A house without ceiling or walls
- A Radical new way of being community -
Last week’s memory verse : “Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
Purpose of the Passage: The presence of the Holy Spirit created a community characterised by sacrificial care, and dealt decisively with dishonesty and dodgy desires.
Aim of the Sermon: Let’s seek to live radically open lives; caring and open with each other, and open to God. [It is right to desire that this kind of community is noticed by outsiders].
The Talk:
Would you want to live in a house without ceiling or walls? Or maybe more realistically, would you want to live in one of these modern houses that seem to be more glass than concrete and stone. I imagine glass would be nice and warm on a sunny day. I’m sure that you’d save on lighting costs by relying more on natural lighting. I don’t know how well insulated you’d be from chilly Manchester winters (that might whack up your heating bill).
Two major concerns that would keep you or I away from living in a house with lots of glass walls and ceiling would be cost and privacy. You’d have to be pretty rich to even think about one of these modern glass arty things, and you’d have to be a bit of an exhibitionist (“look at me, look at me”). I read of a house in North London pretty much completely glass at the back. Why would you want everyone in the opposite terraces staring in on you, I do not know?
In our reading today from Acts we’ve got one of the most difficult passages in the New Testament. On the one hand we have Joseph Barnabas from Cyprus who gives generously to help out needy members of the church, and on the other we have Ananias and Sapphira who give almost as generously but get the death sentence.
Let’s look at this passage together and try and wrestle with some of our questions…
4:32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No-one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
36Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
5:1Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
The effect of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the believers had been threefold… v.31 previous to our reading said that one effect was that the believers spoke the word of God boldly, and we’ve seen that with Peter addressing the crowd at Pentecost, explaining the healing at the temple gate, and standing up to the temple guard and Sadducees (temple officials). So one effect was that the believers spoke boldly about Jesus, they were enabled to WITNESS.
Two other effects of the Holy Spirit’s presence are mentioned in v.32… Firstly “all the believers were one…”, and secondly, “they shared everything they had.” If the Holy Spirit made them radical WITNESSES, He also made them radically UNITED, and radically GENEROUS.
Where the threat of persecution had been an attack on the believers’ WITNESS, here in our reading we have an attack by Satan on the believers’ UNITY and GENEROSITY.
Joseph Barnabas was a good example for UNITY and GENEROSITY in his gift and in his character as an encourager (v.36), but Ananias and Sapphira were a threat to the new Christian community.
This sharing all that they had, was not the end to private property. From the reading it’s pretty obvious that people still had stuff of their own, and “from time to time” (v.34) someone would sell something and hand it over to the apostles for distribution. This was radical community living. Caring for one another. The Holy Spirit had brought radical UNITY and GENEROSITY to their fellowship. This example is not necessarily a model to follow rigorously, but it is a spur to us to re-examine how united and how generous we are in our community of faith. Are we willing to be radical in our living as Christians together, to live out the good news of Jesus Christ in our unity and generosity. If the death of Jesus for our sins, and his resurrection and ascension that demonstrates his complete victory, is important to us, maybe we need, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to live more radical lives. For as Jesus said (Jn 13:34), “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
There was a revival in East Africa where people expressed their desire to live in a way reflecting the radical community of unity and generosity that they saw in these verses by talking about “living in a house without ceiling or walls”. Living openly before God and openly with each other… “ living in a house without ceiling or walls”.
Joseph Barnabas was a great example of this attitude of living in a house without ceiling or walls. But Ananias and Sapphira were a threat to the new Christian community and their new attitude of unity and generosity because they were seeking to hide from their brothers and sisters the truth of their actions and they seem to be more interested in acting generously than truly being generous. It looks from the verses like they were giving part of the money from the sale of their property but pretending that they were giving all of the money.
5:3Then Peter said, “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? 4Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”
5When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
7About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”
“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”
9Peter said to her, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
10At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
Now, some questions you and I may have from such an account are…
1. How do Ananias and Sapphira just die like that?
2. Why does Peter or God judge them so harshly?
3. How come Sapphira isn’t told about her husband’s death before he is buried?
4. Why does it seem like they had no time to repent?
I believe the judgment from God is so swift and seemingly so harsh because of what is at stake here. Firstly God’s holiness is at stake: The Holy Spirit was powerfully present in their midst. So for two people to so blatantly defy God was bad news. This shows the seriousness of sin. God is perfect and we are sinful, and the two don’t mix, not even if we’re half decent. We’re sinners and so we are cut off from God. For God to mix with impure humans would make him less than God, less than holy and less than perfect. This is why we need Jesus’ death on the cross in our place… the Perfect One dealing with our sin. So at the start of the churches life, God was moving powerfully by His Holy Spirit, and this blatant sin needed to be dealt with.
What was at stake here was also the purity and effectiveness of the community of believers. If sin was tolerated and allowed to creep in at this stage, all would be lost. It is because of God’s mercy that he isn’t as swift with his judgment in our lives.
I believe that Ananias and Sapphira may also have been saved from falling into complete rejection of God by their swift death. We do know that death is not the end, and maybe God was merciful in terms of their future on Judgment Day by putting a stop to their slide into sin.
Okay, this is still a difficult account in the bible, but as we struggle with it, let’s go back to what we know of God’s character, his love and faithfulness to us shown in Jesus’s death for us, let’s cling to that. Let’s talk to God and say, “I don’t understand this passage, but I’m not going to let go of the fact that you are a loving faithful heavenly Father.”
This is about living in a house without ceiling or walls. We are frightened of living in such a house. Living in a house such as this is more COSTLY than even the most arty, modern glasshouse construction. It requires sacrificial action and commitment to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Living in a house without ceiling or walls has less PRIVACY than even the most open glass extension. It will mean full OPENESS to each other, but also full OPENESS before God… no more hiding or lying or pretending.
I struggle with this. I like my stuff. I like my space. I like my secrets. I like creating an illusion of Godliness while secretly keeping hold of some of my old sinful territory. But I know that the house God calls us to live in, the type of community God wants us to be; a UNITED, GENEROUS, WITNESSING community, is the best place to be. The views are amazing, the light is unbelievable, the warmth fills the place. This kind of place is home for my heart and yours. This community where no-one is needy is the place I need to be. This house with a view of the heavens will be a foretaste of when the kingdom of heaven is consummated on that last day.
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