From Harmony to Hypocrisy Acts 4: 36-5:11
The early church is experiencing revival with thousands being saved and the devil is not happy!
He has tried to destroy and stop the church through intimidation and persecution but could not.
Since he was going nowhere, by unleashing outside forces against the church, he found a way to get in the church and hopefully destroy it from within!
Maybe he thought if he couldn’t defeat the church, he could, at least corrupt it enough that those outside would not believe and those inside would just give up!
Let’s think about what we have seen, in chapters 2-4. We have seen literally thousands come into the church through true repentance and salvation.
By chapter 4 the church is filled with excitement as more and more are surrendering to Jesus.
But then along comes Ananias and Sapphire, in chapter 5.
In chapter 4, we see great generosity… but, like many today, Ananias and Sapphira just wanted to be noticed.
In chapter 4 we see unity in the early church… but, Ananias and Sapphira had their own selfish motive for being a part of the church.
The first thing I want to show you is:
I. The Problem in the Church: Look at verses 1-4.
I want you to use your imagination this morning and think how this may have happened.
Back in chapter 4:37 Barnabus had made quite a generous donation. Now it would natural for many to have been impressed by such an offering.
BUT we need to understand that he didn’t give it for praise but you can believe that word about the gift quickly spread.
Let’s see if we can get into the mind of this couple, Ananias and Sapphira, who possibly were bitten by the green-eyed monster of jealousy. Let’s see if we can see how they may have concocted a plan of their own, to stand out and be noticed in the church.
Here’s what we know…They sell some property.
Maybe they carry a big bag of money home and dump it on the living room floor. Then they stack it up and their eyes begin to glisten, as they admire the money stacked up in front of them!
You know, money does funny things to people. The Bible compares it to a trap.
How many, in this very room have said...“If I had a million dollars I’d give it to the church.”? Many say that yet they have never even given a nickel to the church.
The truth is that money will never make greedy people unselfish, it has a tendency, however, to make greedy people greedier!
The more you have the more you want.
Let’s get back to that sack of money. Maybe they say, “This will be a great day at church this Sunday” BUT it’s only Monday and suppose, they planted some leaks about what they were going to do… just to sweeten the deal a bit!
They probably knew just like you know the perfect person to leak juicy bits of information to if you want something to get out!
Think about this… Here they are, staring at all that money the rest of the week.
Suddenly they begin to say to themselves, “We haven’t saved anything for retirement” so they slip out, just a little, mind you, and set it aside.
Oh but what about the kid’s college fund… just a bit more.
“You know we really could use a vacation”… just a bit more.
“You know, honey, that old camel of ours in on his last leg and with the kids and all, we need a new 4 door camel… just a bit more.
Sunday comes and they now have half the money in the bag, on the way to church, and half stuffed under their mattress.
Notice that THEY didn’t go to church together this Sunday. Ananias came first, maybe with a grin on his face, like a possum eating earth worms as he gave the sack of money to the Apostles.
Here’s my question to you. “Was it wrong for them to only bring part of the money to church?”
No!
There was no record of God telling them to do it. Nor do we find that God spoke to them and told them to sell anything and bring any amount of money to the church.
And that’s the point Peter makes in v. 4… He is not saying that there is anything wrong with any of the above.
The problem was not with their giving ONLY a portion of the money.
The problem was that they intentionally lied about the amount and deliberately deceived the church in order to lift themselves up!
They pretended to be something they were not and that’s Hypocrisy!
If they had come and said, we sold our property for $50k and we feel led to give half to the church…that would have been fine…but they just couldn’t let Barnabas get all the attention, so they claimed to be giving the full amount of the selling price.
Before you condemn Ananias and Sapphira Point your finger at me.
You can point a finger at someone but 3 more are ALWAYS pointing back at you.
It’s easy to sit here in church and glorify ourselves whole condemning others but how many times do WE sing, RIGHT HERE@ EBC, “All to Jesus I Surrender” and yet make some pitiful excuse for not coming back to church.
I’m not talking about coming when you’re contagious and bragging about the fact nothing will keep you out because many who do that will stay home for some other reason.
How many sing Sweet Hour of Prayer, knowing we haven’t prayed 10 minutes all week, much less all day!
Jesus said in [Mat 15:8 NIV] “'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
IT IS OUR hypocrisy that will hinder the cause of Christ, here at EBC!
There is an old saying that goes like this… “You can fool some of the people all the time and all the people some of the time. But you can’t fool…All the people all the time!
Why is that true?
The answer is simply that those in your home will figure you out.
Those at work, your neighbors and even those sitting next to you in church will figure you out.
[Numbers 32:23b NKJV] “…you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out.”
This verse is so true Because we can’t fool God ANYTIME!!!
In the gospels Jesus was very compassionate, patient, and even tender in dealing with those who fell to sins of the flesh. He was, however, very harsh with those who were religious hypocrites!
To the woman caught in very act of adultery, He said.
“I forgive you, go and sin no more”
To the woman at the well, who had been married 5 times and now she is shacking up with some guy; He said.
“I’ll give you living water”
To Zacchaeus, a liar and a thief, He said.
“Today salvation is coming to your house!”
But how did He treat the religious hypocrites?
Jesus called the religious hypocrites snakes! And a Generation of vipers!
He said “You’re like a whitewashed tomb that looks good on the outside, all nice and clean on the outside but you’re filled with dead, stinking and rotting corruption!
I know your wicked thought life and motives!” Jesus did not beat around the bush, when it came to hypocrites. He shot straight for the heart.
He took a whip and drove the hypocrites out of the temple, shouting at them for turning His house into a den of thieves!
Religious hypocrisy is a stench in the nostrils of God!
That was the problem infiltrating the church… then and it is still happening today.
But you can rest assured that according to [Numbers 32:23b NKJV] “…you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out.”
God is in the business of:
II. Exposing the Sin in the Church.
Look at verses 5-7 why did Sapphira come in 3 hours late?
Was is because she was a typical woman and she was being fashionably late?
Verses 8-10 tell us that the Holy Spirit exposed this premeditated sin, right in front of the church.
It was the gift of knowledge and discernment given to Peter that brought this sin out in the open.
Whether you believe that Ananias told Peter the gift he gave was the full amount or the Holy Spirit revealed the scheme, there are two things that Peter knew, based on the Holy Spirit given knowledge.
• Peter knew the Source of the Sin
Look at verse 3: Who or what is the source of Ananias and Sapphira’s sin?
Satan is the source. Remember that this couple was in agreement so both are guilty… be careful when you take sides where deliberate sin is being practiced.
Because Satan has the ability to plant ideas in the minds of church members for the purpose of hindering God’s work?
It is because of this that we MUST DILIGENTLY protect our hearts and minds.
How many times have you or I said something like; “I know what they’re thinking” or “I know what so and so is saying about me!” even though nothing has actually been said.
“He’s against me!” “She doesn’t like me!” just because they don’t give you as much attention as they give someone else.
After we run these scenarios over and over through our minds, we should be embarrassed when we find out that nothing could be further from the truth.
I want you to understand that Satan will mess with your mind if he can.
He wants nothing more than for you to make a mountain out of a mole hill.
The Holy Spirit revealed to the Peter, not only the source of the sin… but also
• The Seriousness of the Sin
Look at verse 4b Any lie is serious and we are never more like Satan than when we lie and the Bible tells us that Satan is the Father of all lies!
It is a big deal to lie to a judge. It’s called perjury and the consequences can be serious jail time.
BUT it’s most serious to lie to God, which is hypocrisy and the consequences of hypocrisy are devastating!
Can I ask you something? Have you ever lied to God? Made Him a promise you didn’t keep?
What God knows about you is more important than your desire to be noticed by others or what they think about you!
