Lesson 7 Purified by His Discipline
Hypocrisy - when sincere faith is replaced by the appearance of spirituality.
This text for this weeks lesson Acts 5:1-11 is hard one to understand. Why did God strike dead Ananias and Sapphira?
I have been quizzing my children lately in an effort to have them pay more attention to the sermons. By the way it is working. They know and are actually looking forward to my four questions on the sermon. As I was talking with my daughter this week about the sermon after she had taken the quiz. I asked her what sin Ananias and Sapphira committed. She right away said, "they lied to God." That has stuck with me. My hypocrisy is to appear more spiritual to people around me. And as I am doing that I am lying to the very God I have choosen to worship.
Dana Olson this weekend made the point that it was out of God's kindness and mercy that he struck Ananias and Sapphira dead. God through this act was showing the magnitude of his holiness.
It is of utmost importance that we display authentic faith. That is what attracts others. Remember a few chapters back in Acts, the early believers were characterized by "glad and sincere hearts." Acts 2:46 If we will follow Christ with sincere motives and are real with each other, our church we be greatly blessed by God.
posted by Bill @ 9:46 AM
3 Comments:
I'm Back, Bill!
I'm stuck at the definition of Hypocrisy. How do we tell the difference between sincere Faith and Spirituality? Can't you have both? It sounds like the person that raises his hands and comes forward to an altar call, or perhaps even claims a miraculous gift recieved during worship let alone clap their hands, may be a kooky hypocrite. The sincere person of Faith may not seemingly participate in any of the above because they may be percieved as a kooky hypocrite. Whose right here, Bill?
Who has the Word of God correct here, anyway?
We have to get by this type of hypocrisy we burden eachother with, so our church can get on with our pursuit of the KING. the fact that The fastest growing denomination in the world embraces the entire church as presented in the book of Acts, not just parts of it, because they might seem too "Spiritual", or God forbid "Supernatural". No I don't want to be labeled "Pentecostal". I want to be called a "Christ Follower" that has the "fullness of God" in my life. A man with a Spiritual and Sincere Faith. Can I have that at FCC? Let it be so!
I pray that God will show us the magnitude of His holiness. Don't you, Bill?
Lark, you are leaving out a key word in my definition of hypocrisy (appearance). Yes absolutely faith and spirituality go hand in hand. The hypocrisy comes when I give the appearance of spirituality that is not rooted in my faith in God, but is rooted in my desire to please or impress man.
Am I raising my hands and clapping because of my faith or because the person next to me is doing it and I want to be accepted by that person?
Thanks for clarifying my not seeing the word "appearance", Bill. It does change things.
Never the less I still wonder about the hypocrisy that permeates through worshippers when they disagree over the way each chooses to worship. That word "appearance" can cause division within the body. Don't you think? Or am I just dreaming when I hear FCC woshippers say they would probably look elsewhere if we had altar calls or other manifestations that border on the supernatural as witnessed in the first church?
It's time to get real with each other, and we need our Pastoral staff to help and guide us to follow Christ with sincere motives. Is there room for all of us at FCC? I pray that the issue will be unpacked by our leadership, soon. If there is room, lets go for it.
Thanks again, Bro!
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