I was asked to preach in the ongoing series at Mack in the book of Acts. I ended up with a rather tricky passage, the story of Ananias and Sapphira, who were struck down by God for lying to him. It raises all sorts of questions about whether and how God judges believers – but it also points us towards true freedom…
Introduction
Our culture of self-esteem
In our modern culture, we're told that self-esteem is everything. "Until you start believing in yourself, you ain't gonna have a life!" or so said Rocky in Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone's most recent outing as the boxer. It's the message of hundreds of Hollywood movies. You need to have self-confidence, self-belief and a positive self-image.
The promise of Looking Good
In today's society, we spend vast amounts of time cultivating our image. We buy clothes and gadgets and entertainment not just for the objects themselves, but what they say about us. We carefully fill out our Facebook or Twitter profiles, choosing just the right photo. Perhaps you want to look cool, or attractive, or professional, or whatever. Or maybe you want to carefully cultivate the appearance of not caring about your appearance! We think that having the right image will bring us happiness and security.
Image in the church
This goes for us in the church, too. This is particularly a danger when we're doing well as a church – we want to serve God and the church. These are good things, but our sinful hearts can make idols even of service. We want to see ourselves as good Christians. We want other people to recognise the part we play in church life – to be seen as committed, valued as a loving and humble person. Before we notice it, our motivation for serving becomes not a grace-motivated self-forgetful love of God and other people, but a works-motivated need to cultivate the right Christian image.
The danger of pride
Trying to look good can have two effects. If we succeed in keeping ourselves busy and impressing other people, we enjoy a prideful self-satisfaction. "Thank you Lord for making me such a good Christian. Look how much I do for the church, not like that person over there." We become like the Pharisees, proud religious types who put down others and burden them with our rules and expectations.
The danger of insecurity
The other effect is insecurity. Do you ever feel that you're faking it as a Christian? Do you look around at other Christians, and think that they seem to have it together, but you don't? Do you feel that there's no way that you can let them know about your struggles?
Often we flip-flop between the two: proud when we're doing well, insecure when we sin or when someone seems to be doing better than us. Maintaining the right self-image becomes a chore ・ we have to keep doing the right activities, be seen in the right places, and so on. We face the temptation of over-busyness – burning ourselves out trying to maintain the image of being a good Christian. It can lead us into hypocrisy and outright sin.
From self-image to sin
In the Bible, God gives us stark warnings about the dangers of wanting to look good. Worrying about our self-image is at best dangerous, at worst deadly. Ananias and Sapphira cared more about appearing to be holy, than being holy. Combined with greed, it was a toxic combination. They lied simply to make themselves look good. It led them into sin and God's judgement.
A hard passage
Why did God kill Ananias and Sapphira? It seems harsh, extreme, unfair. It seems the kind of thing that God would do in the Old Testament, before he sent Jesus to die in our place for our sins. How does this fit in with the new covenant? Isn't it rather lacking in grace? It raises some tough questions. Were Ananias and Sapphira believers? Does God punish Christians? Does he judge people like this today? I'll try to tackle these question in turn.
Listening to God's word
It's not the kind of passage someone would typically choose to preach on, so it's a good job we're working our way through Acts so we don't miss anything! This is God's Word to us. All scripture is God-breathed, given to build us up, as we're told in 2 Tim 3:16. We can't pick and choose. Too often we change the Bible to fit our lives, attitudes and preconceptions, rather than changing our lives, ideas and feelings to fit the Bible. With God's help, let's listen to what he has to say to us and be changed by it.
Freedom from image
But I want you to realise that this is not a cautionary tale to change our behaviour, like Victorian children's stories – don't tell lies, or you'll burn to death, like Matilda in the poem. This story offers us is more than a warning: it offers us freedom through changed hearts. Freedom from greed and selfishness, but also from more subtle sins: freedom from busyness and emptiness, freedom from pride and anxiety. The solution involves parts. They are, firstly, g__reat grace (chapter 4 verse 33), and secondly, great fear (chapter 5 v 11).
Grace
Luke paints for us an amazing picture of the church. They were united, one in heart and soul. They had everything in common – great power – not a needy person among them. We're told that "great grace was upon them".
We can see "great grace" working itself two key ways: true community and true testimony. These things are vital in any age – we need to proclaim the Good News of Jesus, and to live out the Good News of Jesus in loving community together.
True Testimony
"And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus"
For our witness to have power, we must be clear that the Bible is both personally relevant and completely true. In speaking to non-Christians about our faith, one of the most powerful things we can offer is our testimony, sharing stories of what God has done for us in our lives. But there's a problem: in our culture, most people think of faith as something private and personal. The facts are one thing, faith is another entirely. So it really doesn't matter what you believe – one belief or lifestyle is as good as any other.
What we believe isn't a personal experience among other personal experiences, but an absolute and public truth. Jesus rose again from the dead in history. The early Christians had confidence to go out, to preach and where necessary to suffer and die, because they had complete confidence in the truth of their message.
True Community
As well as having true testimony, "great grace" worked itself out in true community. The early church had a lifestyle that backed up their message, marked by unity and by generosity.
Firstly, unity. They were one in heart and mind. Sadly the church today is so often divided. Unity has two aspects: one is that we are united in our love for Jesus; second is that we are united in our belief in the Gospel.
Unity is important for us within Mack. We're a motley bunch, from lots of different backgrounds. But we're united by our love for Jesus. We need to keep Jesus at the centre. Only he can hold us all together.
We also need to be united to Christians beyond Mack – to work with, pray for, have fellowship with God's people wherever they are. Unity is not uniformity. We don't all have to think the same way, worship in the same style, do things in the same way. We're united by Jesus, not by any of these things.
That's not to say that theological differences are unimportant. We ought to be one in mind, united in the truth. There are essentials that are non-negotiable for us as Christians: God is Father, Son and Spirit in trinity; Jesus is the Son of God who died and rose from the dead; salvation by faith; the truth of the Bible. There are lots of other areas where Christians can disagree while still being united in the worship of the same God. Where there is theological disagreement, we don't throw our hands up and say "isn't diversity a wonderful thing!", but we pray together, study the Bible together, seek to understand and persuade one another so that we can grow together into the truth.
Generosity vs Communism
The unity of the church was characterised by love and generosity. In the church, "no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common". Here at Mack we try to base the principles on which we live as the church on the example of the New Testament. But this is one of those bits we tend to skip over. We can't just ignore the bits that don't fit with our lives. We need to seek to have great power in the Spirit and to live generous lives.
Some people have seen in this passage a kind of proto-Communism. Does Christianity require the abolition of private property? Does Mack need to become a commune where we all pool our resources and share everything? No, but what the Bible calls us to is more demanding, not less.
Communism says if we can abolish private property, through violent revolution if necessary, then we can make the world a better place. But the problem is deeper than private property: it lies in the selfishness of our sinful hearts. We can't fix society simply by changing our social structures. We need our attitudes and desires to be changed at a fundamental level.Christianity transforms society through reformation, not revolution. Not by imposing Christianity on the world by force, but by winning hearts to Christ in love, so that we choose freely to walk in love.
Duty or delight?
So when I saw we ought to share everything we have like the early church, I mean freely, not through compulsion or a sense of duty. This generosity is an example for us, and we should shape our lives to it rather than trying to explain it away. But we do so through changed hearts rather than simply changed behaviour.
Asking "ought we live like this?" a bit like asking "ought I get my wife flowers for our wedding anniversary?" Imagine I came to Beverley with a bouquet and said "I understand that I am under an obligation to get you flowers today. Here they are." Talk about missing the point! Sharing with our brothers and sisters in Christ isn't something we have to do, it's something we get to do, as God provides us with the time, money, possessions and so on. When we know and receive God's generosity to us, we become generous to others.
If you don't feel generous, beware of "faking it 'til you make it." Paul tells us in his famous meditation on love in 1 Corinthians 13 that "If we give all that we have to the poor, but have not love, we gain nothing." 2 Corinthians 9:7 tells us "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." If you're putting money in the offering out of a sense of duty rather than out of love, stop! If you're helping out in church to make yourself look good to other people, or feel good about yourself, rather than love, stop! It's better to be an honest sinner than a hypocrite.
How to have a changed heart
How then do we have a changed heart? Do we sit back and wait for God to zap us? We're not changed by something we do, but something we receive. What we need is "great grace". But what does that mean? How do we receive this life-transforming grace?
We don't receive it by our own hard work of effort. "Grace" means "gift" or "favour". But if grace means gift, what is the gift exactly? Part of the picture is forgiveness. When we have faith in God, he completely forgives us for all the wrong things we have done. We should grateful to God for his grace. But we need to be careful that we're not just obeying God out of a sense of debt for the past, but looking ahead in faith to grace as an ongoing reality.
Sometimes we think of grace as if it were some kind of s__tuff, like spiritual petrol that fills up the tank to fuel us so we can do good deeds. "God's grace helped me to overcome this sin." But although changed lives are an effect of grace, this isn't the heart of it.
Grace is knowing Jesus
Grace is not a thing: grace is a person. Grace is not just that our sins are taken away; it's also that we are given God. God's greatest gift to us is himself in Jesus Christ. Grace is all about Jesus, always about Jesus. There is no goodness or grace that God can give us apart from Jesus, because he is the source and fountain of all life and blessing. Grace is not just something we received once in the past, but something we go on enjoying daily as we delight in knowing God.
The heart of grace is knowing God in Jesus Christ, the one who made us and loves us, who died and rose again, and who will restore the whole cosmos. By grace, we can come freely to God. Come in your emptiness and brokenness. Forget about your self-image and find your identity in knowing God. Then you will be set free from pride and anxiety, and find your heart loosened in generosity and love. Then you will find yourself united to those who love Jesus. This is true repentance.
Fear
The second element we see at work in the church is "great fear". Ananias and Sapphira were struck down, and this brought fear on the church. This sits less comfortably with us, and raises some difficult questions. But when we understand "the fear of the Lord" truly, we will see that grace and Godly fear go hand in hand.
Why so serious?
Why was what Ananias and Sapphira did so serious? I don't know why they died, when there are others in the New Testament, such as Simon the Magus who tried to buy the Holy Spirit, who got off, or why we don't typically see this happening today. If God struck down every act of hypocrisy, soon none of us would still be standing.
But this was an important time in the life of the church. Hypocrisy is a cancer that eats away at the church. It destroys authenticity, fellowship, love. We need to be honest with one another before God. We're all sinners. We all need his grace. We need to help one another to see and to seek God. If what Ananias and Sapphira had done had chance to take hold, the church could have been stillborn.
Ananias and Sapphira's death might seem extreme, but the Bible tells us every sin deserves death. Romans 6:23. Every sin is that serious, because every sin is a rejection of God, who made us to love him and be loved by him. The good news is that Jesus died the death we deserve on the Cross in our place so we can come to God.
The fear of the Lord
The fear of the Lord naturally seems like a very negative thing to us. The tendency in our culture is to view ourselves as basically good. So if we have reason to be afraid of something, then it must be bad. Modern thinking assumes we are good, hears that the Bible teaches the "fear of the Lord", and concludes that God must be pretty horrible if we need to be frightened of him.
But the Bible tells us that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". Faith is not a form of Stockholm Syndrome, as if we were kidnap victims who love God as our captor because we have no choice.
The truth is we've got it the wrong way round. "The fear of the Lord" is not us as good people being afraid of something bad, but us as bad people being afraid of something utterly good. There is an antagonism between us and God because we are the ones out of step.
If you are not a Christian, you should fear God, because he is utterly good and utterly loving, and whether by open rebellion or by ignorance and neglect, you are his enemy. But don't run from him in fear, but turn to him in repentance, because he delights to makes his enemies his friends.
Does God Judge Christians?
What about Christians? Does God judge Christians? Should we fear God even after turning to him in repentance and faith? We aren't told whether Ananias and Sapphira were genuinely believers who sinned, or were people trying to get in on the church without really knowing Jesus.
If we are Christians, we are completely forgiven. There is now no condemnation for us (Romans 8:1). 1 John 4:18 says "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears punishment has not been perfected in love." Jesus has taken the penalty for our sins. We are not punished by God.
But we are sometimes disciplined by God because he loves us (Hebrews 12). Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11 that some, by taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy way, ate and drank judgement on themselves, becoming weak and sick, and a number even "fell asleep" – that is, died. Paul goes on to tell us "But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world." God judges believers to keep us from condemnation.
For the unbelieving world, death is one of the worst things possible. When you're dead, that's it: you rot. But we know that this isn't the case. If Ananias and Sapphira were believers, they went immediately to be with God in heaven. They were delivered from their sin, avoiding further harm to them or to the church, and into the presence of God. Sin is worse than death.
Although God sometimes disciplines those he loves, not all hardship is discipline. There are many reasons we suffer. But don't be afraid. God is love all of the time, and will bring good out of all pain and evil, no matter how impossible that might seem.
Fear and obedience
Christians should have no fear of punishment, but the "the fear of the Lord" is still commended in the New Testament. Paul wrote that we "know the fear of God", and 1 Peter also commands us to fear God. We should have a reverent awe for our good and loving God, and be mindful of his discipline.
What we fear is what we obey. To fear God is to be obedient to him. The fear of God, who is completely good and loving, frees us from all lesser fears. If we fear what other people think of us, we will shape our behaviour to fit with what we think they want. If we fear losing money, we will cling to what we have. But the fear of God sets us free to follow him, no matter what anyone else thinks, to be generous, without worrying about our possessions. The fear of the Lord brings freedom.
Conclusion
Loving our self-image enslaves us to the fear of others' opinions, and to pride and insecurity. But if we forget ourselves and find our image and identity in Christ, then loving and fearing Jesus frees us to generosity and love. Come to God in fear and grace and freedom!