Investing for Life: Barnabas
On this Sunday, we continued our new worship series in coordination with our 2024 stewardship campaign. We’ll be looking at what it means to invest in the things that have real meaning and purpose. As we do, you’re invited to ask the question: “What matters to me?” Because your values, your priorities, and your goals have everything to do with how you handle your finances… and that has everything to do with finding true joy and purpose in life… or not.
During worship, we explored Acts 4:32-37. In this passage, we get a glimpse into how the earliest Christians cared for each other and ensured the church’s needs were met. “God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them,” the text tells us. One of those members was Barnabas, who saw a need and was willing to invest of his own resources to fulfill it. What lessons can we learn from Barnabas’ example of generosity?
Sermon Reflections:
- What really matters to you? How do your values and priorities align with how you spend your time and money?
- How has generosity been a learned behavior in your life, and what experiences have shaped your attitude towards giving?
- Have you ever found yourself falling into a consumerist mindset, where you seek satisfaction through acquiring more things? How has generosity served as an antidote to consumerism in your life?
- Can you recall a time when someone’s generosity or investment in you had a profound impact on your life, much like Barnabas’ impact in the early church? How did that experience shape your outlook on generosity?
- How do you view your giving to the church or charitable causes? Is it purely transactional, or do you approach it with an open and generous heart, as Barnabas did?
- Consider the eternal perspective: How can you invest in something that outlives you and makes a lasting difference? What can you do to reflect God’s generosity in your own life and inspire others to do the same?