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00:01 Good morning church. Uh good to see you all on this lovely Sunday morning in the house of the Lord. And once again, it's
00:08 my great joy and privilege to be standing here sharing you with you from the word of God. If you're not already
00:14 aware, we are now in the midst of a series on the issue of um a Christian
00:20 and money. In other words, how believer ought to regard his uh possession and
00:25 assets. In fact, today we are almost at the end uh we at the end of the series and
00:32 today's message is the last installment and I've been uh tasked with u uh
00:37 wrapping up the series with a sermon entitled money and the power of the spirit
00:42 and next Sunday uh we will u go back to a a book study and uh we will start this
00:49 new series on the book of uh Hezekiah in the old testament
00:55 uh towards the old Testament about Hezekiah. Some of you look very puzzled
01:02 and that's because there's no such book Hezekiah in the Bible.
01:07 Now, those of you who were not aware or who were not too sure, you better go back to Bible class. Okay, I know Morin
01:14 look very surprised. Hezekiah in the Bible. And sorry about uh that little test of
01:21 Bible knowledge. Uh but seriously, next Sunday we will start a a new series on
01:26 the book of Habacook uh which is a very short book. The text for today's sermon
01:31 is taken from Acts chapter 4 uh verses 31- 37. It's only uh 7 verses long but
01:39 it is a very difficult text. Uh not from a theological point of view but more in
01:45 terms of application. We shall see how the believers in the early church regarded money and material
01:52 possessions. And the biggest challenge for us in the text is um is from verse
01:59 uh 32. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they
02:04 shared everything they had. And this is repeated in verses 34 and 35. From time
02:10 to time, those who own land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles feet,
02:17 and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Has anyone of us done this?
02:24 Will anyone of us ever do this? We shall see how this came about in the
02:30 in the early church and we shall try to draw precious lessons from these uh verses. Well, at the same time, we shall
02:36 also uh examine a par. But first, shall we commit this time to the Lord in prayer?
02:43 Our Father in heaven, may your spirit open up our hearts and minds as we open up these verses before us. Cause us to
02:51 change the way we regard our money and possessions in order that we may draw
02:57 closer to you. For this we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
03:03 As I sometimes do at the start of my sermons, I wish to show you a 4 minute plus video clip uh that was produced
03:10 about 10 years ago. Now I received this many times uh over the past few years uh
03:16 via WhatsApp and I have watched it many times as well and many of you might have already seen it too but let's watch it
03:22 again uh as a kind of introduction to what we want to discuss today. the the
03:28 title is uh chicken alakat which is kind of apt given that this
03:33 year is the year of the rooster. Okay. Now there actually many uh videos like
03:40 this available on YouTube. Many of them produced in India. This particular
03:45 version is uh was produced in the Philippines. And what I find um utterly
03:51 amazing about these videos is that most of them are entitled don't waste food
03:58 or something to that effect. It seems that the main purpose uh uh is to teach
04:04 viewers not to waste food. Of course, we shouldn't waste food. It's almost a sin
04:11 to waste food given how many poor people uh go hungry every day in the world.
04:18 But while I while I will be the first to say don't waste food, but to watch these videos and and to say don't waste food
04:25 is to miss the point entirely. It is almost selfserving.
04:32 Don't waste food so that you don't waste money so that you can get richer. Do you
04:37 see what I mean? In this particular advertisement, the company wants to
04:42 promote the idea of a of a of eating healthily and and living happily. And
04:48 they are using this picture of this starving child as a tool as if to say let's not be like him.
04:55 The only focus of of the video we saw or this advertisement should be on the plight of the poor that they struggle to
05:02 get by with very little and their situation is often desperate. After
05:08 watching the video, rather than a call not to waste food, we should be reminded that they are poor people. They are
05:14 needy people in our world, in our community, and indeed within our congregation as
05:21 well. They often hidden from our sight, but they are there. But what should our
05:27 response be? Two weeks ago, my my daughter asked me suddenly asked me a very strange
05:33 question. Why are there both rich and poor people in the world? Now, it is a
05:40 huge question. We can debate it from uh economics,
05:45 uh political, sociological or even a historical uh uh angle.
05:52 But I thought about it and I came out with a with a rather philosophical answer.
05:57 The poor exist to test the humanity of the rich.
06:03 a little like the Hezekiah test now and some will pass the test and some will fail it. And so it is with these
06:10 thoughts in mind that I that I wish to approach our text today. Now before we we dive into our passage in Acts chapter
06:16 4, I would like to spend uh some time to look into a related portion of scripture. As I mentioned just now, our
06:23 text today has a mirror in the Old Testament. And over the past months uh I've been teaching from the book of uh
06:30 Nehemiah at the SS19 live group meetings on Friday nights. And uh almost by
06:36 divine uh arrangement we have just finished Nehemiah chapter 5 which turns which turns out to be to be a very
06:42 instructive parallel to our text in Acts chapter 4. Now we don't have time to
06:48 examine the whole of this book of Nehemiah. Uh but let me describe briefly what is what was going on in that book
06:54 especially in chapter 5 of Nehemiah. Now the book of Nehemiah is about the
06:60 rebuilding of the walls and gates of Jerusalem which had been destroyed by the by the Babylonian king
07:08 in the 586 BC. Now we we went through all of that when we did our series on
07:13 the book of Daniel last year. But now that it was a new sheriff in town, the
07:19 Persians uh were in power and the Persian kings uh had been sympathetic to
07:25 the plight of the Israelites. They were they were allowed to return to Judah after 70 years of exile. Now at the
07:33 point of Nehemiah chapter 1, the Israelites had already gone back uh to
07:38 Judah and the temple in Jerusalem had already been rebuilt. But the walls and the and the gates of
07:45 the city remain in ruins. And this caused the people of God much uh distress as they were subject to raids
07:52 and attacks by bandits and by enemies uh to the south, to the east, and to the
07:58 north. And so Nehemiah chapters 1 to4 carry uh great details about how the
08:05 walls and the gates of Jerusalem were being rebuilt. And as this was happening in Nehemiah
08:12 chapter 5, Nehemiah turned his attention to another huge problem that the
08:17 Israelites were facing. There had been a ham a famine and many of them had mortgaged their lands in order to borrow
08:25 money to survive. Now these loans came with interest and
08:31 uh when they couldn't repay their loans their lands were seized and when they could when they when they didn't have a
08:37 land to work on they lost their source of income and they went deeper into debt. Many of them ended up being
08:44 enslaved together with their wives and children. And this was the situation in
08:49 Nehemiah chapter 5. And that made Nehemiah very angry.
08:54 You see, with the with the new walls and gates, the Israelites could enjoy a
08:59 physical security. But all this seemed pointless when there was no financial
09:05 security, especially among the poor. And so in Nehemiah chapter 5, Nehemiah
09:10 summoned all the nobles and the rich uh Israelites, and he scolded them for their treatment of the poor and needy.
09:18 Nehemiah 5 uh 6 says uh he Nehemiah wrote this when I heard their outcry and
09:24 and these charges I was very angry now let's consider why Nehemiah was
09:31 angry in those days according to the economic system of of that time when you
09:37 lend money you charge interest of course it's the same today all loans come with
09:44 interest charges now in those days if you cannot pay your debt, the your lender will seize uh your land or house.
09:52 And it is similar to our practice today. If you don't pay your car installments, what happens? The finance company will
09:59 come and repossess your car. Uh because the lenders have their rights too. Now
10:06 further in those days if you still cannot repay your your debts uh you then either sell yourself off for yourself
10:11 and your into slavery together with your wife and your children in order to help uh pay off the what is owed. Now today
10:18 of course we don't practice that otherwise there may be slaves sitting here in today if uh you don't repay your
10:25 your debt your the lender will go to court and make you a bankrupt. Okay. But
10:31 back then they had their system and the rich Israelites were simply acting
10:37 according to what they had in those days. Now Nehemiah was angry because
10:42 what they did was not right. He said in verse 9, what you are doing is not
10:48 right. Although they may have been justified uh according to the economic
10:53 system of that time, but it was not right according to God's laws pertaining
10:58 to lending money. In fact, they all had disobeyed God's commandment. Now, the
11:05 basis of Nehemiah's indignation and in indictment is the Mosaic law specified
11:11 in Exodus 22 from 20 uh chapter 22 25 to 27 that deals with the issue of lending
11:18 money. Now, let's take a look. Firstly, Exodus uh 22:2.
11:24 If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal, charge no
11:32 interest. Charge no interest. Uh second law regarding collaterals
11:40 um from verses 26 and 27. If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, which
11:45 is a collateral, return it by sunset because that cloak is the only covering
11:51 your neighbor has. But you may ask, what's the point of uh asking for the collateral if you have to
11:57 return it by sunset? That's another way of saying don't take your collateral.
12:04 Now here, let me point out something. These laws governing the lending of money in Exodus 22 are within the
12:12 context of God's people. After all, verse 25 refers to lending money to one
12:18 of my people, God's people. And that's why Nehemiah was angry in Nehemiah 5 because the wealthy Israelites were
12:24 going against these laws and they were treating mistreating the the Israelites poorly.
12:30 Now when we consider what what is what happened in Acts chapter 4 which we which we will examine shortly. They were
12:36 doing the very opposite of what happened what the Israelites did in uh in Nehemiah 5. They were taking care of of
12:44 each other. But that was also within the context of God's people.
12:49 Now before we move on, I shall now uh spell out in clear terms the rules that
12:55 govern the lending of money to a fellow believer to a brother or sister in
13:01 Christ who is going through financial hardship. Now these are based on these three verses in Exodus 22 which are
13:08 still binding on us. Number one, do not charge any interest.
13:17 I hope none of you have done this. Huh? Do if you have done this, return the interest.
13:24 Do not charge any interest. Now, you may charge interest on non-believers uh which is allowed based on another verse,
13:30 another obscure verse in Deuteronomy 23. Or else how how are the banks going to
13:35 function? But when it comes to lending money to a fellow believer, it must be a
13:40 interestfree loan. Number two, do not profit from it in any
13:46 way because it must not be treated like a business deal. Now, you may say, "Oh, I don't charge
13:52 any interest." But you may be asking for uh benefits in other forms.
13:58 Now, you must not profit from the loan in any way, not even a meal of thank
14:04 you. Okay? And number three, do not ask for any collaterals, which means that
14:09 there will be no issue of you keeping the collateral if he fails to repay the the debt.
14:16 Okay? Three rules governing how uh if you should you lend money to a fellow
14:23 believer. Now, I would like to add one more to this list based on the teaching of Jesus in uh Matthew 5:42.
14:30 Give to the one who asks you and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. Do not turn away from
14:37 the one who wants to borrow from you. And on this note, let me say this and I
14:42 say this with a tinge of sadness that there are Christians, I hope not too many, who would not go near a fellow
14:50 believer who is facing financial difficulties for fear that he might want
14:55 to borrow money from them. And their behavior is akin to this
15:02 little girl enjoying her ice cream all by herself, oblivious to the cries of the little boy
15:09 who just want a small lick of the popsicle. Maybe this is not such a good analogy.
15:15 But anyway, number four in our list, do not turn away from the one in need.
15:23 Sometimes in our fellowship, you know, we we talk about all kinds of things, whether you were, how your children, tell me everything about you, but don't
15:29 tell me your financial difficulties. What we saw in Nehemiah 5 is therefore a
15:34 clear violation of God's commandments, which was what got uh Nehemiah very
15:40 angry. Now, later, if you continue to read Nehemiah 5, they did repent of their sins and and they did give back to
15:46 the poor all the interests they charged and all the properties they seized.
15:52 Now when we compare what happened in Nehemiah 5 with what we see in our text in Acts chapter 4, there is a huge world
15:58 of difference. And what we have in the early church among the early believers was like a utopia. The rich Christians
16:06 shared their wealth with their poor brethren and there was no one in their
16:11 midst who was in need. Now, the reason why I brought up Nehemiah 5 is to provide a kind of
16:17 background to our text today to show the sharp contrast between two communities
16:22 of God's people. One in the Old Testament and one in the New. One is way down there and one is way up here. Now,
16:30 we must realize that the early Christians in Acts chapter 4, they were all Jews and therefore they were all
16:36 well aware of the commandments in Exodus 22 and also what happened in Nemiah 5.
16:42 But not only did they not charge interest nor take collaterals which they do which they knew they mustn't do, they
16:50 were they went far far beyond Exodus 22. Namely, the rich shared what they had
16:56 with the poor. Now I wish to point out that what happened uh in Acts chapter 4 is in fact
17:03 a repeat of what happened earlier a few weeks or a few months before following
17:08 the day of uh Pentecost uh when the Holy Spirit first descended on the first believers because at the end of Acts
17:14 chapter 2 uh in verses uh 44 and 45 it says all the believers were together and
17:21 had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who who had need. So this is two
17:27 chapters before what we have today. Now if we combine these two verses with our
17:33 text for today. This is a picture of the early church.
17:38 The rich sold properties and gave it to the to the church. None claimed possessions as his own. They shared
17:44 everything they had. They had everything in common and there was no needy persons in their midst.
17:52 So I wanted to I wanted to describe them as communists because this was exactly what the
17:59 communists wanted to achieve from Lenin to Mao from uh Stalin to Pawport but
18:08 because communist is a bad word today so I shall describe the early Christians as very communal there not heric socialist
18:16 know but today socialist communist not a nice word so we say they're very communal No. Okay.
18:23 Now, the obvious question dangling before us, the the big question that begs to be answered is this.
18:31 What made them do all this? Why were they able to do all this? This
18:38 is not something easy to do, not something that you and I will be willing to do.
18:45 what exactly happened in Acts chapter 2 and also Acts chapter 4 that caused them to subscribe to this level of unity and
18:52 generosity and this is where we want to unpack the verses in our text for today. Now I see
18:59 the the text as comprising two parts first the cause and then the effect. And
19:05 so what happened in in in Acts chapter 4 is a kind of cause and effect thing. The first verse as we dissect the text
19:14 together with preceding verses in the chapter is the cause. Here we find the trigger.
19:21 This is what set off the series of events that followed. The next four verse, four verses and uh
19:28 plus a small portion of of verse 31 are the effects. This is the result or the
19:36 outcome or the aftermath of what happened earlier in verse 31 and and before that. And finally, I suppose the
19:45 last two verses could be seen as a specific example of the effect.
19:51 Now, let me zoom into the cause and then the later the effect. From verse 31,
19:58 we see that the early believers, they had met at a certain place and they were praying.
20:04 What were they praying about? Now, in order to appreciate uh what was happening then and and what was about to
20:10 happen, we need to see uh what took place before verse 31 because verse 31 is actually the climax of a series of
20:17 events that started way back from uh Acts chapter 3, one chapter before this.
20:23 And so let me quickly relate them to you. Our story actually begins uh in Acts
20:28 chapter 3:es 1-10 when Peter and John healed a lame beggar at the temple gate
20:35 in Jerusalem. And that was when Peter famously said, "Silver and gold I have
20:40 none, but such as I have give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." And this miracle at
20:49 3:00 in the afternoon caused quite a caster among the the onlookers and and and a and a huge crowd quickly gathered
20:56 around the two disciples and Peter then seized the opportunity to preach to them which takes up the rest of Acts chapter
21:03 3. But this made the religious leaders uh very angry because they didn't like what
21:10 the apostles were teaching and also because they were drawing huge crowds. And so when we come to chapter 4, our
21:16 our chapter, uh we find Peter and John thrown into prison and the next day they
21:23 were brought before the Sanhedrin or the ruling council to be questioned.
21:28 But surprisingly at the end of uh this lengthy interrogation, Peter and John were released after being threatened and
21:36 warned not to preach or teach about Jesus. And all this we can read in the
21:41 first half of Acts chapter 4. And when they returned to their people in uh in
21:47 Acts chapter 4 20 23 so the believers got together you know very excitedly
21:52 what happened you know what happened to you and uh Peter and John related to them about the threats uh you know from
21:58 the authorities and and they started to pray against these threats
22:04 and their prayer can be found from verses 24 to verse 30.
22:10 And so what happened in our text today from verse 31 took place just as they
22:16 finished praying. And the place where they met
22:22 was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. The place was literally
22:28 shaken like in an earthquake. in the room or hall where they met shook as if
22:34 it could not contain the the the weight of God's power and and and glory and
22:40 majesty. Now across the pages of scripture whenever God made a physical appearance
22:47 with a full manifestation of his being it was often accompanied by lightning
22:53 and thunder, strong winds or earthquake. A good example is in uh in Exodus 19 when God
23:00 descended on Mount Si. The whole mountain uh trembled violently.
23:07 But for our purpose today, more importantly, not only was there a physical shaking of the place, there was
23:12 also a spiritual shaking among the believers because verse 31 says they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.
23:20 Whenever the people of God are filled with the spirit, they are shaken out of their comfort zones and out of their
23:27 normal behavior. The infilling of the Holy Spirit is often accompanied by amazing changes in a person. Changes
23:34 than that we normally do not see. Now these are the so-called effects which I mentioned just now which is described
23:41 for us in verses 20 32 to 35. Now before I move on to describe the
23:47 effect, I would like to uh touch briefly on this matter of infilling of the Holy
23:53 Spirit. What does it mean to be filled with the spirit? But before that I I I
23:59 think we must first understand what it means to be to have the indwelling of the spirit as opposed to infilling. So
24:06 there are two words here. Okay. The Bible teaches us that whenever a person becomes a child of God, a true
24:13 believer that is the spirit of God dwells in him. Paul wrote in uh Romans
24:20 8:9, "But you are not in the flesh but in the spirit. If indeed the spirit of
24:26 God dwells in you." Now you have if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his. So it's
24:33 very clear. Hence, if you are a Christian, a true Christian, the Holy Spirit is dwelling within you. Now, this
24:42 indwelling of the Holy Spirit is like the mark or the seal of our salvation.
24:49 And Paul also uses the term deposit or guarantee. For example, in 2 Corinthians
24:54 5:5, now the now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God who has given us the spirit as a
25:02 deposit guaranteeing what is to come.
25:08 Okay. So this is this part is the first part the indwelling. Now at the same time the Bible also teaches us that we
25:14 should also be filled with the spirit. Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:18, "Do not
25:20 get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the
25:26 spirit, which is what was happening here in our text in Acts chapter 4. This was the
25:33 second time it happened. The first time was two chapters earlier, as I said in chapter Acts chapter 2 on the day of
25:38 Pentecost." Now, interestingly, earlier in the day, uh, when this happened in
25:44 Acts chapter 4:31, Peter was already filled with with the Holy Spirit when he
25:49 stood before the Sanhedrin. You can see that in chapter 4:8. Now, many of you will automatically ask,
25:56 what's the difference between inddwelling and infilling of the Holy Spirit? Now, this is a very important
26:02 question. Of course, there's a huge difference. I try to answer in such a way that you can remember
26:11 in case of inddwelling you have 100% of the spirit
26:20 but when you are filled with the spirit he has 100% of you. Can you see the
26:26 difference? To put in another way when the spirit dwells in you he is a resident in your
26:33 heart. But when he fills you, he becomes president in your heart as you allow
26:40 Jesus to sit on the throne of your life. Thirdly, the indwelling of the Holy
26:46 Spirit is an issue of your spiritual status, namely as a redeemed child of God.
26:54 Whereas the infilling of the spirit is a matter of substance or the quality of
26:60 your spiritual life. Indwelling takes place at a point of your conversion. But infilling happens
27:07 along the way as you grow spiritually, as you are sanctified gradually.
27:13 And I know this to be true because these are the experiences of many of us who have been Christians for a long time.
27:21 Now let me perhaps uh for those of you who are still not very uh uh clear, let me perhaps give you a simple analogy to
27:28 further to try to further understand the difference between inddwelling and infilling.
27:34 Now my wife and I we were married in 1994 and in the eyes of the law we are
27:40 husband and wife. Not only that in the eyes of family and friends we are
27:45 husband and wife. we are a married couple. Now there are
27:50 times of course when I cause her to be upset and vice versa she causes me to be upset.
27:58 It is not just one way. Okay, it's both ways. But
28:03 even if she's upset or I am upset, it doesn't alter the fact a single bit that
28:09 we are husband and wife. Last week I had to be in Sarabat for two
28:14 days uh on a work rellated trip and so I was away for two days. Now whether we
28:19 are apart or we are together our state of being married to each other never
28:24 change. Some people when they go off stationary they become bachelors.
28:31 So in good times or in bad times in sickness or in health whether we are
28:37 happy or angry we remain as husband and wife. It is a
28:42 status thing is not something that we need to feel. Oh wow, you know she's my
28:48 wife. You know, no need to feel because it is the fact is that we are married.
28:54 That's it. Period. And the indwelling of the spirit is a
28:60 little like that status thing. Now we also enjoy
29:05 traveling a lot. It's something that we love doing together. And so we do like four to five trips a year. And whenever
29:12 we travel anything from four days to two weeks, we leave behind our work and all
29:18 the demands of life. We leave behind schedules and meetings and deadlines
29:25 and the children. And during the trip, we we we spend a
29:32 lot of quality time together. We talked to each other to no end. and we enjoyed
29:37 each other's company immensely. The place is not really very important. It can be any destination.
29:44 But during these getaways, our marriage is strengthened and lifted up
29:50 and our relationship is given a mighty boost. But we may come back to square
29:55 one. And the infilling of the spirit is a
30:01 little like that. Now let me continue where I left off just now when I mentioned that the
30:06 infilling of the Holy Spirit is often accompanied by amazing changes in a person. Changes that we normally do not
30:12 see. Great changes take place when believers
30:17 are spiritfilled. Great changes take place when believers
30:22 are spiritfilled. There were great changes uh in the early
30:28 church which we shall now discuss uh in the rest of our text. Now technically
30:33 the changes caused by the infilling of the spirit is known as transformation from a verse in Romans 12:2.
30:41 It's not as if the the spirit comes and zaps you, you know, and you're no longer in control of yourself. No, this holy
30:47 spirit is also known as the counselor. It means that you are sensitive to his counsel and and and guidance and you
30:53 cooperate with him to effect these uh changes in your life.
30:59 Now in contrast, in sharp contrast, the world tells us that we are the masters of our destiny and we must therefore
31:07 effect the changes in our in us by ourselves using our own willpower or
31:14 determination or motivation. Very different. And here's a typical
31:20 quotation that we often see about change. He says that it takes one person to change your life. you and a big U.
31:31 Well, this is often what we are told. Now, here's another one which I received
31:37 just two or three days ago. It says, "Change cannot be given to you every
31:42 time. You must bring the change." Supposedly a quotation by this Ramachandran
31:49 very true, but from a non-Christian point of view. And just who is this Ramachandran? Turns out that he's a bus
31:56 conductor who works in KL. What it means that if you give him a big note for the bus fair, he will not give you back your
32:02 change.
32:07 Some of you are a bit slow in getting the punch line.
32:13 I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist sharing this with you.
32:20 Now jokes aside, hence the the the changes we see in in the Christian
32:27 not because of willpower. They are the results of the working of the Holy Spirit.
32:33 When we examine our text uh from the end of verse 31-35,
32:38 we can pick up three changes or the three effects caused by the infilling of
32:44 the Holy Spirit. Firstly from the last verse uh of verse 31 they spoke the word
32:50 of God boldly and in verse 33 with great power the apostles continued to test
32:57 testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. In other words they were full of zeal to testify and to spread the
33:05 gospel. So first of the three changes we see. Secondly from verse uh 32 all the
33:11 believers were one in heart and mind. They were united and they enjoyed oneness in their midst regardless of
33:18 their social backgrounds. And thirdly, from verse verse
33:23 32, they shared everything they had. From verses 34 and 35, those who own land or houses sold them and so on and
33:30 so forth and put it at the disciples feet and there were no needy person among them. I I highlighted these verses
33:36 at the beginning of the sermon. Now in summary the effects were one testimony they
33:44 shared their faith fervently two unity unity means they shared a
33:50 common goal and three generosity they shared their possessions willingly.
33:58 Now I shall skip number one as it is not directly related to our topic uh today which is the money and the power of
34:03 spirit. I shall touch on uh number two unity as it is connected to our number
34:08 three uh generosity which I will discuss in in greater length on the matter of uh
34:14 unity. A clear result of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is a sense of togetherness
34:20 and oneness. It is an inclination to say we rather than me. It is the tendency to
34:29 think in the interests of the whole rather than catering to the demand of just one or two. Let me read uh verse uh
34:37 32 again. All the believers were one in heart and mind. Now this unity is
34:43 actually very hard to achieve without the working of the Holy Spirit in our midst because if you have a group of 10
34:51 persons, you have 10 differing opinions or views.
34:56 Take for example the issue of of our holy communion when we introduced a new
35:02 format two Sundays ago. Remember wow the reactions were swift.
35:08 Some were okay with it because if the congregation gets too large uh we may have no choice is will
35:16 be impractical one day to to mobilize a big uh team of leaders to serve the
35:21 elements. Some didn't like it but they were willing to go along with it. But the majority opposed it uh saying that
35:30 uh you know the thing we use uh kind of diminished the meaning of the breaking of the bread which I wholeheartedly
35:37 agree. Now what about me? What do I think? Now
35:42 I don't wish to complicate the matter further for Peter but if you ask me I
35:47 would much prefer one cup and one bread.
35:54 I'm not saying anything to Peter. When I was in Osaka for a couple of
36:01 years, I attended this small Japanese church that used one loaf and one
36:07 goblet. And I liked it because it was very meaningful. But if I were to suggest one
36:14 single cup, the opposition would would be even greater. How can the guy beside
36:19 me didn't brush his teeth? He leaves his saliv cup. I'm not going to drink from the same cup. And so for the sake of
36:27 hygiene, I'm not going to insist on this this suggestion. Okay? I hope you get my point. Now here, let me digress a little
36:34 and I I share with you some thoughts about unity to help us navigate through
36:39 such issues. This is a crisp uh quotation by a 17th century German
36:45 theologian and this is something that we can be guided by few hundred years ago. He wrote this in
36:52 essentials unity in non-essentials
36:58 liberty in all things charity or in one version it says in all things love now
37:06 think about it when it comes to the essentials such as uh for example justification by faith or the
37:11 resurrection of Christ there should be no compromise or negotiation we stand united on such fundamental doctrinal
37:18 matters because they are our core or beliefs. But if it involves non-essentials such as the manner the
37:25 holy communion is administered or the type of songs that we should use for worship or whether a woman can preach
37:31 from the pulpit. These are non-essentials over which we should never quarrel
37:37 for trouble starts when a non-essential is made into a essential.
37:44 It partly explains why there are so many Christian denominations in the world today.
37:49 Take for example, okay, let's take a practical example that if you somehow one day insist vehemently that women
37:57 should cover their heads during worship in accordance to one Corinthians 11.
38:03 But you bring this up to the leadership. The leadership refuses to accept your demand. And so you decide to to start a
38:11 new church with a few members of the congregation who share your view. Well,
38:17 I wouldn't call you a heretic, but I will take you to task for dividing the
38:22 church over a non-essential.
38:27 Incidentally, I once suggested to my wife and daughter that she that she wear a veil during worship.
38:39 They said I sounded like a religious fanatic and so I stopped insisting
38:47 on non-essential matters we should exercise liberty, flexibility and compromise. Now I don't
38:54 wish to spend so much time on this but the point is whenever there is infilling of the spirit it always causes unity
39:02 among the believers in heart and mind. To put it across neatly,
39:07 the kingship of Jesus leads to kinship without the G. Kinship among believers.
39:16 Now coming to the third and last point which is related to our title today. Whenever there is infilling of the
39:22 spirit, it also results in much generosity in the believer always.
39:28 And this generosity may be the result of unity. But I see it as a direct result of the working of the Holy Spirit.
39:35 Now earlier I asked what made the believers in the early church do all these things. The answer is clear to us
39:40 now it's because they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. The fact is the more a Christian is
39:46 transformed the more he is sanctified he will start to change his attitude towards money it will affect
39:54 his practice with regard to money. And our text today is is notable because it
39:60 depicts a a a powerful spiritual experience among the early early Christians. And immediately after that
40:06 experience, it shows the impact that spiritual experience had on the most practical of things which is money.
40:15 As we grow and mature spiritually, we should handle our money not so much with a tight fist,
40:21 but more with a open palm. when we realize that we are merely stewards of
40:26 what belongs to God and that's why they were able to be so generous.
40:32 The term the phrase stingy Christian is really a contradiction in terms because
40:38 a st a stingy person wouldn't want to be a Christian.
40:43 Yeah. Very hard to be a Christian because very hard to give away the money and a Christian wouldn't want to be a
40:49 stingy person. Well, of course, a nominal Christian might be stingy, but it is inconceivable to me for a
40:56 sanctified Christian to be stingy. One who is filled with the Holy Spirit. Now,
41:02 if you think about it, stinginess may be just an effect of a deeper cause. Remember cause and effect I mentioned
41:08 earlier. Stinginess may be a maybe the result of fear. Fear that I may not have
41:13 enough later for myself if I give if I start giving away my money. But when the spirit of God fills you, fear gives way
41:20 to boldness which is evidence uh which is evident in these believers because at
41:26 the end of verse 30 31 uh they spoke the word of God boldly.
41:32 The word bold also is also mentioned in an earlier verse outside our text in verse 29 during their prayer. They said
41:38 Lord enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
41:43 Now if you think about it further, bonus itself is an effect of another cause which is faith. Bonus is the result of
41:51 faith which is a result of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. And that is the deeper reason why the early believers
41:57 could afford to be so generous. And there is yet another reason to explain their generosity from the text and that
42:03 is grace. The last part of verse 33 says and God's grace was so powerfully working in in all of them in them all.
42:11 Now I've said this many times from the pullpit. Recipients of grace of God's grace will
42:17 naturally want to extend grace. Recipients of if you receive God's grace
42:24 in its full measure, you will naturally want to extend that grace.
42:30 We are inclined to be generous because God has been generous to us. And so a
42:36 lack of generosity is a sign that the Christian has not fully appreciated or understood or embraced the full extent
42:43 of God's grace. And here let me repeat what I said earlier that I'm talking about
42:49 generosity within the context of God's people because the commandments in Exodus 22 will spell out to govern the
42:56 lending of money uh to fellow Israelites or the treatment of fellow Israelites when it comes to money. And what happens
43:03 as we saw in Nehemiah 5 happened among the Israelites. And also here in Acts chapter 4, we see that we see that all
43:09 this generosity, all this sharing took place within the community of of believers.
43:15 And but you may ask, what about generosity to the needy outside the church? Now this is a huge separate uh
43:24 topic that is outside our discussion today. But nevertheless, let me just quickly touch on it. Let me say that
43:31 social work has always been a central part of FBC's work. We deem it our
43:37 responsibility to reach out to the needy in the community of Sububanga and Sunway
43:42 of which we are a part and that's why we organize street feeding every Saturday
43:48 morning in the uh Desa Mantari area near Sunway pyramid and this is this was the street feeding
43:56 yesterday morning. It's uh we also run two macario homes uh
44:03 for the for underprivileged uh children here in Sububangjaya and we organize free tuition for these kids.
44:11 Now I commend those uh who are serving this wonderful ministry. God bless you for your tireless labor for his sake.
44:20 But as they say, charity begins at home. And so our focus today is in line with our text is sharing and caring for those
44:28 in our midst who have who have financial needs. So are there people in our midst
44:33 in this congregation who are struggling with money matters? Of course they are.
44:40 They just don't put up their hands. But they are there because they often suffer
44:46 their pains alone in private. So I wish to to conclude by saying this.
44:53 that there should be no needy person in our midst to quote from Acts 4:34 from
44:58 our text that there were no needy person among them. Now we may not attain the
45:04 utopian standard that the early that the early church has set whereby the rich
45:10 sold their properties and shared the proceeds with their poorer brethren. But the fact remains when the spirit moves
45:17 mightily in your life you become very generous.
45:22 And so I leave you with a point of application. I urge each of you to walk alongside one or two person in our
45:28 congregation who might need help. Open up your wallet, free up your calendar
45:36 and roll up your sleeve to extend them a helping hand. Let us be willing to expend or to spend our our money, our
45:43 time and our efforts to help those in our midst who might be struggling financially.
45:50 Granted, you cannot help everyone in need because your resources are not unlimited, but I'm asking you to reach
45:57 out to just one person, if not two. We are a community of God's people, but
46:04 surely we can be more communal. Certainly, we can be more united through
46:09 giving and sharing and caring. Now, please don't say, "Hey, but I put
46:15 money into the benevolent bank during tithes and offering through the church collects money from
46:21 its members to set up a benevalent fund to help those in need." But that's the church extending help at a corporate
46:27 level. I'm talking here about efforts at an individual and personal level. So please don't leave this 100%
46:35 to the church to do because you can make a difference in somebody's life in your personal capacity.
46:42 In closing, let me bring you back to Nehemiah 5 uh to the last verse in that
46:48 chapter which is pretty interesting. Now, after Nehemiah did all that he did to help the poor and the oppressed
46:53 Israelites, after all the show of generosity towards the people of God who were needy, in Nehemiah 5, he said this
47:01 confidently to God, remember me with favor, oh my God,
47:07 for all I've done for these people. And I hope you too will experience the full measure of God's favor and God's
47:13 blessings. I hope that your generosity will flow out from you so that you too will be
47:20 able to say, "Lord, remember me with favor."
47:26 Let's close in prayer. Our father in heaven, we beseech you to
47:32 continually pour your spirit to fill us, to fill us so much that our cup flows
47:37 over. May the infilling of your spirit in us
47:42 cause us to be transformed to be more Christlike espec es especially in the area of our
47:49 unity and our generosity. Bless the ties that bind us as we stand
47:55 together in one as one as we show generosity to each other. For this we
48:01 pray in Jesus name. Amen.
