Book of Acts – Bible Study Notes Pastor Steve …

1 book of acts Bible Study Notes Pastor Steve Bolewine Pastor Steve acts Bible Study - Lesson 5: God Does Not Want to Play Church March 11, 2014 page 1 acts :1-42 GOD DOES NOT WANT TO PLAY CHURCH WHAT WE ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT Last week as we studied chapter 4 we saw the underlying theme was that of boldness; being empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak the truth with boldness and conviction even in the face of persecution. Knowing that we have not only been called by God to preach the gospel but that He has also empowered us to do so, not in our own strength but in the power and might of the Holy Spirit; allows us the opportunity to take a stand for righteousness, to draw the line in the sand and say this far and no farther.

2 Tonight as we step into chapter 5 we are going to see the importance of not only taking a stand for righteousness but also the importance of our motive, the why we do what we do . God is not interested in playing church He wants us to be genuine in our faith, to represent Him accurately, and to sincerely worship Him in spirit and truth. HOW IT APPLIES TO ME / WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? Although we do not see God judge His church today in the way He dealt with Ananias and Sapphira, it does not take away from the fact that God wants us to be sincere in our faith, not motivated by our fleshly desires to try and draw attention to ourselves, but to be the effectual witnesses He has called us to be both in word and deed.

3 As ambassadors for Christ, our charge is to represent His will to the world and His desire is that our witness be genuine. There is no room for ulterior motives; and because we serve the one who Hebrews :12 declares is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart; we need to be very careful not to allow our fleshly desires to put us in a position to compromise what we know to be true for the sake of personal gratification. book of acts Bible Study Notes Pastor Steve Bolewine Pastor Steve acts Bible Study - Lesson 5: God Does Not Want to Play Church March 11, 2014 page 2 This is what we see as we begin our Study tonight.

4 Remember last week, as that early church began to look around at the needs of fellow believer s those who had property began to sell it, not under any direction from the church leadership or anything orchestrated by man, but as they were led by the Holy Spirit they would sell their possessions and give the proceeds to the Apostles so that the money could be distributed to those in need. And looking back at the end of chapter 4 we read: acts :36-37 (New International Version) Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means son of encouragement ), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles feet.

5 Barnabas set the standard; not to draw attention to himself, but because he felt led by the Holy Spirit. The goal for you and I as Christians is to make ourselves available to be used by the Holy Spirit, and the way we do that is by allowing Him to lead and direct our lives and not give our own sinful nature the chance to mess things up . Galatians 5:16 (New International Version) 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. So let s take a look at our text here in acts : acts :1-2 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA 1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession.

6 2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles feet. So these guys had some property and sold it and kept back some of the proceeds for themselves which they were entirely entitled to do. book of acts Bible Study Notes Pastor Steve Bolewine Pastor Steve acts Bible Study - Lesson 5: God Does Not Want to Play Church March 11, 2014 page 3 Remember this was not some edict or command from the early church or the apostles but was a spontaneous action that many were doing within the church for the purpose of helping others that were in need.

7 The problem is not that they kept back some of the money; the problem is that they gave the appearance that they were laying the full amount down. They wanted to be viewed by the congregation that they were as generous as Barnabas. Peter is going to confront them for the sin of lying; not all lying is verbal, lying is deception. Whether done verbally or by omission of facts the intent is the same, the attempt is to get someone to come to the wrong conclusion. And no matter how you serve it up, in God s economy a lie is a lie. And that is what we see going on here, they never said a word in the presenting of the money to the apostles as it is recorded but they gave the appearance of giving all of it and as such they were lying in their actions; appearing to do one thing when the truth of the matter is that what they were doing was something entirely different.

8 This is what is called hypocrisy, something God never has anything good to say about in scripture; and as we are about to see hypocrisy is not something He was going to tolerate in this early church. acts :3-4 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA 3 But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 4 While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God. This is interesting, Peter points out to Ananias that the property was yours to do with what you wanted, and after you sold it what you did with the proceeds was again entirely up to you.

9 From God s perspective it is not the size of the gift that matters, it is the sincerity of heart in which it is given, this is what is important to God. book of acts Bible Study Notes Pastor Steve Bolewine Pastor Steve acts Bible Study - Lesson 5: God Does Not Want to Play Church March 11, 2014 page 4 Remember what Jesus said of the widow in Mark 12:41-44: She gave more than anyone else not because of the amount but because of the heart behind the gift. Jesus warned His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy. The Pharisees went to great lengths to have the appearance of being holy, and they looked down their nose on everyone else as being deficient in their righteousness.

10 Jesus said they were no better than white washed tombs full of dead men s bones and he warned us as His disciples to stay away from that stuff. There is no need to pretend, God loves us for who we are not what we have done or are going to do, and His love for us does not waver and is not performance based. It is also important for us to notice here that when Peter speaks to Ananias he tells him in verse three that he has lied to the Holy Spirit, and then at the end of verse four Peter tells him that he has not lied to men but to God. This is one those passages in scripture that clearly points to the fact that the Holy Spirit is God.