Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends, wherever you are this weekend.
As you look around your part of the world, do you see widespread evidence of the great moral battle for the soul of your city, your nation and our world? Do you see it in corrupt leadership in every segment of society? Do you see it in failed judicial and prison systems as millions of people are incarcerated with the intention of changing their wicked hearts, but crime rates keep climbing? Do you see it in the global pandemic of abortion of the unborn as well as child abuse, child slavery and even child sex trafficking? Oh we don’t need to look very far to see evidence of the moral and spiritual battle for our souls, our families, our communities, our cities, our nations, our world, do we?
In the past few days we’ve been looking closely at what took place in the city of Jerusalem after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. A great spiritual movement had swelled to over 5000 followers of Jesus and yesterday we looked at their unity of heart and mind, as well as their outrageous generosity. Jerusalem and the entire region was being powerfully impacted. The devil, Satan, could not stand by idle and do nothing. His kingdom must always be in full opposition to God, God’s truth, God’s purposes and God’s people! So in Acts 5 the moral battle that rages in your city and mine, infiltrated this great movement in Jerusalem!
A few years later the Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Jesus followers in the city of Ephesus, and that letter was widely circulated, I’m sure even to the Christians in Jerusalem. In chapter 6 of that letter Paul writes: “Put on the full armor of God so you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground…” (Eph. 6:10-13)
Is Satan and his kingdom of demons continually evaluating all that is happening here on planet earth? Oh yes! And is the devil constantly scheming to undermine every church, every ministry and even every secular endeavor which has Christian people in leadership roles which seek to honor Jesus? Oh yes! And are these schemes of the evil kingdom aimed at individuals and families and schools and businesses and health care facilities and governments and even churches? Oh yes my friends, absolutely yes! Just look around, the evidence is everywhere in our world!
So just as now, the devil had to respond to what God was doing in Jerusalem 2000 years ago. This mighty spiritual movement of 5000 people in unity, caring for each other, gathering regularly to hear the teachings of Jesus from the apostles, was growing by the day! These people were even selling high value possessions like land and giving the money to the apostles so the poor and needy among them could be helped! It was evidence of the Holy Spirit powerfully working in the hearts of these believers in Jesus and a whole city was being impacted! Satan had to do something… and his scheme, strategy and tactic then was the same as what he is doing in your city and mine today! Do you see it all around you? Jealousy, envy, pride, deceit!
Luke explains in Acts 5 that a man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira saw what was happening in this remarkable spiritual movement, especially when some people sold high value possessions and brought the proceeds to the apostles to help the poor. So, they did the same. Well, almost the same. Luke writes that they sold a piece of property and held back some of the proceeds for themselves while bringing the rest to the apostles for distribution. Evidently Ananias brought the money to Peter, and Peter said to him “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? … You have not lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:1-4) Do you see my friends that the problem was not that Ananias and Sapphira kept some of the proceeds for themselves, it was that they lied and pretended they were bringing it all. Why do you suppose? Perhaps for the recognition? They were making a mockery of what God was doing in this great spiritual movement!
Have you ever seen how rapidly mold or decay can spread in a pile of fruit? Or certainly we’ve seen this past year with COVID how quickly a virus can spread across a city, a nation and even the world! Because there is jealousy and envy deep in the heart of EVERY one of us, God saw the devil’s scheme here and God knew how quickly deception, deceit, dishonesty, envy, greed, jealousy could spread through this powerful Jerusalem spiritual movement and therefore God acted, powerfully and swiftly. Luke writes: “When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then young men came forward, wrapped up his body and carried him out and buried him.” (Acts 5:5,6)
WOW! That’s serious isn’t it my friends? Does it seem extreme? Are you wondering where God’s love and patience and compassion and mercy are? My friends I see a pattern in Scripture with this. When there is a great work of God taking place, and Satan tries to intrude, or undermine it, or disrupt it, God often takes extravagant measures to protect what He is doing and keep the forward momentum going. May I mention two other examples in Scripture? Joshua 7 & Numbers 14.
In Numbers 13,14 Moses selected 12 men recognized as leaders from among the people God had rescued out of Egyptian slavery, and sent them to investigate the land God had promised them. Perhaps you remember what God did to the 10 who gave a fearful report to the people upon their return, and then what God did to the people as they rejected God’s offer of this land and they threatened to kill Moses! I invite you to read Numbers 13 & 14.
In Joshua 7, Joshua had been obedient to God’s instructions and led the people to conquer Jericho with only marching and a shout! Not a shot was fired. But Achan stole some things from Jericho and hid them in his tent, even though God had told His people to destroy the entire city, and everything in it. God had proven He could more than supply whatever they might need. Achan doubted. Achan envied, he stole and he lied…and he and his entire family paid for this with their lives!
My friends, when God is doing a great work, He invites His people to recognize that God is working and join with Him, enthusiastically, with full trust in Jesus. When that happens, great spiritual movements result and entire nations, even regions of the world can be profoundly impacted as the darkness of evil is overcome and lives are transformed by the Holy Spirit. It happened in America in 1857 when in the midst of financial collapse desperate people began seeking God, and more than 2 million people trusted in Jesus in less than 2 years. Entire regions of North America experienced spiritual revival. Bars closed for lack of business. Jails were empty as crime disappeared. Churches weren’t big enough to hold the gatherings of people who wanted to worship and pray! It happened again in 1904 when a spiritual movement began in the UK and swept across Europe and into Asia and finally a world-wide spiritual ‘great awakening’ saw millions come to Jesus.
Satan could see a great spiritual movement was happening in Jerusalem, and his evil kingdom found one couple whose hearts were not fully engaged with Jesus, and thus they yielded to the temptation and nearly broke the momentum of the movement. Luke tells us “About 3 hours later Ananias’ wife came in not knowing what had happened. Peter asked Sapphira, ‘Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?’ ‘Yes’ she said, ‘that is the price.’ Peter said to her, ‘How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.’ At that moment she fell dead… Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.” (Acts 5:7-11)
I wonder my friends if you remember this great verse from the Old Testament: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom…”? I find it in variations in Psalm 111:10 and 112:1 and 114:13 and Proverbs 1:7 & 2:5 and several other places. When God repeats Himself to us, I pay attention, what about you? This is a big deal my friends. When we diminish our respect for God and His great Glory or His majesty or His holiness and we lower our reverence and awe for God, it is then we lose proper perspective and we begin the slide to marginalizing God and eventually replacing God with ourselves! God will not be mocked and He will protect His spiritual movements, even if it requires striking dead those who are opposing Him among His people.
Now you may be thinking, ‘my goodness, with all the evil in the world, why doesn’t God strike dead all the wicked first?’ Friends, darkness can only be dark. Wicked and evil can only be wicked and evil. Light penetrates the darkness, lots of light pushes back and overcomes, dispels the darkness. Holiness and goodness penetrate evil and wickedness and lots of holiness and moral goodness will push back and dispel wickedness. That’s why the Holy Spirit works in God’s people, seeking to nurture their purity and holiness. Then God works through them to penetrate the darkness. God protects His holy people so when spiritual darkness is infiltrating a holy work of God, watch closely and you may well see God responding powerfully to protect His Holy name.
In Jerusalem the momentum continued now with a new found reverence for God. Next week we’ll see what God did next. For today, may I ask… what plans do you have for a significant spiritual weekend? How can you protect and nurture what God has already begun doing in your life? Is your heart envious, jealous, lustful…in any way vulnerable to the schemes of the devil? Could the devil possibly infiltrate a movement of God by tempting you as he did Ananias & Sapphira? I urge you to spend some time with your prayer journal in hand, in self reflection and read these Acts 5 few verses again. What is God saying to you? Do you see why it’s so important to keep developing your very strong relationship with Jesus?
Oh my friends, here’s a song from New Zealand reflecting the people of God all around the world… be blessed my friends, oh be blessed!! Join them, from wherever you are, if you know “The Blessing”.
Today’s Scripture is Acts 5:1-11.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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