Dead Serious About Giving

Text: Acts 4:32-5:11

Central Idea of the Text: Dishonest actions by A & S are swiftly dealt with by the Lord as an example to the church

Proposition: The same God who builds his church will also hold to account those who portend to be of the faith bur aren’t.

Purpose: All who hear should respond by putting away falsehood and following Jesus, especially in regard to what and how they give.

Introduction

I was commending some of our young Trail Life scouts a few weeks ago as I spoke to them as their scout chaplain. I reminded them of when they take the scout’s oath, they raise their hand and they say “On my honor I will do my best to serve God and my country, to respect authority, to be a good steward of creation, and to treat others as I want to be treated." That phrase “on my honor” is a reminder that these young men have been given a name, a name with all kinds of good meaning and intention, by their parents. It is their task to do their best to hold up their good name that their parents gave them.\

The problem for people comes in when we’ve not lived honorable lives. Some people have done terrible things and have forever soiled the good names they were given … so much so, that those names might never be used again. For example:

Some of you might consider naming your boy child Charles. But if you did, I’m greatly doubting the middle name of Manson to accompany it.

Some of you might like the sound of the name Jeffrey, but I’m not so sure you’d pick either the name Dahmer or Epstein to go along with that.

The list could go on in more modern pop culture references: I’m betting that few of your parents considering people to name your kids after are considering Kanye West or Amber Heard as namesakes.

A few months ago in our Revelation sermon series, we were noting some names that live in infamy as well from the scripture. Jezebel is one of those names that has been forever branded as stained by the reputation of the wicked queen who held the name first. Herod and Pontius Pilate are right there with her.

When the giving of a good name, parents ought to consider the character of the namesakes. Today’s text is another adds two more names to the list of undesirable names: Ananias & Sapphira. If you’re not familiar with these two and why their names are linked to their disreputable character, then buckle up as we explore today’s text, found in Acts 4:32-5:11.

Acts 4:32–5:11 ESV

Now the full number of 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. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 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, 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 for us this morning.

Would you pray with me? Lord, this morning’s text is a sobering text, but it is both a warning and a blessing to us. We are warned by this couple’s unfaithful gift, but we are also blessed by seeing Barnabas’ faithful gift, and knowing that you are the God that sees the heart of every man. God, it is our prayer that you would look within our hearts, show us our selfishness and our wickedness, so that we may confess it and you may forgive it under the forgiving blood of Jesus. God, continue to build, grow and refine your church. Make us more like Jesus. We pray this in His name, amen.

There are certain stories in the Bible that you may be able to remember when they REALLY hit home for you. The story that we are reading this morning is one of those stories for me. Sophomore year. 1993. Nebraska Christian College. Acts Class. Dr. Bill Weber. I don’t remember everything that was discussed in that class that day. But I remember having to take a few minutes to somberly sit and reflect on what I had just more fully understood. A church offering that ended with two people conspiring together struck dead and buried. I think that perhaps when I understood this story better, it was then that what we call “The fear of the Lord” found its home with me. That is, a healthy respect and reverence for God and what he has every right to do to you if you lie to him.

The early church took this account of what had happened, and the good doctor Luke saw fit to make sure that this account of the Lying and Cheating Ananias and Sapphira was recorded for us for all time in the scripture. Of all the things that have been recorded about the church thus far in Acts, the report has been glowingly positive. There has been faithful prayer and witness by the believers. There has been a massive response to the Gospel message with 3000 people and more turning from Sin and being Baptized. There has been faithful gathering, worshiping, and sharing with the needs of one another. The church has been the place to be. Who wouldn’t want to be there?? The church is growing, growing, growing.

As the church has been growing and being built as a people together, it is good to remember that the NT authors saw the church’s growth and life as that of a body of Christ. It is the metaphor used over and over again throughout the NT for the life and health of the gathered disciples of Jesus:

[Jesus] is the head of the body, the church. (Col 1:18)

… Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Eph 4:15-16)

“For as in one body we have many members,and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” (Rom 12:4-5)

The list could go on. But the point, as with your own body, is that we know that healthy things grow. Unhealthy things stagnate, stunt, fatten, fester and die. And today’s story stands to illustrate for the first time what happens when major, unconfessed sin steps into the midst of the church. Will it be left to fester? Or will the needed surgery be performed to cut the cancer of unconfessed sin out?

This is a hard story, but I do believe when the lying and ungiving attutude of Ananias & Sapphira are contrasted with the honest and generous attitude of Barnabas, there are good lessons for the church in this text. If the same Holy Spirit that moved the Apostles to lead and call out sin, and that moved Barnabas to generosity lives in you and me, then what should that commonality of the body look like for us? A healthy body and healthy cells have certain substances and traits that they share in common, and this morning I want us to see three common traits of the Spirit’s presence that keeps us from sin and binds the unity of true believers together.

Generosity // The Lifeblood of the Church

The text really does beg the question: “Why did God see it fit to give (in essence) the death penalty in this passage? What did Ananias & Sapphira do that was so bad as to deserve this punishment?” I believe the answer is threefold, and the answers lie beneath the questions that Peter asks of Ananias in verses 3-4.

Certainly, the first portion of this question surrounds the issue of giving in the church, because that was what Ananias & Sapphira were doing. But we should note the context of how they were doing it. At the end of chapter 4, we are introduced to a significant individual in Acts, Barnabas. His name is Joseph, but he will be known for the remainder of the book as Barnabas, the son of Encouragement. His notable action is that he sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money (here implied “all the money”) and laid it at the Apostles Feet. He was doing this in accordance with the movement of the Holy Spirit and the desire to meet the needs of his brothers and sisters in the church. Acts 2:45 reminds us of what the early Christians were doing: “And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” Barnabas is named here to place a face with the many who were being generous in all honesty and truth. He is not doing this for recognition, but the disciples recognize him. It’s likely this is one reason among many that he later is fully invested in ministry. He has given up great wealth to go all in with Jesus.

So when Peter calls out Ananias as be brings his gift, Peter does call the gift into question. Perhaps, Peter knows what property goes for, and he can see on the face of it that the amount being brought does not match up with the amount that it would have brought. But more likely is the fact that the Lord has, by the power of the Holy Spirit, pointed out that this man’s bringing of this offering in a very public way does not add up to an honest gift. It is a dishonest gift. And this is not what offerings are meant to be. They are meant to be freely given. Peter’s question frames it this way: “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?” The first question essentially says: Ananias, nobody told you that you HAD to give this gift. In other words, the church was giving from their own free will. Nobody told him he had to sell his land. It was not a requirement for membership in the church to sell all property. Those who did so did it out of God’s compunction toward meeting a need. They had it. God needed it. They would give it. The second question essentially said: Ananias, nobody told you that you HAD to give all of this gift. You could have kept all of the proceeds for yourself. The funds were all at your disposal. You did not have to do what you did.

Again, where are further issues toward answering the questions of Ananias’ fate other than simply giving, but it must be noted that the church’s litmus test for giving in the early church was that it was freely given, it was motivated by the Holy Spirit, and it was toward the needs of the body of Christ. Christ had set the tempo for the church in the laying down of his life. The gift of Christ’s life on the cross was the ultimate generous gift. Every other gift given within the body would be a gift that would be given in the Spirit in which Christ gave. Paul says in Ephesians 5:25 that Christ “gave himself up for his church.” He says in Galatians 2:20: “Christ loved me and gave himself for me.” It is the sacrificial gift of his life, laid down as Hebrews 12:2 says: “for the Joy set before him.” Therefore, all giving in the church is to be inspired and in Spirit according to His gift. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:7: “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

We should note this for you and I today because it is still true. God calls every believer to give as they have means from a glad and cheerful heart, because this is how God gave to us. We don’t give to get noticed. We don’t give because of what we will get. We give toward the needs of the church because God gave. It is good and healthy for a church to talk about giving, but she must do so from the right motives. It is done out of love to meet the needs of the church and her mission.

What do the gifts of God’s people enable the church broadly, and ACC in specific, to do?

- It enables the church meet needs of the church and her community. As the Acts 2 church met needs of the hungry and needy, so the church ought to look toward meeting these needs with gifts as well.

- It enables the church to pay pastors and key servants. As Paul noted in 1 Timothy 5:17-18, it is good for the church to strategically pay pastors and teachers. In Paul’s words, “the Worker deserves his wages.” (And to those ends, I and Zach thank you for helping provide for our families as we do the work God has called us to in Auburn.)

-It enables the church to provide for meeting space and materials needed for the church to gather. When the church has space to meet, we are able to live out the Acts 2:42 pattern of prioritizing the gathering of the saints, also in line with Hebrews 10:24-25: “not neglecting meeting together.” Gathering places are important.

-Finally, it enables the church to send the message out. We are able to send the workers that we are commanded to pray for in Luke 10:2, and we are able to advance the cause of Christ in fulfillment of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20.

As the church gathers faithfully, giving is to be one of her regular patterns and part of her lifeblood.

Looking back at our central text we note that improper giving wasn’t the only problem of this couple. They had forgot about ...

Integrity // The Backbone of the Church

As Peter’s line of questioning really digs in, he goes past the surface issue of the gift to the words that accompanied the gift. He says in verse 3: ““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?” The sin is not simply a lack of giving, but of a lie that accompanied the gift. This is then in no way a pure gift, or a generous gift. It is one that is built upon a lie. When Ananias brings the gift and lays it at the apostle’s feet, it is accompanied with an expectation that his gift will be greeted and acknowledged with the same enthusiasm as the gift that greeted Barnabas’ gift.

But by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, Peter here calls out the lie on its face. Implicated here in verse 4, Peter says “You have not lied to men, but to God.” It is a multilayered lie. Peter says, You are lying to me. Peter says, you are lying to the church. And Peter says, you are lying to God. And this is very much tied to not just a belief of lying to a God out there in heaven somewhere that knows. No, it is tied to the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life and the heart of every believer. When we follow Jesus Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit. Peter promised it in Acts 2:38 “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” When the Holy Spirit is in a person’s life, they will start to change and display the “fruits of the Spirit.” Their life will look different. They will grow in what is right and hate what is false.

When Peter says that Ananias and Sapphira have lied to God, it is a multilevel lie that proves one thing to be true: They are false converts. They do not have the Holy Spirit. They do not listen to God. And they live by lies. There were likely other signs that this had been true in their lives, but this had now been done in a very public way. They Holy Spirit would have no more of this, and their lies would now be called out very publicly.

What we are seeing here, friends, is the very first case of church discipline. The penalty may seem severe to us, but it was not decided by us. It is decided by God to say to the church: Integrity matters. It matters for her leaders. It matters for those that desire to speak, teach or have a platform. It matters for those who take public actions or have great public words towards doing big things for God. Either we will be faithful to what is true, or we will fall for what is false. This is where many are both deceived and discouraged in the modern church. Our integrity has left us, and the watching world judges a church that seems to not be practicing what they are preaching.

If the church is a body, then the integrity of the church is the backbone and skeletal structure by which the whole of the body is able to stand. We do not stand in lies and falsities and sin. We stand in Spirit and in truth. Therefore, sin and outright rebellion must not be given a home here. It must take no root here. They are the works of the flesh that Paul names in Galatians 5:19-21

Galatians 5:19–21 ESV

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So, it is right and good for the church to stand strong like the bones inside of us on truth when it comes to sin. A faithful church is true to these things, and seeks to help each of the brothers and sisters grow in righteousness and not hide behind lies.

Finally, we look back at Peter’s questioning and we see the core issue:

Humility // The Nerve Center of the Church

Peter’s questions finally cut past the gift (in actions) and the lies that were told. He gets literally to the heart of the issue, and points out that the motive is truly an issue of the heart. Why give the dishonest gift and tell the Lie? Because of the prideful desires in the heart of this couple. The desire for Ananias and Sapphira to be BOTH wealthy and famous. If we don’t give up all the money, we will make bank! And if we tell the church we gave up all the money, they will greatly admire and praise us for the rest of our lives. Hannah Montana would be proud of you two, because you got the best of both worlds. Except that you didn’t. You lost both in losing your church and your life. Peter says to them ahead of their demise: “Why has Satan filled your heart? Why have you contrived this deed in your heart?” Can Satan fill the heart of the believer? The same heart that the Holy Spirit occupies? Not at all. But he can occupy the mind and heart of an unbeliever, and the actions of this couple prove the fruit of what is in the heart. And it is not God.

There was not a humble bone in the bodies of Ananias and Sapphira. Pride was their M.O. Every month was pride month for them, and this whole situation finally brought this to the surface. Pride, left in isolation and unrepented of within the Christian community, festered into lies and into boastful action. In the book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis described pride as the greatest sin:

According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

C. S. Lewis

You want to know where sin originates from? It is from the desire to place the self first. This is why it is essential teaching to the church that pride must die and humility take it’s place.

What does that look like? Again, the Savior Jesus modeled it, and Philippians 2:3-11

Philippians 2:3–11 ESV

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

I can’t describe it better than Paul describes it. Humility must be the predominant attitude of the church. In this regard, for the body, it is like the nervous system or the nerve center. We don’t live as independent cells from one another in the church. When one person hurts, we hurt with them. When one person has needs, we help them. When there is a place to serve, we do it because we are no longer in this life for SELF preservation, but for CHURCH preservation. This is what the true believer does.

Summary

This morning’s encounter with the grim tale of Ananias and Sapphira is one that has reminded us of the Jesus’ true intentions for his church. Christ has placed Generosity as the church’s lifeblood. Because he gave everything for us, we will find ways to give of our time, energy, means and our all for Christ the King. Christ has given Integrity as the backbone of the church. By standing on Christ’s teaching, who called himself the Way/Truth/Life, we can stand firm against the lies of the enemy. Christ has given humility as the nerve center of the church. As Christ humbled himself to meet the needs of others, so can we.

In this way, the gifts of the church should abide in the spirit of Barnabas’ good gifts: the one who gave freely, honestly & humbly. We should let his example inspire our giving and our surrender to Jesus Christ as our Lord.

But what about Ananias and Sapphira, you might ask? Should I give you warnings this morning and expect that one of you will be keeling over soon because you tried to drop a bad check in the offering? I don’t believe so. Today’s text has been a descriptive one rather than a prescriptive one. But it has stood the test of time in the scripture so that the church might understand the Fear of the Lord and be warned: God will not be mocked. There are points when he calls out and gives the due penalty for sin to the sinner directly, and there are many other points where the Lord is patient with the sinner, waiting on them to turn from sin and live.

And that is the part that YOU must be ready for. Whether it is today that you would perish, or the day that you die, or the day that Jesus returns, you will stand before the risen Son and give an account for your life. And unless you sin is covered in the blood of Jesus, you will die and go to hell. That will include those that played pretend with following Jesus. Their faith is not real.

Invitation

Friend, don’t let that be you. Follow the pattern of action we are Given in Acts by Peter. Believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Repent and be baptized. Turn from your sin, and do the thing that Jesus called you to obey him in (in Baptism). From there, you will grow in your knowledge and obedience in all things, we do that together each week as a church. But it starts for you when you hear and receive these words: “Jesus died for my sin.” If that is you today, please respond to Jesus!