“Church Vital Signs”
(Acts 4:32-5:11)
Series: The Church on Fire!
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
First Baptist Church Henderson, KY
(8-12-07) (AM)
- Take God’s Word and open to Acts, chapter 4.
A few weeks ago we began a series of messages through the book of Acts. Our series is entitled, “The Church on Fire!” and we’ve been noting how the early church was born 2,000 years ago and spread rapidly like wildfire. We pick up our study in chapter 4, beginning in verse 32.
- Stand in honor of the reading; just the first couple verses to get us started:
32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.
33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.
- Pray.
Introduction:
I don’t remember whether it was when I was in Scouts or school many years ago when I first learned about how to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. What a remember most about the instruction was a story the teacher gave us about a woman who had come across a man lying on his back on the ground in the hot sun near the railroad tracks. The man was fully clothed. The sun was hot. His jaw was open. It didn’t look good. The woman immediately got down there and began doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. No sooner than she began to blow oxygen into his mouth he awakened from the brief nap he had taken during a break as a railroad worker and began shouting at the woman! Our instructor’s point was that you can’t always immediately tell from outward appearance whether someone has stopped breathing. He said, “Tap them on the shoulder and yell at them first. Check for simple vital signs. Get down and see if you can detect their breathing. Check their pulse.”
In a similar way, you can’t always tell the health of a church based on outward appearance. Some church buildings look really nice on the outside. It would seem they’ve got everything together. But if you could look at the inside and see what’s going on in the hearts and lives of the people, you may feel differently about that church’s health.
This morning the Bible gives us what I’m calling some “Church Vital Signs.” These signs will tell us whether a church really is alive and well. They will tell us how healthy a church is. So let’s check these vital signs together. Number one:
I. We Must Have Unity (32-33)
Verse 32 begins a sort of “summary statement” of the early church and it tells us that the church was united. They were “of one heart and one soul.” And the church was united in two ways. So let’s look at these two ways together. First, we must be:
1) United in our In-Reach (32)
32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.
Here was a church that really cared for one another. Churches that are alive and well care for one another. They reach inwardly and minister to one another. We’re going to read more about this in just a moment, but right now I just want us to see that healthy churches take care of their own. As pastor of this great church I continue to be grateful for the way our Sunday School classes do such a superb job of caring for one another as they reach inwardly. Our Sunday school classes help out one another financially, or they’ll provide meals for one another, or they’ll visit one another in the hospital. There is a wonderful unity in the body of Christ. So we must be united in our in-reach. But also:
2) United in our Out-Reach (33)
33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.
Verse 33 is a wonderful verse! It’s a verse about outreach and what I like about the verse is the way it is structured. It begins with “great power” and ends with “great grace” and sandwiched right between those two phrases is “the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” It’s a verse about outreach, about evangelism. A healthy church is a church united in outreach. The Bible says “With great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.” So when our church is united in our evangelistic efforts, great grace, or great favor from God, is poured out upon the body. Isn’t that great?!
One of the reasons we have continued to grow as a church is because our church is united in our outreach. Our FAITH Evangelism Training that begins tomorrow evening is a testimony to our unity in outreach. I hope you’ll be in prayer Monday evenings for the some 85 people who will be going out in the Henderson community every single Monday evening, telling other people about Jesus and His church.
And I hope that you and I will continue to be sensitive to all the opportunities God gives us throughout the week to tell others about Jesus. We have opportunities to share the gospel every day of the week. You can share Jesus with people in your neighborhood, with people at your workplace, with people in your family. The best gift you can give anyone is the gift of the Gospel.
We’re checking our church vital signs. The first sign of vitality and life is unity. We must have unity; united in our in-reach and united in our outreach. Secondly:
II. We Must Have Generosity (34-37)
Churches that are alive and well are churches that are generous, generous in two ways. First, we must be:
1) Generous with our Possessions (34-35)
34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold,
35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.
You can’t help but see the generosity of the first Christians here in this passage. As was said of a dear, departed brother in Christ yesterday during his funeral, “He cared about people more than possessions.” That’s how true Christians are. They are generous with their possessions.
The Bible says that when these first Christians detected a need among the body of Christ, they would sell their lands and houses and bring the profits to the church. This was not communism. Remember, communism is something that is forced. Communism is, “What’s yours is mine.” Christianity is, “What’s mine is yours.” Generosity.
I’m glad to pastor a church generous with her possessions. We’re a tithing church here. We give back to God 10% of what He has given to us. It’s our way of acknowledging that God is Lord of all our possessions. Because He has been generous to us, we are generous to Him. What we do without people who give? What we would do if everyone adopted the attitude of letting someone else give? We must be generous, generous with our possessions and, secondly:
2) Generous with our Praise (36-37)
36 And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus,
37 having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
The Bible introduces us here to a man named Barnabas. We’ll be reading about Barnabas again in the Book of Acts. The Bible says his given name was “Joses,” but the apostles gave him another name, “Barnabas.” Why did they give him that name? Because it suited him. The Bible says “Barnabas” means, “Son of Encouragement.” That’s really good, isn’t it?!
Here’s a man in the church everyone recognized as an encourager, as a man who was generous with his praise, always building other people up with his words, never tearing people down. We’ll be reading more about Barnabas. It was Barnabas who would later bring the Apostle Paul to the believers and tell them, “This man is a good man. Don’t fear him. Receive him as one of us.” It was Barnabas who would later take John Mark with him on a mission trip when Paul would rather leave him behind. We’ll be reading more about Barnabas later.
But note right now that the church saw something in this man Barnabas that they really liked. They saw a man who was generous with his praise, always speaking words that promoted harmony, love, encouragement, and consolation; always seeing the best in everyone and everything. And so the apostles said, “Let’s rename Joses. Let’s give him a new name. Let’s call him what he is, Barnabas, one who encourages.”
Hey, what name have people given you? You say, “Well, no one in the church has given me a nickname.” Are you sure? Are you? I laughed yesterday evening as I listened to Chonda Pierce on the radio. You ladies know Chonda Pierce. Her father was a preacher and so she tells a lot of stories about being a preacher’s kid and watching the way some Christians act. She’ll mention these different people in the church and yesterday as I was listening she mentioned a woman in her church she referred to as, “Sweet Sister Seat-Saver.” She said Sister Seat-Saver was the one who got to church early and lay her coat on the pew and her scarf and Bible and so forth so no one would sit in her seat! Chonda Pierce said as a young girl she would slip into the church early and move Sister Seat-Saver’s stuff. She said she wanted to see if she was really saved! Yeah, you want to find out whether someone is really a believer just sit in their pew or in their chair at prayer meeting and watch what happens!
You sure you don’t have a nickname? Barnabas came into a room and the room was electrified! Barnabas left the room and people would say, “Man, he’s such an encourager. I really love Barnabas. I wish he’d stayed around a little longer.” What do people say when you enter the room? What do they say when you leave?” You say, “Oh, nobody has a nickname for me.” Are you sure? Make sure you live in such a way that the nickname people have for you is a good one.
Churches that are on fire for the Lord are churches filled with people like Barnabas, people who are generous with their praise, speaking words of edification, building one another up, not tearing one another down.
We’re checking our church vital signs. We must have unity. We must have generosity. Thirdly:
III. We Must Have Authenticity (5:1-11)
Chapter 5, verses 1-11, are remarkable verses to say the least. We just read about Barnabas, a man generous with his praise and also generous with his possessions. The Bible says that, like others, Barnabas had sold some land and brought the proceeds to the church. His action is contrasted with a certain man in the first verse of chapter 5.
1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession.
2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Now there was nothing wrong with Ananias and Sapphira’s keeping back part of the proceeds from their sale of land. What was wrong is that they acted like the money they brought into the church was the entire amount they had received from the sale. Peter, divinely guided by the Holy Spirit, knows this. Look at verse 3:
3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?
4 “While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
So Peter points out that Ananias’ sin was not that he didn’t bring all the money into the church that he received from selling his piece of property. He was free to do what he willed with his land or whatever profit he made from selling it. Ananias’ sin was that he acted like someone he was not. He was a hypocrite. Maybe he saw the way everyone raved about Barnabas’ gift to the church and he thought, “He’s not the only one who is so generous. I want people to notice me, too!” So Peter uncovers Ananias’ hypocrisy and says, “You have not lied to men but to God. You have lied to the Holy Spirit.”
5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.
6 And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.
Ananias’ heart failed him. He died of shock. Watch what happens later:
7 Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
8 And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?” She said, “Yes, for so much.”
9 Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”
10 Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband.
11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.
We read of “great power” “great grace” and now in verse 11, “great fear.” The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was more than greed, and more than pride, and more than self-centeredness. Their sin was that of hypocrisy. They were play-acting in the church. They were presented themselves as people they were not. and Peter says that when we present ourselves as someone we’re not we’re lying to the Holy Spirit; we’re lying to God.
Now fortunately none of us are hypocrites, right? Someone said, “If God judged hypocrisy in the church today like he judged Ananias and Sapphira there’d have to be a morgue in every church.”
I wonder sometimes if we’re acting like people we’re not when we gather together for corporate worship in the very presence of the Holy Spirit. Do we really mean the words we sing to God or are we lying?
We sing, “I love to tell the story” about Jesus. Do we really? Are we really evangelistic?
We sing, “All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give.” Do we really?
“I have decided to follow Jesus . . . though none go with me still I will follow.” Really?
Or might we hear the words of Peter: “Why are you lying to the Holy Spirit, testing God?
Church vital signs: We must have unity. We must have generosity. We must have authenticity.
Conclusion / Invitation:
Friday evening Michele and I ran a 5K race in Madisonville. I had really been looking forward to the run because I’d been running a little faster lately and was looking to improve my personal record. We started the race and I was looking to just make around 8 minute miles so at the first split-time, the first mile, the guy shouted out the time as I went past: “7 minutes, 16 seconds.” Now I’m feeling really good because, while some of you guys run a lot faster than that, 7:16 was really fast for me. So I’m going along and I run about another half-mile and then it happened. I’m running uphill and I don’t see anyone up ahead. The pack, all the really fast runners, had gotten out of sight and all I see one of the flag persons, a woman standing there in the road and I see another flag person down the street to the right. I knew we turned right somewhere around so this must be it. I turn pass the flag woman there and I’m off down the road. Now there had been a guy running really close to me and suddenly I realize I don’t sense his presence anymore. I run a little further and then I realize, “I’ve gone the wrong way!” I looked back and saw a runner continuing on where I had turned off course. I was so disappointed. I just stopped running and shook my head. And I looked back at that flag woman who was just standing there and I thought, “You know, it would have been nice if she had said something like, “‘You’re going the wrong way. This is the way here.’” But she didn’t. She just let me go right on by without saying a word.
I thought about that incident later and I began to think about the times God had brought other people my way so that their path intersected mine. And I thought about how easy it is to let a person run right by me without my ever saying a word. I meet someone and I talk with that person about this or that and off they go headed in the wrong direction because I never told them about Jesus Christ. Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.” If you have never received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you’re going the wrong way. Come, turn around. Go this way. Come this morning and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
- Stand for prayer.
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