In God We Trust, Pt5: A Big Mistake

February 10, 2019                     NOTES NOT EDITED
Giving Series, Pt 5:  “A Big Mistake”

Acts 5:1-11, et. al.

SIS – Holding back on God is a BIG mistake.

Anytime there is a discussion of “giving money to God through the church,” the inevitable question comes up:  “do I have to give my money to the church,” or “do I have to give 10% of my money to the church?”

Well the answer is “no,” or “yes.”  It depends on what one means by “have to.”  If “have to” one means that “God compels us to give money to the church or He will strike us dead,” then the answer is “no”—categorically no.  God says we should not give because we feel compelled. (2Cor. 9).

If by “have to” you mean, “will I receive God’s full blessing in my life I don’t give to the church,” then the answer is ABSOLUTELY YES!  “Yes,” you must give your money to the church (at least 10% and more) “willingly and cheerfully” if you want to experience God’s full blessing in your life. 

The issue is not one of “money,” but one of “Lordship.”  Is Jesus the Lord of my life, or is He not.  If He IS the Lord of my life then He is LORD of everything I am and everything I have. . . .PERIOD!

The reason you “have to give” to be fully blessed brings me to the first point of my message:

1.  God has EXPECTATIONS.

Christianity is a “free” ride to heaven, but it is not a cheap ride.  It is free for us because Jesus already paid the price, but it is also costly because it will require that we give “everything we have to the Lord.”

Jesus said,  LUKE 14:33   In the same way, therefore,

everyone of you who does not say good-bye to 

all his possessions  cannot be My disciple.

EVERYONE. . .EVERYTHING!

Forget the 10% thing—God wants EVERYTHING!

Most people have not even reached the STARTING LINE when it comes to meeting God’s expectations for holiness.

God does not force you to be saved.  God does not force you to acknowledge His Son Jesus Christ as the “Lord of All.”  But, once a person willingly accept the salvation God freely provides, then God has some expectations for our lives—and they are GREAT EXPECTATIONS.

Usually when a message comes up dealing with money, people will argue about the amount that should be given.  Should a person give 10% of their income, like in the O.T., or can one give less now that we are no longer under the O.T. Law?

First of all, tithing (giving 10%) was not part of the Mosaic Law that was fulfilled and set aside by the sacrifice of Jesus.

Second, the Jews of the O.T. did not give only 10% of their income regularly.  They gave as much as 23^1/3 of their income.  Plus, those who were considered more “pious” Jews gave additional “free-will” offerings above that.  So, get the idea of 10% out of your mind.  Even the Jews under the Law did better than that.

The average Christian gives less than 2.5% of their income to the church.  Non-Christians give slightly less than that to charity (for those who may be wondering).

When we read about “tithing” (giving 10% of one’s income regularly) the O.T. mentions three such “tithes.”

One, the Lord’s Tithe (Lev. 27:30; Num. 18:21).  This was the very first 10%.  This went to provide for God’s Temple Workers.  Today, it represents what we call the General Fund.  Second, the Israelites were commanded to put another 10% aside to pay for a special event held each year called, The Feast of Tabernacles (Deu. 14:22-27).  This is called the Festival Tithe.  Then, every three years the Israelites were to give an additional tithe for the poor (Deu. 14:28-29).  There is some difference of opinion as to whether this third tithe (tenth) was in addition to or a substitute for the Festival Tithe.   

So, this is 10 plus 10 plus 3^1/3 or 23^1/3 each year.  So, when people argue about whether Christians are required to give as much as the O.T. saints, we are not talking about 10% (which less than 20% of the church people give) but 23^1/3 per cent.

My point is not to give an economic lesson but to point out a clear teaching in the Word of God:  God has EXPECTATIONS for His people.  Part of those expectations are giving regularly, willfully, and cheerfully to the church.

Now, here’s what we see happening in our story with the disciples in Jerusalem.  We need to go back to chapter 4 to pick up the story.

²² Now the large group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common.  ³³ And the apostles were giving testimony with great power to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them.  ³⁴ For there was not a needy person among them, because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of the things that were sold,  ³⁵ and laid them at the apostles’ feet. This was then distributed for each person’s basic needs.

Do you see their generosity naturally outpoured as a response to the love of God they had experienced?  They willfully, cheerfully, and sacrificially started giving to the church because they intuitively realized that was what God EXPECTED of them.  We give out of a grateful response to the GREATEST GIVER WHO GAVE THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL TIME.

Most of the disciples at this time were Jewish.  They knew about the religious practice of tithing and they took it to another level – a New Testament level.  FORGET 10%.  FORGET 23¹/3%!  They were selling their property and laying 100% at the Apostles feet.

Friends, that is what Jesus meant when He said (above), “If you are not ready to say good-bye to all your possessions, you cannot be my disciple.”

God expects our all.  A true believer will stop at NOTHING
in the quest to please God Almighty.

One preacher said, that when it came to giving in his church,

Exactly what a lot of his people did when it came to giving—

They stopped at NOTHING.

There was no sermon series on giving. There was no hyped-up stewardship campaign to beg for money.  There was a generous outpouring of material possessions in response to God’s love.

God EXPECTS that kind of response from His people and God is glorified by such a response.  Let me repeat God’s expectations once more lest any of us leave confused about the matter:

Jesus said,  LUKE 14:33   In the same way, therefore,

everyone of you who does not say good-bye to

all his possessions  cannot be My disciple.

Now, enter Ananias and Sapphira.  They gleefully and willingly signed up to be a part of the giving campaign.  God did not force them.  The Apostles did not compel them, but they volunteered.  Then, something went wrong—really wrong.  This brings me to my second point about trusting God enough to avoid making a “Big Mistake”  when it comes to giving.

2.  The world is full of TEMPTATIONS.

Look at verses 1.  Ananias (with his wife Sapphira) joined in enthusiastically – or at least they made it look that way.  They sold property (which meant they were not poor) and they brought the proceeds to the apostles and laid it at the apostles’ feet—just like everyone else was doing—BUT NOT QUITE.

Ananias was a fraud.  Here’s where the “Big Mistake” happens.  Ananias started listening  to the wrong voice.  Notice verse 2:  “He kept back part of the proceeds.”  He willingly and consciously set out to deceive the group to which he belonged.

The word translated “kept back” (nophizo) is much stronger in the Greek.  It literally means he “pilfered,” or more accurately “embezzled.” His act was no innocent mistake, but a Devil-inspired plan to defraud the community.

This shows that Ananias had a heart problem.  He didn’t make an “innocent” mistake, he set out to “embezzle” what belonged to someone else – in this case, he pilfered what belonged to God—knowingly and callously acting contrary to the moving of the Holy Spirit within the community of God.  THAT’S THE BIG MISTAKE!

Ananias’ mistake was not a simple accounting error, but was a Devil-inspired plan to defraud God – it was blasphemy against the powerful moving of the Holy Spirit. 

Now this is the part of the story everyone likes to ask, “Was Ananias saved?  Did he go to heaven?”  Well, the Bible does not say and so I have nothing to say about that, but I can tell you what I do know:

When Ananias heard the words of Peter the Bibles says,
“Ananias dropped dead!”

Friends, disobedience can kill you as surely as being shot by a gun.  If the Bible teaches us anything in this passage, it teaches us that.

Ananias gave into temptation and “dropped dead.”  Look at verse 3:  “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?”  The temptation to live a fraudulent Christian life is an ever-present problem for every believer. TEMPTATIONS ARE EVERYWHERE. 

Listen to this my friend and never forget it:  Satan cannot get into the heart of a believer, but he can get into the head!  We are in constant danger of listening to the “wrong voice” in our head.

Now, if you are a non-Christian, the only voice you have in your head is Satan’s.  You will blow it time and time again because you just don’t have God’s voice in your head until you have God’s Spirit in your heart.  A non-believer can no more be successful in overcoming temptation than a blind man can avoid an accident driving on the freeway.  A big crash is not a matter of “if,” but “when.”

Ananias knew better.  It was not just a moment of weakness, but it was a conscious plan to defraud the church, cheat the poor, and lie to God.  Look at the last part of Verse 4:  “Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart?”

You cannot avoid TEMPTATIONS.  They are everywhere.  But, you can avoid letting the TEMPTATIONS in your head from becoming an EVIL PLAN in your heart.  Listen to what James says:

¹⁴ But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires.  ¹⁵ Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.

Temptation is an EVENT, but sin is PROCESS.  Sin is the process of allowing Satan’s suggestions to become your evil actions.  Notice that sinning is described as sort of a “courtship” between Satan’s Suggestion and Your Will.  First, there’s desire.  We all have desires and not all desires are Godly and not all desires that are Godly should be indulged.  This is the “first date phase.”  Then, the desire leads to a bad plan conceived.  This is the “dating phase that leads to marriage.”  Then, the marriage leads to the birth a bad thought or deed—SIN! 

The point is we cannot avoid temptations.  We cannot avoid Satan knocking on the door of our ear; but, we can avoid letting him rent an apartment in our head.

Temptations abound.  Ananias gave into temptations and he paid the price.  ANIANIAS DROPPED DEAD BECAUSE OF HIS SIN.

That ain’t too good in my book.  And, for the sake of equality I must mention SAPPHIRA DROPPED DEAD, TOO for her part in the scheme.

Now, follow me here:  God has expectations for the behavior of those who put their trust in Him.  Part of those expectations involves giving, but that certainly isn’t all God expects.  He expects other acts of holy living also.

But, Satan constantly tries to get us to ignore God’s expectations.  He brings temptations into our lives on a regular basis.  If you give in to the Devil’s whispering in your ear, the consequences could be more devastating than you could possibly imagine.  Don’t take the chance!

The key is:  don’t let Satan’s suggestions side-track you from meeting God’s expectations for holy living, whatever they might be.

Now, this whole story with Anianias and Sapphira boils down to my final point in this message on giving willfully and cheerfully and avoiding the mistake of living a fraudulent Christian life.  God has expectations.  Satan floods our lives with temptations and the conclusion of the matter is this:

3.  in regard to obedience, there are no SUBSTITUTIONS.

We must keep in mind that Ananias (along with Sapphira) gave “something.”  They did “a” good work.  “Some thing is never an adequate substitution for the “right” thing. 

The problem is they substituted what they wanted to do for what God expected them to do.

They substituted their “plan” (remember verse 4) for God’s plan as it was revealed through the Apostles. There’s only one plan that matters.

In a word, Ananias tried a SUBSTITUTE for obedience.  Ananias tried to substitute his plan for God’s plan.  Ananias’ plan failed miserably. There simply is no acceptable substitute for obeying what God has outlined in His word that you should do.

Ananias did what so many people do, they set boundaries on exactly how far they are willing to go for the Lord—this far and no further.  God expects (as we learned from Jesus a moment ago), for us to give Him our ALL—all our time, all our talents, all our treasures—to whatever degree He asks us to give them.

Ananias tried a “substitute.”

I’ve been trying all kinds of substitutes for sugar.  You name it, I’ve tried it.  The conclusion from my research is this:  only sugar tastes like sugar.

Now that may be good or bad or happy or sad, but that’s how it is.  There is no substitute for sugar.

There is no substitute for “full obedience.”  Either you are obedient or you are disobedient.  As a great preacher once said about the Christian life:  “It Ain’t Horseshoes.”  Close isn’t good enough.  God demands full obedience if we want to experience full blessing

Go ahead, ask me:  can I get to heaven if I’m not fully obedient?  My answer is this: “You sure can, and it may come sooner than you think!”  Let these words ring in your ears when you are tempted to “substitute” your way for God’s way:

“Ananias dropped dead and great fear came on all who heard.”

Cheating God out of what He expects will never get you the kind of bubbling up from deep within kind of blessing you seek.  The surest way to despair is to try to get a “full blessing on a partial obedience.”

Not long ago an aspiring magician landed a gig at a prestigious hotel. He was performing for a group of business men to provide a bit of relaxation.  As he began, he asked for a volunteer from the audience.  A little boy raised his hand and made it to the stage. The magician asked the little boy his name.  He said, “Tommy.”  Then the magician said, “Now, Tommy, you have never seen me before, have you?” The little boy replied confidently, “No, Daddy.”

We all make mistakes, and some mistakes are bigger than others. The BIGGEST MISTAKE anyone can ever make is holding back on God.

Give God everything, and you will gain more than you can imagine.