Sermon Tone Analysis
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For and Against
Today is the second and final installment in our series “For and Against”.
Several weeks back Yale publicly launched an ambitious, five-year capital campaign to raise $7 billion to help future generations of university faculty, students, and staff tackle the greatest challenges facing humankind.
The campaign is the largest and most comprehensive in Yale’s history.
It aims to bolster the university’s unique resources to improve the world, strengthen the bonds among members of the Yale community, and bolster Yale’s foundation for the future.
The campaign states, “Improving the human condition requires human intellect and emotion.”
I agree.
Yale has titled its capital campaign “For Humanity”.
The campaign acknowledges that much time can be spent highlighting what a person or group is against, such that Yale is choosing to make a stake about what it is for.
Yale is declaring, “We are for humanity.”
I look around and see the world is as diverse as it has ever been.
In deciding whether or not to connect across difference, people are asking, “Are you for me or against me?”
In deciding whether to partner with someone for business or for life, the values of a person are come under scrutiny: “Who are you for?
Who are you against?”
“What is the life evidence that makes what you say true?”
People want to connect with God.
People know they need God.
And they have the question, “God, are you for me?
At times life feels like you are against me.”
Today, we will read stories of two couples who got to personally put their own stake in the ground, declaring who they are for.
And I ask you to consider:
Given an opportunity to express it, what is your life for?
Of whom are you in favor?
In our opening text, the Apostles are preaching the Gospel/Good news of Jesus Christ—preaching that the person Jesus, whom they just crucified, is the resurrected Lord, is resin from the dead.
Thousands believe, hearing the word of God.
The religious leaders, wanting to retain and regain religious authority, persecute the Apostles.
The Apostles preach anyhow.
Jews come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and live life together, despite harsh treatment.
In our text, we come across the couple Ananias and Sapphira.
For and Against: a tale of two couples
(Let’s pray)
Marriage is arguably the most important institution we have/there is.
After God made Adam and established a personal relationship with Adam, God made Adam a helper comparable to Adam.
The first partnership, agreement made between any two people, was marriage.
And God formed the union.
One estimate says there will be 1.9 million weddings by the end of 2021.
In 2022, that number is predicted to jump to 2.5 million, nearly doubling the amount in 2020.
(https://www.wptv.com/money/consumer/5-big-changes-youll-see-during-weddings-in-2021-and-beyond)
Marriage is one opportunity to do life together with someone.
A covenant and commitment to live out your days as one.
Ananias and Sapphira might have seen themselves as that couple—doing life together and living out their days as one.
In our text,
Certainly they are one.
They have a life together.
Together they owned land.
Together they make business transactions.
Together they manage (understand) their finances.
Together they agree on a donation to support the common good.
Together, unfortunately, they agree to lie to God, to lie to their community.
What would possess a couple, in a position to be financially generous, to pretend to be more generous then they actually were in their heart?
Was there an/What image and reputation were they trying uphold/maintain or create?
Perhaps they felt a certain peer pressure from their community.
Were they trying to convince themselves that deep down on the inside they really were a good couple?
That God didn't mind their struggle to be good?
Whatever their justification,
Perhaps they didn't recognize that all things are done before God, independent of whether they are in front of people.
Whatever the reason, Ananias and Sapphire ultimately chose to be for themselves.
(Were willing to live a lie that seemed satisfied all involved.)
They wanted too much comfort—the image of being generous without the price tag that comes with it.
Ananias and Sapphire go down in history as the couple who tried to appear to be more generous then they actually intended for themselves to be.
Let’s contrast Ananias and Sapphire with another couple.
Aquila and Priscilla
The Apostle Paul writes, to close out a letter, two sentences about Priscilla and Aquila.
Even though it’s only two sentences, I find the sentences to be very telling of the couple.
A few things we can learn from Paul’s words.
The couple:
co-labored in the ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ;
risked death in intentionally associating and working with Apostle Paul;
greatly benefited the churches formed by non-Jewish believers coming to know Jesus; and
had their own church that met in their home.
Aquila and Priscilla were a couple who had a life marked by what they gave and who they were for.
And how we know Priscilla and Aquila were a couple:
The Apostle John also wrote in the Book of Acts a few words about them.
Here are a few verses that specifically mention Aquila and Priscilla:
Priscilla and Aquila are a couple doing life together, living out their days as one.
The couple was expelled from their home in Rome.
Because they were Jews and the Jews had to leave.
Together, they left Rome and together they relocated to Corinth.
Together, the couple works with their hands and makes a living.
Together, they also make a difference:
They house Paul and share work with him.
Travel with Paul for ministry.
Graciously help another co-laborer Apollos to more accurately teach the Gospel.
Priscilla and Aquila are in it to win it.
And for everyone to win, not just themselves.
These are two couples—both married but different in how they impact life—their own and the lives of those around them.
Ananias and Sapphire partner to try to make an impression that is most about themselves.
Priscilla and Aquilla partner and make a difference in the lives of those around them.
They contribute in a ways that that they are uniquely able to minister/contribute.
That’s Ananias and Sapphire and Priscilla and Aquilla and an example of how the couples lived their life.
But let’s talk about you and me.
If I may speak with you for a moment:
One of the biggest mistakes we can make in our relationships and pursuits (whether personal, professional, academic, religious) is thinking that the outcomes are for ourselves alone—our own consumption and purposes.
There may not inherently be anything wrong with having something for yourself.
(I’m not against your fulfillment.
I am for your fulfillment.
Chances are, you work hard to be where you are and have some of what you have.)
What I simply aim to do is help expand your spiritual vision.
The reason it can be a mistake to think that your relationship or pursuit is for you is that the potential of the relationship might be bigger than the thing for which you use it/ than the purpose for which you’ve named it.
Take your marriage:
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