ACTS 4-5 4:29-5:11 THE MAKINGS OF A GREAT CHURCH2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Acts 4-5 4:29-5:11 The Makings Of A Great Church

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016.

We are going to be in Acts chapter 4, finishing up chapter 4, and then we'll also head into chapter 5 as we look into the Word this evening. But let's begin by reading Acts chapter 4, verses 29 through 37. Acts chapter 4, verses 29 through 37. Here's what it says.

Verse 32.

Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul. Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Verse 34. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked, for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them.

And brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the apostles' feet. And they distributed to each one as anyone had need. And Joseph, who is also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated son of encouragement, a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet."

Here this evening, we are looking at Acts chapter 4 and finishing up the chapter, continuing the account of what we've been looking at for the past couple weeks. And as we look at this passage, I've titled the message this evening, The Makings of a Great Church. And you'll see as we go through this that, first of all, the church is first mentioned or the title church is first used here in the passage we'll look at tonight in Acts chapter 5 verse 11. It

It's a word that means to be called out. It's a gathering of people, specifically within the New Testament context. It's a gathering together of believers. And so in Jerusalem, there were believers now who had been following the Lord and they were gathering together. They were a gathering. The body of Christ was gathering together there. And so there was a lot of things happening. Whenever

People are gathered together. You have good things. You have some difficult things. And the church of Jerusalem was no different. And our church today also is no different. And so as we look at this, you can see some of the developments that were happening and what God was doing in the midst of this gathering of believers.

And so we're going to see the makings of a great church here in Acts chapter 4 and then into chapter 5 this evening. Now, as we talk about the makings of a great church, of course, it's kind of an obvious question for us to consider. Is living water a great church? As we look at these things, we'll have some tools to help evaluate and understand if we, living water, are a great church.

And the answer that you use to answer that question, are we a great church? You know, that might vary depending on the standard that you use. But as we look at the passage this evening, there's going to be three things that stand out in the church of Jerusalem. There was great power, there was great grace, and there was great fear. And the answer to that question is, are we a great church?

And these are the things that we need to evaluate as we think about this church. Are we a great church? But also, taking it a little bit more personal, as I've shared many times with you, the only way for us to be a great church is for us, individually, to be great Christians.

We can only be a gathering of believers that's a great gathering of believers when the believers who gather together are great believers. That we need to be great Christians in order for us to be a great church. And so as we look at these things, I would encourage you to consider how this looks in your own life. Now you might think, well, we could be a great church, you know, if only Pastor Dave would shape up and things would get better. But no, no, we need to understand that this is a call for us.

to be obedient and faithful to the standards that God's word places for our lives. And so these three points are what we'll look at. Great power, great grace, and great fear to help evaluate ourselves as well as the church.

So we begin in verses 29 through 33 with point number one, and that is great power to testify of Jesus. Here's something that made the church of Jerusalem great. They had great power to testify of Jesus. Now, as we jump into this passage, we're continuing the account that began in Acts chapter three, where Peter and John were headed to the temple for prayer.

And they had an encounter with a lame man who God chose at that time to use Peter and John to heal him. And so he's healed at that moment and he walks and runs and leaps into the temple with Peter and John, praising God and cheering. And it gathers a crowd. People take notice. And as the crowd is gathered...

Peter and John have an opportunity to preach the gospel. And 2,000 men respond to that message and become believers in Jesus Christ. It causes quite a commotion. And so the religious leaders take Peter and John into custody. And they put them on trial. And they threaten them to stop preaching. They command them to stop preaching Jesus or else. And so Peter and John walk away from that trial. They go back to the church and they share what happened.

And the church's response is to gather together for prayer. And specifically, they pray for boldness to continue to preach Jesus, even though the threat was to stop preaching Jesus. But they pray for boldness that they might continue. That's what we see again in verse 29. It says,

by stretching out your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. The church responds to this trial and to these threats by gathering together to pray. And their prayer basically says, Lord, give us boldness to keep doing what you've called us to do.

They want us to stop speaking your word, but we can't stop speaking your word. They want us to stop preaching the gospel, but you've commanded us to go and to preach the gospel and make disciples. And so, Lord, would you give us boldness so that we would be faithful to obey you even when we're fearful to obey you, even when there's opposition and oppression trying to stop us from obeying you. And so, Lord, would you give us boldness to be faithful to you?

And would you do miracles along with it? Signs and wonders that people might be able to believe, that people might have this as a witness, a testimony, that they would be able to recognize the truth of the message that we bring forth. Now, as they come to the Lord with this prayer, as you go on into verse 31, you can see that God answered that prayer, that he said, yes, I will do that. I will give you boldness. In verse 31, it says, and when they prayed...

And so they prayed, Lord, give us boldness that we could speak. And God answered. And how did he answer that prayer? He filled them with the Holy Spirit. And then the result was they spoke the word of God with boldness.

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, it says in verse 31. And let me remind you, this is the church gathering. This isn't just the apostles. It's not just, you know, the key leaders of the church of Jerusalem. This is the whole church. It's described as the whole church gathers together and they pray. And God's response is to fill every believer there within the church with the Holy Spirit.

This is something that we've been seeing over and over again throughout the book of Acts. I know it can be a little bit repetitive, but also at the same time, it's an essential that we need to grasp hold of. Every believer is called to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It's not just key leaders. It's not just pastors. It's not just, you know, those who are responsible for public preaching, right?

But every believer is called to be filled with the Holy Spirit repeatedly and continually. That it's a command that we're given in the scriptures. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Every believer here at the church in Jerusalem is filled with the Holy Spirit. And then the result is they spoke the word of God with boldness.

The apostles, of course, were preaching, but it was not just the apostles who were bringing forth the gospel and speaking the word of God. It was the believers. It was the church. Individually, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and individually, they were speaking the word of God with boldness. The word boldness, it means freedom or frankness in speaking.

Now, there's a lot of people who really pride themselves in, you know, their boldness, in the frankness of speaking, you know, and they don't have a problem, you know, being unashamed in the things that they say. But it's not about boldness and just speaking your mind, whatever might be happening, it's

Speaking the word of God is what they were speaking. So it wasn't just they were quick and had no problem sharing their opinion, but they had no problem sharing God's opinion. Here's what God says about things. Here's what the word of God says. Here's what the gospel message is. And so they spoke the word of God with boldness. That would specifically be the gospel, but also that would also include the rest of the scriptures, right?

You remember that Paul the Apostle said in Romans chapter 1 verse 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. In other words, Paul had a boldness to share the gospel of freedom or a frankness to share the gospel because it's the power of God to salvation. This is the effect of the Holy Spirit's

Filling these believers. They had a freedom of boldness. They were not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. And so as they interacted with people, as they had opportunity, they were able to share the gospel clearly, boldly, freely.

Verse 32 goes on to talk about how they shared things and had all things in common. We'll come back to that in the next point in just a few moments. But looking now at verse 33, it says, So as we continue to see this gathering together of believers, this church at Jerusalem, here we begin to see the makings of a great church.

It says that with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Now, this is really connected to what we just read about in verse 31. They spoke the word of God with boldness. They were filled with the Holy Spirit because the purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit was that they would have power to testify of Jesus. I hope you remember by now, Acts chapter 1, verse 8 says,

where Jesus tells his disciples, The power of the Holy Spirit was so that you could be witnesses to me, Jesus said. And so as they pray, as they go away from this trial, being threatened to stop preaching in the name of Jesus,

They pray and ask God to give them boldness. The Lord fills them with the Holy Spirit. They all speak the word of God with boldness. And with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord. You see, they're filled with the Holy Spirit. That's the point. The church prayed for boldness. And then what happened? The church spoke with boldness. The church prayed for boldness. And then what happened? The apostles gave witness with power.

You see, they were united together with this heart, with this desire to bring forth the gospel message. It was the desire, it was the heart of the church that the gospel would be brought forth, that there would be people giving the message and receiving the message of Jesus Christ, focusing really on the message of the resurrection of Jesus.

We've seen that already a couple times and we talked about that on Sunday. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is central to who we are as believers. It's central to our message as the church. Because Jesus is alive, we can have life. This needs to be central to the message that we bring to the world around us. And it's what the Holy Spirit empowers you to do, to bring forth the resurrection message of Jesus. And so we can share boldly.

We can be unashamed of the gospel because of the power of the Holy Spirit. To testify to people, because Jesus is alive, you can have life.

Because Jesus is alive, there is forgiveness for your sins. Because Jesus is alive, there is the hope of eternity. Because Jesus is alive, your marriage can be restored. Because Jesus is alive, your life can be fulfilling. Everything for us as believers goes back to the reality that Jesus is alive. And it's because Jesus is alive that we have anything at all. It's the message of the gospel. It's the message of who we are.

It's the word that we've been called to speak. And so as we look at the makings of a great church, we see that they had great power to testify of Jesus. They spoke clearly. They spoke boldly. The individual members as well as the apostles, they were working together to bring forth the message to the world around them. Again, I would remind you that the only way for us to be a great church is for us to be great Christians.

Now, that's not something that you have to generate on your own power and your own strength. But looking at the text, looking at what the Bible says, we can see it's over and over and over again. The real question is not how much are you doing or what can you do or what power do you have or how bold are you? The real question is, are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to overflow in your life? It doesn't come down to, you know, all right.

When you wake up in the morning, make sure you look in the mirror and practice. Okay, I'm going to be bold today and I'm going to tell people about Jesus. And that's not what we're encouraging you to do here. That's not what the Lord's asking you to do. Here's what the Lord's asking you to do. Look in the mirror and say, you know what? I'm empty and I'm lost without you, Lord. Will you fill me with your Holy Spirit?

Will you give me words to speak? Will you give me opportunity to share? Will you empower me to be a witness of you so that other people would know that you're alive because of my life and because of my words? We need to have this kind of dependence and this continual asking God to fill us with his Holy Spirit. I like this quote from Dave Guzik. I've shared it a number of times before.

Dave Guzik says, we should perhaps ask, are you baptized in the Holy Spirit? Instead of asking, have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit? It's a common question. Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit? It's like looking back at that one time occasion, but the command in the scripture is to continually be filled with the Holy Spirit. And so are you baptized in the Holy Spirit?

When you walked in the doors this evening, did you come in just fully immersed? You're immersed in the Holy Spirit. You're like, no, I didn't. That's why I'm coming here because I'm just drained. I'm unempty. I understand that. And that's great. That's one of the reasons why we gather together, to be refilled and for the Holy Spirit to be refreshing us and recharging us. But at the same time,

You need to be refreshed and renewed, not just when you're at church. It's a good pit stop. It's important for us, but at the same time, every day and throughout the day, you need to be filled and refilled with the Holy Spirit and calling out to God for you to receive the empowering of the Holy Spirit, to do the work that God has called you to do and to be the man or woman that God has called you to be. If you find yourself lacking power,

It's not something that you have to generate on your own. Ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit. Well, going on into verses, well, we'll back up a little bit to verse 32 and look through verse 37. Here we have point number two, and that is great grace to serve one another.

As we talk about the makings of a great church, we need to have great power to testify of Jesus. And that comes as we individually have great power to testify of Jesus. And then we as a church need to have great grace to serve one another. And again, that comes as we individually have great grace to serve one another. Check out verse 32. Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul.

Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. Here we have an interesting passage, an interesting situation there that was happening in the church of Jerusalem. We talked about it a little bit back in Acts chapter 2 because it mentions this practice and what they were doing there in Acts chapter 2 verse 44. There was developing there at the church of Jerusalem a type of commune or communal living place.

It tells us there that they had one heart, they had one soul, there was this strong unity, they were together, and so they shared freely all things. I should really turn off Hey Siri whenever I just did it again. Okay. They had all things in common. They shared all of those things, and so they had this unity, this fellowship, this communal type living. Now, it's not...

It's probably obvious. Hopefully it's obvious to you. But it's not the same as communism. That's a forced, you know, we're going to share everything whether you like it or not. But it was a freely giving. It was a generosity is really what's being expressed here. There was a great generosity that was taking place. It's important to note as you look at this that this was not commanded. This wasn't, you know, the apostles said, all right, everybody, you got to give up what you got.

and give it to other people, or more specifically, you got to give it to us, you know, so we can have it and then give it to other people who are in need. This wasn't a command. It was just this natural thing that developed in the hearts of the believers as they were walking with the Lord and experiencing this life together.

It's also important to point out that this was not practiced by other New Testament churches. And so this is why, you know, today as we look at these things, there's important principles here that we need to understand. But at the same time, it's not, this is the expectation for everybody. Sell your homes, move here, we'll live in the tents in the parking lot, you know. And that's not the command of the scriptures. But again, the heart that's demonstrated here is instructive for us. And so we need to consider that.

Specifically, this was necessary in Jerusalem because, if you'll remember the context for just a moment, this is the only church there was. Today, you know, there's churches on every corner here in Southern California. You know, you can go. To get here, you probably pass 10 or 15 churches, right? So, I mean, it's just, we have churches all over the place. But in Jerusalem at that time, there was just the one church. It was a big church. By now, there are 5,000 people there.

I'm sure they were having a hard time finding places to meet and how to gather together, and it was difficult for them. But there was only one church. There wasn't a church down the road. There wasn't a church in the next cities over. So what was happening, if you remember, it began on the day of Pentecost. That was a feast, and so people were from all over the world there in Jerusalem. They respond to the message as Peter preaches. They get saved, but they're not from Jerusalem, many of them.

So they don't have means of support. That's not where their homes are. That's not where their fields are. That's not where their work is. They're there as believers, but their home is somewhere else for the majority of them.

And so as you see this gathering together, you can quickly understand that people were from out of town, but they don't want to go back home because this is the church. This is where the church is gathering. They're learning. They're just brand new believers just starting out. They need to get their understanding of the scriptures, their understanding of who Jesus is, and so they want to stay close, but

But then they don't have means. They don't have resources. And so the Lord began to stir up in people's hearts. And they were providing for all of these visitors and these guests that were there in Jerusalem as they continued to seek the Lord. And so they had no property. They had no long-term place to stay, no jobs. And the Lord was using this and doing this to provide for them.

And so again, it was an expression of great generosity, not a heavy command, you know, not something forced, but it was just something that developed in the hearts of people as they saw the need. It was appropriate to the needs that were present. And so they expressed this great generosity. Now, how is it that they had this generosity? How could they be so generous with the things that they had and the goods that they had? Well, verse 33 gives us a key here.

It says, with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. We saw that already. And great grace was upon them all. So there was great power, but now we also see there was great grace. The word grace means unearned favor and kindness. We're familiar with it, of course, because the gospel is by grace, that we receive salvation without earning it. We don't deserve it. We could never earn it.

But God gives us good and wonderful things like forgiveness and eternity and all of that by us believing in Jesus. And so we are recipients of the grace of God. And so great grace was upon them all. They were marveling. They were rejoicing. They were celebrating the grace of God as they gathered together as believers. There's a saying. I'm sure you've heard it. Forgiven people...

are forgiving people. People who have been forgiven are people who are forgiving to others around them. This is something that Jesus taught several times throughout his ministry. It's a real principle that when you really receive the forgiveness that God has for you, when God does that work for you and you appreciate that, it causes you to be forgiving to the people who offend you, to the people who

have harmed you. In a similar way, people who receive God's generosity are people who give generously. As you receive and appreciate and celebrate the grace of God in your life, His generosity towards you, the result is generosity to others around you. It's a work that God does.

They had received the grace of God in salvation and the blessings and the goodness of God and the abundance. And as God was doing all of these things, they enjoyed God's grace. And so they were gracious to each other and said, oh, you have need. Oh, there's these needs. Okay, no problem. And they were generous with all that God had given to them. Verse 34 goes on to say, nor was there anyone among them who lacked.

So there was no one among them who lacked. Every need was provided for.

Because there was this great generosity that was happening and people were giving and selling their lands and then bringing the proceeds to the apostles and laying them at the apostles' feet. And then the apostles would take that and then distribute as they had need. Now you can see there was some structure here. There was some order. There was great generosity, but it needed to be handled well. And so they entrusted the apostles with that. They said, okay, apostles, you guys are

You take these resources and use them according to the needs that are appropriate. And so they entrusted the resources to the apostles, and then the apostles distributed to the people who had need within the church. We'll see this developed a little bit more in Acts chapter 6. As this ministry continues on, specifically as the church grows, it begins now to be more specific to widows, because widows were children.

those in particular who had no help, no resources of their own, no way to earn money. And so the church would care for the widows in that day because they had no other support. They had no other means. And especially as becoming believers, many times their family would cut them off and not support them anymore because now they were believers in Jesus. They were traitors. And so they would be cast off from their families. And so the church would take care of

of the widows, and it causes some dispute later on. We'll see that in Acts chapter 6. But in that, there begins to develop some principles for us as we talk about this idea of generosity, this whole picture of, you know, the funds being given to the apostles and then being distributed to the people in need. It develops for us some structure that we can understand of how God wants things to operate within the church.

I'd like to share with you some points that Dave Guzik shares from 1 Timothy 5-6, where he specifically deals with the idea of providing for and supporting the widows of the church. But he gives some criteria and helps us to evaluate and understand what is this supposed to look like and how is this supposed to work. So in 1 Timothy 5-6, he says that the church must discern who the truly needy are.

And you can imagine, you know, if the apostles have charge of the money and people know about that, there's going to be lots of knocks at their doors, lots of phone calls late at night. Hey, I need some money. I heard you got all the money. Can I have some money? And that is something that just happens. You know, people come out of the woodwork whenever they think there might be money available for them. And so there needs to be some test. There needs to be some discernment, some evaluation of

about what the needs are. And so here Guzik unpacks some of the principles that Paul gives in 1 Timothy chapter 5 and 6. So number one, if one can work to support himself, he's not truly needy. So the command is, if you don't work, you don't eat. That's what Paul said to the Thessalonians. The command is, hey, you need to be engaged in working, in earning, in doing something, and providing for yourself in

If you are able, and there are some who are not able, and so that's a different case, but for those who are able, that's your responsibility, and you need to provide for yourself and work hard to do so. Secondly, if the family can support a needy person, then the church should not. So if there is a widow, if there's someone in need like that, but they have family who can take care of them,

Well, that's the family's responsibility. It falls to their charge first. And so the family has a responsibility to care for their needy family members. And that should not be something that the church is burdened with. Thirdly, those who are supported by the church must make some return to the church body. Paul talks about the importance of this interaction. Okay, there's this person who needs support. There's a person who needs help.

Well, there needs to be an exchange that's going on. It's not just free money. It's not just free support. But what are they doing? How are they benefiting the church? What kind of impact are they making with the church body? And not that it has to be a one-to-one earning ratio, but just recognizing there needs to be contribution and investment in the body of Christ for those who are being supported by the body of Christ. Then he also points out, it is right for the church to examine moral conduct before giving support.

Well, you're needy and you, you know, are in a situation of need and you're not able to provide for yourself, but you're living in sin. That's a whole different thing. And that is appropriate for the church to evaluate that and not just give out money with those, you know, who need support are living in a sinful condition. And then finally, the support of the church should be for the most basic necessities, right?

So, you know, not for the luxuries, not for the extra, you know, things, but for the basic necessities, for food, for water, for clothing, you know, those types of things is appropriate and it should be limited to that. And so that gives some parameters there.

And so we can look at that and understand this is how, you know, generosity is to be given. It is to be, you know, that we are to give to those who are in need as God gives us opportunity. But there also needs to be discernment involved and we need to be dealing with God's resources appropriately. And you can apply these things to us as a church. But again, you can also apply these things to you as an individual.

That you need to be generous with the resources that God has given to you, but you also need to be discerning and wise about how you share and how you give out those things that God has given to you. Well, as we go on in verse 36 and 37, Luke gives us a good example of the generosity that he's talking about. Verse 36 says,

It says,

So now he goes on to give us a specific example. He says, okay, generally this is what was happening. People were selling land. They were selling things. They were providing, giving it to the apostles. And let me just give you one example of that. You have Joses, or also named Barnabas. Now Barnabas, his name means son of encouragement. I love this because his real name was Joses, but he had a nickname. It was Barnabas. And it said that it was a name that was given to him by the apostles.

So, you know, Peter, John, Andrew, those guys, they're all talking like, check out this guy. You know, his name is Joseph. But, you know, we're going to call him Barnabas because every time we're around him, he's encouraging us. And he's, you know, building us up and helping us to go further and to do the things that God has called us to do. And man, every time you see him, he's talking to somebody, encouraging, encouraging, encouraging. We're going to call him Barnabas, son of encouragement.

And so it was a nickname that he earned by being encouraging. Now, we'll get to see this in action later on in the book of Acts as he's the one who comes alongside of Saul of Tarsus, the guy that everybody was afraid to talk to because he was the killer of Christians, but

But he had gotten saved and nobody believed it except for Barnabas. And Barnabas comes alongside. He says, hey, let me introduce you. Hey, Peter and John, this is Saul of Tarsus. And he's introducing them and everybody's like, I don't know. I'm just going to wait and see if this is really for real or not. And later on is Barnabas.

Paul, the apostle, who was Saul of Tarsus and transformed by God, he goes out on mission trips. Barnabas is there along with him, and God sends them out together. And so you see that encourager in Barnabas in action in his relationship with the apostle Paul. Well, we see him introduced here in the scriptures in verse 36 and 37 as one of those who had land.

And so he sold it. He brought the money to the apostles and he says, you guys distribute it however you see fit, wherever the needs are, you guys can handle that. And so Barnabas here provides an example for us of this generosity. He was a recipient of great grace. And so he had great grace to serve others in the body of Christ. God's design for the body of Christ is

is much more than for us to just sit in the same room once or twice a week for a Bible study. God's design for us as the body of Christ is for us to engage in each other's lives and to benefit one another and bless one another and minister to one another on a variety of levels, you know, on spiritual things as well as practical things as God leads and provides. And so we need to be a church, if we're going to be a great church,

We need to be a church that has great grace to serve one another. But the only way for that to happen is for us to be great Christians who have the grace of God received in our hearts and overflowing to the believers around us. Does God's grace toward you cause you to be generous to others? Let me remind you that forgiven people are forgiving people.

recipients of grace give grace. And we have received so much from God. It really is important that we are willing to give to others as we have opportunity. Let me remind you of Galatians chapter 6 verse 10. There the apostle Paul says, Paul says,

But it's also especially important for us to do good to other believers. That needs to be a huge priority in our life. It needs to be a big deal for us. But notice what he says, as we have opportunity. And that's important to understand. This is not some heavy burden that, you know, you need to starve so that you can feed other people. That's not what this great generosity is. This is people who have what they're willing to give.

As you have opportunity can speak to two sides. It can speak to this side of you have extra. You have what you're willing to part with and there's a need that is there before you. Now, sometimes there's a need that's there before you, but you don't have anything to give. And so maybe then you don't have opportunity. Now, at the same time, we can challenge ourselves and we need to be challenged from time to time. Well, hey, you know, you could give up.

maybe that cup of coffee, you know, once a week or whatever, to be able to meet that need. And so there needs to be some challenge in our hearts. But at the same time, it's not meant to be, you know, some great burden that you have to sleep on the floor, never have a comfortable bed, you know, always, well, only ride your bike, don't have a car that's too expensive, you know. You know, you don't have to, it's not a vow of poverty that God is calling us to. It's a vow of generosity that as we have opportunity and as the opportunities are available, as we

As we have the resources and the needs are there that we're willing to give and be used by the Lord and say, you know what, Lord, you've given me so much. You've blessed me with so much. Sure, give me some opportunity and I will share what you've given to me with other people, specifically believers who are in need. And so we need to be these kinds of people who have great grace. God has shown me great grace. And so I will extend that grace to others who are in need.

Well, now we're going to move on into chapter five to finish up for point number three this evening. And point number three is great fear to be genuine. The makings of a great church, it's a church that has great power to testify of Jesus, great grace to serve one another, but also great fear to be genuine in their relationship with God and with one another.

Looking at chapter 5 is an interesting passage because here we have Ananias and Sapphira. It's a famous account of these two who lied and then died there on the spot. I like what one commentator said about this. He says, Luke does not idealize his portrait of the early church, but painted an accurate picture, warts and all.

As you have a gathering of believers, you're going to have people like Barnabas. It's like, whoa, great grace, you know, great generosity, good job. He's such an encouragement. But you're also going to have the Ananias and Sapphira. That's just natural. As we gather together, there's going to be a mix of those who are encouraging and those who are lying. And that's a reality as we gather together as a church. And so in the midst of the church, there needs to be great fear.

We need to have a fear of God as a church. And that happens as we individually develop and learn a fear of God, to be genuine in our relationship with God. Let's walk through this passage. Starting in verse 1 and 2, it says, But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession.

Here we have a very similar scenario to what we just read. This is what Barnabas did. This is what people were doing. Luke gives Barnabas as a specific example, and then he repeats that same pattern, talking about Ananias and Sapphira. They did the same thing that Barnabas did,

Except for their hearts were completely different as they did it. And they didn't do exactly what they should have done as they're giving this money to the church. In verse 2, it tells us he kept back part of the proceeds.

There's a parallel here that's often alluded to looking at this situation with Ananias and Sapphira and that of Achan with the children of Israel when they went into the promised land. Remember that? They went into the promised land. The first battle was Jericho. There was great victory. The next city, Ai. Little city, we can handle it. Just a few people there will take care of it, but they're defeated. Why are we defeated? And God says, because there's sin in the camp.

Again, there's always going to be that kind of thing happening in a gathering of believers. And it tells us that Achan took of the treasure that he wasn't supposed to take of when they conquered Jericho. He took it. It's the same word that's also used here when it says Ananias kept back. He took part of the proceeds. Now, as we look at this, you need to understand the issue is not that he kept back some of the money. The real issue here was that he pretended to give it all.

Peter will make that clear as he goes on and evaluates this and addresses Ananias in particular. But we can kind of speculate. We can kind of imagine. Here's Ananias and Sapphira. They're part of this new work and great things are happening in the church and they see people giving and perhaps even Barnabas specifically. They see Barnabas give and oh wow, look at how, you know, he's named now a son of encouragement. He got a new nickname, you know, as he gave to the church in this way and

Ananias says to his wife, I want a new nickname. You know, I think that would be cool. What kind of name would they come up with for me? And so they decide, let's sell this piece of property that we have and bring it. But their hearts were wrong in this act. Their hearts were wrong. They weren't approaching it right. Now, this is super appropriate for us to consider today. I mean, this is like, if we let this, it will hit us square between the eyes. Because every one of us

As members of the body of Christ, every one of us as believers in Jesus are tempted to pretend. We're tempted to pretend. Hypocrisy is a common issue for believers. It's one that we're all familiar with. It's one that we will all be tempted with. And so this is a good opportunity to check our own hearts as we look at Ananias and Sapphira. Verse 3 says...

Here Peter highlights the issue. Okay, Ananias, let's walk through this. Number one, you didn't have to sell your land.

It wasn't a command. Nobody told you you have to sell your land. So you didn't have to sell your land. It was yours. You could have sold it. You could have kept it. You could have done whatever you wanted with it. Number two, if you did sell your land, you didn't have to give any of the money to the church. That wasn't a requirement. That wasn't a command. That wasn't something that was a necessity. You could have kept all the money to yourself. You could have done whatever you wanted with it. You could have bought different land if you wanted. It was your option. You could have done any of that.

And you could have just given a portion of the proceeds if you wanted to do that. You didn't have to give it all. But if you wanted to give some, you would have been fine in giving some. The issue for Ananias was not that he only gave some. The issue was he gave some while pretending to give it all. It would not have been sin for Ananias to bring this before Peter and say, hey, I sold my land.

And here's part of the proceeds I'd like for the church to have it to be able to distribute to the needs of the poor. No problem. He would have lived and survived that day. It would not have been sin for him to do that. But the issue was he brought part of it and claimed he wanted the credit for giving it all when he only gave part of it. It's hypocrisy.

Again, it's a common issue for believers. We want people to be impressed with us, more impressed than actually we deserve. And that's what he was plotting. That's what he was planning as he does this. Now, a couple other little things to point out as we look at this passage. First of all, we have a clear picture here that the Holy Spirit is God.

Because in verse 3, Peter says that he's lied to the Holy Spirit. And then in verse 4, he says, you've not lied to men, but to God. And so there, the Holy Spirit is referred to as God by Peter as he addresses this situation. But something else to consider. Who is accountable if Satan fills your heart? The answer, of course, is you are accountable. In verse 3, it tells us, Peter says, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart?

So clearly there was the work of the enemy involved in this situation. And Satan has filled the heart of Ananias. But that doesn't mean that Ananias is not responsible for his actions or not accountable for his actions. Satan filled the heart of Ananias and Ananias paid the price because he still had the choice.

He still had the choice to obey God. He still had the choice to be genuine and to not fake it, to not try to pretend, to not try to seem more spiritual than he actually was. It's something important for us to understand. We are still accountable for our actions. God will hold us accountable. We'll stand before God to give account.

And Peter could see right through, not because Peter was incredibly clever. You know, he was really great at reading people. He was able to see right through the situation because the Holy Spirit gave him insight into what was really going on. When we stand before God, we're not going to be able to fool the Lord. We can never fool God. He sees right to the heart. He knows what's really going on. So many times we work really hard to put on a show for people, forgetting that God can see right through all that.

We need to make sure that we are genuine. That's what God wants, our sincerity, our genuineness in our relationship with him, but also in our relationship with others. God wants us to be genuine. In verse 5, it says, Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

Great fear came upon all those who heard these things. There in that great church, what took place? Great fear. One commentator pointed out, this is probably one of the greatest understatements in the scriptures. Great fear came upon the church. They were probably terrified. They were probably incredibly freaked out. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? You know, some people are already afraid just to, you know, walk into the doors of a church today, but

What if they heard, well, just a couple days ago, someone died there because they lied. I'm not going there, you know. Great fear came upon the church. It was a healthy, it was a fear of God. Hey, we need to make sure we're not faking it. We need to make sure we're being real. We need to make sure we're not putting on a show, but that this is for real. It was a serious situation that God used to help the church understand how he feels about

about this kind of hypocrisy. Great fear came upon the church. Verse 7. Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much? She said, yes, for so much. So again, here you can see clearly what's happening here is they sold the land for a certain amount. They kept a portion of it

gave the lesser amount to the church and said, all right, we sold the amount or sold the land for this lesser amount, pretending this is all we got, you know. So that's what we're giving. And so Peter gives her an opportunity to repent. He gives her an opportunity to confess. You know, God's gracious. She had an opportunity to make things right. Peter says, hey, did you sell the land for this much? And she could have said, oh no, actually we sold it for this much. And

We're giving a little bit less because we needed to keep some for ourselves. We have some needs and wanted to take care of some things. And she would have been fine. But she, in the plot with her husband, you know, continues, maintains the story. Obviously, she hasn't heard about what happened to her husband. So she maintains the story. Yes, that's how much we sold the land for. He gives her opportunity to repent. God's so gracious in that. He often will give us opportunity to repent. And maybe this evening...

It's one of those opportunities for you. I don't know where you are. I don't know what's going on in your heart. You might be like Ananias and Sapphira. You might have walked in here saying, praise the Lord, but in your heart, there's something completely different going on. God can see that. He knows what's really happening. Maybe tonight he's brought you here because he wants to give you an opportunity to confess, to turn from sin. He's giving you a chance before things get worse, before the judgment is received, to turn and make things right with God.

This woman refused that opportunity. Verse 9. Then Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out. Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. Verse 10.

So she has an extra opportunity to repent that her husband didn't get, but she refuses to take it. And so Peter's like, how have you decided to test the Lord? Why are you putting the Lord to test? Pretending this and thinking that it's okay. Thinking that you'll get away with it. Why do you think that you can get away with things as far as God is concerned? Look, those guys who buried your husband, they're back. And now they're going to bury you. God brought some swift things.

and serious judgment to the church, to their situation because of this sin. Now, God will do this from time to time. Again, you see the sin of Achan. You see, you know, what happened there at Mount Sinai. God will bring swift judgment for certain situations. He doesn't always judge this way. If he did, well, there would be a lot more of us who would have fallen a long time ago, right? But he did this at the beginning to set the tone and say, look, this is how I feel.

about fake hypocrisy, about pretending spirituality, about pretending things that are not real in your relationship with me. Ironside puts it this way. He says, they pretended to a greater degree of Christian devotedness than they really possessed. That was all, but it was a tremendously evil thing in the sight of God. I mean, it's easy to look at this and say, well, that's such a little thing. You can say, that's it.

They just pretended to have more devotedness than they actually had. They pretended to be more spiritual than they actually were. They pretended to be more holy than they actually were. And that was it. And Aaron said that was a tremendously evil thing in the sight of God. God hates hypocrisy. Consider what Jesus spoke to the church of Thyatira in Revelation chapter 3. He said, so then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.

Because you say, I am rich, I've become wealthy and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Here's some hypocrisy within the church. A church full of Ananias and Sapphira's. Convinced, I'm rich. Look, look how generous I am. Look how awesome I am. Look how spiritual I am. Not realizing you're wretched, poor, miserable, blind, and naked. You're lukewarm. You're pretending to be hot, but you're actually not. He says, I could wish you were one or the other.

hot or cold. I'd rather you be genuine if you're cold. If you really don't care, you don't want to give, then don't give. I'd rather you be genuine, God's saying, than pretending to be hot when you're actually cold. And so verse 11 says, so great fear came upon all the church and upon all those who heard these things. Second time, great fear comes upon the church. This was a great church because, well, there was great power to testify of Jesus.

There was great grace to serve one another, but there was also great fear to be genuine in their relationship with God and one another. The only way for us to be a great church today is for us individually to be great Christians, to have great power to testify of Jesus. If you're lacking in that power, it doesn't come by you generating it, but it comes by you asking God to fill you with his Holy Spirit.

Learning how to walk in the Spirit and rely upon the Holy Spirit to empower you to testify of Jesus. It's something that God desires for all believers. We'll only be a great church if you learn to have great grace in serving one another. Where you as a recipient of the grace of God then let that overflow and are generous in your meeting of the other people's needs.

That could be practically, that could be time, that could be finances, that could be spiritual gifts and exercising spiritual gifts. It's freely you've received, freely give. Receiving the grace of God and then sharing that with one another. If we're going to be a great church, there needs to be great fear in our hearts individually. That we would fear the Lord and recognize that He sees right through us and that we would strive to be genuine and not faking it.

Not pretending, not trying to convince other people that we are in a different place with God than we actually are. Not trying to earn the praise of people, but trying to earn the praise of God. One last thought on being people of great fear. It's from Dave Guzik here in Acts chapter 5. He says,

Time to get right with God. Time to get honest with Him. As you consider the great fear to be genuine, consider the time is now. It's a great presumption to think, well, I'll have time later on. Ananias and Sapphira perhaps thought that. You might think that. I might think that. But the reality is we don't know. The time is now. The opportunity is now for us to repent and start to be genuine.

Start to be real in our relationship with God and one another. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we consider these things for our own hearts, Lord, we do love this gathering of believers here at Living Water. We love, Lord, this family that you've made us a part of. And Lord, we desire for this to be a great church where your word is proclaimed, where people receive the gospel, where the grace of God is abundant and evident.

Lord, also where we recognize and understand your holiness and the need for us to turn from sin to follow you. Lord, we also recognize that that can only take place. We can only be this kind of church when we individually take these things to heart and live them out for real. So I pray, God, for each of us.

Lord, that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit. Baptize us afresh and anew. And Lord, give us a great desperation for you. May we rely upon you for all things. And Lord, I pray that you would set before us many opportunities, many open doors to share the gospel, to preach your word, to declare what you say boldly and without being ashamed. God, I pray that you would also give us a new appreciation for your grace. Remind us, Lord.

of your goodness towards us that we do not deserve and could never earn. And I pray, Lord, that you would show us opportunities where we can extend that grace and take all the good things that you've been giving to us and deliver those and share that goodness with the people around us. Lord, may we be gracious in our attitudes. May we be gracious in our words. May we be gracious in how we share our goods. And Lord, I pray that you would also impress upon us

a new sense of your holiness. Lord, that we would have a healthy fear of you, recognizing that you're holy, that we will stand before you and we can't trick you, we can't fool you. Lord, you see right to our heart and know exactly what's going on. Help us, God, to stop pretending and to start being real. Not presuming that there'll be time later on to get right, but Lord, taking opportunity now to turn to you, to throw off the fake hypocrisy

and to be genuine in our love for you and our love for one another. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.