I don't know if y 'all can see this. I've got
an olive plant here that if I cultivate it, if
I water it well, could become a really big olive
tree. And I don't know about you, but olives
are good on pizzas. So I'm really hoping that
this will produce some olives. And I just want
to leave that there for you to look at and admire
its beauty because I'm really proud of my olive
plant. You haven't admired it. I'm looking like
for some, like, yeah, like some oohs and ahs,
right? Like, yeah. I'm just kidding. This is,
if you can't tell from there, maybe you can tell
from here, this is not a real olive plant. It
is fake. It was $15 at Walmart. And the best
thing about it is this nice little vase that
maybe if I'm smart, I can reuse as like a gift
for my wife. But this. plant right here is not
alive. It's not dead either. It's just not real.
It never had any life in it. It never had anything
true to it. There was no power. There's no nutrients.
There's nothing good about this other than it's
mildly aesthetically pleasing. And now if I could
get Pat and Aaron to help me out, they're going
to bring out something that I think you'll like,
something that is real. Is real, that's good.
So. Pat is bringing forward my apple tree, one
of my apple trees. Thank you, Elijah, for picking
these up for me. I was just going to buy one
apple tree, and I had the plan to actually plant
this in my yard and grow apples because who doesn't
like apples? And Elijah was like, don't you need
two? Isn't that a thing? Like they can't grow
and produce fruit on their own. So good looking
out. And I thought that's like a sermon illustration
in itself. We can't bear fruit on our own, right?
Okay, so right. that one down. That's just free.
But yeah, so I've got this apple tree here and
it's young. It's little. I mean, there's, you
can't see any apples. I don't think it's bearing
any fruit yet. This is a real apple tree though.
And one day, if I do take care of it, if I water
it, I give it all that it needs. I put it in
good soil. I make sure to take care of it. It
will produce apples and we'll all get to have
apples and it'll be great. and maybe I'll make
some apple juice out of it, and it will produce
good fruit. Now, this right here, if you can't
see it, last fall, when we moved into the house
right there up the hill, we had a big mosquito
problem. I'm from South Mississippi, down near
Louisiana. I know mosquitoes. I hate mosquitoes.
That's why I don't live in South Mississippi
anymore. And so when I got up there and there's
mosquitoes all in the backyard, I'm like, I need
to do something. And someone told me long ago
that there's a calm before the storm. I'm just
kidding. No CCR fans in the room. Okay, so someone
told me long ago that rosemary actually... gets
rid of, it deters bugs. So I bought this rosemary
plant, but as you can see, a green thumb is not
something that I possess. And so my rosemary
plant is dead. Maybe I'll plant it in soil and
try to revive it. If anybody in here knows how
to do plants, please help a brother out. But
my rosemary plant is dead. And because I didn't
give it the proper maintenance. I didn't water
it right. I didn't give it the supplements and
nutrients that it needed. I didn't put it in
good soil, although Home Depot should have put
it in good soil when they put it in the pot.
That's just whatever. I'm blaming somebody else
for my inadequacies. Thank you. So I've got three
types of plants here. I've got a fake plant that
never had any life in it. I've got a dead plant
that... Well, maybe there's still some, I see
some green in there somewhere. There's still
some life, but it's not bearing any fruit and
it's definitely not keeping mosquitoes away like
it was intended to. And then I've got my apple
tree that it has life running through it and
you can see it's green and it looks good, but
it's just still very small and it hasn't started
bearing fruit yet. But one day, my apple tree
will bear fruit because someone with a green
thumb in this church is going to help me get
this apple tree to bear fruit. Otherwise, it
will look like my rosemary plant. But I've got
these three plants. These three options of things
that they look good. Well, not the rosemary plant.
They at one point looked good. They at one point...
did something good. Like the rosemary plant did
good for a little while and the fake plant will
do good if I put it on my desk or put it on a
shelf in my office and in the apple tree, it
looks good. They all look good at one point in
their life. But only one of these has the potential
as it sits to bear good fruit anytime soon. A
church can be any one of these plants. A church
can be the fake plant that looks good and people
see it and they say, man, that's a good looking
plant. That's a good looking church and it's
doing something nice. I mean, it's making this
office look good. It's making this room look
good and it is doing something good, but it doesn't
have any life in it and it doesn't bear any fruit
and it doesn't really give any substance to anything
or anyone. And then I've got my dead plant that
at one point looked good, but now it's just kind
of hanging on by a thread. And there's a little
bit of life left in it, but there's not enough
life in it to do any good. And it definitely
isn't bearing any fruit. And how many churches
do we see that are dead? I was telling a buddy,
the same one that asked me, you know, what is
the worship service meant for on Sunday mornings?
And he said, you know. We're not growing as a
church. We've just kind of been staying the same.
And he's like, so we're not dying, but we're
not growing. And I said, brother, the truth is,
is when it comes to a church, it is either growing
or it is dead. It's either alive or it's dead.
There's no in between unless it's a fake church,
but I will classify fake as dead. And so we've
got these different plants, and then there's
the living one, and it's like it's got the potential
to bear really good fruit, but it's not there
yet. It still needs some love, and it still needs
some nourishment. A church can be any one of
those. And the scary thing is, is from a distance,
you could look at my fake plant and you could
say, man, that looks really good. And maybe if
you're sitting towards the back, you didn't know
that it was fake. And you could look at my apple
tree and if you're sitting towards the back and
maybe even up front, you wouldn't know if that
was real or fake or not. But they look the same
sometimes. We can ooh and we can ah, sometimes
forced, sometimes just naturally looking at the
beauty. But one day you will always be able to
tell the difference because one will bear fruit
that gives life and one will not. And so before
we even begin this morning, I'm asking the question,
what kind of church will we be? Will we be the
fake plant? bears no fruit. It doesn't give any
life. It doesn't do any good for anybody or anything
other than looking nice. And we know those churches,
right, that they make people feel good and they
look nice. And to the community, man, they are
doing so much good. And they look like they are
alive and they look like they are good, fruit
-bearing churches, but there's no spirit. Like
the capital S, Holy Spirit, is not empowering
them. This is just their good work, and this
is just their talents and just their ability,
and it's not that God is bringing fruit. It's
just that they look pretty, and we know the churches
that are dead, that they're small and they're
shriveled up, and it's like, man, if somebody
would have just watered them, if somebody would
have just given them some good fertilizer and
some good soil, that church could have been something
great. Like when I bought this rosemary plant,
I had plans. I was going to plant it in my yard
so that it would grow. I had a member at my home
church that he would host our men's Bible study,
and he had a big rosemary bush right by his front
door. And every time I walked into the men's
Bible study, it smelled so good. And I loved
it. And there were no mosquitoes by his house.
So it was even better. And so my plan was I'm
going to plant this, and it's going to grow into
this big bush, and then look at it. Because some
lousy preacher didn't take care of it. We're
laughing, but I'm serious. And I look at my little
apple tree and I dream about what it could become.
And when my four -year -old saw it, he got so
excited because he was like, dad, we're going
to have so many apples. And I'm like, not if
it's up to your mom and I. But I dream about
what this apple tree could become. And I think
about what kind of church we could be. But you
know the point that I'm getting to. It takes
some work. And it takes some care, and it takes
some nourishment, and it takes some intentionality.
And so what we're going to look at today, because
we've got to get to Scripture at some point,
otherwise it's in a biblical sermon, right? And
so we get to the early church in the book of
Acts, and we see that they're fresh off of Pentecost.
And, you know, last week we looked at this idea
that they prayed for boldness and the ground
shook, and they went out into the community and
they were boldly proclaiming the good news. And
that is what we see, and it's this church that's
changing lives and living in this divine. community.
And now here on the back end of Acts chapter
four, we're going to see a little bit more of
what that looked like. And so I want you to look
with me at Acts chapter four, verses 32 through
35. And if you don't have a Bible with you, or
you just want to look on the screen, it will
be up there. So let's read this together. If
it's underlined and you feel comfortable doing
it, please read it out loud. Now, the full number
of those who believed were of one heart and soul,
and no one said that any of the things that belonged
to him was his own, but they had everything in
common. And with great power, the apostles were
giving their testimony to the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them
all. There was not a needy person among them.
For as many as were owners of lands or 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. So the
first thing we see, it's similar to what Luke
said earlier in the book of Acts about the closeness
of the church, how they had shared their possessions
and they had been together and living life together.
They had unity. And from their unity came generosity.
And that's what we're talking about this morning.
It's this idea of being a generous church, because
if we are generous, then we will be able to grow
our tree. We will grow what God has given us
to cultivate. And so generosity is a symptom
of unity. And I want you to notice that this
wasn't a felt obligation. Nobody was twisting
the arms of these people. Luke doesn't write
that they were begging the people to give their
possessions and give what they had so that the
church could do. They didn't have to beg. This
was because of their unity, because they were
united in heart, united in mind. Nobody had to
guilt them into giving. They just wanted to take
care of each other. Because I can't live in the
same house as somebody that's starving. I can't
live in the same house as somebody that's hungry
and sick. I can't be in the same room with somebody
that I say I care about and they're struggling
to put clothes on their back. I can't be in the
same family with somebody and just let them live
on the street. And so because of their closeness,
because of their unity, they took care of each
other. And that is how they exemplified Christ.
I mean, just look at what Luke says in verse
32. No one said that any of the things that belonged
to him was his own. So Luke identifies it belonged
to them. They had it in their possession, but
it wasn't just theirs. You see, we live in such
an individualistic society. We live in the society
that says, it's mine, it's mine, it's mine. I've
got to get for myself. I've got to do for myself.
I've got to make more for myself. Or even we
like want to take care of our families because
that's ours. And I've got to take care of my
family. And so we do what we have to and what
we can for our family. But what we see in the
early church is radical community. It's no longer
mine. It's now ours. And it's no longer mine,
but it's God's. And because of this communal
generosity, we read that there were no needy
persons among them. There weren't people among
them that were going hungry. There weren't people
among them that were going out and having to
sleep in the cold. There weren't people among
them that were struggling to have their needs
met because the church became the answer to the
community's needs. If there was someone in the
church that needed something, the church handled
it. The church became the place where a disciple
of Christ could come. They would know that they
would be taken care of, and they knew that they
could help take care of others. They knew that
this was a family that made sure that nobody
got left behind. And I want to be clear. That
this wasn't a part of some giving initiative.
It wasn't a campaign or a program. This was merely
a symptom of the Spirit moving in God's people.
It was the Spirit filling their lives in a way
that filled them so that they would overflow
into the lives of the people around them. It's
what happens when the body of Christ is filled
with the Spirit and is living with their heart
and mind on mission. And that is what a living
church is. It puts forth fruit that can provide
for the needs, which in turn creates more life.
As opposed to the dead church that has nothing
flowing through it and produces no life. It bears
no fruit. It gives no substance. It changes nothing
about the lives that it enters. The only thing
it does is it gives good looks. Maybe you've
dated before. If you're married, you've dated
before. And maybe you didn't, you know, get lucky.
And on the first person you dated, that's the
only person you ever needed to be with. And that's
the only person that you've ever been with. Maybe
if you're like the normal person, you dated a
couple of people. And maybe the first person
you dated, it was because, man, they look good.
And you know what I'm talking about. Guys, that
girl in high school that just looked really good.
And you dated her and you found out she was a
dud in the brain. Or maybe like she looked really
good and you dated her and you realized she is
an awful person. And ladies, I think maybe this,
no, we're not going to do that one because you
might be married to the person that's, they look
good, but they're an awful person. So, but you
know what I mean? Like we've got these fake plants
and they look good, but they don't do anything
of substance, of value. And then you got like
the plant that like this thing doesn't look good,
but I'm sure if you ate it, it would give you
some substance. It would give you some life.
And there's the churches that like they don't
look great, but if you would go to that church
and you'd plug into that church, it would give
you some life and it would give you some substance,
but it probably wouldn't taste good. Doesn't
look good. Probably doesn't smell good. I don't
even want to smell that thing. And so like you've
got... these two, but then you've got the apple
tree, the living tree, the one that has life
in it. And when it starts putting apples on the
limbs, it is going to taste good. It is going
to look good. It is going to smell good, and
it is going to give substance. So I go back to
asking, what kind of church will we be? When
we get to Acts 4, verses 36 and 37, Luke shows
us a specific example of someone exemplifying
this generosity. So he kind of gives us the overview
of this is what the church was doing, and then
he gives us a very specific example. And I want
to preface this with, this is not what I'm asking
you to do. I'm just reading Scripture. Thus Joseph,
who the apostles called Barnabas, which means
son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus,
sold a field that belonged to him and brought
the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
Again, the Spirit -empowered and influenced church
was on mission. That the Spirit -empowered and
influenced church was, they were doing what they
needed to do to make sure the gospel could be
boldly proclaimed to all people and all nations,
no matter the cost. It's like when you go into
the store, and I would only do this if I was
taking my kids to Dollar Tree, but if you went
to the store and you said, get whatever you want,
no matter the cost. Because you know what I mean?
Like if you go to Walmart and you say that your
kid's coming back with like a $400 bike and you're
like, that's not what I meant. I meant like a
Hot Wheel. something that's $5. When I was little,
my grandma had a boyfriend that would take me.
This was the coolest thing. He'd take me a couple
of towns over. We'd go to Dollar Tree. He'd give
me five bucks. And back then, I haven't been
to a Dollar Tree in a while, although we're getting
one. So that's cool. Maybe. Don't get food there.
That's scary. But he would take me to Dollar
Tree. He'd give me five bucks and he'd say, get
whatever you want. And I would go in and I'd
get all kinds of stuff. And so we look at This
guy, and he's like, I don't care what it costs.
I want the church. to do what the church has
to do. I want the church to do what the church
needs to do because this is the mission. And
as we know, it's not an easy, it's not a cheap,
it's not a free thing to do. And so right here,
we have this incredible example of generosity
in Barnabas. And I think it's great that his
nickname is son of encouragement. Could anybody
give me a nickname that cool? I won't tell you
the nickname that I get from my four -year -old,
but it's not son of encouragement. We call it
in our house a potty word. And so this guy has
a good nickname. And so I want us to look at
this encouragement because what he is doing is
he's not just saying, I think what we're doing
here is cool. He's not just saying, I think what
we're doing here is awesome and it's great for
the community. What he's saying is, I believe
in what God is doing here. I have faith in what
we are doing as a part of God's mission. I believe,
I have faith in what God is doing in this community,
in this nation through his church. And by Barnabas
selling his property, taking all of the proceeds,
giving it to the church, he is saying, I have
faith. faith and what God has called this church
to do. And I mean, I want you to think about
how much faith that is because people invest
in things all the time. Like you buy stocks,
you buy land, you buy whatever it is, cars or
things. Cars are depreciating assets. Don't do
that as an investment. But you buy things to
invest in them because you hope that they will
one day reap a reward. We talk about return on
investment. And so what Barnabas is saying here
is, I'm investing in this because I believe the
return on investment is worth it. We do this
because we believe that what we are doing has
the potential to change our lives. But when it
comes to generosity towards the church, towards
the mission of God, towards the kingdom of God,
what we're doing is we're saying, I am investing
in this because I believe it has the potential
to change someone else's life. Last week in our
sermon on boldness, I said fear is a symptom
of believing my physical life is more important,
is of more value than someone else's spiritual.
Someone else's soul. And I would flip that today
and say, faith, investing in the mission of the
church, is admitting that I believe someone else's
soul is worth more than my physical life. That's
what it means to invest in the kingdom. Like
our plant, we water it, we feed it, we get it
sunlight. And I want you to notice that those
are all different things. Some people are good
at bringing the water pot and watering it. Some
people, they've got some muscles so they can
move it to get it into the sunlight. And I want
to make this point clear that while we're talking
about generosity, I'm not just talking about
money. If I'm being honest, I wish we could do
this without... money. I wish we could do what
the church needs to do to bring the gospel to
all nations and all people. I wish we could do
that without money. If it were so, I would not
ever preach about money. In fact, I was very
nervous about this sermon because I've never
preached on generosity or giving. And so please
don't throw stones at me. Be generous with your
grace. All right. Thank you. But I'm serious.
Like I wish we could do this without talking
about money. I wish I could just say, if you've
got the ability to preach, go preach. If you've
got the ability to take care of people, go take
care of people. people. If you've got a house
that you could put somebody up and do that. And
let me rephrase this. I am saying that. I'm also
including the fact that we do have to be generous
with our financial blessings because the plant
does need water. It does need sunlight. It does
need food. It does need these things. It's like
we've said the last couple of weeks, we can't
make the fire. But we absolutely can stack the
wood. We can put the wood in position for God
to rain down fire on it. And we stack the wood
by investing in the mission of the church. And
I want to say this, even though we're a small
church, I believe we have a big calling. because
we have the same calling that the church in Acts
had. We have the same calling that the people
in the New Testament, the people all throughout
history that have claimed to be the church of
Christ, we have the same calling they did, and
that is to bring the good news, the gospel message,
the message of a living, a risen, saving, grace
-giving, life -filling God. We have that message
to proclaim to all nations, and so that is our
calling, and I believe our calling. is to proclaim
that message to all nations, all people, in all
generations, which includes, and I would say
most importantly, no offense to the older people,
but we've had our chance. We've heard the message.
Like if you're in this room, you've heard the
gospel. But I want you to consider that there
is a generation of young people out there that
have not heard the gospel. They have not had
this message communicated to them in a way that
really touches their life. And so I want us to
think about the next generation. We don't have
to be a big church to make a difference in their
lives. We don't have to be a big church to make
a difference in anybody's lives. We don't have
to be wealthy. We don't have to be influential.
We don't have to have any type of status or power
to make a difference. I want you to think about
my little fruit tree. I keep going back because
look how pretty. it is. That tree, it's small
and it doesn't have much yet, but it's alive.
And because it's alive, we know what its potential
is, the potential to give life through its good
fruit. And so let me ask you, thinking about
Barnabas and the field that he sold so that he
could give the proceeds to the church. I don't
know that you have a lot of financial blessings.
And I would go as far as to say most of us don't.
Most of us don't have a field just laying around
that we can just sell it, give the proceeds.
Like, we don't have that. But you do have a field.
You have a gift. You have extra time. Like, I
think about Miss Linda and the ladies, and I'm
not going to call it what they call it, but in
the ladies' Bible class that sew and put together
these boxes for Panama. That's their field. And
they are selling that field every time they get
together to do that work. I think about Brittany
and the work she does with the blessing box and
the food pantry. That's her field. And she is
using that to bless the mission of the church.
Again, I think about Pam and the work she does
to make sure this place is clean so that when
we come in here, it doesn't smell bad and look
bad. That is her field, and she's using that
to bless the church. Chad and Phil, these are
people that are using their abilities, their
gifts, And I could go on, and I'm not leaving
anybody out on purpose. We don't have time because
there are people in this room that are using
what they have to bless the mission of the church.
But there's also people in this room, like I'm
just going to be honest, that we got the field.
We're just sitting on it. And notice I said we.
I won't put myself in that boat. We are just
sitting on these things that we could use to
bless the church. And I'm not talking about this
building. I don't care about this building. If
it were up to me, we'd meet in a park somewhere.
It's to bless the mission of bringing the good
news to all nations and generations. So what
field do you have? What talent, what skill, what
availability do you have that you could use,
that you could be generous with to make this
tree? grow and bear good fruit that will bless
people. When I was in college, I want to give
you a visual of this. When I was in college,
I got my first youth ministry job in LaGrange,
Georgia. And we, I don't think anybody in here.
are connected to my LaGrange. Yeah, we've got
my LaGrange connection. So I got my first job
at a church in LaGrange, Georgia, and that church
couldn't afford to pay somebody to be their youth
minister and live there full -time, but they
could afford to pay a college student enough
to make the drive over on Wednesdays and weekends,
which is what I did, and stay over the weekend
and stay over the holidays. And so Christmases
and summers, I spent in LaGrange, Georgia. While
I was there, I needed a place to stay. On the
weekends, I would just sleep in my office. I
had a futon. It was terrible, but it was great.
During the summers and the winters, though, there
was a family in the church that had a farm. And
on their farm, they have this, like, I say little
cabin. It's a really nice cabin, but it was relatively
unused. And so they would let me stay on their
farm in this cabin. And so for two years on weekends,
sometimes winter breaks and summer, I lived in
the majors, their family's cabin. They used what
they had for kingdom work, for the mission. And
that's what we're talking about here. I'm not
asking you to go hungry for the sake of the mission.
I'm not asking you to give what you don't have.
I saw a video the other day that was talking
about there was a research done and it said a
reason that most people don't give is because
they can't afford to. And so I look at that and
I say, that's fine. Like if you can't afford
to, I'm not telling you to do that. But what
do you have that you can give? What do you have
that could bless the kingdom, that could be used
to help the body of Christ cover more ground
and produce more fruit? We need greeters. We
need song leaders. We need Bible class teachers.
We need people to help with the food pantry.
We need people to help with meals. We need people
to help with sowing. Ms. Linda and I talked about
it. If you sow and you want to be a part of a
good kingdom work, talk to Ms. Linda. Because
I've been to Panama and I have seen the benefit,
the fruit of that labor, and it's good work.
It's good fruit. Those people down there are
on fire for the Lord. So if you sow, I got you.
If you can help with building stuff, like I'm
not a super handy person, but I know some guys
that are. Titus could use some extra hands sometimes.
I hope I'm okay to say that. Like if you want
to help with the yard work, I know Josh would
love to get some volunteers to cut grass and
weed. Like we've got areas where people can serve.
What do you have? What field do you have? I'll
throw another one out there because I have personally
seen how good it is. Catherine Nelson needs some
mentors in the schools. And I've seen, and it's
been so cool, especially we had that banquet
the other day, and to hear the story of that
young man about how his mentor has changed his
life. Like, we need people in the community,
not just in this building and not just working
on the grounds here. We need people in the community
doing things that bless others so that the gospel
is proclaimed again to all nations and all generations.
So what field do you have that you could give
up for the kingdom work? Now that's the good
and easy part of this message. But now I want
to get to the weighty issue here. So right after
Luke tells us about the good deed of Barnabas,
this encouraging deed of Barnabas, he tells us
another story. It's similar but a little bit
different. There's this married couple named
Ananias and Sapphira. If you've been in church
for a while, you know this story. But if you
haven't been, let me just tell you, it does not
end well for them. Ananias and Sapphira, they
too, they sold a piece of property. They said,
I've got a field. Like, I've got a field that
I could sell. So they sell their field. And they
bring it to the apostles. Well, they bring the
proceeds, some of, to the apostles. This is the
difference. They kept some of the proceeds for
themselves, but tried to pass it off as if they
had given everything, as if they had given the
full amount to the church. And I want to clarify
by saying the problem here isn't that they kept
a little bit for themselves. It's what they were
trying to do when keeping a little bit for themselves.
And I've read it said that they were trying to
pretend like they were just as good as Barnabas.
They wanted people to think, like, oh, Barnabas,
he gets the cool nickname, son of encouragement.
Maybe if we go and we give what we've... gotten
from the sale, maybe people will give us a cool
nickname and maybe people will applaud us and
maybe we'll get written about in the Bible by
name. And well, they got their wish. They were
written about in the Bible by name, but not in
a good way. I want you to look how Peter responds
to this attempt at deception in Acts chapter
four, verses three and four. But Peter said,
Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie
to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself
part of the proceeds of the land? That's pretty
harsh stuff right there. I mean, that's... Pretty
tough, but it's reality. Like, I want to be clear
again, Peter isn't upset because Ananias is keeping
some for himself and for his family. I think
any of us would agree like that. That's okay.
You go to work like nobody is telling you go
work 40 hours a week, work your tail off and
then take that whole check and bring it. Nobody's
asking for that. And again, nobody is asking
you for you to go hungry. Nobody's asking you
for you to go without. What Peter is upset with,
and he says as much, he says, was it not at your
disposal? Essentially saying, was it not yours
to do as you pleased? The issue is the deception
that they are trying to pretend like they are
just like Barnabas in doing this radical thing
without the reality of it. They wanted to look
like a living tree that was growing and producing
good fruit, that was giving everything it had
to give life to someone else. But really, they
weren't. They were just fake trees. And so I
look at my fake tree again. So little and so
cute. Can we get another ooh and an ah? Ooh and
ah. Yeah. They wanted somebody to look at this
and say, man, look how good of a gift. Ananias
and Sapphira gave. And it would be kind of like
if I bought on Mother's Day, if I bought my wife
fake flowers. She would be happy to just get
a gift. But could you imagine if I bought her
fake flowers? They look real. And I said, honey,
I'm so grateful for you. So I bought you these
real amazing roses and I give them to her. And
she's like, do you think I'm stupid? These aren't
real, and I know you're lying. She wouldn't be
upset because I lied. She wouldn't be upset because
I gave her fake flowers. Again, she would be
happy to just get the gift, but she would be
upset because I tried to pass it off as something
it was not. And that's what happened to Ananias
and Sapphira. They tried to pass it off. And
maybe I can make this a little bit more practical.
You know, we've seen when the bad things happen,
like the floods in North Carolina and the hurricanes
down south, and every time that happens, an artist,
like a singer, will say, we're going to do a
benefit concert, and we're going to, 100 % of
the proceeds of this concert are going to go
to the community that has been devastated by
this tragedy. But do any of you, like, look at
that and say, man, I wonder if they're really
giving 100%. Did any of y 'all do that? Okay,
so I'm the only one who's skeptical. All right,
that's fine. But like, imagine they do that,
but they only give 50%, but they claim that they
were given 100%. It's still a good gift and it
still helps people, but it's not honest. And
if people found out, it would lead to a lot of
people questioning the motives of why they gave
that gift, why they did it in the first place.
We'd look at it and say, oh, that's just a publicity
stunt. What my hope is for us, individually and
communally, is that we never just look generous,
that we never try to make people think that we're
doing good work. Like, I don't want to get on
Facebook and say, man, I'm so glad to be a part
of the Blairsville Church of Christ because we
do so much good in the community, when in reality,
we're just doing it so that I can make that Facebook
post. I don't want to be a part of the church
that just... does good things so that people
will say we do good things so that they will
come. That's not what we're here for. We're here
to do good things so that it truly blesses people's
lives so that they hear the good news that changes
people's lives. We're not here to be performative.
We are here to be transformative. And the only
transformation that comes from performative generosity
is death. And that's what happens to Ananias
and Sapphira. Look at the scripture. When Ananias
heard these words, he fell down and breathed
his last, and great fear came upon all who heard
of it. So what does it look like for us, for
this family of believers? What does it look like
for us right here in Union County, Georgia? What
does it look like for us to not give a fake gift?
What does it look like for us to not just not
give gifts like I did to my rosemary plant? What
does it look like for us to not drop dead but
to be a living tree? What does it look like for
us to give until the needs are met rather than
just enough to look good? I think it starts with
being honest about what the needs really are.
And as the minister here, I feel like I'm allowed
to be straightforward with you. I think you would
prefer I be straightforward with you. Otherwise,
I might be like Ananias and Sapphira and I might
die. I want to be straightforward with you. And
I want to tell you what I believe God is calling
this church family to invest in right now. like
where we can be generous, where we can pour into.
And we've talked about it a little bit before,
but I think we've got two things, two current
needs. And the first one is we have talked about,
the elders have talked about, we've prayed about,
what would it look like for us to be more benevolent?
What would it look like to take care of the community
around us more? Like how could we pour into the
food pantry more? How could we pour into these
different ministry programs that we are a part
of in this community? What would it look like
for us to be able to do more for missions? What
would it look like for us to be able to do more
for the local outreach? How could we be more
benevolent? And then how can we better serve
the next generation? We've talked about this
a little bit, but seriously, like what would
it look like? How could we pour into our young
people? We talk about, we pray about, and it's
awesome the amount of children we've got in this
church building right now. That is something
that should be applauded. That is something that
we really should be oohing and aahing about because
it is a good thing. It shows that we are not
dead, that there is something here that has life.
But we've got them here and we've got them out
there. Like I was very impressed before we moved
here to find out that we've got a pretty decent
like size school system. Because before we moved
here, I thought there was like five people in
this town. I'm going to be honest. I found out
that there's a lot more people here than I thought.
And that's an awesome thing because there's a
bunch of kids out there that do not go to church,
that don't have a relationship with Christ, that
need somebody to tell them about Jesus. There's
an old acapella song. Who's going to tell the
child about Jesus? Who is? I hope it would be
us, but how are we going to do that? There's
some real logistical needs that are there. And
I'm not putting those up there as announcements
or challenges. I'm not putting those up there
as line items on the budget. What I want us to
see is that these are places that I believe and
I think our leadership believes God is looking
at us and saying, this will help the living tree
here bear more fruit. Do y 'all want to feed
like spiritually? Do y 'all want to spiritually
feed this community? It doesn't sound like many
of us do. Do we want to spiritually feed this
community? Well, I know how we can do that. I
know two practical ways we can do that. These
are parts of our tree that need tending. These
are parts of our tree that need to be poured
into. I'm not going to get into the stats about
why good youth ministry is such an essential
piece to the kingdom's mission. And I don't think
I have to make the case for feeding the hungry
and taking care of the orphans and widows. I
don't think I need to preach about that right
now. I think maybe we've got that one. I'll simply
say that I believe these are practical ways we
can bless the mission. here. And so again, I
ask you, what kind of church do we want to be?
What kind of tree do we plant? Do we want to
be? I'll ask you another question because I said
generosity is a symptom of faith. It's a symptom
of saying, I believe in what God is doing here.
So I'm asking, do we believe in what God is doing
here through this family of believers? If so,
Let's just remember, generosity is a symptom
of faith. And there's more to it than just finances.
Like I said, we need more people physically using
their gifts to serve the kingdom. How many of
you could go and coach a little league t -ball
team? Because let me tell you, Easton thinks
his t -ball coach is the coolest person in the
world. Sorry, Chad, you've been demoted. He thinks
his t -ball coach is the coolest person in the
world. Peyton thinks his t -ball coach is the
coolest person in the world. Sorry, Greg, you've
also been demoted. They love... their t -ball
coach how many of us could could go and be a
mentor in the school again like going to that
mentor banquet and seeing the way that that young
man talked about his mentor was awesome because
that little guy like well he's not little he's
in high school like he thinks of his mentor as
a hero and I think about my youth minister who
did youth ministry voluntarily he didn't like
I look at him as a hero And because of those
people's good work, lives are being changed.
Now for the t -ball coach, for the mentor, imagine
if we take those lives and we add the gospel
to it. So, what could we do? What could we do
for the community to bless these people? The
schools, the food pantry, visiting the shut -ins,
the homeless shelters, like all of these things,
these are ways that we could bless people. right
here, right now. And I need to say this because
we're coming to a close. For the visitor with
us today, I hope what you take from this is the
heart of this church family. Because this is
kind of like insider, right? Like, you know,
used to be churches would do men's business meetings
and this is what would get talked at about at
those. But I want to talk to everybody. And for
the visitor, I hope that you're not like, oh,
here we go, another preacher that's just preaching
about money. And that's not what this is about.
This is about the heart of this church family
and what we're trying to do for the kingdom of
God and for the people in this community around
us. And on a much lighter and frankly more important
note, I want you to look at my little fruit tree
again. Because again, I'm so proud of this thing.
I can't wait to plant it. Seriously though, if
anybody knows about plants, help me out. I want
you to look at my little fruit tree. This little
guy, he's going to cost me something. I'm going
to have to make sure I'm intentional about watering
it. I'm going to have to make sure that I give
it a good space in my yard so that it doesn't
get destroyed by my heathen children. I got to
make sure that that I take care of it and it's
going to cost something. But I want this tree
when it does start to bear fruit. I want it to
be a community tree. Like, I want you all to
just go in my yard. Well, first of all, it's
not my yard. It's your yard. But I want you to
go in the yard up there and just take an apple
off the tree. Wash it before you eat it. My grandma
always said to wash your fruit before eating
it. Wash it before you eat it. But I want you
to just get a fruit or an apple off the tree
and eat it or make an apple pie. If you do, bring
me a slice. I want this to be a community tree.
I'm going to put some work into it. And whoever
decides to help me out, like we're going to put
some work into it. But the fruit of it is going
to be available to everybody freely. And that's
exactly what Jesus did. It's exactly what Jesus
still does. Jesus gave his time. Jesus gave up
his home. He gave up his comfort and he gave
up ultimately his life. Jesus displayed the greatest
act of generosity. Like we look at Barnabas and
we're like, man, he sold a whole field. Like,
do y 'all know how much land is worth? He sold
it and just gave it all. And that was a great
act of generosity. And some of you have displayed
great acts of generosity in this church and at
other places. And those are awesome. But what
Jesus did, that, that is the ultimate act of
generosity. And he did it so that others could
eat of his fruit. Because his life, by his sacrifice,
we receive life. Not just eternal life, but abundant
life. And I want you to think about this. When
you eat of the fruit of this tree, you'll receive
nutrients, and you'll get some flavor, and it's
going to give you a little bit of life. Provide
substance. But when you eat of the generous gift
of Jesus' tree, you will receive far more abundance,
far more life than any apple could ever give
you. And that's the gospel. That's the good news.
Because generosity is the source and it's a symptom
of Jesus' work. And so for us, We have a symptom,
and it's to be generous in our time, in our service,
in our effort, generous with our gifts, our abilities,
all because of Jesus' gift. Okay, now, one last
look at my plants. Okay, you can't see my little
tree because there's a little plant. He's right
here, so I'm going to put him back up here. Look
at him, ooh and ah. That's dirty. I'm not putting
it up there, but you can hopefully see that.
Look at my plants. A year from now, One of these
is going to look exactly the same. Unless my
children destroy it. I might put it in my office
because it's safe there. He's going to look the
same. He'll still be pretty. You can still ooh
and ah at him. No fruit though. No life. He didn't
die. He's still there. Still looks good. The
other one, well, hopefully he's got some life
because I'm going to do my best to revive him.
And again, my plant people. You're going to help
me revive him if he's savable. If not, we're
going to toss him. But this one right here, a
year from now, because of the generous help that
a plant person in this room is going to give
me, this guy hopefully will have some apples.
I don't know. Do apple trees sprout apples that
fast? We'll find out. He's going to be bigger.
Two years. Okay. I don't know how old that is.
He's going to be bigger, if nothing else. He's
going to have a few more leaves on him. He's
going to be closer to bearing that good fruit,
if not bearing fruit yet. And I want you to think
about two years from now, and three years from
now, and four years from now. If I will intentionally,
generously take care of this tree, he's going
to produce a lot of good fruit. Which one of
these is the Blairsville Church of Christ? Which
one of these is, if you're visiting from another
church out of town, or which one of these is
your church family going to be? And then individually,
which one of these trees is Donovan Rillian or
Chad Laracy or Courtney Waller or Shayla Peel?
Which one of these trees are you going to be?
Am I going to be? The challenge for us this morning
is to be a real living tree that does bear good
fruit. and covers so much ground. I want the
church, my vision, my dream, like I have a vision
and a dream for this tree. My vision and dream
for this tree right here is that we cover so
much ground that people start thinking we are
an invasive species. Like kudzu level invasive.
That's what I want. That's my dream. That's my
vision. And that was Christ's vision when he
said, you're going to proclaim the gospel to
all nations, to all generations. And I want us
to bear so much good fruit in this community
and abroad that we fill every food bank from
here to Thailand. When we're done with our work
on this earth, people will look back and say,
that was a good tree. We've got a tree in my
hometown called the Friendship Oak. And it has
been there for hundreds of years. And a few years
ago, some people, some, I'm not going to say
it, they wanted to cut that tree down. When I
was a little kid, I played in that tree. Because
it's a big, I mean, it's big, like it covers,
down in South Mississippi, we've got these live
oaks that just like go. And that tree covers
so much ground. It's got like its own little
area roped off. And when I think about that tree,
I think about my memories in that tree, playing
under the shade of that tree. And when people
50 years older than me that are from South Mississippi
think about that tree, they think about the same
thing. When people that are 100 years old think
about that tree, they think about the same thing.
When people think about this church, what will
they think? What will they remember? When we
get to heaven and God is looking back on... the
history of the churches in the world, will He
look at us and say, man, they don't have any
life in them? Will He look at us and will He
say, that preacher really let them down and they
just kind of withered away? Or will He look at
us and say, man, they bore good fruit? That's
the challenge. And it is all possible. It is
all a part of our mission because of the good
news of Jesus. So when I'm done, we're going
to sing a song of invitation. And I want to challenge
you. Maybe you've never received the most generous
gift, that ultimate gift of generosity that is
the grace of Jesus. Maybe you've never accepted
His generosity. The invitation is open. We ask
you to come. Maybe you're already in Christ,
but you know you've been holding back, like you've
just been following. You aren't quite a disciple.
The invitation is open. And maybe you just need
the body of Christ to pray over you, to help
you. Or you need the generosity of the church.
Wherever you stand today, whatever it is that
you need, the invitation is the same for everyone
in this room. As we stand and sing, if you need
anything, please come.