Bible that make you scratch your head and say:
Huhh? And it’s one of those
stories that people sometimes ask me about, it really seems more fitting in the
Old Testament than as one of the first stories about the early church in the
New Testament.
God’s Closet series. We are looking at
some of the stories in the bible that sometimes cause people to question the
character of God. In week one I looked
at the reasons we need to open closet door.
For some they would just as soon not have to explain or look deeper than
they have to, perhaps afraid of what they might see, or afraid that it might
challenge how they view God.
we need to open the closet door in order to better understand the story, in
order to better understand God and to better understand ourselves. Too often we cherry pick from the bible
picking the stories we like and ignoring the ones we don’t like or don’t understand,
and that leads us to developing a caricature of God instead of seeing his true
Character. And until we understand God
we can never understand what he wants us to be as we follow him. And perhaps we need to heed George Bernard Shaw’s advice because he said. “If you can’t get rid of the skeleton in your closet,
you’d best teach it to dance.”
most problematic stories in the bible and it involves when the Israelites
entered into and conquered the promised land after their Exodus from
Egypt. And Rob told us that we Need
to Understand the Backstory, God is seeking Justice not
Genocide, Realize that God punishes sin and offers grace
to sinners, The Solution to War is The Cross. If you missed the
service last week you should check out the message on our website. It was excellent.
Testament and a story from the early church that sometimes confuses
people.
thousands of people are coming to the faith and with that come practical
problems and practical solutions. The
apostles are working full time to administer and teach this growing group of
people, which means they are no longer fishing, farming and doing whatever else
it was they did for a living prior to this.
And so there is now a need for providing for the leaders monetarily so
they could provide for the needs of their families.
community of faith. The widows, orphans
and others had needs that had to be met.
And the church responded. We read
in Acts 4:32 All the believers were of one heart and mind, and they felt
that what they owned was not their own; they shared everything they had. And then if we skip down a little
further it says Acts
4:34-35 There was no poverty among them,
because people who owned land or houses sold them and brought the money to the
apostles to give to others in need. Now
we don’t know if the Apostles had preached on giving or money, don’t know if
they passed the plate or had an offering box.
We don’t know anything other then the people were generous and the needs
were met. And then was even an example
given, Acts
4:36-37 For instance, there was Joseph, the
one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas . . . He sold a field he owned and brought
the money to the apostles for those in need.
Cool. And if that was all she wrote we would marvel
at the generosity and unselfish nature of the early church and that’s how many
people view the early church. But the
story continues and gets a little confusing.
There was a couple in the
early church by the name of Ananias and Sapphira and they were obviously
impressed with what Barnabas did and so they attempted to replicate his actions. They sold some property they had and brought
a portion of the money to the apostles for the church. So far so good. But that wasn’t all the story, we don’t know
how much they sold their property for, let’s say it was one of the lots behind
us in Kingswood North, in which case they sold their land for $100,000.00.
I’m sure they were looking
at the money and thinking, “This is a lot of money, the church probably doesn’t
need it all”. And so Ananias brought
part of the proceeds to the church, let’s say it was half, or $50,000.00 A pretty good chunk of change. And I’m sure it could have been used for a
lot of good. The problem came because
when Ananias came to the disciples he said, “Hey guys, I sold my property down
on Gatehouse Run and got fifty grand for it, and here it is, aren’t I a great
guy?”
Whoa, fifty grand is pretty
awesome gift, there was no problem with that aspect of what he did.
But listen to what
happened, the story was read earlier. Acts 5:3-4 Then Peter
said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit,
and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or
not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was yours to give
away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God.”
I don’t know how Peter figured this out, maybe
he had seen the MLS listing and knew what Ananias was asking for the property,
maybe he knew the guy who bought it or maybe, God told him. We don’t know, but we read what happened. Acts 5:5 As soon as
Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard
about it was terrified. I
guess. And they bundled him up and took
him out and buried him.
Guess that shows how tight
they were in the early church, what is it they say “Your
friends will help you move, your best friend will help you move bodies.”
Three hours later his wife
arrived, and Peter asked her if what they had given was what the property had
sold for and she confirmed that it was and he told her what had happened to her
husband and she dropped dead and they buried her as well. And I love the power of understatement
because the entire story is summed up in Acts 5:11 Great fear
gripped the entire church and all others who heard what had happened.
And so it’s easy to see this as a skeleton in God’s closet. After all here was this church couple who
sold their property and when they only give a half of it to the church instead
of all of it, then it appears that an angry and greedy god strikes them
dead. And when someone brings it up then
we shrug and say “I don’t know” or if we are real spiritual we say “God works
in mysterious ways.”
But perhaps instead of pushing the door shut and ignoring the bones maybe
it’s time we dusted this one off and taught it to dance.
Now a couple of thoughts
here, don’t you love how the word of God doesn’t cover up the tough
situations? If I was writing the Bible,
I think I’d skip that part. Think about
it, it showed that the early church wasn’t nearly as perfect as we sometimes
think it was and the entire thing about them dying, like who wants people to
know about that? That’s not the best PR,
“Hey come to our church and drop dead.”
It is said that Oliver Cromwell
the British politician from the 1700’s was disfigured by facial warts and at
one point was commissioning a portrait of himself and told the artist, “I desire you would use all your skill to paint my picture
truly like me … warts and everything.”
the early church with warts and everything.
these people dead? No, William Barclay summed it up when he wrote, “This story shows two things about the early church, the
expectancy of men’s minds and the extraordinary respect in which the apostles
were held. It was in that atmosphere
that the rebuke of Peter acted as it did.”
In other words, Barclay is suggesting that both Ananias and Sapphira
died of guilty consciences and the fear of God.
The mere suggestion that they had in fact lied to the Holy Spirit
literally scared them to death.
about money in church isn’t that always the way? And the story may be about a lot of things
but the truth is that is isn’t about money, at least not much. And this morning we aren’t going to talk
about money, at least not much. If you
are new at Cornerstone I really only preach about giving in April during our stewardship
emphasis time, so if you were hoping I’d be speaking about giving today you are
out of luck and you’ll have to come back in a couple of months.
is it about? Well first of all 1) It’s About Pride. There are all kinds of reasons for
serving God and for giving to God and most are honourable but some aren’t. But there is never a right reason for
doing the wrong thing.
see the example had been set by another guy who sold a field that he had and
gave the money to the church. We are
told that his name was Joseph but the apostles had given him a nick name and
that was Barnabas. When we think of the
name Barnabas we think Barnabas or maybe Barney, but in the original language
Barnabas meant “Son of Encouragement.”
of the early church and he keeps living up to his nickname, he is always coming
along side of people, whether it be Paul, or Timothy or John Mark with just the
right word at just the right time.
Whenever someone seemed a little blue or a little discouraged, the
encourager shows up. It was Henry Ford who said. “The ability to encourage others
is one of life’s finest assets.”
the church and sold a field he had and gave them the money. Probably didn’t make a big deal out of it,
didn’t expect any accolades, just doing what he had always done, encouraged
people. In this case he happened to use
money. And I’m sure people started to
talk about what a great guy Barnabas was.
And it was at that point that Ananias got thinking, “Boy it would sure
be nice if people talked about me that way, maybe if I sold my property and
gave the church the money people would talk about what a great guy I am and how
much I do for God.” Maybe he was like Louis XIV who once stated “Has
God forgotten all I have done for Him.”
and one given for the wrong reason. And
at this point Ananias was still safe, pride might not be a great characteristic
but it is part of being human. T.S. Eliot said “Most of the
trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.” And I guess in a way Ananias got his
way, he wanted people to know about him and talk about him, and they have been
for the last two thousand years. My Dad used to tell me, “Everyone
is good for something even if it’s being a bad example.”
It’s About Greed I don’t know what
happened at this point. Maybe he didn’t
know how much the property would bring, or maybe when he had the money in his
hand he got thinking about the new chariot he saw in the showroom window earlier,
or the Mediterranean cruise that Sapphira had been wanting to go on.
thought “If I sold some property and gave the money to the church” and actually
selling the property and giving the money to the church something changed. And instead of it being “giving the money to
the church” it became “giving some of the money to the church and keeping the
rest for myself.”
“Money is the root of all evil” but it
wasn’t Jesus who said that it was Paul and what he said was 1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And
some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced
themselves with many sorrows. So
I guess in a way it’s about money, but there are all types of greed.
greedy for recognition and we can be greedy for acceptance. Psychologist and author Erich Fromm said “Greed is a
bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need
without ever reaching satisfaction.”
when he brought the gift to the church Peter commented Acts 5:4 The
property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it,
the money was also yours to give away.
was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest. 3)
It’s About Honesty So Ananias
struggled with pride? I have and if you
were honest you probably have to. And he
was a little greedy. You ever suffer
from a little greed? I mean maybe just once. Want a bigger paycheque, a larger house,
a nicer car, better clothes? Maybe just once.
It happens, am I right? “Well
yeah sure, but Pastor that’s not greed, that’s just ambition.” Fine we’ll leave it at that.
property decides to keep some of the money, so far so good. And he brings the money to the church and
says, “Hey guys I sold my property just like Barnabas and here’s all the
money. Aren’t I great?”
heard part of it earlier. Acts 5:4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished.
And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a
thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”
not enough to suit Ananias. I wonder if
Ananias had even stopped to think about the fact that he was lying to God? I’m sure that he had already worked through
the process of the apostles never knowing how much he had gotten and how much
he had given. But had he stopped to work
through the fact that God knew? I’m sure
that he had at least read Numbers 32:23 But if you
fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the Lord, and you may be sure that your sin
will find you out.
gone over again and again through the years. You ready, you might want to write this down
because it’s deep. Here we go “You will
get caught.”
can’t lie to him about your behaviour and you can’t lie to him about your
motivation.
spouse doesn’t know the truth and your friends don’t know the truth and Denn
doesn’t know the truth. But the reality
was spelled out almost three thousand years ago when David wrote in Psalm 44:21 God would surely have known it, for he knows the secrets of
every heart. God knows the truth.
probably won’t drop dead, but what will it do to your spirit, to your
conscience and to your relationship with God?
Nietzsche who said, “I’m not upset that you
lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”
truth will set you free.”
truth? Has the truth set you free?
honest, honest with your self and honest with God.