We're reading from Acts chapter 4 and verse 32.
Last week, David spoke about a great threat, but that we've got an even greater God.
Peter and John were being threatened not to speak in the name of Jesus, but they said,
how can we not? How can we not speak in that name?
And they returned to their friends, and they prayed for boldness,
and they're all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they continue to speak the word of God.
So now we're going to carry on from verse 32 and through to chapter 5, verse 11.
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 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.
Wouldn't it be great to be back
in the early days of the New Testament church?
If I had $10 for every time I've heard that
over my ministry years,
I would be well away.
It's a reasonably common expression for Christians.
And almost always,
it's a response by Christians
to the many exciting things
happening in the early church.
Oftentimes, Christians are actually reading
the Acts of the Apostles.
when they have these sort of thoughts,
as Matt suggested in his introduction.
And why wouldn't they have?
There's the spectacular arrival of the Holy Spirit,
the secret weapon that Jesus promised
to enable them to be good witnesses.
There's the Spirit's enabling of Peter and John,
men who only weeks earlier
had been cowering in the darkness.
Now we're taking on a hostile crowd,
speaking the gospel of Jesus
with new understanding,
new clarity,
and new confidence.
And then there's the radical renewal of,
we're told here,
more than 5,000 people have been converted
in what we presume
is just a short number of weeks.
Converted through hearing the name of Jesus.
And not only converted,
but a radical new community has emerged.
The community itself
is a witness
to the unstoppable Jesus,
both as it clearly shaped,
as it was clearly shaped
and defined by Jesus' word,
an example,
and also a witness
as individuals within it
spoke the gospel of Jesus
to those around them.
So much excitement,
so much positivity,
that not even opposition
and threat of violence
could stop the excitement.
As we saw last week,
with fresh enabling,
fresh confidence from the Holy Spirit,
chapter 4, verse 31,
they continued.
In the face of threat,
in the face of personal threat of violence,
they continued to speak the name of Jesus.
Now all of that is exciting,
excitement plus,
all of it combines
as indisputable evidence
of the unstoppable Jesus
building his spiritual empire
as he gathers his died-for people
from the four corners of the earth.
All of that clarifies
what we can expect
when we speak the name of Jesus,
speak the gospel of Jesus.
We can expect people
to be radically renewed
from the inside out.
We can expect to see
Christ's radical new community,
the church,
grow and be an important confirmation
of the changing power of the gospel.
And we can expect opposition and attack.
This morning,
I want to just take us into
what Luke presents us here
as a different perspective on attack.
So let's jump into the story
as Luke describes
the demonstrated reality
of the early Christian community.
And if you're a visitor,
that outline of what I'm speaking to
is on the back of the bulletin thing
you got when you came in the door this morning.
The demonstrated reality
of the early Christian community.
authenticity
and what the church could
and ought to be.
Now, the description we have
in verse 32 onwards
reinforces the description
we have already been through
in chapter 2,
verses 42 through to 47.
And what we saw there
and see here
is that the gospel changes
whole communities
radically.
and the point here
is that I think
that this new gospel community
is the most attractive
in the very points
where our culture
is most ugly.
Verse 32.
A community
that's now in excess
of 5,000,
in spite of that,
they were noted
for their single-minded
all-in commitment.
United in heart and soul.
It sounds so attractive to us
in our fractured,
disconnected world,
doesn't it?
All-in commitment to Jesus.
All-in commitment to one another.
All-in commitment to expressing
the mind of Christ
in everyday living.
All-in commitment
to speaking the gospel of Jesus
to those around them
in their community
as they had opportunity.
And there's demonstrated reality
as they're demonstrably moved
from the attitude
of self-protection
and possessiveness,
which sort of marks out
our culture, doesn't it?
When they're moved from that
to the kingdom attitude
of self-sacrificing generosity.
And it's most clearly seen
and exampleed here
in terms of
how they think
about their material possessions.
They're converting
their assets into cash
and bringing them
for the work of the gospel.
Why?
Well, I think it's very simple.
Since their immediate happiness,
since their future security
is no longer tied
to their own efforts
to accumulate things,
wealth and possession,
since it's no longer that,
but God's grace,
then suddenly they've experienced
a new freedom
in respect to those things
they had accumulated.
a new desire
to cash in their assets
and use the money
to be as Christ
to others.
Now we need to just
pause on note here.
There's absolutely
no suggestion
in these verses
of some sort of mandate,
some sort of requirement.
If you're going to be a Christian,
then you have to sell
private property.
Nothing like that at all.
What's on display here,
I think,
is the changing power
of the gospel.
As Christians
increasingly express
the mind of Christ,
then they're no longer
expressing that basic
human attitude
of possessiveness,
self-interest,
my, me, mine.
And verse 33,
look at the consequence,
look at the immediate
result of that.
And with great power,
the apostles were giving
their testimony
to the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus
and great grace
was upon them all.
Now there's various ways
you can interpret that verse.
I think it's a very
practical thing just.
I think it's this,
that as the watching world,
their local community
looked into this new
emerging radical community,
they saw such a matchup
between their words
and their actions
that this community
became an even more
compelling witness
to the new freedom,
the new security
that we find in Christ.
It was powerful
and compelling.
As a unit,
as a church group,
they demonstrated
the power of Jesus,
the power of God's grace
to renew
and free
and equip
in life.
I think it's hard
to imagine
a more radical community,
isn't it?
It's hard to imagine
a more compelling witness
to the changing power
of the gospel,
isn't it?
So,
here we need to prop
and go back
to my opening sentence.
And our
time-to-time
expression
of longing
to be part
of the early church
in its unity
and its excitement
and its compelling
testimony
to the watching world.
So,
here's what
I'm going to suggest
to you,
that sometimes
I think
that idea
is more romantic
than real force.
are you really
longing
to be part
of a community
where there's
such single-minded,
all-in-commitment,
demonstrated reality
of the changing
power of the gospel?
If that's something
you say
you really
are longing
for,
then the question
becomes for us
here today,
why are we so far
removed from that
picture?
Why are we so far
away from the
attitudes
that shaped
the early church?
And then again,
the question
becomes,
well,
if we're really
craving that,
why aren't we
free to do it
today?
What's stopping
us from striving
through all-in
commitment
for an identical
community here
in GECN?
Friends,
I think we
get found out
here,
at least I
get found out
here anyway.
You might be
different from me.
I think the
truth for most
of us is
that we crave
a community
shaped by
self-sacrificing
generosity.
We crave a
community shaped
by care of
one another,
deep care.
We crave
that so much
but personally,
we want to
continue and
do insist on
continuing to
be self-protective,
possessive.
We crave this
but we find
ourselves unable
to find sufficient
security and
delight and
happiness and
hope in
Jesus that
actually allows
us to be set
free from our
possessions.
That sort of
overflows in
an attitude of
generosity and
all-in commitment
that quite
literally would
transform us
individually and
as a church
community.
Okay.
See,
corporate change
as we look
around this
church and
wish it was
different and
we all do
that.
I hear it all
the time and
I express the
same thoughts
myself.
We wish it
was different
at so many
points.
We need to
be saying to
ourselves that
corporate change
starts
individually.
As I have
those attitudes,
as you have
those attitudes,
then we will
have those
attitudes.
Well, let's
move ahead in
the story.
We confront
Satan's clever
ambush and he
effectively destroys
their unity and
credibility.
And this part of
the story shows
that duplicity now
undermines
authenticity and
eventually trumps
authenticity in
this radical new
community.
Now, they've
already experienced
external attack
through the
threats of the
Jewish religious
leaders.
That of itself
only made them
more bold to
speak about
Jesus.
Now the story
changes and for
the first time in
the Acts of the
Apostles, Satan
is identified by
name.
I think that
tells us that
for Luke, this
is a very
significant moment
in the story of
the early church
in the way he
brings this out.
Satan's strategy,
and we can look
back through the
Gospels and see
Jesus teaching this,
Satan's strategy
very simply is to
hurt the cause of
Jesus.
It can't actually
hurt Jesus, so his
fallback position is
then to hurt the
cause of Jesus by
silencing any
credible witness to
his name by his
followers.
Silencing any
credible witness from
the church in the
local community.
And so I think
what Luke is
telling us here in
this story is at
two levels.
There's the
immediate cause, the
human cause.
We've got Ananias and
Sapphira and the way
this plays out in
front of the
apostles.
But there's a cause
behind the cause.
And that is Satan
working to discredit
and undermine the
witness of this
radical community in
a way that external
threats have not been
able to achieve thus
far.
He works, Satan
works from inside the
church.
And here we have
it.
Satan uses a nice,
well-to-do husband
and wife team in
this local community
to do what external
threats fail to do.
Ultimately, to destroy
their unity and to
threaten their
credibility in the
local community.
Now, again, these are
difficult verses to
understand and some
people have gone into
really black places
with this.
But I need to just
pull us back and say
this story is not
about people who are
not truly converted
being part of the
church.
There's a reality to
that.
But that's not what
this story is about,
I believe.
Nor is it about
Christians losing
their salvation because
they have failed in
their practical
discipleship.
and because they've
committed a particular
sin.
I don't think it's
about either of these
things.
And one of the
reasons why I think
that is because Peter
actually addresses
Ananias and Sapphira
as Christians, as
people who have the
spirit.
So I think the point
of the story is this.
The point of the story
is to show the
struggle it is to
maintain demonstrated
reality in the
church against
Satan's strategy to
compromise and
discredit their
testimony.
So let's see how
the story falls out
in that context.
Peter, I think, is
really saying to
Ananias when he
confronts him here,
Ananias, why have
you given a
foothold to Satan
in your life?
That is, why have
you allowed yourself
to be manipulated
into given expression
to the mind of
Satan?
That is, the mind
of lies, deceit, and
greed, rather than
expressing the mind
of the spirit, the
mind of Christ.
The mind of Christ
through the Holy
Spirit, which is
truth, authenticity,
and generosity.
There's the divide.
At face value, the
seriousness of their
action was in going
for appearance without
reality.
And so the story
falls out.
Barnabas is
mentioned in the end
of chapter 4 as
just an example, a
worked example of
this incredible
generosity.
He sells a property,
brings all the money,
and lays it down at the
feet of the apostles.
So use it however you
want.
Ananias and
Sapphira looking on
from the side
thinking, hey, we
could do that.
We like the way
Barnabas has been
considered in the
church.
And so, like others
in the church, they
decided to sell a
piece of property.
And they go public
saying, well, look,
okay, we're selling a
piece of property, we
want everybody to know
that.
And leading the
brethren to believe
that they too would
bring all the proceeds
of that property and
make it available for
gospel work.
But unlike others,
Ananias and
Sapphira made an
agreement between
themselves that they
would go public
inferring one thing
but secretly keep
some of the money
for themselves.
And I think it was a
scheme that was
designed to make them
appear generous, to
make them appear
concerned for the
care of others
and the needs of
others without
actually being so
in reality.
Appearing one thing
while still being
self-protective,
self-possessive.
They wanted a
reputation for being
ministry-minded while
being, in fact,
self-interested.
In verse 3, Peter is
really, really strong
words for them.
When it talks there
about keeping back,
the word really is
embezzle.
Why have you
embezzled God's
money?
Why have you
misappropriated?
Why have you
stolen?
Strong language.
How does that work?
Well, I think it
works like this.
Secretly keeping
money, they had
publicly pledged or
led people to believe
they were giving to
the Lord.
It was already given
to the Lord.
Secretly keeping it
then was tantamount
to stealing it from
God.
Embezzlement.
Now, I think the
problem here is not
simply selfishness or
greed.
In fact, it's not that
really at all.
Peter is very clear
to them.
They were entitled
to keep whatever
portion of the
proceeds of the
sale they wished.
They could have
sold their property
and said, well,
look, actually,
we're actually
committing to give
50% of it to the
work of the
gospel.
And we're
keeping 50%.
Peter would have
said, well, that
would be fine.
Of course you can
do that.
The sin was much
more subtle.
And it was in the
issue of trying to
create an impression
about themselves that
had little or no
substance in reality.
In other words,
the problem here was
not about money.
the problem was
about their
relationship with
God and their
view of and
treatment of God's
church of which
they were part.
And in turn,
this initial scheme
becomes a slippery
slope of compounding
sin.
Verse 8.
We just see it.
It just falls out.
It gets a momentum.
In an attempt to
cover their tracks,
Sapphira resorts to
brazen public
lies that were
just spoken without
regard for the
impact of that on
the testimony of
the church.
Now, the first
part I opened up
was just how
exciting.
This story,
how sad.
How sad.
How sad that here
in Christ's church,
image and
reputation is put
above truth and
integrity.
How sad is it that
a Christian couple
could come to
justify and
deception and
lies for the
sake of reputation.
an image.
It's a very
powerful,
poignant moment
in the life
of the early
church.
Now, do you
see Satan's
strategy and
where it was
aimed?
He couldn't
care less about
Ananias and
Sapphira.
What he could
care about was
destroying the
credibility of
this outstanding
Christian community
before the
community.
Destroying their
oneness of
mind and
heart.
You can
imagine how
that would
have made
others feel.
Well, hey,
we really
were generous.
We really did
put our money
down there,
but now they're
enjoying that
new car,
that big
holiday.
And we could
have had that
had we kept
some money
back.
And so it
actually erodes
your initial
generosity.
Unless you're
very careful
about it.
But that's
human nature,
isn't it?
And it
undermined their
teaching about
new security,
new hope in
Jesus, and new
freedom from
worldly possessions.
And it had the
effect of
potentially, at
least, making
the Christians
just look like
others in
their community
saying one
thing, but
actually deep
down really
being committed
to the power
of money and
what money
can buy you.
And they
become, they
lose their
outstanding,
powerful,
winsome
credibility, and
they just become
like unbelievers
in their secret,
grasping,
self-centeredness.
But there's
more to come
because we've
got to consider
God's severe
response.
There's no way
to sugarcoat
this.
Each of
these two
drop dead.
And I
would suggest
that the
seriousness of
their sin
before the
Lord is shown
in the
consequences.
Now again,
we've got to
get this
right in
terms of
what the
story is
pushing us
to, otherwise
there might
be some
here this
morning who
will spiral
into terrible,
terrible
blackness.
I think
the story is
telling us
this, that
the Lord
removed these
two from
his church
not because
they were not
Christians,
but because
their actions
seriously
threatened and
tarnished his
church.
Over the
years, Christians
have found
these verses
very hard to
handle.
Some have
suggested that
it was Peter
who, with
this new
spirit power at
his disposal,
just lost his
temper and
zapped these
two unfairly
and angrily.
sin.
But I think the
story at face
value is very
clear that Peter
had nothing to
do with it,
apart from
exposing the
sin, and
that God's
spirit was
the one who
acted in
this situation.
Which means
then that we're
left saying,
some people would
say, well, God
was very severe,
too severe.
But again, I
think the point
of this
incident is to
say through
the incident
that God is
screaming, I
hate sin and
duplicity in my
church.
Don't mess with
me in my
church.
And again,
verse 3 and
verse 9 sort
of reinforce
that.
Peter's very
clear that
lying to the
apostles and
lying to the
brethren, because
of the close
connection between
what the church
is and God, is
tantamount to
lying to God.
Scheming before
God himself.
It's Christ's
church with
Christ's
standards.
And Jesus
once demonstrated
reality in our
church family, not
just image and
appearance.
And he will
deal severely
with any who
settle for
appearance only.
Now, I don't
recall in all my
ministry years
somebody dropping
dead in front of
me, and I
haven't dropped
dead, so you
might well have
expected that as
well.
So God won't
necessarily do it
like that, but
there's a myriad
ways in which God
will find us
out, and God
will discipline
his church.
And I do
believe as a
church family
over years, we've
experienced some
of that hand of
God disciplining
us.
Jesus once
demonstrated reality
in our church
family, but you
see, few of us
would think that
their sin deserves
such punishment.
And friends, that's
our problem.
We don't see sin
in the church as
God sees it.
We don't see
fractions and
divisions within
our community, this
community of died
for people, as
Christ who died
for us sees it.
chapter 3, verse 26
says, the whole
point of God
sending Jesus was
to bless us by
delivering us from
our wickedness.
And when God
sees a form of
wickedness continuing
within our church
family, it's just
so contrary to what
Jesus died for.
God gave a very
clear demonstration
of his view of
sin in a warning
to the whole church.
And in verse 5 and
verse 11, we're
told that that
warning sure worked.
A sense of fear
fell on the whole
church.
In what sense do
we talk about fear
gripping the church?
Well, I think it's
this fear of
offending a holy
God, fear of
messing with the
idea of church,
and somehow
or other it's
just something for
us to be part of
rather than a
primary demonstration
of this changing
power of the
gospel before the
watching world.
Fear of lagging
authenticity and
truth and unity.
So what do we
need to learn from
this passage as I
wrap up?
Two things I want
to suggest.
First, as we speak
the gospel of Jesus,
we can expect
ferocious spiritual
warfare.
Now, I'm not
talking about
external threat.
I'm talking about
internal spiritual
warfare now.
Being part of the
unstoppable mission
of the unstoppable
Jesus to gather
his died for people
will always be
exciting because the
outcome is always
guaranteed, already
guaranteed.
defeated.
But my friends, it
will never be
easy.
Though ultimately
already defeated,
Satan is determined
to do as much
damage to Christ's
church as possibly
he can do.
kingdom building.
So, as witnesses
engaged in Christ's
mention of kingdom
building, we need
to be on our guard
against satanic
counterattacks.
And again, here's
where we get
ourselves into
trouble because we
so often think of
our church community
more like a social
outing.
A place where we
come, we relax, we
chill out, we chat
with friends, we
expect to be happy,
we expect it to be
nice, expect to learn
a few things along the
way, we expect to
enjoy being there.
That's what we think
of church as rather
than a place of
spiritual warfare
where we might
expect attack.
And therefore, we
don't strategically
plan to defend
ourselves by
ensuring that we
help one another
continue, when
those attacks come,
continue to express
the mind of Christ
to one another.
So common that
when churches fall
into a fight, they
so quickly default
back to just
non-Christian ways
of doing it.
And the
credibility just
evaporates.
Second point
then, remaining, we
need to remain
authentic, or
remaining authentic
and credible will
be, therefore, our
greatest challenge
as individuals and
as a church
community.
we must always
seek to live in a
way which enhances
and demonstrates
the reality of the
changing power of the
gospel.
Now, two things I
want to note very
carefully here.
I am so thankful
that that is so much
to the forefront of
what we are about as
our church, as a
church family.
I am really, really
appreciative of that,
and I thank the
Lord for it daily.
The second thing I
want to say is here,
I am not talking
about perfection.
I am not talking
about us having to
get everything right.
I am talking about us
being in the struggle
on a daily basis to
make our living
practically as close
as we can humanly to
what we are in
Christ.
Struggling to match
what is happening on
the inside with what
we are doing on the
outside.
Friends, we need to
be aware of how
Satan will try to
get at us as a
church family.
It is unlikely,
at least I am
speaking for myself
here, it is
unlikely that I
will easily give
way to external
threats.
Maybe I will be
found out about that
in due course, I
don't know.
But where I am
sitting in the
minute, it is
unlikely he will be
able to force us
as a church family
to bow to
external threats.
But while we are
priding ourselves on
that, he might
well neutralize us
in terms of our
testimony to the
local community
by internal
attack.
Perhaps it will
be an outbreak of
disunity.
And it can
easily happen.
Suddenly there is
an upsurge and
well, my
preference for my
songs, my
desire to have a
particular role in
the church, my
needs are not
being met by
others in this
church.
Look, I am
already being as
generous as is
possible to be and
the elders are
asking us to give
more money for a
new mission
venture.
Really?
Seriously?
How could they
dare to do that?
Perhaps it will be
before our
children or our
spouse in the
home through
actions and
attitudes practically
that don't line up
with what we say to
our children and our
spouse when we're
reading the Bible or
whatever.
Perhaps the attack
will happen on the
sports field or in
your workplace or
when you're chatting
with neighbors in
your street.
And any attempt at
speaking the gospel of
Jesus is neutralized
because your actions
when you're playing
your sport or at
work just don't
light up and
people will roll
their eyes and
think, oh, here he
goes again or here
she goes again.
Friends, I'll finish
on this.
It's real easy to
talk about being
authentic.
All the things that
we see in the early
church are so
appealing.
I think we genuinely
crave them.
But that's not
really the issue.
The issue is do
people around us
see the sort of
all-in commitment
to make this talk
of authenticity
demonstrated reality?
And at a very
practical level, that
means using our
assets, time, money,
energy, skill sets,
and having those
things as an
overflow.
The way we use
those things as an
overflow of joy as
Christ loved, died for,
and secure people.