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Dartmouth Notes Notes from the Pulpit Ministry of Dartmouth Bible Church Series: Studies in Acts, Lesson 5 Scripture: :1-11 Speaker: Rev. Neil C. Damgaard, Th.M., D.Min. Date: October 7th, 2018 The Cold Heart

Acts 5:1-11 (ESV) But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 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. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 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.” 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. After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 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.” 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. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

Introduction Here is the weird thing: I sense that you, this body, need a positive and encouraging message. You have challenges going on. Some Sundays it is all you can do just to get here. You need some strength and encouragement from this pulpit. You know that worship is less about you and more about Him but still: you have things going on that are hard, at least some of you. You do not need your time wasted and you certainly don’t need a scolding or a preacher who is down on you! And so this is a challenge for me in going through the . There are, in fact, so many hard stories and accounts of trouble in Acts. The church was growing but it was not an easy growth. Therefore, how do I craft a positive and encouraging message from a passage like the one before us today? And so I pray…

The paragraph before chapter 5 is very encouraging! The body was feeling SO “on the same page”--individual members of the body, on their own, completely voluntarily, were willing to help those with little—their new brothers and sisters in —by selling off some of their personal possessions, even real estate, and turning the cash over to the apostles to distribute to those in need. The goal was to have a church body where no one was in terrible need! Pretty positive! Pretty encouraging! Then chapter four concludes with one individual’s profile: , from . Verses 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.

After our section today, Chapter 5:12-16 has another very encouraging summary by Luke: 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. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 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. The people also gathered from the towns around , bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. All good!

a) Signs and wonders b) All together c) Held in high esteem d) More becoming all the time e) Both men and women f) People respected Peter a lot! g) Many, many were healed and exorcized

In those heady, happy early days there was a lot of positive and encouraging “vibe” going on. But then we have 5:1-11. Today I want to talk about that passage and even find “positive and encouraging” news there too. But first we need to understand what is happening, and why Luke records this “judgment-miracle” at all…

I have entitled this message “The Cold Heart”1. That is because I think , although believers in , became possessed of a cold heart. And that is why their end-story is included by Luke in Acts 5. But I want to suggest to you today that this is a POSITIVE. It is a warning, yes—but being warned by the Scripture, by the Holy Spirit is a POSITIVE. And as such, it is an ENCOURAGEMENT. It may not be the kind of positive encouragement that you are used to, or that you may go looking for. But our God is “not a tame lion” and His Word runs deeper than our shallow expectations.

Ananias is Hebrew and means “the Lord is gracious,” and Sapphira means “beautiful.” We can read a little more into “Sapphira’s” name, too. In almost all other ancient uses of the name, it is attached to wealthy women2.

1 Taken from Dr. S. Lewis Johnson’s depiction of the root problem (sermon 1984, Believer’s Chapel, Dallas, TX) 2 Craig S. Keener, Acts: An Exegetical Commentary, Vol.2. p. 1185. Baker Book House. 2013 2 These are names that should describe them in a complimentary way. This was a married couple who were “members” of the first Christian church in the world—

(That church did not have membership as we practice it, but they were known people who apparently were valued participants of the Christian community and perhaps suggesting that the was beginning to reach out to sections of the community which were wider that just the poor-of-means3.)

Others had been moved to voluntarily donate some of their assets to the support of Christians who did not have enough. As Luke reports this, it sounds random with people moved by the Holy Spirit and no other impetus, 100% voluntary. Ananias and Sapphira calculated to join this trend. The apostles did not take pledges and there was no organized campaign—in fact, the apostles are not reported by Luke to have had anything to do with this trend. It was spontaneous and caught hold of believers quickly—that is why Luke records it. He heard about it decades later. But the trend caught up people with less than pure motives, too.

Ananias and Sapphira’s hearts were cold, and in a subtle and almost invisible way. It would smell to Peter like Satan. And their deception would cost them their lives. When you heard the story read a few moments ago, did it seem too harsh to you? Did the sin of testing and lying to the Holy Spirit of the Lord seem like a sin that should not have been a capital crime to God? If you felt that, I can understand it. I can think of lots of sins that I would judge to be of a capital nature before this one. But let’s look further…

Satan is said by Luke to have been involved. One might find it hard to believe that Satan would notice the hearts of two small individuals. But he did, and poisoned them. They bear the responsibility of not detecting his foul virology in their hearts and succumbing to it, but they mingled it with their own self- focus. Peter discerns this immediately. While he pronounces the interpretation, he does not kill them—God does.

This is one of two “judgment-miracles” in the Book of Acts—the other is the judgment that fell upon Herod and recorded by Luke in :21-24:

On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” Immediately an of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. But the word of God increased and multiplied.

Signs and wonders are usually happy and beneficial events as the apostles brokered them, but not always. A miracle that would testify to God’s greatness and power in these two cases benefited the community by infusing the

3 Ibid, Keener. 3 fear of the Lord. Us getting ourselves recalibrated over and over, because we need this, is a good thing. It demonstrates that God cares. He wants His people to GET Who He is and that He is not to be trifled with.

Notice too that Peter says that Ananias and Sapphira did not HAVE to give all their proceeds from the sale of real estate to the Lord’s work. Peter said (Acts 5:4) 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.” You and I need to guard our hearts. Sin can creep in so quietly and subtly. This is why prayed in Psalm 19:13a, Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me!

I am very glad that this judgment is not repeated in the . That makes me think that this occurred as a one-time occurrence, recorded by Luke, to warn the people of God to watch their hearts. Paul would write to the Corinthians—relating to the matter of wrongly handling the Lord’s Supper—that anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. BUT IF WE JUDGED OURSELVES TRULY, WE WOULD NOT BE JUDGED. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. (I Cor.11:29-32) Note especially verse 31.

This is why I am always amazed and saddened when I hear friends and people that I know in the world proclaim that there IS NO sin. Man—that is just what Satan wants people to come to think! THE HEART GOES COLD when people start to think like that, and Christians are not immune. They may be singing all the current praise songs, they may give to the Lord’s work. They may serve in the church. But Satan can get in there and infect a person’s heart with evil—a willingness to try and put one over on God, to pull the wool over God’s eyes.

• “He won’t know if I slide a few bucks back for myself; it I give to get a tax deduction.” • “He won’t care if I pretend to be one thing but secretly I am something else.” • “He doesn’t really mind a little hypocrisy. He’s too big to notice or to care about a little subterfuge…”

It would be better not to sell the field at all, Ananias and Sapphira! It would be better to tell Peter, “We sold it for 100 shekels and we decided to contribute 50 to support our brethren.”

There is another thing in this passage to see—if the Book of Acts is something we should be exactly emulating today (as some Pentecostals say), why do we see no one seeking to duplicate this “miracle”? I say this to show that the Book of Acts is not strictly a guidebook of what the Church should have been or 4 should be to all generations. It describes the earliest church and how it grew. Luke wanted Theophilus to know very accurately how that happened. But the book is dominantly a book of transition. WE CANNOT OVERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS. God’s program was changing, right in front of their eyes, from what we call “The Old Testament Era” to “The New Testament Era”.

▪ Jesus made a one-time sacrifice that would make the whole ancient system of Temple sacrifices obsolete. ▪ The priestly class would be replaced by a nation, a whole people of priests (I Peter 2:5,9) ▪ Redemption would extend to all people—and you would no longer have to first become a Jew.

Many strange and wonderful things went on that Luke was reporting, but NOT necessarily meaning to mandate for Christians for all time. That doesn’t mean Luke’s purpose was ONLY to describe—there is much in Acts that we should emulate and we can try to emulate:

• It would be nice if we could preach the Gospel and see thousands come to faith in Christ on the spot. • It would be nice to see people spontaneously care about their brethren and refuse to let them go without. • It would be nice to share meals together with glad and generous hearts, praise God and have favor with all the people. • It would be nice to enfold into the body people of such great character like Phebe, , , Lydia, and Timothy, Rufus— people whom Paul would call ἐκλεκτὸν (choice, NASB) in the Lord! (Rom.16:13)

But we have a marvelous picture in front of us of what God did—of what the Holy Spirit did, in the name of Jesus, in order to grow the reputation of the Risen Jesus and make the Good News known. Is it on any level encouraging and positive? Yes, it is.

✓ It shows that GOD SEES, and disciplines His people. That is both positive and encouraging! ✓ He raises up leaders like Peter and John—OUT OF NOWHERE. Each would die in remote places where they had taken the Gospel. ✓ He empowers them supernaturally to do good things, like enabling a fellow to walk who had never walked before in his life. ✓ He empowered them to cast out Satan’s demons and free poor, ruined people. ✓ He sent His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but instead would receive eternal life.

Cold hearts are trumped by a sovereign and gracious God. May we pay attention to our hearts. May we be filled with the Spirit and see this place shake! 5 May He reign in our hearts every day for the rest of our lives. He is so good. And all the time!

Oh, to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be Let Thy goodness like a fetter Bind my wandering heart to Thee Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it Prone to leave the God I love Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above 4

4 Robert Robinson, 1757 6