Morning, church. Our scripture this morning comes from Acts chapter 4, 32 to chapter 5, verse 11.
! Please follow along in your bulletins, your Bibles, or the screen behind me.
Starting in verse 32, we read,
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.
Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles 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.
But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property,
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.
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?
While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?
And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?
Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart?
You have not lied to man, but to God.
When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last.
And great fear came upon all who heard of it.
The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
And Peter said to her,
Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.
And she said,
Yes, for so much.
But Peter said to her,
How is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord?
Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door,
and they will carry you out.
Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last.
When the young men came in, they found her dead,
and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
This is the word of God.
Okay, great.
Thank you, Jaya.
Good morning, everybody.
It's great to be with you again.
If you are new to Watermark, my name is Kevin,
and it's great to have you with us this morning.
I want to start off by asking a question.
What is very precious to you?
What do you love to take care of?
When I was a young schoolboy,
the thing that was most important to me in life was the game of cricket.
I don't know if you know the game of cricket.
Cricket is a sport that,
I guess, various countries play.
And talking about cricket,
if you are Australian,
I'm sorry that you lost the cricket to South Africa at 10 o'clock last night.
But there's a prayer team that will pray for your healing after the service.
But I loved the game of cricket.
I loved following cricket.
I loved watching cricket.
I loved practicing cricket.
I loved reading all the statistics of my favorite players and reading their biographies.
But more than anything, I loved playing cricket.
And one of the things I loved to do was to make sure all my cricket equipment was well-packed.
Everything had its place.
Everything was neatly polished and cleaned and in its place.
I loved taking care of my things.
And so one of the things I loved to do as a boy was before cricket season each year,
I would cycle on my bicycle two kilometers down the road to the nearest hardware store.
And I had to buy two things,
some rolls of sandpaper and some special oil that you use to clean a cricket bat.
Then I would cycle home and I would spend the next few days sanding down my cricket bat.
Sanding all the bumps and the color and the red marks from the cricket ball out from the previous season.
And all the chips and the dents.
And I would get it as smooth as possible.
And then I would paint it with linseed oil and leave it to dry for a couple of days.
And then a few days later I'd go through the whole process again.
Until that cricket bat was as smooth as whatever you can imagine.
A baby's bottom, let's just say.
And it smelled like fresh oil.
I loved taking care of my cricket bat.
Why?
Because at that age, that was probably my most precious possession.
We love to take care of things that are precious to us.
Now I wonder what is precious to you?
What do you love taking care of?
Maybe you've just got a new car, right?
And suddenly there are all sorts of new rules around the home.
No eating in the car.
And you are fastidious about making sure it's clean, not only on the outside, but on the inside.
Maybe you've been saving up for a new guitar.
And you've just bought that Taylor guitar that you've been saving up for for months or years.
And what do you do?
You buy a cover.
You buy dehumidifiers.
You buy all sorts of other things.
And you're retuning it way too often.
You're polishing it.
You've got a special cloth just to clean your guitar.
And warning to anybody that touches your dear guitar.
Or maybe somebody passes you a family heirloom.
A diamond ring.
And you go out and you buy a special safe and a special box.
And special cleaning material.
And you make sure nobody is allowed to touch your family heirloom.
Friends, what is precious to you?
What do you love taking care of?
What would your family and friends say that is precious to you based on what you spend time and effort and energy looking after?
What do you love to take care of?
Well, we're working through the book of Acts.
And in the book of Acts, we see how the gospel goes out and forms this community of people.
This gospel-shaped community, which is called the church.
And the church is a gathering of followers of Jesus, those that have encountered His grace, and now come together.
And in this passage, we see that the church, the community of believers, is very precious to Jesus.
Jesus loves to take care and to work on and to look after His church.
And we're going to see in our passage today that He does that in two ways.
He does it through the work of cultivating generous love and through the work of confronting counterfeit faith.
To Jesus Christ, the church is so precious to Him that He doesn't just leave it to its own devices.
He works on it.
He works in it.
He takes great care of it.
And He wants it to be the beautiful church that He's designed it to be.
So, let's dive in and look at this passage.
If you've got a Bible, look at it with me, or you've got a bulletin, follow along.
We're going to be looking at this passage together.
Let's look at the first section.
Jesus works in His church by cultivating generous love.
And we're going to look at verses 32 to 37 here.
Now, this passage is very similar to one that we looked at just a few weeks ago, at the end of chapter 2.
And in that passage, you'll remember Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost.
About 3,000 people come to faith.
And then there's this amazing passage that Luke describes the believers come together that are very devoted to the things of God.
There's kind of a vertical component.
There's that famous verse in chapter 2 that says,
They were devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to breaking of bread, and to the prayers.
And they're also devoted to each other.
But there's quite a vertical component.
Well, in this passage that Jaya read to us, we see something very similar.
But here Luke's emphasis is on the horizontal component.
As the gospel goes out, as people are changed, what happens?
It forms a community.
A community of people that, yes, they love God, but they also love one another.
Yes, they want to serve God, but they also are serving one another.
Here is a group of people who are coming together, not just for what they can get or take or receive,
but how they can love and serve each other.
Look at what it says.
Verse 32.
It says,
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and one soul.
And no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own.
But they shared and had everything in common.
You may remember there's a verse in Matthew's gospel, chapter 10,
where Jesus sends his disciples out, and he says,
Freely you have received, now freely give.
And that's what we see here.
Here are a group of people that, having received so much from Christ, so much in the gospel,
received mercy and grace and love and redemption, having freely received, are now willing to freely give.
And so, look at verse 34.
It says,
God is at work in this community.
God doesn't just gather them and say,
Okay, get on to yourself.
He's at work.
He's fashioning them.
He's shaping them.
You know, one of the things that's amazing about the book of Acts is the many miracles.
Luke calls them signs and wonders.
We saw that two weeks ago when Alan was preaching.
Peter and John are on the way to the temple.
There's a beggar.
He can't walk.
And they, in the name of Jesus, get up and walk.
And he's made well.
The book of Acts is full of these amazing miracles.
And what is a miracle?
A miracle is when God intervenes and transcends the ordinary laws of nature.
A blind man gets sight.
A cripple is able to walk.
It's God intervening over and above the regular laws of nature.
Friends, here what Luke wants to show us is that the miraculous nature of the church was not just the blind getting sight,
the cripple walking,
but actually the hearts of those that have been touched by the gospel.
Look at the miracles here.
Not a needy person amongst them.
People selling houses and lands and giving money as distributed to anyone as they had need.
And just so we know that these are real stories involving real people,
Luke tells us about one man in particular.
He says, verse 36,
Thus Joseph, who is also called Barnabas,
a Levite, a native of Cyprus,
sold the field that belonged to him,
brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
This wasn't just general kind of kindness.
This was particularly real people
selling their possessions and sharing with anyone as they had need.
Now, how does this come about?
One of the things Luke wants to tell us is that this is God's doing.
Look at verse 33 with me.
Luke says,
And with great power,
the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great grace was upon them all.
You know, some commentators think verse 33 doesn't really fit in,
because verse 32 talks about this radical generosity.
Verse 34 onwards talks about radical generosity.
And verse 33 is kind of,
it doesn't really fit.
But actually what Luke is wanting to say here is,
where does this generosity come from?
This wasn't a political manifesto.
This wasn't a social experiment.
This wasn't an economic model.
How can we redistribute wealth?
This is a work of great power and great grace.
When the Holy Spirit comes upon His people,
He changes them from the inside,
so that they cannot help but love and serve those around them.
This is God getting a hold of His people,
so that God's community starts to look like what?
Like God Himself.
Who is God?
God is the one who, though He was rich,
became poor for our sakes,
so that we might become rich in Him.
He is the one who so loved the world,
that He gave His Son,
so that we might not perish.
God, out of the abundance of His riches,
gives and gives and gives,
grace upon grace,
mercy upon mercy,
love upon love.
And in the Gospels,
we see this in individual ways.
We see people like Zacchaeus, right?
Remember Zacchaeus?
He's a bit of a thief.
He's a tax collector.
He's sided with the Romans against his own people.
But he encounters the mercy of God,
and what does he say?
Lord, after half of my possessions,
I will give away.
And if I've cheated anybody,
four times what I've taken from them,
I will repay them.
Or think of Mary.
She encounters this,
the amazing mercy of Jesus.
And what does she do?
She takes her precious bottle of perfume,
worth a year's wages,
breaks it and pours out of Jesus.
In the Gospels,
we see these individual accounts
of the mercy of God,
changing people to radical generosity.
But here it is,
we see not just individuals,
but an entire community
that has formed around the Gospel.
I read a story recently
of a lady called Elisha.
And she tells the story
where she says,
I got dressed to get fired one day.
Why was she dressed to get fired?
Well, she had recently joined this company.
Okay, don't worry about the slide.
She had joined this company six months before.
She had been 15 months without work,
doing temp work,
and just trying to make ends meet.
Finally landed a job,
but six months into the job,
the company was going through layoffs,
and was laying off numerous staff.
And so she says,
I got dressed to get fired that day.
And that day when I was at work,
as the office descended into chaos of tears
and people packing up their boxes,
I waited at my desk for HR to call me
for my notification letter.
But it never came.
She says,
the most beloved and hardworking member
of her team was let go,
but she was spared.
Everybody in her team was stunned.
Why was she spared?
This is to what she writes.
As I walked home that day,
relief and gratitude overcame me.
As I passed my neighborhood grocery store,
a woman sat outside asking for money,
and I couldn't help but give to her.
Never have I given as radically
and as generously to any stranger
as I did that day.
Why?
I was under the influence of mercy.
What a great line.
She says,
I couldn't help but I've never given
so radically,
so generously to a stranger.
Why?
I was under the influence of mercy.
Friends,
that's what we see in Acts here.
A community
that is formed around the gospel,
that's under the influence of mercy,
that cannot help but be radically generous
because of what they've received.
And over the last few weeks
as we've been reading Acts,
we've seen how God is at work
through the church.
Right?
The apostles are standing up.
They're preaching.
Hundreds of people getting saved.
God is at work through his church.
But what Luke wants us to see here
is God was not only at work through the church,
but in the church.
It wasn't only outsiders,
those out there that needed the grace
and the gospel.
God was cultivating a culture of grace
and generosity in the church
until it started to look like him.
Now, what does this mean for us?
Well, here's one simple implication
I can think of.
What is the grace and generosity barometer
of your heart looking like?
Okay, do you know what a barometer is?
A barometer is an instrument
that measures the pressure
in the atmosphere
and tells you what the weather
is going to be like.
Okay, this is before the days of iPhones.
Okay?
So long, long ago,
when I was a kid
and we didn't have smartphones,
we used things called barometers.
Okay?
And I'm just joking.
I didn't have a barometer growing up.
But it measures the atmospheric pressure
which is something you can't see
and then it tells you
what's going to happen with the weather.
Now, generosity and grace
is like a barometer
that tells us
what is the atmospheric pressure
of our hearts.
How deeply has the gospel
got a hold of us
and gripped our hearts?
Here we see a community
that is transformed by the gospel
and what does it do?
It makes them radically generous
and gracious to one another.
It makes them giving.
It makes them no longer consumers
but servers.
Friends, if God's generosity
and grace to us as individuals
produces a community of grace
and generosity to one another,
one way to measure that
is to ask ourselves
how gracious,
how generous are we
to those around us?
How gracious are we
to those in our families?
How sacrificial are we
with our possessions?
How inclusive are we
to those that are different from us
and maybe even challenge us?
How generous are we
to those who we feel
don't deserve it?
Because the gospel
that brings us into oneness
with God himself
will also bring us
into one heart
and one spirit
with those around us.
So friends,
are we living
under the influence of mercy?
What is the barometer of grace
saying about our lives?
Jesus is at work
in his church
cultivating generous love.
But here we see
in chapter 5
another story
and it's the picture
of Jesus at work
in his church
confronting counterfeit faith.
Now,
if you're new to church
this morning,
maybe you've never read
Acts chapter 5
and it's quite a scary story,
right?
It looks like God
takes out one of his own.
You may be surprised
to find that it's in the Bible.
Here we have a wealthy couple
and nice and Sapphira
and they sell a piece of land,
an excess piece of land
and they bring
a portion of the proceeds
to the apostles
and they lay it at their feet
and say,
here,
take this money
and distribute it
to the poor
as you see fit.
And what do they get
in return
for their generosity?
An early funeral service,
right?
They both
fall down dead.
What on earth
is going on here?
I was going to comment
about our building fund.
Thankfully,
that didn't happen here.
We are all still alive
and well
as far as I know.
But let's look
at what's happening here.
And nice comes
to the apostles
and he hands over
this pile of money.
Look at what Peter says,
verse 3.
And nice,
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?
Just by the way,
throughout the book of Acts,
God is constantly
telling us
that these people
are filled with the Spirit.
Filled with the Spirit.
Which is what we want to be,
right?
Filled with the Spirit.
Here,
Peter tells Ananias
he's filled with Satan.
Not the kind of church
we want to be.
Verse 4.
While it remained unsold,
did it not remain your own?
And after it was sold,
was it not at your disposal?
Why is it that you've contrived
this deed in your heart?
You have not lied to man,
but to God.
When Ananias heard these words,
he fell down
and breathed his lot
and the young men came
and carried him out
and buried him.
And of course,
his wife Sapphira,
three hours later,
comes in
and the same thing happens.
Now,
what's going on here?
Well,
this account tells us
at least two things
about the early church
and the Christian faith.
The first thing
it tells us is this,
that gospel generosity
and sacrificial love
were so important,
so highly valued
to the early church
that some people
were willing to fake it
in order to be part
of the community.
And that's quite remarkable.
This value
of generous love
and gracious,
sacrificial giving
was so highly valued
that some people thought,
I can't do it,
but I better fake it
in order to be part
of this community.
And then why,
the reason why,
as we've been saying,
is because sacrificial generosity
and undeserved grace
are at the very heart
of the Christian faith
that they believed
and proclaimed.
Friends,
if you're new to church
this morning,
if you're new to the Christian faith,
at the heart of Christianity
is the historical reality
that Jesus Christ
gave of his life
on the cross,
died for your sins
and my sins.
He gave up his life
that we can be included
in the family
and the people of God.
And Jesus gave of himself
so that the moral debt
that you and I hold
can be paid and full
and done away with.
Jesus looked at our moral debt
and said,
I will pay your debt
on your behalf.
And so,
this value
was so highly esteemed
that some were even willing
to fake it
to be part of the community.
But here's the second thing
that tells us.
That genuine faith
and authentic worship
were so highly valued
by God
that he was even willing
to expose
and remove
those who compromised
or endangered
the Christian faith
and the gospel.
And that's really scary.
That genuine,
authentic worship
and faith
was so highly valued
by God
that he's even willing
to expose
and maybe even remove
those who endanger
and compromise
the gospel.
You see,
why does God deal
with Ananias and Sapphira
like this?
Well,
it's not because of
their love for money.
It's not necessarily
their greed.
It's their duplicity,
their inauthenticity.
Look at what Peter says
here in verse 4.
He says,
While it remained
unsold and nice,
did your property
not remain your own?
And after it was sold,
was it not at your disposal?
Why have you contrived
this deed in your heart?
You have not lied
to man,
but to God.
See,
God entrusted them
with money
and they could have
sold their property
and said,
come to the leaders
and said,
you know what guys,
we don't,
actually God's been gracious
to us.
We don't need
all of this money.
He has 50%.
Or,
He has 30%.
He has 10%,
right?
They could have done that
and that would have been
a remarkable story
of grace and generosity.
But actually,
what's happening here
is here are people
that are not resting
in the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ,
not resting
in the love of the Father,
not trusting
in the free grace
of Christ.
Their identity,
their security
is,
is in,
not found in what
Jesus has done
in the cross for them
and His substitution
in death
on the cross.
Actually,
where is their identity
found?
Where is their security
found?
On what basis
are they wanting
to be part
of the Christian community?
It's the appearance
of righteousness.
It's the appearance
of being moral
and having it all together.
It's in a counterfeit
facade of morality,
believing that
their behavior,
their generosity,
will allow them
to be part
of the community
of faith.
But friends,
friends,
the only thing
that welcomes us
into the community
of faith
is the free gift
of God's grace,
not our righteousness
or our generosity
or kindness
or any moral appearance.
it's in the fact
that we come to
an empty hand
and say,
nothing in my hands
I bring,
simply to your grace
and your mercy
do I cling.
Dane Ortlund
in his excellent book
called Deeper
writes this.
He says,
there are two ways
to be dishonest
with fellow Christians.
Explicit dishonesty
and implicit dishonesty.
Explicit dishonesty
is outright lying,
right?
Saying,
I went here
when you didn't
or I gave this away
when you didn't.
But it is also
implicit dishonesty
which is much more subtle
and much more common.
This is the self-projection
that gives an appearance
of moral success
and righteousness
when the truth
is far different.
Here in Ananias and Sapphira
we see both of those,
don't we?
Yes,
there's explicit lying.
This is how much
we sold the property for.
But far more sinister,
far more dangerous
is the implicit lying,
the projection
of righteousness,
the projection
of immorality,
the projection
of having it all together
when the truth
is far from it.
See friends,
it's not just
that Ananias
sinned
or did something wrong
that got them in trouble.
we all sin.
We all make mistakes.
If sin was the thing
that disqualified them,
there would be
no such thing
as a church.
But it's pretending
to trust in Christ.
It's pretending,
attempting to earn
God's favor
through financial gifts.
That's an affront
to God
and an offense
to the gospel.
Friends,
long before Ananias
and Sapphira
lied to the community
and even before
they lied to God,
they were lying
to themselves,
thinking that
something other
than the mercy
of Jesus
could bring them
into God's family.
Telling themselves
that no one needed
to know
about their discrepancy,
their disconnect
between the story
they were projecting
and the reality
of their lives.
A few weeks ago,
Jesse,
somewhere around,
put me on to
an author
called Blaise Pascal.
Blaise Pascal
was a mathematician
and a philosopher
about 400 years ago.
He was a wonderful
Christian man
and he wrote
some amazing things
and since Jesse
and I had lunch,
I've been reading
Blaise Pascal's book
called Thoughts
or Pensies.
And there's an amazing
paragraph
that he writes in there
and I want to read
some of it to us.
This is what he says.
Blaise Pascal
is wondering
about the conflict
in the human heart
about the fact
that we love ourselves.
And he says this,
he says,
the nature of humanity
is self-love
and the nature
of human ego
is to love
the self only.
And he says,
but what will we do?
There's a problem
because we must realize
we love ourselves
but if we're honest
with ourselves,
we all see our own
faults and failings.
and so we love
this imperfect image
that we have
of ourselves.
And he says
that as humans
we want to be great
but we know
the reality
is we're small.
We want to be perfect
but we see ourselves
as full of imperfections.
We want to be
an object of love
and esteem
and honor
in the eyes of others
but we see
that our faults
merit only scorn
and contempt.
And then he writes this,
he says,
this disconnect
which we find
in ourselves
produces the most
unrighteous
and criminal
obsession
that can be imagined.
For man conceives
an enemy
against that truth
which confronts him
and convinces him
of his faults.
He says,
we dream up
in our minds
there's this enmity
between how we see
ourselves
and what we want to be
and who we really are.
He would annihilate
that truth
but unable
to destroy it
entirely
he destroys it
as far as possible
in his own mind
and that of others.
That is to say
he devotes
all his attention
to hiding
his faults
both from others
and from himself.
See what he's saying?
He's saying,
we have this image
of ourselves.
I want to look good.
I want to think
of myself as grace
but when I look
at myself
I see these faults
inside of myself.
So what do I do?
I can't deny the truth
or I can't hide the truth
so I'll deny it.
I'll deny it
in your eyes
by projecting
an image
that I'm better
than I am
and I'll deny it
to myself
by telling myself
I'm not as bad
as I really am.
And then Blaise Pascal
goes on
and he says,
truly it is evil
to be full of faults
but it is still
greater evil
to be full of faults
and unwilling
to recognize them
since that is
to add to the
further fault
voluntary deception.
Friends,
none of us
are perfect.
All of us
have faults.
If you don't
have any faults
I'd love to meet you.
Friends,
the basis
of the Christian faith
is that you can
only come
if you know
yourself a sinner.
If you admit
yourself a sinner.
If you come
to the foot
of the cross
and say,
Jesus,
I don't have it
together.
I need your grace.
But there
is a tendency
inside of our hearts
to deny that
to others
and to deny
that to ourselves
and ultimately
to deny it
to God
and say,
God,
I have it
all together.
Look at me.
I don't need
your grace.
I've got it
all myself.
And that
is a disastrous,
disastrous
thing to do
because it
excludes us
from the grace
of God.
And so look
at how,
in this passage,
look at how Luke
structures this
passage.
In Acts chapter
4,
Luke,
we looked at
this last week,
the Christians
face remarkable
persecution
and
obstruction.
They are,
the apostles
are arrested,
they're thrown
in jail,
they are threatened.
In Acts chapter
5,
we see the same
thing.
The apostles
are arrested,
they're thrown
in jail,
they are threatened,
they're even
beaten up.
But in between
these two passages
of Acts chapter
4 and Acts
chapter 5,
here we find
the story of
Ananias and
Sapphira.
And I think Luke
is wanting to
tell us something.
Luke says that
there are two
great dangers
that the Christian
church will face.
There is opposition
and persecution
from outside,
but there's a far
more insidious,
a far more dangerous
kind of enemy.
It's not the
opposition and the
persecution from
outside,
it's the insidious
deception,
dishonesty that
resides within.
And we,
the church can
withstand opposition
from outside,
but the deception
and the dishonesty
that resides
within our hearts
will kill us
and destroy us
and eat us up
from the inside.
Persecution,
suffering,
torture,
jail,
prison,
friends,
these things
can't destroy
the church.
But the sin
that resides
within is far
more dangerous.
And so what
would it look
like for us
to be a community
of sincerity
and truth?
Well,
it looks like,
sorry,
what would it
look like for us
to be like
Ananias and Sapphira?
How does this
look in our own
lives?
Well,
here's a couple
of ideas.
Maybe it looks
like pretending
that we have a
genuine relationship
with God
when in reality
our hearts
are called
to Him
and called
to the things
of God.
Friends,
maybe it looks
like cultivating
secret habits
or addictions,
patterns of
sinful behavior
which are
well-guarded
secrets
and we make
sure that
nobody,
nobody's going
to find out
about this.
Friends,
maybe it's
living a
double life.
We are one
person at work,
one person at home,
one person at
university,
one person with
our friends out
and then a
completely different
person at church
on Sunday
or a small group
on Wednesday.
Friends,
maybe it's
pretending to
forgive somebody
and we put
on a smile
and we talk
sweetly to
them.
We say,
that's fine,
don't worry,
it's all over.
But we replay
the action
and we harbor
bitterness and
anger and
hatred in our
hearts.
You know,
the 16th
century reformers
had a phrase,
a Latin
phrase they used
to say.
They used to
say,
ecclesia
reformata
semper
reformanda.
Okay,
I hope you
appreciate my
Latin,
which means
the church
reformed,
always
reforming.
In other
words,
in the 16th
century,
the church
discovered the
gospel and
it completely
reformed the
church.
It renewed
the church.
They discovered
the wonder of
Jesus and the
good news of
grace and
God's mercy and
the fact that
Jesus died on
the cross for
sinners like
them.
And this
reformation
caused the
revival of the
whole of Europe
and changed the
world.
The church was
radically,
radically different
because of
rediscovering the
gospel of God's
grace.
The church
reformed.
They called
themselves the
reformed church.
But they were
very,
very aware that
the danger would
be to say,
God,
we've arrived.
We've discovered
the gospel.
What can
possibly go
wrong?
And then just
to coast into
deception and
duplicity.
And so they
had this phrase,
yes,
the church is
reformed,
but the church
is always
reforming,
always repenting,
always examining
our hearts and
asking ourselves,
where is
duplicity lying
within?
Search me,
O God,
and know my
heart,
says Psalm
139.
Try me and
know my
thoughts and
see if there's
any grievous
way in me and
lead me in the
way of everlasting
life.
Friends,
is it possible
that there is a
measure of
Ananias and
Sapphira in
us,
lurking in our
hearts?
For those of
us that have
been Christians
for many years
or part of the
church community
for many years,
the danger is
even more
prevalent because
it's very easy
to say the
right things
and to act
the part and
to put on the
right lingo and
to put on the
Christian smile and
to act like
everything's
together all
the while there's
something dark
and sinister
going on inside.
Blaise Pascal,
at the end of
that paragraph,
he writes
another paragraph
and this is
what he says.
He says,
there is one
man who we
are commanded
to undeceive,
in other words,
to be transparent
before,
to come before
him honestly and
sincerely and to
be real.
And the amazing
thing is that he
knows everything
about us everywhere
and he loves us
more than we
can ever imagine.
You see,
friends,
the secret to
being honest
with others
is to firstly
be honest with
God.
There is one
man who we
are commanded
to undeceive,
to come before
him transparently
and honestly.
But friends,
the good news
is that this one
man knows you
perfectly anyway
and he loves
you perfectly
anyway.
And he went
to the cross
for you to
cover your sin
and your shame.
And as you
come honestly
before him,
you can be honest
with yourself.
And as you
are honest
with yourself,
we can be
honest with
one another.
As we said
earlier,
the book of Acts
there are these
two stories
showing us
God is at work
in his church.
Jesus so
loves his church,
it's so precious
to him that he's
committed to
working on it.
How so?
By cultivating
generous love
and sacrificial
grace and by
confronting
duplicity and
counterfeit
faith.
how should we
respond?
Let me give us
one or two
thoughts.
Firstly,
friends,
be encouraged.
Jesus loves
his church
and he's
committed to
purifying and
strengthening and
edifying her.
And as imperfect
and as messy
as she can be,
Jesus has given
us his spirit.
He's at work
in her.
Jesus loves the
church and he's
committed to
working in her
and purifying her
and making him
the spotless bride
that she one
day will be.
Friends,
Jesus loves you
and you are
precious to him.
And because you
are precious to
him, he is
committed to
working on you
and purifying
you and
cultivating a
heart of
generosity and
honesty and
transparency in
your life as
well.
So be
encouraged.
Jesus loves you
and is for you
and is working on
you.
But secondly,
be careful.
There may be
more Ananias and
Sapphira in us
than we like to
admit.
And so let's
humbly examine
ourselves.
Let's transparently
allow God to be at
work in us.
Let's ask God to
cut and prune away
the parts of our
lives that are not
of him and ask
him to help us to
lead us to walk in
his ways.
And then finally,
friends, let's be
honest.
Honest with
ourselves.
Honest with
God and
honest with
one another.
Dane Ortlund in
his book,
Deep, I read a
passage earlier,
he ends that
chapter called
Honesty Like
This.
He says,
friends, believe
the gospel.
Find a
trustworthy friend
and bring that
brother or sister
into your
fallenness in a
transparent but
also a healing
and redemptive
way.
Humble yourself
down to the
death of
honesty and see
what life
blossoms up on
the other
side.
Find yourself
bathed afresh in
the gospel of
God's grace and
the wonder of
his love.
And as you
dare to go
deeper into
honesty and
deeper into the
experience of the
cleansing,
washing blood of
Jesus, watch your
heart relax and your
spirit grow into the
growth and mercy you
long for but didn't
know how to find.
Friends,
Dane Ortlund is
really right.
There is a way to
be healed and
it starts with
diving deep into
the mercy, the
honest mercy of
Jesus and coming
up alive on the
other side, more
free and more
relaxed than we
ever thought
possible.
Why don't I pray
for us and then
let's close there
together.
Let's pray
together.
Father God, as
Celeste remind us
this Father's Day
we come before
you, the perfect
Father, the
perfect, perfect
Father, the
Father who doesn't
point your finger
and show us all
our faults and
leave us to our
own devices, the
Father who so
loved us that you
sent your only
Son, that we
should not perish
but have eternal
life.
Jesus, thank you
that you love your
church so much
that you committed
to working on
her.
The church and
we are so precious
to you that you
will not leave us
in our own devices
but you call us
to yourself.
God, by your
Spirit come and
work on us.
Drive out the
duplicity and call
us to honesty and
sincerity I pray.
In your wonderful
gracious name,
Amen.