Books of the Book: Acts

Living a Life

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Jim & Mark Howard

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Series Code: ABOTB

Program Code: ABOTB00008B


00:01 Welcome back to Books of the Book. We are studying the book
00:04 of Acts and we actually in Acts chapter 5 looking at the story
00:08 of Ananias and Sapphira, the swift judgment that was brought
00:12 upon them and the overall act of hypocrisy. Before the break we
00:16 had said that there's a lot Jesus has said in the scriptures
00:20 about hypocrisy. We're actually going to go and look at a place
00:25 in Luke chapter 12 and it says in Luke chapter 12 and verse 1,
00:30 In the meantime when an innumerable multitude of people
00:34 had gathered together so that they trampled one another, he
00:37 began to say to his disciples first of all, Beware of the
00:41 leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy. And this is
00:45 interesting. When we talk about hypocrisy we talked about it
00:48 before the break, the literal word in the Greek means an actor
00:52 Of course, it's one reason that I hear a lot of people say that
00:55 they don't go to church. Well I don't go to church because there
00:58 are too many hypocrites in the church, people say. Well where
01:01 else would you expect to find a hypocrite. Because a hypocrite
01:04 is somebody who says one thing and does another. And if they're
01:07 saying one thing, if they're a false Christian, you would
01:10 expect them to be in the church because they're saying one thing
01:13 and doing another. So the idea of hypocrisy is something that I
01:16 think everybody is aware of. But Jesus brings something else out
01:19 here when he talks about hypocrisy. He says, beware of
01:22 the leaven of hypocrisy. And leaven is a word that you could
01:28 also say yeast. You know, if somebody's baking break or some
01:32 kind of yeast-raised product it only takes a little bit of yeast
01:37 into the dough to spread through that whole lump of dough and
01:40 some of our readers may recall Paul saying that when he talks
01:44 about how a little leaven leavens the whole lump. It only
01:48 takes a little bit. Jesus says that hypocrisy is of that same
01:52 nature; it only takes a little bit and it spreads everywhere.
01:57 The way that we see that a lot is when somebody else that we
02:01 know in the church, for example, somebody else who professes to
02:05 be a Christian is being unfaithful. Then it's easy for
02:12 us to say well if they're doing that and they're not doing this,
02:17 they're not really sacrificing, why should I sacrifice so much?
02:21 I mean, I already sacrifice more that them, why should I knock
02:24 myself out. And anyway, there tends to be this comparing
02:27 ourselves among ourselves and Jesus is speaking here of the
02:31 nature of hypocrisy that when there's hypocrisy in the church
02:35 it just seems to spread like wildfire and weaken the
02:40 influence and the power of the church.
02:41 You know, I'm thinking about those who first are baptized and
02:45 become members of the church, they're on fire for the Lord,
02:49 their conversion experience is powerful and then they come into
02:53 an established church, an established body of believers,
02:57 and if that established body of believers has a complacent
03:01 atmosphere, if when it comes time to go and to witness for
03:06 Christ or be involved in some evangelistic outreach, people
03:10 say you know I'm busy, I'm sorry I can't do that, or they don't
03:15 want to invest or be involved then before long that on-fire
03:20 member begins to see that you can be a member in good standing
03:26 it could be leaders in the church who are having this
03:30 complacent type of spirit and before long they sort of become
03:35 they acclimate they become like that group. That's what I think
03:40 is being said here. The leaven of the Pharisees, which is
03:45 hypocrisy, simply means that hypocrisy has that power in it
03:50 that it will make others have that same type of incongruent
03:55 life versus the profession.
03:58 Yeah and that's very different from the spirit of the early
04:00 church where we see the power being in the early church.
04:03 I think you were going to talk about that a little bit.
04:09 We talked in a previous program about chapter 2 where right
04:14 after the initial conversion of the 3000 on the day of Pentecost
04:18 it says that they continued steadfastly in the apostles
04:22 doctrine and fellowship and the breaking of bread and in prayer.
04:26 That's in Acts 2 verse 42. And the Lord was adding daily to the
04:30 church those who were being saved. You get this sense that
04:35 the church serving with gladness and simplicity of heart was
04:38 invested, the people of the church were totally invested.
04:42 It only is natural that that would be the case. You know, it
04:45 says the leaven of the Pharisees was hypocrisy and the Pharisees
04:49 as a general rule were the adversaries to the church. The
04:54 church represented those who in the face of opposition were
04:58 standing true. Persecution caused those who maybe would
05:02 be hypocritical to be washed away because who would want to
05:06 be professing something that would require so much sacrifice.
05:10 So there seemed to be a true, pure faith amongst the church
05:14 and you see that all through the beginning of the book of Acts
05:18 until you get here to chapter 5. When you get to chapter 5 and
05:21 you have this experience of Ananias and Sapphira it's a far
05:24 different thing. Here we see hypocrisy and I believe that's
05:28 part of the reason why we see God giving such a swift judgment
05:31 here. You know, you look in the Old Testament and there are many
05:35 different places where we see swift judgments that were given
05:39 and we may not always understand all of the reasons, but we
05:43 recognize that the holiness of God was there blended with the
05:46 mercy of God and he was doing what was right. I believe we
05:50 need to look at this the same way. The reality is that God was
05:55 being merciful to this early church by giving this swift
05:59 judgment, because if Ananias and Sapphira had gone unchecked and
06:04 others had begun to take of that same spirit before long the
06:09 power that we see in the book of Acts would be gone and those who
06:13 felt that they had salvation may find that they were in danger
06:18 of losing their salvation because they didn't have a
06:20 saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You look in verse 11.
06:26 We read, so great fear came upon all the church and upon all who
06:31 heard these things. You get this sense that because of this it
06:38 kept hypocrisy from spreading rampant. But yet as I'm reading
06:43 the story I think to myself, I wonder what would happen today
06:48 if the same judgment that came to Ananias and Sapphira came to
06:53 all of us when we had that hypocritical spirit or when we
06:58 claimed one thing or pledged one thing and did another. I can't
07:03 help but think that God would have us to learn something from
07:07 the experience of the past so that we don't have to go through
07:11 a similar judgment at the end of time.
07:13 That's right. It's interesting also, Jim, the initial thought
07:18 that I have is wow the church the numbers the membership
07:21 would be cut in probably more than half if that kind of
07:24 judgment was visited and yet that's not what happened here.
07:28 It says the believers, in verse 14, were increasingly added to
07:33 the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. So the church grew
07:37 as a result of this judgment. I like the point that you make
07:41 that this was a merciful move from God because here's the
07:45 thing. When we're talking about hypocrisy, hypocrisy is not
07:49 Christianity. There is no way, shape or form of hypocrisy that
07:53 is Christianity. So Jesus said that hypocrisy is like leaven,
07:57 it spreads and the implication is if you allow it it's going to
08:02 spread everywhere and if it spreads everywhere it will
08:04 make the church completely impotent, no power in the church
08:08 One thing that that makes me think of is what we see in the
08:12 early church primarily is the spread of the gospel and the
08:16 implication would be this: If we allow hypocrisy in the church
08:19 then we're going to see that the spread of the gospel will be
08:23 severely hindered. I hate to see it but what do we see today in
08:27 the church. I mean, the idea of witnessing among Christians is
08:30 now relegated to two or three people who are specially gifted
08:33 to do that and the rest of us just kind of go and take our
08:37 place in the pews. We see that with much hypocrisy there is
08:41 little mission anymore. I suppose more could be said, but
08:44 it's interesting as we see what the result was of this judgment
08:48 in verse 12. We looked at verse 14 but in verse 12 it says, and
08:52 through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders
08:54 were done among the people and they were all with one accord in
08:59 Solomon's porch yet none of the rest dared join them. But the
09:04 people esteemed them highly. In other words, after this judgment
09:09 those who knew that they were not willing or ready to
09:12 wholeheartedly commit didn't even feign it, didn't even
09:15 attempt it, didn't even try it, didn't even think about saying
09:19 well I'll join the church and I'll get rid of some of my
09:22 divided heart later. No, they didn't even dare join because
09:25 they didn't want to be in the shoes of Ananias and Sapphira.
09:29 That's exactly right. Wow! That probably kept the church pure.
09:32 At least for a period of time it kept the church pure.
09:35 You know what. We have a little more time so I'd like to read
09:39 this next passage here as we continue in verse 14 and high
09:43 light something there from verses 14 to 16. It says, And
09:46 believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes
09:49 of both men and women so that they brought the sick out into
09:52 the streets and laid them on beds and couches that at least
09:56 the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also
10:00 a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem
10:03 bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean
10:07 spirits and they were all healed Wow! this is some miraculous
10:10 healing we see here in the early church. Even the shadow of Peter
10:14 brings about this type of healing. Sometimes we wonder
10:18 well do we just not have faith in the church today, because we
10:21 don't see the same type of frequency and intensity of
10:25 supernatural phenomena and miracles that we saw here in
10:29 the early church. I'd like to suggest that while there may be
10:33 some measure of truth to that I believe it's also true that
10:36 God was establishing the credibility of this early church
10:40 He was making clear, marked manifestations of the Spirit of
10:44 God to establish this church that was just beginning at 120
10:48 and just beginning to grow and because of these miraculous
10:52 signs and wonders that attended the preaching of the apostles,
10:55 we see the church growing in great numbers.
10:57 That's right. And it makes me think of Jesus' command in Mark
11:01 chapter 16. As he's giving his great commission he says in Mark
11:05 16 and verse 15, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to
11:08 every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved,
11:12 but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs
11:16 will follow those who believe. In my name they will cast out
11:20 demons, they will speak with new tongues, they will take up
11:22 serpents and if they drink anything deadly it will by no
11:24 means hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick and they will
11:28 recover. So very clearly Jesus said these signs are going to
11:31 follow those who believe. But I think you make a good point
11:36 about the establishing of the early faith. First of all, we're
11:42 very eager to see the miracles, the healings, but keep in mind
11:47 that if we're going to have the level of miracles and healings
11:51 we're also going to have the Ananias and Sapphira judgments.
11:54 I don't hear too many people clamoring about that saying I
11:58 wish we had more Ananias and Sapphiras dying in the church.
12:02 But the idea is that the Lord had to push the gospel message
12:05 forward and there were special manifestations of his power.
12:09 It's not the only place we see it. If we go back to the exodus
12:12 movement, for example. When the Lord brought his people out of
12:15 Egypt we see that movement beginning with a number of
12:18 powerful miracles and the deliverance of his people from
12:22 Egypt and the pouring out of the plagues upon Egypt, of the
12:26 parting of the Red Sea. But those miracles became less
12:29 frequent. Not that they went away, but they became less
12:32 frequent once the movement was established. And in the same way
12:37 there are miracles in the church today but they are less frequent
12:41 and you know one thought that I have is that we have a lot
12:47 less... we take less risks today. The other thing is that
12:51 there are also false signs that Jesus said would take place.
12:55 Miracles aren't always an evidence of the power of God.
12:57 Yeah. I have a scripture I'd like to share on that in
13:00 Matthew chapter 7. Remember Jesus said, many will say to me
13:04 in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name,
13:07 cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name.
13:11 And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me
13:15 you who practice lawlessness. So apparently if we really want
13:19 to know the truth of a miracle we have to compare it to the
13:22 teaching of the word and make sure that those things.. because
13:25 there will be false miracles, those who do things by powers
13:29 other than the power of God. So let's keep our anchor in the
13:33 word of God. Well, that's all the time we have for today.
13:36 We are looking forward to seeing you next time on
13:39 Books of the Book as we study the book of Acts.


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Revised 2014-12-17