June 12, 2025 • 31 mins
What does it truly mean to live a Spirit-guided life beyond Sunday mornings and worship experiences? Through the lens of a profound contrast in the early church, we discover that authenticity matters more than appearance when building genuine spiritual community.
The story of Acts 4-5 presents us with two portraits: a radically generous community characterized by trust, and a couple whose deception undermines that very foundation. While the early believers reimagined ownership—holding possessions loosely and giving from Spirit-led conviction rather than obligation—Ananias and Sapphira sought the reputation of generosity without its substance.
This exploration reveals a powerful truth: the early church wasn't just inspired; they were empowered to live differently in everyday choices. Their approach shifted the question from "how much should I give?" to "what do I have that I don't need to keep?" The result was revolutionary—a community where needs were eliminated through preemptive generosity that created systemic change.
Through Barnabas, we see leadership beginning not with credentials but character—sacrificial actions that surrendered security for calling. In stark contrast, Ananias and Sapphira embody performance, wanting the appearance of radical commitment without actually being committed. Their deception becomes the first internal threat to the church's unity and vitality.
The message for us is both challenging and liberating: integrity isn't about perfection but truthfulness. It's not having nothing to hide, but choosing not to hide. There's a crucial difference between healthy privacy that protects boundaries and secrecy that protects the ego. The Spirit who empowers is the same Spirit who purifies, forming us into people who live authentically before God and others.
Are you more concerned with appearing godly than actually surrendering to God? Transformation begins not with flawless performance but with the courage to be real—stepping into the light where God's grace meets you and resurrection life takes hold.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to our online audience.
I'm Stephen Fieth, lead pastorhere, and throughout this series
that we've called Activated,we've been exploring the
question what does it look liketo live a life guided by God's
Spirit?
What does it look like toactually live a life guided by
God's Spirit, and specificallyin the real life, not just in
(00:24):
moments of crisis when, oh mygoodness, I need to lean on the
Spirit because how will I getthrough what I'm going through
if I don't have God?
Not just in times of worship.
It's easy to get caught up inthe emotion of a worship
experience and we're reallyexperiencing God and that's
great.
But what about life in theSpirit outside of this one hour
that we've gathered togethertoday?
(00:45):
What would it look like in oureveryday choices, how you listen
to one another, how we makedecisions as a couple, how we
show up in all of ourrelationships and how we live
together in community?
So far in this series, we'veseen that life in the Spirit
includes a bold witness unity ina purpose.
(01:08):
We're not just a club.
We have a purpose.
We are people sent on a missionand generosity in action.
The big difference that we'reseeing here between the early
church and a lot of churchestoday is that the early church
wasn't just inspired.
It's easy, it's comfortable tocome to a church gathering or a
(01:28):
service and to be moved by themusic, to be inspired by the
message, to feel a little bitbetter temporarily, but then
Sunday night or Monday morninghits once again.
So the difference with us andthem is that they weren't just
inspired.
They were that, but they werealso empowered to take on
whatever came next after theinspiration ran away or fell off
(01:53):
.
Today's passage actually adds asharper edge to that.
So, if you want to follow along, we're going to Acts, chapter 4
, and into chapter 5.
And it's going to present uswith two portraits One of a
spirit-formed communitycharacterized by trust and
generosity.
That's the first one.
(02:13):
There's going to be a community, trust and generosity is
occurring.
And another of a couple whosedeception undermines the trust
and the unity that thiscommunity is building up.
I think today, when we get tothe end of our talk here, you're
going to feel maybe inspired,but I would imagine, if I do my
job well, you will also feel alittle unsettled.
(02:33):
But beneath it all really is aninvitation.
Whether you feel inspired,unsettled, something else,
there's an invitation to livehonestly, to walk in the light
and in the trust that the Spiritwho empowers us is the same
Spirit who forms us as a peopleof integrity.
So, after being threatened bythe religious leaders this is
(02:56):
what we talked about and doveinto last week Peter and John
returned to the church.
They're not filled with fear,but they're filled with boldness
, and they get back with thechurch and they say, hey, we're
not going to pray that God letsus avoid the pain and suffering,
that we don't die, that justiceor revenge is delivered, but
instead they pray for courage.
God, we know exactly we arewhere you want us to be, exactly
(03:18):
where you want us to be, andthat's hard, but rather than get
me through it quicker or get meout of it, I'm praying that you
give me the faith to keep goingthrough it.
Well, and after that prayer,these are people who are filled
with the Spirit, and whatfollows then is a glimpse into a
Spirit-shaped community.
Yes, they're unified in heartand mind, they're unified in
(03:39):
bold witness, but they're alsounified in radical generosity.
We read in verse 32, all thebelievers were united in heart
and mind and they felt that whatthey owned was not their own,
so they shared everything theyhad.
Now let's talk about this verse, because I think that, despite
(03:59):
how this passage has beenpresented a lot by some today,
we need to clarify this wasn't aforced sharing.
The early Christians didn'tabolish ownership.
They just reimagined whatownership looked like, whatever
they had as individuals.
If you and I were a part ofthat early church, whatever I
had, whatever you had we wouldhave held on loosely to that.
(04:24):
And if we gave, it wasn't outof guilt, it wasn't out of
obligation, but it was out ofconviction, and sometimes we
confuse conviction with guilt orobligation, but this was a
spirit-filled conviction to begenerous.
Now, in 2025, the year we're allliving in now, we tend to ask
(04:46):
the question how much should Igive?
This is a regular conversationI have with people what about
tithing?
How regularly should I give?
Should I give up more than just10%?
Less than 10%?
What are the rules?
Now is what I'm asked.
But I'd like to ask a betterquestion, and that's the
question that they asked.
They weren't asking how much Ishould give.
They were asking what do I havethat I don't need to keep?
(05:09):
They evaluated their assets,everything that they owned, and
they said what isn't imperativeto my life Now this was just as
inspiring and shocking to themas it is to you today.
Okay, this isn't like they alljust accepted this.
Most of them were poor, landownership was rare and
(05:31):
oftentimes it was tied toidentity.
It was your family.
The reason you own land wasn'tbecause you bought land.
For most people it was becauseyour dad gave it to you and his
dad gave it to him and his dadgave it to him and, depending
how many siblings you have, itgets divided up between them.
So chances are you probablyhave like one-thirtieth of what
(05:53):
your grandpa had, and so mostwere poor.
Again, the land ownership wasrare.
So when people sold theirproperties this little bit that
they owned tied to their familyidentity, and then they took it
and gave it to the apostles, itwasn't performative, it was
profoundly sacrificial.
(06:14):
It was a sacrifice that theywere making.
Luke notes that because of thiskind of generosity, there were
no needy persons among them, andthis actually echoes
Deuteronomy 15.4 of a justsociety under God's rule.
God says when I am in charge,when the kingdom has come, when
my will is being done in theworld, there will be no needy
(06:36):
people.
And Luke says when the churchwas the church and acting like
the church, not just as acommunity but as individuals.
There were no needy peopleamong them, and generosity
precedes that.
Let me point that out.
They didn't wait and say, hey,tell me what the needs are and
then we'll go and we'll try tomeet those needs.
Generosity came first.
The church was so well-fundedthat they were able to meet the
(06:59):
needs as they came up, but notjust meet the needs as they came
up.
They were able to help makesystemic changes to the people
around them, to lift familiesout of poverty.
The apostles testified boldlyabout the risen Jesus and people
who heard that message couldn'thelp.
But by responding with aself-giving love.
(07:21):
Their unity wasn't emotional,it wasn't that it felt like it.
Their unity wasn't based onpolitical ideologies hey, we
agree.
It wasn't based on, hey, welike the way that you do church
or the way that we do church.
It wasn't just theological.
Their unity was practical, itwas economical, it was
sacrificial and it wasspirit-formed.
(07:45):
And then Luke is going totransition.
He says this is what'shappening in the community.
But let me give you a story ofa person within that community,
because Luke doesn't want you tolose sight of that.
A community is a group ofindividuals, and so he
transitions to a man namedJoseph and Joseph.
He sells the field he owns andhe brings the full proceeds to
the apostles.
(08:05):
There's no pressure for him todo this.
He voluntarily does it.
There's no spotlight andthere's no expectation.
He simply gives freely andfaithfully.
Now I want to point out thatsomeone with a common name like
Joseph for him to own land, itwas definitely, or most
definitely, an inheritance,family land passed down through
(08:27):
generations.
And by selling that land,joseph wasn't just being
generous.
I don't want to lose this.
Joseph gave up security.
He was giving up a future thathe might have been able to pass
on to his kids.
As a matter of fact, if youwere one of Joseph's kids,
you're probably a little angry,right, like what do you mean?
You're giving it away?
Like that's supposed to be mine.
(08:47):
What do I have?
I have nothing.
Now, that wasn't a donation.
That's what surrender lookslike.
Now, luke doesn't tell us howmuch it was worth, because
that's not what matters.
It didn't matter how much thatfield was worth.
What mattered was the heartbehind Joseph, and at that
moment, the apostles give him anew name.
(09:09):
They call him Barnabas, son ofencouragement.
He lays down a plot of landthat's where I was and he picks
up and steps into his calling.
This is where I'm going.
It meant letting go ofsomething most would have held
on to reasonably very tightly.
(09:29):
Barnabas lived in aspirit-filled, persecuted
minority where generosity wasboth a sign of trusting God and
a demonstration of solidarity.
Together, he was generous notjust because of what he believed
in God and God's sacrificiallove but in solidarity, not just
(09:50):
with the words.
I say, not just showing up oneday a week, but I'm going to
alter my life the way Christaltered his, the way that Christ
alters ours.
We are now in this together ina real, tangible way.
This brief story introducessomeone who will go on to play a
key role in the church'smission, the early church.
(10:12):
We're going to talk aboutBarnabas a lot, so let this be
your introduction to him.
His leadership begins not withan impressive resume, not with a
bunch of certificates oreducation, not because he's
super charismatic or supergifted or because he comes from
a really great family.
Barnabas's leadership beginswith character, begins with
(10:36):
someone who does the right thing, not because he's forced to,
but because it's the right thingto do, and he doesn't just say
the right things, he lives themout in a tangible and
sacrificial and even trustworthyway.
Now Barnabas becomes the bridgebetween the beauty of Acts 4.
Here's this great community and, for example, there's this guy
(10:58):
named Barnabas, and this is whathe did.
But Barnabas is one story ofmany stories within the early
church, and now Luke is going totransition to an example of who
takes away from that.
Ananias and Sapphira willembody performance.
Away from that, ananias andSapphira will embody performance
.
The contrast is going to beintentional and sharp.
(11:20):
So along comes Ananias, alongwith his wife Sapphira.
They sell a piece of propertyand then they bring in part of
the proceeds to the apostles,but they claim it was the full
amount.
So here you got a couple.
They sell some property.
They're seeing it all aroundthem.
We're told that the communityis doing this.
We hear about Barnabas.
He's doing this.
So Ananias and Sapphira, theywant to get in on this.
(11:41):
So they sell some property andthey come to Peter and they give
him the money and they say wesold that.
And here all of it is.
Now they lied, they just gavehim part of it.
There wasn't the full amount.
The issue isn't I want to clearthis up before I even dive into
it.
The issue isn't that they keptsome of the money, peter himself
.
You can read this yourself inchapter 5.
(12:02):
Peter is clear the land and theproceeds they were his, to do
with whatever he pleased.
Don't sell it.
Keep it for all I care, but ifyou're going to sell it, at
least tell the truth about it.
Sell it and say, hey, I'm goingto give you half of it.
Hey, I'm going to give you abig part of it.
The problem here is deception.
And Ananias wanted theappearance of somebody who was
(12:26):
radically committed and supergenerous, without actually being
radically committed or supergenerous.
He just wanted to look that way.
He didn't lie to avoid giving.
He didn't lie to avoid giving.
He lied to appear to be someonehe wasn't.
That's what the lie was about.
(12:48):
The lie was look at me and howgreat I am.
And then Peter declares hey,this isn't a problem between you
and me.
He says in verse four youweren't lying to us but to God.
You weren't lying to us but toGod.
And what's revealed isn't justa false donation, but really
this is an attempt to manipulateGod and God's people.
(13:12):
And what happens is Ananiasdrops dead on the spot.
There's lots of theories andtheologies as to why, how, what
actually happened here, but Lukedoesn't mention it and so I'm
not going to dive too much intoit.
But the fact is that, forwhatever reason and however it
came to be, ananias lies,whatever reason and however it
(13:32):
came to be, ananias lies, andthere's a profound sense then of
dread, as it would be, thatsettles over the community.
Now, this is the first internalthreat to the church.
If you're reading in Acts,we're only in Acts, chapter 5,
this is the first internalthreat, and what I mean is that
up until this point, the churchfaced external pressures.
(13:53):
Right, pharisees, sadducees,the Sanhedrin they're all of
these outside forces, people whodidn't believe the same way
that they did were coming at thechurch and they were like we're
bound together and we canovercome this together.
But for the first time in Acts,we read now that there's an
issue in-house.
The threat isn't coming fromthe outside, the threat is
coming from the inside.
The threat isn't coming fromthe outside, the threat is
coming from the inside.
We're lying to each other,we're being deceptive to one
(14:17):
another.
The danger is within and Lukeis showing us spiritual pretense
, even when subtle, is a seriousdanger to communal trust and
spiritual vitality.
The generosity of Acts 4 isn'tundone by need, but hypocrisy.
This is such a generous church.
(14:37):
There's no one with needs inthe community, and what begins
to go wrong isn't that there areso many needs that they can't
keep up with giving.
It's the hypocrisy that existswithin the church, the lying.
The early church was small andinterconnected and today many
churches are large and it'sanonymous.
(14:59):
It's easy for you and me,whether we go to church at
Madison Church or we gosomewhere else, it's easy to
curate an image of I'm a superspiritual person or I'm deeply
involved in my faith, withoutany sort of accountability, to
have to back that up, and assuch we do.
We get labeled hypocrites andit's probably not an unfair
(15:21):
label.
We need to be confronted fromtime to time about what we say
and what our motives are andwhat we do and where we're
coming from.
Now, when Peter calls him outAnanias out, he didn't just
protect the community, he washonoring the holiness of God's
presence among them.
This story confronts us with asobering truth.
(15:43):
Not all giving is spirit-ledand not all appearances reflect
reality.
The spirit who empowers thechurch also purifies the church.
Integrity before God is neveroptional.
Integrity is essential to lifeand community.
(16:04):
Well, three hours after Ananiasdrops dead, his wife Sapphira
enters and she's completelyunaware and Peter, rather than
just exposing her outright,telling her what happened or
this is what happened he gaveher a chance to come clean.
He says was that the fullamount?
To which she says yes.
And that shows Peter, it showsthe community around them that
(16:28):
this wasn't impulsive, it wasn'tcircumstantial, this was
deliberate.
They planned this, they talkedabout it, they came up with
their story, they double-checkedtheir notes and they were going
to try together to conspireagainst the early church.
Peter says how could the two ofyou even think about conspiring
(16:48):
to test the Spirit of the Lord?
Peter's words are serious.
To test the Spirit is to treatGod's presence like a force that
can be controlled, a presencethat could be manipulated and
used rather than honored.
Sapphira, just like her husband,falls dead on the spot and the
(17:09):
fear kind of continues to growwithin the church.
But it's not out of hysteria,it's out of reverence Because,
wow, god is real.
We aren't just the club, wearen't just a group that
believes these things.
God is here among us.
And so, by the time Sapphirafalls, the story hits its
(17:31):
sobering.
The fire falls.
The story hits its soberingpeak, but Luke wants us to feel
the contrast.
This isn't a random tragedy.
It's a mirror held up to youand me and the believers all
over the world today, believerswho lived a thousand years ago
and 500 years ago and 1500 years.
I told you a little bit thatJoseph, given his name, it was
very likely he did not come frommoney.
(17:53):
You wouldn't name a commonJewish boy, joseph or something
else, if he had more.
Sapphira's name literally meantbeautiful or precious like a
sapphire stone, and we know fromhistory that Sapphira is a name
often associated almostexclusively with wealth and
privilege, and in her cultureshe wouldn't have married below
(18:16):
her social class.
So if she came from wealth,that meant Ananias also came
from wealth.
So you're talking about a womanwho comes from wealth and a man
who comes from wealth.
I mean they had more thananyone More land, more
reputation, more status and yetthey gave less.
But here's the thing not lessin money, we have every reason
(18:40):
to believe whatever they gave,even if it was only 50% of it or
80%, whatever it was, they gavemore than Barnabas.
We have every reason to believethat what they gave less of was
less truth, was less integrity,less honesty.
Joseph gave what little he hadand he told the truth.
(19:02):
And Ananias and Sapphira?
They held on to more and theytold a lie.
Barnabas lost land and hegained a new name, a new future,
a new calling.
The others clung to an imageand in doing so they lost
themselves.
This isn't a story about giving.
(19:22):
It's a story about givinghonestly.
The Spirit doesn't demandperfection from you and I.
We're imperfect, god knows it.
But God does call us to live intruth, because what we hold
back, when we pretend to besomeone that we are not, it will
(19:43):
always cost us more than wethink, and not just us, but
those around us.
This passage marks a clearturning point.
For the first time in Acts,luke uses the word ecclesia,
which means church, but it's thefirst time he's used it.
Before this, he's talked aboutthe community, the disciples,
the apostles, new converts, butnow he uses ecclesia, and now we
(20:07):
see something more Ecclesia,this is a holy people formed by
and in the presence of a holyGod.
God is not building a safereligious gathering.
He's shaping a community thatwill live in truth, and what
follows you can imagine if youwere.
I mean, I read this story andI'm like man.
(20:28):
That must have really been badmarketing for the church, right?
Like if you give only part ofit or if you lie, you drop dead.
I imagine that nobody wants tobe part of that community.
I know I would have some seconddoubts before I joined a
community Just right there onthe website.
Hey, you know, if you lie,these are the consequences.
But what happens instead is asurge of power, growth and awe
(20:49):
within the early church.
It didn't paralyze them, itpurified them.
It helped them step up, to stepout and to all God had for them
.
And this story reminds us thatgrace and reverence are not
mutually exclusive.
They are together, they belongtogether.
We are people covered in grace,but we can still have the fear
(21:13):
of the Lord, because God isn'tjust trying to form a bold and
generous church, he's alsocreating a holy one, one that is
set apart.
And so what is Luke showing usthroughout this story?
Well, yes, it's about honesty,it's about money, it's about
community, but I think moredeeply, or perhaps more above,
(21:36):
is the confrontation withintegrity.
I think that this is a passageabout integrity, not the pursuit
of perfection, but just thecall to live truthfully before
God and others.
The issue with Ananias andSapphira was that they wanted
the appearance of completedevotion without being
completely devoted.
They weren't just withholdingfunds, they were withholding
(21:58):
themselves.
I'm reminded of a quote from CSLewis that many of you have
probably heard.
He says integrity is doing theright thing even when no one is
watching.
And that's what was broken here.
When no one is watching, andthat's what was broken here,
ananias and Sapphira were doingthe right-looking thing for the
wrong reason and hoping that noone, especially God, would
(22:23):
notice.
Having integrity as a believer,as a follower of Christ, means
aligning our inner lives withour outer actions, and that
theme runs throughout the wholearc of scripture.
Jesus warns be careful not topractice your righteousness in
front of others to be seen bythem.
(22:43):
His harshest words are not forthe weak but for the fake.
James calls us to confess oursins, not to cover them up.
And Paul tells us to let lovebe sincere and warns against
self-deception.
From the beginning to end, godhas called us, his people, to be
(23:08):
a people of truth.
This isn't just an issue ofmorality.
People of truth.
This isn't just an issue ofmorality.
It's one of formation, not justcommunity formation, but your
own spiritual formation.
Dallas Willard once said themost important thing in your
life is not what you do, ratherit's who you become, because
that's what you will take intoeternity.
(23:28):
Who you become, that's what youtake into the next life.
Acts 5 isn't simply a cautionarytale.
It's a mirror asking us tobecome, or who we're becoming,
when no one else is looking.
And what makes the story sosobering to me is just how
(23:51):
familiar it feels.
And what makes this story sosobering to me is just how
familiar it feels While ourcontext is different.
We're a less communal society.
It's easier to be a lessvisible follower of Jesus.
You know, the temptationremains for us.
We want to look committed, Ithink, at times without being
surrendered.
We want to build a reputation.
Instead of having genuinelyhealthy and good relationships,
(24:20):
we try really hard to curate animage of ourselves that's
passable to the rest of theworld, rather than live
transparently before God andothers.
So let me say this that I don'tthink integrity is having
nothing to hide.
I think integrity is aboutchoosing not to hide.
We all have stuff.
We're all imperfect, Addictions, times we fail, things that
embarrass us, things we regretwe would have done differently,
(24:43):
things we actually put a lot ofthought into and we did the best
we could with what we had butit turned out to be the wrong
thing.
And integrity is just choosingnot to hide.
It's the kind of honesty thatinvites grace to work in our
lives.
Where integrity begins is whereresurrection life can begin to
take root.
When we open up and say, hey, Ican't, I didn't, I won't, I
(25:08):
failed, that's where God cancome in and say I know You're
not perfect, let's do thistogether.
Integrity is about alignmentbetween what we say and how we
live, between our public imageand our private reality.
It is not about being flawless.
I don't want you to go awaythinking this was a message
about being perfect.
It's not.
It's about being truthful.
(25:29):
And that kind of integrityisn't just tested in dramatic
moments such as selling propertyor facing public accountability
.
It shows up in the ordinary.
How might you practiceintegrity in the ordinary Well
being involved or being honestabout money when it comes to
(25:49):
your relationship with yourspouse, not withholding that
information?
Owning up to a mistake at workrather than hiding it, resisting
the urge to exaggerate yourspiritual life in small groups
or to give the impression thatyou're more prayerful or more
generous or more surrenderedthan you actually are.
It means shifting from I'mtrying to create, curate a life
(26:12):
that impresses those around meto cultivating a life that
pleases God.
Is what I'm doing pleasing toGod or does it just make me look
good to my friends, my family,my co-workers, my community?
And that shift begins withhonest questions Again.
Are we more concerned withappearing godly than actually
surrendering to God?
(26:33):
Do I avoid confession toprotect my image?
This message for me, as Iworked on it this week, is
really confronting a lot of thestuff I'm working through
individually.
I want to be clear thatintegrity doesn't mean telling
everyone everything.
That's kind of where I fall.
If I'm going to have integrity,I need to be open and honest
(26:56):
about everything, and that's nothonesty, that's just
oversharing.
I'm coming to learn, buthealthy privacy is not the same
as deception.
In fact, learning how to haveboundaries in what we share and
what we don't share is a sign, Ithink, of emotional and
spiritual maturity.
Integrity just means living alife of alignment and it doesn't
(27:21):
necessarily mean overexposure.
It's absolutely okay to keepsome things in private, but when
we withhold information.
When we withhold information togive others a false impression,
or when we ask others to keepsecrets that protect my image or
your image, or to manipulate anoutcome, we are no longer
practicing integrity.
(27:42):
We're managing our appearance.
Modern psychology affirms this.
For those of you interested inthat, therapists often
distinguish between privacy,which protects your well-being
and your relational boundaries,and secrecy, which protects your
ego or shame.
There's a difference rightbetween privacy and secrecy.
(28:02):
One fosters connection andsafety.
Privacy fosters connection andsafety, whereas secrecy isolates
and distorts.
Scripture echoes thisdistinction.
It's not just modern psychology, but thousands of years ago the
writer of Proverbs, 11, verse 3, says the integrity of the
upright guides them, but theunfaithful are destroyed by
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their duplicity.
Integrity guides.
It doesn't overwhelm or controlothers with our full story, but
it also refuses to live adouble life or to build trust on
false appearances.
So the call here isn't to beexposed or overexposed, but
rather to be honest.
You don't have to tell everyoneeverything, but you should be
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able to say at the end of theday thing.
But you should be able to sayat the end of the day, the end
of the conversation, what I'veshown you is real.
What I've shown you is real andfor those in leadership,
whether it's here at MadisonChurch and you're in leadership
or business or at home integritymeans never, ever using
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spiritual language or authorityfor your personal gain.
This is one of the most soberingways that we take the Lord's
name in vain.
It's not swearing you mighthear.
You know somebody swears andyou're like, oh, don't take the
Lord's name in vain.
That's actually not what itmeans.
It means don't invoke God'sname to back your own plans, to
prop up my ego or worse, and howwe've seen it used a lot in the
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church world is to shut otherpeople down.
I disagree with you, or you'rebringing up some points that
overly challenge me.
Well, god told me aha, stop,that is taking the Lord's name
in vain, when saying that Godtold me this when he didn't.
Using spiritual language tomanipulate rather than to serve
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is not faith at all, and Goddoes take that seriously,
because his name is not a weaponfor us to wield.
His name is hope to be revealed.
The story of Ananias andSapphira isn't here to scare us
into perfection.
It's here to invite us intohonesty.
God isn't looking for polishedperformances.
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He's just calling us to live inthe truth, to let our public
lives reflect what's actuallygoing on in our hearts, because
the spirit who empowers is thesame spirit who purifies.
The same spirit who formed agenerous and united church and
act is still forming one today,but only if we're willing to be
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real.
So the question as we enterinto our time of communion today
, the question is am I livingwith integrity before God or am
I just trying to appear puttogether in front of others?
Let this be a moment ofcourageous clarity and if there
is a part of your life thatyou've kept hidden, confess it.
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If you've been pretending, dropthe mask.
Integrity doesn't begin withperfection.
It starts where pretending ends.
So step into the light, becausethat's where God's grace meets
you, that's where fundamentaltransformation begins, that's
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where the resurrection of lifetakes hold.
Welcome to our online audience.
I'm Stephen Fieth, lead pastorhere, and throughout this series
that we've called Activated,we've been exploring the
question what does it look liketo live a life guided by God's
Spirit?
What does it look like toactually live a life guided by
God's Spirit, and specificallyin the real life, not just in
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moments of crisis when, oh mygoodness, I need to lean on the
Spirit because how will I getthrough what I'm going through
if I don't have God?
Not just in times of worship.
It's easy to get caught up inthe emotion of a worship
experience and we're reallyexperiencing God and that's
great.
But what about life in theSpirit outside of this one hour
that we've gathered togethertoday?
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What would it look like in oureveryday choices, how you listen
to one another, how we makedecisions as a couple, how we
show up in all of ourrelationships and how we live
together in community?
So far in this series, we'veseen that life in the Spirit
includes a bold witness unity ina purpose.
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We're not just a club.
We have a purpose.
We are people sent on a missionand generosity in action.
The big difference that we'reseeing here between the early
church and a lot of churchestoday is that the early church
wasn't just inspired.
It's easy, it's comfortable tocome to a church gathering or a
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service and to be moved by themusic, to be inspired by the
message, to feel a little bitbetter temporarily, but then
Sunday night or Monday morninghits once again.
So the difference with us andthem is that they weren't just
inspired.
They were that, but they werealso empowered to take on
whatever came next after theinspiration ran away or fell off
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.
Today's passage actually adds asharper edge to that.
So, if you want to follow along, we're going to Acts, chapter 4
, and into chapter 5.
And it's going to present uswith two portraits One of a
spirit-formed communitycharacterized by trust and
generosity.
That's the first one.
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There's going to be a community, trust and generosity is
occurring.
And another of a couple whosedeception undermines the trust
and the unity that thiscommunity is building up.
I think today, when we get tothe end of our talk here, you're
going to feel maybe inspired,but I would imagine, if I do my
job well, you will also feel alittle unsettled.
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But beneath it all really is aninvitation.
Whether you feel inspired,unsettled, something else,
there's an invitation to livehonestly, to walk in the light
and in the trust that the Spiritwho empowers us is the same
Spirit who forms us as a peopleof integrity.
So, after being threatened bythe religious leaders this is
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what we talked about and doveinto last week Peter and John
returned to the church.
They're not filled with fear,but they're filled with boldness
, and they get back with thechurch and they say, hey, we're
not going to pray that God letsus avoid the pain and suffering,
that we don't die, that justiceor revenge is delivered, but
instead they pray for courage.
God, we know exactly we arewhere you want us to be, exactly
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where you want us to be, andthat's hard, but rather than get
me through it quicker or get meout of it, I'm praying that you
give me the faith to keep goingthrough it.
Well, and after that prayer,these are people who are filled
with the Spirit, and whatfollows then is a glimpse into a
Spirit-shaped community.
Yes, they're unified in heartand mind, they're unified in
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bold witness, but they're alsounified in radical generosity.
We read in verse 32, all thebelievers were united in heart
and mind and they felt that whatthey owned was not their own,
so they shared everything theyhad.
Now let's talk about this verse, because I think that, despite
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how this passage has beenpresented a lot by some today,
we need to clarify this wasn't aforced sharing.
The early Christians didn'tabolish ownership.
They just reimagined whatownership looked like, whatever
they had as individuals.
If you and I were a part ofthat early church, whatever I
had, whatever you had we wouldhave held on loosely to that.
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And if we gave, it wasn't outof guilt, it wasn't out of
obligation, but it was out ofconviction, and sometimes we
confuse conviction with guilt orobligation, but this was a
spirit-filled conviction to begenerous.
Now, in 2025, the year we're allliving in now, we tend to ask
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the question how much should Igive?
This is a regular conversationI have with people what about
tithing?
How regularly should I give?
Should I give up more than just10%?
Less than 10%?
What are the rules?
Now is what I'm asked.
But I'd like to ask a betterquestion, and that's the
question that they asked.
They weren't asking how much Ishould give.
They were asking what do I havethat I don't need to keep?
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They evaluated their assets,everything that they owned, and
they said what isn't imperativeto my life Now this was just as
inspiring and shocking to themas it is to you today.
Okay, this isn't like they alljust accepted this.
Most of them were poor, landownership was rare and
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oftentimes it was tied toidentity.
It was your family.
The reason you own land wasn'tbecause you bought land.
For most people it was becauseyour dad gave it to you and his
dad gave it to him and his dadgave it to him and, depending
how many siblings you have, itgets divided up between them.
So chances are you probablyhave like one-thirtieth of what
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your grandpa had, and so mostwere poor.
Again, the land ownership wasrare.
So when people sold theirproperties this little bit that
they owned tied to their familyidentity, and then they took it
and gave it to the apostles, itwasn't performative, it was
profoundly sacrificial.
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It was a sacrifice that theywere making.
Luke notes that because of thiskind of generosity, there were
no needy persons among them, andthis actually echoes
Deuteronomy 15.4 of a justsociety under God's rule.
God says when I am in charge,when the kingdom has come, when
my will is being done in theworld, there will be no needy
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people.
And Luke says when the churchwas the church and acting like
the church, not just as acommunity but as individuals.
There were no needy peopleamong them, and generosity
precedes that.
Let me point that out.
They didn't wait and say, hey,tell me what the needs are and
then we'll go and we'll try tomeet those needs.
Generosity came first.
The church was so well-fundedthat they were able to meet the
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needs as they came up, but notjust meet the needs as they came
up.
They were able to help makesystemic changes to the people
around them, to lift familiesout of poverty.
The apostles testified boldlyabout the risen Jesus and people
who heard that message couldn'thelp.
But by responding with aself-giving love.
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Their unity wasn't emotional,it wasn't that it felt like it.
Their unity wasn't based onpolitical ideologies hey, we
agree.
It wasn't based on, hey, welike the way that you do church
or the way that we do church.
It wasn't just theological.
Their unity was practical, itwas economical, it was
sacrificial and it wasspirit-formed.
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And then Luke is going totransition.
He says this is what'shappening in the community.
But let me give you a story ofa person within that community,
because Luke doesn't want you tolose sight of that.
A community is a group ofindividuals, and so he
transitions to a man namedJoseph and Joseph.
He sells the field he owns andhe brings the full proceeds to
the apostles.
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There's no pressure for him todo this.
He voluntarily does it.
There's no spotlight andthere's no expectation.
He simply gives freely andfaithfully.
Now I want to point out thatsomeone with a common name like
Joseph for him to own land, itwas definitely, or most
definitely, an inheritance,family land passed down through
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generations.
And by selling that land,joseph wasn't just being
generous.
I don't want to lose this.
Joseph gave up security.
He was giving up a future thathe might have been able to pass
on to his kids.
As a matter of fact, if youwere one of Joseph's kids,
you're probably a little angry,right, like what do you mean?
You're giving it away?
Like that's supposed to be mine.
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What do I have?
I have nothing.
Now, that wasn't a donation.
That's what surrender lookslike.
Now, luke doesn't tell us howmuch it was worth, because
that's not what matters.
It didn't matter how much thatfield was worth.
What mattered was the heartbehind Joseph, and at that
moment, the apostles give him anew name.
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They call him Barnabas, son ofencouragement.
He lays down a plot of landthat's where I was and he picks
up and steps into his calling.
This is where I'm going.
It meant letting go ofsomething most would have held
on to reasonably very tightly.
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Barnabas lived in aspirit-filled, persecuted
minority where generosity wasboth a sign of trusting God and
a demonstration of solidarity.
Together, he was generous notjust because of what he believed
in God and God's sacrificiallove but in solidarity, not just
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with the words.
I say, not just showing up oneday a week, but I'm going to
alter my life the way Christaltered his, the way that Christ
alters ours.
We are now in this together ina real, tangible way.
This brief story introducessomeone who will go on to play a
key role in the church'smission, the early church.
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We're going to talk aboutBarnabas a lot, so let this be
your introduction to him.
His leadership begins not withan impressive resume, not with a
bunch of certificates oreducation, not because he's
super charismatic or supergifted or because he comes from
a really great family.
Barnabas's leadership beginswith character, begins with
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someone who does the right thing, not because he's forced to,
but because it's the right thingto do, and he doesn't just say
the right things, he lives themout in a tangible and
sacrificial and even trustworthyway.
Now Barnabas becomes the bridgebetween the beauty of Acts 4.
Here's this great community and, for example, there's this guy
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named Barnabas, and this is whathe did.
But Barnabas is one story ofmany stories within the early
church, and now Luke is going totransition to an example of who
takes away from that.
Ananias and Sapphira willembody performance.
Away from that, ananias andSapphira will embody performance
.
The contrast is going to beintentional and sharp.
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So along comes Ananias, alongwith his wife Sapphira.
They sell a piece of propertyand then they bring in part of
the proceeds to the apostles,but they claim it was the full
amount.
So here you got a couple.
They sell some property.
They're seeing it all aroundthem.
We're told that the communityis doing this.
We hear about Barnabas.
He's doing this.
So Ananias and Sapphira, theywant to get in on this.
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So they sell some property andthey come to Peter and they give
him the money and they say wesold that.
And here all of it is.
Now they lied, they just gavehim part of it.
There wasn't the full amount.
The issue isn't I want to clearthis up before I even dive into
it.
The issue isn't that they keptsome of the money, peter himself
.
You can read this yourself inchapter 5.
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Peter is clear the land and theproceeds they were his, to do
with whatever he pleased.
Don't sell it.
Keep it for all I care, but ifyou're going to sell it, at
least tell the truth about it.
Sell it and say, hey, I'm goingto give you half of it.
Hey, I'm going to give you abig part of it.
The problem here is deception.
And Ananias wanted theappearance of somebody who was
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radically committed and supergenerous, without actually being
radically committed or supergenerous.
He just wanted to look that way.
He didn't lie to avoid giving.
He didn't lie to avoid giving.
He lied to appear to be someonehe wasn't.
That's what the lie was about.
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The lie was look at me and howgreat I am.
And then Peter declares hey,this isn't a problem between you
and me.
He says in verse four youweren't lying to us but to God.
You weren't lying to us but toGod.
And what's revealed isn't justa false donation, but really
this is an attempt to manipulateGod and God's people.
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And what happens is Ananiasdrops dead on the spot.
There's lots of theories andtheologies as to why, how, what
actually happened here, but Lukedoesn't mention it and so I'm
not going to dive too much intoit.
But the fact is that, forwhatever reason and however it
came to be, ananias lies,whatever reason and however it
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came to be, ananias lies, andthere's a profound sense then of
dread, as it would be, thatsettles over the community.
Now, this is the first internalthreat to the church.
If you're reading in Acts,we're only in Acts, chapter 5,
this is the first internalthreat, and what I mean is that
up until this point, the churchfaced external pressures.
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Right, pharisees, sadducees,the Sanhedrin they're all of
these outside forces, people whodidn't believe the same way
that they did were coming at thechurch and they were like we're
bound together and we canovercome this together.
But for the first time in Acts,we read now that there's an
issue in-house.
The threat isn't coming fromthe outside, the threat is
coming from the inside.
The threat isn't coming fromthe outside, the threat is
coming from the inside.
We're lying to each other,we're being deceptive to one
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another.
The danger is within and Lukeis showing us spiritual pretense
, even when subtle, is a seriousdanger to communal trust and
spiritual vitality.
The generosity of Acts 4 isn'tundone by need, but hypocrisy.
This is such a generous church.
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There's no one with needs inthe community, and what begins
to go wrong isn't that there areso many needs that they can't
keep up with giving.
It's the hypocrisy that existswithin the church, the lying.
The early church was small andinterconnected and today many
churches are large and it'sanonymous.
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It's easy for you and me,whether we go to church at
Madison Church or we gosomewhere else, it's easy to
curate an image of I'm a superspiritual person or I'm deeply
involved in my faith, withoutany sort of accountability, to
have to back that up, and assuch we do.
We get labeled hypocrites andit's probably not an unfair
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label.
We need to be confronted fromtime to time about what we say
and what our motives are andwhat we do and where we're
coming from.
Now, when Peter calls him outAnanias out, he didn't just
protect the community, he washonoring the holiness of God's
presence among them.
This story confronts us with asobering truth.
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Not all giving is spirit-ledand not all appearances reflect
reality.
The spirit who empowers thechurch also purifies the church.
Integrity before God is neveroptional.
Integrity is essential to lifeand community.
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Well, three hours after Ananiasdrops dead, his wife Sapphira
enters and she's completelyunaware and Peter, rather than
just exposing her outright,telling her what happened or
this is what happened he gaveher a chance to come clean.
He says was that the fullamount?
To which she says yes.
And that shows Peter, it showsthe community around them that
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this wasn't impulsive, it wasn'tcircumstantial, this was
deliberate.
They planned this, they talkedabout it, they came up with
their story, they double-checkedtheir notes and they were going
to try together to conspireagainst the early church.
Peter says how could the two ofyou even think about conspiring
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to test the Spirit of the Lord?
Peter's words are serious.
To test the Spirit is to treatGod's presence like a force that
can be controlled, a presencethat could be manipulated and
used rather than honored.
Sapphira, just like her husband,falls dead on the spot and the
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fear kind of continues to growwithin the church.
But it's not out of hysteria,it's out of reverence Because,
wow, god is real.
We aren't just the club, wearen't just a group that
believes these things.
God is here among us.
And so, by the time Sapphirafalls, the story hits its
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sobering.
The fire falls.
The story hits its soberingpeak, but Luke wants us to feel
the contrast.
This isn't a random tragedy.
It's a mirror held up to youand me and the believers all
over the world today, believerswho lived a thousand years ago
and 500 years ago and 1500 years.
I told you a little bit thatJoseph, given his name, it was
very likely he did not come frommoney.
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You wouldn't name a commonJewish boy, joseph or something
else, if he had more.
Sapphira's name literally meantbeautiful or precious like a
sapphire stone, and we know fromhistory that Sapphira is a name
often associated almostexclusively with wealth and
privilege, and in her cultureshe wouldn't have married below
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her social class.
So if she came from wealth,that meant Ananias also came
from wealth.
So you're talking about a womanwho comes from wealth and a man
who comes from wealth.
I mean they had more thananyone More land, more
reputation, more status and yetthey gave less.
But here's the thing not lessin money, we have every reason
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to believe whatever they gave,even if it was only 50% of it or
80%, whatever it was, they gavemore than Barnabas.
We have every reason to believethat what they gave less of was
less truth, was less integrity,less honesty.
Joseph gave what little he hadand he told the truth.
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And Ananias and Sapphira?
They held on to more and theytold a lie.
Barnabas lost land and hegained a new name, a new future,
a new calling.
The others clung to an imageand in doing so they lost
themselves.
This isn't a story about giving.
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It's a story about givinghonestly.
The Spirit doesn't demandperfection from you and I.
We're imperfect, god knows it.
But God does call us to live intruth, because what we hold
back, when we pretend to besomeone that we are not, it will
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always cost us more than wethink, and not just us, but
those around us.
This passage marks a clearturning point.
For the first time in Acts,luke uses the word ecclesia,
which means church, but it's thefirst time he's used it.
Before this, he's talked aboutthe community, the disciples,
the apostles, new converts, butnow he uses ecclesia, and now we
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see something more Ecclesia,this is a holy people formed by
and in the presence of a holyGod.
God is not building a safereligious gathering.
He's shaping a community thatwill live in truth, and what
follows you can imagine if youwere.
I mean, I read this story andI'm like man.
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That must have really been badmarketing for the church, right?
Like if you give only part ofit or if you lie, you drop dead.
I imagine that nobody wants tobe part of that community.
I know I would have some seconddoubts before I joined a
community Just right there onthe website.
Hey, you know, if you lie,these are the consequences.
But what happens instead is asurge of power, growth and awe
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within the early church.
It didn't paralyze them, itpurified them.
It helped them step up, to stepout and to all God had for them
.
And this story reminds us thatgrace and reverence are not
mutually exclusive.
They are together, they belongtogether.
We are people covered in grace,but we can still have the fear
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of the Lord, because God isn'tjust trying to form a bold and
generous church, he's alsocreating a holy one, one that is
set apart.
And so what is Luke showing usthroughout this story?
Well, yes, it's about honesty,it's about money, it's about
community, but I think moredeeply, or perhaps more above,
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is the confrontation withintegrity.
I think that this is a passageabout integrity, not the pursuit
of perfection, but just thecall to live truthfully before
God and others.
The issue with Ananias andSapphira was that they wanted
the appearance of completedevotion without being
completely devoted.
They weren't just withholdingfunds, they were withholding
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themselves.
I'm reminded of a quote from CSLewis that many of you have
probably heard.
He says integrity is doing theright thing even when no one is
watching.
And that's what was broken here.
When no one is watching, andthat's what was broken here,
ananias and Sapphira were doingthe right-looking thing for the
wrong reason and hoping that noone, especially God, would
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notice.
Having integrity as a believer,as a follower of Christ, means
aligning our inner lives withour outer actions, and that
theme runs throughout the wholearc of scripture.
Jesus warns be careful not topractice your righteousness in
front of others to be seen bythem.
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His harshest words are not forthe weak but for the fake.
James calls us to confess oursins, not to cover them up.
And Paul tells us to let lovebe sincere and warns against
self-deception.
From the beginning to end, godhas called us, his people, to be
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a people of truth.
This isn't just an issue ofmorality.
People of truth.
This isn't just an issue ofmorality.
It's one of formation, not justcommunity formation, but your
own spiritual formation.
Dallas Willard once said themost important thing in your
life is not what you do, ratherit's who you become, because
that's what you will take intoeternity.
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Who you become, that's what youtake into the next life.
Acts 5 isn't simply a cautionarytale.
It's a mirror asking us tobecome, or who we're becoming,
when no one else is looking.
And what makes the story sosobering to me is just how
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familiar it feels.
And what makes this story sosobering to me is just how
familiar it feels While ourcontext is different.
We're a less communal society.
It's easier to be a lessvisible follower of Jesus.
You know, the temptationremains for us.
We want to look committed, Ithink, at times without being
surrendered.
We want to build a reputation.
Instead of having genuinelyhealthy and good relationships,
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we try really hard to curate animage of ourselves that's
passable to the rest of theworld, rather than live
transparently before God andothers.
So let me say this that I don'tthink integrity is having
nothing to hide.
I think integrity is aboutchoosing not to hide.
We all have stuff.
We're all imperfect, Addictions, times we fail, things that
embarrass us, things we regretwe would have done differently,
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things we actually put a lot ofthought into and we did the best
we could with what we had butit turned out to be the wrong
thing.
And integrity is just choosingnot to hide.
It's the kind of honesty thatinvites grace to work in our
lives.
Where integrity begins is whereresurrection life can begin to
take root.
When we open up and say, hey, Ican't, I didn't, I won't, I
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failed, that's where God cancome in and say I know You're
not perfect, let's do thistogether.
Integrity is about alignmentbetween what we say and how we
live, between our public imageand our private reality.
It is not about being flawless.
I don't want you to go awaythinking this was a message
about being perfect.
It's not.
It's about being truthful.
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And that kind of integrityisn't just tested in dramatic
moments such as selling propertyor facing public accountability
.
It shows up in the ordinary.
How might you practiceintegrity in the ordinary Well
being involved or being honestabout money when it comes to
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your relationship with yourspouse, not withholding that
information?
Owning up to a mistake at workrather than hiding it, resisting
the urge to exaggerate yourspiritual life in small groups
or to give the impression thatyou're more prayerful or more
generous or more surrenderedthan you actually are.
It means shifting from I'mtrying to create, curate a life
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that impresses those around meto cultivating a life that
pleases God.
Is what I'm doing pleasing toGod or does it just make me look
good to my friends, my family,my co-workers, my community?
And that shift begins withhonest questions Again.
Are we more concerned withappearing godly than actually
surrendering to God?
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Do I avoid confession toprotect my image?
This message for me, as Iworked on it this week, is
really confronting a lot of thestuff I'm working through
individually.
I want to be clear thatintegrity doesn't mean telling
everyone everything.
That's kind of where I fall.
If I'm going to have integrity,I need to be open and honest
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about everything, and that's nothonesty, that's just
oversharing.
I'm coming to learn, buthealthy privacy is not the same
as deception.
In fact, learning how to haveboundaries in what we share and
what we don't share is a sign, Ithink, of emotional and
spiritual maturity.
Integrity just means living alife of alignment and it doesn't
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necessarily mean overexposure.
It's absolutely okay to keepsome things in private, but when
we withhold information.
When we withhold information togive others a false impression,
or when we ask others to keepsecrets that protect my image or
your image, or to manipulate anoutcome, we are no longer
practicing integrity.
(27:42):
We're managing our appearance.
Modern psychology affirms this.
For those of you interested inthat, therapists often
distinguish between privacy,which protects your well-being
and your relational boundaries,and secrecy, which protects your
ego or shame.
There's a difference rightbetween privacy and secrecy.
(28:02):
One fosters connection andsafety.
Privacy fosters connection andsafety, whereas secrecy isolates
and distorts.
Scripture echoes thisdistinction.
It's not just modern psychology, but thousands of years ago the
writer of Proverbs, 11, verse 3, says the integrity of the
upright guides them, but theunfaithful are destroyed by
(28:25):
their duplicity.
Integrity guides.
It doesn't overwhelm or controlothers with our full story, but
it also refuses to live adouble life or to build trust on
false appearances.
So the call here isn't to beexposed or overexposed, but
rather to be honest.
You don't have to tell everyoneeverything, but you should be
(28:49):
able to say at the end of theday thing.
But you should be able to sayat the end of the day, the end
of the conversation, what I'veshown you is real.
What I've shown you is real andfor those in leadership,
whether it's here at MadisonChurch and you're in leadership
or business or at home integritymeans never, ever using
(29:15):
spiritual language or authorityfor your personal gain.
This is one of the most soberingways that we take the Lord's
name in vain.
It's not swearing you mighthear.
You know somebody swears andyou're like, oh, don't take the
Lord's name in vain.
That's actually not what itmeans.
It means don't invoke God'sname to back your own plans, to
prop up my ego or worse, and howwe've seen it used a lot in the
(29:36):
church world is to shut otherpeople down.
I disagree with you, or you'rebringing up some points that
overly challenge me.
Well, god told me aha, stop,that is taking the Lord's name
in vain, when saying that Godtold me this when he didn't.
Using spiritual language tomanipulate rather than to serve
(29:59):
is not faith at all, and Goddoes take that seriously,
because his name is not a weaponfor us to wield.
His name is hope to be revealed.
The story of Ananias andSapphira isn't here to scare us
into perfection.
It's here to invite us intohonesty.
God isn't looking for polishedperformances.
(30:20):
He's just calling us to live inthe truth, to let our public
lives reflect what's actuallygoing on in our hearts, because
the spirit who empowers is thesame spirit who purifies.
The same spirit who formed agenerous and united church and
act is still forming one today,but only if we're willing to be
(30:41):
real.
So the question as we enterinto our time of communion today
, the question is am I livingwith integrity before God or am
I just trying to appear puttogether in front of others?
Let this be a moment ofcourageous clarity and if there
is a part of your life thatyou've kept hidden, confess it.
(31:03):
If you've been pretending, dropthe mask.
Integrity doesn't begin withperfection.
It starts where pretending ends.
So step into the light, becausethat's where God's grace meets
you, that's where fundamentaltransformation begins, that's
(31:23):
where the resurrection of lifetakes hold.
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