Speaker 1: Acts 4, starting with verse 32, through chapter 5, verse 16.
Speaker 1: Now, the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own.
Speaker 1: But they had everything in common and, with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
Speaker 1: There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
Speaker 1: Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
Speaker 1: But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property and, with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet.
Speaker 1: But Peter said Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?
Speaker 1: And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?
Speaker 1: Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart?
Speaker 1: You have not lied to man, but to God.
Speaker 1: When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last and great fear came upon all who heard of it.
Speaker 1: The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
Speaker 1: And wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
Speaker 1: After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in not knowing what had happened, and Peter said to her Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.
Speaker 1: And she said yes, for so much.
Speaker 1: But Peter said to her how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord?
Speaker 1: Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out Immediately.
Speaker 1: She fell down at his feet and breathed her last.
Speaker 1: When the young men came in, they found her dead and they carried her out and buried her beside her last.
Speaker 1: When the young men came in, they found her dead and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband, and great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
Speaker 1: Now, many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles, and they were all together in Solomon's portico.
Speaker 1: None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem and more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats that, as Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them.
Speaker 1: The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
Speaker 1: This is the word of the Lord, amen.
Speaker 2: All right, jack, what did you say about this message?
Speaker 2: Well, if it was true today, the church wouldn't have any problem with me.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 2: Excuse me Well, who did you aspire to be like as a kid?
Speaker 2: You know many children maybe this was you dress up as superheroes, wanting to be like Batman or Spider-Man.
Speaker 2: I think one day, you know, I'm going to save the world.
Speaker 2: I think one day, you know, I'm going to save the world Many children dress up as cops or firemen or cowboys, wishing to be like those men and women.
Speaker 2: You know high school basketball players move past that and they try to mimic people like LeBron or Colby or, going back even further, to Jordan and Bird and people like that.
Speaker 2: But we all at some point have aspired to be like somebody.
Speaker 2: You know, one of the most terrifying parts of being a father, particularly of a son, is that from about the age of three to five years old, they want to mimic everything dad does.
Speaker 2: And can some fathers be honest?
Speaker 2: That that's good sometimes, but often that's not.
Speaker 2: You know that's pretty frightening, right?
Speaker 2: You know my son he'll do something.
Speaker 2: You know both of my sons, both adults now, and they'll do something.
Speaker 2: And I'll think, man, I'm so frustrated with them.
Speaker 2: Where did they learn such a thing?
Speaker 2: And Nikki will look at me and go true, there's old Phillips, craig and Dean song.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you remember it.
Speaker 2: The refrain went something like this Lord, I want to be just like you because he, my son, wants to be just like me.
Speaker 2: You know, there's nothing wrong to looking up at other people in this world, but the chief aim of every one of us ought to be to glorify God, and one of the ways in which we glorify God is by looking to Jesus and trying to, by the Spirit, emulate Him.
Speaker 2: And we do that in a couple of different ways.
Speaker 2: One, obviously you just read the Word, and then, by the help of the Spirit, you do what it says right.
Speaker 2: There's another way, though, that the Bible teaches that we learn to walk like Jesus walked, namely by following other more, let's say, seasoned believers.
Speaker 2: Do you remember the Apostle Paul who said follow me as I follow Christ?
Speaker 2: Oh, that each of us would be able to say that to other people.
Speaker 2: I just want to tell you this morning that people are watching us Both inside and outside of the church, and how many know that not every person who calls him or herself a Christian is worthy of mimicking or following.
Speaker 2: Not every Christian can say this.
Speaker 2: So I just want to encourage you to listen today, because this is actually a sobering text that talks about not just God's love and glory, but also His judgment and wrath.
Speaker 2: Today's text highlights a stark contrast between Barnabas, a genuine, selfless, generous believer worth following, and the infamous Ananias and Sapphira, who embody greed, selfishness and hypocrisy, and I simply want to encourage each of us today to be a Barnabas, not an Ananias.
Speaker 2: Are you with me?
Speaker 2: Shake your head if I know you lost an hour of sleep.
Speaker 2: All right, you're with me.
Speaker 2: So I want to start by looking at the church and the purity of the early church.
Speaker 2: You know, if we're going to understand this rather shocking story of Ananias and Sapphira, we've got to understand the state of the early church.
Speaker 2: Look at verses 32 through 35.
Speaker 2: Now, the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own Think about this.
Speaker 2: But they had everything in common and with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
Speaker 2: There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid them at the apostles' feet and it was distributed to each of them as any had need.
Speaker 2: Do you know?
Speaker 2: The church at its inception was at its purest form.
Speaker 2: Hp Charles.
Speaker 2: I may have mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, but great preacher pointed this out that a successful business generally starts okay, like you're trying to gain your bearings.
Speaker 2: But a successful business will go to okay to good and then from good to great.
Speaker 2: But that's actually not true with the church.
Speaker 2: The church was at its best in Acts 1 through 4.
Speaker 2: Was at its best in Acts 1 through 4.
Speaker 2: Pretty amazing.
Speaker 2: The early church was marked by unity.
Speaker 2: I mean think of this the full number, it says, of those who believed were of one heart and one soul.
Speaker 2: Imagine thousands of people at this time.
Speaker 2: They're from all over.
Speaker 2: They're all Jews primarily, but they're from all over the Palestine, greater Palestine area, and they come from different backgrounds.
Speaker 2: They even speak different languages some of them.
Speaker 2: They have different preferences, they're from different social classes, and yet they're of one mind and one heart.
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 2: Because the most important thing in their life is Jesus, and in Christ they are united.
Speaker 2: That's how the church is supposed to be.
Speaker 2: Think of this.
Speaker 2: No one had their own agenda and they were just there to serve Christ.
Speaker 2: They were also marked not just by unity, but also by radical generosity.
Speaker 2: They had all things in common.
Speaker 2: Look what it says.
Speaker 2: No one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own.
Speaker 2: We talk about all the time my this and my that.
Speaker 2: Could you imagine with your possession, when you come to church, talking about, you know, talking about your possessions as our possessions?
Speaker 2: Radical generosity.
Speaker 2: And we talked about this a couple of weeks ago, because this same narrative is in Acts, chapter 2.
Speaker 2: But why were they so generous?
Speaker 2: Well, number one is they treasured Christ above all things.
Speaker 2: Why were they so generous?
Speaker 2: Well, number one is they treasured Christ above all things.
Speaker 2: Now, I've talked about this that when you see Jesus for who he really is and you become, like the early church, enamored in His beauty, you know what happens.
Speaker 2: The things of this world, pastor Ben, just begin to lose their luster, don't they?
Speaker 2: Nothing wrong with having nice things, but that's not what you're chasing after anymore when you're enamored with Jesus and the tragedy of the American church is that we have somehow tried to reconcile the American dream and the gospel.
Speaker 2: It just doesn't work.
Speaker 2: It's tragic, but I just believe we don't have to.
Speaker 2: If I could get you to see how beautiful jesus really is, we would never have a giving problem.
Speaker 2: You know, there's another reason.
Speaker 2: They were generous.
Speaker 2: They saw each other as brothers and sisters in christ family.
Speaker 2: How many know behind you, in front of you, beside you, if they are in Christ, they are a brother or sister in the Lord, jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: We are family, we're family.
Speaker 2: What do the kids say now?
Speaker 2: Fam, right.
Speaker 2: Family's too long of a word for them.
Speaker 2: You're fam, right.
Speaker 2: Think about this If you had a son or daughter, let's say you have a son, all right, and he is struggling.
Speaker 2: He just lost his job and he's getting ready to get evicted from his home and you have your house.
Speaker 2: But then out, you know, in the country, somewhere in Jackson County or wherever, you've got a piece of land.
Speaker 2: Is that where your land is?
Speaker 2: You've got a piece of land and it's not something that you have to have, but it's an asset and maybe you're planning to build there one day.
Speaker 2: But let's just say that your son.
Speaker 2: Short of a miracle, he's going to lose his house and he's got again young children and all of that.
Speaker 2: If you're a father at all, you would not think twice about selling that land and giving the proceeds to your son.
Speaker 2: And that's how the early church, that's how much the early church loved one another.
Speaker 2: It wasn, wasn't this come in on Sunday and just leave without you know, or just you know, exchanging hellos and how you doing it was like they lived life together and they cared about each other that deeply.
Speaker 2: You know the church.
Speaker 2: This is a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2: It offers to us a unique community.
Speaker 2: This is a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2: It offers to us a unique community.
Speaker 2: God made us to not live alone, but how many know he made us to live within community.
Speaker 2: We see it all through the Bible.
Speaker 2: From the very first pages of your Bible, god saw that it was not good that Adam be alone.
Speaker 2: The science, by the way, has proven that we're not made to be alone.
Speaker 2: There's an article that I read this week in Psychology Today that talks about how living in community promotes our health, both mental and physical, and our all-around well-being, and physical and our all-around well-being, like relationships, really matter and we know this just because of what we've experienced over the past few years.
Speaker 2: You know, the greatest tragedy of COVID was not the sickness itself, but it was the mandated social isolation.
Speaker 2: There's actually the APA, the American Psychological Association, published an article talking about how the people around the world during the pandemic experienced an increase in loneliness during COVID.
Speaker 2: And here's what the APA said.
Speaker 2: They said that this could have, very likely could have long-term effects, term effects.
Speaker 2: That affects people's mental and physical health, longevity and well-being.
Speaker 2: We are made to live within community and this is why people join organizations and clubs and teams, because they want to feel a part of a community.
Speaker 2: I did at one point in my life when we lived in Colorado, we, nikki and I, had a.
Speaker 2: We ministered to gang members, particularly young people who are, you know, following their parents and getting into gangs and things, and what we found out is the reason that they did that, because not, it's not that they loved violence and all that goes with that, but they loved the brotherhood that they felt.
Speaker 2: But you know what?
Speaker 2: It is only the church, uniquely, the church offers the community that we really need, and here's why Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones says that we're a unique community in history, because not only do we have community with one another, but there's also a spiritual realm here we have the presence of God, and Peter talks about this in chapter 5 to Ananias You've not lied to man, but you've lied to the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: Christ, by His Spirit, is with us In our greatest need.
Speaker 2: Beloved is not communion with one another, but communion with God.
Speaker 2: But we also need communion with one another, community with other people, and the church offers both.
Speaker 2: Isn't that a beautiful thing, so wonderful.
Speaker 2: Bill Hybels tragically, unfortunately a fallen pastor wrote something really good in one of his books, and I think we have this on the screen.
Speaker 2: He said there is nothing like the local church when it's working right.
Speaker 2: How many believe that?
Speaker 2: Look at this.
Speaker 2: Its beauty is indescribable.
Speaker 2: Its power is breathtaking.
Speaker 2: Its potential is unlimited.
Speaker 2: It comforts the grieving and heals the broken.
Speaker 2: In the context of community.
Speaker 2: It builds bridges to seekers and offers truth to the confused.
Speaker 2: There's nothing like the local church when it's working right.
Speaker 2: It's imperfect.
Speaker 2: Every local church is imperfect.
Speaker 2: But are you grateful for your local church today?
Speaker 2: I am Amen, amen.
Speaker 2: So what we see again in the first few chapters of Acts is this is the church in its purest form, and this is what we should strive to be as a church.
Speaker 2: And so this story is really about God protecting the purity of the church.
Speaker 2: That's what it's about, and so Luke moves from talking about the church in general and he gives us this example of a man by the name of Barnabas, who was a church member worth following.
Speaker 2: Oh that we would all be like Barnabas.
Speaker 2: Verses 36 and 37.
Speaker 2: Thus, joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas how would you like to be nicknamed by the apostles?
Speaker 2: Well, it could go either way, but his nickname means son of encouragement.
Speaker 2: He was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, and he sold a field that belonged to him and he brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
Speaker 2: So Barnabas, now in Jerusalem, has a field in Cyprus that he doesn't need, and he thought you know what?
Speaker 2: I've got all I need here.
Speaker 2: I'm going to sell it because there are needy believers among us, and he just gives 100% of the proceeds 100% to the church.
Speaker 2: It's amazing, and so he was extremely generous.
Speaker 2: He was also an encourager.
Speaker 2: How many know?
Speaker 2: We need encouragement in the church.
Speaker 2: Today, jordan Peterson has talked about this.
Speaker 2: He said, you know, he makes a habit of encouraging, through his teachings and his conferences, young men particularly.
Speaker 2: And he said it's amazing how little encouragement, just a little encouragement, goes such a long way in people's lives.
Speaker 2: People are starving for encouragement.
Speaker 2: Look at me, the church is supposed to be a place where people are encouraged, not beaten down, not kicked while we're down.
Speaker 2: That doesn't mean that we wink at sin and don't deal with.
Speaker 2: You know, don't have confrontation and those things.
Speaker 2: That's necessary.
Speaker 2: But you ought to come into this place and feel encouraged and leave feeling more encouraged than when you came in, and that is the job of every one of us.
Speaker 2: Oh, let's be a Barnabas.
Speaker 2: Barnabas could say, like Paul, follow me as I follow Christ.
Speaker 2: So Luke moves from giving us a godly example in Barnabas, who contributes to the health of the church, to giving us a warning and don't write this off.
Speaker 2: It's a warning in the lives of Ananias and Sapphira.
Speaker 2: So let's just talk about their sins, shall we?
Speaker 2: Acts 5, 1 and 2.
Speaker 2: But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property and, with his wife's knowledge, he kept back from himself some of the proceeds how you doing.
Speaker 2: And he brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet.
Speaker 2: So, ananias and Sapphira, just like Barnabas, they sell some property it's a good thing, right and they bring part of the proceeds to the apostles.
Speaker 2: And so here, use this portion or use this for the church.
Speaker 2: What's the problem here?
Speaker 2: The issue is not that they didn't bring 100% of the proceeds.
Speaker 2: I wish I could say that this morning, so you'd sell your land and bring us 100%, but I can't.
Speaker 2: Let's look at the issue.
Speaker 2: Verses 3 and 4.
Speaker 2: Peter said Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?
Speaker 2: That's the problem.
Speaker 2: To keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land.
Speaker 2: Now, here's the key.
Speaker 2: Listen to this.
Speaker 2: While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own To keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?
Speaker 2: Now, here's the key.
Speaker 2: Listen to this.
Speaker 2: While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?
Speaker 2: In other words, ananias, we didn't command you to sell your property.
Speaker 2: You did that of your own volition.
Speaker 2: And then he said after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?
Speaker 2: In other words, we didn't tell you to bring all the proceeds, or even any of the proceeds to the church.
Speaker 2: Everything you own is God's, but what you do with that money is between you and Him.
Speaker 2: Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart?
Speaker 2: You have not lied to man, but you have lied to god.
Speaker 2: So the issue is not that the amount that they gave.
Speaker 2: The issue is not that they sold the land and didn't bring a hundred percent.
Speaker 2: The issue is that ananias and his wife lied to the apostles.
Speaker 2: They were deceiving, wanting them to think that they were just like Barnabas and brought it all, when they actually didn't.
Speaker 2: So that's the sin of deception, the sin of lying.
Speaker 2: Ultimately, though, we could call it the sin of hypocrisy, which, by the way, was one of Jesus' greatest warnings during his earthly ministry.
Speaker 2: Flip with me to the book of Matthew.
Speaker 2: Just a few chapters, books of the Bible back.
Speaker 2: Matthew, chapter 23.
Speaker 2: I want to just look at verses one through five, matthew 23,.
Speaker 2: Beginning in verse one, jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat.
Speaker 2: In other words, they're the keepers of the law.
Speaker 2: They teach the law.
Speaker 2: So do and observe whatever they tell you Like.
Speaker 2: They're teaching good things, but watch this, but don't do the works that they do, for they preach but they do not practice.
Speaker 2: You known any Christians like that?
Speaker 2: Come on somebody.
Speaker 2: They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and they lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves aren't willing to move them with their fingers on people's shoulders, but they themselves aren't willing to move them with their fingers.
Speaker 2: They do here.
Speaker 2: It is all of their deeds to do what?
Speaker 2: To be seen by men.
Speaker 2: If you go down to verse 13, woe to you.
Speaker 2: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, what Hypoc hypocrites.
Speaker 2: For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces.
Speaker 2: For you, neither enter yourselves nor allow those who enter to go in.
Speaker 2: Woe to you, scribes and pharisees, you hypocrites.
Speaker 2: What the pharisees want, I mean?
Speaker 2: They live their whole lives pretentiously wanting others to think of them better than they actually were.
Speaker 2: They wanted to be seen as more holy, more righteous, more generous, more charitable, more pious.
Speaker 2: They wanted the applause of men.
Speaker 2: They didn't care really how they lived, they just wanted to be seen in a certain light, and that's the sin of Ananias and Sapphira.
Speaker 2: They didn't give what Barnabas gave, but they wanted to see.
Speaker 2: They wanted to be seen like Barnabas.
Speaker 2: You know what they wanted.
Speaker 2: They wanted to be seen like Barnabas.
Speaker 2: You know what they wanted.
Speaker 2: They wanted maximum glory with minimum sacrifice.
Speaker 2: They wanted maximum glory, which we shouldn't want glory at all.
Speaker 2: They wanted that with minimum sacrifice.
Speaker 2: They wanted to be seen more generous.
Speaker 2: Oh that, ananias and Sapphira.
Speaker 2: Man, they are so generous, they care about the poor so much.
Speaker 2: Remember, barnabas means son of encouragement and Barnabas lived up to that name, didn't he?
Speaker 2: Ananias, this is interesting.
Speaker 2: Ananias means gift of the Lord and Sapphira means sapphire, this gem of beauty.
Speaker 2: So you could say her name means beautiful and they wanted to be seen as gifts from the Lord and beautiful.
Speaker 2: And on the outside they may have looked like that, but, friends, on the inside they were anything, but they seemed to be, in some sense, whitewashed tombs.
Speaker 2: And let me just point this out.
Speaker 2: This is so important.
Speaker 2: Look at me, every person in here, look at me.
Speaker 2: This is a warning, remember, they lie, but Peter knows they're lying.
Speaker 2: How does he know?
Speaker 2: It's this thing called discernment.
Speaker 2: The Holy Spirit revealed it to Peter.
Speaker 2: Now, that doesn't always happen.
Speaker 2: Listen to me, look at me please.
Speaker 2: There are people in the church, in this church today.
Speaker 2: I'm convinced that you come in and you lift your hands and you sing and you smile and you come to the altar, maybe even, but you leave here and you live like hell and you might get away with it.
Speaker 2: I may never know, pastor Ben, pastor Hunter, pastor Jerry, pastor Ron may never know.
Speaker 2: The person sitting to your left or right may never know.
Speaker 2: But God knows.
Speaker 2: You can fool us, but you cannot fool God.
Speaker 2: This is a warning, which is very loving, by the way.
Speaker 2: It's not an easy text to preach.
Speaker 2: That's why you know it's good to preach verse or chapter by chapter, whole books of the Bible, because I preach things that I would never preach otherwise.
Speaker 2: I don't think I've ever taught on this passage before.
Speaker 2: So you can fool man, but you can't fool God.
Speaker 2: So let's look at the result.
Speaker 2: Okay, if you're a hypocrite, really listen up right now.
Speaker 2: I'm going to see who's paying attention.
Speaker 2: You know Verses five and six.
Speaker 2: When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last.
Speaker 2: That's just a really politically correct way to say.
Speaker 2: He died and great fear came upon all who heard it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like I don't know if I don't want to come to church next week.
Speaker 2: And the young men rose, wrapped him up, carried him out and buried him.
Speaker 2: It's immediate.
Speaker 2: In verse 10, the same thing happened to Sapphira.
Speaker 2: She fell down, breathed her last young men came in, found her dead, carried her out.
Speaker 2: I just wonder, by the way she came in like this is why church services should be like three hours Like.
Speaker 2: This is my argument.
Speaker 2: Sapphira, you know beauty.
Speaker 2: She had to do her hair, so she came in later, like three hours later.
Speaker 2: Church services should be at hair, so she came in later, like three hours later.
Speaker 2: Church services should be at least three hours long.
Speaker 2: Come on, listen.
Speaker 2: God killed both Ananias and Sapphira on the spot.
Speaker 2: Does this seem harsh to anybody?
Speaker 2: They say don't mess with God.
Speaker 2: This is sobering.
Speaker 2: I came in, no joke, I came in last night.
Speaker 2: I was here 11 hours yesterday, well, working 11 hours yesterday, and after meditating on this and meditating on this, I literally fell on my face and said, oh God, or I knelt right here.
Speaker 2: I said, oh God, search my heart Please.
Speaker 2: Seriously, this is, don't make light of this.
Speaker 2: Why such a heart judgment?
Speaker 2: Well, look at verse three.
Speaker 2: Peter said Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart?
Speaker 2: You know, a true believer can't be possessed by Satan, but they can be influenced.
Speaker 2: In other words, why have you listened to Satan on this?
Speaker 2: What is Satan's goal, according to John 10.10?
Speaker 2: To kill, to steal and destroy.
Speaker 2: Listen, christ loves His church so much so Ephesians 5 says that he gave His life for her, and the devil would love nothing more to destroy church after church after church, the global church.
Speaker 2: The gates of hell will never come against, you know, will not stop.
Speaker 2: But local churches we see this all the time Hypocrisy, negativity, gossip.
Speaker 2: It's the enemy within and they're destroyed every day.
Speaker 2: You know what God's wanting to do here.
Speaker 2: He's wanting to protect the purity of His church.
Speaker 2: Look with me just at the verses 12 through 16.
Speaker 2: Real, quickly, this is the result of the judgment.
Speaker 2: God's judgments are right.
Speaker 2: You may not like it, he's God.
Speaker 2: Who cares what you think right.
Speaker 2: Who cares what I think?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 2: Many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles, and they were all together in Solomon's portico.
Speaker 2: None of the rest dared join them.
Speaker 2: But the people held them in high esteem and, more than ever, believers were added to the Lord.
Speaker 2: People were continually saved.
Speaker 2: And then he goes on to talk about miracles.
Speaker 2: And all were healed and demons were cast out.
Speaker 2: You know why?
Speaker 2: Because the church was pure, free of hypocrisy.
Speaker 2: Now the judgment seems unfair to modern people.
Speaker 2: Some of you are scratching your heads, going man, but you know what?
Speaker 2: Let me tell you why it's so offensive to us.
Speaker 2: Because we in America, in our culture, we put the individual, everything's about the individual, and we will put an individual above the community.
Speaker 2: It was not so in the ancient world and it's not so with God.
Speaker 2: The community comes before the individual.
Speaker 2: So this judgment on two people was for the sake of an entire God-loving community.
Speaker 2: And, by the way, you think.
Speaker 2: Well, maybe Luke missed it here.
Speaker 2: Maybe you know he had bad pizza and he just threw this in here accidentally.
Speaker 2: He's remembering it wrong.
Speaker 2: This is not a one-off thing.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you remember, but in 1 Corinthians, chapter 11, the church at Corinth, just full of hypocrisy.
Speaker 2: They were fighting with one another, putting one another down.
Speaker 2: There was great division in the church, but yet they were coming together around the Lord's table for communion, common union, and acting as if they were together in one people.
Speaker 2: And I want you to look what God's judgment on them was.
Speaker 2: This is 1 Corinthians 11, 27 through 32.
Speaker 2: Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner this is hypocrisy will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.
Speaker 2: Let a person examine himself this is why we're doing communion after the message today, by the way.
Speaker 2: Seriously Then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
Speaker 2: Next slide For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.
Speaker 2: Watch this.
Speaker 2: That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died.
Speaker 2: But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.
Speaker 2: Hypocrisy in the early church and, I would argue, still today, results in judgment.
Speaker 2: Now there's a question I want to just deal with real quick that many people have and there's different thoughts on this.
Speaker 2: But the question is were ananias and sapphires really christians?
Speaker 2: There's a good argument to say that they were like the pharisees, who truly were whitewashed tombs, that they declared love for jesus but really were not christians at all.
Speaker 2: But there's a great argument to say that these actually were christians.
Speaker 2: But there's a great argument to say that these actually were Christians Because in Acts 4.32 it says they were all of one mind and soul, or heart and soul.
Speaker 2: Think about that.
Speaker 2: There's no reason to believe really that these were not genuine believers, and I don't believe a believer can be possessed of the devil again, but the devil influenced these people.
Speaker 2: Now, if that is the case, it's not a hill that I'll die on.
Speaker 2: If that is the case, I think this on Ananias and Sapphira would actually be a judgment of grace, and I think that because of what I just read in 1 Corinthians 11, 27.
Speaker 2: Can you put that verse?
Speaker 2: Go back one more, okay, but if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged Next slide, but we are judged by the Lord.
Speaker 2: So remember what's the judgment here.
Speaker 2: Some have died, judged by the Lord.
Speaker 2: We are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
Speaker 2: So if they were not believers, these Ananias and Sapphira likely went to hell, right, well, they did.
Speaker 2: But if they were believers, true believers, it's possible that this was a judgment of grace, because continued hypocrisy can harden the heart so much that you can just walk away from the living God.
Speaker 2: And this judgment could be.
Speaker 2: You know, the Lord says listen, just come on home.
Speaker 2: Really, john, in one of his epistles talks about.
Speaker 2: He says there are some sins that are not sins unto death, but there is a sin unto death, to death, but there is a sin unto death it's worth thinking about.
Speaker 2: So this could be not, you know, if they were real believers.
Speaker 2: There's no condemnation in Christ.
Speaker 2: It wasn't condemnation but it was a judgment of grace.
Speaker 2: That's where I lean, but it's not a hill I'll die on.
Speaker 2: But anyways, what do we do with this man?
Speaker 2: I had to think about Lord.
Speaker 2: What do I do with this?
Speaker 2: It serves as a warning, like for all of us.
Speaker 2: So don't tune me out, because there's a great temptation in every one of us to be an Ananias or Sapphira.
Speaker 2: In verse 5, it says when Ananias heard these words, he fell down, breathed his last and great fear came upon all who heard it.
Speaker 2: In verse 11, that's reiterated and great fear came upon the whole church when Sapphira died and upon all who heard these things.
Speaker 2: Like we read these things sometimes and we just think, ah, it's not going to happen to me.
Speaker 2: No, the church was awakened to say I better look at my life.
Speaker 2: Do you mind me coming to the keys?
Speaker 2: Can I just say something?
Speaker 2: The God of the Old testament is the same god of the new testament and his characters is immutable.
Speaker 2: So I've had people say to me, generally people who are living in sin.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, god was grumpy in the old testament he was like smiting people left and right.
Speaker 2: But the new testament, like, he sends jesus and's like oh, and we've domesticated God and we've made him cute and cuddly.
Speaker 2: Listen to me he was a God of grace and wrath in the Old Testament and he's a God of grace and wrath in the New Testament.
Speaker 2: Just read Revelation.
Speaker 2: Look at me.
Speaker 2: He is a force to be reckoned with and you know what keeps me up as a pastor at night?
Speaker 2: It's looking at some of you and knowing how you live monday through saturday, because I love you and I don't want you to end up like ananias and sapphira and, even worse, I don't want you to completely fall away from the living God.
Speaker 2: I don't want you to be a Demas and some of you right now, I feel by the Holy Spirit, you are teetering, you are, you're so close and I'm not trying to scare quote-unquote the hell out of you.
Speaker 2: I'm really not.
Speaker 2: I'm just giving a.
Speaker 2: This is, this is a loving warning to you, because our church is not just uniquely this one.
Speaker 2: All across America, all across the world, are full of hypocrites.
Speaker 2: Don't misunderstand me.
Speaker 2: None of us live this life perfectly.
Speaker 2: We're being sanctified day by day.
Speaker 2: But if you are living in blatant, habitual sin.
Speaker 2: Heed this warning.
Speaker 2: We've all got to guard from this, because there's always a temptation to want to be recognized and be seen as more spiritual than we really are, you know.
Speaker 2: Let me just remind you that the name of this church we are, what's the name of our church?
Speaker 2: Real Life, community Church.
Speaker 2: So we know the community part.
Speaker 2: Like we love each other here.
Speaker 2: Right, it's community, but real life.
Speaker 2: That part of the name is really intentional as well.
Speaker 2: Real life, see, I grew up in a church where I thought I was a large church.
Speaker 2: I thought I was the only one who had problems and it was not a safe place.
Speaker 2: I didn't feel like at least To share your sins and your difficulties, your struggles.
Speaker 2: This is real life, and the reason we named it real life is because we want it to be a place of transparency.
Speaker 2: It's not that we wink at sin, it's not that we want you to stay where you're at, but listen to me, this is a place.
Speaker 2: It's a safe place for you to come to this altar today and say, hey, I've got hypocrisy in my life and we're not going to kick you while you're down.
Speaker 2: We're going to meet you where you are and help you to be more like Jesus.
Speaker 2: And you know, the scariest thing, this is what it teaches.
Speaker 2: The scariest thing about being a Barnabas or excuse me, an Ananias or Sapphira is not just look at me, I'm almost done here.
Speaker 2: It's not just that.
Speaker 2: You are taking yourself down Husbands, you're going to take your wife down and your kids down with you.
Speaker 2: You're going to take your girlfriend down.
Speaker 2: You're going to take your co-workers down.
Speaker 2: Do you know the number one reason people don't want nothing to do with church.
Speaker 2: Statistically, every stat that I've seen shows this.
Speaker 2: Every survey hypocrisy.
Speaker 2: There's people who claim love for Jesus, and love no differently than me.