“Money Problems at the Church”
Acts 5:1-11
On your way to church today you may have been greeted by someone who wanted you to buy a Sunday paper. They are stationed I read that one of these workers spotted a man who would drive up, buy a paper with a $20 bill, get his change, then go to the other side of the intersection and do the same thing until he had covered all of them. This worker was curious why this man was doing this so the worker called the police. As it turns out the $20 bills were counterfeit and by doing this he got a paper and $19 in change from each one. $19 in real money. But he also got caught.
Many times people who work in banks or in retail are trained to spot counterfeit bills. One of the ways this is done is by taking the bill and holding it up to the light and then looking at the president’s picture on the bill. If the bill is real and you hold it up to the light, beside the picture you can see an image of the President but not unless you hold it up to the light.
There are plenty of people who come to church week after week .... they look like believers, they pray like believers. They sing like believers and they dress up like believers . To the untrained eye they look like believers. But the only way to tell if they are real is the same way you can tell if money is real. If you hold them up to the light, which is Jesus Christ, you should see the image of God in their lives.
It is unfortunate that many have never committed their lives to Jesus Christ and they are walking around as counterfeit believers. Some have done it for so long that they have even fooled themselves and have convinced others that they are the real deal. This is the message I want you to hear this morning. God is not pleased with part-time believers. He is not pleased with part-time devotion, part-time commitment or part-time service.
The Bible says we cannot serve God and riches at the same time. In fact not just riches, we cannot serve God and anything else. The OT says the God we serve is a jealous God and He wants first place in our lives.
As we have been walking verse by verse through the book of Acts we have seen the birth of the early church. These early believers have been filled with the Holy Spirit. They have preached the gospel, they have healed the sick and the Bible tells us they were of one heart and mind... so much so that they began to sell their possessions and share everything they had with one another. When they sold their things they would lay the money at the feet of the apostles so that it could be used to help anyone who was in need.
As a matter of fact we read of Barnabas who was a committed follower of Jesus. Barnabas sold a field that he owned and brought all the money to the apostles. Barnabas did this for the simple reason that he loved the Lord and he loved the God’s church. Barnabas was not under pressure of any kind...he did it because of his commitment to Christ.
Now we come this morning to a married couple in chapter 5 by the name of Ananias and Sapphira. They too owned a piece of property. They no doubt had seen how Barnabas was praised for giving his land. Maybe the pastor bragged on Barnabas in church...maybe they dedicated a pew to Barnabas and now this couple wanted some recognition as well.
We all know how it is when we do a good thing but we do it for the wrong reason. We give to be seen. We help to be noticed. We come to church because it’s good for our image. We all do it. Ananias and Sapphira wanted to do a good thing but they did it with the wrong motive ....and they got caught.
This morning I want you to see the steps this couple took...where they started and where it all ended. (1) First of all, together they sold their property and together they held back from God. This was the effort of 2 people. Even though Ananias is named 1st, clearly Sapphira was involved. Luke tells us her that Ananias put the money aside for himself and that he did so with his wife’s full knowledge.
To this point the early church is doing well. From a group of 120 they had seen over 5000 people come to Christ and now they were all worshiping together. Through the power of the Holy Spirit Peter healed a man who was crippled from birth. This man who was probably known by everyone in town as the man who sat at the temple gate every day begging was now shouting and praising God and running up and down the streets of Jerusalem. And as a result people were coming to Christ by the thousands. That is the power of a changed life. But
unfortunately there is a flip side to almost very story. A positive testimony for Christ can draw people into the kingdom... but sin in the form of cheating, theft and lying can push the lost even further away from God. This couple sold their property, their intentions looked good but they held back part of the money for themselves. The rest they laid at the apostle’s feet.
2. We see that together they gave to God, together they lied to God. It seems apparent that the Holt Spirit revealed the deception that was taking place to the apostle Peter. Peter was a pastor to this congregation. He was a powerful preacher and he loved the people. This is the same man who denied Jesus 3 times but God is now using him and his commitment to Christ is even stronger now.
We see something here that we do no read very many times in the scripture. When someone receives Jesus as their Savior we receive Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit comes into our lives to live there forever. And I believe if the Holy Spirit lives anywhere He come and lives in our minds. And so when we are filled with the Holy Spirit our minds are filled with Godly thoughts and in turn we do the right thing. But here we see a man, a believer in the church and Peter asks him how is it that Satan has filled your heart? Can someone actually know Christ, serve Him, do His work and yet give their lives over to Satan? Absolutely. How does this happen? It’s called free will. We have choices to make every day..we can make the choice to have the Holy Spirit fill our hearts and deceive us. And that is what Ananaias and Sapphira did. Together they gave to God. Together they lied to God.
(3) Together they tested God. Together they both died. Now if you are slightly confused at this point I can understand why. Because at first glance we see a couple who sold their property, gave some of the money to God and kept some for themselves. And why not? As he says in v. 4 didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? Wasn’t the money at your disposal? In other words they could have sold the property and kept all the money and everything would have been fine. But you see together they lied to the Holy Spirit. Their sin was not that they failed to give all the money but rather in pretending to do so.
Barnabas had sold a field and he gave it all to God....kept none for himself. Ananias and Sapphira sold some property, gave some to God, kept some and then told the church they had given it all to God. It’s called lying...in this case lying to the Holy Spirit. If you do not already know this we do now...God hates hypocrisy. He hates lying. When we say one thing and then do another especially in spiritual matters we commit a terrible sin because we have then lied to the Holy Spirit.
This could hurt the integrity of the church, this could ruin their testimony in the community. The sin of this couple could destroy the church if it was not handled properly. Now look what happens...v.5 Now I don’t know about you but I am stunned when I read this passage. God’s judgment is so sudden, so severe, so sure. No hesitation whatsoever. But we must not think this is the unpardonable sin. The unpardonable sin is when we reject Christ. This sin was lying to the Holy Spirit. This is what I believe...they were a part of the church, they were believers... they sinned. God made an example out of them to the early church... but I do not believe they lost their salvation. You see God takes sin very seriously...we minimize it... we think we can deceive His people but God sees right through our deception. They tested the spirit of the Lord and it cost them their lives. Together they both tested God. Together they both died.
Look at v. 11. Together the church and the community were both seized by fear. It is a dangerous thing when we hate the things that God loves and we love the things that God hates. It is a terrible thing that you and I can fall in love with things that have the potential to destroy our relationship with God and our relationship with the church. And they destroy the peace in our lives nas well. That is exactly what happened with this couple and the same thing can happen to any of us. There are several mistakes we make in our spiritual lives. (1) We think that we can buy a relationship with God or we think that we can earn one through good works. We can be a good person, even without Christ we can be good person but we will never be good enough to get into heaven. Our salvation is based completely on God’s grace and our faith. (2) The 2nd mistake people make is thinking that they have forever to make the first decision. Hell will be filled with people with good intentions. I read recently of a man who, while walking on the beach, found a used magic lamp that had washed up on the shore. He rubbed it and a genie appeared and the genie told him he had one remaining wish. The man thought for a moment and he said I wish I could see the stock pages of a local newspaper one year in advance. Immediately the genie was gone, there was a puff of smoke and there was the financial page of the paper lying on the ground, one year in advance. He was so excited so he began to llok at what stocks were up so he would know what to invest in The wind blew the paper from his hands and when he picked it up it had turned over and there were the obituaries on the back of the stock quotes. The name on the top of the list caught his attention. It was his.
The Bible tells us that “today is the day of salvation.” Now is the time to give your life to Christ, while we have time.
