Acts Of The Apostles (7 Of 39)

As he tells of these events, it is like an unwinding story in which one event leads into the next.

For example, after Pentecost, he leads into chapter 3, and tells of Peter and John going into the temple. He tells of the man who had been crippled from birth, asking them for alms.

Luke related how Peter and John stopped, and God gave that poor man much more than what he anticipated; God miraculously healed him.

Luke then tells how this healing, along with Peter's message, got Peter and John into trouble with the Sanhedrin.

After being detained a while, Peter and John then went and immediately assembled with the rest of God's people, and told them what had happened to them.

The persecution did not discourage them in the slightest, but made them strong in the Lord.

In fact, God's Word tells us they began to exemplify such dedication to the Lord, that many sold their possessions, and shared the money with other believers. Those Christians were willing to sacrifice, so the Lord's name would be glorified.

However, any time people are working for the Lord, there will be others who do things in the church, but for the praise of man.

People like this, may hear others talking about the dedication of those who are sacrificing, and feel they are not receiving enough recognition.

There were two people like this in that New Testament church.

In Acts 5, Luke relates the story of Ananias and Sapphira, who sought the praise of man.

WHAT DID THEY DO?

They pretended to be doing something for the Lord, but they had other motivation. They tried to copy the deeds of people they knew who really loved the Lord.

Illus: In one church, an example of that took place when one woman represented herself as being the only one who cared about those who were sick.

The pastor found out about this, when he and another man from the church, visited a lady who had been sick and out of church for several services.

The pastor asked why she didn’t called anyone. She told them she had not called anyone, because she did not think anyone really cared.

When asked why she thought that, she said, "Mrs. ------- calls me all the time, and she tells me that no one cares about me.”

She said, “That is why she calls all the time to check on me, because she cares."

The pastor assured this elderly lady that he did care very much, and they had missed her, that was why they were there.

Also, he assured her that they would be praying for the lady who had been talking to her. No one who really cared about a brother or sister in the Lord, would be trying to convince them that no one cared about what happened to him or her.

After that visit, they began to check with at least a dozen more, and found out she had told all of them the same thing.

You have to be careful when you have an Ananias or a Saphira in your church. They will DO ANYTHING or SAY ANYTHING for the praise of man.

Listen, hypocrites do not do things because they love the Lord, they do things to try to fool people into thinking they love the Lord.

They use religion as a means of getting attention.

Let’s see an example of this in Acts, chapter five:

I. SINFULNESS PREVAILS

In Verses 1-2, we read, “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it, at the apostles' feet.”

Until chapter 5, we read nothing but good things about this glorious church. Now we run into a problem every church deals with - HYPOCRITES!

No matter how blessed most churches are with fine Christian people who love the Lord, there will be some present who do not love the Lord. They simply want to deceive people, and make them believe they love the Lord.

It is impossible for a church to purge itself of members like Ananias and Sapphira. This is something only God can do.

Observe a couple of characteristics of their deed:

• SINFULNESS BY CHICANERY (trickery).

Look at verses 1-2 again, we read, “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it, at the apostles' feet.”

These two conspired together to commit their deceptive act.

When we hear the names "Ananias and Sapphira", we generally think of them as being two of the worst people that ever lived on earth.