January 19, 2003
Morning Worship
Text: Acts 5:1-11
Subject: Lying to God
Title: Looking for the Perfect Church: Part 2
Last week we saw a man who believed he knew better than God what the perfect church would be. Jonah refused to go and speak the word of God to the Ninevites. He didn’t think they deserved the opportunity to repent and be saved. They were mortal enemies of Israel and whether this book was written before or after the northern kingdom was taken into captivity doesn’t? really matter. Israel and Assyria were enemies and Jonah didn’t want them to receive anything from God but punishment.
From our study last week we see that there are a few principles that were established.
One, we need to be obedient to the Word of God.
Two, even if we are not in the will of God, He can still use us - even if we don’t like it.
Three, God will do whatever it takes to get us back to the place where He wants us.
What we learned last week is that the "Perfect" church is not a matter of who you think should or should not be in attendance. It is about being in the will of God and accepting everyone regardless of their background or race or social status.
Today we continue in our search for the perfect church. At this point the church is an exclusive Jewish organization even though the O.T. Shows that the kingdom was to be extended to the Gentiles and Jesus did not exclude Gentiles from His ministry. The church was not yet what God wants it to be.
In our passage today we see a Christian couple who wanted to be somebodies in the church but were not willing to pay the price.
We can learn these things from our passage.
First, the church is not about looking good in the eyes of others.
Second, the church is not about doing good works.
Third, the church is about obedience to the Holy Spirit.
Let’s continue in our search for the perfect church.
I. God is not impressed with outward appearance. (Verses 1-2) Ananias = Hebrew - "God is gracious" Saphira = Aramaic - "Beautiful" On the surface they seemed to be the perfect Christian couple. Why did Ananias and Saphira sell their ground? The first word in verse one tells us. "But" (NKJV) or "Now" (NIV) links this passage with the previous passage. Ananias and Saphira saw how Barnabas received acclaim from the church for his sacrificial deed. They wanted the same kind of recognition. Matthew 6:1, "Be careful to do your acts of righteousness before men to be seen by them. If you do you will receive no reward from your Father in heaven." Jesus told us we are not to seek recognition from men. Matthew 6:5,6 says, "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret will reward you." There is no room in the church for jealousy or envy. Ananias and Saphira thought they could receive a greater reward by being held in high esteem. You know there are people in churches that want to hold positions of power so they can have a say in the direction of the church.
The apostle John wrote about those people in 3 John 9,10, "I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church." Desire to be praised by men restricts the flow of the Spirit in the church. When we do it man’s way instead of God’s way we quench the Spirit.
II. God is not impressed with our works. We will be rewarded according to our works, but we will not gain entrance into heaven by our works. If Ananias and Saphira had just sold their ground and taken 10% to the apostles and said, "Here is my tithe on the ground we sold", would they not have been blessed? Malachi 3:10, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test Me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it." There is a chorus that Michael W. Smith does on his worship CD.
1. "Let it rain, let it rain. Open the floodgates of heaven." That’s it. Just a simple song of worship according to the promise of God to His people. 2 Corinthians 9:7, "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Vs 8 And God is able to make grace abound to you, so that in all things in all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." Instead of doing what was right, they lied to the Holy Spirit. I believe that the Spirit must have spoken to them to give but they immediately saw an opportunity to take advantage of the situation. We can keep some back and still look good to the church. The root of their sin was their desire to be praised by others and their love for money. They tried to make the apostles think that they were led by the Spirit to do this act. Joshua 7:1-26 tells the story of Achan and how his sin brought defeat to the armies of Israel. Achan had kept back something that was to be totally dedicated to God - the spoils of war, and he paid the price. Likewise, the mission of the church might have been sidetracked had Ananias and Saphira not been dealt with appropriately. In the church there is no room for deceitful activity. We are saved by grace, sustained by grace, and enter into the perfect church by grace.
Ananias and Saphira were saved by grace. Let me show you what appears to have happened to them. Mark 12:43-45, "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ’I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation." Did Ananias and his wife think that doing good would make them more saved? Or that they had to add to what God had already done? What they failed to understand is that once they repented and accepted Christ, the house was swept clean. Once it was cleaned out and all the old "stuff" was eliminated, they needed to replace it with something new. Now we know that when we accept Christ we receive the Holy Spirit. But there were areas of their lives that were not completely filled. They didn’t give up their love for money. They still hung on to their desire to be "somebody". In the eyes of man. They needed to give everything to the Lord, but they held on to some harmful things. Then they needed to fill those recesses, every nook and cranny, with the Holy Spirit, They needed to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Once you are totally filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit the enemy has a more difficult time getting back in. He only comes in when you give him room. Once you sweep the house clean, it will be filled with something.
III. The fear of God will be part of the perfect church. When the people saw what had happened because of the sin of this couple it hey feared God. There are two kinds of fear; Fear as being afraid of what He can do. Fear or awesome respect and reverence for who he is. Not only did the church fear God but also all who heard about these events. God will use circumstances to draw people to himself. (verse 11. There were some people at the time who were just hanging around the church. Not church members. They were there for the show.God brought them to the place where they knew they needed to make a decision. Did they want to serve a God who demanded so much? Were they worthy of serving a God who knew everything about them? Would they have to really change their lifestyles? These are the same questions that people ask today. How could God do that? He didn’t. They brought it on themselves.
Where is that perfect church we are looking for? We won’t see it till we are with Jesus in heaven. But one thing we will know for sure, everybody that is in that perfect church has trusted Jesus Christ for their eternal life. Everyone will assume their place of ministry without objection. No one will strive to be exalted for we will be in the presence of the exalted Lord. Possessions will not stand in the way because everything will be ours.
This is the promise for all who have trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Have you?
