The King's Church in Ilford
The following is the text of the talk given on 27th June 2010 by Georges Kisombola
"Things That Revival Brings"
Reading: Acts 5:1-16
1But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2and with his wife's knowledge(A) he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and(B) laid it at the apostles' feet. 3But Peter said, "Ananias, why has(C) Satan filled your heart to lie(D) to the Holy Spirit and(E) to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4While 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 men but(F) to God." 5When Ananias heard these words, he(G) fell down and breathed his last. And(H) great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6The young men rose and(I) wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
7After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8And Peter said to her, "Tell me whether you[a] sold the land for so much." And she said, "Yes, for so much." 9But Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together(J) to test(K) 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." 10Immediately 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. 11And(L) great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
The story about Ananias and Sapphira is strange. It is not easy for us to understand what happened. But it is a very important story. Luke might have decided not to write it. Later, people might have decided not to keep it in the Bible. But what is in the Bible is always the truth. Christians are not perfect! Some Christians can do very bad things. Even in the first church, there were Christians who were not honest.
Like Barnabas, Ananias and Sapphira sold their land for money. But Barnabas had given all the money to the apostles. Ananias brought only some of the money to them. But that was not the problem. As Peter said, the money belonged to Ananias and Sapphira. The Greek word for 'kept' here can also mean 'stole'. Some Bible scholers suggest that perhaps, before Ananias and Saphira sold the land, they had agreed to give all the money. Others say that may be God revealed to Peter what had been happening in Ananias and Saphira's hearts; this as a word of knowledge or a picture.
Not did Ananias and Sapphira stolen but they had also lied. They wanted to seem generous. No one forced them to sell their land. It belonged to them. They did not need to lie. But Ananias had let Satan tell him what to do and what to say. He lied to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit being one of the trinity this means Ananias had lied to God.
Sometimes, people just pretend to be good. They do this so that they look important. God hates this. Jesus talked about this many times. When Ananias died, everyone was afraid. They buried him immediately.
Peter gave to Sapphira a chance to tell the truth. He asked her how much money she and Ananias had received for the land. Instead of telling the truth, she lied. Then she died. Again, everyone was very afraid.
Some people think that Peter was too unkind. They think that Jesus would not have spoken to Ananias and Sapphira like this. The church had only just started. Beleivers needed to trust each other. Satan was trying to destroy the church. Already, the believers had enemies who were attacking them from outside the church. But now, Satan was working by means of their own members.
God hates sin. He wants his church to be pure, Holy, blameless. The first church was in danger if believers were not honest. He gave to both Ananias and Sapphira a chance to repent. But they did not repent. Sin is a serious thing and its penalty is death. I am tempted to say that those sins we commit in private and not seen by others are the most dangerous. What we forget is that God has no limitation of sight. He sees inside you 24/7. He knows what you are thinking right now. He knows what will be going on in your mind tomorrow. And yet, you think your secrets sins are unknown to him.
In his book Renovation of the Heart, Dallas Willard upacks the dynamics of personal transformation. He begins by informing us that "we live from our heart." The heart, according to Scripture, is the control centre of human personality. It's the deep, inner place where the mind, emotions, and will intersect, and where decisions are made. Our hearts have been malformed by our fallen world, and they need to be re-formed by the Spirit of God. This renovation of the heart, according to Willard, follows a predictable pattern involving vision, intention, and means.
In the case of Ananias and Sapphira, their intention was wrong. So they lied.
In Joshua 7 After the victory of Israel over Jericho, there was a man called Achan who coveted and kept to himself a Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver and a piece of gold. This had been expressly forbidden, and brought disaster ultimately upon his whole family. Yet it is not the sin of misappropriation or embezzlement which is emphasised here, but the sin of hypocrisy, and of lying to the Holy Spirit. Church, be careful that you do not fall into sin and think no one sees you. Remember God sees everything and no sin will go unpunished unless you repent.
I wish I could say that as a Child of God the subject of fear could be alleviated from our vocabulary. However, as spiritual as we get, we are subject to the things we see and hear that cause us to have periods of fear in our lives. We still have incidents that happen both great and small that create anxiety. Our humanity overrides the spiritual emphasis in our lives and as a result, we are prone to the fears of life.
The word fear in our text is one that comes from the root word phobia. This means we are subject to anxieties. The early church had a fear because of what was happening in their lives. This was not the fear of God, but the fear that comes because of what is happening.
Now while fear is not the best thing in the world to experience, it is not all bad. Sometimes fear can drive us in the right direction if we are heading in the wrong direction. Sometimes fear can drive us to our knees when we become complacent in our spiritual lives. So I believe that God allowed them to experience fear in order to give them a sense of reality and make them head into the right direction.
There are passages in Bible that talk about the fear of the Lord and I will give you some:
Psalms 2:11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Psalms 96:9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!
1 Corinthians 2:3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling
There are some things that I fear. I don't care how unwell I may feel, it doesn't matter how smart I try to be, and there are times that fear comes to visit me. And this is one of those times.
I fear that I will be placed in the midst of greatest revival and will miss it. Anannias and Sapphira were in the middle of a great revival ever but they missed it. God may be doing things around you and yet you may be spiritually blind and miss the whole thing. What is God doing in your life? What is God doing in your church?
What I have been trying to say from this passage is this: Revival comes with a price: Holyness, Surrender, repentance, and Sacrifice. Revival comes with power.
12Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people(M) by the hands of the apostles. And they were all(N) together in(O) Solomon's Portico. 13None of the rest dared join them, but(P) the people held them in high esteem. 14And(Q) more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15(R) so that they even(S) carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by(T) at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem,(U) bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
My prayer is that we too will have revival in our time, in this Nation, in this city, in this town, in this Church. Our vision for the revival is to win the lost for the Kingdom. Our intention is to make Jesus famous once again in this Nation and our means to get there is to preach Christ crucified, whom God raised again from the dead.
But, may I ask: Are you ready? Remember God does not stand sin. Sin that are seen and those unseen sins, He sees all. And He gives us a chance to put things right, to repent. Examine yourself thins morning. What is your vision of God in your life? What are your intentions in following Him? How do you go about seeing your intentions in actions? If you are to stand before the throne 5 minutes from now, are you sure of hell or are you sure of heaven? Remember, the wages of sin is death. That is not a great place to be.
Luke 16:23 talks of this man in hell being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house for I have five brothers--so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"
If there is any sin you need to repent of, this is your chance today because no one knows the day or the hour you may be called home. And remember, sin will not enter the presence of God. Repent.
