Sermon for MHBC (28 February 2021). You can listen on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, or our website. Live at 11:00am on Sundays.
The church is unlike any other organization on earth. It transcends culture, politics, sociology, and values. But when we look at the data, that doesn’t seem to be the signal we are sending.
Consider the data concerning the perceptions of the church. In a series of interviews conducted in 2013, the Barna group found that only 30% of millennials consider attending church important. The primary reason among those who stated that it was not important was “I find God elsewhere.” Among millennials not attending church, 87% said Christians are judgmental, 85% said they are hypocritical, 91% said they are anti-gay, and 70% said they are insensitive to others. When asked to identify the image that most represents present-day Christianity 37% chose the pointing finger.[1]
Why is it that the church apparently portrays this aggressive, combative stance toward the world? Is that really the church we see in the NT? I don’t think so at all. The church is unlike any other organization on earth. It offers an alternative to the ways of living in our culture. The problem is that we often fail to recognize and embody our unique identity as the church. Instead of being compelling, we are combative. Instead of being holy, we are hypocritical. Instead of being joyful, we are judgmental.
We must recognize and embody our unique identity as the church. As Will Willimon writes, “The church was called to be an alternative community, a sign, a signal to the world that Christ has made possible a way of life together unlike anything the world had seen.”[2] Acts gives us a good picture of what that alternative community looks like.
This morning we are going to look at Acts 4:32–5:16. You may know that the chapters and verse numbers were added to the Bible hundreds of years after the completion of the text. Sometimes these are imperfect. This is one of those cases. The chapter break is a bit awkward.
This passage shows the distinct nature of the church. We can summarize the features of the church provided in this passage in three points.
1. A unified community (vv. 32–37)
Look at v. 32 with me: Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. One heart and soul. That is unity. Now I think we talk a lot about unity and fellowship, but notice that this isn’t mere talk. Unity shows itself in the concrete action of holding all their belongings in common.
We will see later in this passage that this isn’t a command for the present day church, but it is important to recognize how they are applying their belief in the resurrection to their everyday lives.
See that connection in v. 33: And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Great power and great grace is upon them. Why? Because they are testifying to the power of Jesus in word and deed.
Now look at vv. 34–35: There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. The relationship between vv. 33 and 34 isn’t clear in the ESV. In the original text, v. 34 has a “for” or “because.” So they are enjoying the favor of God because they are caring for each other. The testimony is compelling because their lives are radically changed by their belief in the resurrection.
Think about how powerful this is. Because of their commitment to Jesus, they have left every worldly identity behind and joined themselves into a distinct community. They have given themselves to each other. I love this quote from one of the Reformers: “[N]o member of Christ’s body should possess any gift for themselves or for their own sake. Instead, all should be consecrated for the whole body, for all the members. This is so because Christ also did not bring his gifts for one individual or the other, but for everyone, for the whole body.”[3]
It may not be necessary to share our possessions, but are we sharing ourselves with the church?
This whole situation is actually a fulfillment of God’s desire for justice, mercy, and righteousness. In Deuteronomy 15:4, the Lord tells Israel that there will be no poor among them. That is the ideal for God’s people. That’s exactly what v. 34 says. There was not a needy person among them. The church is fulfilling God’s promises. They are becoming what God’s people are supposed to be.
Do you realize what it means to be the church? To be the church means we claim to be the people of God. Just sit with that for a moment. We are the people of God. See unity and care is a serious matter because they are marks of the people of God, and because they are marks of the people of God, they say something about who God is.
But there are some hindrances to the unity of the church. Selfishness, apathy, and individualism make unity impossible. Just consider this text for a moment. Do you see any indication of selfishness, apathy, or individualism?
How is such unity possible? Another way to ask this is: On what basis is the community of the church created? Bonhoeffer is especially helpful here. He says our community is not created by our own virtue or our own goals. It is based solely on who we are in Christ. That person sitting next to you is one for whom Christ died. He or she is redeemed by Christ and called to holiness and life before God. It’s on that basis that the church community is created. It’s not on whether you like the person or get along with them or have the same ideas. Community is created by who Christians are in Christ.[4]
Bonhoeffer goes on to write, “The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us.”[5] When this happens, the sort of unified community we see here in our text becomes a reality.
Fascinatingly, in that same Barna study that I cited earlier, participants were asked to select from four images what the church should be in the world. Forty-eight percent chose the image of a small group Bible study. What the church has to offer is this intimate relationship in Christ.
The next two verses illustrate this by introducing us to Barnabas. Look at vv. 36–37: Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. Barnabas is an illustration of what this unity and generosity looks like.
Now there’s a contrast between Barnabas and a man and woman named Ananias and Sapphira, but this sets up the second feature of the church.
2. A holy community (vv. 1–11)
This is an especially challenging passage. It’s one of those that gives fodder to critics of Christianity and usually causes some grief for Christians.
Let’s start with vv. 1–2: But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. The word translated kept back for himself has this sense of embezzlement. So he brings forward a partial gift.
Look how Peter responds in v. 3: But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? Notice that there’s more going on than a simple mistake. This is spiritual warfare. Peter says, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit.” Because the church is a distinct community, there is a real enemy seeking to destroy it. There are several passages that make this clear. Paul mentions this in both Ephesians 4 and 6. Then there’s that well known verse in 1 Peter 5:8: Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Satan is always looking for a means to enter into the church. As a result, even church members become his means within the church. Consider church members who are overly critical and negative, who murmur and stir up problems. These may well be lovely people in many ways, but don’t you see that Satan is using them to enter the church?
Now Ananias and Sapphira weren’t obligated to do something against their will. Look at v. 4: While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God. They had a choice. The issue is not keeping some of the property. It is the deception and hypocrisy that is being used by Satan to destroy the church from within.
One commentator summarizes this way: “The couple’s biggest mistake, however, was in thinking that they were dealing simply with another human gathering.”[6]
Here are the consequences. Verses 5–6: When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
What if our perception of the church was so serious? Our selfishness is not against other members or against the pastors. It’s against God. What if we took our membership so seriously?
Barnhouse wouldn’t allow his congregation to sing the verse of “At Calvary” that says “Oh and now I’ve given to Jesus everything.” He said every church basement would need a morgue if God still acted the same way today.
The Lord loves his church. He desires his church to be holy and blameless, and it will be when all is said and done. That is the work of Christ. This text may be disturbing, but I think it disturbs us because we don’t actually want holiness. Tozer once wrote, “Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly.”[7]
Let’s keep going. Look at vv. 7–10:
After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
Notice that members of the community are held accountable. It is a well-known and unfortunate reality that membership in Baptist churches has virtually become meaningless in the last century. But the early church had these covenant expectations. To enter into the church was to enter into the covenant community of the people of God. That meant there was accountability. And Ananias and Sapphira illustrate the seriousness of that accountability.
In v. 11, we find the proper response to the severity of God in this passage. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
As Calvin pointed out on this passage, God deserves our complete awe. We don’t want to make the mistake of Ananias who so openly displays his contempt for the holy God. God forbid that we would make that mistake as a congregation, shunning holiness for our own ideas of the church. The church is a distinct community that must be holy. And notice that great fear is the response. If the inner life of the church isn’t in order, the witness of the church will be ineffective. But when the church is holy, the witness points to the living God.
There’s one final feature of the church in this passage.
3. An empowered community (vv. 12–16)
Look at vv. 12–16 with me:
Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. 13 None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16 The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed
This is a community that is Spirit empowered and initiated. And notice how compelling it is. People are coming from all the towns around. John Chrysostom had this great line in a sermon on this passage. He said, “Earth was becoming like heaven.”[8]
The church should be like a foreign embassy. Its culture is distinct. One of the things that I think we desperately need in many traditional churches is a mindset shift. Traditional churches have a way of being somewhat combative toward the culture. A lot of this is the result of the intermingling of Christianity and politics in the second half of the 20th century. We need to move away from a combative stance to a compelling stance. What I mean is that rather than running our mouths about the godless culture, we focus on being a Spirit-empowered community.
And there’s a big difference in this. The early church is compelling. They aren’t running around attacking everyone who disagrees with them nor are they compromising their values to be more relevant. They are compelling because the presence of God is in their midst. So there are two postures to avoid. The first is a combative posture that loses its mind when people don’t say “Merry Christmas” or like the traditional church. The second extreme to avoid is a self-reliant attitude that tries to be attractional and relevant through endless activities. The corrective to both of those is here in the text. When the Spirit is among us, our community will be compelling.
So, the church is distinct. We aren’t a non-profit that exists simply to do an endless stream of charitable activities. We aren’t a community that can sacrifice the biblical call to holiness in order to be liked. And we aren’t an organization that can be effective apart from the Spirit’s empowerment. We are the people of God. And it is absolutely vital that we follow the pattern laid out for us in Scripture.
[1] https://www.barna.com/research/what-millennials-want-when-they-visit-church/
[2] Acts, 54.
[3] Peter Riedemann, quoted in Reformation Commentary on Acts, p. 56.
[4] Also relevant is Tozer: “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship” (The Pursuit of God, 76).
[5] Life Together, 26.
[6] L. T. Johnson, The Acts of the Apostles, 92.
[7] The Pursuit of God, p. 56.
[8] Acts, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, 62.