and his power at work in their lives.

They were generous because they understood that this life is not all there is.  Because Jesus rose from the dead, we can get eternal life in bodies that will never die.

More than that because God's power was at work in the apostles God's power would also be at work in every believer's life.

That power that acts as a witness to Jesus resurrection is the power of love and love gives.

John 3:16 reminds us that, "God so loved the world that he gave..." Love gives.

John 13:35 tells us that Jesus said to his disciples, "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."

If we want to show others that we are Christians, then we need to love one another and love is best shown when we give.

Why does God give us more than we need?

God gives us more than we need so we’ll share Christ's love in ordinary and extraordinary ways.