Sermon Notes from October 1

Sermon Text:  Acts 4:32-5:11

On Sunday, we continued in our series looking at the beginnings of the New Testament church.  This week we saw how satan tries to attack the church by any means possible, not only externally through persecution, but also by trying to get on the inside and attack from within.

In Acts 4:32-37, we see that the people in the early church were increasing in their love for one another and decreasing in their love of self and love of stuff.  And this was happening in the face of persecution from the authorities.  They were of one heart and soul and were selling land and property to give to those who had need in their midst.  We are even introduced to one individual in particular, Barnabus, who exemplified these characteristics by selling some land and giving it to the church so that it could help those in need.

But in Acts 5:1-11, we are introduced to Ananias and Sapphira who were the opposite of Barnabas.  They too sold some property and gave it to the church, but they kept some for themselves and didn't tell anyone.  But God knew what they had done and when Peter called them out on it, they dropped down dead on the spot.

I think what we see here is that Ananias and Sapphira were hypocrites.  They put on a face in front of everyone so that they would look righteous and find approval from others, but they were lying to everyone and to God.  And the root of hypocrisy is when one tries to find his or her dignity and worth and approval by something other than God.  Because if something other than God gives us our value, then we will do anything to gain that approval.  We will put on false self and lie to everyone who sees us, so that they will not see us for who we really are.  This is what Ananias and Sapphira did and they were unrepentant in it, and it led to their death.

But why is this such a big deal?  Why is this so dangerous in the church?

1. Unrepentant sin disrupts unity - whenever we are in unrepentant sin, we isolate ourselves so that people won't see what's really going on.  And this creates a false unity and shallowness to community.

2. Unrepentant sin disrupts worship - whenever we have sin in our lives that we don't want to let go of, we try and hide from God and cover up our sins, which is idolatry.  And it keeps us from worshipping God in humble reliance upon the gospel, where we own our depravity yet trust in Jesus's work and His righteousness on our behalf.

3. Unrepentant sin disrupts mission - when we are dealing with unrepentant sin, we get so inward focused that we lose sight of why we are even here on earth, which is to join God in His work of reconciling and redeeming sinners by living, speaking, and serving as His presence.

We need to fight for the unity of our church.  We need to fight for true worship of the Triune God in our church.  We need to fight for fruitfulness in our mission.  And one of they key ways that we fight for these things is through personal repentance of sin.

So what should be our response to this story in Scripture and how should it make us feel?

1. Fear - that was the response of the early church.  When they saw Ananias and Sapphira drop dead because of their unrepentant hypocrisy, great fear came upon the church.   Fear is an appropriate form of worship.  It shows our humility and our position before God.  It shows that we recognize how holy and righteous and glorious is the God that we worship.

2. Repentance - we must be a people who don’t settle for complacent lives and apathy.  We must be a people who strive for holiness, and holiness comes through lives of repentance and belief in the gospel.

3. Gratitude - we should have gratitude that God loves us in spite of our sin, and that we are breathing right now because God is allowing us to.  We don’t deserve anything.  We don’t deserve even to live before God, because like Ananias and Sapphira, we are hypocrites just like them.  But because of His grace, we have salvation and we have life.

I pray that God will make us into a people who fear Him, who repent of sin, and who live lives of gratefulness to God for His grace, and I pray that He would make us holy.