Acts Series Part 7: God Sees the Heart

In this podcast we explore one of the most sobering and challenging passages in the book of Acts: the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1–11). At first glance, it can seem like a story about money or judgment, but Luke's concern runs much deeper. By placing this account immediately after the joyful picture of generosity and unity at the end of Acts 4, he invites us to compare two very different hearts: Barnabas, who gave out of genuine surrender to God, and Ananias and Sapphira, who wanted the appearance of surrender without the reality of it.

The early church had already faced opposition, threats, and persecution from outside, yet none of those things stopped the gospel from advancing. Instead, the enemy's attack came from within through deception and hypocrisy. The issue was never the amount of money Ananias and Sapphira gave; it was their desire to project an image that did not match reality. Their story is a reminder that while people see appearances, God sees the heart.

It is possible to learn Christian language, participate in church life, and maintain a spiritual reputation while slowly drifting from intimacy with Jesus. The greatest danger is not simply failure or weakness, but the temptation to hide behind a carefully managed image. Yet the gospel offers something far better: the freedom to be honest.

This passage ultimately points us towards abiding in Christ. Pretending focuses on appearances; abiding focuses on relationship. Pretending asks, "How do I look?" Abiding asks, "Am I remaining close to Jesus?" The invitation of the gospel is not to impress God, but to come into the light, bringing our real selves to Him. Because of Jesus, we no longer need to hide, perform, or pretend. The One who knows us completely is also the One who loves us completely.

God's opposition to pretence is not because He is looking for flawless people. It is because pretence convinces us we are healthy when we are sick, free when we are captive, and close to God when our hearts have drifted. The tragedy of Ananias and Sapphira is not simply that they lied. It is that they chose appearance over reality, and in doing so cut themselves off from the very honesty through which God brings healing. The gospel begins when we stop hiding and step into the light.

Reflection

• Where might appearances have become more important than intimacy in your life? 
• Where is Jesus inviting you to lay down your fig leaf coverings and learn to bear fruit that flows from abiding in Him?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

In this podcast, we explore one of the most sobering and challenging passages in the Book of Acts, the story of Ananias and Sephira. At first glance, it can seem like a story about money or judgment, but Luke's concerns run much deeper. By placing this account immediately after the joyful picture of generosity and unity at the ends of Acts chapter 4, he invites us to compare two very different hearts. Barnabas, who gave out of genuine surrender to God, and Ananias and Sapphira, who wanted the appearance of surrender without the reality of it. The early church had already faced opposition, threats, and persecution from outside. Yet none of those things stopped the gospel from advancing. Instead, the enemy's attack came from within through deception and hypocrisy. The issue was never the amount of money Ananias and Sophia gave, it was their desire to project an image that did not match reality. Their story is a reminder that while people see appearances, God sees the heart. Let's listen to Dean.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Good to see you this morning. Welcome to those visitors who are here with us. As Jim said, we've been going through the book of Acts together. This series looking at the story of the early church. We called it Act Two. Acts 1 is Jesus and His Ministry. Act Two is Jesus and His Ministry through the early church. This isn't a separate ministry, this is the same ministry we've seen carrying on, and we've been going so far. And today we come to an interesting passage that we're going to wrestle with together. Now, if you grew up as I did, we didn't go abroad, we didn't go on flights to different countries. We spent most of my childhood in fields, in a caravan, in Cornwall and around England. And when you do that, you learn that there's certain games that you can play, things that you can find to do to occupy your time. If you can find an oil barrel, that's about four days worth of fun because you can stand on the oil barrel and run on it and go up and down the field, backwards and forwards. If you can find a tree, you can build a tree house, and we we did that a few times. Or if you can find a sheet of corrugated iron, you can put it on the floor, you can attach a bit of rope to it to the end of a car, a tow bar, and then get one of the adults, one of the irresponsible ones, to drive where all six kids sit on the corrugated iron and go round the field. Now, when you do this, the most important thing is the transitions. So going from stationary to moving, that's an important part because if you go too fast, you lose all the kids, and then you just drive off. And as you go around the corners, that's the other danger, that as you go around the corners, all the kids fly off, and the adult just drives around for a bit until they realise what's happened. Transitions, they're the most important bit, and it's true in church life and in church services. You can lose people in the transitions. You go from the praise and the worship and the adoration, the enjoyment of God, and then suddenly it's a sharp left turn and everyone falls off and you never get them back. This passage is going to feel a bit like that. And it's going to feel a bit like that in Acts. In Acts, we've seen God breaking through and this spirit working in amazing ways, people healed, that this miracle of this man walking and leaping, miraculous things happening. At the end of the last chapter, we looked at chapter four, it said, All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, and they shared everything they had. With great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet. And it was distributed to anyone who had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostle called Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, sold a field he owned and bought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. It's an incredible description, this picture of this church, wonderful, beautiful. Get ready for the left hand, okay? Don't fall out. It says, Now, now a man, well, missing that slide anyway, now a man called Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife full knowledge, he kept back part of the money for himself, but bought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. Then 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 just to human beings, but to God. When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died, and great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then some 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, This is the price. Peter said to her, How could you conspire to test the spirit of the Lord? Listen, 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. Then the young men came in and finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people, and all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats, so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed. Still on? Still on board? That's quite a turn in the whole book of Acts. That's quite a sudden change of direction, quite a stark thing. And the temptation to ask Jim to preach this week was overwhelming. Because trying to wrestle with this and work out what is it that God has to say with us. It is not easy, and I don't think it's meant to be easy. But when passages in the Bible are easy, one option is to ignore them, one option is to reject them, the other is to sit quietly with them. Not trying to force them into anything, but just simply asking what it is, why it would be put here in this place. Because God isn't surprised that this is in here. God isn't saying, oh my word, I should have left that bit out. That wasn't meant to, the ship wasn't meant to make the final cut. It is in there for a reason. And the contrast is there to teach us something. Luke places this story immediately after that beautiful picture of the church in Acts 4. The contrast that between them is meant to be there. Now, before we get to them, let me just uh tell you a little story about the Spanish Civil War in 1936, for those who are around in those days. General Emilio Mola, you might remember him or not. He looks a bit like an Indiana Jones bad guy to me, but he was he was a general. And um and he had four columns of military that were marching on Madrid to try and seize the capital and take control of it. And when asked which of his columns was going to lead the siege and win the victory, he said this: La Victoria, Nosladana, La Quinta Columna, Yestra, Dentro. Any good? Is that right? No? Chris is shaking her head. Anyway, in English, it means the victory will be given to us by the fifth column, which is already inside. He had four columns of military on the outside, but he said there was a fifth column, a group of sympathizers who are in the city, those who were already working to undermine and bring it down, and they were gonna be the ones who would bring the victory. And that language of fifth column has often been used in modern day to say that there's sort of this insurgent people, this group among a group who are gonna bring it down from the inside, like a Trojan horse sneaking in to strike the decisive blow. But that's the origin of it. The fifth column. And here we see Satan's fifth column. The church we've seen flourishing, the people are being saved, the apostles are preaching, the church is united, the spirit is moving, they've been persecuted, but the persecution has failed. Threats have been issued, but the threats have failed. Intimidation, imprisonment has happened, but they have failed. And so the tactic changes, and instead of attacking from the outside, a new approach is launched. A fifth column from within the inside. Before Ananias and Sapphira, Luke tells us about Barnabas, a man who sold his field, laid it at the apostles' feet. Nobody asked him to, there was no requirement to, no one pressured him to, it wasn't demanded, it was simply an overflow of a heart transformed by Jesus. This is what giving is in Christianity. I know many of us have been brought up with the percentages. You give 10% to God, those are all helpful guidelines. But in reality, the gospel incentive is give as you have been given to. Give as much as a joyful heart with gladness. The more you realize God has given, let that stir you up to generosity. 10% might be a helpful guide, and that isn't to the church, that's to give out to the needs and causes around you. But this idea in Scripture is that we give because God has given. And Barnabas is a wonderful picture of that. So overwhelmed with the goodness of God, he sells this land and brings it. Then Acts chapter 5 transitions. Now there's another man. Luke wants us to compare these two hearts. Barnabas is giving because he is surrendered to God. Ananias gives, but it's so that he will look surrendered. Barnabas gives because he's seeking God's glory. Ananias is giving because he wants to receive glory. The contrast is intentional. Barnabas is not trying to create an image, but Ananias is. Barnabas is acting out of surrender, Ananias is acting out of appearance. Barnabas wants God honored, Ananias wants God honored and himself admired. And one of the greatest dangers in Christianity, in our faith, is seeing, convincing ourselves that the action is the same as the heart. And they are not. And here we see this demonstrated in very stark ways to get our attention and help us realize this danger. The desire to be seen can attach itself to every spiritual activity. Prayer, Jesus talked about this. People who pray to be seen, giving, as we see here, serving, preaching, worship, any leadership, anything that should point people to God can become a means of drawing attention to ourselves. And the issue here isn't really generosity or giving. It's more about the heart beneath our faith, the core of it, the place, the source where it comes from. Ananias arrives, imagine, comes in, bringing his gift. To everyone else, it looks impressive. No one else would know any different. Nobody in the congregation knew, no one among the apostles knew, no one could see what was happening beneath the surface. But God saw. God saw something and it was dangerous. And Peter, filled with the Spirit, given by the Spirit this discernment to see, he says, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit? You have not lied just to human beings, but to God. The issue wasn't the money. Because he goes on to say that the money was yours beforehand and it was yours after. There was no requirement on you to give, there was no command to give, you didn't have to give, there was nothing, it's not about the money at all. It's about the idea that when you brought it, you have done so to get a reputation for sacrifice without the reality of sacrifice, to get the applause without the obedience. And I think that line tells us, because there are among the church, if you read Corinthians and some of the other letters, there are worse deeds that are done in the church than this. But I think it's that line: how is it that Satan has so filled your heart? Tells us there is another layer to this incident. This is not simply about lying, it's not simply about covering up or making a mistake. This is an infiltration of the enemy. Something he has decided to do, an attack that he has launched to try and bring down God's church while it's still in its infancy. Notice the contrast in Acts 2: people filled with the Spirit. Here, a heart filled with Satan. This is his fifth column. There is this other dynamic at play here. The enemy couldn't stop the church through persecution. Peter and John have stood before the authorities and stood their ground. And so what happens is God sends in someone, he enters into a heart, he deceives and he enslaves and he enlists someone to bring down the church for inside. He has found a chink in the armor in this wonderful community. And he intends to exploit it, not through violence, not through threats, but through hypocrisy. Satan loves counterfeit Christianity. Satan loves a version of faith that looks real but lacks the reality. A version that has activity without the intimacy, performance without any surrender, religion, as we often say, without relationship. And again and again in scripture, we see this is the core of our issue. This is the thing underneath every other thing. If you remember back to Good Friday, I used the example of a fig tree. I'm gonna re-repeat that for those who weren't here, but also because we have a fig tree that overgrows into our garden. And at the time I wanted to have some leaves to illustrate, but it had no leaves. Now it's got leaves, so I can do the illustration properly. Because as you go back through the Gospels, there are two other instances as you read the Gospels that do something similar to this passage. This passage makes us go, whoa, hang on a minute, did I read that correctly? And there are two other instances in the Gospel that do this to us, and interestingly, in Mark, they're both placed side by side. It goes like this it says, The next day, Jesus and his disciples, they're leaving Bethany, and Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached out, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. So it's not the season, but it looked like it looked like it should have figs. Then he said to the tree, May no one eat fruit from you, fruit from you again. And his disciples heard him say it. I love that his disciples heard him say it. He's kind of going, no, he did do this. Because this is one of those bits. What you cursed a fig tree and it wasn't even the season. What's your issue, Jesus? Jeez, that's a bit over the top. A bit like in Ananias, but it's a bit over the top, a bit, a bit too much. Then suddenly you transition. On reaching, this is just after that. On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving those who are buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. Again, whoa, hang on a minute. That's a bit over, a bit too much, isn't it? Calm down a bit. You're cursing fig trees, you're turning over tables, and then as they come out, it says they left, and as they went out to the city, and in the morning as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. And Peter remembered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, look, the fig tree you curse has withered. And all these passages are put together and they make us go, hang on a minute, what's happening here? And my understanding, and I may be wrong, but my understanding and my thinking of this is that when Jesus sees that fig tree, he remembers the original story of humanity. Humans believe a lie. And when we believe that lie, sin enters the world, shame enters the world, distance with God enters the world, death enters the world. And the very first things people do is they get some leaves, some fig leaves, and they try and cover themselves up. They try and hide themselves. They try and pretend that everything's okay when it most clearly isn't. They should have fruit, but all they have is leaves. And when Jesus looks at the fig tree, I imagine that he looks back to that original story. He's not really cursing the fig tree. His heart is broken because he's reminded this is us. We are all leaf and no fruit. We're all pretense and no reality. We're all trying to do it and trying to make a show of it, but inside there is nothing there. And so Jesus, when he curses that tree, he then goes to the temple, and the temple is exactly the same. It's all leaf. It's all show. They're selling and they're exploiting people, they're demeaning people and treating them as less than the image of God, but they're all holy, and it's meant to be a place of worship. It's all leaf, but there's no fruit. And every time that there's all leaf and no fruit, we see again and again God's response is not compassion, and it's not, oh, let it go, they're fine. It's actually anger. It's the one thing we see that sparks God more than anything else. Those who pretend but do not have the reality. The prophets do it the same. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Again and again, this is the thing that God hates more than anything else because it puts people outside of his mercy and grace. God cannot save the pretend you, he can only save the real you. But as much as we are pretending, we are stepping outside. And when we step outside, all we have is leaves and no fruit. And I think that story plays into what's happening here in Acts. This this thing that stirred Jesus and sparked him more than anything else, here we see it being demonstrated again. Satan has compelled, urged, lied to people in a way that they've come and what they're doing is all show and no fruit. And so the response is swift because if this is allowed to percolate, if this is allowed to spread, God's people, they die. The church dies, the thing Jesus came to bring, the reality of God in their midst, it dies. Christianity was never meant to be a fig leaf. It's not meant to be a cover for an emptiness or a hollowness. It's not meant to be something we pretend our way through and convince ourselves to make us feel good. It is a reality of God in our midst. God in our hearts, us with him, bearing fruit. Not just leaf, but fruit as well. Jesus spent much of his ministry confronting this problem. Jesus has no issue with the prostitutes and the tax collectors and the obvious sinners. The issue again and again is those who knew how to look righteous but weren't righteous, knew how to speak holy but were not holy, knew how to believe and say and do the right things and would tie. It says they even tithe of their salt rack. Their spikes and they're going to get 10% of their salt and give that. But their hearts were far from God. And it led them to a place of they'd had enough of an injection to be inoculated, but not enough to be infected. And that's a danger in Christianity. Just enough Christianity that you know the stories, you know the reality, you know the practices, but not enough that it infects every part of you. And Ananias and Sapphira, I think we see here that the greatest threat to the church isn't persecution. And it's true in our day, the greatest threat to our church is not people changing the laws so that people can't preach in certain areas. It's not that Christian businesses are being silenced. It's not that other faiths are growing and coming in. It's not the erosion of Christian values in our society. Those are not a threat to the church. The threat to the church is the church pretending that it's got it when it hasn't. It's us believing that we are right when we are distant from God. It's us speaking Christian language, doing our Christian habits, having the Christian appearance without being connected to Christ. And I think one of the reasons this story makes us uncomfortable is because we can see a bit of ourselves in it. Those who have known enough, have done this long enough that we know how to get by, but are no longer being transformed, renewed, refreshed, deepened, rooted, grounded in the grace and the goodness and the gospel of our God. Just enough, but not enough. Just enough to get by and pass master with other Christians, but not enough that we might be used and equipped and transforming the world with God's strength in our veins. God sees through it instantly. We see what people present, God sees what they hide. We see behavior, God sees the motive. We see performance and God sees the heart. We see the outside, God sees the inside, and that should both challenge us and comfort us. It should challenge us because we can't fool him. No matter how carefully corrupted your images are, no matter how well your performance or how good your CV, God sees, and that's a challenge. Only what is true remains before God. Everything else gets burned up. Only what is true is able to stand. Paul talks about this. Be careful how you build, not with straw and hay, because everything will be burnt up except the solid pure gold of what God has worked in your life. It should challenge us, but it should also comfort us. Because it's not that we we can't pretend, it's we don't have to pretend. And that is a wonderful comfort. I don't have to pretend. I don't have to spend any energy managing my appearance. I don't have to appear stronger than I am or look more spiritual than I am. I don't have to convince others that I'm doing fine. I don't have to project something to someone and then something different to someone else. My the greatest thing that I can hear is that Naomi says to me, You're the same when you stand up there as when you are at home. That's a great comfort for me because the biggest danger of standing on a platform half a foot higher than everyone else is that you feel 100 miles higher than everyone else. But the truth is, God knows, God sees, and we stand before Him. It is one of the most exhausting ways to live, to try and maintain an image, and the gospel offers us something better. The freedom to be known exactly as we are, the freedom to step into the light, even though in there in us there is darkness, the freedom to stop performing and allow God to transform us. We may not do the same actions as Ananias and Sapphira, but the same temptation is within us. The temptation to appear more surrendered than we are. To pay lip service. We all say, I'm not perfect, I'm a sinner even, but the projection we give is that we perhaps are a bit more than we are. Jesus warned about wolves and sheep's clothing, and I think that that's that's perhaps a different category. Those who are obviously trying to attack, or those who are going to infiltrate and attack, obviously. My experience has been that most people who do damage to the church don't realize they're doing damage to the church. They come actually just trying to protect their image, trying to try to give something more than they are, trying to do more than they are. They don't intend to hurt, but they do because they're. Trying to protect something else. They haven't surrendered everything. And that's what makes this story uncomfortable. The most dangerous deception doesn't announce itself. It isn't the thing we see. It disguises itself. It wears familiar clothes. It sounds spiritual. And it can convince us we're serving God when really we're protecting ourselves. And I can think as a pastor, some of the hardest conversations I've had with people, and I'm glad I can probably count them on one, maybe two hands, have been with people where something they are doing, some action they're doing, it is harming others. You can see where it's going to leave, and I've had to sit and confront it. The sadness is it's never gone well. And I don't, maybe that's me, maybe I'm not very good at it. But I've sat with people and said, do you realize what you're doing is harming others? Do you realize it's harming God? Do you realize that it's causing damage and that it can't, we can't, we can't allow it to continue. We can't tolerate this because if we tolerate this, this becomes us. And if this becomes us, this thing dies. And I've sat down and confronted as lovingly as I can, and often it's been met with rejection, and the people walk away. I take comfort from the fact that Peter does the same here. He does confront, he gives an opportunity, but they don't take it. The truth is not met with repentance, but there is always the offer of repentance. And for those of us who feel like there is some pretense going on, the offer is to repent. That there is a way back from this. That you don't have to. The opposite of pretending is abiding. It's drawing near, it's being known, it's being seen. And the fruit comes from that. See, the truth is, I already know the worst thing about you. And you already know the worst thing about me. Throughout Acts, Peter has preached it again and again. Whenever he's given an opportunity, he stands up and his words are very direct. He says, You killed the author of life. You killed the Messiah who God sent. You murdered the one that God gave to save the world. You did. I did. And that is the worst thing that I've ever done. And now you know the worst thing that I've ever done. I can now live in freedom. That anything else that you know about me isn't as bad as that. Anything else that's ever revealed about me isn't as bad as that. And I don't have to live in the darkness anymore. I don't have to live covering myself up anymore. I don't have to live in the shame of pretending more than I am, because you already know the worst thing I've ever done. And the one that I did it to responded in love. The one that I did it to forgave me and gave me his grace and welcomed me and wrapped his arms around me and told me that I'm forgiven. And that everything, just not just that, but everything I've done no longer is counted against me, that I am set free and I can live in the freedom. And if I can get that in my heart, that that is true, the worst thing I've ever done has been forgiven and covered in the blood and grace of God, then I don't have to pretend about anything else. Anything else that might come out will never be as bad as that. Anything else I'll be forgiven will never be as much as that. And if I have that, then I can live, live honestly and openly. And that's one of the things the gospel offers that Ananias and Sapphira never seem to receive. The freedom to live honestly. Not pretending I'm more than I am, not trying to impress, simply being who I am and abiding in him, because when I abide in that love, when I remind myself of that truth, when I nestle in and I receive again his forgiveness for the one that I contributed to, the one who I put on the cross. When I abide in that love, it changes me. Now we often romanticize abiding. It's normally a coffee cup steaming with a sunrise and a pencil and booklet next to it as we sit there. But abiding isn't just that. Abiding is surrender. Abiding is when you draw near and say, Lord, would you search me? Would you see if there's any false way in me? Would you see if there's any way I'm pretending? Would you expose what I've hidden? I'm bringing myself into the light so that I might be seen clearly and I might see myself clearly. My heart is yours. And I know we sing, I surrender all. Because if we sang I surrender some, it doesn't quite have the same ring to it. But but the idea of this is that abiding is bit by bit. Today I surrender some, and tomorrow I'll surrender some more, and I'll surrender some more, and I'll keep going until I've surrendered all. And that's the goal. That's the goal. So it's not a bad song, but it's bit by bit abiding. Each day you come back and you abide. And as you do abiding, the goal is to be surrendered more, to be given more. I don't know if Ananias and Sapphira were lacking quiet tones, but they were lacking surrender. And the gospel frees us. It's the gospel that addresses that first incident. The lie that happens in Eden. The lie that has destroyed the world. The lie that has brought death in time and time again, the lie that has destroyed marriages, because people pretend rather than being open. The lie that has destroyed trust again and again, the lie that destroys churches, the lies that destroy communities, the lies that separate us from reality. And Satan is called the father of lies because deception is his native language. And here we see he turns that against the church to try and bring it down. The heart of the lie is the truth is not enough. That somehow we must improve ourselves, somehow we must manage ourselves, somehow we must get ourselves, get ourselves better, make ourselves right, do the right things. But the truth is we cannot, but he has done it. And that's the truth that Jesus says will set you free. You think if people knew the truth, I wouldn't be accepted. If people knew the truth, I wouldn't be admired. If people knew the truth, I wouldn't be safe, and that is the lie. With Jesus, he knows the truth and I am accepted. He knows the truth and he loves me. He knows the truth and I am safe with him. That is the gospel. No need to edit or pretend or perform. Jesus can transform weakness, he can heal brokenness, he can forgive sin, he can restore failure, but we have to bring it into the light. One John puts it like this: He says, This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you. God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. The holiness of God is not a problem. It's because he's too good. Light is not a problem. It's only if you're dark. He is light. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. That's what Ananias and Sapphira are demonstrating. They claim to live in the light but walk in the darkness. And they're not living in the truth. But here's the hope that comes after. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. I don't need to be covered by fig leaves, which I don't think would do a very good job and be a bit windy and feel the breeze. I'm covered by the blood of Jesus, which covers everything. I don't have to cover with my performance and my image. I'm covered by his blood and it covers everything. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves. We aren't saying we're perfect. We aren't saying that we get it all right, but we recognize that there are things in us, but we confess those sins. And when we do, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. There is the opportunity. There is the opportunity to come back. There was for Ananias in Sophia. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his word is not in us. I could go on, and I could I've I've sat with this passage, and some of you might put your hand up and say, Sir, that's all very nice, but it still feels like this is a bit a bit harsh. And I would say, first, don't call me sir, but secondly, this I think it's meant to. The passage goes on, and if you notice, it said, Great fear filled the people, so that no one joined them, no one wanted to participate with them. But then the next verse says, But thousands kept being added. You know, which is it? And the idea, I think, is that people no longer joined just because they saw wonderful things happening. People were rushing in, this is amazing, let's get it. Suddenly there's a the breaks went on a bit, and they went, uh, we realize this is something more. This is something more than spectacle. This is something more than appearance. These people are being transformed. I flicked it up there, let me just go back to it. Our discipleship pathway, it's come and see, it's be with Jesus. We looked at that last week, and then it's be like Jesus. We aren't just saying come and then we'll just enjoy Jesus and we'll sit with him and drink our coffee and all be happy. There will be a moment where Jesus transforms you, where holiness will not just be something you worship, but it will be something you become. It won't be something you adore and you stand in awe of, like you look at the sun, if you stand there long enough, you're gonna get a tan. And if you come to Jesus long enough, it's gonna start to change you. It should change you. You will become like him. And if not, what happens is you end up all leaf and no fruit. But we are becoming like him. We are being transformed, renewed into his image with ever-increasing glory as we behold his face, as we see him together. And despite my attempts to reason this out, I could say, well, that they did harm to others, and I could say that it's the nature of holiness, and I could say the church was at a critical moment, and the communities are shaped by what they tolerate, and I could try and justify it, but there's a moment where I stop asking, why did they die? And I start asking, why am I still standing? Because if God dealt with every sin immediately, who among us would remain? Who among us has never lied or never pretended or never wanted others to think better of us than what was true? Peter has spent chapter after chapter, as we said, saying, You killed him. And I only stand by his grace and his goodness to me. So I can I can wrestle with this, I can sit with this, but when I want to receive it, I think the message that comes to me is you don't need to pretend. Pretending is the source of all the issues. Us wanting to be more than we are was the very original sin. You can be like God. Just do a bit more, just be a bit better, you can be like God, and death is the result of that. Death has always been the result of that. And the dangerous thing is it puts us in a place where we cannot receive the very grace that would save us. It makes us inoculated to the very goodness of God that would redeem us and allow us to be who we are. The greatest danger is not that I have sinned. The greatest danger is pretending I haven't. The greatest danger is not that I need grace. The greatest danger is pretending that I don't. The greatest danger is not that I struggle. The greatest danger is pretending I do not struggle, while I've risen above that when I haven't. The greatest danger is I pretend that I'm abiding when I'm not. That I'm pretending I'm living in freedom while I'm still holding back parts of my heart from him. That I'm pretending, that I believe that I must participate in this lie, that I must help God, I must protect myself, I must uphold his kingdom, and I must accomplish what only Christ can accomplish. And the gospel says Christ has already done what I cannot do. And the kingdom doesn't rest on me and my perception and my image. My salvation, salvation doesn't rest on my ability to appear holy, it rests on Jesus, on his life, on his death, on his resurrection, on his grace, on his invitation to live in the light of his truth. God is looking for people to be honest. And this fifth column, the way the enemy wants to get us more than any other, and we see it throughout church history, is to think that we don't need to. Think that we can just carry on, surface level, do all the actions, but lack the heart. And so today we come to a point. We're going to take communion in a moment. And taking communion after preaching on Ananias and the fire can become a scary moment. Because there's a verse, isn't there, that says, Don't take this in an unworthy manner. We go, oh my word, I better better do a full inventory then. I better examine my hearts. Now, when it says don't take it in an unworthy manner, let's be very careful about what we think. This doesn't mean make sure you've got no sin before you take this. Make sure you've not done anything wrong in the last 10 minutes before you take this. Make sure you've not thought anything wrong in the last day to take this. That isn't what the unworthy bit means. To take this in an unworthy manner is to take it thinking that you don't need it. To take it thinking you've got no sin. Remember what one Jed said, John said? If we claim to have no sin, we lie. So you don't come to saying, right, I've cleared out all my sins, so I'm good. I can now take this. No, no, no. You take this saying, I have sinned and I need this grace. I am a mess and I need this grace. I have pretended, but I need this grace. I have tried to create an image, but I need his grace. I have lived outside of his love and tried to earn my reputation, but I need his grace. That's what it means to take this in a worthy manner. Not to be spotless, that's a lie. If you claim that you're lying, but if you come into the truth, I need this. Then it says, when you confess that, his blood covers us and he forgives us all our sins. And you can receive this in the way that it was given. Not for perfect people, not for those who have the image, but no substance. For those who are broken, those who are a mess, those who struggle, those who stumble, but those who cry out and cling on to the gospel of grace. I need him. I need his death in my place. I need his forgiveness in my heart. I need his spirit to renew me. I need him and his love, because only there is truth that can sustain me. So that's just to clarify, that's what it means to take this in a worthy manner. If you recognize your failure, if God has spoken to you, and like I said, I realize this is a real left turn, but the invitation, let that ring in your ears. The invitation is come now, abide again. If you are weighed down by your performance, abide again. If you are burdened by trying to pretend, abide again. Music group are just gonna come and lead us in a song as we just invite Jesus a bit closer, as we uh call on him to meet with us and to stir our hearts. We're gonna do this just to prepare ourselves as we take, like I said, not to get ourselves right, to clean up our act and look good enough, but to get ourselves into a receptive posture of receiving his grace. We're gonna sing and then we're gonna take communion together. If you are here and you're just observing, or you're not a Christian, you don't have to take this. In fact, we'd encourage you not to. Simply observe, take it in, what's going on, listen to what it means and what it implies. But please don't feel that you're pressured under it. That's not what today is about. But for those of us who are getting ready, let's prepare our hearts as we worship him to come round this table and celebrate his grace and goodness to us.

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We hope that you've enjoyed listening to Dean's thoughts today. If anything that he has said has challenged you or raised questions that you'd like answers to, please don't hesitate to contact us and ask for a chat. You can find our details on our website, which is leobc.co.uk, as well as on the information that we have posted for this podcast. Alternatively, if you live in our area, you are very welcome to join us on Sunday morning at 10.30 to hear things first hand. We'd love to see you there.