Where the love of truth rises to the pinnacle of your values, the love of money and the love of approval diminishes.

And the reverse is true.

Where the love of money and the love of people's approval rises,

the love of truth dissolves into deception and fraud

because you want to manipulate truth in order to keep money and keep praise.

What frees us from the love of money?

In this episode of Light and Truth, John Piper opens Acts 4,

verses 32 through chapter 5, verse 11, to show how treasuring Christ

loosens our grip on possessions and strengthens our love for people.

This sermon was originally delivered at Bethlehem Baptist Church on February 10, 1991.

Consider two effects now of believing in Jesus.

One effect is a tightening of the relationship of our heart to other people,

and the other is the loosening of the relationship of our heart to things and money.

Let me show you this right in the very first verse of our text, verse 32.

Now, the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul. So the first effect is a tightening, a unifying of our heart with other people, especially other believers.

When you put faith in Christ and a bond of faith is created with him,

a bond of love is also created with his people.

Now, here's the second effect.

Now, the company of those who believed were of one heart and one soul,

and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own,

but they had everything in common.

In other words, a second effect of being satisfied with all that God is for you in Christ is that there is a loosening of the attachment that you have with things and with money.

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