Caught Cheating

SERMON: 2011-07-10--ac1165--caught-cheating SOURCE DURATION: 00:44:06.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 0.95 APPROVED: false REASON: The recording begins with the sermon content (a quiz/exposition). The main sermon material concludes with a prayer/benediction in segment [444]. The subsequent segments are sustained acoustic music and should be excluded from the core sermon boundaries. Acoustic segmentation found sustained music at the end edge and moved the boundary to the adjacent transcript segment. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: 00:39:33.560-00:44:04.300 ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: yes ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: end Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- I want to begin this morning by doing a little quiz with you, if you're game for that. Back in the Old Testament, when Israel first comes into the promised land under the leadership of Joshua, what is the first major sin that happens that brings forth the vigorous judgment of God? Anybody tell me? The story of Achan. The story of Achan is recorded for us in Joshua chapter 6, if you want to read it at some point. It takes place in the context of the capture of Jericho. Jericho is the first city of the promised land that falls to God's people, and because it is the first city, God demands the first fruits of Jericho, very interesting principle. And so God says, "Destroy the whole city. Don't take any of the plunder for yourself, and take the silver and the gold and put it in my treasury." Well, if you know the story, Achan couldn't resist the temptation. The Bible says that he came across a beautiful Babylonian garment. The Bible says he found a pile of silver, about five and a half pounds worth, and then he found a wedge of gold, about a pound and a quarter, I believe it was. And he said, "It's a shame to give this to God, and it's a shame to burn this beautiful garment." And he took it home, and he buried it under the floor of his tent, saying to himself, "Nobody will ever know, and this will be a good retirement package for me." Well, if you know the story, you know what happened. God's judgment fell on the whole nation of Israel. The next time they went out to battle, which was to a small city called Ai, they were defeated by the enemy. Thirty-six of their number died, and God said, "You've got a problem, you've got to deal with it." And so as they began to seek out what the problem was, then Achan was identified as the thief who had broken covenant with God, and ultimately that led to his death, the death of his family, and the destruction of everything that he had. That's the Old Testament, when Israel first comes into the Promised Land. Now, roll forward to the New Testament, from the scripture reading, the New Testament church. What is the first sin that is committed that calls forth the vigorous judgment of God? It's a story of Ananias and Sapphira, and we'll talk about that in a few moments. But now roll the clock forward even a little further, bringing it closer to home. What is the first major event that occurred three years ago after we moved into this building and we had our grand opening service? We got hit by a $950,000 lawsuit, you will remember, a lawsuit that has since been settled or dropped. But if you put these three stories together, what two lessons do you think one could safely draw from this? I'll spell them out for you. Number one, as scripture says in the New Testament, the love of money is what? The root of all evil. It's often misquoted as if money is the root of all evil. No, no. Money itself is neutral. It can be used for good, it can be used for bad. It's the love of money that is the root of all evil. Secondly, even when you are anointed by the Holy Spirit, as is the early church, and caught up in the purposes of God, as was both Old Testament Israel and the New Testament church, there is no guarantee that you are immune to the power of greed. And so that is the major theme that comes to expression in this story of Ananias and Sapphira. And as we look at it together this morning, allow me to make some observations about how the story unfolds, and then if we have time, a couple of practical lessons that I want to draw from it. My monitor, Astrid, is not working here, so you may have to help me to make sure that I get the right slide up. The first thing I want us to note in this particular story is that it begins with a collusion or an agreement between Ananias and his wife Sapphira. Listen again to verses 1 and 2. A man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property with his wife's full knowledge. He kept back part of the money for himself, but brought to the rest and put it at the apostle's feet. Now the back story here, of course, is what we looked at last week in the previous chapter, how the early church filled with the Holy Spirit found themselves one in heart and mind. And they were so one in heart and mind that nobody said, "My property is my own," instead they shared it freely with each other as there was need. And this came to expression then in the realization that some people sold their houses and their lands in order to provide for those who were less wealthy or less well off. And the chapter ends with this remarkable example of Barnabas, which means son of encouragement who later becomes Paul's assistant in ministry until they have a big fight and they split up selling a piece of his, what is it, a field he owned and he brought the money the Bible says and he put it at the apostle's feet. Well clearly now Ananias and Sapphira either get caught up in the excitement of the moment or perhaps more likely they see an opportunity to get some praise and attention for themselves. And so they have some property and they sell it with the idea of giving the proceeds to the church. Everybody will take note of how generous and how kind we are. But as they've made the transaction and they're looking at the money in hand, they're having second thoughts and they're saying to themselves, you know, this is an awful lot of money. And we could buy a new refrigerator with this. We could buy a new chariot. We could upgrade our house a little bit maybe. Why don't we have our cake and eat it too? We'll give a little bit to the church. We'll hold some back, but we won't tell them that it's not the full amount. In fact we will tell them this is what we received for the land. Now please understand with me there is nothing wrong with their holding back part of the property. Peter addresses that 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?" I shared last week this generosity, this sharing of goods in the early church was completely and strictly voluntary. This was not communism where it's legislated from the top down. No, no, this is if you want to. So Ananias and Sapphira were free to do with their possessions whatever it was that they wanted, it was their choice. And so their sin, their sin was not that they hold back some of the money. Their sin was that they lied to the church and they lied to God about it. Peter puts it this way, "What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men, but to God." So Ananias and Sapphira are in collusion. They're going to try to trick not only men, not only people, not only the church, but in so doing they're trying to deceive God himself. Not a very good idea as we'll see later, it gets you into big trouble. So that's the first thing I want us to notice, they were in collusion together. One thing I want us to notice then is that Peter sees right through what it is that they're doing. Notice again how the passage goes, "How is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and kept for yourself some of the money that you received for the land? Didn'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 you have lied to God." Notice very quickly three major themes that come to expression in Peter's response here. The first major theme is that the initiative comes from Satan. Verse three, "How is it that Satan has so filled your heart?" Now heart, as we said last week, is the seed of personality. It's where you do your deep thinking. It's where your passions live. It's where your motives arise and in scripture for the believer our heart is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's why we talk to seekers or to children or to people who haven't made a commitment to Jesus, "Invite Jesus into your heart." Not this pumping organism, though sometimes it could use a little bit of Jesus, but the seed of our personality because the genius of the Christian faith is that God through the Holy Spirit lives in us and He colors our desires, He stirs our passion, and He produces in our lives the fruit of the Holy Spirit. That's New Testament Christianity as opposed to Old Testament legalism. You aren't good because there is a law that says you have to be good. You become good because there's new seed that has been planted in your heart, and that comes to expression in love for God and love for your neighbor. Now remember, Satan is the great adversary. Satan wants to imitate God and he wants to draw us away from the service of God to serving Him. And so he's always striving to get hold of the human heart so that he can put his thoughts, his temptations, his challenges there. And there isn't a one of us here. Whether we're believers, whether we're seekers, whether we've been in the church for many years or whether we're new to the faith, there isn't a one of us here who doesn't know the reality of Satan knocking on the door of our hearts. Isn't that true? I mean, aren't there thoughts that come to you and you say to yourself, "Where in that world do they come from? And why am I thinking what I'm thinking? And why maybe am I even doing what I'm doing?" See, Satan's strategy is to infiltrate our hearts with a view to getting us to move in his direction. And the way that he does that, by the way, and I'll talk more about that in a few moments, is he plays on the unresolved issues of our lives. He plays on uncrucified flesh. For Ananias, he plays on his unresolved greed, his desire for fame, his desire for recognition. The devil comes along, as we'll see in a moment, he knocks on that door like he did on Cain's door many years ago, and he says, "Give me some entry." So having tried now to destroy the church, first by persecution from the outside, not having succeeded because the church stood together and were powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit, Satan now begins to pick out Ananias and Sapphira to see if he cannot infiltrate the church with his poison and with his false values. The initiative begins with Satan, whose name means adversary. But second theme to note in those couple of verses is that Ananias has to give his consent, because notice again how Peter puts it here in verse 4, and I love the way this is phrased. What made you think of doing such a thing like, "Ananias, give your head a shake, man." What in the world was going through your mind that you thought you could lie about this and not get caught before God when God's presence is so powerfully present in this community? You see, for the devil to succeed, he's got to find access in our hearts. We have to open up the door. How many of you here are old enough to remember Flip Wilson? Just for curiosity, a smattering of old timers over here, John Voss and Felix and, you know, the really old guys in this place. Flip Wilson, for you young ones, was a comedian who was at the height of his show in the early '70s, and he had a comic show. He was the 18th of 18 children, I believe, and got the name Flip not because he was named that by his parents, but because he was always flipping out. And so his friends called him Flip Wilson, and he managed to cultivate this to his advantage. But through one of his characters and his skits, he made famous the expression, what is it? "The devil made me do it. The devil made me do it." See, you know more than you thought you knew. And it was funny, but of course it's only partially true. Only when you are completely possessed by the devil can you say, "The devil made me do it." And there are instances that if you open up the door far enough and long enough and you let this carry on, you will be possessed, and the Bible is full of stories where people are demonized. Judas' betrayal of Jesus, the Bible says Satan entered into him. How else can you get to a point where you betray the master for 30 shekels of silver? But typically the devil doesn't have that kind of power. Typically there is a barrier between his spiritual power and our identity and our personality. And so while he can tempt us and while he can goad us and while he can try to put ideas in our minds, he can't just willy-nilly enter in and make us do something. He's got to gain our consent. Martin Luther used to say about the devil, and he had a lot of encounters with the devil to the point where once he threw his inkwell at him, hit the wall, splattered it all over the place. I'm sure his wife wasn't very pleased, but Martin Luther used to say, "You can't stop the devil from flying over your head, but you can stop him from nesting in your hair." And so what happens here with Ananias is that Satan comes knocking and because he is playing on his fears, he is playing on his unresolved passions and desires that he has not yet put to death, he opens the door, which is why Peter says to him, "How in the world could you do such a thing?" And there's a profoundly important lesson there, people. Satan is always going about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. And if he can find fertile soil in your heart or in my heart, he will enter in and he will poison our souls. Listen to how James puts it, very powerful passage in my estimation. He's talking about temptation and he says, "When tempted, nobody should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone." Now listen to this, "But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. When after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." Now notice there, two fascinating word pictures. The first word picture comes from fishing. Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. And there is, you know, that whole picture of why does a fisherman bait a hook? Because you want to lure the fish. Why does the fish take the bait? Not because he expects to be caught, but because the food meets a need. And so the whole idea of being a fisherman, and some of you that do a lot more of this than I've ever done, is to know you've got to have the right kind of bait, you've got to have the right kind of lure for the particular fish that you're trying to catch, and you're trying to trick the fish into taking the bait, not because you want to feed the fish, but because you want to eat the fish. Now the devil operates like that. He's not interested in feeding the fish. He's interested in eating the fish. And so we are lured and enticed because there are things in us that he can find, that he can play on. Have you ever noticed in your own life that if you're irritated with somebody, or if you're disappointed with somebody, or if you feel that somebody has hurt you, then it feels good to feed that sense of disappointment, anger, and resentment. Am I the only one that ever feels that way around here, or are some of you honest enough to share that with me? Come on, see? It happens to all of us. And what the Bible wants us to do is to crucify the flesh, nail it to the cross and say, "Lord, this is dangerous territory because if I don't put this to death, this becomes a foothold for Satan." And have you ever noticed when you've been in a fight maybe with your spouse or a friend who has disappointed you, or somebody in the body of Christ that has hurt you, that if you don't deal with that quickly and positively stand against it, it takes root in your soul? And after a while, it feels good to be angry. It feels good to be mad. And it feels good to become a debt collector so that you can justify your feelings, and then you want to tell everybody you meet about how badly you have been treated. True? That's how Satan operates. And the Bible says if we feed that, then it opens up the door and Satan moves in and pretty soon we are no longer just receiving temptation, pretty soon now it leads to action. And so the next couple of things here to notice is that this actually does lead to action because Ananias now lies to God. And as I said before, twice in this story, Peter emphasizes that this lie was not just against the church, but this lie was against God. Verse 3, "You have lied to the Holy Spirit." Verse 4, "You have not lied to men, but you have lied to God." Now there is no doubt in my mind at all when I read that story and knowing my own heart to knowing, I think a little bit about human nature, that Ananias and Sapphira never thought they would be caught. In fact, I'm pretty sure that Ananias and Sapphira justify their actions by saying, "You know, it's only a little lie and how's anybody going to find out? This is just a little deal that we've struck between the two of us." And was it just a human relationship and was it just a human connection? Indeed, they might well have gotten away with it, but they forgot something. This was God's people. This is a church that is filled with the Holy Spirit. It is anointed by God's presence and nobody, nobody hides from God. And so his lie is exposed immediately because as we said earlier, the lie is not just, this is not just an attempt to look better than what he really was in front of the people all around him. No, no, this was an attempt to try to look better before God who sees everything and God is not mocked. And scripture says, "Don't ever think that God is mocked. What you sow, you're going to reap. And if you reap to the flesh from the flesh, you're going to reap what? Destruction. Similarly, if you sow to the spirit from the spirit, you reap what? You reap eternal life." So the whole thing begins with a collusion between Ananias and Sapphira. Peter sees right through it because he's either very clued in in terms of what is happening or more likely the Holy Spirit is just so heavy on him that he sees right through people because that's one of the gifts the Holy Spirit gives you. But here's the third thing, very sobering, judgment is immediate and severe. Verse five, "When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened." Three hours later, I mean, this is the fascinating thing. These young men carry him out and bury him. Nobody bothers to tell his wife. There's no funeral service being held. He's a bad dude, goes stick him in the ground before more of us die. I mean, that's the idea. But three hours later, his wife was wondering, "Where is my good husband Ananias?" So here's how the story goes on. Let's read it again. Three hours later, his wife came in not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?" And she said, "Yes, that is the price." And Peter 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." At that moment, she fell down at his feet and died and the young men came in finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Two things, two very sobering things there that we need to reflect on for a few moments. And the first is this, immediate judgment in scripture is the exception, listen to me, is the exception rather than the rule. In fact, a lot of people will say, "Where is God because we have challenged him and we have tested him and he hasn't struck us dead. So therefore, it's not too serious a thing what we're doing." Now listen to me, there are places in scripture where judgment is immediate. Think of Nadab and Abayu, Leviticus chapter 10, the sons of Aaron who offered unholy or strange fire to God. Think of the Israelites who were curious about the tabernacle when it was in exile and was coming back and they looked in the tabernacle and God struck them dead. And certainly the story here of Ananias and Sapphira, but those are the exceptions. Certainly when God judges, he judges over a period of time. Paul puts it this way, he says, "The sins of some men are obvious reaching the place of judgment ahead of them. The sins of others trail behind them." Sometimes sins are just so obvious that you know this is heading for disaster and God is going to judge it. Sins of sins are not so obvious, they're way back there somewhere, but the Bible says don't let anybody deceive you, God is not mocked, it will eventually catch up with you. When nothing seems to happen in life and when sinners sin and get away with it, don't ever think that means God is not keeping track. Because the Bible clearly states that on the day of judgment, we're going to be judged by every idle word we have spoken. That's a thought-provoking notion now, isn't that? Where there is immediate judgment, God is staking his claim and he is making a point about his holiness. And when he strikes Ananias and Sapphira dead, that doesn't mean that everybody that sins in a similar fashion in the history of the church is going to be struck dead or there would be precious few of us sitting here this morning, I can guarantee you. God is saying to the church, "I am forming the DNA of this community and part of the DNA of this community is to let you know that that kind of deceit, that kind of greed that was characteristic of Ananias and Sapphira has no room in the body of Christ." Does that make sense? God's judgment is severe. But the second thing to notice there is that judgment has a remarkable restraining effect because what happened next? The result is great fear, not only in the church, but in the whole community. Great fear seized all who heard what had happened. And then again in verse 11, "Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events." Great fear. When God shows up and God punishes sin in this obvious a-fashion, people take note and it becomes a warning not to do what they did. In fact later on in the New Testament, Paul writing to the church talking about the sins of Israel, he says, "All of these things were recorded so that we could learn by their example how it is that God wanted us to live." I'm paraphrasing here and what it is that He wanted us to stay away from. And I want to say something about the fear of God because the Bible says the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. And the fear of God is not a popular theme. These days we're much happier with the love of God and we're much happier with how God doesn't want anybody to perish and everybody to come to repentance, all of which are great biblical themes, aren't they? But biblical themes always need to be kept in balance. The God we serve is not only gracious and kind, He is also incredibly holy. And if we become part of Christian community, if we want the privileges of sharing His life, if we want the privilege of His blessing, then we have to walk in repentance and in faith. He's not looking for us to be perfect, but He's looking for us to be people of integrity and He's looking for us to be people who, washed by the blood of the Lamb and filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, learn to know that we walk every day in the light of God. And you and I, we may sit here, we may be more worried about what our neighbor thinks than what we think about God thinks. We may be more worried about pleasing family members or pleasing our friends or even our friend pleasing the world, and I'm not at all suggesting that we just be careless and not worry about anybody or what anybody thinks, but it's the fear of God that ought to drive us more than anything else, because guess what? Come the day of judgment, it's not going to be, "What did your friends think of you?" It's not even going to be, "What did your church think of you?" It's not even going to be, "What did your family think of you?" No, no, it's going to be all about, "What did God think of you?" And what God wants to write in our hearts is that He wants us to live in a reverence for God that enables us to realize that God is the one who has the power of life and death. God is the one who ultimately decides whether I go to heaven or whether I go to hell. God is the one who ultimately decides, "Do I have His blessing or do I have His curse?" And it's more important to have God for me than all the rest of the world. And it's very easy for us to point our fingers at Ananias and Sapphira, isn't that, and say, "What a bunch of jerks. How did they ever think they could get away with that?" But remember, whenever you point a finger, how many fingers are pointing back at you? How many of us can honestly say here that greed has never motivated our actions? How many of us here can honestly say that looking better in the eyes of others has not been more important than looking good in the eyes of God? How many of us here can honestly say, "What you see is what you get"? A phrase, by the way, that also comes from Flip Wilson, just so you know. What you see is what you get. Wissy wig, keyboard, computer, all owe it to Flip. Didn't know that, did you? Where was I? How many of us can honestly say that our hearts are transparent before God and they're transparent before our brothers and our sisters? And if the story of Ananias and Sapphira demonstrates anything, that if we're going to live in the presence of God, and if we want to hang around in His presence and we want His presence to hang around with us, then we have to take all of that junk to the cross, and we have to turn to Jesus, and we have to ask Jesus by His Holy Spirit to cleanse us from everything inside that cannot stand in the presence of God. Because remember, one day the kingdom is going to come in all its glory, and God is going to share the fullness of His presence with you and me. But if we're not going to be fried in that day, then we better learn to seriously lay hold of the salvation that God has provided for us in Jesus Christ. And the greater the presence of God, and the greater His power in our lives, the greater is that requirement. And so that, I think, is the lesson of Ananias and Sapphira. May we heed it for God's glory. Stand and let's pray. We read these stories in Scripture, Lord, where you just come along and smite people dead like Ananias and Sapphira. And we read so many of those, especially in the Old Testament, and frankly, for a lot of us, a lot of time that troubles us because we don't know if we like that about you. And we pray this morning that you help us to understand that your judgment is the reverse side of your love, and that if a surgeon were to find cancer in our bodies, we don't expect him to coddle the cancer. We expect him to hate it and to treat it aggressively so that our lives and our system may be changed. And Lord, if that's true in time, how much more true is that in eternity? Because Lord, your passion is that you would build for yourself a people where you can live without all the barriers that you imposed around yourself to Old Testament Israel, because in the person of Jesus, the veil has been broken and you invite us to enter into the Holy of Holies. Thank you for him. And Lord, we come to you now in those places where you speak to us. Because Lord, none of us is free of greed, none of us is free of the desire to look better than what we really are, none of us is free of the desire to be somebody. And if we think we are, we're only deceiving and kidding ourselves, and most anybody around us can tell us better if we're willing to hear. And so we turn to you, Lord Jesus, and we just give you permission to cleanse our hearts by fire. Just renew us, put a good and a right spirit within us, and help us not to live in condemnation. Help us not to live with, "Oh my goodness, how can I ever measure up to that?" No, no, help us to look to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, knowing that in Him we are righteous, in Him we are complete, and that as long as we walk before Him in repentance and in transparency, His grace will accomplish all that needs to be done, so that one day, oh, one day we're gonna stand before you without any wrinkle or blemish or spot or any such thing. And Lord God, we can only imagine what a day that will be. In Jesus' name, amen. [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:39:33.560; remove through 00:44:06.000] a day. Everyone needs compassion, love that's never fading, let mercy fall on me. Everyone needs forgiveness, the kindness of a Savior, the hope of nations. Savior, we can move the mountains, my God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save. Forever, author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave. Take me as you find me, all my fears and fears, fill my life again, give my life to follow, everything I believe in, now I surrender, I surrender. Savior, we can move the mountains, my God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save. Forever, author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave. Jesus, shine a light and let the whole world see, we're singing for the glory of the risen King. Savior, we can move the mountains, my God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save. Forever, author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave. Savior, we can move the mountains, my God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save. Forever, author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave. Jesus, shine a light and let the whole world see, we're singing for the glory of the risen King. Jesus, shine a light and let the whole world see, we're singing for the glory of the risen King. Jesus, shine a light and let the whole world see, we're singing for the glory of the risen King. [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:44:06.000; resume after this marked segment]