Living Up to Your Name - Acts 5 - 2/19/17
Did you ever hear the story about the want ad for the lost dog? In the classifieds section of the paper someone had placed this notice: LOST: male dog, brown fur, some missing due to mange, blind in right eye, mangled left ear, going deaf, lame in back leg, crooked tail. Answers to the name, ‘Lucky’
Now there is a dog who does NOT live up to his name. Names are very important. When we named our girls, we were very intentional in the choice of their names - not just picking a name that sounded nice, but choosing their names based upon the meaning of the names. Ronda is just happy that we had girls, because if we had a boy, I would have wanted to name him Jedidiah - because it means “loved by the Lord.”
Today, we want to look at some members of the early church and see how they did or didn’t live up to their names. First, a man who did: Barnabas. We find his story in the end of the book of Acts, chapter 4. We see here in Acts a picture of the early church. Jesus has died, risen, and ascended back into heaven. The apostles are in charge of the early church. These are the twelve who had been taught by Jesus. They do signs, wonders, and miracles and many respond in faith. The church is growing like wildfire: thousands upon thousands are being saved. Yet, with many people, there are many needs. And the apostles cannot meet them all. So God uses Christians caring about one another to make sure the needs are met.
Look here in Acts 4:34-37 - Read & Pray
Here in Acts 4 we find the example of Barnabas. His real name is Joseph, but he goes by the nickname Barnabas, because it means “son of encouragement.” In the Jewish culture “son of” meant someone who truly was an example. So son of encouragement meant Joseph from Cyprus was the “poster child” for encouragement. If you wanted to know what encouragement looked like, just think about him. When you looked up encouragement in the dictionary, it had his picture.
He is a Levite - but remember in the OT that Levites were not known for owning a lot of land. When the tribes of Israel entered the promised land, the land was divided up between the other tribes, but the Levites were not given land, because they were to be devoted to the service of the Lord. Yet here is Barnabas, having some land - yet he is willing to give it up for the sake of the believers who were in need.
Barnabas was not from Jerusalem, rather from Cyprus, an island 300 miles away. Yet he makes himself one with these fellow believers. In Christ, you can go a thousand miles away, walk in to a church, and be one with people you have never met before in your life. Barnabas made himself one with the church in Jerusalem. He didn’t see himself as an outside observer, instead he cared enough about their needs to give up his property to bless and encourage them.
Barnabas continues using his gift of encouragement throughout the book of Acts. In Acts 9:23-28, we see Barnabas encouraging Paul. Remember Paul used to be called Saul, and had traveled around arresting and killing Christians before he met Christ. When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He encourages the church to accept Paul.
In Acts 11:20-24 we see Barnabas being an encouragement to new Greek Christians. Missionaries from Cyprus went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.
In Acts 11:25-26 we see Barnabas being an encouragement to Paul to be involved in ministry. Paul had shared his conversion with the apostles, but had gone back home to Tarsus. Now we see Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.
In Acts 11:28-30 we see Barnabas being an encourager to the church at Jerusalem. Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul. Who do they turn to to send this offering to encourage the believers back in Jerusalem? Barnabas, the son of encouragement. Don’t you just love to have this guy come around! You always end up feeling a little better! We could all use a Barnabas or two in our lives.
In Acts 12:1-3 we see Barnabas is sent out along with Paul to start new churches. Barnabas is the traveling companion who keeps Paul encouraged in his work.
In Acts 15:35-39, we see Barnabas is an encouragement to John Mark. Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus.
Barnabas knows Mark has potential. He has made some mistakes. Yet Barnabas sticks with him, he doesn’t give up on him. Later on in 2 Timothy 4, we see Paul say Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. Why was Mark helpful? Because Barnabas didn’t give up on him, but kept on encouraging him to be all he could be.
Barnabas had the gift of encouragement. He used it for the Lord, and everyone benefited. But remember what God tells us in 1 Peter 4:10 - Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. This morning, what is your gift? What is it that God has enabled you to do in a great way? And once you know what it is, ask the question, how am I using my gifts for the sake of the church?
The growth of the church is not determined by the greatness of the preacher who gives a sermon on Sunday morning. Remember that WE are the church - this is merely the church building. And the church grows and people have their needs met as individual Christians, just like each one of us, reaches out to others every day of the week and does that which God has gifted us to do. Some of you are great encouragers, some are great listeners, some are great givers, some are great pray-ers. Whatever God has blessed you to do, do it for his glory! Barnabas is a beautiful example of someone who lives up to his name.
But then we come to Acts 5 - and we meet a different couple there: Ananias & Sapphira. Read 5:1-11 Here we see some believers who do NOT live up to their names. The name Sapphira means “beautiful” and Ananias means “God is gracious” - so you would think that these two would be great examples for the early church. But these two do NOT live up to their names. We see they are motivated - not by seeking to use their gifts for God’s glory - but by wanting to receive glory for themselves by God’s people.
Notice first of all their
Desire - It starts out in verse 1 - look at the word “also.” Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. Also meaning along with Barnabas. Barnabas had pure motives, he just wanted to encourage the believers and provide for their needs. But Ananias and Sapphira ALSO sold some property - they saw the words of affirmation and praise being heaped upon Barnabas, they saw how everyone praised him, and they wanted in on the action too.
What was the problem? PRIDE! They were focused not on their brothers, but on themselves. Look at verse 2 - With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself. They had some property, sold it, but then thought This is a lot of money - and we could sure use some of this too! So they decided to keep some and only give part!
Ananias and Sapphira were controlled by their desire. They started dreaming about what they could do with $50,000 and pretty soon their focus was off of the need of their brothers and sisters and onto their pleasures. Desire, left unchecked, can destroy you.
How is your desire this morning? If you don't master it, it will destroy you! James 1:13-15 warns us - When tempted, no-one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Now there is a problem with that translation - the translators wanted us to understand that sin is evil and it is — but the word evil is not in the text. Instead the translation should say but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
Desire is not evil - but when we allow it to pull us away from God, that’s we end up sinning. God created us with desire. Eating is not evil - it is good; we see a nice steak or piece of chocolate cake and our mouth starts to water; we desire to eat it. But eating becomes sinful when that eating goes to extremes, when we indulge the desire for food and we eat to excess - it becomes gluttony.
God created us with sexual desires, and they are good. Never think that your sexuality is bad - because God was the one who created us male and female - sex is HIS idea. But the desire becomes sinful when we seek to fulfill those desires outside the boundaries that God has set up. God created one man for one woman; marriage is the way to fulfill those sexual desires. But we sin when we want to bypass God’s plan.
There was nothing wrong with using the money - it was theirs. But their desire led them down a road that had serious consequences for them. Sin will always take you further than you want to go; cost you more than you want to pay; and keep you longer than you want to stay. What so often happens is that we “rationalize” our sin away. We say it’s just one little thing. But we end up giving satan a foothold in our life - which then becomes a stronghold - and soon becomes a stranglehold - Satan uses it to destroy us.
Giving is a problem area for many Christians. Because we desire the things that money can buy. And so instead of giving as God wants us to do - cheerfully - in proportion to what God has given us - we see for thousands of years that standard has been a tithe, 10% - sacrificially - as we are led by the spirit of God - instead we give “token” gifts. When the offering plate is passed, instead of coming prepared to give back to honor God, we reach in our pocket for whatever loose change we can find - and we give a “token” gift.
A one dollar bill met a twenty dollar bill and said, “Hey, where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you around here much.” The twenty answered, “I’ve been hanging out at the casinos, went out on a cruise and did the rounds of the ship, came back to the US for a while, went to a couple of baseball games, to the mall, that kind of stuff. How about you?” The one-dollar bill said, “You know, same old stuff, church, church, church. The reality is that God uses yours and my faithful giving to meet the needs of this church. And if we want to continue to see this church do the will of God, we need to see God’s people faithfully give as God leads them.
The real issue with Ananias & Sapphira was their pride got in the way. They wanted the praise of the church without having to pay the price. They wanted a “shortcut” to “spirituality.” They wanted to be acknowledged as great givers, but they didn’t want to follow through on the giving. They wanted the credit without the commitment. So they went down the road of . . .
Deception - Their sin was not in keeping back part of the money. Rather the sin came from saying they had given ALL when they had not. Notice what Peter says in verse 4 - Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? Peter is pointing out that the issue is not keeping part of the money - the money was theirs to do with as God led them. The sin came when they LIED about the problem. They were guilty of Perjury.
Their sin was that was that they conspired together to deceive the apostles and the church into thinking that they were giving the entire amount, when in fact they kept back a portion for themselves. In other words, they were trying to impress everyone with a higher level of spirituality and commitment than they really had.
A 12-year-old boy was waiting for his first orthodontist appointment. As he was filling out the new patient questionnaire he came to the question that asked for his “Hobbies.” Wanting to impress the dentist, he wrote “Swimming and flossing.”
Again, notice verse 2 - With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself. Sapphira was in on this with him. Together they had agreed to present themselves as great sacrificial givers when in fact they were not. They might have looked good on the outside, but inwardly they did not have a heart for God.
The Pharisees were like that too. In Matthew 23 Jesus said, You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. And in the church today we find many people who look really spiritual until you get to know them, and then you find out their heart is not a heart for God, but a heart that likes to exalt itself. And remember, that was Lucifer’s problem - he wanted to exalt himself to receive the praise of God.
Barnabas was an authentic Christian, wherever he went he looked to encourage others. Ananias and Sapphira were hypocrites - they pretended to be something that they weren’t. They wanted everyone to think highly of them. But, sadly, they didn’t stop to consider what the living God knew about them. The minute you start trying to look good to others, without being concerned about what God knows, you are headed into hypocrisy.
Their issue was an issue of the heart. Notice what Peter says in verse 3 - Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? What was the problem? Satan had filled his heart! Let’s realize that the battles we face are spiritual ones. Paul writes to the Christians at Ephesus and reminds them, For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Whether we admit it or not, we are in a spiritual battle. Satan and all of his forces of evil are attacking us, trying to find the chink in our armor, trying to find an area of weakness. When you are doing your best to live for God, EXPECT attacks from Satan. He is going to fight against you. If everything is going well with you, maybe you need to examine to see how hard you are working for the Lord.
Ananias has a heart problem. So does Sapphira. They both sinned - not in lying to Peter, but in lying to God Himself. Peter says in verse 4 - You have not lied to men but to God. Then down in verse 9 - How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Let’s remember that when we sin, it is not just an offense to a brother or sister, but it is an attack against the holiness of Almighty God. In Psalm 51:4, David says, Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. The temptation is always to think that our sin hurts no one - I’m only hurting myself - but the truth is that every sin is an offence to a holy, holy, holy God.
So what was the result?
Destruction! There are times that God is patient with us, giving us time to repent. But there are other times when judgment is swift and sure. God brings His punishment. Ananias is struck dead even as he talks with Peter. When Sapphira comes in, she at least is given the chance to own up to her sin. Peter asks her in verse 8 - Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land? That was her chance to confess and tell the truth. But instead she tried to cover up her sin. Proverbs 28:13 - He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. What is the lesson for us in this? Yes, we all sin; we all make mistakes; we all indulge our desires more than we should. But when confronted, we need to confess - to own up to our sins - to admit our sin.
That’s why David is the man after God’s own heart. Yes, he sinned with Bathsheba - he was a passionate man and that passion led him farther than he should have gone - but when God sends the prophet Nathan, David owns up to his sin. That’s what Psalm 51 that we just quoted from is all about - David’s confession - he says the same thing about his sin that God does - he admits that he has departed from God’s path and he asks for God to give him a pure heart.
We don’t want to set ourselves up to be more spiritual that we truly are - but neither do we put ourselves down - instead we look at ourselves honestly as sinners saved by God’s amazing grace. Because all the glory for anything we accomplish is not to come to us, but to our great God.
The next thing we see here is
The Divine Testimony - Many times we wonder why God does the things he does. We might say, well, why didn't God give Ananias and Sapphira another chance? Why didn't they get the chance to repent and be forgiven? Look at verse 11 - Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. As a result of God's bringing judgment on sin, the church was able to flourish and prosper. Fear came up them - not just in the sense of being afraid of God - but in the proper sense of holding God in a sense of wonder and amazement.
Far too often we have too little of a view of God. We see Him just as the “man upstairs.” We treat Him with little respect. When we pray, instead of viewing it as a sacred conversation, we interrupt it for all kinds of trivial things. The early church learned that dealing with God is something to be done with great reverence and respect.
Someone once said, “God is more concerned about our character than our comfort. His goal is not to pamper us physically but to perfect us spiritually.” Often we get mad at God when He doesn’t work the way we think He should. But one day when we see Him face to face, we will understand and it will all make sense. God wants you to grow to be the person YOU really want to be. He doesn’t want to leave you to be the person you are right now. He wants to keep on working to make you more and more like Jesus.
And that’s really our goal: to be Jesus to the world. Acts 11:26 says, The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. What is a Christian? A little Christ! Your very name, Christian, says you should be like Jesus. Today, I would encourage you to live up to your name, be like Jesus. Don’t let your desires control you, but control your desire through the power of the Holy Spirit. Don’t pretend to be something you are not, rather change to be the person God wants you to be. And the result is that the whole church will see the power of God at work. Let’s pray.
