How To Be Rich

(credit to Andy Stanley’s book, “Be Rich” for the information on the NT church and statistics about how rich we are.)

Acts 2:42-47

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.

A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity — all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Bill Gates, who is the founder of Microsoft and a philanthropist, and His net worth is several billion  dollars,  visited India several years back. He had an interpreter and he went and visited the poorest of poor to find out for himself what the greatest need in India that he could invest in. He spent quite a bit a time with one particular old lady who sitting outside of her cardboard shelter.

After Mr. Gates left the old lady, the interpreter ask the lady if she knew who that was? She said no. The interpreter continued talking with her and told her that it was Bill Gates the richest man in the world.  She looked at the interpreter and told him everyone I meet from the west is rich.

Most of in here if I ask you if you were rich, most of us would say no. By global standards if you make $37,000 a year you are in the top 4% of income earners. If you make $42,000 or more a year you are in the top 1% of wage earners. By global standards, if you make $50 a week you are in the top 50%  of wage earners. Those of you on fixed income are in the top 40% of wage earners.

We are all rich.

Just look around you.

• Rings on your fingers
• The credit cards in your wallet
• The tv’s in  your home
• The cars that you drive
• The phones that we own
• The pew that you sit in

All of us in here own a lot of stuff. Some of us have more stuff than others. Others have more stuff than us.  It doesn’t make a difference if you make $20,000, $200,000, or $2,000,000 a year or anything in between. All of us in here are  rich. We don’t like to think of ourselves as rich. For many of us, our problem isn’t that we aren’t rich – our problem is that we don’t feel rich. We have this appetite for status or security. To make us feel rich we become stuff –aholics, status – a- holics, and security – a – holics.

We like to think of ourselves as poor. I think it makes us feel good about ourselves. When we think of ourselves as poor we don’t have to feel guilty.  Some people take pride in how frugal they are.  We have made Shopping and saving an art form. Some people take pride in how much money they saved. Some pastor acquaintances of ours were extreme couponers. They knew how to get grocery stores to pay them money. They only problem I saw with is that they had to buy a lot of stuff they didn’t need to save money. It didn’t make much sense to me until they turned it into a ministry. They started inviting people to their “garage store” and giving stuff away. They used something they were good at to bless others. That’s not greed that is generosity. Despite the money we can save and the deals that we can find – we still are still rich.

Our problem is two-fold, #1) many of us don’t want to admit we are rich and #2) many of us don’t know how to be rich.

That is the first thing we need to admit. For some us that will be difficult because we constantly compare the stuff we have with the stuff other people have. We constantly compare bank accounts. We can always find a person who has more or better stuff and more money than we do. Thus, we can start to feel poor and guiltless once again.

We certainly have more resources available to us than the 1^st century church. But the 1^st church had what many 21^st churches don’t. They didn’t have websites. They didn’t have a van ministry. They didn’t have a building to call their own. They didn’t have pews, carpet, classrooms, or flat screen tv’s.

What did the 1^st century church have that most 21^st century churches don’t?

A generous heart

Look at these verses again (my emphasis in bold)

A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity — all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Generosity was the hallmark of the 1^st century church. They weren’t rich in resources but they were generous with what they had. When plagues ripped through the cities and region, the people and religious people would flee to escape death. The Christians didn’t. They stayed behind and risked their own health to the meet the needs of the ones who couldn’t help themselves. Many of them died in the process but they weren’t afraid of death.  As they nursed the sick back to health, words of their of their generosity spread like wildfire. When sickness came, the pagan priest were the first to leave. Meanwhile, the Christians would take care of the pagans. And as the pagan health returned they often abandoned their idolatrous ways and turned to Christianity. Not because of theology. Not because of a miracle. But because of generosity and compassion of the Christians that lived in the community. it was because of their generosity.  Everywhere Christians went they were known for their generosity.

They gave time, money, and resources all for the sake of making more and better disciples.  They invested in people’s lives being transformed. The generosity of the Christians in the 1^st century changed the world. They gave time, money, and resources all for the sake of making more and better disciples.  They invested in people’s lives being transformed. The generosity of the Christians in the 1^st century changed the world.

Jesus talks about generosity a lot. The woman who gave all she had – her two mites. Zacchaeus gave 4 times the amount back. The story of the good Samaritan tells us that he paid for all the guys medical expenses and then some. Story of the man who built bigger barns (he died).  Story of the rich young ruler (he walked away sad).

Through these stories you learn that generosity isn’t just something you do when you have more money and more stuff. Generosity is not about the giving.  Anybody can give. Generosity is about living. It is about honoring God with the stuff you have. Generosity is about understanding everything you have has been given to you. Generosity is about understanding that there is no way you can pay God back for the job you have, the car you own, the money you make, the stuff  you have in your house. Everything you have has been given to you by God. He is the one who has opened the doors for you. He is the one who provides for all your needs. He is the one who gives you your stuff.

Giving back to God is myth. (Giving to God is pretty much an emotional ploy used by many pastors) God needs nothing from us. The church in the first century never looked at their stuff – as their stuff. They knew it didn’t belong to them. That is why they could be so generous to each other and to the pagans around them. They used their stuff to grow the kingdom of God. Look at the vs. 46 and 47:

They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity — all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

God wants us to invest our stuff, our money into making more and better disciples. He doesn’t need it back. He needs us to invest in other people.  How do we know that? That is what Jesus taught. And they did it as a community of believers – a church. God wants to add to the fellowship those who are being saved. Generosity worked in the 1^st century. I am sure it still works in the 21^st.

Generosity is not natural for us. Our natural tendency is to keep our stuff, our money to ourselves. As parents you know you have to teach your kids this kind of thinking. If they don’t share something with a friend we tell teach them they have to share. It is a new way of thinking. Like our kids …… We need to be taught.

Generosity is not something we have to do.

• It is a way of life that turns
  • Our greed into gratitude
  • Our selfishness into salvations
  • Our self-centered into sacrifice

Generosity is what changed the world. If we invest our things in the things that matter. Things that help us connect with our community, so that we can connect them to Christ. So that their life can be transformed.  That’s a good investment.