Talk about a beautiful picture of trusting and
obeying. I may have a pit in my stomach about
inviting someone to our candlelight soup supper
and service this December and think about what
they're doing. Talk about trust and obey, which
is where we're going to go after the sermon.
We're going to sing that song, but... The song
nonetheless has this line in it as we continue
our sermon series in the book of Acts. For there
is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust
and obey. I'm going to ask right off the bat.
When you think of the words trust and obey, how
many people equate the word happy with that?
It's about what I thought. Maybe three of you.
Why? Because trusting is very, very difficult.
How do I know? A bunch of you have told me over
the last seven years that trusting people is
not something that comes easy or natural to you.
And usually the reason why, well, let me ask.
Why is it that sometimes trusting people, for
a majority of us, I'd say, and I don't even have
to make that statistic up, for the majority of
us, why is it hard to trust people? We got in
the back. When your trust has been taken advantage
of, or another way of saying it, Nikki, is we
got burned. Okay? Right? There's a little bit
of difference in language there. But when we've
been taken advantage of or burned by trust, I
could probably ask how many of us have ever been
burned or taken advantage of in our trust, and
my guess is all of us would raise our hand. And
if I said how many of that were the people closest
to us, a lot of our hands would stay up. This
understanding of trust, I think our Father in
Heaven knows that, which is why there are over
hundreds of verses that talk about trust. One
is the life verse that I have. It was the verse
that I really kind of got attracted to when I
made Profession of Faith, Proverbs 3, 5, and
6. Trust in the Lord with... all your heart,
lean not on your own understanding, in all your
ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your
paths, make your paths straight, whatever translation.
And I'd love to say, that's so easy to do, right?
But we all know that's not the case. And for
some of us, we look at the weather and we go,
man, it's just hard to trust anybody. See how
fickle that is? Because it's junky weather out,
we just don't want to be around people. We don't
want to trust people. The only thing we want
to trust is being bedside Baptists and going
back to bed. Now what about obeying? We got trust.
We got obey. That wasn't a shot at Baptist. That's
just the verbiage. Restless reformed. I don't
know. I don't care what it is. Obeying. How many
of us love to obey? Come on, oldest borns. That's
deep inherited in you if you're the oldest born,
right? Oldest born, we only learn it once. I'm
not the oldest born, but I've talked for my sister.
She only had to break the rules a couple times
and she kind of fell in line, right? And then
you got the middle ones who kind of see that
and see the way to kind of... tip -throw through
the tulips, if you will, right? But then you
usually come to fall in line, and then you're
the youngest born. How many youngest borns or
third -borns do we have? You don't think the
rules apply to you, okay? And so you just don't
obey anybody. But obedience, isn't it hilarious?
We have to take our, how many of you have ever
taken a pet, a dog, because if you've taken a
cat to obedience training, never mind. How many
people have ever taken a dog to obedience training?
Right? Those are good dog owners, right? A lot
of you knew us when we first came. We had a dog
named Pierce. Smarter than most humans, right?
I would have a bumper sticker that said, my dog
is smarter than your honor student if I could
have found it, right? That it was he, I mean,
just by a look, he knew what to do. And we call
that a really good dog, right? It's a great dog
when you can just look and they sit. Pierce had
a manipulative side none of you knew about. I
would tell Pierce no about something, he'd go
and literally ask it, not verbally, don't make
it weird, you know, but he would go to Carrie.
Though in front of other people, he put on a
show, behind the scenes, he ran that house. And
how many of you have ever met Annie and Archie,
our dogs now? Absolute idiots, right? Like they
don't do either. They don't trust, they don't
obey. They just... Who knows, right? And our
boys just follow their lead in a lot of ways.
They think rules don't apply to them. Annie,
come here. She runs the other way. But trusting
and obeying, we look for it in our animals. If
you're a parent, you kind of look for it in your
kids, but at the same time, you also kind of
remember what you were like as a kid, and you
have that friction. Yet that was the very first
thing God asked of his, no, not asked, called
of his people. Be holy as I am holy. Knowing
that is an impossible task, but striving for
that and holy, not holier than thou, holy the
way Jesus tells us to be holy, i .e. loving one
another. They will know that you are my disciples
by your love one for another. That is the obedience
of the Lord, the obedience of Christ, to trust
and obey. Sounds simple. Carries a lot of deep
truth. When I have a couple come in for either
premarital or marriage counseling, Because I
offer that. When I do premarital for a couple,
I always offer about a year and a half or so
of marriage counseling. Not because I know everything.
That's not the case. You all know that. But understanding
that there are times your first year of marriage,
that honeymoon phase, things can go awry. You
need an objective third party, someone cheering
you on. Because you may wake up one day and the
wife goes to the husband, I think we should get
a dog. And the husband goes, I hate your mom.
And you're like, whoa, that took a turn. We probably
need to sit down and talk to somebody. Counseling
in that is a good thing. You want to see what
the root of most conflicts in marriage are? A
lack of trust. And a lack of obedience one to
another. A lack of submission, if you will, one
to another. And lack of communication. That would
be the third. It's not easy to do. But in Acts
chapter 5, the church learns this lesson in a
sobering way, as many times the Israelites did
in the Old Testament, as the disciples did in
the Gospels, as the church will do in the New
Testament. They learn it in a very sobering way.
The Spirit of God is moving powerfully. People
are being healed. We saw that last week. The
gospel is being spread. And the gospel is not
your gospel or their gospel or my gospel. The
gospel is clear. Christ was alive. Christ died.
Christ was buried in a tomb. And he rose again.
He is the Messiah. He is the son of the living
God. So we need to follow his words, as he says
in the Great Commission. But then deceit enters
the story. And this shouldn't be a surprise to
us because it took all of about three chapters
in the beginning of the Bible for deceit to come
upon the people. We've done this before, guys.
We've entered the Garden of Eden. We've had that
conversation. Surely you won't die, Satan says,
Lucifer says to Eve with Adam who was with her.
I always want to point that out. A lot of people
like to blame Eve, but if Adam was doing his
job, I don't think it would have happened. The
seat enters the story. Ananias and Sapphira,
they lie. I'd love to ask how many of you lied
this week, but I'm not going to because I don't
want you to lie in church and not raise your
hand, proving my point. They didn't lie just
to the people, but they lied to God himself.
Their story is shocking, but it's also revealing.
The presence of God demands purity for his people.
God wants the church to be pure. Okay, then why
did you fill it with us? That's a question I
have. Why did you make me the pastor? Because
that's not going to work. But if the goal is
to strive after Christ's holiness, We need to
recognize when they're in the wrong. We need
to offer forgiveness one to another. And we need
to continue to keep walking. Yet the church stifles
that because we don't get our way, because we
don't like what's happened, because this person
said this, or this person thought that, or I
thought this person thought and then said this,
even though it never happened. Yet I will talk
to the elder or the pastor about it without verifying.
And so then we get this huge hornet. That's never
happened here. You see, we make a mess of it
because at the end of the day, we should trust.
It says trust and obey here, but we're going
to set the scene in a minute. We should trust
one another. We should obey Christ and walk together
in obedience. I could stand up here and say,
I'm the pastor. You should trust and obey everything
that I say. But if I did that, none of you would
be a part of this church because that's not a
good way to lead. We need to all be obedient
to the same thing. Because guess what? I'm no
better than you. You're no better than me. Surprise!
But we all fall on our knees at the foot of the
cross and walk it out together. Let's set the
scene. We're going to be in Acts chapter 5. Sorry,
Acts chapter 4. Yeah, sorry. Thank you, Nikki.
Yeah, we're going to be in 4 and going into 5.
That's where I got confused. So Acts chapter
4, we're going to start with verse 36 and go
to chapter 5, verse 2. Okay? 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. But a man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira
sold a piece of property, and 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. So we see the movement of
the church is still very simple. Speak the gospel,
because a lot of these people saw Jesus go through
all the things. They're going to speak that.
They're going to talk, teaching them everything
I have commanded you. Love God with all of your
heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor
as yourself. They're going to go to the Beatitudes.
They're going to go to the Sermon on the Mount.
They're going to do the thing, speak those, not
their own words, but Jesus's. But what else were
they doing? They were selling their possessions.
Now the easy thing is, okay, as we go to a potential
building campaign, if we vote, no, I'm not going
to do that. That's too easy and somewhat manipulative.
We're going to talk through what actually happened.
They sold things like property, their possessions.
They were giving it to the movement of the way.
Again, this wasn't Christianity yet. This was
the way of Jesus. And Luke, as he normally does,
sets up a contrast for us. Luke sets up a story
with Barnabas, who gave honestly, and Ananias
and Sapphira, who gave deceitfully. faith. Let's
pause there. Giving out of faith. That's a struggle.
I sat with that for a minute. That when I give,
when we all give to things like missions, we
have faith that the organization, the individuals
are going to use it in the way that they've told
us to and what they've said to the missions committee.
that they're going to use it to further the cause
of the mission of Christ. And when we have organizations
that it's kind of muddy and we don't really know
what the stewardship's like there, guess what?
We pull back and we ask more questions. It's
what the committee does. It's what the elders
do. It's what the deacons do. What the council
does. They work in tandem with missions to make
sure that we are being good financial stewards,
time, talent, treasures of those missions. Well,
Pastor, why do we do this? Acts 5 is why. Acts
4 and 5 is why. Because I think it's right and
good. This deliberate, what I'm going to call
juxtaposition, Luke's writers are going to put
this at odds, shows that sin is the most dangerous
when it hides under the appearance of godliness.
Let me say that again. That sin is most dangerous
when it hides under the appearance of godliness.
What other good kind of visual? Wolf in sheep's
clothing. Okay? That has to do more with the
leader of it. But first we're going to dive into
the deception, verses 1 and 2. There's a deception
here. Verses 1 and 2. But a man named Ananias
and 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.
If we don't know what Barnabas does, is this
a problem? I'm going to throw it to you. Let's
say we don't find out that Luke's writer doesn't
give us what Barnabas does, and all we get is
this. Let's say we started with this. Is it a
problem? What say you? See? Oh, I didn't tell
him to say that, but that's exactly what I was
looking for. Seems like a tithe. Right? A tenth?
Sure, we could probably say that. I mean, we
don't know that for a fact. He kept back for
himself some of the proceeds and brought only
a part of it and laid it at the apostles. feet.
They sell part of the property, or they sell
the property and bring part of the money, but
here's the thing, while pretending to give it
all. That's the key difference here. That's what
makes this not tithing, even though I would have
said the exact same thing I did when I was working
through it. Like, is this really a bad thing?
I mean, the church is still getting some. Like,
giddy up. Is that the right heart that Jesus
talks about as far as giving? No. The issue is
not withholding. Peter later says the property
was theirs to control, but pretending full surrender
while holding back. The hypocrisy here reveals
the desire for spiritual recognition without
spiritual submission. Let me say that again because
there's kind of some theological terms here.
Spiritual recognition, look at me, without spiritual
submission. Here's my everything. Remember, the
sermon is called Trust and Obey, but we'll get
there. So let's go to verse 3, what I call Satan's
influence. But Peter said to Ananias, Why has
Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit
and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds
of land? Let's put this in our terms right now.
Let's say we find out that, like, I don't know,
that you, in a more grand sense, you win the
lottery. Say, I don't know, $10 million, just
for our purposes today, right? After taxes, let's
just call it five, okay? That what's 10 % of
$5 million? I don't know that math. $500 ,000,
right? And let's say that a check comes in, right?
The deacons see it, and it's 50 bucks. We all,
50 bucks. Let's say it's $5 ,000. Person just
won 5 mil. I already see it. There's tension
going on. A lot of you, right, are trying to
tense up different parts of your body because
like, oh, pastor, you're treading on money. You're
treading on stuff. Well, the Bible talks about
giving. Now, we'll never ask for your W -2s.
We're never going to be that kind of church.
But understand that it's the trust and the obedience
of the giver in how they worship the creator.
Peter asked, why has Satan filled your heart
to lie to the Holy Spirit? Oof, that hurts. But
think about where we just were two and a half
chapters ago. Wait for the Holy Spirit to be
at work. The Holy Spirit comes in in a very,
very visible way and Pentecost drives the whole
thing. They haven't lost that inertia. They haven't
lost that momentum. The Holy Spirit's the one
doing it. The word filled recalls back to Acts
2 verse 4 where the disciples were filled with
the Spirit. Now instead of being filled with
God's presence, Ananias is filled with deceit.
Sin even within the church. is a form of spiritual
warfare. There are some of us that are going
to struggle with this text. And that's okay.
Dive into it this week. I'm going to give you
a point of view. Dive into it for yourself. Sin,
even within the church, is spiritual warfare.
So he says, the lie to God, right? Satan, yeah,
he loves it when we lie to each other. Sure.
But what Satan's ultimate goal is, the lie to
God. He tries to discredit God in Genesis chapter
3. Same thing going on here. The lie to God is
verse 4. While it remained unsold, did it not
remain your own? And after it was sold, was it
not at your disposal? Why is it that you have
contrived this deed in your heart? You have not
lied to man, but to God. Some of you. are going,
this is uncomfortably hardcore by Peter. I don't
like it. I think that's fair. I think that there's
a rub. There's a friction here, right? You have
not lied to men, but to God. What is he saying?
At the end of the day, if the Barnabas thing
didn't happen, I don't know if the people would
have known. Outside of the people that made that
deal, The real estate agent, or however they
did it in the first century, what the proceeds
were, they wouldn't have known. God does. You
have not lied to men but to God. This is one
of the clearest affirmations of the Holy Spirit's
divinity in the entire scriptures. You have not
lied to men but to God. Remember when we joke
that you try to play hide and seek with someone
that's omnipotent and omnipresent? We can't do
it. Friend, there is nothing that you can hold
and hide that God doesn't know or see. That's
why God says, confess it to me. Confess it one
to another. That's why we do the prayer of confession
and affirmation. To lie to the Spirit is to lie
to God himself. How do we know? Our confessions
help us. Belgian Confession, Article 11, affirms
this truth. The Holy Spirit is true and eternal
God, proceeding from the Father and the Son.
Guess what? The Holy Spirit is still working
in the church. The Holy Spirit has never said,
peace out, I'm gone. No. That will happen when
who comes back? Jesus. Right? And everything
comes to fulfillment, comes to culmination. The
Holy Spirit is still at work. How do I know?
He's gifted all of you. He's gifted the church.
This church has been here for 155 years and no
one is that old here. So you guys have gone through
the generations of spirit -filled lineage to
keep this church open. This church is still moving.
None of you, not your family line, not your family
money, not what you bring to the table, keeps
churches open. Revelation tells us it's the Spirit
of God that keep churches open. How do we know?
Because it's the Spirit of God that blows out
the lampstand when they're done. And if that
doesn't terrify you, it does as your pastor,
so join me, will you, that we want to be faithful.
And there's an immediate judgment. Don't worry,
we'll get to some of the lighter stuff in a second.
There's an immediate judgment starting in verse
5. When Ananias heard these words, he fell down
and breathed his last. We're not going to read
this if we do a vote for the building. Don't
worry about that. And breathed his last. And
great fear came upon all who heard of it. The
young men rose and wrapped him up and carried
him out and buried him. This is such a weird
story. Immediately she fell down at her feet.
breathed her last. When the young men came in,
they found her dead, and they carried her out
and buried her beside her husband. How are we
feeling right now? Go ahead. It's a weird couple
verses here. I can see why we don't read this
before a congregational meeting. But how are
we feeling? A couple people. What? Scary. Yep.
Anyone else? Inadequate. Boom. Gone. Two people.
One's calling right now saying, don't do it.
Don't do it. Be honest. Trust and obey. Oh, oh.
Well, go ahead, Mike. Go ahead, pastor's kid.
Where's the grace? What? I was tracking with
you before that. Lisa's like, I'm used to it.
But understand, there's an immediate judgment.
Ananias falls dead, and later Sapphira meets
the same end. God's judgment here is what? Long
-suffering? That's exact. Who said that? And
I didn't even tell you I was going to say that.
God's judgment here is swift. But here's the
thing. I had to wrestle with this. Not because
he's but because he is holy. I offer that for
a minute. God's not doing this because he's cruel,
but because he is holy. Their sin threatens the
integrity of the newborn church. If hypocrisy
grows unchecked, the witness of the gospel collapses.
There's a direct tie to hypocrisy, and as one
of the number ones, something I have to keep
in check, as we all do, because what is hypocrisy?
Talking the talk, but not walking the walk. Simple
definition, right? Pharisees, Sadducees, they
were hypocrites. At times, us, we can be hypocrites.
If hypocrisy grows unchecked, the witness of
the gospel collapses. God's plan is never in
jeopardy because God is sovereign and we're not
on his level. But as we see throughout the scriptures,
there can be a fear that grows. And the fear
here is among the church. Verse 11. And great
fear came upon the whole church and upon all
who heard these things. Think about the testimony
of the people in this meeting. Peter and the
rest. These people deceived and they were dead.
And notice, no one shot them. Partly because
they didn't have guns. But no one killed them.
They fell and breathed their last. What does
that tell me? That not a hair can fall from my
head without the will of my Father in heaven,
Lord's day one. That he is my comfort in life
and in death. Well, Jim, I'm not feeling a whole
lot of comfort in this verse. I get that. I'm
with you. Great fear came upon the whole church.
This is the first time Luke uses the word ecclesia
to describe the church. Holiness and community
belong together. Church is not a social club.
It is the dwelling place of God. Belgian Confession,
Article 27. This holy church is not confined,
bound, or limited to a certain place or persons,
but is spread and dispersed over the whole world,
yet joined and united in one and the same spirit.
It doesn't end. This story doesn't end. It continues
because there's things that kind of continue
to go on. You talk about signs and wonders. We
always think that they're happy. We always think
they're good. We always think that they're edifying
to the body. I submit so was this. Ooh, we're
going to struggle with that because two people
are dead. How is death edifying to the body?
Thank God God is sovereign and we're not. Verse
12. 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.
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, multiples 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. So people
also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem,
bringing the sick, those afflicted with unclean
spirits, and all were healed. Man, this puts
in perspective the issues we got going on here.
Or at least it should. I'm not going to list
them all. But friends, we get in each other's
way. Some of us don't like things that are going
on. Some of us with other things we're going
on. Some of us still are wondering why we don't
have the candy monsters to drop candy in. Well,
you haven't been listening. We're not doing the
trunk or treat this year. We're going to do something
else at Christmas. But see where the spirit was
kind of discontent, disagreement, discouragement.
See how that can be the enemy of the church if
gone unchecked? That's why all of those discord,
disagreements, discouragement, all of that can
be resolved by following God's word. So we should
probably trust God's word and obey God's word.
See, it's not some creative title. If we do this,
the church can continue. The story doesn't end
with judgment. It ends with revival. I don't
know about you, but that's revival. It's a beautiful
thing. God's purifying work leads to power. Miracles
continue. The sick are healed. The number of
believers increased. The fear of the Lord does
not crush the church. The fear of the Lord strengthens
it. We should already be there, Munster Church.
We went through Revelation. Seven churches. Not
all of them stay. Some get judged and are wiped
out because they lost their first love, because
they reviled in hypocrisy. They loved it. They
loved saying one thing and doing another, or
doing one thing and saying another. Churches
can make their identity out of those. The Munster
Church, what should we be about? Trusting and
obeying, even when we don't like it. There's
a reason why God is a God of order and not a
God of chaos. He took chaos and created. It's
not our job to do. Our job is to be good stewards
of it. Even the shadow of Peter, one of the weirdest
things in all of Scripture to me, becomes a mean
of healing. Remember Peter? Right? Foot and mouth
Peter? The one that denies his rabbi gets restored.
Now people are like, oh man, only if his shadow
would pass by. I don't like that. That might
be something I talked to somebody about in heaven.
I'm sure it would be a long line to talk to Jesus.
I'll talk to Elijah. That's fine. It's one of
the things I love about what our sign guys did.
Do you guys see the sign? That I don't walk on
water. At first I thought it was a shot for my
swimming ability. It's not. If you can't read
it, our pastor doesn't walk on water, but he
knows someone who does. Guess what? It's none
of you. It's not me. It's Christ. A symbol of
God's mercy flowing through obedience and holiness.
So what do we do with that? Let's land the plane
with these. What does God value in the church?
God values integrity more than image. And this
is coming from a pastor of a growing church.
Friends, I could take credit for all of this.
It would be the dumbest thing I would do. Because
guess what? It would be gone like that. This
isn't... My work? I'm not that good. Neither
are you. This is the work of the Spirit. The
church's witness depends on truth -telling hearts.
God cannot bless hypocrisy. If you've wronged
somebody, seek forgiveness. If they've wronged
you, seek forgiveness. Grace is free, but never
cheap. The cross shows both the severity of sin
and the depth of Christ's love. When grace is
treated lightly, it loses its power. We've talked
about that many times. I've already made this
point. I'm going to bring it up. The Spirit,
guess what, is personal and present. How do I
know? There are so many of you going through
crazy things in your life, and you're keeping
the faith, though it's hard. You're keeping the
faith. Whether a surprise pregnancy or all of
a sudden an illness or something else going on
in your family, you are... clinging to Christ
as your only hope. That is the work of the Spirit,
because you and of yourself would never do it.
Me and of myself, I would never do it. I would
take it on what Jim could do, not what Christ
can do through me. I say this all the time, right?
A holy fear of God leads to a lasting joy. I
don't know about you, but the last seven years
of this church have been a lot of fun. And what
do I say? Let's stay humble. Let's stay excited
and slightly terrified. Where do you think I
get it from? The beginning of the church. Fear
here is reverent awe. The realization that God
who judges sin is the same God who heals the
broken and forgives the sinner. Finally, as we
get ready to sing that last song, obedience invites
power. After the church is purified, the spirit
moves freely. God works through vessels that
trust and obey. For there is no other way than
to be happy in Jesus is to trust and obey. Stand
and let's all pray together. Let's pray our closing
prayer together. Holy God. You are righteous
and full of grace. Forgive us for pretending,
for holding back part of our hearts. Teach us
to trust you completely and obey you fully. Fill
us with reverent awe and deep joy in your spirit.
Make us a people of truth, so your power and
presence may dwell among us. In Jesus' name we
pray, amen. And may the Lord, the giver of life,
the Savior,