When God is at Work in His Church

Morning, church. Our scripture this morning comes from Acts chapter 4, 32 to chapter 5, verse 11.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

! Please follow along in your bulletins, your Bibles, or the screen behind me.

Starting in verse 32, we read,

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul,

and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own,

but they had everything in common.

And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,

and great grace was upon them all.

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 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.

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, 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.

This is the word of God.

Okay, great.

Thank you, Jaya.

Good morning, everybody.

It's great to be with you again.

If you are new to Watermark, my name is Kevin,

and it's great to have you with us this morning.

I want to start off by asking a question.

What is very precious to you?

What is very precious to you?

What do you love to take care of?

When I was a young schoolboy,

the thing that was most important to me in life was the game of cricket.

I don't know if you know the game of cricket.

Cricket is a sport that,

I guess, various countries play.

And talking about cricket,

if you are Australian,

I'm sorry that you lost the cricket to South Africa at 10 o'clock last night.

But there's a prayer team that will pray for your healing after the service.

But I loved the game of cricket.

I loved following cricket.

I loved watching cricket.

I loved practicing cricket.

I loved reading all the statistics of my favorite players and reading their biographies.

But more than anything, I loved playing cricket.

And one of the things I loved to do was to make sure all my cricket equipment was well-packed.

Everything had its place.

Everything was neatly polished and cleaned and in its place.

I loved taking care of my things.

And so one of the things I loved to do as a boy was before cricket season each year,

I would cycle on my bicycle two kilometers down the road to the nearest hardware store.

And I had to buy two things,

some rolls of sandpaper and some special oil that you use to clean a cricket bat.

Then I would cycle home and I would spend the next few days sanding down my cricket bat.

Sanding all the bumps and the color and the red marks from the cricket ball out from the previous season.

And all the chips and the dents.

And I would get it as smooth as possible.

And then I would paint it with linseed oil and leave it to dry for a couple of days.

And then a few days later I'd go through the whole process again.

Until that cricket bat was as smooth as whatever you can imagine.

A baby's bottom, let's just say.

And it smelled like fresh oil.

I loved taking care of my cricket bat.

Why?

Because at that age, that was probably my most precious possession.

We love to take care of things that are precious to us.

Now I wonder what is precious to you?

What do you love taking care of?

Maybe you've just got a new car, right?

And suddenly there are all sorts of new rules around the home.

No eating in the car.

And you are fastidious about making sure it's clean, not only on the outside, but on the inside.

Maybe you've been saving up for a new guitar.

And you've just bought that Taylor guitar that you've been saving up for for months or years.

And what do you do?

You buy a cover.

You buy dehumidifiers.

You buy all sorts of other things.

And you're retuning it way too often.

You're polishing it.

You've got a special cloth just to clean your guitar.

And warning to anybody that touches your dear guitar.

Or maybe somebody passes you a family heirloom.

A diamond ring.

And you go out and you buy a special safe and a special box.

And special cleaning material.

And you make sure nobody is allowed to touch your family heirloom.

Friends, what is precious to you?

What do you love taking care of?

What would your family and friends say that is precious to you based on what you spend time and effort and energy looking after?

What do you love to take care of?

Well, we're working through the book of Acts.

And in the book of Acts, we see how the gospel goes out and forms this community of people.

This gospel-shaped community, which is called the church.

And the church is a gathering of followers of Jesus, those that have encountered His grace, and now come together.

And in this passage, we see that the church, the community of believers, is very precious to Jesus.

Jesus loves to take care and to work on and to look after His church.

And we're going to see in our passage today that He does that in two ways.

He does it through the work of cultivating generous love and through the work of confronting counterfeit faith.

To Jesus Christ, the church is so precious to Him that He doesn't just leave it to its own devices.

He works on it.

He works in it.

He takes great care of it.

And He wants it to be the beautiful church that He's designed it to be.

So, let's dive in and look at this passage.

If you've got a Bible, look at it with me, or you've got a bulletin, follow along.

We're going to be looking at this passage together.

Let's look at the first section.

Jesus works in His church by cultivating generous love.

And we're going to look at verses 32 to 37 here.

Now, this passage is very similar to one that we looked at just a few weeks ago, at the end of chapter 2.

And in that passage, you'll remember Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost.

About 3,000 people come to faith.

And then there's this amazing passage that Luke describes the believers come together that are very devoted to the things of God.

There's kind of a vertical component.

There's that famous verse in chapter 2 that says,

They were devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to breaking of bread, and to the prayers.

And they're also devoted to each other.

But there's quite a vertical component.

Well, in this passage that Jaya read to us, we see something very similar.

But here Luke's emphasis is on the horizontal component.

As the gospel goes out, as people are changed, what happens?

It forms a community.

A community of people that, yes, they love God, but they also love one another.

Yes, they want to serve God, but they also are serving one another.

Here is a group of people who are coming together, not just for what they can get or take or receive,

but how they can love and serve each other.

Look at what it says.

Verse 32.

It says,

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and one soul.

And no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own.

But they shared and had everything in common.

You may remember there's a verse in Matthew's gospel, chapter 10,

where Jesus sends his disciples out, and he says,

Freely you have received, now freely give.

And that's what we see here.

Here are a group of people that, having received so much from Christ, so much in the gospel,

received mercy and grace and love and redemption, having freely received, are now willing to freely give.

And so, look at verse 34.

It says,

God is at work in this community.

God doesn't just gather them and say,

Okay, get on to yourself.

He's at work.

He's fashioning them.

He's shaping them.

You know, one of the things that's amazing about the book of Acts is the many miracles.

Luke calls them signs and wonders.

We saw that two weeks ago when Alan was preaching.

Peter and John are on the way to the temple.

There's a beggar.

He can't walk.

And they, in the name of Jesus, get up and walk.

And he's made well.

The book of Acts is full of these amazing miracles.

And what is a miracle?

A miracle is when God intervenes and transcends the ordinary laws of nature.

A blind man gets sight.

A cripple is able to walk.

It's God intervening over and above the regular laws of nature.

Friends, here what Luke wants to show us is that the miraculous nature of the church was not just the blind getting sight,

the cripple walking,

but actually the hearts of those that have been touched by the gospel.

Look at the miracles here.

Not a needy person amongst them.

People selling houses and lands and giving money as distributed to anyone as they had need.

And just so we know that these are real stories involving real people,

Luke tells us about one man in particular.

He says, verse 36,

Thus Joseph, who is also called Barnabas,

a Levite, a native of Cyprus,

sold the field that belonged to him,

brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

This wasn't just general kind of kindness.

This was particularly real people

selling their possessions and sharing with anyone as they had need.

Now, how does this come about?

One of the things Luke wants to tell us is that this is God's doing.

Look at verse 33 with me.

Luke says,

And with great power,

the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,

and great grace was upon them all.

You know, some commentators think verse 33 doesn't really fit in,

because verse 32 talks about this radical generosity.

Verse 34 onwards talks about radical generosity.

And verse 33 is kind of,

it doesn't really fit.

But actually what Luke is wanting to say here is,

where does this generosity come from?

This wasn't a political manifesto.

This wasn't a social experiment.

This wasn't an economic model.

How can we redistribute wealth?

This is a work of great power and great grace.

When the Holy Spirit comes upon His people,

He changes them from the inside,

so that they cannot help but love and serve those around them.

This is God getting a hold of His people,

so that God's community starts to look like what?

Like God Himself.

Who is God?

God is the one who, though He was rich,

became poor for our sakes,

so that we might become rich in Him.

He is the one who so loved the world,

that He gave His Son,

so that we might not perish.

God, out of the abundance of His riches,

gives and gives and gives,

grace upon grace,

mercy upon mercy,

love upon love.

And in the Gospels,

we see this in individual ways.

We see people like Zacchaeus, right?

Remember Zacchaeus?

He's a bit of a thief.

He's a tax collector.

He's sided with the Romans against his own people.

But he encounters the mercy of God,

and what does he say?

Lord, after half of my possessions,

I will give away.

And if I've cheated anybody,

four times what I've taken from them,

I will repay them.

Or think of Mary.

She encounters this,

the amazing mercy of Jesus.

And what does she do?

She takes her precious bottle of perfume,

worth a year's wages,

breaks it and pours out of Jesus.

In the Gospels,

we see these individual accounts

of the mercy of God,

changing people to radical generosity.

But here it is,

we see not just individuals,

but an entire community

that has formed around the Gospel.

I read a story recently

of a lady called Elisha.

And she tells the story

where she says,

I got dressed to get fired one day.

Why was she dressed to get fired?

Well, she had recently joined this company.

Okay, don't worry about the slide.

She had joined this company six months before.

She had been 15 months without work,

doing temp work,

and just trying to make ends meet.

Finally landed a job,

but six months into the job,

the company was going through layoffs,

and was laying off numerous staff.

And so she says,

I got dressed to get fired that day.

And that day when I was at work,

as the office descended into chaos of tears

and people packing up their boxes,

I waited at my desk for HR to call me

for my notification letter.

But it never came.

She says,

the most beloved and hardworking member

of her team was let go,

but she was spared.

Everybody in her team was stunned.

Why was she spared?

This is to what she writes.

As I walked home that day,

relief and gratitude overcame me.

As I passed my neighborhood grocery store,

a woman sat outside asking for money,

and I couldn't help but give to her.

Never have I given as radically

and as generously to any stranger

as I did that day.

Why?

I was under the influence of mercy.

What a great line.

She says,

I couldn't help but I've never given

so radically,

so generously to a stranger.

Why?

I was under the influence of mercy.

Friends,

that's what we see in Acts here.

A community

that is formed around the gospel,

that's under the influence of mercy,

that cannot help but be radically generous

because of what they've received.

And over the last few weeks

as we've been reading Acts,

we've seen how God is at work

through the church.

Right?

The apostles are standing up.

They're preaching.

Hundreds of people getting saved.

God is at work through his church.

But what Luke wants us to see here

is God was not only at work through the church,

but in the church.

It wasn't only outsiders,

those out there that needed the grace

and the gospel.

God was cultivating a culture of grace

and generosity in the church

until it started to look like him.

Now, what does this mean for us?

Well, here's one simple implication

I can think of.

What is the grace and generosity barometer

of your heart looking like?

Okay, do you know what a barometer is?

A barometer is an instrument

that measures the pressure

in the atmosphere

and tells you what the weather

is going to be like.

Okay, this is before the days of iPhones.

Okay?

So long, long ago,

when I was a kid

and we didn't have smartphones,

we used things called barometers.

Okay?

And I'm just joking.

I didn't have a barometer growing up.

But it measures the atmospheric pressure

which is something you can't see

and then it tells you

what's going to happen with the weather.

Now, generosity and grace

is like a barometer

that tells us

what is the atmospheric pressure

of our hearts.

How deeply has the gospel

got a hold of us

and gripped our hearts?

Here we see a community

that is transformed by the gospel

and what does it do?

It makes them radically generous

and gracious to one another.

It makes them giving.

It makes them no longer consumers

but servers.

Friends, if God's generosity

and grace to us as individuals

produces a community of grace

and generosity to one another,

one way to measure that

is to ask ourselves

how gracious,

how generous are we

to those around us?

How gracious are we

to those in our families?

How sacrificial are we

with our possessions?

How inclusive are we

to those that are different from us

and maybe even challenge us?

How generous are we

to those who we feel

don't deserve it?

Because the gospel

that brings us into oneness

with God himself

will also bring us

into one heart

and one spirit

with those around us.

So friends,

are we living

under the influence of mercy?

What is the barometer of grace

saying about our lives?

Jesus is at work

in his church

cultivating generous love.

But here we see

in chapter 5

another story

and it's the picture

of Jesus at work

in his church

confronting counterfeit faith.

Now,

if you're new to church

this morning,

maybe you've never read

Acts chapter 5

Acts 5 · chapter mention

and it's quite a scary story,

right?

It looks like God

takes out one of his own.

You may be surprised

to find that it's in the Bible.

Here we have a wealthy couple

and nice and Sapphira

and they sell a piece of land,

an excess piece of land

and they bring

a portion of the proceeds

to the apostles

and they lay it at their feet

and say,

here,

take this money

and distribute it

to the poor

as you see fit.

And what do they get

in return

for their generosity?

An early funeral service,

right?

They both

fall down dead.

What on earth

is going on here?

I was going to comment

about our building fund.

Thankfully,

that didn't happen here.

We are all still alive

and well

as far as I know.

But let's look

at what's happening here.

And nice comes

to the apostles

and he hands over

this pile of money.

Look at what Peter says,

verse 3.

And nice,

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?

Just by the way,

throughout the book of Acts,

God is constantly

telling us

that these people

are filled with the Spirit.

Filled with the Spirit.

Filled with the Spirit.

Which is what we want to be,

right?

Filled with the Spirit.

Here,

Peter tells Ananias

he's filled with Satan.

Not the kind of church

we want to be.

Verse 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've 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 lot

and the young men came

and carried him out

and buried him.

And of course,

his wife Sapphira,

three hours later,

comes in

and the same thing happens.

Now,

what's going on here?

Well,

this account tells us

at least two things

about the early church

and the Christian faith.

The first thing

it tells us is this,

that gospel generosity

and sacrificial love

were so important,

so highly valued

to the early church

that some people

were willing to fake it

in order to be part

of the community.

And that's quite remarkable.

This value

of generous love

and gracious,

sacrificial giving

was so highly valued

that some people thought,

I can't do it,

but I better fake it

in order to be part

of this community.

And then why,

the reason why,

as we've been saying,

is because sacrificial generosity

and undeserved grace

are at the very heart

of the Christian faith

that they believed

and proclaimed.

Friends,

if you're new to church

this morning,

if you're new to the Christian faith,

at the heart of Christianity

is the historical reality

that Jesus Christ

gave of his life

on the cross,

died for your sins

and my sins.

He gave up his life

that we can be included

in the family

and the people of God.

And Jesus gave of himself

so that the moral debt

that you and I hold

can be paid and full

and done away with.

Jesus looked at our moral debt

and said,

I will pay your debt

on your behalf.

And so,

this value

was so highly esteemed

that some were even willing

to fake it

to be part of the community.

But here's the second thing

that tells us.

That genuine faith

and authentic worship

were so highly valued

by God

that he was even willing

to expose

and remove

those who compromised

or endangered

the Christian faith

and the gospel.

And that's really scary.

That genuine,

authentic worship

and faith

was so highly valued

by God

that he's even willing

to expose

and maybe even remove

those who endanger

and compromise

the gospel.

You see,

why does God deal

with Ananias and Sapphira

like this?

Well,

it's not because of

their love for money.

It's not necessarily

their greed.

It's their duplicity,

their inauthenticity.

Look at what Peter says

here in verse 4.

He says,

While it remained

unsold and nice,

did your property

not remain your own?

And after it was sold,

was it not at your disposal?

Why have you contrived

this deed in your heart?

You have not lied

to man,

but to God.

See,

God entrusted them

with money

and they could have

sold their property

and said,

come to the leaders

and said,

you know what guys,

we don't,

actually God's been gracious

to us.

We don't need

all of this money.

He has 50%.

Or,

He has 30%.

He has 10%,

right?

They could have done that

and that would have been

a remarkable story

of grace and generosity.

But actually,

what's happening here

is here are people

that are not resting

in the grace

of the Lord Jesus Christ,

not resting

in the love of the Father,

not trusting

in the free grace

of Christ.

Their identity,

their security

is,

is,

is in,

not found in what

Jesus has done

in the cross for them

and His substitution

in death

on the cross.

Actually,

where is their identity

found?

Where is their security

found?

On what basis

are they wanting

to be part

of the Christian community?

It's the appearance

of righteousness.

It's the appearance

of being moral

and having it all together.

It's in a counterfeit

facade of morality,

believing that

their behavior,

their generosity,

will allow them

to be part

of the community

of faith.

But friends,

friends,

the only thing

that welcomes us

into the community

of faith

is the free gift

of God's grace,

not our righteousness

or our generosity

or kindness

or any moral appearance.

it's in the fact

that we come to

an empty hand

and say,

nothing in my hands

I bring,

simply to your grace

and your mercy

do I cling.

Dane Ortlund

in his excellent book

called Deeper

writes this.

He says,

there are two ways

to be dishonest

with fellow Christians.

Explicit dishonesty

and implicit dishonesty.

Explicit dishonesty

is outright lying,

right?

Saying,

I went here

when you didn't

or I gave this away

when you didn't.

But it is also

implicit dishonesty

which is much more subtle

and much more common.

This is the self-projection

that gives an appearance

of moral success

and righteousness

when the truth

is far different.

Here in Ananias and Sapphira

we see both of those,

don't we?

Yes,

there's explicit lying.

This is how much

we sold the property for.

But far more sinister,

far more dangerous

is the implicit lying,

the projection

of righteousness,

the projection

of immorality,

the projection

of having it all together

when the truth

is far from it.

See friends,

it's not just

that Ananias

sinned

or did something wrong

that got them in trouble.

we all sin.

We all make mistakes.

If sin was the thing

that disqualified them,

there would be

no such thing

as a church.

But it's pretending

to trust in Christ.

It's pretending,

attempting to earn

God's favor

through financial gifts.

That's an affront

to God

and an offense

to the gospel.

Friends,

long before Ananias

and Sapphira

lied to the community

and even before

they lied to God,

they were lying

to themselves,

thinking that

something other

than the mercy

of Jesus

could bring them

into God's family.

Telling themselves

that no one needed

to know

about their discrepancy,

their disconnect

between the story

they were projecting

and the reality

of their lives.

A few weeks ago,

Jesse,

somewhere around,

put me on to

an author

called Blaise Pascal.

Blaise Pascal

was a mathematician

and a philosopher

about 400 years ago.

He was a wonderful

Christian man

and he wrote

some amazing things

and since Jesse

and I had lunch,

I've been reading

Blaise Pascal's book

called Thoughts

or Pensies.

And there's an amazing

paragraph

that he writes in there

and I want to read

some of it to us.

This is what he says.

Blaise Pascal

is wondering

about the conflict

in the human heart

about the fact

that we love ourselves.

And he says this,

he says,

the nature of humanity

is self-love

and the nature

of human ego

is to love

the self only.

And he says,

but what will we do?

There's a problem

because we must realize

we love ourselves

but if we're honest

with ourselves,

we all see our own

faults and failings.

and so we love

this imperfect image

that we have

of ourselves.

And he says

that as humans

we want to be great

but we know

the reality

is we're small.

We want to be perfect

but we see ourselves

as full of imperfections.

We want to be

an object of love

and esteem

and honor

in the eyes of others

but we see

that our faults

merit only scorn

and contempt.

And then he writes this,

he says,

this disconnect

which we find

in ourselves

produces the most

unrighteous

and criminal

obsession

that can be imagined.

For man conceives

an enemy

against that truth

which confronts him

and convinces him

of his faults.

He says,

we dream up

in our minds

there's this enmity

between how we see

ourselves

and what we want to be

and who we really are.

He would annihilate

that truth

but unable

to destroy it

entirely

he destroys it

as far as possible

in his own mind

and that of others.

That is to say

he devotes

all his attention

to hiding

his faults

both from others

and from himself.

See what he's saying?

He's saying,

we have this image

of ourselves.

I want to look good.

I want to think

of myself as grace

but when I look

at myself

I see these faults

inside of myself.

So what do I do?

I can't deny the truth

or I can't hide the truth

so I'll deny it.

I'll deny it

in your eyes

by projecting

an image

that I'm better

than I am

and I'll deny it

to myself

by telling myself

I'm not as bad

as I really am.

And then Blaise Pascal

goes on

and he says,

truly it is evil

to be full of faults

but it is still

greater evil

to be full of faults

and unwilling

to recognize them

since that is

to add to the

further fault

voluntary deception.

Friends,

none of us

are perfect.

All of us

have faults.

If you don't

have any faults

I'd love to meet you.

Friends,

the basis

of the Christian faith

is that you can

only come

if you know

yourself a sinner.

If you admit

yourself a sinner.

If you come

to the foot

of the cross

and say,

Jesus,

I don't have it

together.

I need your grace.

But there

is a tendency

inside of our hearts

to deny that

to others

and to deny

that to ourselves

and ultimately

to deny it

to God

and say,

God,

I have it

all together.

Look at me.

I don't need

your grace.

I've got it

all myself.

And that

is a disastrous,

disastrous

thing to do

because it

excludes us

from the grace

of God.

And so look

at how,

in this passage,

look at how Luke

structures this

passage.

In Acts chapter

Acts 4 · chapter mention

4,

Luke,

we looked at

this last week,

the Christians

face remarkable

persecution

and

obstruction.

They are,

the apostles

are arrested,

they're thrown

in jail,

they are threatened.

In Acts chapter

Acts 5 · chapter mention

5,

we see the same

thing.

The apostles

are arrested,

they're thrown

in jail,

they are threatened,

they're even

beaten up.

But in between

these two passages

of Acts chapter

Acts 4 · chapter mention

4 and Acts

Acts 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5,

here we find

the story of

Ananias and

Sapphira.

And I think Luke

is wanting to

tell us something.

Luke says that

there are two

great dangers

that the Christian

church will face.

There is opposition

and persecution

from outside,

but there's a far

more insidious,

a far more dangerous

kind of enemy.

It's not the

opposition and the

persecution from

outside,

it's the insidious

deception,

dishonesty that

resides within.

And we,

the church can

withstand opposition

from outside,

but the deception

and the dishonesty

that resides

within our hearts

will kill us

and destroy us

and eat us up

from the inside.

Persecution,

suffering,

torture,

jail,

prison,

friends,

these things

can't destroy

the church.

But the sin

that resides

within is far

more dangerous.

And so what

would it look

like for us

to be a community

of sincerity

and truth?

Well,

it looks like,

sorry,

what would it

look like for us

to be like

Ananias and Sapphira?

How does this

look in our own

lives?

Well,

here's a couple

of ideas.

Maybe it looks

like pretending

that we have a

genuine relationship

with God

when in reality

our hearts

are called

to Him

and called

to the things

of God.

Friends,

maybe it looks

like cultivating

secret habits

or addictions,

patterns of

sinful behavior

which are

well-guarded

secrets

and we make

sure that

nobody,

nobody's going

to find out

about this.

Friends,

maybe it's

living a

double life.

We are one

person at work,

one person at home,

one person at

university,

one person with

our friends out

and then a

completely different

person at church

on Sunday

or a small group

on Wednesday.

Friends,

maybe it's

pretending to

forgive somebody

and we put

on a smile

and we talk

sweetly to

them.

We say,

that's fine,

don't worry,

it's all over.

But we replay

the action

and we harbor

bitterness and

anger and

hatred in our

hearts.

You know,

the 16th

century reformers

had a phrase,

a Latin

phrase they used

to say.

They used to

say,

ecclesia

reformata

semper

reformanda.

Okay,

I hope you

appreciate my

Latin,

which means

the church

reformed,

always

reforming.

In other

words,

in the 16th

century,

the church

discovered the

gospel and

it completely

reformed the

church.

It renewed

the church.

They discovered

the wonder of

Jesus and the

good news of

grace and

God's mercy and

the fact that

Jesus died on

the cross for

sinners like

them.

And this

reformation

caused the

revival of the

whole of Europe

and changed the

world.

The church was

radically,

radically different

because of

rediscovering the

gospel of God's

grace.

The church

reformed.

They called

themselves the

reformed church.

But they were

very,

very aware that

the danger would

be to say,

God,

we've arrived.

We've discovered

the gospel.

What can

possibly go

wrong?

And then just

to coast into

deception and

duplicity.

And so they

had this phrase,

yes,

the church is

reformed,

but the church

is always

reforming,

always repenting,

always examining

our hearts and

asking ourselves,

where is

duplicity lying

within?

Search me,

O God,

and know my

heart,

says Psalm

139.

Try me and

know my

thoughts and

see if there's

any grievous

way in me and

lead me in the

way of everlasting

life.

Friends,

is it possible

that there is a

measure of

Ananias and

Sapphira in

us,

lurking in our

hearts?

For those of

us that have

been Christians

for many years

or part of the

church community

for many years,

the danger is

even more

prevalent because

it's very easy

to say the

right things

and to act

the part and

to put on the

right lingo and

to put on the

Christian smile and

to act like

everything's

together all

the while there's

something dark

and sinister

going on inside.

Blaise Pascal,

at the end of

that paragraph,

he writes

another paragraph

and this is

what he says.

He says,

there is one

man who we

are commanded

to undeceive,

in other words,

to be transparent

before,

to come before

him honestly and

sincerely and to

be real.

And the amazing

thing is that he

knows everything

about us everywhere

and he loves us

more than we

can ever imagine.

You see,

friends,

the secret to

being honest

with others

is to firstly

be honest with

God.

There is one

man who we

are commanded

to undeceive,

to come before

him transparently

and honestly.

But friends,

the good news

is that this one

man knows you

perfectly anyway

and he loves

you perfectly

anyway.

And he went

to the cross

for you to

cover your sin

and your shame.

And as you

come honestly

before him,

you can be honest

with yourself.

And as you

are honest

with yourself,

we can be

honest with

one another.

As we said

earlier,

the book of Acts

there are these

two stories

showing us

God is at work

in his church.

Jesus so

loves his church,

it's so precious

to him that he's

committed to

working on it.

How so?

By cultivating

generous love

and sacrificial

grace and by

confronting

duplicity and

counterfeit

faith.

how should we

respond?

Let me give us

one or two

thoughts.

Firstly,

friends,

be encouraged.

Jesus loves

his church

and he's

committed to

purifying and

strengthening and

edifying her.

And as imperfect

and as messy

as she can be,

Jesus has given

us his spirit.

He's at work

in her.

Jesus loves the

church and he's

committed to

working in her

and purifying her

and making him

the spotless bride

that she one

day will be.

Friends,

Jesus loves you

and you are

precious to him.

And because you

are precious to

him, he is

committed to

working on you

and purifying

you and

cultivating a

heart of

generosity and

honesty and

transparency in

your life as

well.

So be

encouraged.

Jesus loves you

and is for you

and is working on

you.

But secondly,

be careful.

There may be

more Ananias and

Sapphira in us

than we like to

admit.

And so let's

humbly examine

ourselves.

Let's transparently

allow God to be at

work in us.

Let's ask God to

cut and prune away

the parts of our

lives that are not

of him and ask

him to help us to

lead us to walk in

his ways.

And then finally,

friends, let's be

honest.

Honest with

ourselves.

Honest with

God and

honest with

one another.

Dane Ortlund in

his book,

Deep, I read a

passage earlier,

he ends that

chapter called

Honesty Like

This.

He says,

friends, believe

the gospel.

Find a

trustworthy friend

and bring that

brother or sister

into your

fallenness in a

transparent but

also a healing

and redemptive

way.

Humble yourself

down to the

death of

honesty and see

what life

blossoms up on

the other

side.

Find yourself

bathed afresh in

the gospel of

God's grace and

the wonder of

his love.

And as you

dare to go

deeper into

honesty and

deeper into the

experience of the

cleansing,

washing blood of

Jesus, watch your

heart relax and your

spirit grow into the

growth and mercy you

long for but didn't

know how to find.

Friends,

Dane Ortlund is

really right.

There is a way to

be healed and

it starts with

diving deep into

the mercy, the

honest mercy of

Jesus and coming

up alive on the

other side, more

free and more

relaxed than we

ever thought

possible.

Why don't I pray

for us and then

let's close there

together.

Let's pray

together.

Father God, as

Celeste remind us

this Father's Day

we come before

you, the perfect

Father, the

perfect, perfect

Father, the

Father who doesn't

point your finger

and show us all

our faults and

leave us to our

own devices, the

Father who so

loved us that you

sent your only

Son, that we

should not perish

but have eternal

life.

Jesus, thank you

that you love your

church so much

that you committed

to working on

her.

The church and

we are so precious

to you that you

will not leave us

in our own devices

but you call us

to yourself.

God, by your

Spirit come and

work on us.

Drive out the

duplicity and call

us to honesty and

sincerity I pray.

In your wonderful

gracious name,

Amen.