Jesus 4 Everybody: A Movement of Vulnerability and Generosity

Now the entire group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common together. With great power, the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them. For there was not a needy person among them because all those who owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid them at the apostles' feet. This was then distributed to each person as any had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus by birth, the one the apostles called Barnabas, which is translated son of encouragement, sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. However, he kept back part of the proceeds with his wife's knowledge and brought a portion of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. Ananias, Peter asked, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land? Wasn't it yours while you possessed it? And after it was sold, wasn't it at your disposal? Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God. When he heard these words, Ananias dropped dead, and a great fear came on all who heard. The young man got up, wrapped his body, carried him out, and buried him. About three hours later, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Tell me, Peter asked her, did you sell the land for this price? Yes, she said, for that price. Then Peter said to her, why did you agree to test the spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out. Instantly, she dropped dead at his feet. When the young men came in, they found her dead, carried her out, and buried her beside her husband. Then great fear came on the whole church and all those who heard these things. This is the word of the lord. Thanks be to god. — Acts 4:32-5:11

So I decided I'm not going to preach this morning. We're just going to take an offering and see how that goes. I know that was not funny. That's not really very funny.

But in all seriousness, I'm glad we had our elementary aged kids in with us last week during the whole sermon, and I'm kind of glad they're not here this morning because this is a hard passage. I just want to acknowledge that. This is a very adult passage.

When we read a passage like this, I feel like I'm watching those comic strips where little thought balloons pop up over the congregation, and I could see the balloons read things like this: "Why, oh why did we come on a money sermon Sunday?" Or "Really? I mean, why do churches like this preach this kind of stuff? This is why Christians get a bad rap." Or "What in the world? I mean, what do I do with this? Or I wonder what we're having for lunch because I do not want to think about this."

I just want to acknowledge how difficult it is looking at this. So this morning, I just want to ask this question to start us off: What do we do with this? What in the world do we do with this passage?

The Context of Radical Generosity

I think the context of this is really helpful because it provides a contrast for us. The context is this—the context for all of what happens with Ananias and Sapphira is set against something radical and beautiful that's happening in this early church.

We read in verse 32 that the early church was incredibly generous. No one said any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. We read in verse 34: there was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them. They brought the proceeds. They laid them at the apostles' feet and it was distributed to every person as they had need.

Some have used this passage to use it as a proof text for communism. "See, the Bible supports that view of an economic system." Yet you can't abuse God's word that way. I mean, you read and continue reading in Acts—clearly in Acts 12 there's private property. This isn't about mandated sharing, but a type of generosity that comes in response to the gospel.

One commentator says it this way: the early church relaxed their grips on their things so they could hold tightly to one another. There was a type of movement within this church community where they, in response to God's grace and mercy, gave abundantly and generously to the church, for Jesus and for his work.

This is always one of the themes of scripture about money and about possessions—that it is a mark of how the gospel has worked in people's lives, when they do this or don't. So Zacchaeus was a very wealthy man who got his money from extortion.

When he meets Jesus and experiences the grace of Jesus, he's like, look, here, take all of it. Pay back. I want to pay back everything. I want to give away abundantly versus the rich young ruler who comes to Jesus and when Jesus confronts him with his money, he goes away sad because it says he had much. He didn't want to part with it.

And there's a contrast here. The incredible grace-fueled generosity of the early church and then this couple, Ananias and Sapphira. They have a piece of property and together they sell the property and they agree between them to talk about the price publicly but change the facts. So it's like they had a field that sold for $120,000. They told the church it sold for $70,000 and gave that to the church and held back $50,000.

If you're doing math with me this morning, that's a contrast because what they're doing—there's nothing wrong with them selling a property. Peter confronts them about that and says, "You, this was yours to begin with. You could have sold it for whatever. You could have kept the money. You didn't have to do that." But what they're doing—and there's a special word in this passage—they are stealing. They're stealing, but not money. They're stealing reputation.

They misrepresent themselves to look more generous than they truly are. They misappropriate—that's another way the word is translated—they misappropriate a reputation. They see Joseph who gives generously and gets all this praise and adulation from the church, and they want some of that for themselves.

Now, what is this called in normal life? Hypocrisy. That's what it's called.

Understanding Hypocrisy

That word "hypocrite" is actually an Englishizing of a Greek word, which simply is the word that was used for "actor" in Greek culture. A hypocrite was one who played a part. Literally means "interpreter." On the Greek stage—if you had to take any in high school English class, you had to read Greek tragedies or Greek comedies—you know that the actors would get up on stage and they would wear these masks. You still see these—the happy sad masks. I was outside some theaters today. Those were used on the Greek stage to portray emotions. So an actor was one who wore a mask, who pretended, who interpreted. Or misinterpreted in this situation. They are playing a part and acting one way when they are in fact another way.

Now, is this a problem in the American church? Is hypocrisy still a problem for us? Thank goodness, no. I'm so glad we're past this, right? No. G.K. Chesterton famously said, "The greatest argument against Christianity is Christians." Right? And we know this.

I heard a story recently about a guy who got pulled over by a police officer. He says, "Officer, I wasn't speeding. Why'd you pull me over?" And he said, "Well, I saw you just a little while ago. I've been following you for a bit because I saw you get up behind this elderly woman and just lay on your horn. And then I saw you be really obnoxious to another driver, cut off another driver. And then I saw you make a rude gesture to somebody else. And I saw the fish on the back of the car and I just assumed the car was stolen. License and registration, please, right?"

I mean, hypocrisy, right? Hypocrisy is always easy for everybody else to see except you.

Maybe you watched the Christmas movie, A Christmas Story, with Ralphie and the Red Rider BB gun. You know this one? There's one scene about hypocrisy where they have a flat tire in the car and dad gets out to change the tire and mom says, "Ralphie, why don't you go help your dad?" So he gets out of the car and he's holding the wheel cover and his dad puts the lug nuts in the wheel cover and he drops it and out of his mouth comes—he says in the movie, the curse word, the worst one. You know, the mother of all curse words. And his dad says, "Where did you learn that word?"

Next scene, you see Ralphie in the bathroom with a bar of soap in his mouth. This is what my parents did with us with bad words, right? Bar of soap in his mouth. "Where did you learn that word?" And of course, he can't say where he learned the word. Dad, right? I learned it from dad. The whole scene is about the dad's hypocrisy.

The hypocrisy here leads to a confrontation. Peter confronts first Ananias and then Sapphira separately to the same end, and both of them are given an opportunity to set the truth straight. And both of them in that moment reinforce the lie that they've agreed to tell. And both of them are struck dead.

And this is really hard. I mean, I just want to acknowledge. We read these passages of the Bible like, "Oh, that Sunday, I'm here on Ananias and Sapphira Sunday." But why? You know, why didn't God give them another chance? Doesn't this feel a little extreme to some of you? I mean, does some of y'all feel this way? Like, really, God? I mean, you overlook hypocrisy all the time now. Why here? Why this?

Often the way that modern people read a passage like this is based on a faulty assumption. We can look at a passage like this and think we know better and we know more and we say something like this: if I can't figure out a good reason for this, there can't possibly be one. Now, of course, you would never logically say that. If I confronted you and said, "Really? There couldn't logically be an explanation," you'd be like, "Yes, of course there could be, but I can't think of one." Therefore, really? And that's why it creates this moral quandary for us reading scripture sometimes, but I just want to push on that a little bit.

Don't commit the error of cultural imperialism. Thinking you know better. There's a lot of things we don't know about this passage. But the question remains: why didn't God give him a second chance? Why not another opportunity to repent? And I could say this: maybe God knows everything and God knows their hearts and knows that given not just one chance but a hundred chances, they never would have come clean with this. But I think the best explanation for this is really connected to the unique circumstances of the baby church right here in the book of Acts.

This is the first time that church is mentioned in the book of Acts. This is the first time Luke uses that word in the book of Acts. And I want you to think about how we use the word "first" with churches. You drive around Downtown Raleigh, there are two First Baptist churches. There's a reason. There's a story behind that you should know—honestly, if you live here. There's a First Presbyterian church, right? You go around any southern city, there's always a first something church, and we mean by that, that's the first one of this denomination in this city. But that's not what I'm talking about here. This is the very first church. This is the first church there was, and God does some very specific things that we consider maybe extreme to protect something beautiful and delicate in this baby church.

And it's a lesson for us on the danger of hypocrisy. And this is simply where I'm going this morning: because hypocrisy hurts, it damages deeply. It hurts the church. It hurts the purity of the gospel, and finally, it hurts our own souls.

How Hypocrisy Hurts

So really briefly, let's look at this together. Hypocrisy hurts the church. Now, of course, it hurts the witness of the church. This is why we can all laugh and say, yes, of course, hypocrisy is a problem today in the church. But it does something more than that.

Think about the incredible vulnerability that characterized this early church. There's something so unique and delicate and beautiful and precious and rare that characterized this early church. There are people in this church who have needs and those needs are all met. That's what's unique and beautiful. We all know that we like to be in the position of being helper and not helpless. If you've had to receive help from other people, if you've been in a position where you're needy and you need other people to show up to serve you and you can't pay them back, that is an incredibly vulnerable position to be in. And so in this church, this is what's going on. People are able to be transparent and vulnerable about what's really going on, their needs, and other people who have means are able to be a part of participating in those needs. That is an incredibly beautiful and wonderful and special and rare and delicate thing.

So my first explanation for why God responds so extremely in this is to protect that—to protect the vulnerability of this early Christian community in the way that they were exercising both "I need" and other people being able to say, "Let's be generous."

Hypocrisy also hurts, though, the purity of the gospel. Now, it may sound really weird to you. Why would hypocrisy hurt the purity of the gospel? But I want you to remember the gospel message always requires a vulnerability from people who respond to it. It requires a vulnerability to be able to say, "Yes, I truly am helpless. I cannot save myself. I can't good myself up before God. I can't be a nice person enough. None of that counts. I can't do any of those things. In fact, I come to God empty handed and helpless." There's a vulnerability to that. Vulnerability is at the root of the gospel.

Several years ago, I got into boxing. So I went and took a class at the YMCA and I learned how you wrap your hands and how you put on the gloves and how you throw a punch, how you do all the punches, right? And then one of the things that I learned though is how a boxer blocks. A boxer uses the hands and particularly the forearms to block a punch. So a good boxer is always moving around and always has hands up and even when you throw a punch, you're supposed to be blocking at the same time because if you get hit in the face, you get hit in the stomach, it's over.

Now, I don't want to box anybody.

I'm not trying to—it's a great workout, it's fun. During COVID, when the gym shut down, I bought a heavy bag and a speed bag in my garage because it's just fun. But there's a vulnerability at the root of the gospel that is the opposite of what it means to be a boxer.

Jesus comes in the ultimate place of vulnerability. He comes as a baby, not a boxer. He comes and lives a life of absolute transparency and openness to people. He's misunderstood. He's betrayed. And then at the very end, of course, he's scourged. He's spit upon. He's beaten, a crown of thorns is pressed into his scalp, he's mocked and he doesn't block. And in the ultimate moment, he drops his guard completely. He who is all powerful, Lord of the universe, could have delivered himself, allows his hands to be nailed in place. The ultimate vulnerability—and you can come and hit me, and he was. This is the ultimate vulnerability of God to us. God comes and makes himself completely vulnerable so that he can take our place. In Christ, what it means to respond to him is to respond in vulnerability to that and be able to say: You were weak, and now I accept my weakness and I receive what you've given to me.

This is at the root of what it means to be a Christian. And yet, what is hypocrisy but fake vulnerability? There's something about hypocrisy that undoes vulnerability. It turns it inside out. It ruins it. It is antithetical to the gospel of Jesus. This is the other reason I think for God's immediate and disturbing response to this hypocrisy in the first church—it's like protecting this. Hypocrisy finally hurts our own souls. Now that's a weird statement and you may not know what to do with that statement, but I want to press into this, and this is where I'm going to spend most of my time: hypocrisy hurts our own souls.

The Holy Spirit in Acts

We're doing a summer study in the book of Acts. As we're doing so, our controlling dynamic for which passages we read are all the passages that list and talk about the main character of the book of Acts. Who is the Holy Spirit? Not Peter, not Paul, not the apostles, not even the early church. The Holy Spirit is the main character in the book of Acts.

As we look at this passage this morning, I want to pay attention to what it says about the Holy Spirit. And I want to remind you of what the Holy Spirit's function is, what he does. The Holy Spirit does two things principally.

First, the Holy Spirit is the one who takes what Jesus accomplished on the cross and applies that directly to the life of a believer. The Holy Spirit is one who makes a dead person come alive and allows a person who formerly would have wanted nothing to do with Christ to see and lay hold of Jesus. The Holy Spirit creates a bond, therefore, in Christ between that individual and the Lord Jesus Christ and his work. Like a molecular bond. You know how in chemistry class you take two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen and you put those together? You get water, right? You get this water molecule, and it's a tremendous bond between those atoms. The molecule is held together by a molecular bond that's incredibly powerful. The Holy Spirit, in our justification, in our coming to faith in Christ, is the one who binds us to the work of Jesus.

This is 1 Corinthians 15 in a nutshell—I'll talk about it more next week.

The Holy Spirit's second work, though, is his work in sanctification. The Holy Spirit enters the life of a person, resident within you, and does the slow work of transforming you in this lifetime into the likeness of Christ from the inside out. The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts you that you have sinned, so you feel bad and you come and confess your sins. The Holy Spirit is the one who guides us in truth. The Holy Spirit is the one who makes you actually even want Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the one who's doing this inside work of transformation in you.

But this—and this is really important—this is one of those places in the New Testament that warns us about the danger of thwarting that second work of the Spirit in sanctification. It warns us of the danger of spiritual destruction, how dangerous it is to our souls to work against it.