(Read Acts 5 with slides)
What does it take to ruin a church? What does it take to stop God?
Acts 5 gives us two stories about threats to the church, one from the inside and the other from the outside.
First. The threat from the inside produced two deaths and great fear upon the whole church. Now, wouldn’t you think that two sudden deaths and great fear might have at least caused a down time on the churches growth? O contraire! Look at verse 14 again: And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number. Just imagine their parking problem! It looks like they didn’t sit down when they met in the temple courts. They didn't have folding chairs back then. And where did the Bible classes meet? How did they pass the Lord's Supper and collection plate? It appears that a lot of their worship and fellowship took place in the house to house meetings. The temple court meetings appear from the examples we have, to be evangelistic in nature (Acts 3 – Peter and John speak to the crowds, here in Acts 5:19-21, 25) . Whatever. The story of Ananias and Sapphira show us that in the difficult experiences where they obeyed God, these only served to strengthen and grow the church, not harm her. We need to think about this.
What does it take to ruin a church? Believe it or not, some of the very things we might think would be bad for the church, God works though for her good. Rebuking those in error, calling those who fall into sexual immorality or worldliness or other spiritual darkness to repent and disciplining those that reject God's instructions with biblical discipline, these are difficult things for us to follow today. But they are what God tells us to do. What might have happened if Ananias and Sapphira had been allowed to go forward with their deception and nothing was ever said or done about it? What effect might that have had on the future of the church there? Babies need more special care early on than when they grow up. God's sudden and fatal action demonstrates His deep care for the infant church at Jerusalem. As the church grows and spreads and matures God's instructions to the church are to handle discipline themselves, so that they do not fall under God's sever judgment. See 1 Corinthians 11:27-31.
What does it take to ruin a church? (Not the Body of Christ, mind you, which is undefeatable, but the local congregation, which IS vulnerable to apostasy). The Bible shows us how a local church can be ruined. All we need to do is stop following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. All we need to do is decide we know better than God does about how to run His church and begin to do things our own way instead of according to His word. All we need do is take out discipline and discipleship will be weakened and watered down and the church will be spoiled and ruined. The book of Revelation records where Jesus Christ Himself sent letters to seven local churches in Asia. It is there that we see that a local church can indeed be ruined. But we also learn that a church headed for ruin can repent and return. What would Jesus write to us here at Signal Mountain? In Revelation, Jesus gives clear, undeniable warnings to some churches that they are in trouble because they have not been following Him and keeping the faith. He tells the worst one of them, that they are like sickening water and that He is about to spew them out of His mouth. Yet, Jesus immediately follows that with these words. “Those I love I reprove and chasten, so be zealous and repent.” (Rev. 3:19) On the other hand, He also encourages at least two of the seven churches with assurance and hope because they are faithful and obedient.
When we look around us today, we can see that the church is still struggling with the issues of faithful obedience and the pull of the world and culture away from God’s clear instructions and guidance. The simple, yet profoundly wonderful greatest commandment of scripture continues to challenge us. Love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Love our neighbors as ourselves. Many things about us reveal our relationship with God and our hearts: The way we dress, talk, places we hang out, ways we entertain ourselves, how we spend our money and use our resources, how we worship, who we share fellowship with, what we look at, listen to, live for and love. What we fear. Believe it or not, for us to be Christian means that we must let Jesus be Lord and guide us in all of these areas of life.
Ananias and Sapphira's sin and God's swift and fatal judgment teach us how seriously God takes us. Let us take Him seriously and seek Him faithfully, humbly, honestly and obediently so that we learn from this hardship and it doesn't happen with us.
Second, there was external hardship. The Sadducees are jealous. They were jealous of Jesus too. Jealous Sadducees can also lead to fatality, or at least persecution, as in the case here in Acts 5.
All they want is for the apostles to remain silent and cease and desist teaching in Jesus' name. They would probably be ok with them holding meetings in a few homes and having a bring a friend day from time to time. But these apostles don't just go public with the message about Jesus death, burial and resurrection, they go to the very temple where the priests work! They are in the area where the priests feel that they have the jurisdiction. It is one thing to hold meetings in your own church buildings, but this is the capital city. This is the central headquarters of the government of Judea. This is OFF LIMITS! Their complaint is found in verse 28. We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
Notice the two things they say against the apostles. First, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching! That was true. Have we filled Signal Mountain with our teaching? Not just service projects or good deeds, but the teaching of Jesus Christ? We need to be doing good deeds, and I am sure the apostles were doing good deeds. Doing good deeds will get you praise, but teaching about Jesus, will get you in trouble. Jesus was not crucified for what He did. Jesus was crucified for what He SAID. That needs to sink in. A church that is not zealous for good deeds is certainly not obedient. But, you can do lots of good deeds and be silent about Jesus, and your good deeds won't save anyone. We are not saved by good deeds. Neither are those that see our good deeds saved by them. Only the gospel has the power to save, and it must be SPOKEN AND HEARD to work.
What problem does anyone have with the gospel? What does it do that brings such a response from the Sadducees? The gospel first exposes our guilt. Jesus death on the cross was for our sin. “We are guilty of this man's blood,” says the gospel. We can't go forward until we settle that.
No one gets to jump past the sin part. No one who hears the gospel can skip to the grace and mercy part until they look at themselves and see their true condition without Jesus.
Any gospel preaching that does not confront us with our sins, is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. Any church that grows because of cool activities and fun fellowship but does not deal with sin is not the Church Jesus Christ died for. That's one reason why Ananias and Sapphira's story is an important part of Acts.
Of course the gospel does not leave us in our sin, but offers us the one and only way out of it! That way is to accept by faith, who Jesus is. He is Lord! Say this with me, if you believe it. “Jesus Christ is Lord.” Lord means ruler and authority. It means that Jesus is my MASTER. He is the King of kings, over all things, including my life. Yes or no?
When Jesus is your Lord, you obey Him. When Jesus is your Lord, you confess Him to others. When Jesus is your Lord, you listen to Him and you live for Him. When Jesus is your Lord, you become His servant, not just on Sundays, but always.
And when Jesus is your Lord you will have to endure what He endured because He calls you to be like Himself and when you are like Jesus, you talk like Him and act like Him and irritate and disturb those Jesus would irritate and disturb. Jesus said, “If they persecute me they will persecute you also. If they listened to me, they will listen to you also.”
We see that the apostles endured hardship for Jesus. And when they did, they actually were glad. Look at verses 40-41. They rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. That's because God was at work in them. Is God at work in you?
What does it take to stop God? What does it take to stop you from following and confessing Jesus? God wants to work in us, but if we won't let Him, He will find others who will.
