Deception

Background

If we have not had the pleasure of meeting my name is John Colunga and I have the privilige of serving as lead pastor here at New Day Pasadena

I also have the privilige of bringing this weeks sermon

So if you have your Bibles, plese turn to Acts 5:1-11

Today is going to be a stand alone sermon and if you are reading the Bible with us through our New Day reading plan, we just started in Acts and this week we will read through Acts 5, sdf

So in case you are wondering how this text was chosen, thats it, I simply looked ahead and chose a text that I believe is particularly applicable for our day in time - process was nothing too in depth

And as I studied through this text, many truths of life started jumping out at me that I had never really extracted from this text before

And one of the other things jumped out at me as I was reading history this week, is how much I didnt know about the watergate scandal

Now, I know some of you were alive during that time but unfortunately I dont think I was even thought of

And so if you are like me, you kind know about watergate but at the same time you may not know

Like I didnt realize basic things like watergate got its name because the burglury occurred in the Watergate building

I also didnt fully realize that the burglury occurred before the second term of fromer President Richard Nixon

And I didn’t fully realize that while the President wasn’t the mastermind behind the plan, he went to great lengths to decieve and cover up his involvement

And so what we know is that his administration created a plan to break into the Democratic National Committees offices in the Watergate building

And the first break in was successful but a second was needed to make necessary adjustments

And it was this second attempt where 5 men were caught and the investigating started

Richard Nixon did as much as he could behind the scenes to stall the investigations or to keep them from advancing

He was dodging the probes against him and he had the contents of the safe of one of his staff members destroyed

So thats in the background while to the people - Nixon in public

He said that his conunsel had conducted an investigation (even though there was no investigating happening)

And then he said, "I can say categorically that ... no one in the White House staff, no one in this Administration, presently employed, was involved in this very bizarre incident."

It was later found out through tapes that Nixon knew about the scandal, knew his people were involved, and he agreed to bribe people

When the opposition was to great against Nixon, he resigned rather than to get impeached

In his address to the people, there was no apology

It wasn’t until an interview with David Frost where the President didnt admit to being wrong but did apologize to the American people

There is so much to learn about what happened and it is something I have newly become interested in

but it is interesting the great lengths that people will go through just to appear a certain way

Deception wasn’t created with Nixon - Lying isnt a recent sin that has just become popular out of nowhere

Rather, sin, since the fall of Adam and Eve, has been present and we, even today are still tempted to give into it

And we find that that is the case in our story today

And now I ask that you please stand and follow along as I read God’s word

Acts 5:1–11 (ESV)

But a man named Ananias, with 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. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 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.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down 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.

After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

This is the word of the Lord, you may now be seated

Deception

Unity of the church

Our story today come to us in the midst of great love, unity, and service within the church

In chapter 4 verses 32-37 we see this

32 “those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.”

No one lacked, grace was amongst the people, and we find that a man named Joseph sold his field and gave his entire proceeds to the church

Directly after our passage today

in verse 14, it says this, “14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,

So before and after our passage, we can see that through the work of the Holy Spirit, God is building his church

And what we know and have seen throughout all of history is that God protects his church and has a plan for it

But within it, there should not be corruption

And so in the middle of this unity and of the building of God’s church

What we find is a cleansing and a warning about the church

Verses 1 & 2

And in verse 1 of chapter 5 we start off with a similar situation that had just taken place the verse before

Annanias and Sapphirah sells a piece of property and both knowingly agreed to give part of the proceeds to the church and to stash a portion of their proceeds into their savings account

They knowinlgy agreed to withold a portion of the proceeds

And on principle this is a wise thing

What if Annanias dies and Sapphirah is left a widow?

What if Annanias had plans to take the proceeds and invest it with the bankers for more money?

I had a dream a couple of months ago that I won the lottery

And in my dream the money would hit my bank account in three days but I remember in my dream thinking about how I was going to spend that money

Yes I was going to give some to the church, but then I was going to pay off my debt, invest some of the money, and give some to my family

I think you would agree that those are wise things

It’s just too bad for my family that it was just a dream and upon telling Marianne of my dream, she promptly reminded me that we could never win the lottery since we do not play the lottery

But while there may be wisdom in their minds, there is deception in their hearts

And we find this first verse written by Luke in such a way that it notes that there is some sort of deception there

The verb “kept back” is rarely used in scripture but we do find it mostly related in the book of Joshua

The Israelites were not to keep anything that belonged to them from Jericho but Akan did

And since he took the cloak and gold and silver, and kept it back from everyone else

The anger of the Lord burned against the people until Achan confessed and then was stoned

The deception of 1 Israelite caused turmoil for God’s people and had to be rooted out

And so we fin here with Annanias that while it may have been wise to have a savings or investment fund

It was unwise to present the proceeds to the church as if they were bringing all of it

This would be as if I won 200 million from the lottery and said on National TV that I was giving it all to New Day Church but instead I only gave 100 million

And Annanias and Sapphirah conspired together to act as if they gave all of the proceeds from the sale of their property when in reality it was just a portion

So Annanias brings this before the Apostles and the church and he presents it as if he has done a good thing

Verses 3 & 4

And to this act - the Apostle Peter speaks in verses 3 and 4

3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 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.”

Peters response here to Ananias is not one of gratitude but one of rebuke

The Holy Spirit, full of wisdom and discernment reveals Annanias’ intentions to Peter

And so Peter calls out the wickedness of Annanias’ heart

He has been corrupted to bring deceit to the church

And so this question to Ananias is meant not to be answered, but to expose the wickedness that has been hidden

And so Peter goes on to convey that Ananias had every right to hold back a portion of the proceeds

The property that Ananias has is for him and his family and God did not command that he sells the property

And even after the property sold, God did not require the full some of the proceeds

What Ananias had was from God and could be used as his disposal

And yet, with the very blessings given to him by God, he used it to try to decieve

The word “contrive” means deliberate

He delibertely tried to decieve the apostles and the church

And while the text doesn’t explicitely state why he did this, we can speculate that in context with the passage, Ananias and Sapphirah may have been seeking recognition, or status within the church

To be seen as cheerful givers, as ones whose hearts were full committed to the church

Whose hearts were righteous, full of love, full of service, and full of the Holy Spirit

Others would think, How great is the Spirit of God in them that they are moved to sell their property and give it all to the church as Barnabas did

And in trying to decieve the church and the apostles - his deciet was not against them but against the Holy Spirit who is God

We have to recognize here that in verse 3, Peter notes that Ananias has allowed Satan to fill your his heart to lie to the Holy Spirit

And in verse 4, he concludes that Ananias is not lying to the church or to the apostles but that he is lying to God

The Holy Spirit is part of the triune God, The Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity and is God and is responsible for leading, and convicting, and regenerating, and discernment, and wisdom, and sanctification,

The sin is against the Holy Spirit who dwells within each person of the church of Christ

And in the presence of the apostles and of the church, in the presence of the Holy Spirit who dwells within each of them

Ananias tried to lie and say that he brought all of the proceeds

Over and over again we find in scripture that God calls the church to love, to have unity, to have integrity,

The church needs this amongst its brothers and sisters

And here, Ananis brought disunity, false love, and false righteousness to the church

And the Holy Spirit reveals to Ananias what he has done and instantly - Ananias dies

Judgement

Verses 5 and 6

5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

What we find here is judgement

In God’s divine and righteous judgement, the sin committed against him by Ananias was punishable by death

Now the the text doesn’t explicitely tell us that God struck them dead

But we know Peter didnt strike them dead and therefore it could only be God who gave them up

This is nothing new here or unfair

In the garden there was a punishment of death for eating the fruit - now it was a spiritual death

And now that men are born spiritually dead, they also have a physical body that will one day die

We will all one day die

We are sinful and our sinful bodies will one day be put to death

And so this is not a matter of if we die, but when - And is it right that Ananias was given an instant death?

The seeminlgy instantaneous death of Ananias was due to the fact that God determines righteous judgment

And in his judgement he carried out retributive righteousness

That is “punitive” or “vindictive” or “avenging justice.”

And It has to do with the infliction of penalties for failure to conform to his righteousness.

You see the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament

He doesn’t change - And so here we see God carrying out the retributive punishment that is also seen in the Old Testament - The flood to the Tower of Babel to Sodom and Gomorrah

And so we are not take the judgement of Ananias and the retributive righteousness poured out by God and create a theology that says that God carries out retributive righteousness like this all the time

Rather, we are submit that only God can carry out this righteousness and we must believe and trust that it is just

And so the principle for us to take away from the death of Ananias is the exact principle that the church had extracted

We are to fear the Lord and continuously conform to his righteousness

God takes seriously the purity and peace of the church

God takes seriously the sin that we commit

And God takes seriously how we live as we say that we are believers in him

And if we are going to be conformed God’s righteousness then we must also value truth

Truth

Verses 7-11

Ananias went to take the money to the church himself so Sapphira was not around

Sapphirah, not knowing what had happened to her husband was questioned by Peter

This questionsing was not suppossed to be a trap, but a chance for Sapphira to come clean

But she does not come clean, she is a “ride or die”

That is the new slang for a homie, or best friend

It means that I got your back no matter what

You might be wrong but I aint ever snitching on you

We are either best friends here on earth or we will be best friends in the grave

But here is the thing about a best friend, or a homie, or a ride or die

Your ride or die needs to tell you when you are wrong

They need to correct you when you stray from the path

Ride or die should not mean that you just go along with everything they say or do

But at the very beginning of this - Sapphirah does not confront her husband, she does not say hey we should probably tell the truth, - rather she agreed with the plan and is now trying to deceive as Ananias did

And we find that the judgement for her was the same righteous punishment that her husband endured

She too, passed away -

And now the church doesn’t just have one example, but two examples as to how serious God takes your living with the Holy Spirit

Application

Do not try to deceive your fellow brothers and sisters because ultimately you are not trying to deceive them, your trying to deceive God

This is why confession, vulnerability, and openess is so important in a church

So this is our vision - Is to continue to pursue healthy growth through unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, tender heartedness, humility; and will seek and pursue peace within the church and the world

Because, when as a church we do these things, we are able to share our struggles, our failings, and walk together in the attributes of Christ - love forgiveness, grace, and mercy

We are not to put on a mask and pretend that your spiritual walk with God is great when it is really suffering

This is a superficial, fake, false, deceiving mask that doesn’t address the real problem

The real problem is that you are running or ignoring your spiritual life with God and are trying to deceive him that everything is alright

You have alterior motives and you have pre-determined intent to deceive when you come to church to fake it

Listen - can I just say that we need to be a church that is real

I want to see grown men cry - I want to see weeping over our sin - I want the Holy Spirit to do a mighty work here where he exposes our fake tendencies or alterior motives so that we can grow in the likeness of Christ

Seek to follow the Holy Spirit and submit to its leading

At some point, Ananias and Sapphira stopped following the Holy Spirit

At some point they so far suppressed the Holy Spirit that they allowed for Satan to take over and fill their hearts with deceit

We literally just covered this a couple of months ago that Satan is the greatest deceiver and he will do everything he can to deceive you, to trick you, to make sin look so tempting, so good

But when we are following the Holy Spirit, when we are abiding with Jesus,

Reading his word, praying, worshiping,

Then our natural reaction will be to follow him in giving, serving, going to church, sharing Jesus, discipling others,

We will be obedient to do the things they nudges us to do

And we will be able to be real and vulnerable with others

Do not compromise on truths laid out in God’s word

The more conversations I have with people the more I can see that truth is being seen as subjective in the culture

But truth is not subjective - its objective - And God is the author of it

And the author has given us his book, his word, to know what is truth

Our morality is laid out because God’s word defines it

Our newness in Christ means that we have an old self who once desired to do whatever we wanted but now that we have Christ, we walk in the newness of his truth and life

We must fear God

The Bible uses the phrase “fear God” more than 134 times

Psalm 111:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!”

In our culture today you can find more sermons on “Do Not Fear” than on “Fear God”

Fear not because God is with you, Fear not because you are loved, Fear not because theres good news

And I am a believer in fear not, I am not agaisnt it - you will hear me preach on it

But our culture has been so against the hell fire and brimstone message that in its attempt to have a more loving message of God - its actually watering down the message of the Bible to where we “Do not have to fear God because he is love”

But I want us to be a biblical church that has a healthy fear of God, not because we believe that God is a God of wrath and so we want to scare you into heaven

But rather, when we fear the Lord - We understand that he hates sin - God cannot stand sin - God hates sin more than I hate losing and I hate losing in anything

But God cant sin and he cant be around sin and he will punish all sin

And so when we understand that he hates sin this much to the point that he will punish it,

we will focus on his truths of righteousness and holiness - So this is where the wisdom comes in

We will practice wisdom in how we live

Because we have a high view of God and who he is - We will fear him - And that fear leads us to his wisdom of scripture - and that leads us to grow in our relationship with Jesus - and that leads us to be more in tune with the Holy Spirits leading - And the Holy Spirit will lead us to body of believers - and then the Holy Spirit will move us into unity with that church

And listen, when we fail, when we mess up, we know that there is mercy and grace there

But the fear of the Lord calls us to repentance and to seek forgiveness and to move on in righteousness

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom - And if you are here today and you have never feared the Lord, or submitted to him as Lord and savior - there will be a time for you to do so

Because heres the thing about God, he doesn’t leave everything up to us

God hates sin so much, and you have sinned, you have done things that fall short of his glory, of his standard, and his truth

And so there is a punishment for that you justly deserve

But God, knowing that the price would be an eternity separated from him

An eternity in a place called hell

He sent Jesus for you

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