Acts | Chapter 5 – Scripture Supply

4:32 – 5:11

“Great Grace, Power & Fear”

I.) Intro.

II.) Vs. 32-37 Great power & great grace

III.) Vs. 1-11 Ripping off God of glory

Intro.

So many people in searching for a Church are looking for the “perfect church”. One pastor friend I know once told a group that if they were looking for the perfect Church & happened to find it to make sure they did not attend it for the moment they went there it would cease on being perfect. Luke has been showing the birth & movement of the early Church & so far it has been positive. But in chapter five we see the first instance of sin & it is the one that most often gets associated with the Church & Christians today “hypocrisy”. Folks, the truth is the Church is made up of saved sinners & as Paul said to his young protégé Timothy, (1 Tim. 1:15) “that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” “So what are you saying Pastor?” Well, I’m telling you all that I’m the worst sinner I’ve ever met & that I am not a perfect person let alone a perfect Pastor! Now it’s important that we understand what a hypocrite is & what it is not! The word comes from the Greek word meaning to be an actor or to pretend to be something you are not. Now I suppose that is ok if your purpose is to entertain folks, but it is not ok if your purpose is to deceive them for your gain.

What it is NOT: A hypocrite is NOT a person who fails to live up to all that they know to be true. For no believer lives up to all that is true all the time.
What it IS: A hypocrite IS a deliberate deception, trying to make people think we are more spiritual then we really are.

A hypocrite makes a conscious choice & says, “I’m more concerned with my REPUTATION (what people think of me) then my CHARACTER (what God thinks of me.)” It is interesting to note that Jesus said in Matt. 24:51 that (hypocrites), or those more interested in reputation then character, would populate hell.

Perhaps what we all ought to be looking for in our lives & the lives of the Church in not the “Perfect Church” but rather a “Great Church”? We shall see in this section that which led the early Church into being a great Church.

Vs. 32-37 Great power & great grace

Vs. 32a Satan had employed he first of three different attacks in chapter 4, “persecution”. I have found in my own life that I have far more to fear with popularity then I do with persecution. How so? Well with persecution it will only lead me to humility & complete dependence upon Jesus, but with popularity I will battle my own fleshly pride.

Now look at the outcome of the persecution and the upon this growing band of believers. First, verse 31 records that what followed the persecution was a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit, which led to boldness in speaking the word of God. Wow, persecution brought about a greater dependence upon the Holy Spirit & this then further empowered them in the Word of God. As a result of that Luke tells us that they:

Multiplied: That is they were ever growing in fact no longer are we given a number.
Who believed: This speaks of the fact that their growth was for real. I want you to realize that becoming a believer at this time was not an easy proposition. In fact there were far more reasons to not become a believer then there is today.
One heart: They loved the same things & as we shall see in a moment that this led them to life choices.
One soul: They shared in One life, the life of Jesus.

Yes, there was unity in the believers but it was not at the exclusion of the Word of God it was because of the Word of God. Simply put they grew more in love with Jesus we are told that their love towards Jesus was seen in two ways:

Vs. 32b Love for each other: “neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.” Man these early believers were into each other. Gone was the preoccupation with self & gratifying their own needs. It is never a bad thing when Christians regard people more important then things. Well how did that happen Pastor? Well we are told several things about this:
Neither did anyone say: It was universal & spontaneous. The leadership did not force this upon them; in fact Peter is going to tell Ananias this in verse 4.
That any of the things he possessed was his own: They understood that God owned everything. In other words they were not there own & neither was what they owned it was all at His disposal.
But they had all things in common: Again based upon Peter’s words to Ananias private ownership was not forbidden. This was a heart action that the early believers took in response to those in need among them. This was not Communism, “What’s yours is mine; I’ll take it.” It was Commonism, “What’s mine is yours, I’ll share it.”
Vs. 34 N.I.V. “For from time to time”: It was based upon need not greed. They did not wait around for someone else to meet the need they gave themselves. Now this kind of loving generosity was soon abused & Paul had to give certain guidelines to the Churches in who & how they were to give to.
2 Thess. 3:10-12 If they can work for themselves, then they are not truly needy.
1 Tim. 5:3-4 If they can be supported by there families then they are not needy.
1 Tim. 5:5,10 If they are helped by the Church then they should do something to help the Church.
1 Tim. 5:9-13 The Church has every right to examine moral conduct before giving.
1 Tim. 6:8 The support of the Church ought to be only for the basic necessities of living.
Vs. 33 Love for a lost world: “the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” Again the central theme of their message was the resurrection of Jesus which was what they were forbidden to speak of. Hey folks, this early Church was extraverted & not introverted. It was all about others & because of that they had little time to get all caught up in themselves. Luke tells us here two of the three things that made them a “Great Church”.
Great Power: A surrendered life that was seen in their actions of putting God first, people second & things last gave visible proof of the great power. Now the “great power” had come about because of the Holy Spirits presence in their lives & they made it a continual practice to “speak the Word of God” concerning the resurrection. So they were empowered by the Spirit of God, witnessing through the word of God concerning Jesus & the resurrection. I love the fact that you could tell this by the practical outward actions of, “Love towards each other & love to a lost world.”
Great Grace: God’s grace was sustaining them! It was obvious to look at them that God’s unmerited favor was all over them. They had the persecution of the religious leaders but favor of all the people. Notice that this grace was upon them all. Hey, folks their sufficiency was in Jesus as well as their power. That’s what we all ought to desire in it not. May just say that you will only have great power as you have received are practicing a life that is full of great grace.

Vs. 34-35 Here Luke again emphasis the nature of the giving of the early Church. We can see by these statements that the early Church’s was in “deed & in truth”, not just words. Again several things come to the forefront about this type of giving:

It was at great risk of personal security. These folks emptied what they had as far as security to help anyone in need. The outcome was that “there was none among them that lacked”.
It was completely voluntary. They did so all on there own with out being manipulated into it. What a difference then what many experience in the Church today. I am a firm believer that those that understand grace will always out gave those who give out of compulsion.

Vs. 36-37 Luke gives us an example of Barnabas’ giving. Barnabas was a name given him by the disciples & it fit his character “son of encouragement”. He is going to be an important person latter on in this book as he in mentioned 24 times in Acts & 29 times in the N.T. Now I can see five principals in giving to the Church based upon Barnabas action.

SUPERIORLY: Vs. 36 “a Levite of the country of Cyprus.” Now according to Num. 18:23 a Levite was not allowed to own property. So? Well think of this what the law could not motivate grace did! Barnabas giving was based upon recognizing God’s favor on his life & not upon trying to obtain God’s favor. A right heart.
SUPREMLY: Vs. 37 “having land, sold it, and brought the money”. Based his newfound love for God & his people he sold land & brought the proceeds. In times past as a Levite he may have wanted to be seen of men, but not now. A right attitude.
SIMPLICITY: Vs. 37 “and laid it”. He had a humble heart in his giving. Barnabas did not come & show how much he had just given, No, he just laid it down at the Apostles feet.
SUBMISSIVELY: Vs.37 “at the apostles’ feet.” He made no demand on how they were to spend it; he gave it over to the leaders with out any comments.
SACRIFICIALLY: Vs. 37 Barnabas gave all he had to the Church. Now he to had to depend upon the Lord.

Vs. 1-11 Ripping off God of glory

Vs. 1-2 In contrast to the general attitude of the believers Luke tells us of another couple who gave for far different reasons. Ananias means “God is gracious” & Sapphira means “beautiful”. On the outside Barnabas & these two did the same thing. Both were free to give or not give, as they wanted both before & after the sale of the property.

The word “kept back” means to misappropriate or steal. Evidently these two had came to the church leaders & said that they were going to give all of the sale of their property to the Church. But when it came down to it they did not do so. Their sin that cost them their lives was not selfishness it was pride. They wanted the applause of men without the sacrifice. They were putting a façade to the people. Were these two real believers? Well it would appear so based upon Peter’s comments:

They were a part of the believers of Acts 4:32.
They had lied to the Holy Spirit, which suggests that they had a relationship with Him.
Their discipline is consistent with what the rest of the N.T. has to say about believers who practice sin.

So there you have it a guy whose name means God is gracious but wanted to appear that he was. And a gal whose name means beautiful who wanted people to see her beauty & not the Lord’s. Hey folks, what these believers ripped off was not God’s money but rather God’s glory!

Vs. 3-4 In Peter’s rebuke he does not concentrate on their lack of honesty rather he focus’s in on the their lack of integrity. Peter pints to where the heart of this action had come from satan. Hey, folks we can allow the enemy to fill our heart if we do not allow the Holy Spirit too! Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “Sin has many tools. But the lie is the handle that fits them all.” Peter says, “Hey the property was yours to do what ever you wanted & after you sold it you could have done what ever you wanted then.” You know what their giving was inspired like Barnabas’ the difference was who was inspiring it. It was not a sin to sell the land & keep most of the money for themselves, the sin was to lie about it & act as if they had given it all.

One other important point here in Peter’s words he teaches us two important truths about the Holy Spirit.

Peter by saying that they lied to the Holy Spirit affirms that the Holy Spirit is a person. You can not lie to a force or an influence any more then you can lie to a fruit. No you can only lie to a person. In fact you can not lie to an animal can you? “Ok Rover I’m going to take you for a walk.” “Oh I just lied to you, dog!”
In verse 4 Peter says that the Holy Spirit whom they lied to is not only a person He is God.

Vs. 5-6 Now don’t you think that Peter calls down some curse upon Ananias or even Church discipline. No, Peter says nothing about judgement at all, it was rather an act of judgment of God upon him. So what do we get out of this? Well may I just say that God see the thoughts & intents of your heart. You may be able to pull one over & your brother or sister in Christ but you can fool God. Peter was most likely the most surprised by this action. As he was the first one in the Church to be used of God to slay a person in the Spirit. So all of those today who claim that there is slaying ion the Spirit just ask them if they get back up?

Now there are a great amount of people who are a bit put out at God for doing this but may I say God did not do this they did. To me the greater wonder is that there are any of us standing today! You can say that there was great conviction on the part of these two over their sin. How unfortunate it is that like Ananias his fear was greater at being exposed as what he really was a “fake” then it was at compromising the truth of the Word of God.

Vs. 7-10 Now three hours later in walks Sapphira who does the same thing as did her husband.

Great Fear: This is the third quality that made this a great Church. Now both times after the death of these two we are told that “Great Fear” came upon the Church. Great fear at not wanting to be a fake Christian. Is that not awesome? Don’t you want to be around those people who are real? This is the first time the word Church is used in acts & it is used in conjunction with not wanting to be fakes. There was a purity to this Church that we all ought to desire to get back too.

I pray now as we take communion that we will ponder these events & how the enemy desires to puff us up & go back to the simplicity of dependence upon the Holy Spirit, conviction of the word of God & resting on His glory not seeking our own.

5:12-42

“Help wanted, only the serious need apply”

I.) Intro.

II.) Vs. 12-16 Purity & power

III.) Vs. 17-28 Speaking the words of life

IV.) Vs. 29-42 Preaching, persecution & praise

I.) Intro.

I am really enjoying this study in Acts. It’s like looking at old family photographs of your relatives, you may not have known them but you can see some resemblance. Now in my family ancestry there was a family member that as far as physical appearance is not the gene pool you wanted to come across your path. From my earliest memories I can remember my Grandparents speaking of this fellows physical characteristics in disparaging terms, “Oh that must be the old Carmack genes!” they would say. It seemed that what ever you did not want in physical characteristics was always traced to the Carmack ancestor. Now maybe old Carmack was a good guy, at least someone in my family thought he was at one time, but his characteristics was one that you did not want to see in your family line.

Now folks we can trace our spiritual history back to this ancestry before us. This is our spiritual gene pool if you will. It ought to be the desire if all Christians & every Church to want to be like the early Church. I mean they were what the Church of Jesus should look like, they are what the standard of what a successful Church looks like. I do not need to look at other family members today & see if I measure up. No, we need to look at these relatives & see if we look like them.

II.) Vs. 12-16 Purity & power

Vs. 12, 15-16 Now I’m going to separate these verses in this manor because Luke inserts the statement of verses 13-14 in between talking about the power of the Church. We left off on verse 11 where as a result of God’s judgment of Ananias & Sapphira “great fear” came upon all the Church & all who heard about it. Simply put purity led to more power. Today many wonder why the Church is not as powerful as it once was. I mean the Church does not have the influence in the world that it had at the beginning. Now remember we have a great amount of access to equipment that ought to facilitate our desire to reach the world for Jesus. Yet we are unable to do so, why? Well I think you have the reason looking at this old photograph of the early Church in the book of Acts; they were a pure Church!

As a pure church we are told that they meet in unity on the Eastern wall of the temple, an area known as Solomon’s Porch. And the apostles did many signs & wonders. Sick people were brought out on the straw mats of the homeless as well as the fancy beds of the rich. Further more people began to come from the surrounding regions bring a variety of illnesses to the apostles & we are told all were healed. Did you get that? Folks, people’s lives were being touched by the power of God in the lives of the Church. Further more this was not just happening to the poor folks in Jerusalem. No, it was impacting the rich as well. Neither was this just a local city thing, it was touching the lives of all. Let me put it to you plainly, in these verses Luke is telling us that the power of God had no limitations as far as physical experiences are concerned. No matter what your background the Lord can change your life. The power of God is able to take anyone no matter their condition & transform them. Wow, that means that He can change my life no matter what my background or my situation! The limitation is not on the power of God according to His will, but rather on human heart. The Sadducees they are going to see a prison break & instead of believing they are going to try to kill the apostles. The head of the Pharisees, Gamaliel, he is going to see the same thing & he is just going to be indifferent.

Oh, there is one other point here, look at some of the weird things that were being used to facilitate the change. “So that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.” Now what are we to make of this? Man don’t you wish sometimes the writers of the Bible would just leave out these kinds of details? I’m kidding! Pastor are you going to tell me people actually came out at certain times of the day waiting for Peter to come by so that his shadow would pass over them? Yep, as strange as it sounds that is exactly what this verse says. May I point out several things though?

It does not say that this was orchestrated by the apostles but rather by the people in need. The word “they” refers to the people.
Next it does not say here that all that did so were healed, although some no doubt probably were.
Lastley, it never says that the shadow healed them. Simply put it was not Peter, his shadow or the hands of the apostles. No, it was Jesus as the hearts of needy people trusted in Him that did the healing. So all the shadow did was become a point of reference to where the person in need could release their trust in the God who heals.

Now doesn’t this open up a can of worms for all those weird T.V. evangelists doing “shadow healing ministry?” Well, I suppose it does to a degree, but remember Peter was not on a stage in a three-piece suit trying to orchestrate this. Peter was not selling books & videos, nor was he begging for money. In fact, he really had nothing to do with this type of healing at all. As he just walked, probably to the temple at the hours of prayer, & people in need would begin to line the streets. Now, I’ve got to tell you that this must have been a pretty strange looking scene. People’s mattress laying out on the street trying to figure out which way the sun was going to be coming through that day in conjunction to a persons shadow passing by. Now what happened if you got a good spot & all, then some bozo went & parked his bed in front of yours? Hey, isn’t it great that to be touched by the Lord we don’t have to go through all these hassles? Now let me just say that if you have ever been healed by the laying on of the elders hands or a shadow I’m rejoicing with you but you did not have to have it that way. No, all you needed to do was simply ask the Lord to touch your life & according to His will & it would be done! Now I’m afraid if I started doing this kind of thing that people would either see my shadow & think that there would be four more weeks of winter or that we are having a solar eclipse!

Vs. 13-14 So right in the middle of Luke telling us about the impact of the purity of the Church as seen in it’s power he drops this paradoxical statement on us. I have read this verse a 100 times this week & every time I do it blows my mind. Can you imaging some sales type person teaching a seminar on how to grow your business. His premise is, “Cause such a fear in your potential clientele that the casual buyer would not dare come into your establishment but would still think that what you are selling is the best that you can buy?” In a nutshell that is what the Lord does with the early Church. The believers had a great reputation & integrity with those that they were trying to reach but at the same time they knew that it was a serious thing to be a follower of Jesus. It required far more then a casual commitment. They had a great respect for how they saw the believers living their lives & a curiosity, as to the power that they possessed. Yet as the story of Ananias & Sapphira made it’s rounds they realized that their sin had to be left at the door. No halfhearted commitment would do no shallow curiosity that has come to be entertained. No, come to the early Church in a life style that was not according to the word of God & you would experience God in a way that you may not desire.

Do you see where I’m going with this? The early Church practiced a life style that drove away those who wanted to stay in the love with their sin. Pastor I’m not sure of what your saying? Well, what I’m saying is that going to Church because it was the “in” place or the “cool” place to hang out was not going to happen. Because if you came to Church that way then you would be dragged out. Now theirs a thought, “Instead of dragging people to Church we would be dragging them out!” May I just say that perhaps there are some that need to be dragged out? This incident kept out the riff-raft, if you loved your sin you could continue in it or you could come to Church & have it forgiven but you could not come to Church & stay in your sin. You know what is cool though? The unbelievers on their own knew that! The Church’s uncompromised commitment to the holiness of God caused those who were not serious to stay away. Further more it was not the legalistic, self-righteous practices of the early Church that kept them away. No, it was their commitment to the holiness of God motivated out of love for the Lord!

Now I’ve done a lot of sole searching this week as it relates to Calvary Chapel Merced. And I’ve come to the conclusion that I want us to be for those who are serious about their Christianity. I want us to continue to be a place where what we offer in Christ is not for the person who wants to make Jesus just a hobby. No, I want Calvary Chapel Merced to be a place for the person who wants to be a professional Christian. A hobbyist does not make his or her living at it; they just play at the hobby to entertain themselves. A professional they make their living at it & are ever living to hone their skills. This past week the NBA playoffs began, now I can go down & purchase an authentic jersey that looks just like the ones worn by my Kings but let me just say that though my clothing may look like the real team you don’t want me on the court! Far to much of what the Church offers today just makes people feel like they are part of the team with out any of the true commitment it takes to be apart of it.

What’s wild is that this kind of commitment still brought about an ever increasing amount of believers that were added to the Lord. Now This is real Church growth!

Vs. 17-28 Speaking the words of life

Vs. 17-18 So there was no superficiality in these believers & eventually the early Church began to have such an impact upon the Jerusalem & the surrounding community. This in turn got them in hot water with the High Pries & his buddies the Sadducees. There were three reasons for the apostle’s arrest.

Vs. 17 Jealousy: The Church had a greater popularity with the people then they did.
Peter & John had defied the orders of 4:18 not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus.
What the apostles were teaching & doing (signs & wonders) was in direct conflict with the Sadducees teaching.

Vs. 19-21a Now here is a curious thing; the Sadducees who don’t believe in miracles, have demanded that Peter, John & the rest of the apostles don’t teach in the name of Jesus, & are jealous of their ever-growing popularity throw them into jail to stop them. But by doing so guess what happens? Well let’s see:

Unwittingly they give opportunity for another miracle, (verse 19) an angel of the Lord freeing them from prison. Oh by the way remember now these guys did not believe in angels.
Furthermore they gave (at the direction of the angel they don’t believe in) another opportunity to share about Jesus again in the temple.
Lastly, because of the heavenly prison break & the now preaching in the temple, the same people who watched them hauled off to prison see them the next morning preaching Jesus. In other words the apostles popularity would grow by leaps & bounds.

Is that not great how God uses the opposition for opportunity? So they are out there in the temple proclaiming & also by their very presence freed from jail, the “words of this life”. Now what we have to share to the world are not just the words of the afterlife or even eternal life. No, they are the words of “abundant life”. Man, go on ahead & tell the people the “reason for the hope that is in you”, (1 Peter 3:15).

Vs. 21b-25 Man is this ever a funny scene. When the supreme court of the land comes to get these guys for their court date they find the prison doors locked but nobody inside. So they are all around the room scratching their heads wondering how this could be seeing that the guards are still at the doors of the prison, when someone says, “Hey, you all looking for those Jesus lovers? Well, I saw them on the way in this morning preaching Jesus who you band them from speaking about, saying that an angel whom you don’t believe exists freed them & told them to tell everyone about Jesus resurrection!”

Now I love the fact that the apostles went right back to the temple, I mean why not? If an angel can spring you from jail once he can do it again.

Vs.26-28 Notice that they captain had no problem apprehending this apostles a second time & he was real careful not to treat them with violence least the crowds stone him. So in they come again before this prestigious 70-member panel of the nations leaders who have the power to sentence you to death.

Now here in verse 28 we see the complaints of the Sadducees, which were threefold:

Your using the name we told you not to use. Notice that they don’t even want to say the name of Jesus.
You have filled Jerusalem with the teaching concerning Him. Oh that our opponents would say this about us. “Man you guys, at Calvary have filled Merced with the teaching concerning Jesus.”
You have blamed us for the death of Jesus: Hey, remember at the trial before Pilate as he brought the water pitcher in front of them & said, “I wash my hands of his blood” & they said, “His blood be on us & our Children!” Now when it’s not a good thing to be guilty of the blood of Jesus they don’t want anything to do with it.

It is as if these guys stand up & say, “We have made up our minds so don’t confuse us with the facts!”

May I just say that this is often the reaction of those who come in contact with the truth of who Jesus is as seen in the purity & power of His Church, PERSECUTION! I’ll stomp it out & crush it you know! But it never works all it does is purify & empower the Church all the more.

Vs. 29-42 Preaching, persecution & praise

Vs. 29-32 Here again is another opportunity for the apostles to declare the truths concerning Jesus. They proclaim three truths about Jesus:

This is the familiar contrast of, “You killed Him, God raised Him, you rejected Him, God exalted Him!”
From His position of exaltation He is able to forgive you & everyone else of their sins.
It is because of the first to facts that we must speak & demonstrate the truths concerning Him.

Vs. 33 What’s their reaction to the apostle’s threefold statement towards them? Well we are told they were sawn in two, (furious)!

Vs. 34 This brings us to the next reaction to the truth concerning Jesus, as seen in Gamaliel. Now he was the Grandson of Hillel & even today Gamaliel is given the title “Rabban” (our teacher) & not just Rabbi (my teacher). When he died they said that the, “glory of the law died with him.” He was a Pharisee & thus disagreed with the teachings of the Sadducees. He was also Paul the apostles teacher prior to his conversion & Jewish historians tell us that his one complaint against Paul or Saul as he was then called was that it was impossible to find Paul enough reading material.

Vs.35-39 Well his idea is that of INDIFFERENCE. It seems that Gamaliel was an original member of the Doobie Brother who popularized the song, “Jesus is just alright with me!” I find that the Church has far more to fear with those that are indifferent towards the gospel then those who are persecuting the Church. Pure numbers tell us that there are far more folks in the Church of indifference then there is in the Church of persecution. In fact many in the true Church also belong to the Church of indifference, but that is not the Church of the early Church.

Vs. 40-42 Though the Sadducees agreed with Gamaliel they stilled gave the apostles 39 lashes each with a cat-o-nine-tails. And there is no recorded protest of Gamaliel so much for the Church of indifference.

But look at how the apostles handle the truth concerning Jesus even though they are severely beaten, they REJOICE that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Jesus name. Furthermore we are told that they did not cease daily TEACHING & PREACHING Jesus as Christ! They were not teaching & preaching anything other then the Word of God. They did it publicly & privately. Hey folks, may we to be a Church that is serious about our lives in Christ! May Calvary Chapel Merced be what Winston Churchill called a fanatic. He declared, “A fanatic is someone who can’t change their mind and won’t change the subject!”