Sermon Tone Analysis
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There are many questions that are asked in the bible.
Jesus asked quite a few of them:
All important questions.
But today i want to look at a question that was asked from a most unlikely source: The thief on the cross who was crucified with Jesus.
He actually asked one of the most important of all questions that every christian needs to think hard about:
“Do you not fear God?”
That one of those questions that is difficult to answer.
On one hand our mouth says YES.
But on the other, our actions say NO.
Let me help you answer this question.
George MacDonald wrote, “Half of the misery in the world comes from trying to look, instead of trying to be, what one is not.”
The name that Jesus gave to this practice is “hypocrisy,” which simply means “wearing a mask, playing the actor.”
We must not think that failure to reach our ideals is hypocrisy, because no believer lives up to all that he or she knows or has in the Lord.
Hypocrisy is deliberate deception, trying to make people think we are more spiritual than we really are.
There is nothing wrong with aiming high, the problem is pretending to be high.
Case Study
Let me tell you a little bit about this couple:
Ananias means “God is gracious,” but he learned that God is also holy; and Sapphira means “beautiful,” but her heart was ugly with sin.
No doubt some people are shocked when they read that God killed two people just because they lied about a business transaction and about their church giving.
Valuation of the text
It is worth noting that the Lord judges sin quickly at the beginning of a new period in salvation history.
Just after the tabernacle was erected, God killed Nadab and Abihu for trying to present “false fire” to the Lord (Lev.
10).
He also had Achan killed for disobeying orders after Israel had entered the Promised Land (Josh.
7).
So Ananias and Sapphira were not judged extra harshly, they were just judged instantly.
What was it about these 2 people that cause such a dramatic judgment?
To begin with, the sin of Ananias and Sapphira was energized by Satan.
If Satan cannot defeat the church by attacks from the outside, he will get on the inside and go to work.
He knows how to lie to the minds and hearts of church members, even genuine Christians, and get them to follow his orders.
Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, “Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all.”
Satan is a liar and a murderer (John 8:44).
He lied to and through this couple, and the lie led to their deaths.
When God judged Ananias and Sapphira, He was also judging Satan.
He was letting everybody know that He would not tolerate deception in His church.
Their sin was motivated by pride.
Pride is a sin that God especially hates and judges.
No doubt the church was praising God for the generous offering that Barnabas had brought when Satan whispered to the couple, “You can also bask in this kind of glory!
You can make others think that you are as spiritual as Barnabas!”
Instead of resisting Satan’s approaches, they yielded to him and planned their strategy.
Daniel Defoe called pride “the first peer and president of hell.”
Indeed, it was pride that transformed Lucifer into Satan (Isa.
14:12–15), and it was pride (“Ye shall be as God!”) that caused our first parents to sin (Gen.
3).
Pride opens the door to every other sin, for once we are more concerned with our reputation than our character, there is no end to the things we will do just to make ourselves “look good” before others.
Their sin was directed against God’s church.
We have every reason to believe that Ananias and Sapphira were believers.
The fact that they were able to lie to the Spirit (Acts 5:3) and tempt the Spirit (Acts 5:9) would indicate that they had the Spirit of God living within.
God loves His church and is jealous over it, for the church was purchased by the blood of God’s Son and has been put on earth to glorify Him and do His work.
Satan wants to destroy the church, and the easiest way to do it is to use those who are within the fellowship.
Had Peter not been discerning, Ananias and Sapphira would have become influential people in the church!
Satan would have been working through them to accomplish his purposes!
Satan hates the Church because it is an eternal reminder of his failure.
The church is “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim.
3:15), and Satan attacks it with his lies.
The church is God’s temple in which He dwells (1 Cor.
3:16), and Satan wants to move in and dwell there too.
The church is God’s army (2 Tim.
2:1–4), and Satan seeks to get into the ranks as many traitors as he can.
The church is safe so long as Satan is attacking from the outside, but when he gets on the inside, the church is in danger.
Reflection:
It is easy for us to condemn Ananias and Sapphira for their dishonesty, but we need to examine our own lives to see if our profession is backed up by our practice.
Do we really mean everything we pray about in public?
Do we sing the hymns and Gospel songs sincerely or routinely?
If God killed “religious deceivers” today, how many church members would be left?
This truly terrifying passage is balanced out by:
Had Ananias and Sapphira judged their own sin, God would not have judged them , but they agreed to lie, and God had to deal with them.
Ananias was dead and buried, and Sapphira did not even know it!
Satan always keeps his servants in the dark, while God guides His servants in the light .
Peter accused her of tempting God’s Spirit, that is, deliberately disobeying God and seeing how far God would go.
They were actually defying God and daring Him to act—and He acted, with swiftness and finality.
We must keep in mind that their sin was not in robbing God of money but in lying to Him and robbing Him of glory.
They were not required to sell the property; and, having sold it, they were not required to give any of the money to the church.
Their lust for recognition conceived sin in their hearts, and that sin eventually produced death.
The Result?
The result was a wave of godly fear that swept over the church and over all those who heard the story
Last week we saw that to worship God you must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
Today God is showing us that to Serve Him you must serve in Reverence and fear!
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