We continue our series on community this morning. One of the things that I've said repeatedly as we've gone through this series is the effect of the fall has had a lot of devastating effects when it comes to community. Isolationism, individualism are some of those effects. Again, these work against community. One of the ways that isolationism or individualism work against community is with another ism, that of consumerism. Consumerism. In consumerism, what do you have? You basically have the individual make a concerted effort to try to meet his perceived or real needs and wants. Now obviously there is a basic level at which all of us must be consumers. Consumerism is necessary for us just to exist. So it's not all bad. But when the individual reigns and there is little thought about others, in other words the focus just on self, consumerism can get way out of balance. It can become an obsession and ultimately it can kill community. Consumerism is a philosophy of life, along with materialism, that pushes Christ out of the center of our attention, it pushes others out of the center of our attention, and it puts all the attention on ourselves. The golden rule says this, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. But consumerism takes that philosophy of life and it twists it, just like materialism, to basically say, he who has gold rules. That's the golden rule of consumerism. And it's, of course, a philosophy that we see all around us in our society. It's quite common. But why is it Why is it so common to fall into the trap of consumerism? Well, it does come back to us as individuals often being isolated and feeling that something is missing from our life. What's missing? Well, we've talked about it quite a bit in this series. Community is missing. Communion with God and communion with a redeemed people. And so consumerists, those who are materialists, will consume their life with collecting possessions and consuming items in the hope that it will fill a void, this void, this need for community in their life. And so you see, consumerism is not only the result of individualism and isolationism, but it also fuels individualism and isolationism. In other words, these three isms that I'm talking about, individualism, isolationism, and consumerism, create a sort of vicious cycle. They each feed off of one another. Because of sin, people run from community. They run from communion with God. This is what Adam and Eve did. It's what we still continue to do in our sinful flesh. We run from communion with God. We run from communion with people. And yet at the same time, we long for that community. We long for that communion. And so as sinners, we're messed up. We are conflicted creatures. On the one hand, we long for community. On the other hand, we try to run from it. And all of this gets compounded even worse because we often look to wrong solutions to fill up that void, that longing in our life. Often we will look to stuff to stuff, that is, fill the void in our heart. But ironically, the more that we try to put stuff, possessions, consumerism, The more we try to put stuff into our souls in order to fill the void, it actually creates a bigger void in our hearts. We fill more emptiness. Consumerism promises a sense of completeness, but it leaves us craving for something more, or better still, someone more. Now, as Christians, we know who that someone else is. It is the Lord Christ. In a secondary sense, it is the church. his visual body that we can see here on earth, the redeemed community. And yet sadly, especially in recent decades in our own nation, many segments of the church, rather than eschewing consumerism, have embraced it with both arms. The church has catered to consumerism, has encouraged consumerism rather than authentic community in the church, built on secular business models, The church has marketed consumable services for the individual. But the major problem with all of this comes back to the fact that the focus is still on who. It is still focused on the individual, meeting his or her felt needs. And this is diametrically opposed to what biblical Christianity is. What is biblical Christianity? It says this, you don't look to your own interest, you look to the interest of others. Whereas consumerism says it's all about you. meet your own felt needs. Christianity says love people and use things. Consumerism says love things, use people. What's the difference? Consumerism is about self. Christianity is about others, sharing with others. And so this is the next part that I want to address in our ongoing series on community, sharing with the brethren. The church, as the redeemed community, is to be a sharing community. This is all part of koinonia, biblical fellowship. Going way, way back to the beginning of our series, I gave you a two-part definition that Jerry Briggs gives us in his book on true Christian fellowship. And in his two-part definition, he demonstrates that sharing is at the very core, at the very definition of koinonia. Let me just refresh our minds with this two-part definition again. Bridges says koinonia means first to share together in the sense of joint participation or partnership and koinonia means to share within the sense of giving what we have to others. So you see, the very word share is part and parcel. It's at the very core of fellowship. Now today, I want to focus on the second of those two related meanings, sharing what we have with others. Now, we've already talked about this a little bit. We've mostly talked about it in the sense of sharing together with one another in a spiritual sense. And of course, that's very important to fellowship. We've got to share spiritually with one another. But today I want to talk more about the material aspect to sharing. And I think we understand both of them are related one with the other. They're intertwined. Material sharing will lead to spiritual sharing, and spiritual sharing will lead to material sharing with one another, the two feed off of each other. The early church illustrates this really well for us, as we see in the book of Acts in a few places. For example, Luke writes in chapter 4, So what do you see there already? You see a spiritual sharing And what's it going to lead to? Well, let's read on. Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. So what did it lead to? The spiritual sharing led to material sharing. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all, nor was there anyone among them who lacked. For all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet, and they distributed to each as anyone. had need. And Joseph, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated son of encouragement, a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. It's quite the example, isn't it? This example, though, is in direct contradiction of what we continue to read about in the next verses that follow, in the next chapter that follows in the book of Acts. Acts 5, 1 through 2, but a certain man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira sold a possession, and he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. What's going on here? You see a contrast between the end of chapter 4 and the beginning of chapter 5. And the contrast is there because there is a disconnect in how these two different people gave. One gave from the heart, the other did not. One was holding back. One shows us a spiritual giving, motivated by the right things. Ananias and Sapphira, though, show us that their heart and hand were not connected as they gave. They did not give from the heart. The problem with this couple wasn't so much that they held back some of their possessions, the proceeds from their land. That wasn't the main problem. The main problem was they gave a false impression that they had given everything, and of course we know that they did not. So, they wanted to appear on the outside as very selfless and very pro-community, but as we learn from the scripture, they were selfish and very anti-community. They wanted public glory for being sacrificial givers, when in reality, they were very selfish. Again, the problem wasn't the amount they gave, so much as there was a disconnect between their heart and their hand. And so we are given with Ananias's fire a glimpse into the darkness of consumerism. Only as our hearts are touched by grace will our giving connect both our hearts and our hands. Now, as we read in the New Testament, it appears that the early Christians still maintained all of their particular possessions. However, as we just read here a moment ago, it seems that they were willing, more than willing, to share of their possessions and even sell their possessions in order to help give to the brethren. I mean, think about that. That is so counterintuitive to our flesh, isn't it? It's certainly counter to our culture, not only now, but it was counter to the culture back then. Can you imagine seeing a need in the church or several needs in the church and saying, you know what? God has convicted me. I need to sell my home. I need to sell my home and my property in order to meet the needs in the church. This is amazing. And they did it with incredible, incredible joy. How could they do this? They could do this. They could give so much because their hearts were constantly reflecting on the grace of God and they realized that they had received so much. They realized all they were and all they had was God's. And so they weren't going to hoard things and they weren't going to hold on to things. They were going to give because God had moved in their hearts to give and share. And they did so with incredible joy. And yet, tragically, I think for us today, it is so easy for us to lose sight first of God's grace in our own life. And because we lose sight of his generosity to us, we find ourselves being stingy rather than generous with others. Halford Luckock writes about this in a very striking way. Here's what he says. Kind of gives a quick history lesson first. He says, among the Franks, whole armies were sometimes given baptism at one stroke. And many warriors went into the water with their right hands held high so that they did not get it wet. Then they could say, this hand has never been baptized, and they could swing their battle axes just as freely as before. The modern counterpart of that partial baptism is seen in many people who have been baptized, all except their pocketbooks. They held these high out of the water. You see, when we lose sight of God's grace in our life, that's how it can be for us. Everything else God can have, but not this. This is out of the water. This is just for me. Why? Because like Ananias and Sapphira, we want to hold on to our possessions as if they are our own, as if God did not really give them to us. We earned them. We're going to keep them. I'm not saying here today, as I use the early church as an example, I am not saying that we have to necessarily give up all that we have like they did. I don't think necessarily the scriptures is calling us to do that, but the scriptures are calling us to give whatever the Lord is asking us to give. Why? Well, it comes back to the doctrine of stewardship. It's not our own stuff. It's not our own stuff. It's God's. We are just his managers. And so when he says give, we give and we don't give it begrudgingly, you know, our hands clutched on to whatever it is, but we give with delight. Generously, hilariously, as the scripture says. So let's understand this aspect of sharing today. This is what I want to address. And I want to address it by answering a series of questions, starting with the biggest one we've got to answer in relation to sharing as a community. And it's the question, why? Why should we share with the brethren? Well, I want to first of all point out we need to share because it's commanded. We should share with the brethren because we are commanded to share. It's a matter of obedience. Paul puts it very, very plainly for us when he says in Romans 12, 13, Share with God's people who are in need. Share with God's people who are in need. That's a pretty clear cut command, isn't it? Again, the Apostle writes in Romans 15, Listen to this. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews' spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. Paul again, this time in 2 Corinthians 9.13 says, that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. Again, Paul in 1 Timothy 6.18, command them to do good, and what does that include? To be rich in good deeds and Command them to do good in this way, to be generous and willing to share. Hebrews 13, 16. And do not forget to do good and to share with others for such sacrifices God is pleased. I bring up all these verses because it's very important for us to understand sharing with the brethren is not an option. It's commanded. And that's important to remember because if we go on feelings, guess what's going to happen? We're not always going to obey. If we're always just waiting for our emotions of compassion to be stirred up, well, I feel like giving to them now. That means there's going to be a lot of times that needs go unmet. It's not optional, it's a command. Let me read some of these phrases I just read again. The Gentiles owe it to the Jews to share with them. Men will please God for the obedience of giving that accompanies profession. Command them to be generous and willing to share. And again, share with God's people who are in need. Again, not suggestions, commands. And why are they commanded? I'm going to tell you why they're commanded. Your brothers and your sisters in Christ can't wait for your emotions to catch up. If they are in need, they can't wait for you just to have your emotions stirred. They need you just to obey and meet their needs. The issue is not whether we should give. That issue has already been settled. The question is, is who has needs, what are those needs, and how can we meet them? It's not a matter of if we should share, it's a matter of when we share. John the Apostle asks, if anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? I mean, this is just typical John, isn't it? This is how John writes. He just cuts right to the heart of the matter. And he says, if you can look on a brother in Christ, one who knows Jesus Christ, and you can turn a blind eye to their need, John says, you just need to question whether you are even a Christian. How can you, as a member of the family, look on other members of the family and say, I don't care? How can you look on another member of God's family and say, I'm not going to do it, in direct disobedience to the father of that family? How can you do it? May it never be. We should share because we care and we are commanded to share. Those two words are important to go together when you're talking about obedience and sharing. Care and commanded. Both of them have to exist together. There cannot be true obedience to sharing if we just view it as a begrudging task. No, sharing is meant to be a joyous experience. And so there really is, there is no such thing as begrudging obedience. No, the heart and hand have to go together. The giving, the sharing has to be done out of a motive of love and gratitude to God. What the heart feels must be matched with what the hand gives. Okay, so first we share out of obedience. The second reason for sharing is really the supreme reason, is the consummate reason for sharing, and that is the glory of God. We should share with a brother because God gets the glory when we share. Why do we share? Well, why do we do anything as Christians, or why should we do anything as Christians? The whole reason we exist on this planet is to glorify and enjoy God forever. And so sharing is a part of that. When we share, we glorify God, and that is the main issue. In the context of the collection for the needy Christians in Jerusalem, Paul writes, you will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion. And through us, your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people, but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. What do these verses show? They show that generosity towards the brethren results in what? Results in thanksgiving, results in praise to God. Sharing with the brethren glorifies God. You want to know why? Because when a brother or sister is in need, who are they looking to? They're looking to God. And when their need gets met through you, who are they thanking? Ultimately, they're thanking God. And you know what? That's who they should be thanking. Because ultimately, the blessing does come from Him. God uses a variety of people. He uses a variety of means in order to accomplish his will in the church and in the world. And one of the ways he often meets the needs of the saints is to use other saints to meet those needs. One of the ways that he meets the needs of his children is by using other children to meet those needs. And in the end, he gets the glory. Everyone involved in the situation wins. It is a win-win-win situation, a three-way win situation. We win when we give because we experience the joy of being used of God to do His will. The joy of blessing others. The brother in need. wins because not only is his need met, but as his need is met, he is able then to turn around and praise and glorify God for meeting that need. And lastly, God wins because he gets the glory, the praise, the acclaim that he alone is worthy of. And so, beloved, let us rejoice in this opportunity to share. And let me just say this as a quick aside. If you are the person who is in need. And someone approaches you, a brother or sister in Christ approaches you and says, I want to help. Don't push against that. Don't in pride begrudge that. Resist that. Just rejoice. Because you see, as you receive from your brother or sister that gives, it's about more than just you. as they give, realize they are experiencing great joy as they give to you. It's bringing joy to their hearts. It's bringing joy to the heart of God. And so rejoice. Don't fuss about it in pride. And by the way, let me say this. Let's understand. Let's think in community terms. Let's think in corporate terms. If God has put you in a position to need, He has put you in a position where you need to receive, let's also realize at the same time He is putting your brother or sister in the position where they need to give. And so in that, God is using your situation to also teach and grow them and give them an experience of joy. And so just understand if you are in need, it's about more than just you. It's not just about you. It's about us. It's important to remember when we share with one another in the body of Christ, there are two wonderful things that happen. First and foremost, God gets the glory that he is due. And secondly, fellowship is strengthened between the saints. And so we need to just plan on, let me put it in these terms, we just need to plan on sharing with one another. We need to plan on sharing with one another as sort of spare of the moment needs arise, but we also need to plan literally with our budgets and say, here's a part of our budget that we are going to give to meeting the specific needs of the brethren in the church. We need to just think in these terms. Now this suggestion leads to the second question I want to ask this morning, that is how. How should we share with the brethren? Well, we can basically answer this question with three words, all beginning with the letter G, okay? You know, as preachers, we always have to alliterate everything, right? So here they are. The words are generously, gratitude, and glory. generosity, gratitude, and glory. We should share generously in gratitude to God for his glory. Giving generously out of gratitude what God has done for us first, for his grace. for his glory. This is what distinguishes the way that a Christian gives and a non-Christian gives. Listen, some of the most generous people in this world are unbelievers. Some of the greatest philanthropists, not only now but in the past, have been unconverted people. They have given much to humanitarian efforts, to certain charities or certain institutions, perhaps disaster relief. This is all a broad testimony to God's common grace. I'm not saying these people are saved, they don't have saving grace, but God can and does use the unregenerate to accomplish his purposes of mercy and grace in the world. However, let's understand the unregenerate do not do what they do out of right motives. Ultimately, they never do. This is part of what we believe regarding the total, the radical depravity of man. If you could peel back the layers and get below the surface and see as God can see, there are twisted motives in there. How do we know this? How do we know there are wrong motives to their altruism? We know it because they don't do it ultimately out of gratitude to God and they don't do it for the glory of God. But by God's grace, believers can. Those who have been touched by the grace of God, those who have had their heart of stone taken out and replaced with a heart of flesh, they can, by God's grace, give generously out of gratitude for God's grace and for his glory, not so for the unregenerate. Whatever their motives may be, we know it is not out of gratitude for grace they've never experienced, and they're not doing it for God's glory. They're always doing it for whose glory? Their own glory. But the believer, by God's grace, can give generously. Why? Because he or she can look to Jesus and see the greatest example of generosity and know that they have experienced his generosity of grace. I love this passage from 2 Corinthians 8-9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. And so believers have had God's grace example to them. They've had an experience of his grace. But let me say this. There is even more. They also presently have his grace at operation in their life that they can then turn around and extend to the brethren. 2 Corinthians 8.1. We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. Acts 4.33, and with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and that great grace was upon them all. Giving generously in gratitude to God, for his glory is how we ought to give. This is what we see demonstrated in the early church. And so not only do we have the ultimate example given to us in Jesus, we also have a secondary example, a secondary model given to us in the church. Let me just quickly give you a couple samples of this, starting with Acts 2.41 through 45. So those who received his word were baptized, and they were added that day about 3,000 souls, and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. At the end of Acts chapter 4, I've already read this passage, but there are more statements that reiterate this description. Let me just pluck out a few here. It says in Acts 4.32, the early Christians had everything in common. There was not a needy person among them. The proceeds collected were distributed to each as any had need. Now, again, as modern readers and modern Christians, we may look at these verses and say, is that what I'm supposed to do? Am I supposed to sell off everything I have? Well, not necessarily, and probably not, not given our current context. We've got to remember, as with much of Acts, what you have here is a lot of description, but not necessarily prescription. So, you know, The Bible's not necessarily saying this is how you have to do it now. And as I've mentioned before, this is certainly not some sort of primitive form of communism. Let's understand the possessions belong to the individuals. And when they gave, they gave it voluntarily. They weren't forced to do this by the church or the state or something like that. And so we might not exactly copy these saints and how they gave or even to the extent that they gave, but one way in which we should and must copy them is in their generosity. However the Lord leads us, whatever extent he leads us to give, we need to emulate their example in this way. We need to be generous. The early church, the early Christians give to us the basic contours of community life, living life together as the saints. And that means how we ought to take care of one another. Let's remember, these people lived in a perpetual sense of awe regarding God. They were in awe of what God had done for them and was continuing to do in their midst. Their hearts were burned with a fervency for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit had touched them. He was continuing to move among them. And what was one of the results from all of this? They had an intense sense of community. They saw one another and they said, we belong together. And that's why they held all things in common. These people sincerely enjoyed being together. They loved one another. They fed off of one another. They rejoiced with one another. They rejoiced over their common conversion, their common confession and their common commitments. And so because all those things were held in common, it was quite easy for them to part with their possessions. and say, I'm going to take care of them. I understand these possessions do not ultimately belong just to me, but they ultimately belong to God and they belong to the brethren. You see, the gospel not only broke the bonds of enslavement to sin in the lives of these Christians, the gospel also broke the bondage to stuff. They realized their treasures were not on earth, but they were in heaven. And so they weren't attached to the things of this world. They gave generously out of gratitude to God for God's glory. And so should we. So this is how this is how we are to share with one another. But that brings us to our next point, how we're not to share with one another. There are some ways. Some situations. that we should not share with one another. The generosity of the early church was a radical phenomenon. And the ancient world took notice of it. God was clearly at work. But as we know today, whenever God is at work, who else is at work? Satan's at work. And so not surprising, they were unscrupulous people who started coming into the early churches and they sought ways to exploit the generosity of these early Christians. They came in to take advantage of the early Christians' liberality. And so thankfully, the Lord gave them, and by extension to us today, gives us some safeguards, things that we need to remember to protect ourselves. from being foolish stewards with what God has given to us. So let me just quickly cover these four safeguards, important for us to remember. First of all, laziness is not encouraged by the Christian community. 2 Thessalonians 3, 7 through 15 says a lot in this regard. It says, for you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us. because we were not idle when we were with you, nor do we eat anyone's bread without paying for it. But with toil and labor, we worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command, if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busy bodies. Now, such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person and have nothing to do with him that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother." So what's Paul saying here? Well, it seems that there were some men in Thessalonica who were just slacking off. These were men who were able to work, but they just chose not to work. Instead, they just fritted away their time. Now let's understand, Paul is not talking about the person here who is doing everything he or she can to get work. I think that's especially important for us to remember right now as we look at the great challenges of our current economy. The last thing that churches should do now is to be insensitive towards those who are out of work. We need to pray with them. We need to have compassion on them. We need to see every way we can to try and help them. We should not be insensitive towards them. Anyone who's ever been in between jobs knows the incredible trial of faith that can be in your life. I know I do by personal experience, and many of you do as well. And so we need to be sensitive. Paul is obviously not addressing people here who want work but are just struggling to find it. Instead, what is he doing? He's trying to protect the church from freeloaders abusing the generosity of God's people. That's all he's trying to do. And I thank the Lord. We don't have that problem. We don't have that problem in our church right now. But we just need to remember this in case there would be an individual or group of individuals at some point who would try to abuse Christian benevolence. The second safeguard. Church funds should not be handed out foolishly. In other words, there needs to be discernment. There needs to be prayerful wisdom that is exercised before financial support is given. It's amazing, as we're going to read here in a second, Scripture even addresses the very vulnerable condition of a widow and says you need to even take some things into consideration before you give money even to widows. Here's what Paul says in 2 Timothy. Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than 60 years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation of good works. If she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work. So what's Paul saying? He's saying even for an older widow to receive sustained financial aid like this, there are certain conditions that have to be met. Certain things have to be taken into consideration, her age, Her family, her past ministry, her reputation, these are all factored in before giving financial aid. Point is, we can't be foolish and just disperse it with the Lord's funds. Third, the head of a home bears the primary responsibility for the support of his dependents. First Timothy 5.8, but if anyone does not provide for his relatives, especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. So Paul says even unbelievers, even they assume responsibility for providing for their families. How much more then should those men who profess Christ take on the responsibility of providing for their families? Kind of like John did earlier, Paul is basically saying here, if you don't follow through with what I'm saying, he says, you make your profession suspect. If you are not able or if you refuse to take care of your family as you should, then you are worse than an unbeliever despite your profession. A final safeguard. Funds in the early church were ordinarily entrusted to the leadership of the church and distributed by the same leadership. Acts 4, 34 and 35. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands and houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet and it was distributed to each as any had need. All right, quickly moving on, our next question is this. When should we share with the brethren? And the quick answer to this is basically the word regularly. The Bible lays out several principles for giving. One of those principles is systematic, regular giving in order to meet the needs of the saints. Paul instructs in 1 Corinthians, on the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income. So certainly this seems to apply to our systematic and regular giving of our tithes and offerings in order to meet the needs of the church. But let's understand this. When Paul says this in 1 Corinthians, he's actually saying it in the context of helping out those needy saints who are in Jerusalem. And so I think we have a principle here as well to understand regular giving needs to be given in order to meet the needs of the brethren. So we need to be ongoing watching out for one another and meeting those needs as we see them come up. Finally, I want to address this question. What are the benefits of sharing? What are the benefits? I've really already touched on some of these, but I want to reiterate them and especially spend a little time on the last one. The first one is this. The first benefit is there's an assurance given to us that we are doing what God has commanded us to do. Secondly, and most importantly, the greatest benefit is we know as we share with the Brethren, God is being glorified. And the final benefit, although I'm sure we could come up with more, the final benefit is this. We experience joy as we share with the Brethren. Sharing with the brethren is designed by God to give us joy. And we shouldn't feel bad about that. We shouldn't feel like we're being selfish about that. That's the way God has designed it for us. And therefore, it's not wrong of us to want to aim for that joy found in sharing and giving to the saints. We experience much joy when we share with the brethren and This is a blessing from our Heavenly Father. I like the way that Paul puts this in 2 Corinthians. He's writing to the Macedonian churches and he says this. Listen to this passage. And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy in their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability, entirely of their own, they urgently pleaded with us. They pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing with, in this service, to the saints. I don't know about you, but I want to meet these saints one day in heaven. Look at these people. They rejoiced at the opportunity to help out needy brethren in Jerusalem. Verse four says, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing, even though, get this, even though they were very poor themselves. Listen, only people who really, really, really find a lot of joy in giving are going to give like this when they themselves are poor. They'd been touched by the grace of God. They lived out what Jesus said. It's more blessed to give than to receive. Proverbs 11.25 touches on this when it says, he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. When we give to others, we actually receive, we receive the joy of the Lord. There is no greater thing, is there? When we can give to someone else and say within ourself, wow, I am doing what I was created to do. I'm doing right now by God's grace what I was redeemed to do. This is something much bigger than myself. And I'm sure many of you have experienced this before as you've had opportunity to give. Have you almost since that sort of almost giddiness before you've given to someone? I mean, you're just excited to give because, you know, their need is going to be met and God's going to be glorified. Brethren, true generosity, that is, again, sharing out of gratitude for God's grace and our life for his glory is a wonder to behold in the body of Christ. And I just want to encourage us to do that. and to do that as we meditate on what Christ has done for us. Christ has given to us. This is why we must give to the brethren. Again, I quote 2 Corinthians 5, or rather 8, 9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. We once were in infinite poverty and there was no amount of effort or money or anything else on this earth we could possibly give to make up for our plight, to get us out of that ditch. The only way out was for Jesus to become poor so that we could become rich. So how can we, knowing this, How can we, having experienced the mercy and grace and generosity of God towards us, how can we turn a blind eye from the brethren? How can we do it? Now, there are a lot of different ways to meet the needs of the brethren within our own congregation here. Of course, we need to help the church as a whole with our regular tithes and offerings. Another way we can help is by privately sharing with the brethren as we are made aware of their needs. Another way we can give to meet the needs of our own congregation is by giving to our benevolence offering that we take up once a month at our Lord's Supper observance. And another way is when we take up once a year our Sacrifice Sunday offering, which is really geared more towards the building and maintenance needs of our church. That being said, I want to, really in an effort to apply this morning's message to us, I want to just take a couple more minutes of your time, then we'll be done. And I want to talk to you very briefly about this year's Sacrifice Sunday offering. We usually do this every year in April. And as I said a moment ago, we usually do this to meet the needs of the building and the property. And this year, our Sacrifice Sunday offering is on April the 15th. However, I want to let you know, as we've talked in the leadership about this year's Sacrifice Sunday offering, we believe prayerfully we've reached the conclusion to approach our Sacrifice Sunday offering this year in a different way than what we normally do. And I mention all of this because it relates to what I'm preaching on this morning. We've decided for this year, rather than doing just a lot of promotion in order to tackle a building project or property need, we want to really encourage you and all of us to give this year with the idea of meeting needs, needs of people. Now, let me say, obviously, the building and property needs that we've addressed in past years are needs. It's why we've done Sacrifice Sundays offerings the way we have. And it's why we're going to need to continue to do them in the future, just as we have done them in the past. Because with, obviously, building a facility like this, there are ongoing needs. A facility like this needs to be kept up. And that requires not only attention, but also money. But that being said, the needs in terms of the building are not that severe. I mean, generally speaking, I mean, of course, there are things that we could go around and point out. But generally speaking, the building is in pretty good shape. The roof, as far as I know, isn't about to collapse on us. And so in a way of sort of celebrating last year's victory over the debt with the mortgage and the addition and such, and also in a way of concentrating more on the specific needs of people, I want to give you a few possible suggestions for applying this morning's message. One is you may want to wait until April the 15th and kind of handle Sacrifice Sunday as you have in the past. If you have kind of already got that date circled and you say, I'm already praying about what God would have us or me give, then I certainly don't want to discourage that spirit of sacrificial giving. The Bible talks about how we need to be sacrificial in our giving. So if you've been thinking along those lines, we don't want to necessarily discourage that. But I will say, We're not, like in past years, we're not going to come up with a list of all the different building projects or building needs that we're going to tackle. If you give on the 15th, April 15th, just understand that's going to go more to just the general fund, because the reality is, in terms of needs, there are greater needs for the items in our general fund than there are regarding specific building projects. So we're not going to list those projects like we've done in past years in the bulletin. And I would say this. We're not even going to make a big deal like maybe we have in the past in terms of promotion. We're not going to do a lot of promotion. We're not going to give a lot of reminders about April the 15th. Probably just mention it a few times in case that's the date that you want to give on. But understand, if you give, it's going to go towards the general fund. And you may even want to do that before the 15th of April. You may even want to do it after April 15th. What I'm saying is we're not going to make a big deal about that particular date this year. So giving to the general fund is one possibility for applying today's message to meet those needs. And there are needs that are, as I said, reflected in the general fund. Another possibility that you might want to consider is in regards to our ongoing monthly benevolence offering that we take up. And as most of you are aware, this offering is kind of used as the official offering that we take up to meet the needs, the financial material needs of folks in our church whenever we observe the Lord's Supper. So you may want to consider, perhaps next week when we do this, or perhaps a month from then, or two months, or three months, whenever the Lord leads you or however the Lord leads you, you may want to take what you may typically give for the Sacrifice Sunday offering and put it into a Benevolence offering which again does go towards meeting the needs of people. A third option for you to think about is to think about a particular individual in our church or perhaps a family or maybe individuals and families in the church that you know have needs right now and you just give directly to them. All right, you that might mean that they know that you are giving directly to them, or it may mean that you just give it to them anonymously. Again, we'll leave that for you to take to the Lord in prayer and to consider. I ask the Lord to impress on you how you should share with the brethren. OK, now. One of the disadvantages of doing it this way, of course, is we won't necessarily know the full impact of what has been given. We won't know, like we typically do on Sacrifice Sunday, the exact amount. And when I stand up here and I read the amount, and we all act shocked and thankful. And of course, that's a good and wonderful thing. We won't be able to do that this year, OK? But I think the Lord will be greatly honored as we were able to meet the needs of the brethren. So think about that. Think of how you may want to give. Think about people in our church who you know probably have some needs. and how you can possibly minister to them. If you need some suggestions, certainly I or the deacons would be glad to maybe give you some suggestions. Look on your prayer sheet. Think through. Ask people. Don't be ashamed to ask people if they have needs. And let's just be a blessing to one another. Charles Simeon was a late 18th century and early 19th century English pastor and theologian. And he actually taught at the University of Cambridge as well as pastored in the same church for 54 years. Now, what makes that so impressive besides the duration is the fact that those 54 years were filled with much persecution of him and his own church. The man's life is also impressive because it was marked by a life of simplicity. In fact, he intentionally lived in very simple, small rooms on the university's campus. In a memo, Simeon wrote to explain why he had abandoned the possibility of having a lavish lifestyle, which he could have had, in exchange for a very modest living like that of a university fellow. Here's what he writes. He says, my brother was extremely generous. At his death, an exceeding great void would have been made if I had not determined to accept a part of his property and to appropriate it to the Lord's service and to the service of the poor. The loss they would have sustained being about 700 or 800 pounds a year. I suffered my brother to leave me 15,000 pounds and have regularly consecrated the interest of it to the Lord and shall continue to do so to my dying hour. Had I wished for money for my own use, I might have had half his fortune. but I'd wanted nothing for myself, being determined to live and die in the college where the income, which I previously enjoyed, though moderate in itself, suffice not only for my own wants, but for liberal supplies to the poor also. The fact is, I have not increased my own expenditure above 50 pounds a year, nor do I consider myself as anything but a steward of my deceased brother for the poor. I think Simeon illustrates for us a man who understands, who understood what wise stewardship was and the joy of giving, the joy of living for others. He could have had a very lavish lifestyle, but he chose a very modest one. Why? Because he reflected on the grace of God. We will likewise give generously when we, in gratitude, think on God's grace to us. and therefore give for his glory. Let's pray.