Two Pictures
Notes
Transcript
I’m know I’m not alone in enjoying those home renovation shows, car restorations, rare finds in junk piles all polished up. It’s the before-and-after that gets me. It’s the two pictures. The reveal: here’s what it looked like before, here it is now. The difference between the two gets me. “Look at this rundown house, this dilapidated car, this hunk of junk. And now look at it!”
I love that stuff. Some of my favorite stories in the Bible are two pictures.
Joseph sold into slavery by his brothers and then Joseph as the second most powerful man in Egypt.
Little shepherd boy David and then great King David. Dead Lazarus and then raised from the dead Lazarus.
Woman with the issue of blood and then woman made well.
Demon-possessed crazy man and then restored, in his right mind missionary to the Decapolis.
Crucified, dead, and buried Jesus and then Resurrected and Conquering King.
I love two pictures set side-by-side…most of the time.
And then there are texts like the one we’re going to look at this morning. Seeing these two pictures side-by-side makes me very sad. It’s sad to read about. And it’s sad to live, sad to be part of something like the second picture here in our text.
The two pictures we have this morning, set side-by-side for us, are pictures of Church unity. More accurately, one picture of church unity and one of church disunity. One is beautiful; the other is ugly, disappointing, unbecoming the people of God.
And yet, this is how it is. The Church is not perfect. And no local church is perfect either. The Church/church is chalk-full of selfish, greedy, hypocritical sinners like me. And that makes for an ugly, broken picture at times.
Chances are, we’ve known the local church at its best and at its worst. We’re familiar with the Church at its very best and at its ugliest, historically and anecdotally.
Let’s look at these two pictures set side-by-side for us. Here’s the first picture:
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
A Picture of Unity (Acts 4:32-37)
A Picture of Unity (Acts 4:32-37)
Isn’t that one of the most beautiful descriptions of church life you’ve ever heard? For me, it’s even surpasses the description of the life of the early church in Acts 2, for this simple reason.
This here in Acts 4, this picture of the church united, sharing, caring comes after the threats and persecution and warnings they’ve just received.
The people of God didn’t run away or scatter from one another. They didn’t abandon assembling together, neglect worshiping the Lord,
or cease proclaiming Jesus and teaching about Jesus (even though they had just been expressly commanded to stop). Here we have the church, amid difficulty and tension and stress, united. They’re sharing. They're caring for one another.
I love this picture of the church because it shows the commitment to and importance of the church in the lives of the believers. And this, in what is likely the most unfriendly climate the early church has faced yet.
This whole “church” thing is just getting started. They had, maybe, a solid 3-4 weeks without any trouble or any pushback. Now, the religious leaders and rulers of the people are on their case, and it’s about to get much worse.
But for now, here’s the church: united, caring, sharing.
Those three words can sound so cheesy, can’t they? If we put that out there as our slogan, we’d probably all get beat up at recess. It sounds like we should all be holding hands, swaying back and forth, singing “We are the World” or a verse of “Kumbaya”. United. Caring. Sharing.
It may seem a bit of a pipe-dream, completely unrealistic even. But it’s not! It can be the reality for the church, by God’s grace.
By God’s powerful and amazing grace, and the church’s dependence upon Him, we can be united. We can and will care for one another. We will desire to share what we have with one another.
Some people will say, “Well, it’s not that simple.”
These things aren’t simple. And yet, they kind of are.
It can be incredibly difficult to be united, to care for the other more than you care for yourself, to share what you have with those around you; it can be incredibly difficult because, much of the time, we are incredibly selfish.
This is why the Bible has to tell us, over and over, to honor others above ourselves, to treat others the way we want to be treated, to love one another, to lay down our lives for our friends.
These things—unity, caring, sharing—are difficult, and yet, it’s all pretty simple, too. With a dependence upon the Lord, it’s entirely possible, nay, even likely these three will take place.
Notice the phrase at the end of verse 33: “And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all...”
It’s God’s grace at work in the church that unites. It’s God’s grace that helps us care for one another. God’s grace that enables us to loosen our grip on our possessions and share with those who have need.
With God’s grace powerfully at work in them all, the church was one in heart and mind (v. 32) and shared everything they had (v. 32).
Oh, to be one in heart and mind as a body of believers. Do you think would have been possible for them apart from the grace of God? I know, for a fact, it would have been impossible. Obviously, I don’t know any of the members of this first congregation. But I know people. And I know anywhere you have even 2 people, there’s opportunity for division. Imagine 10,000 or so people.
But the Lord was at work powerfully. If there’s any unity, it’s His work. It’s His people surrendering to Him.
"Sharing everything they had” isn’t communism. This isn’t forced giving. There’s no government intervention telling the Christians they must give away their money, forfeit their property, surrender their wages.
This isn’t communism; it’s Christianity. And it’s beautiful because it’s voluntary. There’s no forcing them to give. This isn’t a shakedown. They don’t feel obligated. It’s free. And joyful! The early church realizes they get to do this; it’s not that they have to. They get to and want to!
With God’s grace powerfully at work in them all, the church continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus (v. 33) —their chief task, their great commission.
Nothing—not even direct threats from the highest powers in Jerusalem—nothing is going to stop the early church from preaching Jesus, teaching Jesus.
We are united in this one task: preaching, testifying, sharing, proclaiming, telling others about Jesus. Nothing we do is more important than this.
With God’s grace powerfully at work in them all, the church made sure there were no needy persons among them (v. 34)
The early church cared so much for one another, that the individual members were willing to share whatever they had—house, property, shirt of their back.
The believers’ sharing exemplified the OT ideal of there not being a needy person among them. They are doers of the word. The Lord says to care for one another, and so they do.
4 However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,
7 If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. 8 Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.
I’ve seen incredible demonstrations of this kind of caring/sharing among the local church. In fact, every church I’ve been part of—big and small—has demonstrated this kind of caring and sharing. Each us of sitting in this room could tell a story or two or ten about the ways in which we have been helped by the church.
It was figured up once by people much smarter than me that if every Christian in the U.S. gave 10% to the church (the average is 2%), and if every church away gave 10%, the basic needs of every person on the planet would be met.
Small as we are, we’re able to give away a ridiculous amount of money each month because you all are ridiculously faithful in your giving.
We are able to meet needs and help one another. By the grace of God, we are (re: 1 Timothy 6) positioned to “do good, to be rich in good deeds”; we are “generous and willing to share” because we “don’t put our hope in wealth,” but we “put our hope in the One who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
There should be no needy among us. If you are in need, let me know. If you see a need, meet it or let us know so we can meet it.
There were some among the early believers who took this to the extreme and sold [whatever they had] and it was distributed to anyone who had need (v. 34-35)—Barnabas is held up as an example of this radical generosity.
This is the first in the long line of encouraging behavior from ol’ Joseph; this guy was so encouraging, no one knows him as Joseph, only “Barnabas”. That’s a pretty cool nickname if you can get it.
Throughout the book of Acts, Barnabas is a pretty major character. The first look we have at the guy is encouraging; it’s a lifestyle of radical generosity, joyful generosity that says, “Hey, all I have is from the Lord so I’ll use all I have for the Lord and for His people.”
What a beautiful picture it is! When God’s people, together, in one mind and heart are united in purpose and mission, caring for one another, sharing what they have with one another—incredible ministry and witness occurs. When the church is united, it’s evidence of God’s grace. The church united has great power.
United. Sharing. Caring. It’s a great, God-glorifying picture.
…and then our humanity creeps in. The sinfulness present in each of us rears its ugly head. And we have the second picture,
A Picture of Disunity (Acts 5:1-11)
A Picture of Disunity (Acts 5:1-11)
If only there was the one picture, the picture of Acts 4:32-37. It’d be great if the story stopped with that picture and jumped to the next positive moment in the life of the church.
But that wouldn’t have been honest, and the Bible is always honest. It tells the whole story, warts and all. Here we have one of those stories...
As we come to Acts 5:1, and everything looks to be going swimmingly for the 1st Century church:
1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.
“Man! Would you look at this! It just keeps going! Two more church folk—fine people—selling some of what they have, putting it at the apostles’ feet…wow!”
It’d be great if that was it. How beautiful the picture would have been if Luke had written about Barnabas and Ananias and Sapphira—these wonderful, generous people.
The problem, however, is revealed in verse 2:
2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
“Come on, man! What are ya doing?!”
This is the story of a man who’s trying to look good to those around him. It’s like his face is all painted up, like he’s got a mask on. Jesus might have called Ananias “a whitewashed tomb”—nice and clean and polished-up on the outside, but filthy, rotting death on the inside.
The positive picture of the community’s sharing is marred by the story of this couple who abused the practice by holding back a portion of a gift while claiming to give it totally to the church.
This is just scummy.
They want the recognition, maybe a fancy new nickname (truthfully, anything’s better than “Ananias” or “Sapphira”, except maybe “Barrett”).
This husband and wife want all the kudos and part of the money. They want their cake, and they want to eat part of it, too. They want people to see them dropping the big check or the large bill in the offering plate, but as soon as everyone notices how generous, they’re making change for themselves.
What’s crazy is that Ananias and Sapphira could have kept all the money from the sale of their property. Peter tells him as much:
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
It was theirs to do with what they pleased. He didn’t have to give any of the money. It belonged to them; it was at their disposal.
Peter is saying, “You could have done whatever you wanted to with it, and out in the open. You didn’t need to hide what you were doing!”
And now the problem is exacerbated. Peter says that Satan filled Ananias’ heart and that Ananias has lied to God. The first picture was the church filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, Satan has filled this man’s heart.
Yikes. Not good.
Ananias and Sapphira abused the fellowship through their deception. Their deception threatened the unity of the church.
Their actions will cause division, disunity, a break in the harmonious relationship the church enjoys with its members.
The couple kept back part of the money. The word we translate kept back typically means doing so in a secret and dishonest way.
It’s the same word used in the story of Achan in Joshua 7. Achan received a death sentence for holding back some of the spoils from Ai that were dedicated to God. Achan kept back some of the treasure, intentionally trying to deceive the people and trying to deceive God.
Isn’t it crazy when people think they can pull one over on God? “Just pull the wool over His eyes. He probably won’t know...”
What a foolish idea.
Ananias and Sapphira illustrate the ugly side of the church; the sin that’s present in each one of us.
This is simple disunity. It’s selfishness. It’s greed and lying. It’s doing something to be praised all the while you’re actually not doing that thing.
Meghann and I had been watching an episode or two of “The Amazing Race” after the kids all went to bed. I mean, it’s summer and there’s no baseball to watch; what’s even the point of owning a television?
All the contestants were donating their leftover money to a charity in some third-world part of the county—all their leftover money. And then a couple come up, take a $20 out of their fanny pack, and announce as they’re giving it to the charity: “Big donation. Very generous. Bet you’re gonna appreciate that!”
After this heinous act of self-promotion and selfishness, the host told the couple that every other team gave all their money to the orphanage, not just $20.
The guy on “The Amazing Race” probably felt something like Ananias here (found out, called out, about this big). Only Ananias suffered a much different fate.
5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
Disunity is met by the wrath of God. God hates and Satan loves when the church is divided.
7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”
“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”
9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
Ananias and his wife Sapphira are spiritual posers. They are liars. They are deceptive.
They don’t care at all for the church—for her members, for her reputation; they only care about themselves and what they want. That’s all. “To heck with unity, I’m only concerned with me.”
“The Sunday School curriculum isn’t what I’m used to. I don’t like the music, the carpet, the pews. The sermon’s too long. They’ve changed the coffee. The sermon’s too short. We don’t observe communion enough. We take communion too often. Shouldn’t the preacher wear a tie?”
We’ve heard it all, haven’t we? I can honestly (and sadly) say about 15 years ago, two women and a couple of men got into a verbal argument about the color of chairs and walls in the new sanctuary we were building. It almost came to blows. If there weren’t other people there ready to step in, I would have had a front-row seat to Thunderdome. They had Jack Johnson and Tom O’Leary waiting to throw down and fisticuffs.
It was unbelievable.
That’s the picture some people have of the church, one that is divided, hostile, hypocritical. It’s unfortunate, and too often it’s true. The church isn’t what it should be because selfish, hypocritical people want what they want and don’t give a thought about others.
But death seems a little steep, doesn’t it? I mean, it was “just a small, white lie.”
Sin—all sin—is an affront and offense to the Holy God. The wages of sin is death.
This couple lied to God, not just to the members of the church. They conspired against the Lord, testing the Holy Spirit.
Their attitude and decision was selfish, dishonest, in tune with the acts of the sinful nature (Galatians 5:19ff). Theirs was discord, jealousy, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy. It’s an ugly, horrible picture.
In each of these pictures, the Holy Spirit is at work powerfully. The Spirit is especially present in the community—blessing it with unity of fellowship, and also bringing judgment on those who acted against the unity of the church.
11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
>We all want unity. We want to resemble the first of the two pictures, don’t we. We want to be united, caring, sharing. No church wants to look like the second picture, but it happens.
We want unity, but we can’t just decide to be united. It’s not like the church board or the elders can take a vote and decide, “Yep, all in favor. We’re going to be united.”
For unity, we must depend on God’s grace.
God’s grace must be at work powerfully in all of us. This means, in part, that we treat one another with the grace we’ve been shown. We give one another more grace than we can imagine, because we’ve been given an amazing measure of grace.
For unity, we follow the Holy Spirit’s lead.
When we’re convicted, we repent. When we’re challenged by Him to act, we ask for strength, and then we act. When we’re tempted to be selfish and greedy and hypocritical, we ask the Holy Spirit to work it out of us.
For unity, we cling to Jesus.
We talk about Him, share Him, preach Him. We rest in His finished work on the cross. His blood covers all those who have been given faith to believe. We are not many individuals. We are His church bought by His blood, kept by Him for eternity.
>This morning, in a show of unity, we are going to sing together, once more. And we’re going to partake of the Lord’s Supper together, uniting together around the bread and the cup, focusing on that which unites us and brings us together.
