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Acts 4:34-5:11
34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
5:1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you1 sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
[1] 5:8
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4, it's also there in your worship guide. We're gonna be looking at a passage that's about Barnabas and Ananias and Sapphira. These are the first people mentioned by name who were not apostles. And, the reason that Luke introduces them here is because they, they serve as examples to us.
Joel Brooks:Barnabas is the example of what a normal Christian looks like. This is normal Christianity. Ananias and Sapphira are here to serve as a warning, a warning for the church as to what it looks like when hypocrisy comes in. So we'll begin reading verse 32. Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said any of the things that belonged to him was his own.
Joel Brooks:But they had everything in common. And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them. And brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostle's feet.
Joel Brooks:And it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was called by the apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus. He sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostle's feet. But a man named Ananias, with his wife Zaphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only part of it and laid it at the apostle's feet. But Peter said to Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart?
Joel Brooks:To lie to the Holy spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.
Joel Brooks:When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. After an interval of about 3 hours, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much?
Joel Brooks:And she said, yes. For so much. But Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out. Immediately, she fell down at his feet and breathed her last.
Joel Brooks:When the young men came in, they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all who heard of these things. This is the word of the Lord.
Connor Coskery:Thanks be to God.
Joel Brooks:You would pray with me. Our father, we ask that through your spirit, you would make us one heart and one soul in this place. To do that, you need to expose our hearts and deal with some things, and we ask that you would do that in this moment. Make our hearts look more like you, Jesus. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore, but, Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. So often on the Sundays that I'm not preaching, I go downstairs and I like to help out with the children's ministry, To serve in the nursery. And I do that, I mean, obviously because, you know, I love kids and I believe children are our future and all of that. But mainly because some of my old toys are down there.
Joel Brooks:I mean, my actual toys growing up, somehow they have survived the last 40 years and we've given them to the church. And so, I get to go down there and play. And it's a lot of fun. Of course, I play with your kids. I mean, you're I'm a grown up.
Joel Brooks:I'm responsible. I'm helping out down there, but I get to play with your kids. And it's a whole lot of fun. Some of the presents that Santa gave me have actually made their way down there. And so, I get to relive my childhood.
Joel Brooks:Well, last time I was down there, I was playing with a kitchenette that I used to own. Actually, this one wasn't mine. This one was my children's. And they, our toys have now been donated to the church. And so I'm playing on the old kitchenette with your kids, having a tea party.
Joel Brooks:And, and Molly and Floppy and Chuck and Duane were there because, that's what I named the dolls. And there were some other children there as well. And we're having this tea party and we're having the best time. And then finally I look around and I notice that there's actually not any kids with me. It is literally just me having this tea party with all of these dolls.
Joel Brooks:And I kept at it. Like, I mean, I'd I'd already made preparations. I'd already set the table. It wasn't like I was just gonna walk away. I just kept playing.
Joel Brooks:It's it's fun to play pretend and I'm actually pretty good at it. Now, if you had told me years ago, 15 years ago that I would be doing things like having tea parties, I would have told you I'm I mean, you're crazy, because I'm a man. Alright, and I like to do manly things, you know, mow lawns, chop wood, smash things, like, but after I had 3 girls, that was over. I mean, I tried raising my girls like boys, but it didn't take. Caroline, my oldest, the first book I ever read her was The Art of War.
Joel Brooks:And, she didn't like it and so we we quickly had to move on to things like playing princess, having tea parties. She loved dress up and pretend and all my girls did and so, I learned to like it too. And I got really good at it. You don't have to be a child to play pretend. I don't think I'm alone in this.
Joel Brooks:I actually think that all adults are pretty good at playing pretend. Sometimes for my job, I have to fly around different places whether I'm speaking at a conference or just going to a conference. And so if I'm in the plane and I'm sitting next to somebody, I try not to let them know I'm the pastor. You know, you just, you don't want that to be known. But, when finally, inevitably, you know, they find out, like what do you do?
Joel Brooks:And I have to say, I'm a pastor. You can see this look of dread. I mean, I am worse than a crying baby. I mean, they are they are stuck next to me. And so I'm like, well, you know what we gotta do.
Joel Brooks:And so I share the gospel with them. I mean, like, they gotta get their money's worth. They they know what's gonna happen. And and over the course of of sharing the gospel with them, where before when we were just talking, Jesus was a curse word. But not anymore.
Joel Brooks:I mean they're still saying the name of Jesus, but they're trying to act all righteous and pious. They're playing pretend. And they talk about, oh, how much they love their church that they go to. And I was like, great, what's their pastor's name? And they're like, like, well, yeah.
Joel Brooks:You know, it's been a while since I've been there, but they try to play pretend and to be more righteous than they are. And I don't think I'm alone at playing pretend. I don't think the person on the plane with me is alone at playing pretend. I think all adults are good at it. The church is full of pretenders.
Joel Brooks:That's really what we see going on in the story with Ananias and Sapphira, is 2 people who came to church and decided to play pretend. There's absolutely nothing like this story in the rest of the New Testament. If you grew up in church, perhaps you're familiar with this story. Perhaps your Sunday school teacher was brave enough to kinda go through this. And so you kinda know what it's about, and you're like, oh, that's that's when God killed, you know, that wicked, evil Ananias and Sapphira.
Joel Brooks:But when you actually take a closer look at this, you realize that they were not particularly bad people. As a matter of fact, they don't really look too different than you or me. I mean, let's look at what they did. Ananias and Sapphire, they sold some of the property that they owned, and then they brought the money to the apostles. That's a pretty generous thing to do.
Joel Brooks:It's probably a more generous thing than most of us, if not all of us in this room have done. To sell off some of our possessions and then give it to the church. Now granted, they lied a little. They they fudged a little about it, but but big deal. I mean, maybe they gave 80% of the proceeds to the church and they kept back 20%.
Joel Brooks:It was just a little white lie here and who really cares? Is it worth their death? I mean the church is wealthier because of their gift. The poor who then received their donations later, they didn't care where they got their new coke from or or the food that now stock their pantry from. They didn't care about the hearts of the people who gave.
Joel Brooks:They were just glad that they had the money. They didn't they didn't really care. Do you know what Birmingham would look like if everyone in this room acted like Ananias and Sapphira? Well, we wouldn't have any homeless problem in Birmingham. The church would never have to do any kind of like capital campaign or raise funds for anything.
Joel Brooks:Matter of fact, we'd be so overflowing with money, we could probably open up schools, help out hospitals, start all of these programs. The church would be held in honor throughout this city. People would be in awe of our generosity. We would earn the respect of all the city leaders and the people here. That's what Birmingham would look like if all of you acted like Ananias and Sapphira.
Joel Brooks:So once again, you know, why why is this so bad? I mean, who really cares if they fudged a little when they gave? It'd be like this. Let's say, after this service, some of you are gonna go walk over to post office pies. Get something to eat.
Joel Brooks:And let's say you're on your way there and somebody comes and asks you for money. And you open up your wallet and there's a $10 bill there, and you give the person a 10. You say, here's $10. I wish I could do more, but this is all I have. But even as you're saying, this is all I have, you realize at that moment, I actually have another dollar in my pocket.
Joel Brooks:But you don't say that. Just give them the $10 and you walk away. Is that worth your death? It's essentially the same thing. I mean, you gave 10 whole dollars away.
Joel Brooks:That's pretty big for someone who's just asking you for that money off the street to give 10 whole dollars. Who really cares if you kept a single dollar? The Lord cares. And he struck Ananias and Sapphira dead for doing something very similar. And so you've got to ask the question, what is really going on in this story?
Joel Brooks:Because there are a lot worse sins committed in the New Testament. There's a lot worse sins committed and God does not react this way towards any of them. Nowhere else are you see 2 dead people at the apostle's feet. If you saw that, when we come to the church of Corinth, the entire church of Corinth would be dead. They would all be dead at the Apostle Paul's feet, because in that church you had all forms of sexual immorality.
Joel Brooks:You had people suing one another left and right. People getting drunk at the Lord's table. You even had them boasting over the fact that somebody was sleeping with their stepmom, and yet despite all of that, not one of them was punished like this. I mean, you can try to spin this however you would like to spin this story, but the bottom line is, you have 2 generous people killed by the Lord because of a little white lie. Because they pretended to give more than they really had.
Joel Brooks:Something has to be greater at stake than we first see when we look at this. And I think this is where you have to see this flowing out of what we just read before and we looked at last week in acts 4. When all of the church was described as having one heart and one soul. I mean, you remember that? You know, the cheesy illustration last week, fellowship.
Joel Brooks:It's a bunch of fellows on a ship. You know, we're all in together in community and we're all moving in the same direction. One heart, one soul. Everything in common. And because of that, the church was exploding in growth.
Joel Brooks:There was perfect unity. Nothing was was hidden from one another. Then Ananias and Sapphira come along, and they shatter that unity with a stupid lie. That's what this story's about. This story doesn't so much teach us about the evils of greed, or the evils of materialism.
Joel Brooks:I mean, that is a lesson that you can pull from this story for sure, but it's not the lesson to take from this. If God had Or if they had come and they had given 80% of everything they had, they'd held back 20 and said, hey guys. I just want you to know, I'm we're gonna keep 20 because we kinda struggle with greed a little bit and we're just we're not there yet to give it all. If they had done that, it would not have been a big deal. A matter of fact, Peter even says in verse 4, he says, while it remained unsold, it was yours.
Joel Brooks:Even after it was sold, it was at your disposal. You could do whatever you want with it. That's not the issue. The issue is that you pretended to be somebody that you weren't. Think of it this way, greed was their symptom, but greed wasn't their sickness.
Joel Brooks:Greed was was the smoke that arose, but it wasn't the fire that was going on in their hearts. The fire going on in their hearts was this, that they cared more about what people thought about them, than what God thought about them. They wanted the approval of man way more than they wanted the approval of God. I mean the only reason that they were giving in the first place is because they saw Barnabas come and he gave. He sold property and he laid it all down generously at the apostle's feet.
Joel Brooks:And people were like, Barnabas. Wow. What a great deed. And Ananias and Sapphira, they're looking at it. They're like, we want that praise.
Joel Brooks:They weren't thinking, we wanna give that way. They were just thinking, we want that praise. I want that adoration. I wanna be held in high esteem by others in the church. What do I have to do to get that?
Joel Brooks:And so, they gave some and then lied about giving it all. The problem was they wanted all of the praise, but they didn't have the same heart as Barnabas. They wanted to be seen as generous, and they wanted to be seen as selfless, even though their hearts were full of greed. They wanted the praise of men more than they wanted the praise of God. And so what we see here, and it's why I believe this story is here, is Ananias and Sapphira were the first people in the church to put on a mask.
Joel Brooks:To come into church and play pretend. It's here for the first time that fakeness works its way into church life. And it's been here ever since. Hear me. It's no coincidence that this is the first time that Satan reappears after the resurrection.
Joel Brooks:I mean, after Jesus rose from the dead, Satan was defeated. He has been quiet. He has been in hiding, and all we have seen at this point is the church exploding in growth. All of these miracles. People being saved left and right.
Joel Brooks:Satan nowhere to be found. What we have is Satan realize at that moment, he goes, I I can't prevent Jesus rising from the dead. I can't prevent the birth of the new testament church here and this new covenant people filled with the spirit of God. I can no longer prevent those things. So he comes up with a new strategy.
Joel Brooks:Now I'm gonna have to destroy it from within. I'm gonna have to destroy it from within. And the strategy he takes to do this is to bring fakeness into the church, and he hasn't had to change his strategy in 2000 years. Any of you play pretend? Growing up, most of our family arguments, the intense family arguments we would have, most of them came while driving to church.
Joel Brooks:I mean, it was 3 kids in the back seat of a car with a 30 minute drive to the church. It was basically giving Satan a freebie. Alright? I mean, we just put it on a platter for him. He didn't have to do much, just one little poke, and then it was off.
Joel Brooks:I mean, my brother and I were just smacking each other, we're yelling at each other. I cannot even tell you the number of times that my mom or dad said, if you do not stop, we're pulling over on the side of the road, and we're like, would you please do that? We don't wanna go to church, you know. But they never pulled over. My mom at times, she would think, well, maybe if I just rearrange them.
Joel Brooks:Joel, you sit over there. Cheryl, you get in the middle, and Cheryl's like, why am I getting in the middle? And it didn't matter. Order doesn't matter. We would just fight the entire time going to church, But the moment we got to church, in the moment we walked through those doors, we were the perfect Brooks family.
Joel Brooks:And my parents didn't even have to tell us to do that. They didn't have to say, now y'all be on your best behavior when we're in here. You just kind of knew. That's what you do. You know, you get to church, it's like it's magic.
Joel Brooks:The doors open. You're like, this change comes over you. Smile comes on and you're like the perfect family. Can any of you relate to that? How about right before home group?
Joel Brooks:Any of those who host home group have your worst fights right before people come in? But of course, they come in. You're like, yeah. Would you like some sweet tea? You know?
Joel Brooks:Ananias and Sapphira would get right along with Southern Christianity. I mean they would fit right in. Anytime we pretend to be more generous than we are, or perhaps to be more poor, poorer than we are. Maybe to get sympathy. We've committed the same sin as them.
Joel Brooks:Anytime we hide our anger, we hide our greed, we hide our selfishness, we hide our addictions. We hide our pride and we pretend to be this perfect people. We are no different to Ananias and Sapphira. Now the reason we all put on these masks when we come through these doors is because we are terrified of people actually seeing us for who we are. We're terrified of our hearts being exposed and and somebody else actually being able to look in there and see what's inside.
Joel Brooks:The thought of somebody knowing us terrifies us. But hear me, God already knows who you are, and it's actually really not much of a secret. I know who you are. I mean, you you are a terrible, horrible, wretched sinner, just like me. And just like the person sitting next to you.
Joel Brooks:But here's the deal, Jesus cannot forgive your excuses. He only forgives your sins. And Jesus doesn't love the person you pretend to be, He loves the person you are. That's the person he is not ashamed to call his own. You might be ashamed of that person when you look at yourself, but Jesus is not ashamed of you to call you His own because you are covered with His righteousness.
Joel Brooks:And He wants you to quit playing pretend. Allow others to see what He sees. I mean here, we see the church thriving. We see the holy spirit moving. There is such a openness and a unity among all the believers.
Joel Brooks:And then Ananias and Sapphira play pretend, and they ruin it all. The Holy Spirit sees what they do as more of a threat than any outside persecution. More of a threat than any lawsuit. More of a threat than any sexual immorality. When they put on a mask, the Holy Spirit says, not in my church.
Joel Brooks:Not in my church. And He puts an end to it. You see the Holy Spirit lives to make much of Jesus, and when we play pretend, we're doing the opposite. We're living to make much of ourselves, But when we live to make much of Jesus, the Holy Spirit says, I can get on that. I'll be a part of that.
Joel Brooks:We actually find a similar story to this in the Old Testament. There's one remarkably similar story, And it's found in the book of Joshua. It's, after the God has rescued the people from Egypt, they've been living in the desert for a while, but they are finally entering the promised land. And so Joshua leads them into the promised land. For the first time, they are now entering into Canaan.
Joel Brooks:And they go to the stronghold of Canaan, the city of Jericho. You guys know the story. I mean, Joshua and the battle of Jericho. And the walls come tumbling down. They didn't have to lift a finger.
Joel Brooks:God just caused the walls to to crumbling down, the strongest city in Canaan. What we had is, God had formed this new people, this new community. And now, his kingdom was advancing, and he was moving forward in power, and nothing could stop them. And so that first battle, easy. Jericho.
Joel Brooks:So they come to the 2nd battle, and it's just a small little city called Ai, and they send a few scouts there to spy it out, you know, and they come back and these spies say, we don't have to send our whole army in. I mean, 2,000 people should do the trick. And Joshua's thinking, well just to be safe, let's send 30,000. Overwhelming force. So they send this overwhelming force into this teeny little city of Ai and they get routed.
Joel Brooks:The Israelites just get destroyed. I mean, something like this absolutely should not happen. You you look at it on paper like it's not possible. This is this is like Georgia losing to Vandy at homecoming, you know, a few years ago. You're like, that that can't happen, but it did happen.
Joel Brooks:And so when something like that happens, you're like, what did we do wrong? There's gotta be some sin. And so Joshua, he prays the Lord, what did we do wrong? Did we sin? He's like, yes, you did sin.
Joel Brooks:You sinned back there at Jericho. He said, I did everything for you. I was moving in power. You are my people. And I took down the walls of Jericho and all I asked was that you didn't do one thing, you don't take any of the spoil for yourself.
Joel Brooks:But there was a man named Achan who did. They drew lots to see who did it. And 1st, it went to the tribe of Judah. And then it kept getting whittling down. And as it's being whittled down, I mean, you could just picture Achan just sweating profusely.
Joel Brooks:He knows it's coming to him and finally, the lot comes on Achan. And Achan confesses. It's like, it was me. I sinned. I mean, after the walls came down, I saw literally He goes, I saw a coat that I liked, and I took it.
Joel Brooks:It was a nice coat, and I also took some silver and a little bit of gold, and I brought it back and I dug a hole in my tent and I buried it there. And after he confessed these things, they killed him. Here's the deal, Achan looked just like everyone around him. I mean, he fought with the people next to him. He spoke the same language, used the same words, dressed like them, worshiped with them, prayed with them.
Joel Brooks:From the outside, he looked just like everybody else in that community. The only difference was this, Achan had something hidden underneath his tent. It was the only difference. He kept something hidden underneath his tent. And he thought it would only affect him, but it infected the entire community of God.
Joel Brooks:And God said, no more. No more. This is a sin that must be dealt with. What does what does God want us to learn from this? To learn from the the sin of Achan, and from Ananias, and Sapphira.
Joel Brooks:He wants us to learn that we're we're not to be fake. We're not to pretend to be something that we're not. He wants us to be real, to be honest with our Christian brothers and sisters. He wants us to understand that the Holy Spirit will only work with the people we are, not with the people we pretend to be. And so if you're struggling with something in your life, if there's something you have hidden in your tent, you need to tell your Christian brothers and sisters about this.
Joel Brooks:Because as long as you keep it in the dark, you keep it hidden in the tent, that is a power that Satan has over you. And some of you know exactly what I'm talking about because Satan has had that power over you for years. Anything you keep in the dark, you have given him power over. And you need to bring it to the light, and you need to share with others. And think how differently this story would have gone if Ananias and Sapphira had just at the start said, hey, we're selling property, we're giving this, but we're not giving it all.
Joel Brooks:I mean honestly, like, we'd like to give it all, but we're kinda scared to give it all. We we really like the money. We're we're kinda greedy. And they just confessed that. Totally different story.
Joel Brooks:The church would have rallied around them, prayed for them, come alongside them and then they would have been liberated. They would have been given life, not given death. So the question is, are you hiding anything in your tent? After the young men, carted out Ananias, the young men took him away. By the way, I heard that's the 1st church interns.
Joel Brooks:The young men carry him away, then then Zaphira, she comes in. I mean, awkward. I mean, just at this tense, awkward situation here. She walks in, she has no idea what's happened. And Peter asked her, so is this the price that you sold the land for?
Joel Brooks:And everybody's like, please say no. Please say no. She says, oh, yeah. Yeah. We sold it for that price.
Joel Brooks:And she lies just like her husband. And Peter says in verse 9, after she lies, how could you agree to test the spirit of the Lord? Ananias was accused of lying to the spirit. Now they're accused of testing the spirit. Testing the spirit of the Lord is seeing just how much you could get away with before you're punished.
Joel Brooks:Every parent knows what testing is. It's all your children do, is push the envelope. Let's just see, how much like, how much really is 2 seconds? How come how far can you push it before finally, you're punished? God says, this is the line, you test me no more.
Joel Brooks:And so, Zaphira, she drops dead and she is carried out just like her husband.
Connor Coskery:I don't
Joel Brooks:know if any of you are familiar with the great Asbury revival that happened, about 40 years ago. Asbury College in Kentucky. This revival broke out during a normal 50 minute chapel service. Some of you have to go to those kinda chapel services at your school, and so I could probably add a normal, boring, 50 minute chapel service. But this one, lasted a 185 hours.
Joel Brooks:185 non stop hours. People did not leave the chapel for over a week. Students and faculty, they found themselves praying and weeping together, confessing their sins, singing, and they just couldn't stop. Openly confessing their sins for one other and seeking forgiveness. People were going up to the dean and and telling the dean, I'm a habitual liar.
Joel Brooks:And then he was confessing his sins to them. The faculty, the professors who were out in their classrooms were wondering, where are the students? Like nobody was in their classes. And so they began to look to investigate. They found the students in the chapel, but the moment they walked into the chapel, the Holy Spirit fell on them and they did not leave.
Joel Brooks:And they were caught up in this revival. This revival wasn't in any way chaotic, it was very orderly. It was just simply God changing hearts. It spreads over a 130 different colleges. Missionaries from this moment were were sent all over the world.
Joel Brooks:So I would say it's safe to say that we are still feeling the effects of this one revival that happened about 40 years ago. Now not many know how that revival started. What the Lord used to start that revival. But this is how it started. It started through the confession of 1 young man.
Joel Brooks:A guest speaker was speaking, and people were trying to stay awake during his sermon. He realized people were bored, and so he just ends it early. They've got 10 minutes to kill. And so he he literally is like, we've got 10 minutes. Anybody wanna say anything?
Joel Brooks:So there was a few moments of awkward silence and then finally, one young man, he got up and he started walking down the aisle towards the front. Everybody knew who this young man was. He was, you know, like the Christian leader at the college. Impeccable reputation. Everybody knew, loved and respected him.
Joel Brooks:And he got up and he got behind the, the pulpit, and he is shaking like a leaf. And he says, I just wanna say this. I am completely addicted to pornography. And he said that and the spirit of God fell. He said that and the spirit fell.
Joel Brooks:Finally, this somebody got up and he said, you know, I'm sick of playing pretend. I've been playing pretend for so long. I've been coming here putting in a mask for so long, but my identity is so rooted in who Christ is, and I now at this moment care more about what Christ thinks about me. It enables me now to the and Jesus alone. And so he could confess these things.
Joel Brooks:And let me tell you what, when the Holy Spirit saw somebody making much of Jesus and making little of himself, the Holy Spirit was like, I could get on board with that. The Holy Spirit came in power. And we are still feeling the effects of this revival. Isn't that frighten you just a little bit? Be honest.
Joel Brooks:Frightens you a little bit. Frightens me a little bit. Yes. He is, Dedrick. You think, when you think of revival, you think of all these things.
Joel Brooks:I'm not sure exactly what you think of, but do you ever think of standing in front of a group of people confessing your deepest darkness sins and what you keep hidden in your tent? Is that your view of revival? Now Ananias and Zaphar, they were hypocrites because they pretended to be something that they were not. They pretended to be better people than they were. That is one form of hypocrisy.
Joel Brooks:I wanna talk briefly about another form of hypocrisy that I think is just as rampant in the church. Have you ever been just, you know, talking with a friend, just kinda, you know, shooting the breeze, and maybe talking about the weather? Some game that was on last night or something you watched on Netflix. And as you're talking with this person, it just kinda dawns on you that you couldn't care less about what you're talking about. Like, I really don't care about anything we are talking about in this moment.
Joel Brooks:And someone else can hear the person just kind of go wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah and they're like, I just I haven't cared about what we've been talking about for the last hour. I wanna talk about something that actually matters. I mean, Jesus has been doing some pretty real things in me. Some pretty exciting things in me. That bet he's doing something exciting new.
Joel Brooks:I kinda like to talk about that. I kinda like to talk about the hope that we've been called to or the glorious inheritance that we have waiting for us or the immeasurable greatness of God's power towards us. I'd love to talk about those things. And it bubbles up inside of you, and yet as it's bubbling you're like, mhmm. Oh, yeah.
Joel Brooks:It was it was a great show. It was a great show. And you push it down. That is hypocrisy. That's plain pretend.
Joel Brooks:That is denying who you are as a child of God. Galatians 4 says, the spirit of God has come into our hearts, and we cry out, Abba Father. And there are sometimes we want to cry out, Abba, Father, or just scream, Jesus is alive. But instead, we're like, yeah, I saw that show. Oh, boy.
Joel Brooks:Didn't you know our team played really well last night. And you couldn't care less. Hypocrisy. Don't pretend to be somebody you're not. I mean, am I alone in this?
Joel Brooks:I I know I'm not alone because I've talked with many of you. I've talked with some of you in home groups. You're like, you'll come to me or complain about your home group a little bit. We never really get deep, we never really talk about anything. I mean, I wanna talk about what Jesus is doing all this, but we never get there.
Joel Brooks:Then literally somebody else in your home group will come to me and complain about it and be like, yeah, I don't really like home group. We don't talk about anything deep. I really just kinda wanna talk about Jesus. And I'm like, you idiots. Idiots, Talk about what the Lord is doing in your life.
Joel Brooks:You're children of God. You're a son of the king. You're a daughter of the king. Why don't we why don't we act like it? That's what's important.
Joel Brooks:I know I'm not alone in this. Sometimes you just gotta scream Jesus is alive. And I'm giving you permission to do that. And I believe that when we are open and we are honest with one another about what the Lord is doing in us, both in our struggles and in our passions for Jesus, our testimony becomes powerful. When we both confess and we profess, we are celebrating the gospel.
Joel Brooks:When we confess and we profess, we are saying our identity is deeply rooted in who Jesus is, and he is honored when we do that. Now I know it keeps us from doing this. It's fear. Fear keeps you from confessing, and it also keeps you from professing. You're like, man, if I were to do that, if I were to confess, or if I were to profess who Christ is and what he's doing, it's like, man, my family already thinks I'm strange enough.
Joel Brooks:I I I just can't do that. It would just be so awkward with my friends to do that. Well, you need to start. 28 years ago, when Lauren and I were first dating, probably about a month into dating, Lauren's family, they had me over for dinner. Lauren's mom, she's a really good cook.
Joel Brooks:And as she was cooking, she was putting things down and she put some butter beans down. And she goes, I hope you like butter beans. And I said, Yeah, I do. I like butter beans. It's important that you understand that's what I said.
Joel Brooks:Alright. You need to know this. Because I have replayed this conversation over a 100 times in my mind, and that is all I said, is I like butter beans, after she asked me. Well, now for over 20 years, every meal she has ever made me has had butter beans. Every single meal.
Joel Brooks:I am the butter bean boy. That is that is like it's what she thinks of when she sees me. And I can remember after years years of this, one time I'm going over to Lauren's house for dinner and, and her mom said, hey, I didn't have time to cook dinner, so I hope you don't mind ordering pizza. And I'm like, pizza, yes. And she goes, but I know how much you love butter beans.
Joel Brooks:And so, we literally had butter beans and pizza. Now it is too late for me, alright? It's it's too late. Like, I've been living a lie for this long, and I've got to take that lie to my grave. Like, it would just be devastating if at this moment, after 20 something years, I mean, like, you know, I don't really love butter beans.
Joel Brooks:I can't say that, but it's not too late for y'all. Alright? I don't know what you think you've been labeled as by your friends or your family. It's the, you know, you're the Alabama man or the the Auburn man. You're the person who loves that show.
Joel Brooks:You're the exercise freak. You know. You're you're what? You've been labeled as And I know you you think like that's where people have my identity. It's not too late people to be open and honest about who you are.
Joel Brooks:Not just for your sake, but for the church's sake. We need you to open up and to confess and to profess. That's when the spirit of God works in our midst. Confession and profession are the ways that we celebrate the gospel. It's a way that we show everyone that our identity is found in Christ alone.
Joel Brooks:And when we do that, the Holy Spirit moves in our midst. Pray with me. Holy Spirit, we do ask that you would move in our midst. I know in this room, we have a lot of pretenders. We have a lot of mask.
Joel Brooks:And we're terrified of removing them because we don't want to be known. And, Lord, you love who we are, not who we pretend to be, and you don't forgive excuses. You forgive sins. So may we openly confess these things before you and before your body, and may we openly profess our deep longing and passion for you. Spirit, you are inside of us working and moving, and forgive us of the many times we have suppressed you.
Joel Brooks:Oh, how that grieves you, and may we grieve you no more. So, Holy Spirit, in this place, we ask you would come and you would work among your people. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.