Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: Let's be serious about not playing church and trying to be esteemed as more spiritual than someone else, or that we know the Bible, or our prayers are fancy, or I'm more religious than you. We all need to be very clear about how we're all sinners and we all fall short. We're here because we need the help of God and we're sinners who need the grace of Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador reminds us the strength of the church is reliant on power from above.

Brett Meador: We need to keep it all in perspective and then great things will happen. As the word increases, the church will multiply.

Guest (Male): Ananias and Sapphira appeared as outstanding members of the early church in Acts 5, but an act of hypocrisy led to their dramatic destruction. By examining why God made an example of them and many throughout Scripture, we uncover the seriousness of hypocrisy in the church. Yet in today's word, Pastor Brett Meador highlights how God's grace and mercy cover us despite our many faults.

Brett Meador: In our study of Acts, one of the things we're gleaning from the Bible in general and the book of Acts shows the beginnings of the early church. We learn so much about what the church should look like. We saw in chapter 4 that great power was given to the apostles and great grace was given to the church. That's what it says. The church is just getting blessed out of their socks.

Have you ever noticed you'll be in a happy little story and then all of a sudden something really crazy happens? Well, that's about to happen. It's Acts chapter 5, verse 1: "But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet.

But Peter said, 'Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, it was not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.'

And Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost. And great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, carried him out and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after this his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

And Peter answered unto her, 'Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.' And she said, 'Yea, for so much.' Then Peter said unto her, 'How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.'

And she fell down straightway at his feet and yielded up the ghost. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her forth buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things."

Great fear came upon the church and all that had heard this. What a strange thing. The church is booming, 5,000 people now in Jerusalem. It's like a mega-church and the Lord's blessing in chapter 4. But then with those things, people bring problems. Ananias and Sapphira are bringing the problem of wanting to get some honor and some notoriety in the church. They lie before God.

Did you notice there's a hint of the Trinity in our text? God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one and the same. We see that in verse 3. With a word of knowledge in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, Peter says to Ananias, "Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie against the Holy Ghost?" So they lied against the Holy Ghost, but notice in verse 4 at the very end it says, "Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." Peter sees the Holy Ghost and God as one and the same.

Great fear came upon the church because they thought whatever we do, we better go by the rules and not be messing around or trying to get glory for ourselves. This is something that happens as a precedent setter. It is one of the great problems in the church. You could say lying or trying to get glory for themselves, but really it's the word you see in the Bible a lot: hypocrisy.

G. Campbell Morgan said, "The church has never been harmed or hindered by opposition from without. It has been perpetually harmed and hindered by perils from within." I think he's right. Whenever the church has been hit from the outside with persecution, the church grows. It is like the church is blessed.

It always seems like when the church is doing badly, it's because of shenanigans going on inside the church, whether it's hypocrisy, moral failure, or people wanting to get the glory for themselves. That's where the church goes wrong. The Greek word for hypocrite is *hupokrités*, which means an actor, a stage player, or a pretender.

These guys were pretending to give all the money. They wanted to be the holy ones of the church, just like Barnabas in chapter 4. They pretended and they lied. In that culture, if you said *hupokrités*, people would think of a theater mask. Ananias and Sapphira wanted the mask of being super spiritual. They were lying to God and He struck them down to make a point.

Jesus talked directly about the hypocrite problem in Matthew chapter 6. He said, "Take heed that you do not your alms or giving before men, to be seen of them. Otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound the trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets."

The Pharisees did that. They would walk around with little bugle horns. If they gave money, they would put a shekel in and then they would blow the bugle so everybody would go, "Wow, look at the giving Pharisee." They blew their trumpet so everybody knew they did it. Jesus calls that out and says it is whacked.

Jesus says they do that so they might have glory of men. He said, "Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly." This is the mantra of how we're supposed to give.

Jesus starts talking about not only the money that you're giving, but also the prayers that you're praying. Hypocrisy can come out in prayer. The Bible actually tells us that God doesn't hear you for your fancy words or your eloquence, but people listen to how you're praying. If you have ever found yourself praying worried about what other people are thinking about your prayer, that's hypocrisy.

I love what comic Tim Hawkins talks about regarding thesaurus prayers. Have you ever prayed with people that are like a thesaurus? "O Lord God, lead us, navigate for us, Lord, show us the way to go." We get it. Let's just get to the point. How about wrap it up, end, finish, or conclude? Why do we pray in a way that sometimes is more to be heard of men than to be heard of God?

Jesus honors a real, honest prayer. He does not honor hypocrisy. If you're a hypocrite in church, that doesn't mean you're going to go to hell. A lot of people don't go to church because it's full of hypocrites, but the whole world is full of hypocrites. I wonder why everybody holds the church to the highest standard.

The people that are saying that usually aren't Christians. They are atheists or people that are anti-church. They hold the church to a higher standard, which means they believe the church should be a higher standard. The church is a roomful of sinners who've been saved by God's grace and we're still working on it. We still have problems and we still fail.

No Christian I know thinks they're perfect. Most people I know don't even think we're better than anybody else. That's just Christianity. What if we held the hospital to that standard? In the hospital, there are people that have died there. There are doctors who've done surgery and people have died during surgery, and there are sick people there. Failure! Do you realize how dumb that is?

It is like going to the gym and saying, "I'm shocked there are fat people at the gym! Look at that person on the treadmill." I'm not going to the gym because there are fat people there. It is the same dumb mentality when people say they are shocked that there are sinners at church. Yes, the church has hypocrites and I'm one of them, but my goal is to not be.

It's scary when you read what will keep you from inheriting the kingdom of heaven. 1 Corinthians 6:9 says, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous."

Some of you might be sitting there going, "Check, check, check. I'm not an adulterer, I'm not a fornicator." It's funny how we can almost self-righteously say we're not any of these things. But when we get to the word covetous, that's an interesting one. Ever been driving down the road and you see a boat in a guy's driveway and you think you'd like to have that boat? Covetousness!

You have to read the whole Bible carefully and not just one verse. If you just leave it at this verse, you might say then who in the world will inherit the kingdom of heaven? The answer is kind of no one, unless you understand what the Bible teaches. There is another list in Galatians 5.

Paul says the works of the flesh are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, and revelings. They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Who makes it to heaven if you do these things?

In the Greek text, it says, "They which continually practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." There's a difference between somebody who does these things and somebody who is practicing, like when you practice piano or tennis. That's the idea of continually doing these things without any restraint or check.

I hope there are no sins that I am practicing unchecked and unrepentant. I believe in God's sovereignty and I don't believe you can lose your salvation. But there are a few verses like this one that makes me say don't play games with God. If you're going around saying you're going to commit adultery because you're saved by grace through faith, you might not have really accepted Christ.

If you are just doing stuff unrepentant and unchecked, this makes it a little bit stressful. People say homosexuality is a pet sin for Christians. It is not a pet sin. It's just one of the only sins on the list that we celebrate and have pride over. People are saying they are going to practice and get better at it.

You don't want to practice sin. You should be repentant of sin. Does it mean you're perfect from that day forward? No. But I like what Paul told Timothy. He said, "But thou, O man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life."

This is great family devotion material: flee, follow, fight. Flee from sinful things. Run for your life. That's a sign of repentance. You turn the opposite way and say you're not going to figure out how to be better at committing adultery. You run for your life from adultery and avoid that sin. You follow after righteousness and you follow Jesus.

Then it says fight. It is a battle. Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life. That's the person who's saved. The person who is fleeing, following, and fighting. That's what repentance looks like. Paul was the guy who knew what it was to wrestle with sin. He said in Romans 7, "I do the things I don't want to do, and I don't do the things I do want to do."

He said he found no good thing in his flesh, but he thanked God for Jesus Christ and His mercy and His grace. That's salvation. If we get good at practicing sin and playing the game like Ananias and Sapphira, putting on the face of religiosity but really having sin that we're practicing, you're in dangerous territory.

If you are going around committing adultery saying you're saved by grace, I cannot promise you that you're in good standing with integrity. I would say repent. Turn to the Lord, be saved, accept Christ, flee, follow, and fight. This is the answer. In Galatians chapter 6, it pictures the struggling person rather than the person who is taking on sin purposefully.

Paul says if a man or woman be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. There is a difference between someone who is overtaking sin versus someone who has been overtaken by sin.

The person who's overtaking sin is that unrepentant sinner who's just trying to get better at practicing sin. I worry about that person. But if you're a person who says they messed up and did something they didn't mean to do, don't be high and mighty. Come alongside them and restore them because the same sin might happen to you.

It's interesting that great fear came on the church. Once we start getting good at covering up like Ananias and Sapphira, this is the precedent God says he doesn't want you playing games at church. We read in James chapter 5, "Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

The Catholics were onto something that we Protestants sometimes have lost, and that is confessional. Now, you don't need a wooden box and a priest, but the idea of confession one to another is a biblical thing. The question for you and me is: are we willing to just be open and honest? Go and ask for prayer and even confess things you're wrestling with.

So this secret sin here in Acts chapter 5 ends up with death in the church and great fear. We had great power, great grace, and then we have great fear. This was a healthy fear that the church needed to have as it was getting ready to burst onto the scene of the world. I pray that fear reminds us to watch out for hypocrisy.

We should be serious about not playing church and trying to be esteemed as spiritual or more spiritual than someone else. We need to be very clear that we are all sinners and we all fall short. We are here because we need the help of God and we are sinners who need the grace of Jesus Christ. As the word increases, the church will multiply. Let's get back to that.

Guest (Male): From today's word, Pastor Brett Meador reflecting on a dramatic passage for the church from Acts chapter 5, of the importance of honesty, reverence, and wholeheartedness in devotion to the Lord. And I invite you to stay right there as Pastor Brett will be back to offer a closing prayer in just a moment.

But first, let me tell you a little bit more about Brett Meador. He's the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church just outside of Portland, Oregon. Brett's been the pastor of Athey Creek for 30 years. We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com. If you missed any portion of this study, you'll find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com.

Our vision on Today's Word is to proclaim the hope of salvation and help people know Jesus through careful study of the Bible. We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com. I also want to mention that in addition to the main Athey Creek campus in West Linn, Oregon, we also have locations in Hillsboro and McMinnville. For more information, go to todayswordradio.com and click on the link "Locations." Well now, let's rejoin Pastor Brett Meador to conclude today's message with a word of prayer.

Brett Meador: Lord, as we read this little story, I pray that we’d let it really sink in. Lord, that Your word would be a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path. And Lord, would the light just expose the things in our own hearts that are amiss. Not to make us wallow in our misery as much, but to be repentant, to flee these things, to follow righteousness, to fight the good fight of faith, Lord.

I pray that we would not succumb to that personal pride of having people think more of us or more highly than we should. I pray that when we give, that our right hand won't know what our left hand is doing. I pray that when we pray that we wouldn't pray the prayer of hypocrisy but pray the prayer of integrity and honesty, Lord.

Just being open before You, Lord. Give us that, I pray. Help us with that. Show us, Lord, where we've kind of let the routine of prayer become sort of just a sanctimonious act. Forgive us for that. Lord, I pray blessing on these Your people. So we go our way now, rejoicing that You've given us this loving reminder. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. Pastor Brett Meador closing our time here on Today's Word. And that's all the time we have. Next time, Pastor Brett will continue another verse-by-verse study in the book of Acts. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.