공동체와 양육

Live Out Your Mission in Great Fear (Acts 5:1~11)

2017.04.23P.Mike Lee

The church is threatened when we hold back from God or lie to him, but when we fear God with awe, the church is drawn together and grows. We are called to live out our mission by giving God everything and telling him the truth.

Unity is threatened when we hold back from God (1-2)

Ananias and Sapphira sold their property but kept back part of the money while claiming to give it all to the apostles. Luke uses the same word for 'kept back' as the Old Testament story of Achan in Joshua 7, where one person's disobedience brought judgment on the whole community. The couple failed to see their possessions as God's. Everything we have, from our clothes and food to our house and car, is a gift from God, who owns all things, as Colossians 1:16 says. The question for us is what we hold back from God: our work, a relationship, or our past.

Unity is threatened when we lie to God (3-4)

When Peter confronted Ananias, he said that Satan had filled his heart and that he had lied to the Holy Spirit and to God. Ananias wanted the credit for sacrificial generosity without its cost, as John Stott observes, and so he lied. Lies rooted in love of possessions and praise slowly lead to deception and fraud. Lying breaks our connection with one another and with God, because God desires a community dwelling together in truth. Pastor Bill Hybels once said that pastors who journal don't fall, and the same principle helps us examine ourselves honestly before God. Ephesians 5:18 calls us to be continually filled with the Spirit rather than with lies.

Unity is created through great fear (5, 11)

Great fear came upon all who heard of Ananias's death, and it came upon the whole church. Instead of driving people away, this fear drew believers together, and the church became bigger than ever. Rather than asking why these two died, we should ask why we remain alive. We are sinners who deserve death, but God has shown us grace, and his patience is meant to lead us to repentance. Fear of God is holy awe mixed with intimacy: we are invited into the closest relationship with him, yet his majesty must never be overshadowed.

Apply to Life

  • Let us examine what we are holding back from God and give it all to him.
  • Let us stop saying 'this is mine' and remember that everything we have belongs to God.
  • Let us be honest with God in our daily reflections and write down our thoughts and actions before him.
  • Let us ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit rather than with lies, jealousy, or our own emotions.
  • Let us live with a fear of God that honors his holiness and his grace, drawing us closer to him and to one another.

This summary was made automatically from the sermon's captions and may differ from the sermon.

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