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Dalton SDA Church

Chester Clark

Power in the Church

We're grateful that you have still the power you always had.

We're grateful that you still want to use your mighty power to save and to change hearts and lives.

Today as we look at the New Testament Church, the early church, I want to pray that your spirit would guide us and teach us and help us to see how we can experience more of that power to be a blessing to our community, to our neighbors and friends, not just here but for eternity.

We thank you for your presence and your promised spirit.

We're going to start in Acts chapter 4 with verse 32.

This is an amazing snapshot of the early Christian Church.

It says, Now the full number of those who believed were of 1 heart and soul, and no 1 said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.

And with great power, there's that word, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all." I like those words, don't you?

"'There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold, and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Thus Joseph, who is 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.

First of all we notice that the giving of the early Christian Church was sacrificial wasn't it?

Now I think it's very clear here these people were not leaving their homes and living in tents or living in some sort of a communal Dormitory or something like that.

That's not what's being talked about It's talking about excess houses and extra properties and People had a burden to bless the others around them that had need and they were willing to give of their own possessions very sacrificially.

We also notice that this wasn't the fact that the New Testament church was a commune where nobody owned personal property, right?

In fact, we'll see this more clearly in the story of Ananias and Sapphira.

The Holy Spirit clearly said, the apostles said to them, wasn't this yours?

Couldn't you make a decision as to what you would do with it?

This was not something where they were living in a commune, but this was something they had at heart, the well-being of their brothers and sisters.

They were willing to sacrifice and to give sacrificially.

We notice here that the stewardship that is being talked about here is a voluntary stewardship.

This was something that people willfully, willingly chose.

The Lord loves a cheerful giver, not a coerced giver, right?

This isn't something that the church was twisting their arms or the Apostles were saying, you know, we could get your prayers answered if you just give more money.

These were people that just had their hearts touched by the grace of God.

They wanted others to enjoy the benefits that they were experiencing, and they were willing to give of their own.

We notice that, and we'll notice it even more clearly as we go briefly through the story of Ananias and Sapphira.

We also notice in this story perhaps 1 of the most significant lessons we can learn is that integrity matters.

Integrity matters And 1 of the reasons the early church had power was because integrity matters and there was integrity in the early Christian church.

Now the story here in chapter 4 tells us about Barnabas who took this land and sold it and brought the proceeds to the apostles.

Now, it's not very clear, but sort of from the context we would deduce that Ananias and Sapphira sort of saw what happened.

Maybe they saw the gratitude of the apostles.

Maybe they saw the people that were being blessed by this money.

Maybe they thought that they wanted to look good before the rest of the church.

I don't know exactly because the Bible isn't very clear but this is the immediate context of the story of Ananias and Sapphira.

You understand Barnabas takes his field, sells it and gives the money to the church.

So Ananias and Sapphira, they have extra property, they sell it, and they bring their money to the church, and the implication is that they are Trying to give the impression that they are giving all of it to the church because Maybe because they wanted to appear sacrificial as well But they weren't actually being sacrificial you know, it's sort of like the the rich people that came to the temple and gave their money.

Now I don't know if the Bible really makes this very clear, but in My Bible Friends it does.

So the rich people made, and They made their money make a lot of noise when they put it in the offering plate, right?

Bang clink, maybe they brought a whole bunch of change You know just as much noise as possible so that people would turn and say wow who's giving so much money right Jesus contrasted that giving which was for show, he said they have their reward, he contrasted that giving with the poor widow who gave 2 mites And she didn't want to be seen.

She came and tried to slip unnoticed when nobody was watching, just to discreetly drop her 2 mites into the offering basket because it wasn't very much.

But Jesus said she gave more than all of those because she gave everything she had.

She gave what she couldn't afford to give while they gave of their excess.

And so Ananias and Sapphira, they're seeking to get the praise of men instead of the honor of God through their stewardship.

And we as we as we look at this story we can learn the lesson that stewardship is voluntary, integrity matters, and God loves a cheerful giver.

We shouldn't be giving to impress others So the lessons we can learn From this story so far.

The first 1 is the church has power when its members are living lives without the word should be pretense or deception.

I mean the church God wants we come to church right without pretense or deception.

You see, the church has power when what you say is who you are.

The church has power when there's not a profession without a life that backs it up.

The church has power when the power of God is working in our hearts, in my heart, in your heart, because that's the only way the church has power is when I have power and you have power.

The net power of the church is the sum power of the individual power of God in each of our lives.

And if we're living lives of pretense and deception, we are working on our own power with our own energies, with our own abilities to do whatever we're doing for whatever motivation But we need God's power in us if we're going to be Living lives where our profession and our lives harmonize That's a miracle by the way It's a miracle that You know, some people say well, you know, I'm not sure if I want to be in the church because there's hypocrites in the church.

Well, there may be hypocrites in the church, But at least they're in church, right?

And church is where we are able to experience God's power and to grow in God's power.

I would be, I would be, I would be self-incriminating if I claimed that every aspect of my life matched what I say I believe.

Job said, if I claim perfection, I prove myself perverse.

But the reality is that I want that I May not be the man that God wants me to be but I'm not the man that I used to be and God is in the business of using his power to change our lives To be more like him That's what he's here for.

That's what we're here for the church has power when its members are living lives without pretense Or deception.

So let's look here at the story of Ananias and Sapphira.

Thank you Kathy for that children's story real quickly We'll breeze through it 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 Satan 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 it did not remain in your own You would 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 it the young men arose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him now I don't I'm not going to pretend to be able to explain everything about the Bible There are certain things that it's hard for us to understand I will tell you this the same God of the Old Testament is the same God in the New Testament, right?

Some people see a dichotomy between the 2.

Here you have what seems like a very barbaric punishment for something that's very simple.

We don't understand them all because he's God and we're human, right?

But there are reasons why God chooses to give examples such as this, such as Uzzah, you know, studying the Ark or Ananias and Sapphira.

There are also reasons why they're recorded in Scripture.

You see, God wants us to know while not everyone who lies to the Holy Spirit is struck dead, maybe there should be an amen there somewhere, while not everyone who lies to the Holy Spirit is struck dead, today We can clearly look at the scriptures and we can see from the story of Ananias and Sapphira that lying to the Holy Spirit has fatal consequences.

See, God includes some of these stories, this is my belief, God includes some of these stories that we have a hard time rationalizing with a character of love and grace and mercy and all these things, because he wants people to know how serious sin is.

There's going to be no excuse for anybody who comes down to the judgment who had the opportunity to read the Bible who has?

Done what these people did and said well, I didn't think I could I thought it was okay No, you didn't think it was okay.

God is trying to help us understand there's a high cost to low living.

And I don't know why exactly, God knew, God knows their hearts, God knew their future, God knew if they lived what they would decide.

Perhaps Their character, although they were part of the church, was already so set in their ways that they weren't going to be honest and transparent and repentant.

I don't know what God knew, but this I know.

And God is trying to help us understand the seriousness, I believe, the seriousness of sin.

So a few hours later, an interval about 3 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 he 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 and found her dead 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.

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Power in the Church

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