1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,480 Available so we're I'm going to be reading from Acts chapter 4 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:09,640 verse 32 through to chapter 5 verse 16. 3 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:12,960 So in the church Bibles, the green Bibles that starts on page 4 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:27,080 1096, all the believers were one heart, one in heart and mind. 5 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:31,400 No one claims that any of their possessions was their own, but 6 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:34,920 they shared everything they had with great power. 7 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:37,800 The apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of 8 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:41,840 the Lord Jesus, and God's grace was so powerfully at work in 9 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:44,600 them all that there was no needy person among them. 10 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:49,760 For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, 11 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,840 brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles feet, 12 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:56,480 and it was distributed to anyone who had need. 13 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:00,440 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called 14 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:04,599 Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, sold a field he 15 00:01:04,599 --> 00:01:07,560 owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles feet. 16 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,600 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, 17 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:17,280 also sold a piece of property with his wife's full knowledge. 18 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:21,400 He kept back part of the money for himself, but bought the rest 19 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:27,400 and put it at the apostles feet. Then Peter said, Amnias, how is 20 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:30,960 it that Satan has so filled your hearts that you have lied to the 21 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:34,120 Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you 22 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:37,560 receive for the lands? Didn't it belong to you before 23 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:40,000 it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't 24 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,880 the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing 25 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:46,800 such a thing? You have not lied just to human 26 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:51,120 beings, but to God. When Ananias heard this, he fell 27 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:55,480 down and died, and great fear seized all who heard what 28 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:58,400 happened. Then some young men came 29 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,800 forward, wrapped up his body and carried him out and buried him. 30 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:06,160 About 3 hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had 31 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,240 happened. Peter asked her, Tell me, is 32 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:12,000 this the price you and Ananias got for the land? 33 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,720 Yes, she said. That is the price, Peter said to 34 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:19,640 her, How could you conspire to test the spirit of the Lord? 35 00:02:19,920 --> 00:02:23,280 Listen, the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the 36 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:26,040 door, and they will carry you out also. 37 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,040 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. 38 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:33,880 Then the young men came in and finding her dead, carried her 39 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,040 out and buried her behind her husband. 40 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,160 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about 41 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:43,760 these events. The apostles performed many 42 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:47,560 signs and wonders among the people and all the believers who 43 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:49,880 used to meet together in Solomon's columnade. 44 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:54,240 No one else dare join them, even though they were highly regarded 45 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,440 by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men 46 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:00,760 and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 47 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:04,320 As a result, people brought those who were I'll into the 48 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,720 streets and laid them on beds and mats, so that at least 49 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:10,640 Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 50 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:15,280 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing 51 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:18,920 those who were ill and those tormented by impure spirits, and 52 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:29,200 all of them were healed. So as Kate has said, we are 53 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:34,840 actually in quite a challenging and almost disturbing bits in 54 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:38,320 the book of Acts. And it's a passage the kind of 55 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:40,320 challenges our our natural way of thinking. 56 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:42,840 As I've talked to people over the years about the God 57 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,200 Christians believe in the God of the gospel. 58 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:48,440 There's a common assumption people make both inside the 59 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,560 church and outside the church. And it's this that the God of 60 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:55,040 the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are actually 61 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:58,480 very different in the way they relate to people. 62 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:00,960 So the God of the Old Testament, people think, well, he's the 63 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:06,200 angry God who judges sins, and the God of the New Testament, 64 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:09,840 he's the loving God who forgives sins. 65 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,080 And that's how a lot of people think to the point it's almost 66 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:16,880 like 2 separate gods sometimes. And in church history, some of 67 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:19,079 these people have had to fight heresies that have said, yes, 68 00:04:19,079 --> 00:04:23,320 almost like 2 gods in the Bible. But this bit of acts challenges 69 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:26,880 that way of thinking. Here at the very heart of the 70 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,240 New Testament, after the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, 71 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:32,840 the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world, we come across 72 00:04:32,840 --> 00:04:38,520 this account of God judging a married couple, Ananias and 73 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:41,960 Sapphira, 2 members of the early church in Jerusalem, who sell 74 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:44,680 some property. They claim to give the full 75 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:47,720 amount to the church, but they keep some of the money back for 76 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:49,680 themselves. And how does God respond? 77 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:55,040 God judges them for their hypocrisy and lies by striking 78 00:04:55,040 --> 00:05:00,720 them dead immediately on the spot, one after the other. 79 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:06,840 And that doesn't sound like the God of the New Testament, we 80 00:05:06,840 --> 00:05:09,440 think. But I see this pastor reminds us 81 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:11,080 the God of the Old Testament, God of the New Testament. 82 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:15,160 It's the same God. He is the same godfather, Son 83 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:18,600 and Holy Spirit. And he's a God we need to take 84 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:23,520 seriously as individuals and as a church family. 85 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:29,720 So who is the God that we meet in this next bit of acts? 86 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:34,960 I want to say he's the God who gives generously to us and 87 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:38,240 causing his people to be generous with each other. 88 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:43,520 He's the God who judges sin and causing his people to take sin 89 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:48,680 seriously within the church. He's the God who transforms 90 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:53,880 lives and calls on his people to be his witnesses to change the 91 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:57,000 people around them. We see in this passage the 92 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:02,520 awesome presence and power of the living God at work. 93 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:06,200 It's a power to judge and to heal. 94 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:10,720 It's a power that that punishes sin and forgives sin. 95 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:14,280 The God we meet in the book of Acts, He's not a tame God, a 96 00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:17,000 safe God, a God we could ignore or control. 97 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:20,960 He's the God who is holy. He's different to us. 98 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:26,040 He sees what is in our hearts. He hates hypocrisy among his 99 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:27,520 people. He's a God he hates and we 100 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:30,760 pretend to be more spiritual than we actually are. 101 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,600 And he's a God. He loves his people enough to 102 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:38,320 expose hypocrisy and to judge our sin so that we can live as 103 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:42,080 witnesses for Jesus in this world with honesty and 104 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:45,400 integrity. That is what God is doing in 105 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:50,920 judging Ananias and Sapphira. He's loving the church enough to 106 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:56,360 expose their sin and hypocrisy. And on either side of this 107 00:06:56,360 --> 00:07:00,280 disturbing account, we have the God who heals, the God who gives 108 00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:02,960 generously, the God who transforms his people. 109 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:06,760 Also, the other people around them can hear and respond to the 110 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:10,680 good news of Jesus through the life and witness of the early 111 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:13,960 church. So the central bit of our 112 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:15,880 reading is, is a passage we can struggle with. 113 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:19,360 So you want to explore together what does this passage show us 114 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:22,800 about the presence and power of Godfather, Son and Holy Spirit? 115 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:28,480 And how should knowing this God change us as individuals and as 116 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:31,360 a church? So basically there are three 117 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:32,320 sections we're going to look through. 118 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:33,640 We're going to major on the middle one. 119 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:37,200 But the first section, the last bit of chapter 4, God's grace 120 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:39,720 towards his people makes them generous. 121 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:42,400 The keywords there are grace and generosity. 122 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:45,560 God hates hypocrisy in his church. 123 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:48,280 The keywords there are fear and judgement. 124 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:53,400 And God transforms lives through the witness of his people. 125 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,200 That's the healings, the signs and wonders we read at the end 126 00:07:57,200 --> 00:07:59,600 of our passage. So first of all, God's grace 127 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:03,120 towards his people makes them generous. 128 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:06,200 Again, it's always helpful to remember where we've come from 129 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:08,560 in this series. Look back at verse 31 for a 130 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:09,640 moment. The early believers have been 131 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,120 praying together. We looked at that last week in 132 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:14,720 response to the opposition they were facing from the religious 133 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,200 leaders, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, 134 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:19,760 verse 31, and spoke the word of God boldly. 135 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:24,080 And so in this next section, verses 32 to 37, Luke is wanting 136 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:27,560 to give us another snapshot of what a spirit filled church 137 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:29,400 looks like. What does it look like for a 138 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:33,000 church to be filled with the Holy Spirit? 139 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,480 And according to Luke here, a spirit filled church is a church 140 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:41,039 marked by love, unity and generosity towards each other. 141 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:45,520 A spirit filled church is a church marked by love, unity and 142 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,280 generosity. Let me read from verse 32 again. 143 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,720 Luke writes, all the believers were one in heart and mind. 144 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:54,560 No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but 145 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:57,240 they shared everything they had with great power. 146 00:08:57,240 --> 00:08:59,840 The apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of 147 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:03,560 the Lord Jesus and God's grace was so powerfully a work in them 148 00:09:03,560 --> 00:09:06,000 all that there was no needy person among them. 149 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:09,200 For from time to time, those who owned land or houses sold them, 150 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:12,320 brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles feet, 151 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:15,720 and it was distributed to anyone who had need. 152 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:18,480 It's an astonishing picture of generosity here. 153 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:21,240 And actually look at deliberately referencing an Old 154 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:25,520 Testament passage here when he has this phrase in verse 34. 155 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:28,360 And there was no needy person among them. 156 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:31,600 Well, that's a deliberate echo of a bit of the Old Testament, 157 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:36,440 Deuteronomy 15, verse 4, because in that passage God is calling 158 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:39,440 on his people, ancient Israel, to commit themselves to 159 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:43,000 cancelling debts and giving to the poor among them. 160 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:46,640 And he says, there need be no poor people among you, for in 161 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:50,080 the land the Lord your God is giving you, he will richly bless 162 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:53,520 you. So why is Luke referencing the 163 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:56,120 Old Testament in this bit of the New Testament? 164 00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:57,680 Again, we might think, well sure, it's a different sort of 165 00:09:57,680 --> 00:10:01,080 God, but no, it's the same God. And what Luke wants us to see 166 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:03,800 here is the early church in Jerusalem is like the new 167 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:06,360 Israel. It's the restored Israel. 168 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:09,440 It's Israel as Israel should have been. 169 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,720 It's an Israel transformed by the generosity and grace of God. 170 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:18,680 So they in turn are generous and gracious to each other. 171 00:10:18,680 --> 00:10:21,880 The gospel message of Jesus, Jesus giving himself for us, 172 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:26,800 transforms his people into those who give of themselves to each 173 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:29,600 other. And you look down at verse 33. 174 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:32,840 The apostles message is about the resurrection of the Lord 175 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:35,920 Jesus. Jesus is alive, He is lured, but 176 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:38,760 he's resurrected because first he died first. 177 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:43,320 He gave himself for us. He gave everything he could to 178 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:46,960 us to save us. And in return he calls on us to 179 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:51,080 be generous and give of ourselves to each other. 180 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:54,960 There's another bit of the New Testament we looked at last term 181 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:57,840 or a couple of maybe last year at some point in two Corinthians 182 00:10:57,840 --> 00:10:59,800 8. First, name the Apostle Paul 183 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:03,560 writing, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that 184 00:11:03,560 --> 00:11:07,440 though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you 185 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:13,480 through his poverty might become rich because of God's generosity 186 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:17,120 towards the early church. The early church is generous 187 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:21,480 towards each other. And in case that all sounds very 188 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:25,280 idealistic or theoretical, then Luke gives us a solid living 189 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:28,960 example of a church member living that way, a man called 190 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:32,200 Barnabas. That's verses 36 to 37. 191 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:35,840 Just read that for us. So Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, 192 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:38,440 whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of 193 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,600 encouragement, sold a field he owned and brought the money and 194 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:46,760 put it at the apostles feet. This man, Barnabas, he's a 195 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:49,280 Jewish believer from the island of Cyprus. 196 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,880 He's going to play a big role in the second-half of Acts. 197 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:54,240 But here we are introduced to him. 198 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:57,880 He has sold a field he owns and instead of keeping the money for 199 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:01,080 himself, which he's fully entitled to do, he gave the 200 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:05,360 money to the apostles for them and to give to believers who 201 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,080 were in need. So in Barnabas looks shows us a 202 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:11,520 life transformed by the grace of God. 203 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:15,920 Barnabas knows God has given him everything in Christ. 204 00:12:16,680 --> 00:12:20,080 And Barnabas then says, well, what I have I want to use to 205 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:26,280 bless other people in Christ. What does that have to teach us 206 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:29,440 today? In a sense, the Ananias and 207 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:31,160 Sapphira bit makes it even more clear. 208 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:34,960 But here with Barnabas, we learn that what we do with our money 209 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:39,200 and our possessions as followers of Jesus, it's a spiritual 210 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:41,480 issue. It's not like, well, that's the 211 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:42,960 practical stuff. I don't need to think about 212 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:45,440 Jesus with I'll I'll think about Jesus when I'm singing, when I'm 213 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:47,080 praying, when I'm doing church things. 214 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:48,600 But the money that's that's mine. 215 00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:50,320 That's mine. I've worked for that. 216 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:52,800 I get that. OK, Jesus, you died to to pay 217 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:57,720 for my sins but but I worked to pay for my house and my car and 218 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:03,120 this holiday, but actually know what Barnabas demonstrates for 219 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:08,280 us If someone for him. Jesus was lured over his money 220 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:12,560 over his possessions over his bank account. 221 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:16,520 If they had such a thing. This is talking about the 222 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:21,960 lordship of Jesus. It's calling on God's people if 223 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:26,400 we've received lavishly from the grace of God in Christ, and 224 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:28,120 everything we have is a gift from him. 225 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:32,400 Everything we have is to be used to worship Jesus and bear 226 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:37,200 witness to Jesus. Barnabas shows us that. 227 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:42,400 And again, this passage doesn't command or mandate that all 228 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:45,440 Christians everywhere must sell everything they own and put it 229 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:47,480 into a common fund. We see that in the case of 230 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:49,320 Ananias Zephyr. Peter's really clear. 231 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:51,480 With him, you were free to do what you wanted with your 232 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:53,000 property. You didn't have to bring the 233 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:57,960 money to us, but Barnabas shows us someone who willingly wants 234 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:02,800 to use whatever opportunity he has to bless others who are in 235 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:08,440 need in God's people. One possible expression of that 236 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:10,920 we'll look at verse 34 to 35. This kind of struck me this week 237 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:14,080 that the early church seemed to have a common fund that people 238 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:17,480 could give towards for the benefit of the needy. 239 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:20,200 I think we discussed as a family meeting a few months ago. 240 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:23,720 In the past Ave. Summers has had a hardship fund 241 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:26,800 where to a separate pot of money that people can give towards, 242 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:29,040 held separately from our general giving. 243 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:32,520 And then we then have that money available to help anyone in our 244 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:35,000 church family who is struggling or in need. 245 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:38,040 And quite a few years ago we were facing financial challenges 246 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,320 as a church, so we chose to to to finish that fund for that 247 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:43,280 season. But again, this past makes you 248 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:44,760 think, is that something we need to explore? 249 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:48,160 Again, having some sort of a hardship fund, a common fund 250 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:50,480 that we can give towards and go, God has been good to us. 251 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:52,840 We want to help other people, even if we don't know who those 252 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,920 people are. We want to support and love each 253 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:57,520 other. That's just a thought, a 254 00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:01,640 possible application of this. But Barnabas, he's a life 255 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:08,560 transformed by the grace of God. And we learn in chapter 5, 256 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:12,520 there's another couple in the church who like the look of the 257 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:14,440 praise that Barnabas has received. 258 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:16,960 And Barnabas, his name is Joseph. 259 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:20,200 He gets a whole new nickname by the apostles, Barnabas, son of 260 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:21,960 encouragement. And there's a couple in the 261 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:25,640 church going, I'd quite like that sort of nickname. 262 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:29,320 I'd quite like people to think that of me. 263 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:33,880 And that couple are Ananias and Sapphira. 264 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:36,720 This is the middle section of this passage, the most 265 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:41,400 challenging and disturbing one, where God judges Ananias and 266 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:44,600 Sapphira for their sin and hypocrisy. 267 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:48,000 And the opening verse is a sobering reminder to us. 268 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:53,880 Acts chapter 5. God hates hypocrisy in his 269 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:57,640 church. He hates hypocrisy. 270 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,400 Now this is a really challenging passage. 271 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:04,960 I think just a few things to comment about them. 272 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:09,160 The first thing is this actually Luke is writing a reliable 273 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:10,440 history of the early church here. 274 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:12,480 It would have been easier for Luke just to focus on the 275 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:15,240 positive stories of the early church in Jerusalem. 276 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:17,760 The last bit of our reading even has amazing signs and wonders. 277 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:20,840 Lives being transformed by the power of the apostles in the in 278 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:23,320 the power of the spirit that look at you said, well, let's 279 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:25,800 skip over analysts of fire because that's a bit depressing. 280 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:29,920 But no, he really wants to to write an honest and accurate 281 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:32,680 history of the church. He's not writing Christian 282 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:35,640 propaganda. This isn't an airbrushed story. 283 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:39,960 This is the church, warts and all, it's great strengths and 284 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:43,840 it's alarming weaknesses, it's triumphs and it's failures, It's 285 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:48,960 heroes like Barnabas and it's cautionary tales like Ananias 286 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:53,480 and Sapphira. I think the second thing we need 287 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:58,480 to see here is this is Satan attacking the early church. 288 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:05,400 Peter unmasks Satan in verse 3, but this is Satan working very 289 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:11,440 subtly to destroy the church. In Luke's gospel, we saw Jesus 290 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:13,400 and Satan clash on multiple times. 291 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:17,160 People who are demon possessed when when the devil tempts Jesus 292 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:20,880 in the wilderness, there are these moments where Jesus and 293 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:24,880 Satan clash and Jesus triumphs. And we might even think, well, 294 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:27,160 maybe is is Satan is sitting done for him, maybe actually 295 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:28,319 not. He's not active anymore. 296 00:17:28,319 --> 00:17:29,920 But no, we get this reminder here. 297 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:34,480 Satan wants to stop what Jesus is doing in his church. 298 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:38,160 He wants to corrupt the church and destroy its witness, and he 299 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:42,240 will do that in any way he can. Now, sometimes Satan attacks the 300 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,800 church through persecution and violence, and we saw that in 301 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:47,480 chapter 4. We're going to see that again in 302 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:51,040 chapter 5 when the apostles are arrested for preaching about 303 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:52,880 Jesus. But here with Ananias and 304 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,080 Sapphira, it is a much more subtle strategy. 305 00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:01,200 Satan tries to bring down the church through the hypocrisy of 306 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:03,640 its members. That's what he's doing with this 307 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:07,680 couple. Verse 3 Peter says, how is it 308 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:11,040 that Satan has so filled your heart? 309 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:16,440 There are spiritual dimensions. This is a spiritual war going on 310 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:20,800 in this moment. Finally, I think this is meant 311 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:24,160 to be a picture of the coming judgement of God. 312 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,440 I see throughout the book of Acts the future keeps breaking 313 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:30,760 into the present. Every time someone is healed, 314 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:34,960 every time there is a miracle, that is the future new creation 315 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:37,320 breaking into the here and now through the church. 316 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:41,480 And that can still happen today around the world and among us. 317 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:44,760 By nice as if I was like the flip side of that coin. 318 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:49,560 This is the future judgement of God on hypocrisy and sin, 319 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,760 breaking into the present through this couple. 320 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:58,320 This is a trailer of the judgement to come, given in 321 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:05,040 advance to warn us to be ready and to run to Jesus for him to 322 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:09,680 take the judgement we deserve. So what do we learn about this 323 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:13,800 couple, Ananias and Sapphira? A few very obvious things. 324 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:16,120 They're members of the early church in Jerusalem, where we're 325 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:19,600 told that we need to pause for a minute there because they looked 326 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:22,520 like everyone else. They look like genuine 327 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:25,160 believers. They would have been baptized 328 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,840 like the other believers. They would have come to faith. 329 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:32,680 They're living among the early church members and to see what 330 00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:36,480 struck me as well is their marriage is a strong and united 331 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:39,040 1. Yet how often do we sort of 332 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:41,360 aspire that as Christian. If you want a strong united 333 00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:43,880 marriage and we learn in verses one and two that that Hannah 334 00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:44,960 survived. They're A-Team. 335 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:48,840 They're in this together. Verse 2, with his wife's full 336 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:51,760 knowledge, Ananias kept back part of the money for himself. 337 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:55,760 This is a strong marriage. Tragically, from Luke's 338 00:19:55,760 --> 00:20:00,800 perspective, it's one united in hypocrisy, lies and greed. 339 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:07,440 We learned that they're looking for the same praise Barnabas 340 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,800 received. Again, their actions look really 341 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:12,520 similar to Barnabas actions on the outside. 342 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:15,840 Barnabas had some property, so did Anas and Sapphira. 343 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:18,400 They sold the property. They brought the money to the 344 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,200 apostles feet. They they say this is for the 345 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:23,880 needs of people in need in the church. 346 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:27,200 It looked exactly the same, looked identical on the outside. 347 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:33,440 And yet Peter recognizes their deceit as an attack of Satan on 348 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:35,760 the church. Verses 3 to 4. 349 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:40,320 Then Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your 350 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:43,280 heart that you've lied to the Holy Spirit, and I've kept for 351 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:45,720 yourself some of the money you received from the land? 352 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:50,680 If Peter makes it clear, no one forced Ananias into this deceit. 353 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:54,320 He and Sapphira had been free to do whatever they wanted with 354 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:57,560 their property. Verse 4 Didn't it belong to you 355 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,240 before it was sold, says Peter, And after it was sold, wasn't 356 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:03,080 the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing 357 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:06,080 such a thing? You're saying, what have you 358 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:08,960 done, Ananias? He's done such a foolish and 359 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:12,040 terrible thing. You have not lied just to human 360 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:17,960 beings, Peter says, but to God. And as a result God judges 361 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:20,520 Ananias for his sin. Verse 5. 362 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:25,720 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died, and great fear 363 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:27,720 seized all who heard what had happened. 364 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:31,920 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body and 365 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:39,680 carried him out and buried him. Great fear seized the church. 366 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:42,840 We often think the early church would have been such a time of 367 00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:47,080 joy and wonder, seeing God healing, transforming, growing. 368 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:52,800 This church 3005 thousand more here they suddenly have this 369 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:58,520 encounter with a God who judges hypocrisy and sin, because that 370 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:00,440 was at the heart of what Ananias and fire were doing. 371 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:05,600 It was hypocrisy. There was greed involved, but 372 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:09,640 the sin behind the sin was hypocrisy. 373 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:14,680 And that's a that's a big word, plenty of syllables, but a 374 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:17,640 definition I read the last few weeks has really hit me. 375 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,160 One way of defining hypocrisy, but tell you in this passage is 376 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:26,280 it's just pretending to be more spiritual than we really are. 377 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:29,320 That's what Ananias survivor are doing here. 378 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:33,920 They're pretending to be more spiritual than they really are. 379 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,560 The same root for that word, hypocrisy is, is the word for 380 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:42,640 play, acting, acting out a part to convince other people, even 381 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:45,800 God, that you're better than you are. 382 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:47,760 And that's what Ananias inspire we're doing. 383 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:51,520 And they believe they could get away with it. 384 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,440 Peter points out the madness of what they're doing, verse 3. 385 00:22:57,440 --> 00:22:58,960 They're lying to the Holy Spirit. 386 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:03,120 They're lying to God himself. It's a personal rejection of the 387 00:23:03,120 --> 00:23:06,680 God who always speaks the truth and always seeks honesty from 388 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:10,800 his people. Hypocrisy is a big deal for God. 389 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:15,000 And I want to say actually, just as we pause for a second, that 390 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,200 is really good news about the character of our God. 391 00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:22,080 We have a God who hates hypocrisy even more than we do. 392 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:25,200 You look throughout the Bible, you see in the Old Testament, 393 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,160 but tell you the prophets, they are always challenging ancient 394 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:30,280 Israel. You claim to follow God, but 395 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:32,440 look at what you're doing. You're exploiting the poor. 396 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:34,440 You're you're, you're working on the Sabbath. 397 00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:37,920 You're not trusting God. You claim one thing, but you 398 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:41,720 live a very different way. Jesus in his ministry is so 399 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,520 gentle and compassionate to those caught in sin, to those 400 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:47,200 who confess their sin, but to those who say, no, we are fine 401 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:49,200 without you. Jesus, the religious leaders, he 402 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:51,840 denounces their hypocrisy again and again. 403 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:56,880 It is self righteousness that the Son of God is angry about 404 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:01,320 and it's self righteousness that is the heart of what Ananias and 405 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:06,800 Sapphira are doing here. I want to say this is good news 406 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:10,520 about God because most of us hate hypocrisy when we see it, 407 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:16,040 whether that's in the world of politics or celebrity or our 408 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:18,560 friends and family members see people claiming one thing, but 409 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:20,440 then we see, hang on, that's not what they say. 410 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:22,600 Well, why did you do that? They always said they do this, 411 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:27,960 but they're doing this instead. Of course, hypocrisy is one of 412 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:32,200 the most damaging accusations people outside the church level 413 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,360 at Christians. That's why the stakes are so 414 00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:38,880 high here. Why does God hate hypocrisy? 415 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:43,440 Because of who he is, because he's the God who is light and in 416 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:46,960 him is no darkness at all. He's the God who tells the 417 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,640 truth. He's the God who wants honesty 418 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:53,760 from his people. And God hates hypocrisy because 419 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:58,320 of the damage hypocrisy does to the life and witness of his 420 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,800 church. I can think of the number of 421 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:05,280 times it is so often when I've spoken to people about 422 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:06,920 Christianity, they say, oh, but Christians, they're all 423 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,760 hypocrites. They, they say one thing, but 424 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:12,200 they do another. They, they claim to, to, to love 425 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:14,920 people, but actually they're just as as as greedy and selfish 426 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,200 as the rest of us. Why would I want to be a 427 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:18,600 Christian? Why would I need to go near a 428 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:22,440 church? It's just full of hypocrites. 429 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:28,880 If you've ever felt like that and if you've friends, family 430 00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:33,760 members who feel like that, I want to see the God of Acts 5 is 431 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:37,960 good news for them because the God of Acts 5 hates hypocrisy 432 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:43,080 even more more than we do. This is a loving God stepping in 433 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:46,960 to protect his church from the danger of hypocrisy. 434 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:50,000 For the good of his church and the sake of our witness, God 435 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:55,120 steps in and judges this couple as a warning for the rest of the 436 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:58,560 early church. Instead of hypocrisy, God wants 437 00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:01,160 his people shaped by honesty and humility. 438 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,720 Instead of being hypocritical, claiming to be more spiritually 439 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:07,800 are he wants to be honest. Actually, I am struggling to 440 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,640 pray right now. I actually I don't love God as 441 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:12,160 much as I should. Actually I am. 442 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:15,280 I am putting my trust in my job or my family or my wealth. 443 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:20,480 I am not always trusting in God. Actually, God wants that level 444 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:23,600 of honesty. Blessed are the poor in spirit, 445 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:26,640 says Jesus, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven, not the 446 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:27,880 people who claim they've arrived. 447 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:32,560 They're sorted. God wants honesty from his 448 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:37,520 church and he wants humility, self righteousness says I don't 449 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:40,000 need God's grace. That person over there might. 450 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:43,880 I don't. God wants humility, the humility 451 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:48,120 that says actually I need Jesus, I need forgiveness. 452 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:53,200 God invites us to be honest to him. 453 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:56,040 I seem interesting. In the middle of this passage, 454 00:26:56,040 --> 00:27:01,000 this dark passage, Peter the apostle invites Sapphira to be 455 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:05,360 honest with him. Look at verse 7, we're told 456 00:27:05,360 --> 00:27:07,760 after the death of Ananias, his wife Sapphira comes looking for 457 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:09,480 him. She doesn't know what has 458 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:12,160 happened yet and Peter asked her a question. 459 00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:16,480 Verse 8 tell me Sapphira, is this the price you and an 460 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:22,080 Ananias got for the land I want to see this is the grace of God 461 00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:27,840 being offered to Sapphira. Just tell the truth Sapphira. 462 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:31,080 You don't have to face the same fate as your husband. 463 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:32,800 Yeah, I've been in that together. 464 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,960 But I if I was given an opportunity here to repent, to 465 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:40,760 acknowledge what they've done. But she chooses the path of lies 466 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,200 and hypocrisy. And she too is struck down by 467 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:46,840 God and buried alongside her husband. 468 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:51,640 And verse 11 comes the summary. Great fear sees the whole church 469 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:54,280 and all who heard about these events. 470 00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:00,320 This is like a moment in the life of the church that no one 471 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:06,240 would forget. And how do we respond to this 472 00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:13,040 astonishing story? A few things stand out for us. 473 00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:18,120 We've already said it, but we need to be honest with the 474 00:28:18,120 --> 00:28:21,800 living God. We need to be careful not to 475 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:23,880 pretend to be more spiritual than we are. 476 00:28:26,120 --> 00:28:29,480 I see for any of us who in any teaching capacity, that is a 477 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:32,320 huge challenge for us. And I include that we'll say 478 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:38,360 parents hunger leaders. The danger is we will present as 479 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:42,880 more spiritual than we are, but we cannot lie to the Holy 480 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:45,040 Spirit. It is foolish to even try, and 481 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:49,520 we should not lie to God's people for their precious to 482 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:52,320 Him. The great tragedy of Ananias as 483 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:57,080 fire is they refuse to confess their sin, their needs of God's 484 00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:01,760 grace. We need to be honest with the 485 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:07,720 living God and we need to come to Jesus in repentance and 486 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:09,160 faith. There's a big danger actually 487 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,360 with any passage like this may be a challenging 1. 488 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:14,640 The the the message of it could be well, make sure you're not 489 00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:17,080 like Ananias and Sapphira sort it out. 490 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:19,920 You know, be better than that. Make sure you don't struggle 491 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:22,080 with hypocrisy. Otherwise God's going to strike 492 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:25,720 you dead. I don't believe that's why Luke 493 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:30,040 records this for us. He records this for us to say, 494 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:34,320 Christian, don't think you can save yourself. 495 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:39,640 I don't think you can play act your way into God's family. 496 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:44,600 You need the grace of God. You need the life, death and 497 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:49,680 resurrection of Jesus in your place so you can be welcomed by 498 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:57,120 a holy God. Our only hope, Ananias and 499 00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:02,240 Sapphira's only hope was Jesus life, death and resurrection. 500 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,920 So come to Jesus, Luke says, for the forgiveness and new life. 501 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:10,640 He alone can give us this fear, the impact he's having us to go. 502 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:13,120 I'm not going to mess around with the living God. 503 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,960 I want to be honest with him and honest with his people, honest 504 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:21,120 about my need, honest about my dependence on Him. 505 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,680 I don't want to pretend to be someone I'm not. 506 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:31,000 I want to be honest and come to Jesus because Jesus welcomes me, 507 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:35,880 warts and all. It was a children's song we used 508 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:39,800 to sing a few years ago an Ave. Jesus died so I don't have to 509 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:44,400 hide anymore. I love that line. 510 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:49,080 Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. 511 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:51,640 He's not ashamed by anything you've done. 512 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,880 What he wants is honesty, confession. 513 00:30:56,280 --> 00:31:00,280 Come to him, humble yourself and say, Lord, here I am. 514 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:05,840 You know the mess I am in, Lord, would you forgive me because of 515 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:07,640 your life, death and resurrection? 516 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:14,160 That's if you like the individual application. 517 00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:17,520 I think corporately we just need to take sin seriously in the 518 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:20,400 church. And I said fire. 519 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:21,760 There are members of the early church. 520 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:24,480 They looked the part, claimed to trust in Jesus, but they had let 521 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:30,240 hypocrisy and greed sneak in. And God steps in to stop that 522 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:34,000 because the holiness, the the Christlikeness of the church 523 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:37,200 matters to God and it should matter to us. 524 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:40,320 God steps in here through the leadership of Peter and the 525 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:43,720 other apostles to expose hypocrisy, confront sin, and 526 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,120 protect the church. And it's for those reasons that 527 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:49,640 Christians throughout history, including Ave. today practice 528 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:54,480 what is called church discipline participant is is that is that 529 00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:57,560 thing we do for one another. And it happens most of the time 530 00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:01,280 informally in a very natural way, where we speak the truth in 531 00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:04,840 love to each other. Where we seek to .1 another to 532 00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:09,680 Jesus and away from the world. Where, where we seek to listen 533 00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:14,280 to and live out the word of God together on Sunday mornings in 534 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:16,520 our home groups. In other times when we see a 535 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,680 friend, a brother or sister in Christ making wrong decisions 536 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:23,040 and we love them enough to say something about it, we say it 537 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:25,320 humbly. We don't say it arrogantly, but 538 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:28,120 we say something about it because we know God takes in 539 00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:31,880 seriously and so do we. I want to say that that 540 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:34,920 category, church discipline, it happens all the time, week on 541 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:38,880 week at Ave. informally and formally. 542 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:41,520 We have had to practice church discipline on a number of 543 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:44,920 occasions over the years where where a church member has just 544 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:48,520 been unrepentantly defying what God says in his Word. 545 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:51,600 The elders have met with them. We've tried to plead with them 546 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:53,520 overtime. Eventually we'll bring it to the 547 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:55,280 whole church. We pray for them. 548 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:57,920 And then sometimes tragically, we have had to remove people 549 00:32:57,920 --> 00:32:59,480 from membership. Why? 550 00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:06,040 Because sin matters. Because hypocrisy tarnishes the 551 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:10,640 witness of God's church. Because actually to love one 552 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:14,640 another, we need to challenge when we are getting it wrong. 553 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:19,280 I have had people challenge me over the years and I have needed 554 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:22,960 it. I have wanted to be more like 555 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:25,160 what the world wants. And I can think of actually a 556 00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:28,680 teenage friend of mine who just said, Richard, you watch TV and 557 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:32,760 just go with what it says. I was like 1516. 558 00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:35,760 I remember those words. I'm so grateful my friend had 559 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:37,560 the courage, and I love to say that to me. 560 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:42,120 We need to do that week on week. This is why we need each other. 561 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:45,520 Church discipline should be happening all the time in our 562 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:48,680 church. Informally, it happens sometimes 563 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:51,040 formally when the informal hasn't worked. 564 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:56,400 I think that is a principle we get from passages like Acts 5. 565 00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:00,400 It's about taking sin seriously. It's about the glory of God, 566 00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:03,440 about loving one another as God's people, and about 567 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:06,120 protecting the witness of the church. 568 00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:12,719 This is the presence and power of God at work in the early 569 00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:19,600 church to judge sin. The final little section of our 570 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:23,000 reading, very briefly is, if you like, the flip side. 571 00:34:24,199 --> 00:34:29,719 We see the power and presence of God to heal and transform lives. 572 00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:34,760 Great fear seizes the church, but actually we learn verse 12, 573 00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:40,000 they are out serving as witnesses to Jesus in Jerusalem. 574 00:34:40,679 --> 00:34:45,719 God is answering the prayer they pray back in verse 30 of chapter 575 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:49,000 4 when they pray Father, stretch out your hand to heal and 576 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:51,320 perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy 577 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:54,000 servant Jesus. That is precisely what God does 578 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:58,040 in verses 12 to 17, verse 12, the apostles before many signs 579 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:00,640 and wonders among the people and all the believers used to meet 580 00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:04,320 together in Solomon's colonnade. This place in the temple, a 581 00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:07,000 large gathering place where Peter had preached when he'd 582 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:08,880 healed the lame man in chapter 3. 583 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:11,600 And now they're proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom through 584 00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:16,040 word and through deed. This early church is not being 585 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:20,000 known for its hypocrisy. It is being known for the power 586 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:25,320 of God at work through them. And there are unique moments in 587 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:27,120 this passage. In the original Greek and verse 588 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,920 12, we learn it's through the hands of the apostles. 589 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:32,840 Many signs and wonders are taking place, it seems, at least 590 00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:35,240 at this point. In the early church, the signs 591 00:35:35,240 --> 00:35:37,040 and wonders are restricted to the apostles. 592 00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:40,320 Not every believer is performing these signs and wonders. 593 00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:43,560 They're a continuation of the healing ministry of Jesus 594 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,720 because actually it's Jesus himself healing through the 595 00:35:46,720 --> 00:35:49,520 apostles. And we get these astonishing 596 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:50,480 moments. Verse 15. 597 00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:53,720 Even Peter's shadow had the power to heal the sick. 598 00:35:53,720 --> 00:35:56,800 That is astonishing, and I don't actually know many churches 599 00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:59,560 today, whatever they think about signs and wonders, who claim 600 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:01,440 that shadows are healing the sick. 601 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:05,400 This seems to be a moment of astonishing power of God in 602 00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:07,880 response to him working through his church. 603 00:36:08,680 --> 00:36:11,600 We get a bit later in Acts where a handkerchief used by Paul 604 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:14,440 heals people. These these astonishing moments, 605 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:19,720 but this is the transforming power of God at work through his 606 00:36:19,720 --> 00:36:22,080 people and the early church is growing. 607 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:24,120 It's growing beyond the binds of Jerusalem. 608 00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:28,920 Verse 16, crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem. 609 00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:32,080 Actually, this is Jesus command to be witnesses outside of 610 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:34,160 Jerusalem. It is happening through the 611 00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:39,240 power and presence of the living God at work in his church. 612 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:44,440 And we'll pick up the next bits of this account in Acts 5 next 613 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:49,040 week. But our God transforms lives. 614 00:36:50,720 --> 00:36:53,480 He exposes sin, and He brings healing. 615 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,480 Ananias and Sapphira missed out on the healing, the forgiveness 616 00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:02,600 that would be theirs by hiding their sin and pretending they 617 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:04,920 were more spiritual than they are. 618 00:37:06,720 --> 00:37:10,800 The living Godfather, Son and Spirit would not accept that He 619 00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:14,480 wants honesty and humility from his people. 620 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:20,600 So as we leave this bit of Acts this week, what do we learn 621 00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:25,280 about the God who is present and powerful among his people? 622 00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:30,400 But we've seen He's the God who gives generously so that we 623 00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:34,160 learn generosity. He's the God who judges sin so 624 00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:37,280 we take sin seriously. He's the God who transforms, 625 00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:40,520 lives as we live for him in this world. 626 00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:43,120 He's a God who is holy. He is different to us. 627 00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:47,480 He sees what's in our hearts. He hates hypocrisy even more 628 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:50,880 than we do. But if we are honest with him, 629 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:56,360 he's a God who heals, who transforms His people into those 630 00:37:56,360 --> 00:37:58,360 who bear witness for him in this world. 631 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:05,800 This is not a tame or safe God we encounter in the book of 632 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:09,960 Acts, and it's not a tame or safe God we worship and trust in 633 00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:16,360 as a church family here at Ave. But whenever I come across 634 00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:19,440 passages like this, we're reminded of the awesomeness that 635 00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:22,040 even the frightening power of the Lord. 636 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:27,400 I often go back to the Narnia stories that I used to read as a 637 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:30,960 kid, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. 638 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:35,200 In that story you may know it for human children are 639 00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:37,640 transported to the magical land of Narnia. 640 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:41,280 In that land, animals can talk. A cruel witch rules over the 641 00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:43,800 land. And Narnia's only hope is the 642 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:46,560 return of the great lion Aslan to save them all. 643 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:50,200 Billy's not here right now, but she just loved these Narnia 644 00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:52,560 stories. There are maps in her hand drawn 645 00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:55,040 of Narnia around our house. She's to try and dig through 646 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:57,920 snow to get into Narnia. When it snowed as a girl, I can 647 00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:02,000 say, oh, like, she's not here. But it's an astonishing story. 648 00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:05,000 And the four children, Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, are told 649 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,840 about this Aslan by Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. 650 00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:09,960 Let me pick up the story at this point. 651 00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:12,880 Mr. Beaver, says Aslan, he's the king. 652 00:39:13,720 --> 00:39:16,360 He's the Lord of the whole wood, the son of the great emperor. 653 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:18,440 Beyond the sea he'll settle the White Queen. 654 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:20,640 All right. Aslan is a lion. 655 00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:25,840 The lion, the great lion. When the children hear it's a 656 00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:27,360 lion, well, they're frightened. They're scared. 657 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:29,120 One of them says, well, well, he's a lion. 658 00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:32,560 Is he quite safe? I should feel rather nervous 659 00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:35,960 about meeting a lion. It's great 1940s English. 660 00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:43,840 And the Beavers reply, safe. Of course he isn't safe, but 661 00:39:43,840 --> 00:39:47,840 he's good. He's the king, I tell you. 662 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:57,520 The God we worship, the God of Acts 5, is not safe, but he is 663 00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:00,960 good. He alone is strong enough to set 664 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:04,480 us free from sin and death and the devil. 665 00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:08,920 He alone is strong enough to transform our hearts, to show us 666 00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:12,080 what it means to live genuinely before him, not hypocritically. 667 00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:18,920 He alone is our only hope because He's good and He is our 668 00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:22,240 King. The early church saw that and 669 00:40:22,240 --> 00:40:25,800 worshipped Him. We see that through His Word, by 670 00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:29,080 His Spirit, and we worship Him. Today. 671 00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:32,920 His presence and power is at work among us. 672 00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:38,240 Let's ask Him to keep us trusting in Him and worshipping 673 00:40:38,240 --> 00:40:42,200 Him for His goodness and His good purposes for us as a 674 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:45,360 church. Let me pray for us. 675 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:54,360 Let's, let's pray. Father God, this is a sobering 676 00:40:54,880 --> 00:41:00,040 and challenging passage. Father, you know each one of us 677 00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:05,240 how often we have, maybe even in the recent days, pretended to be 678 00:41:05,240 --> 00:41:08,680 more spiritual than we are. We've been frightened of being 679 00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:13,080 honest with you and with other people about our real fears or 680 00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:19,080 struggles or doubts. Lord, we ask that through this 681 00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:23,240 true story of what you did in Ananias and Sapphira's case, 682 00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:26,120 would you bring us to our senses? 683 00:41:26,720 --> 00:41:30,640 Would you keep us from trying to lie to the Holy Spirit about who 684 00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:34,360 we really are, and instead remind us that we can be 685 00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:38,200 completely honest with You? Not because we're good, but 686 00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:41,200 because you're good? Not because we deserve 687 00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:43,600 forgiveness, because you offer forgiveness. 688 00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:50,200 Because Jesus lived the life and died the death and rose again to 689 00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:55,080 reconcile us to you? Would we rest in His saving 690 00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:57,520 grace? Would we be honest in the light 691 00:41:57,520 --> 00:42:01,080 of his saving grace? And Father, would we love each 692 00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:06,000 other enough to keep pointing one another to you day in, day 693 00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:08,680 out? Until that time we see you, the 694 00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:15,000 glorious King, face to face, and we ask that in Jesus name and 695 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:18,160 for his glory among us, Amen.