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REFUSING TO FOLLOW THE SPIRIT WILL GET US IN TROUBLE
It is super-important for us to fear God. To fear God
means to obey God at all times,
irrespective of the situation. It means to stand in
holy awe of who God is, and to honor
His ownership of our lives and property.
It means
to read His word and to walk closely with Him at
all times.
It means
to honor Him with our words and deeds, our money
and time.
Many
people are entirely too focused on their own desires,
needs and wants. I’m certainly guilty; it comes through
in my preaching and teaching, so if you have the same
problem we can learn together today!
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Acts 5:1-11 (by
clicking on the reference, you can read the
scripture on-line) |
The early
church was severely persecuted because of their faith in
Jesus. People lost their jobs and they were generally
ostracized by the community. Interestingly enough, they
were respected and feared because of the power of their
witness! Just because people disagree with you or me
does not mean that they do not respect us.
Sometimes
they are testing us, hoping that we are true to our
testimony.
As a result of this
persecution, many members of the early church found
themselves without financial resources. Therefore they
had to help each other with basic necessities. Acts 4
describes how some sold their property to help the rest.
Barnabas was the most prominent member to do so.
Because of Barnabas’ generosity he was praised by many
of the others.
Ananias and Sapphira
witnessed this, so they sold a piece of their property
hoping to achieve the same recognition. However,
they did not have the level of faith of Barnabas.
This is not a problem. We all have different levels of
faith. The scriptures acknowledge that. The problem was
that they wanted the same praise that Barnabas received.
Seeking the praise of others is a dangerous trap. We are
to bring praise to God, not to ourselves.
Coveting praise will get
us in trouble!
Ananias and Sapphira
received a fair price, but the spirit of fear – or the
love of money – caused them to lay some back for a
possible stormy day. Still not a problem; as Peter
noted, it was their property and their money. They could
do with it as they pleased.
God
blesses all of us in many ways. Although God technically
owns everything we have, He allows us to use it as we
please. We never lose our free will. The
exception is that God says the first 10 % of our
increase (income after the expense of earning
the money) belongs to God. Also, He requests an
offering from the other 90%.
The Bible
teaches us that we should give what we plan to in
advance. Just because a pastor or evangelist tries to
work our emotions to give more does not mean that we are
obliged to do so. The choice is ours. The
preacher presents the need as he/she sees it, we check
with the Holy Spirit, and then respond as the Spirit
leads.
The
problem with Ananias and Sapphira was that
they lied! They
either became hypocrites, or their hypocritical nature
manifested itself! As Peter said, they lied to the Holy
Spirit, not to man!
That lie
cost them their lives!
Why would a gentle
loving God kill someone on the spot for telling a lie!
I don’t think anyone knows for sure, but the consensus
is that God wanted the early church – and us – to know
that lying to God is a terrible sin. He hates hypocrisy.
Jesus called some of the
Pharisees hypocrites, but we should avoid doing that.
Jesus, being God, could understand the “why” of their
actions. We cannot, therefore for us to do that is
judging, which we are forbidden to do.
When a woman was brought
to Jesus, caught in the very act of adultery, they
brought her to Him, asking if they should stone her. His
final answer was, “Let him that is without sin cast the
first stone.” No one volunteered that first stone – we
all sin!
Jesus never sinned. On
one occasion He asked, “Who of you can accuse me of
sin?” None could. (See
John 10:36)
Ananias and Sapphira
thought they were only lying to man – God saw it
differently.
Because of this event,
“great fear came upon the church.” Can you
imagine how it would affect this congregation!
Would we even come back next Sunday if someone died this
morning because he told a lie to God?
It’s a frightening
thought!
Acts 8 tells the story
of Simon the Sorcerer. After his conversion he saw
people receiving the Holy Spirit after the apostles
prayed for them. He offered them money to give them the
same gift. Peter “jumped down his throat” for asking
such a question! He told him to repent lest
something terrible happened to him!
FOLLOWING THE HOLY SPIRIT MAY
GET US IN TROUBLE!
Following the leading of the Holy
Spirit will not always keep us out of trouble. In fact,
just the opposite can be true! Acts 5 tells us that the
Apostles were persecuted. In Acts 6 and 7 we will learn
that Stephen was arrested and stoned to death. In Acts
16 we will learn about Paul and Silas being called by
the Holy Spirit to Macedonia. There they wound up in
prison and being beaten. The jailer and his family were
converted and baptized… but the beating was severe.
HOW DO WE FOLLOW GOD IN THESE
DIFFICULT TIMES?
The answer to this question
lies in following God’s law of sowing and reaping.
The scriptures are full of illustrations of sowing and
reaping.
As we
explore this concept, we can better understand what it
means to fear the Lord. As we said earlier, to fear the
Lord means having a holy awe at being in His presence;
it means to obey Him, to respect Him, and to walk in
humility with Him.
The easiest way to get
half of this nation to be angry with you is to be
elected as the President of the United States – no
matter what your political affiliation.
However,
it is expected that everyone will respect him because of
his office. The scriptures teach us to respect those
that have the rule over us.
We should treat the God
of the universe with even more respect than we do a
President. When we are in the presence of God in
church or in our private prayer time at home we should
treat God with the same respect we would if He were
here/there physically. God is present everywhere,
so it behooves us to always think, talk, and act
respectfully toward God no matter where we are or in
what circumstance.
It is
always inappropriate to use His name in vain.
Since
this church building is set aside to the glory of God,
we should always respect His presence and power no
matter why we are in the building.
That being true, then
it is equally true that we should always glorify God
with our bodies for, as the scripture says, “It is a
temple of the Holy Spirit.”
In the beginning of man’s
time on earth, the scriptures were a spoken word. The
adults taught the Word of God to their children and
passed the Word on down through talks around the
campfire. In time, Moses wrote the first five books of
the Bible, and eventually the entire Bible was put
together and became a closed document. Any teaching or
word from the Lord since that time should come in line
with God’s Word.
There are no new teachings from God today that do not
line up with the Word… however; new revelations
may give us insight and understanding into what is
already written. It is the work of the Holy Spirit
to reveal those things to us. I can assure you
that there are plenty of things in the Bible that this
pastor does not even begin to comprehend!
In the matter of
sowing and reaping, everything we do and every thing we
plant is a seed. If you want kind words,
sow kind words. If you want people to be
generous, be generous toward people. If
you want apples, plant an apple tree.
Or, if
you want money, then plant money (tithes,
offering, and give to charity). But we cannot
randomly toss out a bunch of seed and hope for the best.
A proper ground must be chosen; the field must be
properly cared for – farmers know that!
The Rev. Rob Thompson, in
speaking on this subject recently, explained that
too often we react to what people say and do rather than
sowing into their lives.
If someone says something
hateful to us and we respond in kind, then we have
reacted rather than taken action. The reaction is to say
something hateful either to the person or about the
person. The response is to show the love of God.
To sow a seed is to
give them what they need, not what they deserve.
That rule has an exception as well. God says that
revenge belongs to Him, so it someone needs a punch in
the nose, God wants to do it His way! We are supposed to
love everyone and pray for our enemies.
Jesus is our role model…
we are to treat people as He did while He lived on
earth. We should always remember that people who have
spiritual and emotional pain hurt other people. Respond
to them in love, with words of encouragement – or maybe
just totally ignore what they did or said. They may have
felt bad the moment they acted that way!
But… no object in
getting stressed or upset! It won’t improve anything!
If
you watched my life and listened to my conversations
would you be convinced that I fear the Lord? That
has to be the acid test!
Fortunately, God
knows our intentions, so He understands when we “mess
up” due to fatigue and discouragement.
How are
you today? Tired, exasperated, or full of joy – or
someplace in between those extremes? Either way,
God wants to bless us! Let Him! |
