So how many of you have seen the movie Jerry Maguire? Anyone? Yeah, so you know it's a story about a guy who's a sports agent. And he wants to make the practice more ethical. He wants less backstabbing, less of the insider trading, all that stuff. He wants to reform what he does. So of course, because of the world we live in, all of his clients leave him. You know, if you're not willing to lie, cheat, and steal from me, why would I want you to represent me? Except for one guy, played by Cuba Gooding Jr. And the one guy's a football player, but he makes it very clear that all he's interested in is the money. I'll go to any team that's going to pay me more. It's all about the money. So what does he say? Show me the money. Right? That's what he says. He repeats it over and over and he gets Jerry to yell it when he's on the telephone. Show me the money! In some respects, that's what today's passage is about. No, not the money, not the money. It's about being honest with what you have. It's about being ethical with what you have. Acts 4, 32 to 515 tells three connected stories about handling money within the context of the church. As you turn to the passage, and it's nice to hear the pages flipping as I'm talking, remember that the church is still pretty much new. This whole Jesus rose from the dead is a new phenomenon, something that just happened. So everybody's talking about it. Everyone's at least heard about what's going on. They know what the church is, and they're all talking about it. Now, do you guys remember what the four major themes of Luke Acts are? First, the power of prayer. Second, the Holy Spirit is the power for the believer. Third, the gospels for the entire person. It's not just about your soul. It's not about just your get out of hell free card. It's about ministering to the entire person, physical, emotional, social. Fourth, Jesus came for those marginalized by society. Today we're going to focus more on the middle two. the Holy Spirit, and that the Gospel is for the entire person. But not in the typical way. We'll kind of come at it at a roundabout means. Acts 4.32-36 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. From time to time, those who owned lands or houses sold them. brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, sold the field that he owned, and he brought the money and he put it at the apostles' feet. Now this section, or at least the very beginning of it, should remind you a lot about what Tom preached on a couple weeks ago. Remember when we were in Acts 2, verses 42-47? And it was the ideal of what a church should be. It was kind of the utopian view of church. You know, if there was a perfect church, what would it look like? And that's what Tom was preaching on in Acts 2, 42-47. And we get a little bit of taste of it here. Nobody claimed any possessions as their own. They all shared. They gave what they had. It looks like Jesus taught kindergarten, right? Everybody shared. It's amazing. It's just a basic skill for Christians, and it's a basic skill in life. I mean, everything we ever needed to know we learned in kindergarten, right? The apostles fulfilled Jesus mandate by continuing to spread the word, preaching about the resurrected Jesus. Note that the power and resurrection were tied together. They didn't preach a guy who was crucified and died. They preached a God who was crucified, died, and rose again. It's the power of the resurrection that is the key to the Gospel message. Anyone can die. but only God can rise again, or cause someone else to rise again. We often focus on the death of Jesus, and we neglect the importance of His resurrection. Jesus' death takes away our sin, but His resurrection is what brings us into community with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's the resurrection that opens up the path to be with Him forever. Now I have to admit that's a little bit of a hobby horse for me and it's not where I'm going with the message. But I wanted to make sure that we understood the significance of power being tied to resurrection. They go hand in hand. Without the resurrection, our faith has no power. Now let's get back to the passage. Notice it says that nobody had any needs. Now, it doesn't mean that nobody was poor, that nobody had an issue from time to time. Just look at what Barnabas did. What he did was he took the money and he brought it to the church, and the apostles gave to those who were in need. But before we go on with that, let's talk about Barnabas' nickname. I mean, his real name was Joseph, right? Joseph the Levite from Cyprus. So why was he called Barnabas? Where'd that come from? Well, in the time of Jesus, whatever work you did is what you were known for. Joseph, Jesus' father, was a carpenter. And so in the Gospels, I think twice, Jesus is called the son of the carpenter. But the assumption is, because Joseph was a carpenter, well then Jesus was also a carpenter. Because whatever your father did for work, that's what you did for work. You apprenticed under your own family. You stayed in the family business. So, Jesus was the son of a carpenter. But that meant that Jesus was a carpenter. So oftentimes when you hear son of, it meant that's what you are. If he was the son of a fireman, he was a fireman. If he was the son of a tax collector, he'd be a tax collector. If you're the son of encouragement, it means that you are known for being an encourager. And that's where the nickname came from. It's not that his dad's name was encouragement. It's that that's what he was known for. That was the key characteristic everyone saw in Joseph of Cyprus. And so he deemed the name Barnabas, son of encouragement. Barnabas sold his property, and he gave all the proceeds to the apostles to distribute as they saw fit. But a few points about this. First, it's not everything he owned. It doesn't say he went out and bankrupted himself, and gave everything to the apostles, and now he's destitute, sitting by the side of the road, waiting for a handout. No, it's nothing like that at all. Barnabas probably had a lot of stuff, and he just sold some of it off. Second, the passage explicitly states that people did this from time to time. Now what that means is, it's not a mandate. The apostles didn't go up to the wealthier people in the church and say, you know, We really are short of funds. It would help if you sold some stuff and brought it in. We'd love that. That'd be great. Could you go ahead and just do that now? It wasn't required. It wasn't expected. It wasn't even necessarily encouraged by the leadership. It was something that people did to help those who are in need. Because that's what they wanted to do. They were moved to do it. For us, it would be like someone selling off a second house or rental property or a summer home and donating it to the deacon fund so that people that are hurting in our church would therefore have the funds to do what they needed to do, to pay rent, to eat, to have a car. Or it would be like selling a second car, something like that, and giving it to the deacon fund. So the question is, if nobody asked them to do this, nobody asked Barnabas to sell his property, why did he do it? Well, I'm going to keep you in suspense for a minute because we're not going to get to the answer to that right away. Instead, what we're going to do is we're going to go through the next section of scripture. And after we've gone through the surface level, we're going to look at it a little bit deeper. And once we go into the deeper reflection on this section, then we'll see the answer to why Barnabas did what he did. Now a man named Ananias, I'm sorry, Acts 5 verses 1 through 6. Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge, he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. Then Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land. Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men, but to God." When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. A great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, carried him out, and buried him." Now wait a minute, Ron. I thought you said you were going to talk about Barnabas. Hold on. I'll get there. I'll get there. I know it doesn't look like it has a lot to do with it, but we'll get there in a minute. What this passage assumes is what we're trying to get at. There's an underlying issue here that we want to get to. Ananias and his wife wanted to be known and loved and respected by the church. They wanted that notoriety, but they wanted to have the money also. So here's what they decided to do. They sold their property, told everybody that they were selling their property, told everybody how much they said they were selling it for, gave the money to the church, but kept some of it without letting anyone know they were keeping it. You see, Joseph sold his stuff, gave it to the church, and then everyone loved him. And he got this cool nickname. And he was respected. I want to be like that. I want a cool nickname too. But at the same time, we really can't afford to give away all the money from the property sale. So here's the deal. We'll sell it. And we'll tell them that we're giving them everything, but we'll just keep a little bit back. Just to help make ends meet. Just to put food on the table. That way we look generous, but we don't beggar ourselves, you know, we'll still be okay. We don't give up everything that we've worked so hard for. I mean, it seems perfectly reasonable, doesn't it? It doesn't seem like they're doing anything completely outrageous. See, there was no problem with Ananias withholding the money. That's not the issue. Withholding the money isn't a problem. The problem was that he was lying to the church. That's the issue. It's not about the money. It's about the ethics. Notice what Peter says to Ananias. Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit? Wasn't the money at your disposal? You have not lied to men, but to God. That's the issue. That's the issue. Consider the significance of this. He lied to God. He had the money. The church didn't require the money. They didn't say, oh, you know what, we have to have that money from you. There was no pressing need for it. Nobody had asked for it. Ananias volunteered the money. It was his choice. But he did so without telling the truth about it. It would have been fine if he only donated some of it, which is what he did. I don't think anyone in the church would have had an issue if he sold his property, gave some of it to the church, kept some of it to meet his own ends, and said that that's what he did. That wouldn't be a problem. The issue is that he lied. It's about the lie, it's not about the money. But how is lying to the church the same as lying to God? Isn't there a little bit of separation between the two? It's not like Ananias prayed and said, Oh, God, here's the money I got from the sale. There you go. Also, something to notice is that Peter did nothing about judging Ananias. All he did was say, you lied to God. Peter didn't strike him down. Peter didn't curse him. Peter didn't do anything like that. Acts 5.5 says, when Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. Peter didn't curse him. Peter didn't call down fire. Peter did not do anything other than point out his sin. God took care of the punishment. So why did God strike him down? Isn't that the question? I mean, he lied. Does he really need to get the death penalty for that? It seems a little bit harsh. The issue here is the relationship between the church and God. Think about the church for a second. How is the church described in the Bible? What are common metaphors for the church in the Bible? Go ahead and yell it out. Family. What? Body. Great. Anything else? House of God. What'd you say? I can't hear you. Bride. Yes, the bride of Christ. Very good. Every metaphor for the church, body, family, kingdom, bride, whatever, they all focus on unity. The unity of the church as it stands before God. The unity of the church as it stands before God. Every single metaphor points to that one thing. Unity of purpose. Unity of community. The issue is that one of the metaphors used for the church isn't a metaphor, it's a reality. A reality to which we should be holding. Matthew 12, 49-50, pointing to his disciples, Jesus said, Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, sister, and mother. Now, I don't know if you remember what happened there, but Jesus was in the midst of teaching, and people thought he was nuts. And so his family showed up, and they said, you know, we're going to have to take you home now, because, you know, you knocked back a few too many, and you're sounding a little bit weird. But Jesus was saying, uh-uh, no, that's not family. That's not family. Well, then what is family? Romans 8, 15 through 17. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of Sonship. And by Him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs. Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings, in order that we might also share in His glory. We are not the natural-born children of God. We are adopted. Brought into the family because He loves us. He brought us in. Jesus moves from being Master and Savior to also being eldest brother. the One who inherits, the One who sets the inheritance for the rest of us, and He graciously, graciously allows us to inherit with Him. Family is more than a metaphor. It's a reality in the church. Family is more than a metaphor. It's a reality in the church. You want to know why Joseph shared and became known as Barnabas? Do you want to know the real reason why he did it? He saw his brothers and sisters in need and his heart broke. And he knew he had the wherewithal, he had the money, he had the property so that he could help out his family. His family. The people he loved the most. The people he was the closest to. That's why Barnabas did what he did. Without anyone asking. Because the church is family. You want to know why God punished Ananias? It's because Ananias lied to Dad. He lied to Dad. See, when Peter was talking to Ananias, he was not telling Ananias, show me the money. Give me all your money. You're in trouble because of the money. He was telling Ananias, you're going to be in trouble. Dad knows what you did, and you're going to be in trouble. See, the thing is about families is they let you down. They screw up. Brothers forget to send birthday cards. Or in my case, I actually sent the card and forgot to put the address on it, so it came back. Yeah. Sisters are late when you need them to be on time. Moms can't be everywhere at once, and they can only do so much. And I've heard this one a lot. I only have two hands. And believe it or not, dads can be wrong. It happens. I've learned that firsthand. The difference comes when it's the family of God. You have a dad that is never wrong, and he's always home. He's never wrong, and he's always home. He's always there when you need him. And the advice he gives is better than anyone else's, because he's never wrong. What an incredible comfort to know that he's always listening. He's always willing to hear what you have to say. Whatever's on your heart, he's ready to talk about. It's never an awkward moment. He's never out of town traveling. He's never in the bathroom reading a book. He's always available for you. He's unique as a father in that way, and unique as God as well. Do you remember when the prophets of Baal were up on top of Mount Carmel with Elijah? And they're getting ready to have that contest between which God will actually burn up the sacrifice. So you've got Elijah on the one hand, hundreds of prophets of Baal on the other, and they're all getting ready. And Elijah's like, you know what? You guys go first. You get first crack at it. The prophets of Baal get ready, they get their sacrifice ready, and they start praying and chanting and singing and cutting themselves and trying to get Baal's attention. And it starts off early in the morning. By late afternoon, Elijah starts mocking them. And this is what he says. First Kings 18 verse 27. You'll have to shout louder for surely he's God. You know, maybe he's deep in thought or he's relieving himself or maybe he's away on a trip or he's asleep Or you just need to wake him up From morning until noon they did everything that they could but Bale never answered there was nobody home So when it comes time for Elijah to sacrifice he waits until it's the normal time of temple sacrifice and He says a simple prayer. And hopefully you know the rest of the story. God sends down fire. The sacrifice is burned. The altar is burned. Everything around it, gone. Because we have the only God who listens. The only God who responds. The only God who doesn't go on vacation. He's always there. So in whom do you put your faith? To what family do you belong? Parents in general want what's best for their children. We love our kids. We want to protect them. We want to help them grow up. We want to help them mature. And sometimes that means letting them make mistakes. But with love comes punishment as well. But the older brother is not allowed to punish, right? It's not up to the older brother. It's up to the parent. That's why Peter declares what Ananias had done as wrong, but he doesn't pronounce the punishment. He never threatens. He never warns. All he does is specifically state the sin and how severe a sin it is. which makes the next section very interesting. Acts 5, verses 17 through 14. About three hours later, his wife, meaning Ananias' wife, came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land? Yes, she said, that is the price. Peter said to her, how could you agree to test the spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door. and they will carry you out also." At that moment, she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people, and all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number." Now, you read this section, and it sounds like Peter pretty quickly said, uh-uh, you're dead. I mean, doesn't it? It seems like Peter passes judgment this time. The truth is, is that before she walked in, Peter didn't know if she was part of the problem or not. I mean, it could be that her husband just sold the stuff that was in his name and then lied about how much he gave. But by her lying, he knew the truth. He knew that she was in on it. And in proclaiming that the men who would now carry her out and bury her, he was just saying that, I saw how God dealt with your husband. I know how he's going to deal with you. It's the same sin, the same exact sin. It's going to have the same exact response. Now, a quick thing to notice for us is that men from the church quickly buried them. Now, that sounds a little bit weird. We're used to waiting a week or two, family flying in, then having the funeral. Sometimes it's a little bit quicker. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer. But back then, the fear of disease and of ritual uncleanliness was such a big deal that the day you died is typically the day that you were buried. Right away, no frills, we have to do this quickly. That's why there were professional mourners. You couldn't wait for family to come into town. You had to do it now. The other thing is, only family is supposed to carry the body out. Who carried the body out? Men from the church. That's significant. It means they still considered Ananias and Sapphira to be family, to be part of the church. Great fear seized everyone who heard this. And that makes sense, right? I'd be a little freaked out too if people started dropping off in the congregation. But is it just that people were afraid? Or is Luke trying to tell us something more? Proverbs 9, verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Proverbs 19, 23. The fear of the Lord leads to life. Then one rests content, untouched by trouble." Luke is trying to let the reader know that the church was touched by God's wisdom and growing in the depth of relationship with God. In addition, since the fear of the Lord leads to life, it means that this warning of these two deaths saved other lives. The fear of the Lord leads to life. Now, the passage states that the apostles continued doing signs. The church continued to meet in the temple courts. People kept coming to faith. But those who did not believe still respected the church. In other words, God's family should be feared and respected. Now, I'm not saying that Cornerstonians are supposed to go out and be bullies, knock people down, anything like that. We're not supposed to call down fire on sinners. What it means is that we're obviously supposed to be touched by God such that other people understand that we're touched by God, that it's obvious to them to whom we belong. We should be known for our integrity. Our reputation should be near spotless. Now, realistically, we screw up. We sin. We mess up all the time. I mean, part of what being a Christian is, is being a sinner. If you never admitted you were a sinner, you never became a Christian in the first place. A real Christian is not someone who is sinless. A real Christian is someone who sins and then asks for forgiveness. A real Christian is someone who messes up and then confesses that they messed up and asks for forgiveness. Imagine how different the story would be if Ananias and Sapphira came up to Peter and said, yeah, we lied. Think of how different the story would turn out if they admitted that they had lied about the price. In the same way, imagine how someone in your life could be affected if you sinned against them and then admitted you sinned against them and asked for their forgiveness. How would that touch you if someone asked for your forgiveness? No, not necessarily a family member, but work, school, something like that. How powerful is it to admit fault and ask for forgiveness? Being a Christian doesn't mean being perfect. It means being forgiven. It means acting as if God is your Father, because He is. You say you want God as your Father. You need to act like His Son. Remember what I said earlier about the Son of Encouragement? If we claim to be children of God, if we claim to be sons of God, then it is God that should characterize us. Right? Son of Encouragement. Son of God. It means we're of God. And it's His character we're called to reflect. As long as you make that claim, you have to back it up. Can you say that about yourself? Are you characterized by God? When you walk past, do people say, now there goes a godly person. Have you committed yourself to being godly? Have you committed yourself to following the only wise God? In whom do you put your faith? To what family do you belong? My name may be Ron Fay, but my family is Cornerstone Community Church. Here are my mother and brothers and sisters. Can you say the same? Do you say the same for yourself? When you have to make that midnight call because your wife fell down the stairs and you've got to stay home with the kids, are you calling someone with the same last name? Do you call people with the same last name or do you call your family? When your car breaks down, whom do you call? When you need a ride, whom do you call? Or conversely, let's get on the other side. If someone asks for a ride, are you willing to say yes? If someone from church calls you at 2am, how do you respond? If someone from church calls and asks for help doing house repairs, or they need a babysitter and they just can't pay right now, or they need a meal, or they just need someone to talk to How do you respond? Your answer to each and every one of these questions should tell you to what family you belong. We're called to be the children of God, to be characterized by godliness, to walk as Jesus did, to claim Cornerstonians as our family. Blood may be thicker than water, but Spirit goes deeper than blood. To what family do you belong? Your mother may have given birth to you, but God has given rebirth to you. To what family do you belong? Your dad may have taught you to be a man, But God taught you to be a Christian man. To what family do you belong? At first glance, the story of Ananias and Sapphira, it seems to be about money. It seems to be all about the money. About how two people conspired to cheat the church of some money. But it's really not, show me the money. Sure, it'd be fun to say that unless you give all your money to Pastor Roger, God's going to strike you dead. Or if you don't pledge a whole bunch of money to the Spread the Word campaign, God's going to have James shoot you. But it's not about the money. It's about the family. Barnabas was motivated to give because of the needs he saw in his family. Needs he knew he could help to eliminate. Needs that he knew needed to be met and that he could be the one that does it. Needs that a family should deal with. Are you ready to put your money where your mouth is? Are you ready to put your money where your heart is? The church is your family. And your family needs you as much as you need your family. Let's pray. Lord God, so often today we feel alone. We feel like nobody understands us. There's nobody to connect with. I have nobody to talk to. But you're always there. You're the Father who's never absent. The Father who's always listening. The Father who's never too busy to give advice, to love, to share. Help us to recognize what it means to be a member of the family of God. to reach out to those within our church, to connect with those within our church, to trust those in our church and to be trustworthy within the church. Lord God, you've called us to do the best that we can for one another. We know we won't be perfect until that final day. Lord God, watch over us until your kingdom comes. In the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we pray. Amen.