Listen to Glisten: Land, Lies, and Life
Notes
Transcript
Acts 4:32-5:11
Acts 4:32-5:11
GREAT FEAR: v.5 and v.11
Acts Contemporary Significance
Some might say that temporary joy through sin is better than a life of fear and trembling. I respond that this fear and trembling is the gateway to lasting and truly satisfying joy. When we fear the holiness of God and the consequences of sin, we avoid sin. But we do not turn from sin into a vacuum; we embrace life to the full (John 10:10). We do not spend the rest of our days wishing that we could have had the experience of the sin we avoided. We are glad that we escaped that enslavement and are now “free indeed” (John 8:34–36). We are glad that God freed us to enjoy him, for he is not only holy, he is also loving. The Bible says that God delights in us (Ps. 147:11) and that we delight in him (43:4). When we run away from sin, we run into the arms of one whom we love and delight in and who loves us and delights to give us joy. We say with David, “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (16:11).
Thus, the fear of displeasing God and of the consequences of sin does not take away the enjoyment of life. It is rather the gateway to true enjoyment. Fear, then, is our friend.
Introduction:
For those of you who grew up with Bible stories, I wonder if you were like me, and just sort of accepted these stories without much reflection.
Hearing this story as a kid: Of course, they fell down dead, they lied to Peter!
But this is a crazy story!!
Other stories:
David defeating Goliath… and then {hand motions…}
A couple of weeks ago I sang, “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down, and they they killed
Achan: Beautiful Babylonian robe along with silver and gold.
Him and his entire family, life stock, and everything he owned were purged from Israel
This morning’s story is jarring:
What does this say about God? What about grace in the early church? What about an opportunity to repent? What does this say about sin and how serious we need to take it?
This morning we’re going to try to make sense of this story by focusing on the following point:
1. Early Church Economics
Oikos
Second time Luke describes the radical generosity and commonality of the early church (2:44-45).
v.32: Perfect unity (one heart and soul)
v. 32: Perfect sharing (no one called their possessions their own)
v.33: Powerful Sermons
v.33: ‘Great grace’ was upon them all
v.34: Not a needy person. All landowners and home owners sold them and brought the proceeds to the apostles’ feet
Important to know that this is how things kicked off...
Garden of Eden Stage
Application: This vision of the early church should challenge us!
NOT Christian Communism:
Not legislated, but Holy Spirit orchestrated
Same Holy Spirit working today!
Not legislated, but Holy Spirit orchestrated!
This passage has a lot to say about how we use our resources and finances, and I think the challenge at the get go is to think through how we, with our capitalists mindset, our ‘you can achieve anything you want to achieve’ false narratives, that we forget that in the church, we are called to take care of one another.
Church is a lot bigger: That’s why we do things like the World Relief Gift Catalogue!
Giving is important, and what we give to is important. And giving generously is important. And thinking about the best interests of others is important.
Do you think about the best interests of others with your finances?
Radical generosity within Early Church Economics ought to challenge us...
Example of a Prototype Giver (vv.36-37)
Chapter 4 ends by describing Barnabas: Son of Encouragement. Early church missionary. Vouched for Paul, Uncle to John Mark
“sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”
Massive amount of generosity: Think about pulling something like this off.
Dedicated to the cause of this newly formed Jewish sect.
This movement needed money and investment, and Barnabas put his encouraging money where his encouraging mouth is.
Similar to church planting: A lot of outside funding at first
Moved here with very little guaranteed money.
Barnabas presents this great gift, the whole thing, presents it, and he is then pitched up against the next example which launches Acts Chapter 5
Example of Counterfeit Givers
vv. 1-2: But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Conversation opens up:
Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie… TO LIE TO THE HOLY SPIRIT!
To keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?!
It was yours before you sold it. And after you sold it, you could do anything you wanted with that money!
What made you think this was a good idea, bro!? YOU HAVE NOT LIED TO JUST US, YOU HAVE LIED TO GOD!
And then the craziest thing happens:
He falls down and dies. Some young men watching get to work and wrap the body, carry it out, and bury him!
Three Hours later: Sapphira comes in to the meeting:
Peter apparently knows how much they sold the property for, and so asks her if she sold it for the amount that was presented to the Apostle’s feet.
Yes, that’s the amount...
Peter goes off again:
Both of you hav tested the Spirit… Look, there’s a few guys just outside the door who just buried your husband. They’re here now for your reckoning as well…
What was the Problem?
They lied about how much they made to make them look good. They wanted that recognition of looking good!
Peter wasn’t rebuking him for not giving everything, Peter’s rebuking him for giving off the impression that he did.
WHY would they do that??
To Ananias: “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit… “
To Sapphira: “Testing the Spirit of the Lord!”
“The particular desire that Satan had filled Ananias and Sapphira with was the desire for recognition by the church. They lied to win the same sort of esteem that Barnabas had won in the church.” NIVAC
Deception crept in the church, and fallen corpses was the result… Just an incredibly brutal punishment for these two...
How do we make sense of this major Early Church Set-Back?
Fundraising: I’ll take anything!
We’ll take your money, but I know you could have given more...
No… I was just overwhelmed that people would give!
I wouldn’t not question their motives, at least not to their face!!
But here we have Peter shutting the door to even an opportunity for repentance… although you can make a case that he gave Sapphira, but overall Peter knew they were not Barnabas!
Singular Moment in Redemptive History
- Luke: “Kept back”, uncommon usage, but used very intentionally!
Joshua 7:1: “But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the Son of Carmi… took some of the devoted things.
In my personal opinion, there’s no doubt in my mind that Luke is making a connection between Israel’s mission to take over Canaan with the Church’s mission to disciple the world!
No impurities allowed yet
No messing up this momentum!
No mixing pollutants with this fresh air yet
Purge Israel from Deceit
Drastic times calls for drastic measures. THIS WON’T BE THE LAST TIME PEOPLE WILL USE THEIR RESOURCES IN DECEPTIVE WAYS AND IN WAYS THAT WILL MAKE THEM LOOK BETTER.
BUT THIS IS BABY CHURCH here...
This is like feeding a baby enough poison to kill it, but that same dosage wouldn’t kill an adult.
God is preserving his church.
2. BUT, this singular Moment doesn’t make future deceit less Sinful
Imagine dropping dead every time you deceived! No one in church would survive!
Have you ever given less than you could have? Have you ever given to receive recognition?
Have you ever allowed pride to creep into your pocketbook?
If so, you’re still here, which is a good thing, but the warning to us is clear:
Although this is a singular moment in redemptive history, the warning is there to make sure we tear out pride from our pocketbooks.
3. Don’t Give Satan a Foothold
Ananias and Sapphira allowed Satan to fill their hearts…
Trick statement: Commentaries debate about what that means.
NOT DEMON POSSESSION, but they gave Satan the ability, most likely unknowingly, the ability to influence their decision-making process.
I’m sure it wasn’t a process that happened as quick as their death. I’m sure it was a slow burn, like a slow crack of the door to invite room for Satan to join their hearts throne room.
CAN’T SAY THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT:
Culpability: 9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?
Although Ananias and Saphhira died on the spot, their journey to death was a lot longer than that. They’ve been flirting with death long before they died.
Deceit leads to death always, their journey was just fast tracked
Their thirst for attention was a slow burn with Satan, and can only trust that their death was act of grace of God to stop that burn from total consumption.
Live with an Audience of One!
Lead Like Jesus:
A famous opera singer was invited to give a command performance in a grand theater in front of a large audience. He rehearsed for months. When the night arrived, every seat was filled with fans and admirers. As the singer finished his performance, he was greeted with a standing ovation and made several curtain calls. When he finally came off the stage, his manager embraced and congratulated him. But instead of acknowledging the praise, the singer told his manager that he had failed. In disbelief, the manager asked, “How can you say that? You received a standing ovation and three curtain calls!”
The singer said, “But a person in the front row wasn’t standing or applauding.”
“Why do you care about one person’s opinion when everyone else loved your performance?” asked the manager. The singer replied, “The person who wasn’t applauding was my teacher.” The singer had wanted to please his teacher above all others. That’s how we need to feel about pleasing God.
We need to live the same way: We are to sing for the audience of one...
Crave the attention of the Messiah over your manager
Crave the attention from Christ, and not the crowd
By craving the right cravings, you’re being like Jesus himself who always craved the attention of the Father! And that craving, that desire to live for the audience of one, that led to death as well, by the way.
By Jesus living for an audience of one, he was led to the Cross and not more curtain calls.
He put our interests above his own.
He put our salvation before his own life.
That is the Christian model, folks!
Follow Jesus lead here with your finances, with your property, with everything God has entrusted you with. And remember who really owns your stuff anyway:
Ephesians 1:22-23: And [the Father] put all things under [Christ’s] feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.