Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good Morning, how are we doing this morning?

I share a birthday with President Abraham Lincoln and for that and other reasons I have always been drawn to his story, his quotes and sayings.

“Honest Abe” had a humor and wit about him, but he also took his integrity very seriously and he genuinely cared for our country that was in his day being torn about by a civil war.

Not an easy position to be in.

No matter what decision he made he knew that he would instantly gain fierce enemies and short lived friendships.

How do you handle a position like that?

When you are pulled in opposite directions?

One of Lincoln’s famous quotes from that era was when he said,

“I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth.

I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.”

Whether Lincoln meant that he would have to live with himself or whether he was talking directly of his Christian faith we don’t really know, but either way the truth of the statement rings out plain.

People of Integrity make their decisions not based on the response of others, but based on deep convictions in their soul.

And this was one of the things that Jesus was constantly condemning in the the religious leaders of His day.

They were playing to the popular crowd, the powerful and the elite.

Sure they were saying all the right things in public, but behind closed doors they were doing the same things that they condemned others for…and even worse.

They may have been saying even doing what the law required for righteousness, but they were not being righteous.

Matthew 23:1-5a

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do.

For they preach, but do not practice.

4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others.

Then Jesus goes on to described these religions leaders in many ways.

Dirty cup, whitewashed tombs, brood of vipers, blind guides, blind fools - the Greek word here translated as “fool” is where we get our word “moron” - yeah, not exactly compliments - but more than any of these Jesus identified the religions leaders of His day as “Hypocrites”.

As in Matthew 15 when He says:

And we have talked about this word “hypocrite” before, it comes from the Greek word ὑποκριτής (hippo-creet-ace) and it means “an actor, pretender or stage player.”

It literally translates as “an interpreter from underneath” pointing to ancient Greek Theater where the actors always wore masks and they spoke from underneath that mask, pretending to be someone that they were not.

Which is all find and good when you are acting on a stage in a theatre - but it is a very different thing to be a “hypocrite” in real life.

Tension

And this is something important to keep in mind as we continue in our series aimed at exploring the birth of the Christian Church.

The EKKLESIA of Jesus was not to be like what Jesus found among the religious leaders of His day.

Instead, Jesus’ Church would be marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of the believers who would gather together to point more and more people to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Last week we saw how the Church, the Eklessia was marked by a supernatural generosity.

That because of their new found hope in the resurection, because of their belief in the resurrection of Jesus, these early Christians were treating all their personal property as if it belonged to anyone among them who had need.

So we ended last week with the description found at the end of chapter 4 of the book of acts that said:

Acts 4:34–35 (ESV)

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.

What a wonderful statement of generosity among these early believers.

But then Chapter 4 continues to mention the generosity of one man in particular.

Acts 4:36–37 (ESV)

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.

So Luke brings us from the general statement that “many” were doing this thing to a very specific example in this man who is best known through out Scripture as “Barnabas, the son of encouragement”.

And yes, this is the same Barnabas who was greatly influential in the life of the early Church.

For one thing, he was the one who encouraged the Church to accept a zealous young man named Saul as a believer, even though he was once a sworn enemy of the Christian Church.

Not an easy sell, so certainly he was a man who was well respected.

He was then set apart by God to be a missionary along with this Saul guy, and is even called an “Apostle” together with the Apostle Paul.

In other words, Barnabas’ story unfolds from this point forward to be a major player in the development of the early Church.

And while Chapter 4 ends here, I believe that Luke includes this introduction to Barnabas to present a start contrast between how Barnabas encouraged the early Christian Church with his act of generosity and how the couple in Chapter 5 so widely missed the mark.

So open your Bibles up with me to the grim story of Ananias and Saphira from Acts Chapter 5, page 913 in the Bibles in the Chairs.

I will pray and we will look into their story together.

Truth

The first theme that we are faced with is that...

1. Believers are called to deal honestly with God and fellow believers (Acts 5:1–4).

This is what we see that Barnabas did...

Acts 5:1–2 (ESV)

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.

The phrase “keep back for himself” is actually only on word in Greek and it is the word νοσφίζω (nos-phee-zo) and it means to hold back, keep back, steal or embezzle.

I think “Embezzlement” is a good modern word for it, because this couple presented the money as if it was all there, even though they had “kept back” some for themselves.

In short…they lied.

The American Poet and Humorist Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, “Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all.”

And this is what is happening here, this couple has grabbed the handle of a lie, in order to present themselves to be as generous as Barnabas without having to actually be that generous.

In other words, they tied to manipulate God’s people into praising them for something they did not really do.

But this is a time when God was working powerfully through the Apostles and Peter was made aware of what was happening.

Acts 5:3–4 (ESV)

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.”

The money was theirs to do with what they wanted.

It they so desired to just give part of the proceeds to the Church then so be it.

It still would have been a generous offering- but they took what could have been a good thing and turned it into an evil thing because they did it dishonestly.

The key word here in Peter’s rebuke is the repeated word “heart”.

Jesus always brought things back to the heart, and He had taught His followers to do the same.

So it was never just about what was done on the outside, but the heart out of which such a thing was done.

So this is the kind of hypocrisy that Jesus was constantly condemning in the religious leaders and He was not going to have it in His EKKLESIA.

So this was no small miss step, as Peter opens his rebuke with the rhetorical question, “Why has Satan filled your heart?”.

I wonder what it takes for “Satan” the enemy and opposer of all of God’s purposes and desires for our world to fill ones heart?

Clearly this is serious business.

But still, pointing to Satan’s role in this did not absolve Ananias of his sin.

Peter continues to ask “Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart?

You have not lied to man but to God.”

And I am beginning to wonder if this is not where Ananias’ sin was elevated.

It is not that lying to men is insignificant, it is just that lying to God is much more significant.

Because implicit in the act of lying is the assumption that we can get away with it.

We would not tell a lie if we didn’t think it would work.

And after all, people have lied to us and we believed them so we can probably get one over on someone else too.

They are just a person like we are…and I wonder if that isn’t what is so offensive in this.

It is one thing when we violate God’s commands and lie to a person…but what does it say when we think we can lie to God.

What does it say about him if we think that if we are really sneaky, then maybe we could even fool God.

Doesn’t it show how little we think of him.

Isn’t it a terrible affront to His glory and majesty to think for one second that the God who created us mind, body and soul and knows every one of our deepest thoughts and desires could somehow be misled or manipulated by us.

Aren’t in fact declaring God to be less than God if we think we can lie... to Him?

To be clear, God doesn’t expect us to be perfect, we are all in the process of sanctification, but He does expect us to be honest with Him and not to think that we can fool Him like we have fooled others… or even ourselves.

There is just no room for that kind of hypocrisy in the life of a believer.

Which leads us to our second theme:

2. Believers who attempt to deceive God will suffer serious consequences (Acts 5:5–10).

Peter makes his declaration and then...

Acts 5:5–6 (ESV)

5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last.

And great fear came upon all who heard of it.