Hypocrisy
Acts The Birth Of The New Testament Church • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
Jab 1
Jab 2
Jab 3
The bible can be comforting in that in its honesty we see less than perfect people doing less than perfect things. Aren’t you glad that we see imperfect people? I am.
We are studying the book of Acts and things are going great for the new church. They are growing in their numbers and they are growing in their persecution.
But so far we have seen a church is really unified. But all good things seem to come to an end.
32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
33 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. 34 But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. 35 And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. 36 For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.
32 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. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 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 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
What a beautiful picture of the body of Christ. The real body. They are working together and are one. Guys are selling their stuff and giving it away to whoever needed it for the collective whole. And everyone is excited, everyone is happy but there always something that creeps in and throws a wrench in the works.
So we pick up today talking about this couple Ananias and his wife Sapphira and they are members in this new and excited church.
1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 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. 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.” 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.
7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 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.” 10 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. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
This story is one of the most difficult stories in Scripture, especially for us in this day.
Now remember that the church is still in it’s infancy. They are seeing God move in miraculous ways. Healings are taking place, lives are being transformed, everybody is getting along.
It’s a little bit of heaven on earth. The church is still in this honeymoon period but we know that every honeymoon must end, every vacation finishes and reality sets back in. You see we are still in the place where everyone is spending all of their time together. They are praying together and listening to teaching and they are really seeing God move. It’s like some great retreat or conference.
You see we are still in the place where everyone is spending all of their time together. They are praying together and listening to teaching and they are really seeing God move.
It’s like some great retreat or conference.
We read in the chapter prior to this about the great generosity that is happening and there is probably a lot of attention given to the fact that people are selling their possessions and their properties and its just a grand time.
It looks like those who were being generous were probably hearing cheers and were getting attention and so this couple Ananias and Sapphira wanted to get in on that action. They sold a pieced of land but the difference was they kept some of the profit for themselves.
They sold a pieced of land but the difference was they kept some of the profit for themselves.
When bring the money to the apostles (probably with cheering) Peter asks the question “why has satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy spirit and keep for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? Then Peter tells him, you haven’t lied to us, but you have lied to God.
Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy spirit and keep for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? Then Peter tells him, you haven’t lied to us, but you have lied to God.
And Ananias falls down dead! The story continues to say that the same thing happened 3 hours later to his wife. Peter asked was this everything you got for the land? She said yes and then she falls dead and is buried.
What does this mean and how are we supposed to understand this?
The greek word used for hypocrisy is a word that means to wear a mask. To wear a mask.
What happened to them and why? And what do WE take away from it 2000 years later.
Sin is to be taken seriously.
What we need to understand here is how much God hates hypocrisy.
Ananias and Sapphira
The Message of Acts 2. Ananias and Sapphira Are Punished for Their Hypocrisy (5:1–11)
They wanted the credit and the prestige for sacrificial generosity, without the inconvenience of it. So, in order to gain a reputation to which they had no right, they told a brazen lie. Their motive in giving was not to relieve the poor, but to fatten their own ego.
First shadow on the new church
It was almost A holy rivalry? Well, they sold this and look at how everyone looks at them. We will sell more and get more praise.
But we must understand that the judgement for them wasn’t that they didn’t give all the money. That wasn’t it. It wasn’t about the money, it was that they wanted it to look like he gave more than he did. They wanted to appear more holy than they were.
Peter says:
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.”
Peter is saying that you could have given whatever you wanted to and that would have been great. But you are lying to make it appear as if you have done more.
Ananias dies, “great fear came upon them”.
And in this instance John Mccarthur says: God wants to protect the church from those who fake spirituality in order to impress others
This is when we want to get to know a little bit more about God. Why exactly did this happen?
John Mcarthur says: God wants to protect the church from those who fake spirituality in order to impress others
Maybe to see what they could get away with/
God hates hypocrisy. Can we look at what hypocrisy is and what it means?
Can we look at what hypocrisy is and what it means?
Dictionary of Bible Themes 8767 hypocrisy
An outward pretence masking an inner reality.
The greek word for hypocrisy means to wear a mask. Like one would wear if they were working in a theater. Wearing a mask, appearing different than what you are. You act in a certain way impress others. You try to be someone you aren’t.
You act like how you want people to think of you. You try to be someone you aren’t.
In any great forest you will find many huge trees. They tower above other trees and appear to be the very picture of strength and maturity. However, loggers will sometimes not even bother to cut down these huge trees. At first one wonders, “Why leave them? After all, a tree that big must contain twice or thrice the amount of lumber as a smaller tree.”
The reason is simple. Huge trees are often rotten on the inside. They are the hollow trees that children’s picture books show raccoons living in. And they are the trees that are often blown over in a strong windstorm because, while they appear to be the picture of strength, in fact their hollowness makes them weak.
This is the essence of hypocrisy—appearing strong on the outside but hollow and rotten on the inside.701
n.
Dictionary of Bible Themes 8767 hypocrisy
An outward pretence masking an inner reality.
again, the Lord cannot stand hypocrisy.
Listen to what God says in..
To know what God thinks about hypocrisy we don’t have to go very far. Even though there really isn’t an equivalent to the word hypocrisy the sprit is there.
Lesson Three Church discipline
13 The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
Deal with secret sins secretly
Deal with Private sins privately
Isaiah
Deal with Public sins publically.
God is protecting the purity of the church.
Too many people think that they can call themselves a follower of Christ and think that they have done what they need to do. That’s it.
It’s not enough to say you are a Christian. It’s not enough to just come to church and wear the t-shirt. Or speak the language. It has to be your life.
.
What it means is that you have to, I have to be genuine.
Jesus had some words to say about being genuine, specifically, the pharisees in the way that they kept the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law.
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
Hypocrites. Study this word
This means that they would tithe even the salt they would put on their french fries to “follow the law” but at the same time turning a blind eye to a person in need, or would not look to help someone down on their luck.
Their religion was all about making themselves look religious, but that wasn’t what was in their hearts.
matthew 23 jesus criticizes hypocrisy.
The famous sermon on the mount says much about how genuine we should be.
When I act a certain way in order to get someone to think different about me I am being a hypocrite.
So if God hates Hypocrisy so much we should be concerned about that and we have to figure out what should we do about it?
Fellowship with God
To find out we have to ask. Lord, where am I being a hypocrite? What part of my life is an act? Where am I wearing the mask?
Fellowship with God’s people, the church
The Message of Acts 2. Ananias and Sapphira Are Punished for Their Hypocrisy (5:1–11)
We have now seen that, if the devil’s first tactic was to destroy the church by force from without, his second was to destroy it by falsehood from within. He has not given up the attempt, whether by the hypocrisy of those who profess but do not practise, or by the stubbornness of those who sin but do not repent. The church must preserve its vigilance
Drawing attention to Jesus, not ourselves.
Because the Holy Sprit is always with us. we cannot lie to him.
The Holy Spirit is part of the God-Head. Peter says in that they lied to God and lied to HS
Let’s look at some ways we can can resist being hypocritical in our lives. Three ways to remove the mask.
I can remove my mask by being...
Authentic in my worship
Worship is for God and for God alone. When we worship God, when we do things for him we do it as if it is just something between us.
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Its all about being genuine isn’t it? And sometimes if we are honest we can admit that we aren’t always genuine. The point is to remember that we worship for God. It isn’t for others to see, it isn’t to impress people. And sometimes our motives are just impure.
I know that there were guys who would go to this youth group because that was where the pretty girls are. There are people who go to churches because they have a better building or a new building but that isn’t what it is all about.
Our genuine worship is aimed at God. That is what Authentic Worship is. We can remove that mask and be authentic in our worship.
We can remove the mask of hypocrisy by being genuine in our prayer. When we do pray it doesn’t need to be a show.
And the more generous you are the more you will begin to enjoy it.
Our relationship with God.
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Have you ever been in a time of prayer where that one person goes on and on and on and on and they aren’t really saying anything? They just want to be heard? Now, we need to be careful with this because we can’t always judge the hearts of people. But are they praying really long prayers because they are in God’s presence and they are just really excited about that? That would be fine, that would be a good thing.
But if someone wants to just be heard and they have an audience then don’t waste other peoples time.
It is interesting because most of us probably don’t spend enough time in prayer. We need more prayer. We need corporate prayer, meaning, the body of Christ needs to spend more time praying together and we need to figure out as a church how we can do this better.
I love prayer but I can sometimes put a mask on regarding prayer. Todd comes and prays for me, some of the men of the church will come and pray for me prior to the service and their prayers are great and they are meaningful but sometimes in my own head I have struggled because of the cares of the world and the stuff that has to happen.
I am thinking about how I have to talk to so and so today, or that the music is too loud prior to the service or that I hope that my ipad is gonna turn on and I all of a sudden find out that I am not even paying attention to the prayer. That isn’t genuine prayer.
To be authentic in our prayer, to be genuine sometimes we need to work at it, to make a conscious effort to be present with God so that we aren’t hypocrites.
Finally, we can take off our masks by being
Be genuine in your love
16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
English Standard Version Chapter 12
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Have you ever experienced someone who says they love you but it is obvious that they aren’t genuine? Or that they want to do something for you but it is for something they will get out of the deal?
Like the woman I heard about who wanted to get married not because she thought very much about a life with her mate but because she really wanted to have a big wedding. It isn’t genuine.
As Christians, our love is supposed to be genuine. And remember that
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13
That was written to a church. Not to a couple. It was written so that Christians would know how to treat one another. And feelings aren’t in there at all. Love… genuine love is a choice. It is an action, it is a verb.
So, genuine, non hypocritical love is a choice that each of us can make. Not to be a hypocrite.
God takes hypocrisy very seriously and every christian should do everything to make sure that there isn’t hypocrisy in their lives.
You see we need to understand that the reason why this couple perished was because God was a just God. I should stay that God is still a just God, which means that our sin demands payment.
You see we need to understand that the reason why this couple perished was because God was a just God. I should stay that God is still a just God, which means that our sin demands payment.
But even though God is just, he is also loving and also full of grace.
It was a just God that led Jesus to the cross. It was a just God that demanded the payment for sin.
But it is a God full of grace that allowed our sin to be paid for by the perfect sacrifice in Jesus Christ.
It is through our trusting in Jesus that we can be saved. It is placing our faith in Jesus and in Jesus only that will save our soul from eternal separation from God.
Today I am asking you to put your trust in Jesus to save you. Listen to him call your name and surrender to him.
And then we live lives free of hypocrisy. We take off those masks and live truthfully, unapoligetically.
Let’s ask God together to expose the area’s of hypocrisy in our lives. To shed light on the dark areas so that we can be true disciples as we make true disciples.
AW Tozer said that we can know the right words yet never be changed. This is the difference between information and transformation.