Worship Wholeheartedly – Pt. 2

In this message from Acts 5:1–11, David Platt reminds us of the holiness of the One whom we worship. 

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Transcript

Podcast And Sermon Opening

SPEAKER_00 0:49

You are listening to David Platt Messages, a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor, author, and teacher David Platt.

Reading The Ananias And Sapphira Story

Why Sin Inside The Church Spreads

Appearance Versus Authentic Faith

Barnabas As A Picture Of Integrity

What It Means To Fear God

Fear Of Deception Distrust Disobedience

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If you have a Bible, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to open to the book of Acts. Chapter 5. As you're turning there, let me encourage you, if you uh have the notes from your celebration guide that were in there to pull those out that will serve as a guide for our time together today. This morning we are going to look at what I believe is one of the most difficult passages in the book of Acts, if not the most difficult passage in the book of Acts. And it is uh a humbling text to study and a humbling text to preach. It seems, it seems out of place in its context. In Acts 2 through 4, we are seeing the height of biblical community, a picture of the early church, of people who cared about each other and loved each other and sacrificed for each other, of unity, everything coming together, everything going right, and people coming to know Christ day in and day out. We're seeing the height of that, and then we come to Acts 5. With that context, just listen to this story. Acts chapter 5, verse 1. Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge, he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. And Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men, but to God. When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land? Yes, she said, that is the price. Peter said to her, How could you agree to test the spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also. At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. And the young men came in, finding her dead, and carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. What is that about? Luke doesn't include every single story about the early church. Why did he choose to include this one? If there was any one that you were going to leave out, this would be the one not to include. Therefore, preachers 2,000 years ago wouldn't have to deal with it. Why would Luke include this? He's already shown struggles in the church, struggles from persecution outside the church, and he's shown how the victory has been given to the church. In Acts chapter 4, you actually come to the end of that, and they've experienced persecution, and they're having victory over that persecution. It's a triumphant moment. Why do we come to Acts chapter 5? Here's why I think Luke included this passage. The greatest hindrance to the advancement of the gospel will never be opposition from outside the church. The greatest hindrance to the advancement of the gospel will always be sin inside the church. And so Luke highlights this story for us to show us why we must guard against the impurity of the world in the church. And that's why I wanted to show that video this morning to give a little snapshot of what God is doing over the last even just a few months at the church at Brook Hills and His grace and His mercy as people are coming to faith in Christ and people are being baptized and giving testimony to his greatness. And as we've given$120,000 to build homes in Indonesia, and as we've had mission teams going out to different places and God moving and people excited about what God is doing in the middle of that, I think we need to look at Acts chapter 5 because it's a warning and a caution to us to make sure that we don't let anything inside the church hinder the advancement of the gospel outside the church. And so what I want us to do is dive in to a picture of wholehearted worship in the early church and ask ourselves some questions. And the thing is, many times when we when we have these notes and we we dive into the word, we talk about what we need to do. Talk about us. And I'm pretty intentional to try to use we and us in the way we look at the outline of different passages. But you're gonna notice in this time we have together today, the emphasis is gonna be on me and I. All these questions deal with I and me. And the reason for that is because I want to challenge us all across this room to take an individual look at each of these questions that we're about to dive into based on Acts chapter 5. The worst thing that can happen this morning is for anybody to walk away from here saying somebody else really needed to hear that sermon. Because how we answer these questions individually will have huge ramifications for what God does in and through us corporately. So I want us to ask some questions based on Acts chapter 5 that'll help us to examine our worship and examine our lives and lead us into a time of communion. First question. Essential questions for wholehearted worship. First question is this Do I value my spiritual appearance more than I value my spiritual authenticity? Do I value my spiritual appearance more than I value my spiritual authenticity? We've got to make sure we understand what's going on in this story. Ananias and Sapphira, a married couple, come together and Ananias brings this gift. Now, we have talked about how there were many people in the early church that were selling their possessions and giving to the poor, sacrificing to meet each other's needs. But it wasn't something that was required. It wasn't Christian communism, it was a voluntary thing. People could do this, and it was the inner presence of the Spirit in their lives that was compelling them to say, you know, I'm going to sell these things so that I can help out my brothers and sisters who are in need. And so Ananias was not required when he sold whatever he sold to take all of that money and give it to the poor. He wasn't required to sell that property. He wasn't required to give any of it to the poor. He could do whatever he wanted to do. But what he decided to do was to come before Peter and lay this at the apostles' feet so that everybody else would think that he is giving all of this money. In fact, the verse 2, when it says, with his wife's full knowledge, he kept back part of the money for himself. That word in the original language of the New Testament literally means what we would call embezzling. It's taking money that belonged to somebody else and keeping it for yourself. He had committed that money to the church, and he came forward and he gave part of it and kept back some of it for himself. Ananias' sin was not the fact that he didn't give all his money. His sin was the fact that he was trying to deceive the Lord and trying to deceive the church by looking like he was doing something that he was not. And that is the essence of spiritual inauthenticity. Spiritual inauthenticity appears to be one way, but proves to be something else. And that was the danger that we see here in ver in chapter 5. The fact that God hates spiritual inauthenticity. We live in an area of the country known as the Bible Belt, where it is common to go to church on Sunday. It is routine to go to church on Sunday. And there is a great temptation for us to come in here this morning dressed nicely to worship Christ and to go through a routine that gives spiritual appearance but lacks spiritual authenticity. That is a serious temptation for us in our culture. And I think there's a word for us here. I want you to see the two options in this passage because there's a contrast here. I want you to see a contrast and two options. Option number one, in a situation like this, option number one is to simulate holiness. To simulate holiness. And that's exactly what Ananias and Sapphira were trying to do. Back up a little bit, and you look in the end of chapter 4, verse 36. The Bible says, Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, he stole the field he owned and brought the money and put at the apostles' feet. So you've got a contrast here. You've got Barnabas who stole the field, brought all the money, put at the apostles' feet. Well then Ananias and Sapphira see what Barnabas did and they say, we want to look like Barnabas. We want to do what Barnabas did. And so they sell some property, keep back some money for themselves, and say, we're like Barnabas. And they come and they lay this down at the Apostles' feet and they simulate holiness. Somewhere along the way, Ananias and Sapphira believed that Christianity was about religious regulations, it was about doing things on the outside and getting an appearance, a perception from others in the church of you. And that is not authentic Christianity. Simulated holiness misses the entire point of authentic Christianity. And we, somewhere along the way in the 21st century Bible Belt of America, have created the idea, similar to this, that spiritual authenticity is summed up in going to church and observing regulations, religious regulations, doing the right things, saying the right things, and being known as nice, decent church people. And that is what Christianity is about. And that's not what Christianity is about. That is spiritual appearance that lacks spiritual authenticity. The contrast comes with Barnabas because here's a guy who wasn't simulating holiness. This is a guy who was sacrificing everything. You see it here. He sold this field, he owned, brought the money, and put it at the apostles' feet. We see Barnabas at a few other times in the book of Acts. Let me show you a portrait of Barnabas to see the contrast. Turn over to Acts chapter 9. Look at Acts chapter 9. Maybe you circle or underline every time you see Barnabas mentioned here in Acts, just to give you a picture of this guy. Look at Acts chapter 9. Look at verse 26. This is right after Paul, Saul, the persecutor of Christians. Now Paul has come to know faith in Christ. Listen to what verse 26 says in Acts chapter 9. When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples. This is Saul. But they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. Which you would be the same if he was going out trying to kill your friends, and then one day he says, Well, now I'm a follower of Christ. Well, why don't you talk with somebody else? So listen to what happens in verse 27. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul in his journey had seen the Lord, the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name. So Saul stayed with him and moved about freely in Jerusalem. We see Barnabas risking to advocate for this new guy named Saul that nobody else liked. Look over in chapter 11. Look in chapter 11, verse 22. Church begins to grow at Antioch. They're first called Christians, in fact, at a place called Antioch. And listen to what happens. You got a bunch of new believers there, and it first says in verse 22 of Acts chapter 11, news of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Barnabas is the representative from the church of Jerusalem that goes to be a part of really helping this church at Antioch get off the ground. You see, later on, you've got something going on there at Church of Antioch. In the same chapter, verse 29, it says the disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. They took up an offering for the poor. And verse 30 says, This they did, sending their gift to the elders by who? Barnabas and Saul. Barnabas is a guy we know we can trust to take this gift to the poor. When you get over to Acts chapter 3, you see the church setting apart missionaries to go and proclaim the gospel. And it says in verse 2, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Acts chapter 13, verse 2. One more time. Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15. Look over in verse 36 and 37. We're going to see another picture of Barnabas. The Bible says, sometime later, Paul said to Barnabas, Let's go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preach the word of the Lord and see how they are doing. Barnabas wanted to take John, also card Mark, with them, but Paul didn't think it was wise to take him, because he had deserted him in Pamphylia and had not continued with him in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company, and Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. Once again we see Barnabas, the defender of giving this guy named John Mark a second chance. You see a picture of spiritual authenticity there. This is a guy who sacrificed his possessions in Acts chapter 4. He's a guy who sacrificed his pride. It's not about exalting Barnabas for him. He sacrificed his passions, his dreams, his ambitions. He's going around proclaiming the gospel. He's ready to take money to the poor to help them out. He's ready to go help new churches get started. He's ready to go out back and encourage the churches that have already been started. We've got a picture of spiritual authenticity in Barnabas. And the antithesis of that is Ananias and Sapphira, who are simulating holiness and not sacrificing everything. We've got to be careful in the church today not to create an idea that holiness and spiritual authenticity consists of going to church, worshiping, having nice regulations that we follow, things that we do. That is not holiness, avoiding all of these major sins that we despise in the church, and we don't do those things, therefore we're holy. Holiness is a gambling, a risking of our entire lives for the sake of the glory of Christ and His church. That's what holiness is, and that's what spiritual authenticity is. Therefore, we don't sing without putting feet to our songs. That affects the way we worship. What we've gathered together for this morning is not spiritual appearance. If it is, then we dishonor our God and worship. What we've gathered together for this morning is spiritual authenticity. And how many times, I won't ask for a show of hands, have you looked at the church and said there's a lot more appearance there than there is authenticity? God help us to show the world more than just spiritual appearance. Do I value spiritual appearance more than spiritual authenticity? God help us not to not to like the thought of being holy more than we like the sacrifice of being holy. Second question. Do I have a genuine fear before God? Do I have a genuine fear before God? I want you to see the repetition of two words in this passage mentioned twice. After Ananias and Sapphira bring this gift and both of them fall over dead. Look at what happens. Look at what happens in verse 5. When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great what? Fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then, verse 10. At that moment, Sapphira fell down at his feet and died. The young men came in and finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And what happened? Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. Now, this is the same word that we see way back in Acts chapter 2, verse 43, one passage we've been memorizing, everyone was filled with what? Awe. Many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. Same word, phobos, from which we get phobia, fear today. This was a real, a genuine fear that was going on. And we can understand that. Can you imagine that kind of thing happening today? How many of you are glad that God is not still usually in the business of striking down hypocrites? You'd be scared too. What is this fear all about? Is fear a mark of the church? Great fear, not only in the church, but outside the church. Everybody in Birmingham hears about it and they're a little afraid. You don't increase attendance at your third worship service by doing these kind of things. What is this fear all about? Well, it's a word that's used in a variety of places, the New Testament, Old Testament, both. Reverence and respect and awe, but but I want us to dive deeper into that because it's more than just respect, like we think of respect. When I travel around the world and I meet folks of different religions, Hindus or Buddhists or Muslims, or even talking with an atheist and talk about their beliefs. I obviously disagree with their beliefs, but I respect them. I respect them. I disagree with them, but I respect them. That's not the kind of respect we have for God. You don't disagree with God. This is deeper than just respect between two equals. We have a tendency to bring God down to our sides, and we have a respect for Him. That is not what fear is. Fear is a deep reverence, a holy terror before God. I know that's a strong word, but I think that's what the New Testament is teaching us here. A genuine fear before God. And that's exactly what we see in the Gospels when we see Jesus interacting with his disciples and he raises his hand and he calms the storm. What does the Bible say? The disciples were what? Afraid. They weren't afraid because of the storm, they were afraid because this guy could raise his hands and all of a sudden the storm stopped, and they realized this guy is not our equal. You don't mess with this dude. When you see him heal a paralytic, and the Bible says they feared Jesus. When they heal, when he heals people, when he raises people from the dead, the reaction in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we see over and over again in those gospels, fear is a reaction to seeing the worth of Christ and the power of Christ and the might of Christ. And that's why we see all throughout Scripture the fear of the Lord is the beginning of what? Wisdom. That fear of the Lord is always connected with devotion to God and trust in God and wholehearted surrender to God. They go together, but this is foreign to us. We don't think about the fear of the Lord or what it means to have a genuine fear before God. What does that mean? Well, I want us to help kind of help us kind of put some handles on this. You've got some notes there. First of all, I think part of it, and in this passage, it's definitely there. It's a fear of deception. We feared deception. In verse 2, or verse 3, when Peter confronts Ananias, he says, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have done what? You've lied to the Holy Spirit. You've lied to the Holy Spirit. You've tried to deceive the Holy Spirit. Then he comes over to the end of verse 4 and he says, You have not lied to men, but to who? God. Notice this is one of those passages, just as a side note, uh extra, no charge for this, but but what we're seeing is the Holy Spirit equated with God here. We don't see the word Trinity in Scripture, but we know the Holy Spirit is God because Peter lied to the Holy Spirit. He lied to God. The Holy Spirit is who? God. So Peter confronts Ananias and said, You are trying to deceive the very Spirit of God. You are lying to God. Fear tremble at the thought of trying to lie to God. That is definitely something we should fear. Fear trying to deceive God with a spiritual appearance. When there is a hollow soul at the core of our being. Fear trying to deceive God in that way. Tremble at the thought of living a lie before God. That's something to fear. Not just deception, but to fear distrust. To fear distrust. When we get to Sapphira, Peter confronts her in verse 9 and says to her, How could you agree to do what? To test the Spirit of the Lord. To tempt the Spirit of the Lord. And at the core of this idea of testing God or just or tempting God is an idea of distrusting God. We see it all throughout Scripture. When Jesus is tempted by the devil, he says, You shall not what? Tempt the Lord your God. Quotes Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 16. Don't test God. Don't ask him to try to prove his goodness to you and his grace to you and his mercy to you. Don't ask him to prove his judgment to you and his wrath to you. You don't ask God to prove his character. He has proved his character over and over again. And to ask him to do that is to distrust him. Look over, turn back to the left. Go to Psalm chapter 78. I want you to see how testing is equated with distrusting. Look at Psalm chapter 78. If you need to, feel free to use your table of contents. Psalm's right in the middle of the Bible there. Psalm chapter 78. I want you to see how this biblical picture of testing God is equated with distrust in God, a lack of trust in God. What Psalm 78 is, it's a recounting of Israel's history and how over and over and over again they didn't trust God and they tested him. Look in Psalm 78, verse 17. We're going to see three times you might circle or underline or testing, putting God to the test in this chapter. In verse 17, they continued to sin against God, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. They willfully put God to the what? To the test by demanding the food they craved. They spoke against God, saying, Can God spread a table in the desert? When he struck the rock, water gushed out, and streams flowed abundantly. God had provided rock for them, water for them in Exodus 17. Then they say, But can he give us food too? Can he supply meat for his people? When the Lord heard them, he was very angry, and his fire broke out against Jacob, and his wrath rose against Israel, for they did not believe or trust in God, or trust in his deliverance. Look over in verse 40. How often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved him in the wasteland. Again and again they put God to the what? The test. They vexed the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember his power, the day he redeemed them from the oppressor, the day he displayed his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders in the region of Zoan, and it goes on in all the incredible things that God did and gets to verse 56. And it says one more time, but they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High. They did not keep his statues. Like their fathers, they were disloyal and faithless, trustless, as unreliable as a faulty bow. Over and over again, God provided, and over and over again, they tried to put God to the test. Let's see if God is real. You see, Ananias and Sapphira, I don't think, had ever reckoned with the reality of the Holy Spirit. They thought it was a game. They thought it was something you do, it was the norm. You do a barnabas, you come down, you put this, and everything goes on right, and people look at you as good because you played the game well, and they never reckon with the fact that the Holy Spirit knows their thoughts. And the Holy Spirit sees their hearts. And the Holy Spirit will always prove the character of God. You see the word there for us. This is not just a game this morning.

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The Holy Spirit knows our thoughts. And he sees all of our hearts in this room.

How Fear And Love Fit Together

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And we need not detest him by not reckoning with his reality and coming face to face with him and go on like this is a game. But they detested him, they distrusted him, fear living in a way that we show that our trust is not in God. Fear living in a way that we show the world our trust is in money instead of God. Tremble at the thought of living that way. Men, fear living in such a way that you show your pleasure is in pornography instead of in God. Fear living like that. Fear living in a way that we show any of our pleasures come from the world as opposed to satisfaction in God. Fear living that way. Tremble at the thought of it. Fear deception, fear distrust, and fear disobedience. Fear disobedience. One and every four times we see the fear of the Lord mentioned in all of Scripture, it's equated with obedience. The fear of the Lord and obedience that go together. Because when you fear God and you don't want to deceive him, and you don't want to show a lack of trust in him, then you fear living in any way that would disobey him. Then you fear living in a way that you show that he is not worthy of all your life. That's the fear of the Lord. Now, what I want us to see is that fear of God. It's so fundamental. Fear of God is evidence of our love for God. Fear of God is evidence of love for God. Now that makes no sense to most of us. That fear of God is evidence of love for God. How does fear go with love? How do you put those two together? But that's exactly what we're seeing here in Scripture. Psalm chapter 130, verse 3 and 4. Listen to this. It's talking about the psalmist is saying how thankful he is that the Lord does not recount his sins against him. And listen to what he says in verse 4. He says, We praise you for your forgiveness. Therefore you are feared. Because he forgives us and because he pours out grace on us, then he is feared. He is revered. How does that work together? When you're forgiven by the blood of Christ, how does fear come in? Don't miss the connection here. When you're forgiven by the blood of Christ, then you fear living in any way or approaching worship at all in such a way that you show that the blood of Christ is not precious to you. You fear living in any way that you would show that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross is not important to you. You fear living like that. It's exactly what Romans chapter 5, verse 8 and 9 is saying. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That's how we know he loves us. Then what does he say in verse 9? Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more we'll be saved from God's wrath through him? We don't fear condemnation before God because of Christ. Apart from Christ, we've got a lot of reason to fear the judgment of God. But because of Christ, we don't fear condemnation. We fear living in such a way that we show that condemnation was that his forgiveness was not real and true and genuine. And fear of God now becomes equated with love for God. Now I know, I know this is not something we talk about a lot, and that's why Acts chapter 5 is such a foreign passage in the American church. It just we we struggle with the picture of God that we're seeing here. But if we want to worship truly, we can't put some doctrines in the Bible aside. We've got to embrace Scripture. We've got to embrace what Scripture is teaching us, and it's gonna deepen our worship. See how this deepens our worship? When we fear God, we fear deceiving Him or distrusting Him or disobeying Him. Do you see how the result becomes authentic Christianity and authentic worship? And our worship is deeper, and we don't trivialize worship, and we don't come in here just to joke around and have a good time. Although there is joy, but it's deeper joy when we see it coupled with the fear of God. How does the fear of God and love of God go together? Love for God go together. Here's an illustration. Yesterday would have been my father's 61st birthday.

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And I had the privilege of growing up with a father who loved me deeply and cared for me deeply and encouraged me and sacrificed in countless ways for me. He loved me deeply. I loved him deeply. And I would fear deceiving him or trying to deceive him.

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It was late at night. I was headed over to a friend's house to get pulled over, scared to death, shaken. Not at the police officer, but at the thought of dad. I couldn't continue over to my father's house, or over to my friend's house. I had to go back home right away. Go in there, wake up. Woke up mom, so she could tell dad in the morning, but uh there was a fear of deceiving dad. There's a fear of distrusting dad. Dad had a way of knowing what was best for me. First time he ever saw Heather when we were in high school, first time he ever saw her. We weren't dating at that point or anything. He said, one of my sons needs to marry that girl. So I had to trust him. And fear disobeying. You don't have dinner with dad every night or every week of your senior year where you talk about things, everything under the sun, and he gives you advice and you listen to him and you enjoy his presence. You don't have that kind of dinner and then walk away and disobey him and do things that dishonor him. You don't do that. You fear that.

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You fear doing anything that dishonors him. And the only thing that hurts when you become pastor of a large church is the ache of wanting to see his face honored in what God is doing.

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It's the only thing that hurts in a whole human.

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I fear those things.

Judgment That Protects God’s Mission

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Obviously, Acts chapter 5 is a portrait of the judgment of God. Again, one of those doctrines, one of those parts of God that we don't talk about very much. His judgment. That's exactly what we're seeing here. I want you to think about what it means for God to be just, for him to be a judge. The justice of God, three characteristics that I think are consumed in a biblical picture of the justice of God. First of all, he is omnibenevolent, which basically means he is all good. Everything in God is good. Everything in God is right. And that's a characteristic. I mean, you think about this, even some of these things in relation to an earthly judge. You want an earthly judge who is good, a judge who cares about how right triumphs over wrong or good triumphs over evil. If you have a judge who doesn't care about good over evil, and that's not a good judge, would not be good if God sat back and let sin go on rampant and didn't care about removing sin from the church. So we're beginning to see how the goodness of God is actually encapsulated here in Acts chapter 5. The worst thing would be if God were to sit back and let the church continue on in sin and continue on in hypocrisy. That would be the worst thing. In fact, that's what we see in Scripture. There's times, Romans 1 is a perfect picture where God basically lets people come over to the desires of their heart. He gave them over to sinful desires, he gave them over to all kinds of immorality and pleasures of the world. He gave them over to those things. We don't want God to do that. We want God to bring right over wrong and good over evil. So he's all good. Second, he is all-knowing. In order for a judge to be a good judge, he's got to know everything. He's got to know all the facts. In order to make a judgment. Thankfully, God is omniscient. He knows everything, and therefore he is a perfect judge. Nothing hidden from him. Nothing can deceive him. He is all good, he's all-knowing, and third, he is all powerful. A good judge has the authority to carry out his judgments. If someone commits a heinous crime and they go before a judge, and that judge is good and he knows all the facts, but it can do nothing about it, then that's not a good judge. That's not a good picture. God has all power. He is sovereign. All authority belongs to God. And therefore, he has power to execute, carry out his judgments. Now, don't get this picture when we're talking about the justice of God of some wild, irrational, unpredictable thing. We don't have to worry about God coming in like a tornado. The picture, though, is of a God who is completely good, whose character is completely set against evil. And he has the power to carry out that. He is all good, he's all-knowing, and he is all powerful. Now, we're equating this as the justice of God compelling me to accomplish the mission of God. Why do you put it that way? And here's what we've got to grasp in this passage. Don't miss this. It's the justice of God, his goodness, his omniscience, his omnipotence, that is propelling the church into deeper and greater mission. In fact, this is something we see at different points throughout Scripture. Whenever God is doing mighty or great things among his people, it is often accompanied by great severity from God, a highlight of the judgment of God. Let me show you two instances. This will be the last time we turn, but go back with me to the left to the book of Leviticus. Leviticus, look at chapter 10 in Leviticus. Genesis Exodus, Leviticus. It's the third book in the Bible. Just go all the way to the left and turn right. Go to Leviticus chapter 10. The tabernacle, which is a place of worship, is erected for the people of God to worship in. God's presence, tabernacling or dwelling among his people. So it's a high time in the church, among the people of God at that point, the people of Israel. It's a high time. Things are going very well. Look at Leviticus chapter 10. There were priests who had just started their work in the tabernacle. Listen to this. Chapter 10, verse 1. Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, both of them priests, took their censors, put fire in them, and added incense, and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to God's command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Moses then said to Aaron, This is what the Lord spoke of, when he said, Among those who approach me, I will show myself holy in the sight of all the people I will be honored. And Aaron remained silent. That sound familiar? It looks real familiar to Acts chapter 5. The height of the church that happens in the Ananias Sapphira, the height of the people of God, tabernacle, he shows his justice on those who treat his goodness and his worship lightly. And disobey him and don't fear deception, distrust, disobedience. Let me show you one more. Go to the right and come to Joshua chapter 7. Look at Joshua chapter 7. I want you to look at verse 1. People of God are at the height of things. They have just entered into the promised land. They have taken out Jericho. They played some music, the walls fell down, and they won a battle. It was a good day for the people of Israel. Everything was going right. They had all the momentum in the battle. Look at what chapter 7, verse 1 says. They had been commanded when they went into Jericho to take out all of the devoted things. It says, But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things. Achan, son of, and I get some different names, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord's anger burned against Israel because Achan had disobeyed God. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho up to Ai, which is near Beth Aven, to the east of Bethel, and told them, Go up and spy out that region. So they went up and spied out Ai. When they returned to Joshua, they said, Not all the people need to go up on this one. Send two or three thousand men to take it. And don't weary all the people, for only a few men are there. So about three thousand men went up. But they were routed by the men of Ai, who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries, and struck them down on the slopes. And at this the hearts of the people melted and became like water. What happened? Then Joshua tore its clothes, fell face down on the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. And the elders of Israel did the same, sprinkled dust on their heads, and Joshua said, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring the people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we'd been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan. What can I say now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this, will surround us, and wipe out our name from the earth. What are you going to do for your own great name? So God speaks up and he says, Stand up. What are you doing on your face? Israel has sinned. They have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things, they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. Does that sound familiar? That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They cannot turn their turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction. What happens is the same fate that happened with Nadab and Abihu, the same fate that happened to Ananias and Sapphira in the rest of the chapter happens to Achan and he dies. I want us to see how the justice of God is coupled with the mission of God. And therefore, he must, by the nature of his character, judge sin seriously in the church. But what if, what happens to the mission of the church if sin is not dealt with seriously in the church? What happens to the mission of God? Think about it. If we don't deal with the severity of sin in our lives, then the world will look at the church and will not see the severity of sin. And sin will become a casual, complacent thing that really doesn't matter. And at that point, the world is completely stripped of seeing her need for a savior. The mission of God is dependent on seriousness about sin because it's when we're serious about sin that grace comes in and shows itself as mighty and wonderful. However, if we minimize the severity of sin in the church and we're complacent with sin in this room and we play around with sin and it's not a big deal to us, and the world looks inside the church and says, sin really doesn't matter in their life, sin really doesn't matter in my life, and therefore you go out and you try to share the gospel, and there's no need for a savior that they see. See how the justice of God is coupled with the mission of God. However, when people in the church start getting honest with each other and honest with God and honest with the world about our sin, we think, well, we can't focus on sin and the judgment of God. How are we going to ever preach grace? That's when we preach grace the most, because it's when we confess our sin honestly before God and honestly before each other and honestly before the world. When we confess our sin, we fall on our knees in repentance. That's when the grace of God comes in and covers us and cleanses us from all our sin and he makes us righteous and he gets glory in the world through the church. And it doesn't happen until the church stops playing games and giving cells to spiritual appearance and good worship, void of honesty before God.

SPEAKER_01 44:40

The justice of God is coupled with the mission of God.

SPEAKER_02 44:49

And the reality of God's character and his justice and his judgment actually compels us to risk everything for God's cause.

SPEAKER_01 45:04

If we don't focus on our sin and the judgment of God, then we strip the gospel of its power, and our worship becomes mere entertainment for us on Sunday mornings.

Great Purity Before Great Power

Communion Reflection And Final Invitation

SPEAKER_02 45:21

But when we see God and we see his goodness and his power and his omniscience, and we see the world around us, and we know that apart from Christ, we come under the judgment of God. And apart from Christ, our friends and family members and the people we work with and the people who mean the most to us and the billion people who haven't heard the name of Jesus in other nations, we know that the judgment of God is real and it compels us. We're not just gonna sing. We can't just sing. We've got to get up and tell people about the grace and mercy that can cover sins and can bring life and newness and change. You see how they go together? However, we become casual with sin in the church, therefore we don't see the gravity of sin around us, and we go throughout our Christian lives coasting without ever proclaiming the grace and mercy of Christ because we just don't see the need to do it. The reality of God's character compels us to give ourselves to God's cause. The bottom line is this when you come back to Acts chapter 5, after this whole thing, listen to what happens in verse 12. The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. All the believers used to meet together in Solomon's colonnade. Now listen to these two verses. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. So people were like, what's going on in the church? But then listen to verse 14. Nevertheless, more and more women and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. Do you see the justice of God and the mission of God? The world looks at the church and sees a holy fear before God, a fear that is motivated by the love of God, that is rooted in the grace of God, and in seeing that grace covers our sins, and we're not playing games, we're honest with God. The world sees that and says there's something different. And part of them says, I don't know, but there's something that the Spirit does when the justice and the mercy of God are displayed in the church, and he begins to draw people to himself. Holiness and godly fear are a great way to grow a church. We see great power. In verse 15, he talks about all these people getting healed, crowds gathering around, bringing their sicks, those tormented by evil spirits, all of them getting healed. We're seeing great power in verse 12 of Acts chapter 5. But it's coming on the heels of great purity in the first 11 verses. Don't miss it. Great purity precedes great power. If we want to see great power in the church at Brookhills, we've got to realize the power of the Holy Spirit in our witness is always accompanied by the purity of the Holy Spirit in our worship. Does that make sense? We sang last week, send your power of your spirit down. We had a good time singing it as well we should. We want to see his power in our lives. Let's not expect great power apart from great purity. We'll make the same mistake that the people of God made throughout the Old Testament by expecting great power and participating in great religious rituals and worship while ignoring the need for great purity. So here's the challenge before us this morning. We're about to have communion. We talked last week about what communion represents reflecting and remembering and renewing ourselves and rejoicing in Christ. As these elements are past in just a second, the Brad and the cop, I want to invite you to ask yourself these three questions. And I want to invite you not to try to deceive God this morning. And not to try to test him or to be content in disobedience, but to turn from sinning, turn to Christ and see His grace. His grace is real. That's what communion is about. It's the blood of Christ and the body of Christ shed for our sin. It's what sets us free, free to fear God. And what we're going to do is we're going to pass these elements. If you are not a Christian, if you've not a Christ follower, we invite you, as the bread and the cup is passed by you, just to pass it to the next person. We invite you to see a picture of God's love and grace and what we do in the Lord's Supper. And if you're a believer, we're going to have some time of reflection. We're going to be singing as this is going on. You pray or you sing, do whatever you need to do during this time to come face to face and reckon with the reality of God in this room. And on your own, at your own pace, as you feel led, after you've gotten that bread and the cup, you take the bread and take the cup. And we're just going to celebrate together the grace and the judgment of God in our lives. And we're going to come before Him in wholehearted worship.

SPEAKER_00 50:44

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