OPEN: I always loved Church camp. And I especially loved the camp songs. I’m going to sing one of them today, and if you know the song – sing along:
"Ananias and Sapphira got together to conspire
a plot - to cheat - the church and get ahead,
They knew God's power – but did not fear it, tried to cheat the Holy Spirit
Lied to Simon Peter and they both dropped dead!”
(I paused and smiled broadly) Now, isn’t that cute little children’s song. We teach our youth that at church camp… “They both dropped dead.”
You know, there’s lots of folks that have a problem with that part of this story – where Ananias and Sapphira die – because it doesn’t seem like God should do things like that.
ILLUS: After I graduated from Bible College, I settled into my home church for a while and started a Bible study in my home based on the book of Acts. Part of the group was a friend of mine who attended a liberal church in the community, and he got uneasy when we got to this story. The other guys in the group were talking about God killing Ananias and Sapphira and my friend abruptly said, “No, God didn’t kill them.” That took the rest of a little bit by surprise and so we tried to point out why it was obvious God did do just that. He just grew more and more agitated. He believed their deaths were a just a result of their shame at being caught, or perhaps it had been a coincidence that they both died with hours of each other. But his main reasoning was that he believed in a God of Love… not a God of judgment.
Now (to give the guy credit) the text doesn’t actually SAY that “God killed them”… but there’s no question that’s exactly what happened. In fact, that’s pretty much what everyone at the time thought. Acts 5:11 tells us that “… great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.”
And the story even affected folks who weren’t even IN the church. Acts 5:13 tells us that “None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem” (apparently, folks used to hang around the church folks when they went to the Temple… but not anymore).
ILLUS: Even in our modern day, that story can still have an effect of folks. One preacher recalled that when he was a child he thought church boring. In fact, one Sunday, he slipped out of the church and went to the local candy store where he spent his offering money on Tootsie Rolls. He returned to church just in time to hear sermon, about (you guessed it) Ananias and Sapphira. After the service, he remembered praying passionately for forgiveness, and he even stayed up all night chanting "I love Jesus, I love Jesus" over and over again in the hopes that God would spare him. ("Home Town Tales" by Philip Gulley).
Now, we need to realize that the stuff in Scripture is there for a reason. God deliberately put this story about Ananias and Sapphira in Acts for a purpose. There were probably lots of other things that happened in the early church but God never shared that stuff. But he did share this story. The question is WHY?
Before get to that question, however, we need look at the history of what led up to our story. Just a few days (or maybe a few weeks) before this, Peter had stood before a large crowd of Jews gathered for the feast of Pentecost. Peter preached such a powerful sermon that day, that over 3000 people were convicted of the need to change their lives, and were baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.
Now, the Jews in crowd had come to Jerusalem from over 14 different countries. And once they became Christians, nobody wanted to leave. Everybody wanted to stay in Jerusalem and enjoy the fellowship. Of course, that was great… except for one thing: many of these new Christians didn’t have jobs or homes or food for their tables. They were struggling financially. And so, many in the church responded by selling personal property and bringing it to the Apostles to be distributed to the poor and needy among them.
In the church there was one man, named Barnabas, who sold a field he owned to supply for needy. This is the first time in Scripture that we read about him and (interestingly enough) his was the only name mentioned in Acts 5 selling property for needy. The fact that he was mentioned this way leads many to believe that he was the one who began this practice, and that his selfless act inspired others to do the same. If so, his benevolence may have led to his becoming a leader in the early church, and he even went on to join with Paul on some of his missionary journeys.
This undoubtedly caught the attention of Ananias and Sapphira. They wanted attention too. They wanted to be important too… and they had a piece of land they could sell too. They figured, if they copied Barnabas, they could receive the kind of praise he had received. But, while they were willing to sell the property and give money for the poor, they didn’t want to give it all away. They wanted to keep some of the monies for themselves. But if they didn’t give ALL of the proceeds to the Apostles, they might not receive the praise they coveted. Sooo... they came up with a simple scheme. Sell the property, but just don’t tell anybody how much they got for it. Then give a portion of the sale to the church and pretend they were giving the full amount. Nobody would be the wiser… and they could become important people in the church.
(PAUSE) But it didn’t quite work out that way. Instead of praise and power… they received condemnation and death.
Now that tells us HOW we got to today’s story, but it doesn’t tell us WHY God put the story here for us to read. Well, there’s an interesting verse that follows this story in Acts 5:14. It tells us “And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.” Isn’t that interesting? After God punished Ananias and Sapphira – the church GREW!!!
Now in this sermon series - we’re looking at the 1st few chapters of the book of Acts as being the fulfillment of what JESUS told Peter back in Matthew 16. Jesus asked Peter who HE thought He was and Peter replied: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And Jesus tells Peter “Upon this rock (Peter’s confession) I’m going to build my church.”
THIS was apparently one of the ways Jesus “built his church”… the death of Ananias and Sapphira. Now I’ve been to a number of “Church Growth” seminars, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard them put forth the principle of building a church by killing off members here and there. (Not that a few preachers haven’t considered that at one time or another, it’s just that Church Growth experts have never endorsed the idea). But apparently… that’s exactly what happened. Ananias and Sapphira both drop dead… and vast multitudes become Christians. So, WHAT’S THE DEAL?
Well it seems that what’s happening is this: There are people who misunderstand Jesus. They think that when Jesus said He was going to "build my Church" that He meant that He was talking to them. They seem to believe that He said He was going to build MY Church. (Point meaningfully to my chest). It’s MY church Jesus meant to build.
You see – it’s a matter of ownership. Is this MY church? Or is this Jesus’ church?
ILLUS: In my home congregation there was a very prominent and wealthy Elder who thought this way about church. The church building was beautiful – burnished brass railing along the balcony, dark walnut wood throughout, and an immense and elegant pipe organ just behind the pulpit – and it was HIS money that had paid for much of the beauty in the sanctuary. And if the church had a financial need at any time… he made sure it was taken care. But because he was so wealthy he got to thinking of the church as HIS. In fact, there came a time when the church was had a problem… the leadership discovered that the deacon in charge of the church bank account had been keeping 2 sets of books. He was skimming the offerings for his own personal needs. So this wealthy Elder went out to the deacon’s home… and he burned the books. Why? Because this was HIS church and he was not going to allow any scandal to touch HIS church. He didn’t want to confront sin, he wanted to burn the evidence. As a result the church eventually split and the new congregation refused to have Elders for the next 20 years.
ILLUS: At the last congregation I served, there was a very divisive woman who was so upset with me that she confronted me in the foyer and angrily told me that this was HER church. Whenever someone says this is “My Church” you know something is wrong and I had preached about that at that congregation. When I smiled at her and said “YOUR church?” She became even angrier saying “You know what I mean!” I told her I was pretty sure I did - at which point her husband threatened to take me outside and beat me up. I wisely decided to keep my mouth shut.
You see, people who think that the church belongs to THEM can end up doing some very inappropriate and harsh things.
ILLUS: One of the most common manifestations of this mindset is in our offerings. There a true story about a preacher was having a conversation with a disgruntled member of the church. The church member was angry about a decision the church had made and he told the preacher (in no uncertain terms) that until that decision was changed, he would no longer be putting his offering in the plate.
The preacher asked if the man would pray with him about it. And before the man could even respond, the preacher was on his knees praying, and he prayed something like this: "God we know that the church has made a decision this man disapproves of. And he believes strongly that You no longer deserve his offerings. Until the church changes their decision, this man intends to rob you of Your tithes and offerings…"
Immediately the church member was on his knees beside the preacher pleading with the preacher to stop… he’d changed his mind.
You see, that’s what happens to people with this mindset – It’s MY church, and it’s MY money.
Let’s back up a few verses – and see what Acts 4 tells us “… Barnabas … sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” (Acts 4:36-37) Why did he do that? Why give his money to the apostles? Why not just go out and give the money to the poor? Couldn’t he do just as a good a job as the Apostles did?
Well… I can think of 3 reasons why Barnabas did this:
1. Barnabas was surrendering the GLORY to God. By giving the money through the Apostles, God got the glory. If Barnabas had personally handed out the funds – then HE would have gotten the praise.
2. Barnabas was surrendering the MONEY to God. His action declared that it was not his money anymore, it belonged to Jesus.
3. Barnabas was surrendering CONTROL of the money to God. The Apostles were the ones to decide how that donation was used. The leaders of the church made the choices on who received the benevolence - not Barnabas.
ILLUS: Years ago this congregation had a financial crunch. It had nothing to do with malfeasance of any kind, it’s just that the offerings seemed to dry up and things were tight. They were even worrying if they’d have enough money to meet my salary. This got some people worrying, and some began to suggest things to raise money like garage sales, chicken dinners, car washes. But the Eldership had long opposed those kinds of activities. They reasoned “If we can’t support our church, why should we ask the community to?” A lot of people were unhappy about that and began to grouse amongst themselves about being ham-strung this way. One day, two of my very good friends came to my office door and said “Jeff, do you know where the church by-laws are?”
Now that type of thing raises red flags for me. NOBODY wants to read the by-laws. They’re boring! The only reason they exist is for legal reasons. Thus, whenever someone really wants to read those papers is when they’re intending to do an end-run around church decisions. I knew full well my friends were looking for a way to overrule the Eldership and have a fund-raiser.
Remember, these were my friends. I really didn’t want to offend them, but I replied: “Here’s the deal boys. I don’t know where the by-laws are. Never seen them. But if we ever find them and we discover that those by-laws say anything other than we need to abide by the decisions of the Eldership… I’ll burn them in front of the whole congregation.” That kind of ended that.
Barnabas sold a field that BELONGED TO HIM. But once he laid the money at the feet of the Apostles it belonged to Jesus. Barnabas was declaring that this was not HIS money, and not HIS church… it ALL belonged to Jesus.
One person once said that all the money you give to the church is “tainted”. Taint yours. Taint mine. It all belongs to Jesus and to His church. Once you put your offering in the plate… it’s not yours anymore. Once you’ve given it to Jesus keep your hands off of it.
My point: It’s a dangerous thing to think of the church as YOURS. That’s what Ananias and Sapphira had thought. Because it was THEIR church they could do whatever they needed to do to get the results THEY wanted. If we forget who the church belongs to we can end up doing stuff we shouldn’t do. That not only makes God upset… but it gets in His way. When we regard the church as OURS to manipulate we can hurt the church, stifle growth and ROB Jesus of the church He wants to build. That’s why – AFTER Ananias and Sapphira died – the church grew.
And everybody has done that at one time or another. Preachers have done it. Elders, Deacons, Mission Boards, etc. etc.. You name a person or group in the church that wants their way – they’ve all done it. And it hurts Jesus.
But by contrast, Christians who want to glorify God don’t ask if they can have it THEIR way. They only ask if it pleases God and grows His church.
CLOSE: Bill Collins (the preacher at the Christian Church in Walton) told of the time he had the opportunity to go back home and attend the church he grew up in. The Anderson Christian Church in Lawrenceburg, KY. He loved that church. In fact he was the 1st Timothy (preacher) brought up in that congregation.
He says “As I walked through the door of the church a flood of memories hit me. I remembered Cissy Shouse, my youth group leader, and her laugh. I thought of all the kids I grew up with in the youth group. I could see Brother Rankin in the pulpit. Mr. Ritter coaching our church’s softball team.
But church I grew up in had changed. Brother Rankin is no longer there. Cissy is not leading the youth group. Mr. Ritter is not coaching the softball team. The church I had grown up loving was not the church I attended Sunday morning. It had changed.
• Instead of Brother Rankin in the pulpit there was this guy everyone called Vern.
• Instead of singing from a songbook the words were projected on a huge screen.
• Instead of attending Sunday School in basement we met in the educational wing.
• Instead of knowing everyone, I recognized only about 30 people.
• Instead of sitting in a sanctuary that seated 200 people it was now a bigger worship area that seated 300, and
• Instead of one service there were now two. We had to decide which one to attend.
I looked around and thought, “This is not the church I grew up in!” This wasn’t HIS church anymore. But then it never had been. His home church belonged to Jesus and the leadership there only wanted to please Jesus and build HIS church.
INVITATION
