Sermon Tone Analysis

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.

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.

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

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:

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?

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.

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

Deal with secret sins secretly

Deal with Private sins privately

Isaiah