The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
October 19, 2003
In
This Issue:
That
Really Makes Me Mad!
by
Steve Klein
The
Sin of Ananias and Sapphira
by
Steve Klein
That Really Makes Me Mad!
What really makes YOU mad? Do you get mad when you hear ugly things being said about something or someone you like? If someone is putting down your football team, your school, your favorite politician or NASCAR driver, how upset do you become? Do you get mad when you are corrected? Deceived? Treated unjustly? Fail to perform up to your own expectations? Don't get your way? You can tell a lot about a person by the things that make him or her angry. Wrath reveals what a person really cares about. Consider with me some causes of anger that reveal faults we need to correct.
Wounded Pride.
The Jewish Council became mad when Peter accused them of
murdering Christ, Whom God raised up to be Prince and Savior.
"When they heard this, they were furious" and plotted to
kill the apostles (Acts 5:33). Being accused of doing something
wrong usually makes people angry, even if the accusation is true.
That's because it wounds our pride and sense of self-righteousness.
Matthew 2:16 tells us that when Herod "saw that he was deceived
by the wise men," he "was exceedingly angry."
How does it make you feel when someone gets the better of you? Do you
think pride might have been the cause of Herod's anger? If we
would be honest with ourselves, most of us would have to admit that
our righteous indignation against those who have rebuked us, deceived
us or mistreated us usually just boils down to wounded pride.
Wrong Standards
The Jews were upset because Jesus healed on the Sabbath.
Their thinking was that this was work that could not be done on the Sabbath.
Of course that was their rule; God had never said not to heal on the
Sabbath. When their rule was violated, they became angry. Their rules
did however allow them to circumcise on the Sabbath, which of course
involves work. Jesus points out their inconsistency in John
7:23: "If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that
the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because
I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?" The cause of
their anger was simply that their rules were wrong.
Selfishness
Jonah was angry when God did not destroy Nineveh (Jonah 4:1).
And he was angry when his shade plant died (Jonah 4:9). In both
cases, Jonah's anger reveals his selfishness. He was concerned
about something that provided him comfort, but couldn't have cared
less about the well being of thousands of innocent humans and
livestock in Nineveh (Jonah 4:11). Becoming angry because we
are inconvenienced, have our schedule disrupted, or don't get our way
is selfishness, pure and simple. Jesus said, "If anyone
desires to come after Me, let him deny himself" (Matthew 16:24).
Anger can cause one to sin, but it can also reveal pre-existing sinful attitudes. Pride, human standards, and selfishness are all too often the root of wrath. My friends, if we are to be angry, let us not be angry that our pride has been offended but that our Lord has. Not that our rules have been broken, but that His have. Not that we've not gotten our way, but that His will has not been honored. Let your wrath reveal that you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, strength and mind. Be angry, and do not sin.
By Steve Klein
But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. 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. 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? 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.' Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him" (Acts 5:1-6).
Three hours later his wife Sapphira showed up not being informed of the death of her husband. Peter asked whether she had sold the land for the price indicated by her late husband. Perhaps he even pointed to the money at the feet of the Apostles. She answered, "Yes, for so much." Peter, undoubtedly distraught and yet filled with righteous indignation toward her brazen lie, asked why she had conspired with her husband to test the Spirit of the Lord. Those who had buried her husband were ready at the door to carry her corpse away. Immedi-ately, she fell dead.
Such a reading needs to be considered thoughtfully. We are not reading an event from the law of Moses, when the fire from God consumed Nadab and Abihu or when Achan and his household were stoned by the congregation. Those events would be appropriate warnings to us (1 Corinthians 10:11), yet such Old Testament episodes are discounted in the minds of people because they belong to the Mosaic era. Here is an event early in the gospel age in which we live where we witness a candid display of God's wrath. What is the message of God's judgment on Ananias and Sapphira?
We must not be guilty of treating the blood of Christ as a common thing. Forgiveness of sin is a precious gift. Its cost was the price of God's own son. When we sin and repent, sin and repent, sin and repent with a remorse that is transitory, with little or no struggle to defeat sin in our life, and with no concerted planning to escape the wiles of the devil, are we not treating the grace of God lightly? The cross of Christ is not to be regarded like Aladdin's lamp. We cannot will-fully sin or engage in half-hearted holiness and then conspire in our heart that we can always repent tomorrow. Just rub the cross and say the magic formula and poof our sins are gone. Is God obligated to forgive us just because we say the right words? Does He not see our motives and know that we don't mean it? Does God not know our hearts? Does He not see such presumptions? The judgment on Ananias and Sapphira says that He does.
To play the hypocrite is to lie, not to men, but to God (Acts 5:4,9). The real sin of Ananias and Sapphira was hypocrisy. There was a legiti-mate need in Jerusalem. They, like Barnabas and others, sold their property and brought the proceeds from the sale to the Apostles to be distributed to the needy saints. Did they feel pressured to give because others were doing so and they had the means to help? They might have felt embarrassed if they did not join in the benevolent activity. Or were they jealous of the notoriety that comes from philanthropy? Whatever their reasonings they pretended to give the entire price of the land when in fact they kept a part of the price for themselves.
They of course did lie to men, but the real lie was to God. They gave of their means under the pretense of being thoughtful and kind. They gave. But they gave to gain glory for themselves. We must be careful that our wor-ship, that our service to God on any plain does not become merely a veneer. We cannot allow it to degenerate to a theatrical production that is put on so that the elders, the preacher, our family will speak well of us, or maybe leave us alone. We will probably succeed in fooling them. But God is not mocked. When we have pretended to be His servants by yielding to the pressure of godly company or to gain the audi-ence and applause of men, we have told a seri-ous untruth to God. This occasion with Ananias and Sapphira demonstrates His disgust for those who wear His name like a mask.
We must be sober in our service to God. I don't wish that God would perform in our time the type of cleansing activity that He did that day before the saints in Jerusalem. I fear the loss of life that would come, for I have had times when the gift of forgiveness has been regarded lightly and service has been rendered for show or for masquerade rather than for God's glory. But if God did interject a demonstration of this sort, what would that do to our worship? What effect would that have on our daily conduct? We would have a marked awareness that we stand before the Almighty. May I suggest that we keep such a picture of His glory and reign upon the heavenly throne before us each day? Such a vision should not just evoke fear, but hope that inspires us to serve our God. For He is alive.
by Jason Moore
via Gospel Power