Ananias and Sapphira
Well, good morning friends. How are you this morning? It's good to see you all. We've been preaching through the book of Acts, and the book of Acts is the story of the beginning of the New Testament church, the church in the New Testament. After Jesus has ascended back into heaven, he has given a commission, a mission to his followers, go into all of the world, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, even to the ends of the earth, and be my witnesses.
Cameron:Do so in and through the power of my Holy Spirit that I will place in you, that I will put in you. And for the last few weeks, we've seen how the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the people, upon the leaders of the church has produced an incredible amount of fruit in way of people's personal conviction and repentance of their own sin. The Holy Spirit has come in a powerful way among the believers. Peter has preached the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. And not because of his wise or persuasive words, not because he's some great orator or preacher, not because there's something special about Peter that there isn't about other people, but because the Holy Spirit fills Peter and the other followers of Jesus, and their words now become the words of the gospel become powerful as they hit the heart of other people.
Cameron:And that always is the pattern and always will be the pattern of the act of preaching and the act of proclamation. You might sit in a sermon sometime, not mine, of course, some other sermons. You might sit in a sermon sometime and be like, wow, that was awesome. Right? That was powerful.
Cameron:That really spoke exactly to what I'm going through or what's going on inside of me or what my life is all about right now. Pastor, how did you know to preach that? And I'll be honest with you, we plan our sermons a year in advance. Okay? A year.
Cameron:So in November of every October and November every year, I plan every sermon for the following year. All right? And then we prepare, we study, we pray, we do the best job that we can, but then we ask, we plead with the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, would you do what Jesus has promised that you would do? In taking your word, taking the truth of your word, and injecting it deep into the soul, the heart and soul of every person who hears it.
Cameron:And that, when that hits you and you feel that, it's not anything to do with me. It's not anything to do with Pastor Luke. It's the power of the Holy Spirit in the proclamation of the word that hits us in our heart. Okay? The story for today in the book of Acts is a heavy one.
Cameron:I'm just going to like I'm going to lay it out for you just at at the get go. This is an uncomfortable story. It's not easy to hear. It's not easy even to preach, to be honest with you, because I'm looking at it and I'm like, Man, this is heavy. Okay?
Cameron:But I think that the Lord has something for us in it. There was in the early church, over the last several weeks, we've read how in the early church, there was a kind of a culture being developed amongst the believers of this radical sense of togetherness and community, and a radical sense of generosity that kind of defied all of our ideas of what it means to live in community with other believers and be generous. Because we live in a very individualistic society, right, where we are we are primarily concerned, even the most generous among us, we are almost always primarily concerned with us, me. Right? I go to work, not so I can pay your bills.
Cameron:Right? I go to work to pay my bills, to support my family, to take care of my needs. And part of that is like being generous, of course. But there is kind of this undercurrent in our world and in our society of like, like, I am I am in charge of me. No one's coming to save me.
Cameron:It's I have to do what's best for me. What we see in the early chapters of Acts is that that was an idea that became foreign for believers. They so dialed in on creating this sense of really radical community and radical generosity that there was They were no longer just thinking of their own means and their own self, but their mind was shifted from like, Wait a second. No, it's not just me anymore. By faith, I have been united to other brothers sisters.
Cameron:And so now we are part of the same body. We are connected with one another. We can't be we can't be separated and still be in one spirit. So in a couple of different points of the first couple chapters of Acts, the writer Luke says stuff like this in chapter two, selling their possessions and goods. He was describing the community, right?
Cameron:And their kind of their their practices of caring for one another and being in this developing this culture of kind of radical generosity. He said selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as they had need. He goes on to say, they broke bread in their homes, and they ate together with glad and sincere hearts. Now that seems like a pretty okay. That's a pretty standard bar for generosity.
Cameron:Right? They gave to anyone as they had need, they broke bread together, and they ate with one another in their homes with glad and sincere hearts. A lot of you have eaten in my home with glad and sincere hearts. I have eaten in your homes with glad and sincere hearts. Pretty kind of normal fare for life in community.
Cameron:But he doesn't end there. In a later chapter, chapter four, it feels like the bar is raised a little bit higher. Like it's anted up a little bit. And in chapter four, there's this little section where Luke writes in Acts. He says that no one claimed This is really getting into the weeds of a radical sense of community and generosity.
Cameron:It says, one claimed Verse 32 of chapter four, No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything that they had. There was no needy person among them. For from time to time, those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sale and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was then distributed to anyone as they had need. Now there is a type of generosity in community that's like, yeah, come over to the house. We'll break bread with glad and sincere hearts.
Cameron:That'd be great. Stay as long as you want. As long as you're gone by nine, you can stay as long as you want. Alright? Like, that's pretty that's pretty typical and normal.
Cameron:Like, yeah, come over. We'll have dinner. You know? But it like, I think it's clearly a elevation of a community standard of togetherness, unity, and generosity to begin describing the community as like, No one believed that what they had was only their own. That whatever they had belonged.
Cameron:They shared everything that they had. And from time to time, it says, someone would have some land, some extra land or an extra home, and they would sell that home, and they would bring the money to the apostles, and they would say, Please use this, the proceeds of this sale, to ensure that the continued needs of the community of brothers and sisters, the gathering of the faithful in Jesus Christ, please use the proceeds of this to make sure that the needs of everyone are met. It was a radical, radical sense of generosity and community that's kind of foreign to us. In fact, not only is it kind of foreign to us, but some of us would make the argument that it sounds a lot like a type of system of government that we here in America don't like very much. Like, what are you talking about?
Cameron:Like we care for the needs of everyone. We redistribute the wealth of a person for the benefit of the community. You sound like you're teetering dangerously close on socialism, pastor. But this was different. Okay?
Cameron:It was not a sense of obligation. All right? There was a culture of generosity that was being built within the early church that was not out of obligation or guilt. It was not something that was mandated nor was it something that was expected. But what we see continually and consistently in Acts is that that type of generosity came out as a response to what God had done in that individual person's heart.
Cameron:That God had moved upon them, that God had spoken to them, that God had resourced them, and that God now had then called them to this moment of, to this act of radical community and radical generosity. This type of generosity was a way in which they saw what they had and they repurposed and re understood their own possessions and their own tools and resources as now available for expressing love to other people on behalf of the Lord. That they saw what they had as an opportunity not to be protective of their own individualistic lives, but to say, Lord, Lord Jesus, as Lord of my life. All that I have is at your disposal to do all that you want to do in and among your people. Nothing I have is yours, Lord.
Cameron:My heart is not my own. My mind is not my own. My thoughts are not my own. My relationships are not my own. My resources are not my own.
Cameron:My land is not my own. My money is not my own. Nothing is my own. Lord, when you become Lord of my life, you become Lord of every part of my life. Whatever I have, Lord, that you can use to advance your purposes in life, in the community, in other person's life, Lord, I want you to know that all my resources are available for you.
Cameron:This is the attitude and culture that was being developed early in the church. It was an overflow of people's abundance that they had received from the Lord. And what I want you to hear and see here very clearly is like there's this sense here where it says that they would bring land for verse 37, He sold the field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. That there was this kind of sense that there is like a we're bringing it like laying it at the apostles' feet is like making an offering to Peter or John. I'm going come and lay this money at your feet.
Cameron:Listen, it was not an offering to the apostles in order to line their own personal pockets, But it was a way that each person in the community of faith at that time saw and understood that unity in faith gave them the opportunity to provide for the resources and care of others. And that is honestly like what we see here in the beginning of chapters, the chapters of Acts, the beginning chapters there, is that it's not that has not changed. Still the way in which Conduit provides for the needs of you as a community, in a spiritual community, your spiritual growth, right, your health, the safety and discipleship of your kids, your safety as you come onto this property and into this building, the ways in which we minister to and reach out to our community when we're on mission in our community with the food truck or with Abundance Market or with the youth group or with the Thanksgiving event or with the Christmas toy event, like all of the ways and many, many more that we are seeking to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the community. Right? The way in which we do that together is the same principle that's laid out here in our story for this morning, is that the resources that we have, that you have, that I have, that they have, are brought together in an intentional way, are pooled together so that we can say, it is important to us that we honor God with what he has given and entrusted to us, and that we use it in a way that makes the name of Jesus great in this community.
Cameron:That is our desire. Our desire listen. Take the sign down out front. I don't care. Right?
Cameron:Like, if if Conduit's name never gets mentioned ever again in the public square, but the name of Jesus gets lifted up and glorified in our midst. That's all that matters. That is all that matters, and so that everything that we do, not just with our words or with our Bible studies or our small groups or our youth group or our mission or whatever, everything that we do is about making the name of Jesus great among the people that we live amongst, in the areas that we live, and in this region. It's all about him. It's not about conduit.
Cameron:It's not about me. It's about him. And so we come together pulling our resources to say, how can I leverage this dollar to make the name of Jesus great in this community? And I trust that this I'm giving this because I trust that the mission that this group is on, this community is on, is one that lifts up the name of Jesus. So here's where I invest and place my money.
Cameron:Now listen, like most things, what is good and godly, like selling a piece of land and laying the money at the apostles' feet for the sake of the mission of Jesus Christ in the area, everything can be leveraged for personal gain or personal reputation building if improperly approached or used. For instance, not every act of radical generosity is seen the same in the eyes of the Lord. As a for instance, Jesus in Matthew well, all over the gospels, but particularly in Matthew chapter 23, one of the main criticisms that he has of the spiritual leaders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, is the kind of like the the dividedness or the duplicity of their hearts. That there were actions that were being that they were doing that appeared to be generous and pious, but their hearts were still darkened and full of sin. And so the act the the righteous act was only kind of like a hypocritical facade of a response to what God actually saw was going on in their hearts.
Cameron:Jesus said these types of things about them in Matthew chapter 23. He says, They, meaning the spiritual leaders, tie up heavy loads and they put them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is for other men to see. He says to them, he says to the Pharisees, he says, You are so particular about your tithing. He says that you give a tenth of your spices, your dill, your mint, your cumin.
Cameron:So you're acting out the righteous life so much that you're tithing spice cabinet. But then he goes, but you're ignoring the content of your heart. You're going through the motions on the outside, and everyone is like, oh, wow. They're even tithing their spices. How generous are they?
Cameron:But Jesus says, but you have neglected the more important matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Then he goes on to say, you clean the outside of the cup, but the inside of it is full of greed and self indulgence. There is a kind of life that pursues only the appearance of godliness. You can live an almost full life pursuing just an appearance of godliness. It takes an intentional decision to say, Lord, I don't want to just look good on the outside amongst other religious folk.
Cameron:I want you to have access to my heart. Clean the inside of this cup, Lord, so that the things that happen on the outside are in alignment with the true nature of your transformative work in me. This is ultimately the life in pursuit of real authenticity, where the inner life and the outer life match up at whatever point they match up. Right? It's just as authentic to be a mess on the inside and appear a mess on the outside, right, as it is to be awesome on the inside and appear awesome on the and and appear awesome on the outside.
Cameron:Alright? We're not looking here for always appear great on the outside even if the inside is a mess. Not interested in that here. Okay? Not interested in leading a church like that.
Cameron:Not interested in asking you to fake it until you make it. Right? I'm interested in inviting you into a space that says, you know what? No matter how you're coming, no matter what you're carrying, no matter what you're bringing with you, it's okay here. Like, and whether you're carrying that on the inside or whether you're just carrying that on the outside, like God has something for you.
Cameron:God wants to redeem and change both things. He wants to redeem and transform the inner parts of your life, your heart, the center of the place where you make your decisions and when all your affections come from. And I think God also wants to transform the outside as well. And those two things, they crisscross and they come into alignment a lot. But what we want is we want them to always be like here.
Cameron:K? Where the inside and the outside are in alignment with one another. The reality here is is that and I promise we're gonna actually read the story from acts here in just a second. Okay? I'm I'm I'm like, I'm stoking the fire a little bit because the story is like, oh, I don't even know how to say this.
Cameron:Right? The reality here, and this is gonna actually be the point of the story. K? The reality here is that Jesus wants the whole of your life. He wants the inner parts, and he wants the outer parts.
Cameron:Right? Jesus is not interested in you looking the part. Jesus is not interested in you saying the right words, putting on the right type of face. Right? Jesus is interested in your whole self, how you're feeling internally, and he wants you to offer that to him so he can do with it what only Jesus can do with it.
Cameron:Jesus wants the whole of our lives, the inner and the outer. Okay? So we're gonna read the story this morning. It's a brief story, 11 verses in Acts chapter five, the story of Ananias and Sapphira. You know, sometimes when people none of you, of course, would ever be critical of the church, but other people.
Cameron:Right? In times where they've maybe been critical of leadership decisions or philosophies of ministry or whatever, will say things like, We just need to get back to the times of the early church. Like, why can't we just do like, have just, like, the life of the early church? And I was like, I mean, like, I agree. I I love that.
Cameron:But listen, the times of the early church were also experiences like Ananias and Sapphira, where two people dropped dead in front of everyone else because they lied to the Holy Spirit, which is an uncomfortable story. But let's read it this morning. Acts chapter one, verses five or Acts chapter five, verses one through 11. 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.
Cameron:But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and 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 have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man, but to God.
Cameron:When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last, and a great fear came upon all who heard it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. 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, yeah, for so much.
Cameron:Yep. But Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to test 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. Immediately, 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.
Cameron:And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. It's like a great bedtime Bible story for your kids about the consequences of lying. Do you see why this is like a wow. What do we even do with this? How do we even begin to process this in the light of God's goodness, kindness, redemption, forgiveness.
Cameron:I mean, I don't know about like, none of you have. I know. I've lied before. I've lied before, and I am still standing here. And and I don't say that even, like, flippantly, but I say that, like, in view of God's mercy, I still stand.
Cameron:Okay? That's it. It's God's mercy. It's God's grace. It's God's goodness and love.
Cameron:It's God's forbearance. It's God's patience. It's God's kindness towards me. It's not meant that my lie was not as bad or their lie was worse. It was it so I don't know what to do with this passage of scripture.
Cameron:K? I'll be honest with you. I don't really get it in light of all of those things, in, like, comparing my own sinfulness. But I I think there are a few things that we could talk about here briefly this morning. And the first is I want to talk about what this text is not saying.
Cameron:I think that's one of the main questions that people have. What is this story not saying? What it is not saying is that giving all the proceeds, of a sale that you have personally to the church is your obligation as a Christian. That's not what this text is saying. So if you recently had a big real estate deal or something like that, you are not obligated in any way, shape, or form to bring that the proceeds of that sale and to put it in the offering bucket or to give a gift on the app.
Cameron:Now no one is saying that if led by a spirit of generosity that you do that, that that would be improper. Of course, we still live in the same type of desire to build a culture of generosity and community that defies the logic and expectation of the world. But what is often viewed in this passage is like, well, the reason the Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead is because they were mandated to bring all of the proceeds to the feet of the apostles, and they didn't. They kept some for their for themselves, and that's why that's why there was judgment upon them. But but it's not obligatory at all.
Cameron:And Peter said this to them, to Ananias, in the beginning of the story. He says to him in verse four, was like, he's like, didn't didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And then he said, and after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? He he asks him two rhetorical questions that he already knew the answer to. He was essentially saying like, hey, man.
Cameron:Like, I don't know why you lied about it. You you didn't you didn't have to lie about it because it was yours before the sale, and it was your the the money was yours after the sale, and you could have done whatever it is that you wanted to do with that because there's no obligation for you to bring the whole of the proceeds here. But it appears, at least from the context and the fact that it was a stated practice earlier in the scripture of some in the early church, that Ananias and Sapphira likely had made some type of pledge to be like, Yeah, we're to do the same thing. If we back up just a few verses from the beginning of the story of Ananias and Sapphira, we see the story of a guy named Barnabas in chapter four, verse thirty six and thirty seven. It says, Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.
Cameron:The very next verse is the story of Ananias and Sapphira. And so you have to imagine that they're like, Yeah, we're going to do that too. We're in. Great idea, Barnabas. We will also sell a piece of land, and we will bring the money and place it at the disciples' feet.
Cameron:So that they had made seemingly this public profession, at least so much as to know that Peter was aware of it, that the other leaders were aware of what was committed by Ananias and Sapphira. So so what was the real issue here? What was the actual issue? Was it that they just didn't automatically give up all that they had got or owned over to the apostles to sustain the work of ministry? It was not that.
Cameron:It was not that there was an expectation or an obligation to do that in a small amount or a big amount. What the issue was was the pursuit of a form of godliness in front of the community, but with hearts that had already decided to hold back for themselves. It was the of like the duplicitous nature of their heart, that they were living half over here desiring to pursue a form of righteousness that allowed them to be or to look like other really faithful, people in the community. But over here they had decided, But we're not really going to do that because we're to keep some for ourselves. And it wasn't like Peter was like, Well, you to give it all.
Cameron:Peter was like, You don't have to give any of it. But don't play games with the Spirit of God. Peter's like, You're lying to me. Who does Peter say that he lied to? He lied to the Holy Spirit.
Cameron:Peter's like, I don't care what you give or what you don't give. Not my issue, not my thing. But this, this act of generosity and this act of deception happened between you and a commitment that you made before the Lord. And he sees and he knows, and it can't be hidden. It was the way in which they likely just wanted to appear like Barnabas, but their hearts were more like the Pharisees.
Cameron:Now in a really striking fashion in the story, they both fell dead at the feet of the apostles. I read every commentary I could get my hands on, every bit of biblical scholarship that I've studied in the last twenty five years of doing this professionally. There are as many opinions as what happened to Ananias Sapphira as there are books or authors that have written on it. Alright? Did God strike them dead in that moment?
Cameron:I mean, if it looks like a duck and it acts like a duck, sounds like a duck, it's probably a duck. But are we told that God, seeing the nature of their hearts and the deception of their lies, struck them down? We're not told that. And the text doesn't really make it clear other than to say when they were both confronted with the lie that they have told, great fear came upon them, and great fear came upon the rest of the community, and they fell dead on the floor. So whether this was like the most extreme case of Holy Spirit conviction that led them into cardiac arrest, and I'm not even I'm not joking about that.
Cameron:Whether it's like the most extreme case of like Holy Spirit conviction that led to like a physiological response, fear of the Lord, like whoop. Or whether or not it was like a intervention by the Holy Spirit of God to strike down those who had who had, like, actively lied to him. And, I mean, if this incident makes us uncomfortable, if this story makes us uncomfortable, it probably should. I mean, it probably should make us a little uncomfortable. Actually, it should probably make us not a little it should probably make us a lot uncomfortable.
Cameron:I want you to hear me. We cannot fake it before a God who sees everything. God sees everything. Ananias and Sapphira maybe had were able to lie to Peter and the rest of the apostles in the group, the community of faith that was there, but they could not lie to the Lord. And I want you to hear this gently, but also seriously and pastorally.
Cameron:Okay? Your sin will always be exposed. Always. There is no sin in your life hidden or secret buried under a mountain of your secrecy, guilt, or shame that will not be that will stay hidden forever. All of our sin will be exposed.
Cameron:Nothing stays in the dark. And there is mercy. It is the mercy of the Lord. Based on just what I'm seeing here in Acts chapter five, there is mercy from the Lord when our sin is exposed and we don't drop dead. Like, even when sin is exposed in our life and it creates utter destruction in our life, it's mercy that we don't end up like Ananias and Sapphira.
Cameron:It's the goodness of God. It's the kindness of God. It's the forbearance and patience of God that we that we do not suffer the same fate in light of our sin every single time. But but let me be very, very clear. There is not a single thing that you are hiding right now that the Lord does not know about and that someday will be exposed.
Cameron:It will either be exposed in this life or it will be exposed when you stand before him at the end of your life. But nothing will remain hidden. Everything everything we will be accountable for everything. And in God's goodness and his grace, Jesus has taken that which we are accountable for to the cross, and he has paid the penalty for those things. But we can walk in continual abandonment of that sacrifice Because there I don't know if I should tell this story or not.
Cameron:So there is there is a way in which I have experienced the redemptive process of sin exposure in good ways and bad ways. I'm gonna share with you a little bit about this, okay? When we get a sense when the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, shines a light on this thing, and we do all kinds of work to cover it up. Alright? We hide it from other people, we lie about it, we conceal, we keep it here, we keep it here.
Cameron:There is this sense that when we become, that when it eventually gets exposed, like someone else rips the cover off of it, and everything just goes, comes flooding out, that the process of someone else or something else exposing our sin is a extraordinarily painful and damaging one. It's it's very, very damaging. Oftentimes, not just to the nature of our own souls, but the content of our life. Right? Our relationships, sometimes our jobs and our livelihoods, our mental health, our physical health.
Cameron:It becomes extraordinarily difficult in that moment when someone else exposes that and we're not ready for it. But there is what I have experienced both as a pastor and in my own life, my own personal life, there is an extraordinary mercy and freedom. When conviction comes upon our hearts and we say, Lord, I am scared. I am full of shame and guilt, but I'm gonna confess. I'm gonna come out with it.
Cameron:I'm gonna say what happened. I'm gonna say what I did. I'm gonna say what I said. I'm gonna reveal my I'm gonna I confess to you. I confess to them.
Cameron:I repent of my sin, Lord. Would you come and heal me, restore me, refresh me? Is it still painful? All repentance is. All repentance is painful.
Cameron:All confession hurts. K? But there is such a sweet mercy to the willful act of repentance and confession that soothes that soothes the wounds and the presence of God comes rushing into the places where there is humility in the midst of my own sin and confession and repentance. When I was in fourth grade, when I this still hurts my heart. I don't even know why.
Cameron:Right? When I was in fourth grade, I I was a student. Back then, it was Levant Christian School, and we would have Sunday school before church. And me and my friend had gotten into this habit of going to hang out in other Sunday school rooms before church started and seeing what kind of snacks they might have dropped off teachers might have dropped off, you know? Just checking it out.
Cameron:Completely innocent. Right? Until one day, we found on the tables these bags of assorted candy. K? I don't remember exactly the conversation that happened, but I remember I was wearing these baggy sweatpants like kids in the eighties did.
Cameron:Okay? And they had big pockets in them. And for whatever reason, I don't remember all the details, we just started opening up those bags of candy and just, like, stuffing our pockets full. I mean, I was walking around like pockets like this. I know no nothing to see here.
Cameron:Right? And then we went into, like, the big room to worship as a as a Sunday school class. Like, I heard one of the teachers over I don't know. All of the she and she was like, all of the prizes for the kids who won the Bible memory verses last week, they're all gone. I don't know where they went.
Cameron:And I heard them. I heard her talking about it in that moment. And I was, like, chewing a piece of, like, bubble gum from one of the packages. Right? I was just like, time of my life.
Cameron:Right? And when I heard her, it was like the Holy Spirit just came down and crushed me. Like, massive conviction. And I still remember the moment where I, like, I swallowed the bubble gum. I was like and I just, like, was overwhelmed with this sense of, like, what have I done?
Cameron:And I held onto the candy, held onto the candy, held onto the candy until the very end of Sunday school. And I went up to the teacher, and I just started, I took it. I took it. I took it. I took it.
Cameron:And she's very gracious with me. And and but I knew that I was like, okay. I did the I did the thing. Man, I cannot let my mom know. And so we got out of Sunday school, and my mom's like, All right, let's walk into church.
Cameron:I was like, Mom, I don't feel good. Can we just go home instead? She's like, I think you feel fine. I'm like, No, really, I don't want to feel good. So I was doing everything that I could to cover it up.
Cameron:Well, you know the story. Like, yeah, we ended up going home, but then next week, the teacher approached her. This is what Cameron did, etcetera, etcetera. And my mom, when we got home, was like, did you think I would not find out? Did you think I would not find out?
Cameron:That's how we operate a lot. Do we think we will not be found out? The scripture says, be sure that your sin will find you out. God will not be mocked. We reap what we sow.
Cameron:And God is a God of love, but he is a God of justice. Right? And the scales of his just the scales of his justice are calibrated perfectly, and he sees it all. And he invites us to come in repentance before destruction. Because, listen, as much as I want to believe something else, God is not above destroying the circumstances of your life to get to your heart.
Cameron:God will get there. God will get to your heart. And we can say, Lord, come inside my heart, change, transform, renew, redeem, root out every sinful and wicked way in me, and the process goes pretty smooth. Painful, pretty smooth. Right?
Cameron:Or we can say, no, Lord. Nope. This is there's, like, walls here, Lord, and I am yeah. I'm not and God's like, I'm gonna get there. I'm gonna get there, and I'm gonna tear down every single thing you put in my way.
Cameron:And it will be the the more you put up, the more painful it will be. The more you build, the more I will destruct. The more you conceal, the more difficult it will be when I rip you out of hiding. But I will get to your heart, and we will expose what's in your heart, And by my grace and my mercy, even when I get there, there's gonna be gentleness and love. There's gonna be forgiveness and grace.
Cameron:There's gonna be mercy, and there's gonna be freedom. But I'm I implore you, brothers and sisters, to open open your heart to the Lord so that he doesn't have to violently get there. K? Last point really of our story this morning is this. If there's anything that we learn about I think that if if there's anything we learn this is, like, more generally about the book of Acts, and then we're gonna close.
Cameron:K? I think if there's anything that we learn about the book of Acts and about the story of the New Testament church, it's this, is that God is an expert at drawing straight lines with broken sticks. There is story after story after story after story of God using not perfect people, not the super religious people, not just the leaders of the church or religious movements, not the ones in high places are really important with lots of resources. God is all about using the very people who have been broken and changed and transformed to lead His church. You'll see that here in the next few weeks as we talk about how the Apostle Paul came on the scene, how the early church began to organize the ways that they would take care of people, all really encouraging and good.
Cameron:But only to say, all of that is to say that it doesn't matter where you've come from, and it doesn't matter what you've walked through, and it doesn't matter what has happened in your life that you think kind of disqualifies you from being used by God or God working through you, that that is what God does. God only works through broken people. God only works through sinners who have been redeemed by his name. God only works through those who have lied, those who have covered things up. God only works through women and men who have sinned and fallen short, but that his glory through Jesus Christ has redeemed.
Cameron:Okay. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this story in scripture this morning, even despite, Lord, what how it may make us at times uncomfortable. Lord, I pray that you would bring conviction upon our hearts. Lord, that maybe those of us who are concealing or hiding our own sin, Lord, make a decision this morning to allow you to bring healing as we repent.
Cameron:Father, I pray that you would act mercifully for your people here. Lord, that even in the midst of our sometimes stubborn deceit, our willful sin, Lord, that you would act kindly and gently as we willfully open our hearts to be transformed or renewed by you, Lord. Thank you for your mercy. In Jesus' name, amen. From Peter's sermon just the week before, he says in Acts chapter three, Repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out and that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.
Cameron:Times of refreshing are what the Lord has planned for repentance and confession of your sin. Go in peace, Conduit. You are loved. See you next time.
