Title: Hope In The Face of Hardship

Date: 2008-06-01

Reference: Acts 4: 32-37

""At the beginning of the year several of us decided to read through the Bible in 2008. I hope most of us are on schedule. If you are on track you soon begin reading the Book of Acts. The Acts of the Apostles is a history of the early church.

You will not find a more inspirational read. I’m always envious when I read about the remarkable growth in the New Testament Church. They had an excitement, vitality, and enthusiasm the church has rarely seen since then. The Holy Spirit was making all the difference and many people wanted to be a part of what was happening. In spite of the opposition of religious and secular leaders, the common people were drawn to the church because something new and exciting was happening. And the church grew from 120 members to 5,000 members almost over night. One thing the world noticed was the generosity of the believers. They were happy to share all God had given them with others in the church and in the community. Their giving was so different from what people experienced from the world, people noticed.

As we heard in today’s reading from the Book of Acts: “The group of followers of Jesus shared everything they had with one another. God greatly blessed them and no one went in need of anything. People actually sold possessions and gave the money to the Apostles who gave the money to anyone who needed it.”

These verses describe the generosity of the early Christians. This group of very common, ordinary men and women had prayed. God’s Spirit had filled them and gave them new power. They changed the world.

The church that depends on prayer will know the blessing of the Holy Spirit on it’s ministry. A quick aside. We are beginning a study on prayer this next Wed. Evening. Information is printed for you. Come out and join us as we learn more about prayer and what it can mean for each of us and for our congregation.

When the Holy Spirit is at work, giving and sharing are blessings and not a burden. What the believers did then was purely voluntary. Their ministry and giving were motivated by love. Earlier the Bible indicates that some church members, from time to time, sold various pieces of property and donated the money to the common treasury. Whenever there was a need, the Spirit directed someone to give and meet the need. In the early days of our nation many churches were build on donated land. Sometimes a church was actually named after the person who donated the land for the church building. I like to think most donations to the church have always been for the right reason, to honor God.

Paul Harvey tells of a Methodist Church in a small North Carolina town that sits on donated land. Years before a Methodist Congregation tried to purchase a very nice piece of property for their building from a town father who refused to sell it at any price. The church was forced to build in another location. Several years later the town flooded and the church building floated down stream just like Noah’s Ark. It eventually came to rest on the spot the church originally wanted to build. The owner saw God’s hand in the move and he donated not only the land but money to renovate the chapel at it’s new location.

The early church’s spirit of sacrifice and loving generosity is certainly worthy of our emulation today. We too should be known by our actions. I pray we too will become a generous people. As the world sees our open hands and our willingness to become a channel of blessing to the world around us, the world will want to know Jesus.

This world of ours is sometimes short on hope. Our task is to share hope in the face of hardships of all kinds, in Jesus’ name. This is what the early church did and it’s what we are called to do as well.

We share hope as we share our possessions with others in need. True generosity is not measured by the size of the gift but by the heart and spirit of the giver. The Lord looks on the heart. And the Lord has always used very ordinary folks to do extraordinary ministries.

Last week we remembered John Wesley’s conversion. John Wesley was the most unlikely leader of a major religious movement. He was a mere 5'4" tall. He never weighed more than 120lbs. As a child he was sick most of the time. But he lived 88 years. In his ministry he traveled more than a quarter of a million miles on horseback, preaching the word, establishing churches Wesley preached more than 42,000 sermons and wrote more than 200 books. Throughout his life he felt limited and inadequate. He depended on the Holy Spirit. He frequently quoted the Bible saying: “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” Wesley gave away almost everything he owned , an example of a generous giver.

A Spirit Filled Christian responds to needs and not to pressure to give. We are moved by the Holy Spirit to share what we have.

We see a need and are touched by it and we sacrifice in order to help. A Spirit filled Christian should never give because of pressure. Our giving should always be a matter of grace and not law. Nothing pleases God more than a willing, happy, cheerful giver. The Bible talks about a cheerful giver. The original translation is actually hilarious giver. It carries the idea of one who is uproariously delighted to give. Not grudgingly but freely, openly, and happily. This is not what we usually see in the church today.

This type of giving reminds us how Christ who was infinitely rich became poor for our sake. We are passing along what God has passed to us. Imagine the feelings of the disciples when Jesus took the five loaves and two fish and turned them into a feast for thousands. Think of the hilarious joy they felt handing out the food to the hungry. Think how excited they were to see God multiply the feast as they kept sharing it.

This is the same excitement God wants us to have today. We should never talk ourselves out of giving. Whenever we have a good opportunity to give we should take it. We should actually look for opportunities to give generously.

A pastor was once sent to a church with the reputation for looking inward and not out at the world around it. His first sermon on sharing and changing the world was politely received. After all this is what he was supposed to say. He repeated the sermon a 2nd and a 3rd time. He kept preaching the same sermon over and over. Finally people asked him if he had more than just the one message. He replied: “Until you show me that you can put into action the words I am preaching I’m not changing my message.”

We need to do what we say. Practice what we preach. We have the words. It’s often the actions that are missing. There is so much need in the world around us today. God uses our hands to change the world. The needs in our world are great. Sixty thousand people are dead or missing as a result of the massive cyclone in Myanmar. Over one million people have been displaced and are without basic needs. In China hundreds of thousands have had their lives turned upside down after a massive earthquake. The death toll there is staggering. It’s estimated that each and every day 30k people around the world die of starvation, Malaria, Aids or tuberculosis. Bill Gates, while not a big fan of religion, recently chose to partner with the UMC to raise 100 million to fight these three diseases. Bill Gates gave the church 5 million to launch the campaign. All across the heartland 2008 has been the worst year for tornadoes in recent years. The AIDs Crisis is ravaging Africa destroying families. Many new people are living at the poverty level in our own nation.

All of these issues must be addressed by the church. We are called to be faithful in sharing with all of those who are in trouble. The early church we read about in the Book of Acts was quick to respond to the tragic issues of their day. People responded in Jesus’ name and the church grew rapidly. The early church grew because they offered hope the world was without.

The church has always been a place of hope. Last year a new United Methodist Church in the Philippines was built outside a Manilla Cemetery. The church offers hope to orphan children who live in the tombs. Our church is a light for Christ in the center of this city. We are God’s agents in the world and here at home in our own community.

Jesus said: “I was sick and you came to me.” When we fail to care we ignore Christ himself.

With the help of the Holy Spirit we can and will make this world of ours a much better place for all of God’s people. A mark of a Spirit Filled Church is the open hands and hearts of the members. ""