Generous Giving & Gospel Integrity (Acts 4:32-5:11)

Well, good morning, everyone.

If we have any children that are going to Children's Church,

they're being dismissed right now.

Children's Church goes up through the third grade.

So we're thankful our children have that opportunity.

Speaking of children, my two-year-old,

just about every time that I've been in the car with him recently

or gone anywhere with him,

whether it be the backseat of my truck or the aisles of Walmart,

that he has been adamant on singing his favorite song

at the top of his lungs.

He has no sense of volume, especially in public places,

and that always terrifies me to go out with him.

But his favorite song recently has been Say Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yes

to VVVBS, which, as you likely could guess or might be aware,

that's a song from Vacation Bible School

that we sang three months ago.

That he's still singing at the top of his lungs

everywhere we go, every time we get in my truck,

he's like, VBS!

And I'm like, not again.

It's a great song, don't get me wrong,

but you know, you just kind of think

these things are going to be phases.

My favorite song will come and go,

like Vacation Bible School music,

as great as it is during their week.

It's a little old after a few months after that.

So you just think these things are like phases.

As parents, you really hope these things are phases,

whether it be the terrible twos,

the three-nager phase, the four-nado.

You just expect these things are going to be phases

that they go through and you get out of and survive.

If you're married, you likely understand

that the newlywed or honeymoon phase,

that little time where you're madly in love,

newly married, nothing wrong with your marriage whatsoever.

But if you're like my wife,

she quickly realized that being around me 24-7

is much more different than just dating.

My coworkers like to make fun of me

because I'm constantly singing, humming,

making sounds of all sorts throughout the day.

And I'm sure that's very annoying

from the top stairs of my office down below me.

I'm sure it's annoying hearing me in the hallways.

But you know who's stuck with me?

My wife.

Honeymoon phases end.

There just comes a point where these phases,

they come and go.

And so as we as a church are working through the book of Acts,

the first couple of chapters are incredible, right?

The first couple of chapters, Jesus commissions,

the disciples, the Holy Spirit descends,

Peter preaches, and thousands are saved.

They're going amongst the streets.

They're preaching the gospel.

People are being miraculously healed.

There's persecution for sure,

but they're fighting against it being bold.

The first few chapters are incredible to read.

But if you're like me,

you're almost reading with a bit of realistic skepticism.

Is this too good to be true?

Will it last?

Is the other shoe about to drop?

Because as great as the story starts in Acts,

most Christians I know have a different experience with church

than what we read in the first few chapters of Acts.

You know, we read of the clear presence of God,

miraculous healings, absolute unity amongst all the people.

Yet most Christians that I've ever met,

their experience with other Christians in the church

has sometimes been of disagreements and fallouts and drama and burnout

to where if you're coming into this with your own perspective of church,

you can kind of read,

it's great to read what's happening,

but is it going to last?

Is it merely just a phase?

Will the church survive?

And so we kind of come to the end of chapter four

and getting into the chapter of five,

we finally get to see a little bit of a glimpse

into the real tension the church is facing on the inside.

But before we navigate that tension,

I just want to say as clear as I can from the beginning,

that if you're wondering if the church will survive,

if the church will persevere,

if the church will live,

know this,

the movement of the church that we've been reading about,

it's not merely a phase,

it is an act of God.

Because God is in control

and his mission cannot be derailed,

it will continue,

despite forces outside of the church like persecution,

and even sources inside of it,

like hypocrisy and drama.

So let's jump back into the story this morning

and continue our study,

starting in chapter four,

verse 32.

We'll read the whole passage

and then navigate through this text today

with two primary gospel principles

that I think kind of put things in perspective for us.

So Acts chapter four,

let's begin reading in verse 32.

Now the full number of those who believed

were of one heart,

one 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 land or houses,

they sold them and brought the proceeds

of what was sold.

And they 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,

he sold a field that belonged to him,

brought the money

and laid it at the apostles' feet.

And here's where the story gets interesting.

Chapter five, verse one.

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.

But Peter said to 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've contrived this deed in your heart?

You've 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.

Now the young man rose and wrapped him

and carried him out and buried him.

And 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've agreed together

to test the spirit of the Lord?

Behold, the feet of those who buried your husband

are at the door and they will carry you out.

Immediately she fell down at his feet

and breathed her last.

And 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.

Now I bet so, right?

You read through this passage

and the tone has shifted from the unity

and the healings and the great acts of God

that have been happening

to where now we're seeing some judgment.

We're seeing some clear punishment from God.

And a fear was beginning to fill the church.

And while we'll get to chapter five in just a moment,

I want to spend the first little bit here

focusing in on the example of the church

at the end of Acts 4.

Because I believe if we kind of understand

what's going on in chapter four,

it gives us a platform to understand chapter five

all the more.

So in chapter four,

we see some incredible things that are happening.

Everyone who believed was of one heart and soul.

They had all things in common

and many were selling their fields and homes

to meet the present physical needs of their neighbors.

And it's a great reality to read

of the church back then.

But what does it mean of us today?

Does this passage mean that I should sell

all of my possessions and give them away?

Does this passage tell me that it's wrong

to have good things?

Well, whose needs should we really be trying to meet?

What needs are actually genuine?

How do we really navigate these things?

What does this passage really mean for us today?

And while all those questions

are really important questions to work through,

practical applications,

I wanna fight against something this morning

inside my own heart.

I wanna fight against the temptation of my own heart

to jump straight to limiting the generosity for myself

that I feel burdened to feel.

You know, my flesh wants to approach this passage

and it wants to immediately start to dissect things

of like, all right,

this passage is primarily descriptive

rather than prescriptive, right?

It's merely describing the actions of the church

and God's people during this time and in this situation

rather than prescribing it for all of us today

and throughout all time.

You know, my flesh wants to jump at this passage

and start to really look at,

well, this was generosity amongst Christians, right?

Like, it's just brothers and sisters in Christ

meeting the needs of other brothers and sisters in Christ.

There really wasn't a compulsion

to meet the needs of everyone in the world,

just the select few that already are a part of the church.

My flesh wants to jump straight

to the aspect of this passage that says

that the giving was voluntary.

This isn't something that was mandated by the apostles.

This is not some sort of church-sanctioned socialism

that's happening.

Like, I want to look at this and say it's voluntary.

It's not something that all Christians had to be a part of.

It was just something they got to choose.

And my flesh wants to just jump straight at those questions

and try to limit the generosity

that I feel burdened to feel for myself.

But recognize this,

if my heart is jumping straight to this list of caveats

and this list of excuses,

trying to figure out

who I actually have to show compassion to

and who I have to be generous to or not,

then I'm missing the point, right?

Look, all of these are clear.

Those are things I believe to be true.

I believe this passage to be primarily descriptive

rather than prescriptive.

It is generosity within the Christian community.

It was completely voluntary.

But if my heart is jumping to this spot

where I'm trying to figure out,

well, who do I actually have to be generous to?

My heart's not in the right place.

And I would argue that if yours is there,

then you're probably in a place with me.

There's a clear gospel principle

that comes out from the last part of chapter four.

And that's that we must value people over possessions.

We must value people over possessions.

And if there's an inclination of my heart

to put possessions over people,

I've missed it, right?

There's a lot of things that really have to come into play here.

There are a lot of other biblical principles

that we have to take into account

in order to form a, I guess,

a comprehensive understanding of stewardship.

But if I miss this point

that I need to value people over possessions,

my life will not resemble the church of Acts chapter four.

My life will not be in right standing with God.

And so there's something we have to wrestle with

even from this description of the early church

is do we value people over possessions?

David Platt in his book, Counter Culture,

reminds us that as Christians,

our greatest wealth is found in the gospel itself.

For God has saved us from our sins

and has given us new life with him.

More importantly, Jesus Christ himself said

in his sermon on the mount,

that where your treasure is,

there your heart will be also.

And so if I'm reading this text

and I'm really finding the murkiness

of trying to figure out

who do I have to show compassion to,

who do I have to be generous with,

then perhaps my treasure is not in the right spot.

Perhaps my greatest treasure isn't in the gospel,

maybe it's in what I own and what I have for myself.

That's the crux of what we're struggling with here.

We see a radical display of generosity

in the DNA of the early church.

And this demonstrates that they clearly had a greater compassion

and held a greater value on the lives and needs

of the people around them

than they did on their material possessions.

And this concept really makes zero sense

if the Holy Spirit's not in it.

That's why it's a gospel principle, right?

This isn't something that's easy for us.

It's not the natural tendencies of our heart

to value people over possessions.

I would imagine that if someone were to have

a near-death experience,

that what they place value on would change, right?

These people who have these stories

where they almost got killed in a car wreck

or they almost went through this situation

where they lost their life.

There are these situations

where people have these near-death experiences

and all of a sudden,

they start to value people more.

They start to place a lot more value

in the relationships they have,

the family dynamic that they are a part of.

They put a little lesser of a grip

on their possessions and are more generous.

People who have a near-death experience

often have a different outlook

on people and possessions and relationships

than the normal person does.

But can I remind us something as followers of Christ?

That we haven't just had a near-death experience.

We were dead and Christ made us alive.

Christ didn't change our hearts.

He gave us a new one altogether.

Like each of us have to reconcile

that there was a point in my life

where I was destined for a place called hell

because of my cosmic treason

and rebellion against a one true,

holy, perfect, almighty God

in heaven that's above earth where I'm at.

And I was against him

and I was deserving of a place called hell.

Yet Christ loved me in my sin enough

to give his life for mine

and give me life and forgiveness in his name.

And not only has Christ done that

in giving us a new heart,

that new heart has now been filled,

thanks to Acts chapter one and two,

with the Holy Spirit that starts to change

our outlook on community and gospel living.

The gospel changes us.

The gospel is good news for us

because it changes our lives so much.

And I recognize some other principles

that every good and perfect gift

comes from the Lord, right?

James 1, 17.

I recognize that God often rewards

the hard labor, the toil that we put in.

He often rewards our labor with fruit to be enjoyed.

I recognize and understand

that God's heartbeat for us

is that we'll have life

and have it abundantly from John 10, 10.

But what good is it for us to have

an abundance of scraps beneath our table

for our neighbor to be dying down the street?

What good is it for us to have

an abundance of scraps beneath our table

while our neighbor dies of hunger?

That's the story of Lazarus and the rich man

in Luke chapter 16, right?

Luke 16 · chapter mention

Jesus tells this story of a rich man

who dies and Lazarus, he dies as well.

They both die and the rich man is in hellish torment

while Lazarus is in everlasting peace.

Turns out the rich man never placed his faith in God.

His riches, his status, his worldly goods

were insufficient to bring him eternal peace.

And his cries from hell

were for the salvation of his brothers,

yet his cries came too late.

What's the primary description of this rich man

that leads us to the assumption

that he has no relationship with God?

It's that the rich man feasted in abundance

while Lazarus, his neighbor, famished and died.

How we value others, whether or not we value others,

these play a part of the picture

of whether or not we're actually

genuine followers of Christ or not.

Simply put, the works of our faith

demonstrate the validity of it.

So looking here, this passage,

it may not be prompting each of us,

it may not be an explicit command

for each of us to sell our homes and land,

but it does show us something very clear

that when the Holy Spirit came into the lives

of the early church,

something was different about them.

They began to value people over possessions.

Which brings us to the question today is,

do we?

When it comes to the things that we have,

do we have things or do things have us?

Do we look at the ones around us

and place a value on their lives

to where we would be willing to meet their needs

if possible or given the opportunity?

Do we value people over possessions?

Dustin Edmonds, the husband of the lady

who did the prayer prompt earlier,

Dustin Edmonds and I teach a group

on Wednesday nights called Rediscover Church,

and we're looking through some basic questions

about the church.

We're kind of working through those on Wednesday nights.

And one of the questions that's come up

the last few weeks is,

is it really necessary for Christians

to gather together?

Is it really necessary for us to worship together,

to come to church?

Beyond that, is it even necessary

for us to join in membership?

These are questions we've been working through,

and it sparked a real question for me,

and that's how did these early Christians

in Acts chapter four,

how do they know about these needs

around them anyway?

Did they have some kind of like

Facebook marketplace kind of thing

where they saw all needs

and they met a need

and hashtag blessed and all?

It wasn't like these things were happening

where they were posting it around.

How did they figure out the needs

of those around them?

They knew the ones around them.

They gathered together

in close-knit Christian community,

and they knew about the needs

because they knew one another.

And going back to the question

that kind of sparked from that,

is it necessary for us to gather together?

I say absolutely.

One of the unavoidable realities

is that in order to genuinely care about others

and care about people,

you have to be involved in each other's lives.

Casual church attendance

and nominal affiliation with the church

doesn't cut it.

It doesn't give us the exposure to one another

where we're able to actually meet the needs

of those around us.

Now, I would actually argue

that most of the New Testament writings,

particularly in the epistles and the letters,

most of that is we're not able to live it out

apart from Christian community.

To love one another,

to mourn with each other,

to rejoice with each other,

to encourage one another.

These can only be done

when you're with one another.

And so I would,

as your associate pastor of discipleship,

a shameless plug here,

if you're not involved

in some form of small group community at church,

you miss out on so much.

I believe as we look at this early church

in the book of Acts,

most of them met in homes

or smaller communities.

So I believe the closest

that we can sometimes get to the community

that we read about in the book of Acts

is when we gather together

in Sunday school classes

and midweek life groups

because that close-knit gospel community

is the only context

in which we get to know one another well

and value people over possessions.

And so if you're not involved,

I really want to encourage you

to seek that out and try that out

because that is such an important part

of being able to live out

the example of the early church.

The gospel was at work

in the hearts of this early church

and it prompted them

towards a close-knit gospel community

where the needs of brothers and sisters in Christ

were recognized and met

by other brothers and sisters in Christ.

And because at the end of the day,

they valued people over their own possessions,

they met needs one another.

As we continue in this passage

into the fun part of chapter five,

we start to see what happens in our hearts

when we actually pursue influence over integrity.

Luke intentionally writes this next bit

in a way that contrasts

the generosity of Barnabas

with the greed of Ananias and Sapphira.

Look again at verse 36

and we'll read the first few verses of five.

Thus Joseph, who was also called

by the apostles Barnabas,

so his nickname was son of encouragement.

That's a really good nickname, all right?

The apostles called him Barnabas,

which means son of encouragement,

a Levite, a native of Cyprus.

Well, he sold a field that belonged to him

and brought the money

and laid it at the apostles' feet.

There's the generosity of Barnabas.

But if you're taking notes in the scripture journals

or if you're just trying to figure out

how this connects,

the first word of chapter five

is a very influential word,

but it's a hinge word,

a conjunction,

a word that pivots the story here.

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.

So we enter into chapter five

and like I said,

that word but's almost like a hinge

on which the door of the church

is opening up

and we've seen the unity on the outside,

but the door is hinging open

and we get to see a glimpse

of what's happening.

And what exactly is going on

in this church?

Well, there's this couple.

They conspired together

that they may deceive others

and receive praise.

They sought influence and praise

at the expense of their integrity.

They likely saw Barnabas.

You know, that guy that we grew up,

we graduated high school with him,

that guy named Joseph,

they call him Barnabas now

because he's just such an encouraging person.

They changed his name.

They look at Barnabas with some favor.

Barnabas is a really cool guy.

He's like the backbone

of Christian community.

We see the praise

that Barnabas is getting.

We see the praise

that the unnamed people

of the church are getting

for selling their fields and homes

and laying it down

at the apostles' feet.

They're getting all of this accolades.

They're getting all this praise

and we wish people saw us like that, right?

So what do they do?

They make a plan.

They plan to sell their field,

their property,

and bring the proceeds of the church

to the church,

lay at the apostles' feet,

as if they're giving it all,

but it's not, is it?

It's just a portion.

They sought influence and praise,

yet they went about attaining

in a way that was sinful.

And the reaction here

seems pretty harsh, right?

This is not an easy passage to read.

The reaction seems pretty harsh.

Peter tells Ananias,

Satan has filled your heart.

Like you are a,

you're a worker of the enemy right now.

Satan has consumed

and filled your heart.

And Ananias and his wife

end up losing their lives.

So if we sit around

and think that God doesn't care

about how we reflect him

and the church

to the world around us,

we are vastly mistaken.

Because God takes that very seriously.

One commentator says it this way,

the same spirit

that gave the community

its growth

also maintained its purity.

The same spirit

that gave the community

its growth

also maintained its purity.

Last week,

Pastor Brett,

he shared the story

of the disciples

in the boat with Jesus

in Mark chapter four.

We all know the story, right?

The disciples and Jesus

are in the boat.

The storms come

and the disciples

are freaking out.

And the story ends

with this display,

this picture

that who is this one

that even the wind

and waves obey him.

They needed a fear of someone.

They needed someone

that was bigger

than the waves.

They needed someone

that was bigger

than their fears.

They needed someone

that was bigger

than their persecution

because if they didn't fear God

more than man,

they would not live bold.

They would not live for Christ.

And so that story

reminded us

that a fear of the Lord

must be higher

than our fear of man

because otherwise

we won't live for God.

That was last week.

Well, this week

we see exactly

what it looks like

for someone

who has no fear

of the Lord whatsoever.

Ananias and Sophia

represent a type

of churchgoer

that has no fear of God.

The type of churchgoer

that comes to the altar

and says,

Jesus Christ is Lord

yet continues

to live for themselves.

The type of churchgoer

that seeks to build

their own empire

instead of the kingdom of God.

The ones that pray,

my kingdom come,

my will be done

instead of thy kingdom come,

thy will be done.

And what we see

in this passage

is that when there is

no fear of God,

God will intervene.

God does something

terrifying

in this passage

and that same hypocrisy

we see from Ananias

and Sapphira

is the same type

of hypocrisy

that affects the church

today, right?

This is not something

we're immune from.

This is not something

that we are void of.

This is a struggle

that we ourselves

must wrestle with

and making sure

that that hypocrisy

doesn't infect our lives

as well.

And so looking

at this passage,

we see that hypocrisy.

Oh, God may not strike us

dead for lying

about our giving,

but there comes a point

where God will prune

the branch

that bears bad fruit,

where he will pluck

the weeds,

he'll remove the rocks,

he'll remove any obstacle

to his gospel mission

and work flourishing.

There is a need

for each of us

to value integrity

over influence.

There's a need

for each of us

to value integrity

over influence,

the type of integrity

that makes it

to where we don't

bow down to Nebuchadnezzar

even if it means

a fiery furnace,

the type of integrity

that means

that we keep on praying

even if it means

a lion's den,

the type of integrity

that keeps our eyes

fixed on the cross

even if it means

sure persecution,

the type of integrity

that means

we meet the needs

of those around us

without expecting

praise for ourselves.

The need

for integrity

remains.

Imagine if I have

a neighbor

who is going

through a really

tough time.

I just think about

the people around me

and if I were to imagine

that a neighbor of mine

was going through

a really tough time,

I just think of

someone who might

be working

through a nasty divorce,

someone who's

on the verge

of losing their jobs,

spiraling into depression,

just really struggling

with life.

They're struggling

to make ends meet.

So my wife and I,

Kristen,

we go to Quality Foods,

we load up a whole cart

full of groceries

and toiletries,

we know he's struggling

so we want to meet

the need of our brother,

we want to meet

the need of our brother

in Christ,

our neighbor.

So we pack all the things

from the car,

get it in my truck,

we drive over

to his house,

we walk up to his door,

we knock on the door

and he opens the door

to me live streaming

the whole thing.

Hey guys,

it's Evan,

Pastor Evan from the church,

I just really want

to meet a need

of a friend

who's been struggling

right now,

I just want you

to see how awesome I am,

God's been really great

to me,

I want to meet the need

of someone else

because I'm awesome,

God's blessed me

and I just really want

you to see my friend

he's struggling,

so if I were to all

of a sudden

take that moment,

right,

where I'm doing

something good,

inherently good,

but I'm doing it

so that I look better

to other people,

and if you don't

live stream,

just imagine if you

did something really

generous and you

called into the

Toccoa Record

or WNEG just to get

an article about yourself,

right,

well I just imagine,

we all know there's

something inherently

wrong with that,

something that is

seemingly good,

all of a sudden

is pretty sketchy

and selfish,

so the same type

of integrity

is needed for us

today,

right,

because oh,

we may not,

you know,

live stream an act

of generosity,

but sometimes our

heart is not quite

as motivated

by Christ-like

compassion for my

neighbor,

sometimes my

generous giving

is motivated

by the year-end

tax credit I get

for my generous

contributions,

sometimes the

motivation for me

to do something

generous is not

in Christ-like

compassion for my

neighbor,

it's for the

profile picture I

get of us in our

matching t-shirts

serving the orphans

in Africa,

it's all of a sudden

the thrust is on me

getting influence

rather than

maintaining a life

of integrity,

and that's a

problem,

right,

you see the same

God that brought

growth in this

church was also

going to seek to

purify it,

so we kind of

come back to that

initial question that

I posed for each

of us,

when I started to

ask,

will the church

last?

Is this merely

just a phase?

Well,

I think there's

something to be

seen in this

passage about an

answer to that,

because even Peter

here,

he's demonstrating

integrity,

he confronted the

lies when he could

have slipped it

under the rug,

he gave Sapphira a

chance to repent and

do the right thing

when he did not have

to, and it's not

uncommon to hear

stories of weak

church leaders in

today's culture.

It's not uncommon to

hear stories about

pastors who fall

into moral failures,

either of abuse or

adultery.

It's not uncommon for

ministries and churches

to be closing their

doors due to scandals

and absolute hypocrisy

that comes out in the

open.

There's a problem in

the local church today

that if we look at

these situations,

there's some discomfort

as people leave the

church, people are

hurt, and ministries

and churches seem to

fail, but much like the

story of Ananias and

Sapphira here, we must

understand that God will

vindicate the holiness

of his great name.

He prophesied as much

in the Old Testament.

Ezekiel chapter 36,

Ezekiel 36:23

verse 23, God says,

and I will vindicate the

holiness of my great

name, which has been

profaned among the

nations, and which you've

profaned among them.

And the nations will

know that I am the

Lord, declares the Lord

God, when through you I

vindicate my holiness

before their eyes.

So is this movement of

the church merely a

phase?

Will it last?

Can it withstand the

opposition from the

outside and the

hypocrisy that

contaminates it from the

inside?

Will this continue or

will it fail?

Our world is more

broken than it's ever

been.

The church seems to be

full of hypocrites.

If pastors fall into

moral failure, can the

church still be a place

of hope and gospel

community?

God will ensure that it

is and that it always

will be.

Want to know how I know?

Because God works in

passages like this.

The uncomfortable

passages, the ones that

make us really not want

to preach this passage,

the ones that calls us to

kind of stir in some

uncomfort.

God makes sure that we

do not get to a place

where we fail to represent

him to the world around

us.

And when that starts to be

the case, God will

vindicate the holiness of

his great name.

We can be sure of that.

So maybe you're sitting

here today and you've

lost some trust.

Maybe you look at the

world around us, you read

the articles, you see the

stories, and you grow

uncomfortable because the

church is full of broken

people.

The church is full of

hypocrites and sometimes

led by those.

Will the church prevail?

Will it continue?

Well, the answer's already

been written.

This book doesn't just go

through Acts, it actually

goes to the end of the

story.

There's a passage in

Revelation chapter 19 where

Revelation 19 · chapter mention

we see the end of the

story.

And if we have a question

on whether or not it will

prevail, we can just look to

the end and see where it's

already written and we can

be comforted in that.

Revelation chapter 19, I'll

Revelation 19 · chapter mention

read this very short passage

then we're almost about to

close.

Verse 6,

Then I heard what seemed

to be the voice of a

great multitude, like the

roar of many waters and

like the sound of mighty

peals of thunder, crying

out, Hallelujah, for the

Lord our God, the Almighty

reigns.

Let us rejoice and exult and

give him the glory.

For the marriage of the

Lamb has come and his

bride has made herself

ready.

It was granted her to

clothe herself in fine

linen, bright and pure.

For the fine linen is the

righteous deeds of the

saints.

The angel said to me, write

this, blessed are those who

are invited to the marriage

supper of the Lamb.

He said to me, these are the

true words of God.

Then I fell down at his feet

to worship him.

But he said to me, you must

not do that.

I'm a fellow servant with

you.

And notice this, and your

brothers who hold to the

testimony of Jesus, worship

God.

For the testimony of Jesus is

the spirit of prophecy.

And you see, we've been

talking the last few weeks

about how the church is a

movement.

Yet a movement is only as

important as its

destination.

For us, we can see that the

destination is in eternal

communion with our creator

God.

And not opposition outside of

the church like persecution,

not even hypocrites like us

can cause that to fail.

So will this movement

continue?

Will it last?

God will ensure that it

will.

He will ensure that the

church remains a place of

hope, a place of gospel

community, because when it

starts to stray, God is

faithful to prune the

branches.

God is faithful to do what

is necessary.

The end of the story has

been written.

We've been charged as the

church to bear witness to

the testimony of Jesus.

The church's mission was

laid out in Acts 1-8 when

Jesus told his disciples,

but you will be witnesses

when the Holy Spirit comes

upon you, and you will be

my witnesses in

Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,

and to the ends of the

earth.

We've been called and

commissioned to be

witnesses and bear

witness to the testimony

of Jesus.

And we do that with our

words.

We faithfully proclaim

the gospel to those who

are broken around us,

those who are entrenched

in sin and have no hope

apart from the gospel.

But we also do it through

our works, where we live

lives that are honorable

and pleasing to God.

We share the word through

proclamation of the gospel,

yet we show the word

through our lives.

So do we value people

over possessions?

Do we pursue gospel

integrity over influence?

If not, there's some places

for us to work on today,

right?

There's some growth for us

in this passage.

A fear of the Lord will

embolden us to share the

gospel with our neighbors,

but it will also safeguard us

from the pitfalls of sin.

From this passage, we're

reminded that if we want to

live for Jesus, if we want

this movement to continue,

we must value people over

possessions and pursue gospel

integrity over influence.

And I pray that may be the

case for us today.

Let's pray.

Father, we love you.

Lord, this is a terrifying

passage to work through.

Lord, it's not been the most

comfortable for me to read

and study this week.

Lord, it's not been the most

comfortable for me to share.

But Lord, you've done a work

in my heart this week that I

pray you may continue in the

days ahead and in the lives

of every person in this church.

Lord, may you remind us that

your plan is good, that you're

above all.

Lord, when we get disgusted and

discouraged by failures of the

church and our brothers and

sisters and even ourselves

sometimes, may you just remind

us that you're in control.

Will you help us to place our

confidence in you?

Lord, if that means chastising

us and challenging us to value

people over possessions, by all

the means, Lord, fix our hearts.

But Lord, if we ever become a

church that's more accustomed to

being a church on a hill that

isn't present in the community

and we all, we want to influence,

Lord, correct us.

And help us to be open to that

correction so that we become

fruitful again rather than be

ones that come to the end of

your judgment.

Lord, this is a serious passage

and I pray you may do a serious

work in each of our hearts.

It's in your holy name we pray.

Amen.

Today we're going to end with a

verse of invitation.

If you want to stand and turn your

hymnals to hymn 413, turn your

eyes upon Jesus.

And I invite you to come if

there's any reason you need to

pray with me, join the church,

give your life to Christ.

I'd love to have that

conversation with you.

Otherwise, let's sing.

And I'll talk to you throughiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseise