Carry out for Two

Please be seated. How many of you watch the

Oscars? None.

Well, this may, this may not land land at all.

Do you guys know who Matthew McConaughey is?

All right, all right, all right. But did you know that he was

known as the ROM com guy? Like romantic comedies were his

thing. And he was like, you know what?

I don't want to do those anymore.

I kind of want to do some more serious things.

And he put that out there in Hollywood and Hollywood said,

you're the ROM com guy. That's what you're going to do.

And so he waited like 18 months, and then some of those other

roles that he won awards for started to come in this morning.

Not saying that I'm Matthew McConaughey, but I might be from

this perspective. This morning's text is not fun.

This morning's text is probably going to offend you.

Let's just get that out there. And this morning, you probably

aren't going to leave here feeling pretty good about

yourself. But I find that when I come up

against God's holiness, I normally don't feel good about

myself. So before we jump in, let's

appropriately posture our hearts and pray.

Lord, we thank you for this morning.

We thank you for your word, the amazing things that it teaches

us both that uplift us and confront us.

And I just asked that we would be open to your confronting this

morning and all God's people said, well, you've been tricked.

I am the ROM com guy. Ha, ha.

No, actually you've been duped. No, you've been misled.

You've actually been horn swaggled.

It's such a crime, what has happened?

And to think, the nerve, the audacity, the slickness, the

corruption, let's just call it what it is.

It's sin. No good, Downright terrible,

Very bad, odious, skinless sin. That is what imposters do.

That is what thieves do. That is what the wretched do.

That's what they do. This is what we do.

This is what we have done. This is what we do all of the

time. We lie.

We lie when there doesn't even need to be a reason to lie.

And we lie about lying. Big lies, small lies, teeny

weeny little white lies. We lie to ourselves, and we are

the best at it. We know that lying externally is

bad, but yet when we lied to ourselves, we see it welling up,

but we do not stop it. We can see the effects from

miles away and yet we let it happen.

We can see the way that it will desecrate the landscape and we

still stand by thinking that it will just blow over.

Think about some of the biggest lies you have ever heard, not

just political themed lies like read my lips.

No new taxes. How many of those did you

actually believe at first? Or maybe still, and this is what

we are up against this morning, we are going to take a big look

in the mirror. And my hope is that we don't lie

about what we see because there's only one ending when it

comes to lies. It's the truth either in this

life or the next. And they say denial isn't just a

river. But first we are going to look

at some others lies and maybe, just maybe, we might learn

something about ourselves, Something we might not like,

something we may know that will need to be changed, something

that we end up understanding that only God can do.

It's going to take more than a tide, a tide pen to clean this

up. The lies, the deceit, the greed,

the envy, the pride, the malice, the guilt, the shame.

It will need surgically removed. How you feel about that?

We feel good about ourselves right now.

I do not. When I was in the seminary, I

read a whole bunch of books that really changed how I thought

about a lot of things. But in particular, there was

there was this independent study that Lee and I did about

international aid and the ethics of aid.

Right. So a few of these books were

Toxic Charity, When Helping Hurts and A Bed for the Night.

Needless to say, we had an interesting experience and some

of the things that I had just kind of taken for granted.

Like you figure, a charity's a charity.

They do good things, right? Not all the time.

And they say never to meet your heroes.

And it's like if you do deep dives on certain charities and

certain organizations, or when scandals happen, some

organizations you might hold near and dear, you might

reconsider if you support them. The math doesn't always math.

And it had set my teeth on edge because now I was skeptical of

everybody, right? I was skeptical of everyone.

And, and I, I got some of that first hand because Leah used to

work in a place called Samaritan's Purse.

Samaritan's Purse is one of the foremost aid organizations in

the world. And not only did she work there,

she went to the places they went.

She wrote the stories, you read them.

You didn't know you were reading her work.

She went to Cameroon, she went to Uganda, she went to all over

the world, and she saw on the ground what was going on.

We'll get back to them. In 2013, the Kids Wish Network

was famously named the worst charity in America.

The Tampa Bay Times and the Center for Investigative

Reporting gave them this and that.

Why? Why, why, might you ask?

And over the course of a decade, this charity raised millions and

millions and millions of dollars, but spent less than

three cents per dollar on actually helping needy kids.

They estimate that over $100 million was paid out to for

profit solicitors who had helped raise the money in the 1st place

and also the founders funneled money into their own private

companies. That's called a kickback.

This is 1 of dozens of stories about places they that say they

are going to do one thing with money and that they raise and

then they go and do another. It's stories like that, though,

that arose such charity watchdogs like Charity

Navigator, GuideStar and Charity Watch, and it kind of put

charities on notice that you should probably be a little bit

more transparent about where your money is actually being

put. And so you may now go on a

website someplace like World Vision.

And at the very bottom it says 93% of our stuff goes to

whatever, right? That's that's kind of the

transparency that's necessary now.

And let's go back to Samaritan's Purse.

Leah worked for them like I had said, and they did international

and domestic relief and they also did Operation Christmas

Child. They generally hit somewhere

between 75% and 86% of their total expenses that go to

program and aid. Now, I'm sure that the Kids Wish

network is not nearly the behemoth that Samaritan's Purse

is, but in order in order for somebody to hit 100%, you got to

do some creative math. But they got an A minus.

When did you ever get an A minus for a 76% in in school?

I did not. I did not.

But there are places that actually claim that they hit

100%. Charity water is one of them.

But here's the reality. They structure things in such a

way that allow them to be able to say that they hit 100%.

And here's how it works. Yes, all of the money that you

would give would make it there because they have a separate

pool of private donors who then fund all of the administrative

costs. So are they telling the truth?

Yes, Oprah does the same thing, but guess what?

She pays it herself. So why does any of that matter?

I think at our core, we really want to believe that people are

going to do the right thing that that we would do the right thing

if we were in their shoes. And I'm sure that at some point

you've had the conversation in your house about what you would

do if you won the lottery. We've had that conversation

several times and it all sounds pretty altruistic in theory, pay

off mom's house, do this, do that.

Had this long laundry list of all the ways that would give

money away. But that's the the one in a

million chance of that's going to happen makes that

conversation kind of mute. What about what do we do with a

windfall of 500 bucks? What do we do about somebody

gives us a gift card That's way more applicable.

It's way more applicable. And the thing that makes me kind

of chuckle about the Oscars or about social media in general,

is that Uber rich people usually have the best advice about how

not Uber rich people should support other people when some

of those Uber rich people could wipe out in a snap of their

fingers medical debt for 100,000 people.

And the Oscar goes to Ananias and Sapphira carry out for two.

It's a cautionary tale about giving 100% and what happened

when people held back. I told myself I wasn't going to

cry. And at the end of Acts 4, we

pick it up. Now here's the funny part.

This text actually includes everything that Jerry read.

This story is not stand alone. It is necessary to have heard

what you already heard because what happens is there's being

set up what's called a contrast. All of the believers, we're

doing these things, but this happens all the time.

But a man named Ananias and 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. It's important for us to know

two things before we go any further.

We don't know the situation 100%.

We weren't there and there could have been.

A lot of the scholars were very broken up about what their

motivations might be. And if this were a modern day

tale, I'm sure there would be concerns about tax write offs

and this that and the other thing.

But the core of it we don't actually catch unless we know

Greek, because when you read this in English, it doesn't

really seem like there's too much wrong other than he didn't

keep his. I mean, he kept his wife in the

loop. But I mean, if you don't keep

your wife in the loop, then you could have major problems.

But this phrase kept back. Is what the whole thing hinges

on. The Greek word nosfismi means to

miss appropriate it means. To pilfer it means to steal it

means not just kept back. Now my 4th grade teacher Missus

Yaros would say now that's the horse of a different color

because when you understand that they sold a property and with

his wife's knowledge, which means they had a meeting about

it, he kept back. He knows fisimide some of the

proceeds when a guy named Barnabas, he gave everything and

all everybody else was selling and giving and whatever.

And you have this guy and this gal who go, we're going to skim

a little off the top. Nobody will know.

And the interesting thing about Nosfismi is only used two other

times, and they are very, very important to other times.

The other time is found in Joshua 7.

Now, scholars have said that this story in Joshua 7, which is

essentially Aiken and his theft, are kind of corollaries or

things that are connected in terms of themes to what's

happening here, right? So you have Joshua 7, Aiken, God

says don't take any of the stuff.

Aiken goes, I'm going to take some stuff and I'm going to bury

it in my tent and nobody's going to know the difference until he

gets confronted and he has to confess.

But if you really want to dig into that, and I, I most

certainly say that you should Joshua 710 through 26.

And the other time is in Titus 210 when the specific reference

is about stealing. Now you might be asking

yourselves like, hey, if it's their property and they sold it,

how could they be stealing from themselves?

If they decided to do XYZ with it, then that's their

prerogative. Here's the difference.

It's one thing that if they had said, hey, we did this and

perhaps we'll give some to the church, that'd be one thing.

But they decided, premeditated to do what they did, to

deliberately try to set it up in such a way that it would make

them look like they gave everything.

In reality, they did not. Either way, it's trending bad

and there's going to be some smoke really soon.

In verses 5 three through 4, we see that God gives Peter a heads

up about what is coming and so they bring the proceeds to the

apostles. Ananias or Ananias does not

Sapphira and instead of getting like this big high 5 or this

picture with the check moment. He gets called out.

Peter knows what's been happening privately, and he's

about to make it known publicly. Here's what happens.

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?

Did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it

not at your disposal? So we're he's not, it's not

about the sale of the land. Why is it that you have

contrived this deed in your heart?

You have not lied to man, but to God.

Do you smell the smoke? He literally calls this out as a

work of Satan. Let that sink in.

Private sin usually means private consequence.

Public sin usually means public consequence.

But this was private sin that ended up having public

consequences. Could you imagine if that kind

of thing happened today? I mean, the offerings after the

sermon. Could you imagine if you put

something into the offering plate and then the then the

usher comes over and goes, what about that crumpled couple ones?

Could you imagine that happening?

I am mortified by that, by the way, and I bet you that you

would be horrified and offended if somebody did that to you or

me. Even still, one of the things we

are really worried about when that plate goes by is what other

people think. We're We're on the real train

this morning, my friends. What will people think if it

passes me by and I do not put something in?

What if I throw in a wad of cash?

Quick, let's crumple up some ones and make it look like

there's more. Well, they don't understand that

I give online, but I still feel the need to put something in the

plate so it looks like I'm doing something.

And perhaps if I look like I'm praying, the plate will pass me

by and I will avoid the embarrassment of not having

anything to put in it. If we are honest, these thoughts

go through our heads. This is supposed to be an act of

worship, something that could only really be between you and

the Lord. Yet it usually ends up with us

being worried about what other people think.

We all get funny about money and like I said, there's an offering

after the sermons. So, but this is not a

stewardship text, although a lot of people use it for those

purposes. When I was doing some research,

there were a lot of stewardship sermons based on this text and I

went, you missed the boat. This text ultimately has one

thread and that is being honest with God.

It's the same thing that Adam and Eve dealt with.

It's the same thing that David dealt with.

It's the same thing that we deal with.

I actually consider this like a it's kind of like chivalry, kind

of like a warning. When Ananias heard these words,

he fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came upon

all who heard of it. The young man rose up and

wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him dead.

He keeled over dead. Why did Peter strike him down?

Did God send a lightning bolt? What caused it Doesn't say.

Perhaps it was the shock of being found out, perhaps the

sheer guilt and shame of the ACT caught up to him, and in that

moment it was so much that he just literally dropped.

Whatever caused it caused a ripple effect.

That is actually what I think is most compelling because great

fear gripped the people and it spread.

But you know who it didn't get to?

After an interval, about 3 hours, his wife came in, not in

the loop, not knowing what had happened.

And Peter said to her, tell me whether you sold a 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? This is one of the coldest

sentences in the entire Bible. Are you ready?

Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at

the door, and they will carry you out.

She has no clue what happened. The body's been removed.

So instead of starting with, hey, here's what happened, you

know your husband died. Peter just keeps up with the

confrontation and asks her to corroborate the story.

She does and it's as if Peter just assumes that the same thing

is going to happen and he announces, behold, the feet of

those who have buried your husband are at the door and they

will carry you out. She didn't get a refund.

There was no here. Take your money.

It's no good to us. We don't know if they kept the

money or not. And 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 these things.

And if we are listening this morning, we might be a little

bit scared ourselves, but I think things are a little bit

different now because it just doesn't seem like we have that

same kind of fear anymore. The kind of fear that leads to

repentance. We just kind of operate with the

kind of fear that helps us stop. And then soon enough, we're

right back on the path that we were on before, Enough to

reflect, but maybe not enough to repent.

And sometimes we take our sin pretty lightly, that we sin and

just count on the fact that we have been forgiven and that we

will be forgiven as a license to just keep doing it.

I wonder if we do not have fear of God's judgement anymore.

I know we've grown incredibly comfortable with the way that

life is, where we can be on fire when we want to be, and we can

opt out just the same. How accountable are we these

days? This shows up in our behaviors.

We might attend and engage in church like it's just an

activity, rather than seeing this body as essential to our

survival. Who is getting on your case when

you're not here? Who misses you?

Who are you looking after? Who do you miss?

This might be Captain Obvious, but the word community.

There's 2 words. There's come and there's unity.

The come part is presence, you're not present if you don't

come, and the unity part is where influence is found.

You need to come into unity so that you may be influenced to go

then become an influence. And they say, people who do

these statistics, that you need to be someplace 3 out of four

times in a given month to feel connected.

And we wonder why in America, where the average community is

one out of four, that people are lonely, that people feel

disconnected, that people feel far from God, that people feel

all of these different things when part of it simply has to do

with presence. We might give like it's just

another obligation, like a monthly bill instead of a

radical act of obedience or a movement of the Spirit into

generosity. There's no one who comes and

sits down at my kitchen table when I'm doing my bills to make

sure that I give. Who would you let into your life

to do that? And we might live like we can be

the kind of people that we want others to see and elsewhere go

be who we really are. And this is actually the scary

part of the story. And this is the part that

gripped me. Not that they did what they did,

not that they lied or even died. But I wonder what if they had

had someone in their life that could have advised them, who

could have known them, perhaps could have talked them out of

what they were planning on doing, or perhaps even redeemed

it? Did anyone have presence with

them? And if not, I am not surprised

at the outcome. Do you have anyone in your life

that has the presence to influence you, that knows you

well enough to be able to reach into the dark and ugly parts of

your life and have the presence to pull out the weeds?

That they can see you careening towards a Cliff, jump in, grab

the wheel, pull the brake and stop the car?

The people to your left and to your right, Could they do it?

Would you invite them in? Would they invite you in?

Whether we know it or not, we are influenced all the time.

And if this isn't a phrase that you already know, it is a phrase

you are going to hear from now until forever.

That we are discipled by an algorithm.

Now, what does that mean with the amount of time that we spend

absorbing media through our phones, TV, social, whatever,

all of it is shaping you. We no longer live in an era of

social media that died three years ago.

That's three. It's now called interest media,

which means it's created specifically for the things that

you care about. So if you watch something for X

amount of seconds, the algorithm goes show them more of that.

That'll keep them here. Scroll, scroll, scroll.

No longer social. Do you?

Do you get pictures of your friends, kids, birthday parties

anymore? Not really.

You get advertisements, you get businesses doing sponsored ads,

you get all these kinds of different things.

It's no longer social media. It's called interest media.

And whether we know it or not, we allow ourselves to be

discipled by it because that's who we spend time with.

If our presence is with a screen 7 hours a day, that's what they

say. That's well over 40 hours a

week. That's a work week that there's

influence on you. How can one hour a week compete

with 40? When we disciple kids, one of

the reasons why we're so passionate that you were

ultimately their disciplers and that we're coming alongside you

is because we understand that we get one hour, maybe a week to

help. And in the course of a year you

have 3000. And so the best thing that we

can do is come alongside you as best we can.

How can one hour a week compete? Yesterday at the Faith in Life

conference, it was fantastic. They talked about presence and

influence, and it was such a thing that I had already had my

sermon finished yesterday and I'm sitting there listening and

I go, that's exactly where I'm going.

And so I sat there in the kitchen basically writing as

fast as I can to keep up with what John and Kathy are talking

about, so that in case you missed it, you still might hear

what a good word it was. And we got to Q&A time and we

asked them questions. And one of the questions or one

of the answers that Kathy gave, well, she said, be careful who

you listen to. And John said, put your phone

down. Let's be clear, it's not just

the phone, right? Some of you might say, well, I

don't even do the phone. Do you watch TV?

Do you listen to the radio? And any physical media also

counts. The algorithm's just a lot

slower in the newspaper. But when you think about it,

influence is what discipleship actually is.

You come under. Or you follow someone to then be

influenced by either watching their life or walking alongside

them in their life about how to better live yours.

So we are all following someone or something and yet at the same

time we are all leading someone. At the very least you lead

yourself. It's one thing that they lied.

It's another thing that maybe they didn't have a structure in

place in the early church to help curb that it happened.

The Bible shares both incredibly gracious moments and incredibly

tragic moments. But these guys, when you really

look at what happened, they were chasing influence.

If they had had some influence in their life, someone present

in their life, perhaps they would have made a different

choice. They were clearly looking or

seeking to gain some sort of influence with a gift that they

made and how they made it. The consequences of their

actions had incredible influence on the rest of the church and

all those who heard it. And we have, having heard this,

now are included in those crowd of witnesses.

And I will, I pray that we will respond well because

discipleship is influence. And in order to be influence,

you have to be a present. And in order to be a present, we

need God's help. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank You that You are the ultimate example of

influence, that you came, You lived a perfect, sinless life.

You took our sin upon the cross, You vanquished it, and then you

victoriously rose again. If that's not a picture of

influence, I don't know what is. As we approach Easter and we

look at this week more closely, as we look at all of it.

Help us to remember that you paid it all, and all to you we

owe Sin had left a Crimson stain, and you washed it white

as snow. Amen.