Sunday, January 29, 2023 AM

The Church as the New Covenant Temple in Acts

In the absence of our brothers and sisters who are sick today and traveling and distant, Lord, we ask that you would bless them, encourage them in your word. As we gather today and encourage one another and pray for one another, Lord, I pray that you would help us to remember all those who are absent.

Lord, we thank you that you have given us this time and this moment, this opportunity to focus upon your word, to consider its truth, to rejoice in our Savior Jesus Christ, and I pray that you would help us to do that with all reverence, and that indeed by your grace there would be a hearty amen in our hearts to your word that you have given to us from heaven.

And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Well, let's open our Bibles and let's turn to chapter 5 of the book of Acts. Acts chapter 5, and we will be reading verses 1 through 11 here in a moment.

Acts chapter 5, verses 1 through 11. Our Lord has gone into a far country to receive there a kingdom and to return. It's the story Jesus tells of his resurrection from the dead, his ascension to the right hand of the Father, and his return having placed all of his enemies a footstool for his feet.

He is king. He has been risen, he's been raised from the dead, he has risen indeed, and he gives instructions to his apostles that they are to preach the gospel of the kingdom to all the nations beginning in Jerusalem.

Meaning that these very pious, faithful, dedicated Jews who have grown up under the law, members of the Old Covenant, observers of ceremonies and feast days, of sacrifices and the Sabbath, that they have need to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

There is no salvation for them in that brick-and-mortar temple up the hill on a mountain that Christ has declared shall be shaken. There is only salvation in the Messiah God had long promised to Israel through all the prophets.

It is the initial task of Jesus' apostles, the early church, to preach the gospel, the good news of Jesus, to those in Jerusalem. And Jesus tells them to wait for power from on high. They are not to go forth and preach the good news of the kingdom unless they have the power of the Holy Spirit with them.

Their task is nothing short of being involved in the construction of the new temple. Jesus is the Son of David. It is the Son of David who builds the temple. And Jesus said to his accusers, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

Speaking of his own person, his own body, his own person and work. And indeed he is the cornerstone and the capstone. We are built upon Christ and up into Christ. He has laid the foundation upon which the new covenant temple is built of living stones, all those he gathers to himself, built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets that are keyed to the cornerstone who is Christ.

It is unsurprising that here early in the book of Acts there is a running and sharpening contrast between the old covenant temple and the new covenant temple. Where Peter and John go in and preach the good news of Jesus and a man born lame is healed, this angers the Sanhedrin.

They threaten Peter and John. They don't want to ever hear this name of Jesus again. Here are the covenant-breaking stewards of the old covenant temple, the Sanhedrin. They hate Jesus. They hate his followers.

They're absolutely opposed to what's going on down the hill as Peter and John and the Apostles preach Christ and thousands are coming to faith in him. So we have a running contrast, a sharpening contrast between the old covenant temple and the new covenant temple here in Acts chapters three and four and now we come to chapter five.

You know, one pressing question is, what's going to keep the new covenant temple from becoming as corrupt and compromised as the old covenant temple? Jesus did not have a lot of positive things to say about the old covenant temple.

He likened it to a fig tree that couldn't bear any fruit, so he cursed it so it would wither and die. He didn't have a lot of positive things to say about it. What's to keep the new covenant temple from going the same way, of becoming compromised and corrupt?

Well, let's read Acts 5 and see how the Lord handles things. I invite you to stand with me as we read God's Word, Acts chapter 5 verses 1 through 11. But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife sold a possession 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.

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? 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. Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things, and the young men arose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened, and Peter answered her, Tell me, whether you sold the land for so much? She said, Yes, for so much. 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. 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.

So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. As we're gathered here this morning to rejoice in the Lord's Supper, to share in communion with our Lord, this is a fitting reminder of the contrast between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

An Old Covenant filled with feast days and ceremonies and sacrifices, but they, as well as the rest of the law, has been fulfilled in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And He has given us a feast. He has given us a meal.

He has given us a reminder of all that He has done for us, and a promise of all that is yet to come. And we gather together regularly as the heartbeat of the church to share in communion, to remember who has brought us together, who has shed His blood for us, who has died upon the cross for us.

Why is it that we can love one another and be in union with each other? In the New Temple, in the New Covenant Temple, we abide in Christ. He is the place where we are made right with God. He is the place we are reconciled to God, where we meet with God and fellowship with Him.

But again, this question about success. What is to keep the New Covenant Temple from becoming hopelessly corrupt and heinously compromised like the Old Covenant Temple? After all, that is the running contrast here in the book of Acts.

What is to make the difference? Well, Jesus saves. Let us look on the Acts of the risen Lord Jesus Christ in chapter 5, verses 1 through 11. We just saw the love in the house of the Lord, verses 32 through 37 of chapter 4.

That was the theme, the love that was in the house of the Lord. We see that this love was patterned by Christ, that it was powerful for the gospel, that it was particular in its generosity, that it was practical in its expression, that it was prophetic in its obedience.

Lies in the House of the Lord

And now we move from love in the house of the Lord to lies, lies in the house of the Lord. This is especially egregious that the church, which Paul tells Timothy, is the pillar and ground of the truth, that there would be lies in the house of the Lord.

This is egregious that there would be lies in the church, that the light that was supposed to be placed upon a lampstand would be covered by a basket of deceit, that the city that is set upon a hill would be obfuscated by a smog of compromise.

It is especially egregious that there would be lies in the house of the Lord. But Christ gives wisdom to his servant Peter, and he knows exactly what has happened here. Satan has filled the heart of Ananias, and he comes creeping in, comes slithering in.

You know, it's very interesting, when they built the tabernacle in Exodus 25, Exodus 35, they employed the artisans to recreate, with fine materials, an environment which mimicked that of Eden. They took the description of Eden from Genesis chapters 3 and 2, and they reproduced many of those elements in the artifacts, in the artistry, in the fabrics, in the weavings of the tabernacle, even situating the tabernacle so its entrance was to the east, just like the garden.

A reminder that the real exile was not that the people were absent from the promised land, but that Adam and Eve had been cast away from fellowship with God, from walking with Him in the cool of the evening, in the cool of the day, in the garden.

Sin was the real problem, sin is the real exile, and they created the tabernacle in such a way as God intended and instructed. And God said, in this way I will dwell among my people, I will dwell with my people through this form of the tabernacle.

And the tabernacle's model and its materials was brought into the temple that was built by the son of David, Solomon. And they kept those themes, a hearkening back to and an anticipation of the promised reconciliation that God would offer through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Every aspect of the temple, its orientation, its artistry, its sacrifices, everything about it was proclaiming that God would reconcile to His people. When we look at this passage, and we're thinking about the New Covenant temple, which is one made of living stones built up in Christ, and we've seen those themes so carefully laid down in the context.

When we see Satan slithering in to deceive, we should think with eyebrows raised of what happened in Genesis 3. What's going to happen? Well, what's going to happen is that, unlike the first Adam, the last Adam is going to keep his garden.

Unlike the first Adam, the last Adam is going to protect his bride. Unlike the first Adam, the last Adam is going to succeed. And so we need to assess Satan's ploy here in this text. We've seen external threats to the church in Acts 4, but now an internal threat.

We need to pay attention to what goes on here. First of all, the collusion is ascertained by Peter in verses 1 through 3 and verses 8 and 9. A certain man named Ananias, with Sapphire his wife, sold a possession 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.

But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of land for yourself? So Peter identifies Ananias in Satan colluding. And in verses 8 and 9, Peter clarifies that Sapphire was indeed in full cooperation and agreement with this act.

It's rather a sad story. Ananias apparently thought he was only lying to men. Peter says, actually you're lying to God. Sapphire was just supporting her husband, but in fact she was in collusion with her husband and Satan to lie to God.

A very sad story. It catches our attention. What's so wrong with what happens here? Why does God strike them dead? It wasn't the selling of a piece of land. It wasn't that they were landowners that that was the problem or that they sold land and had money.

That wasn't the problem. It wasn't a problem that they would use part of the proceeds at the sale of the land for one thing and part of the proceeds for another thing. That wasn't the problem. Peter identifies the problem as lying, as deception.

They were in the process of deceiving. We read at the end of Acts 4 that many in the church sold property and came and brought the money to the Apostles. Barnabas, a specific example, sold some land and he brought the proceeds and laid them at the Apostles feet.

Ananias and Sapphira do the same except when they bring the proceeds they keep some back for themselves and they do not disclose that. Either by inference or by explicit speech they indicate that they have sold a piece of land in the honor of the Lord and they're bringing the entirety of the proceeds even as those before them had done and they're giving it all to the Lord.

That every part of the proceeds that they received from the sale of that land was for the Lord and they gave it all to God. That that was what they communicated but they kept back some of that which they said was dedicated for the Lord.

Sound familiar? In the book of Joshua, all of the spoils from the Battle of Jericho, all the spoils of Jericho were dedicated to the Lord. They were they were harem. They were under the ban for destruction, holy to the Lord, intended for destruction.

That all belonged to God, every last bit of the spoils of Jericho. But Achan kept back some for himself, same language, with his family's knowledge. And what happened? They, like Ananias and Sapphira, are killed according to the will of God.

Very sad story. What's so wrong with selling a piece of land? What's so wrong with getting a pat on the back for being generous? Well, there's nothing wrong with that, is there? But it was twisted, wasn't it?

They lied. They thought they were lying to men. They thought they were going to get the praise of men while at the same time keeping some for themselves. So the whole endeavor was fueled by pride and by greed.

They're colluding with Satan. Peter asked Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? That's an odd question. Ask Satan, why have you filled Ananias' heart? Because this is not a situation in which Ananias says, the devil made me do it.

It is not a situation where Ananias can say, the devil made me do it. Peter is asking Ananias as fully responsible for his actions, because this is a situation in which he and the devil are colluding to do it.

What they're doing is twisted. This is the way that Satan, this is the way that our enemy works. Do you remember how he tempted our Lord and Savior? What did he tempt Christ with? He tempted him with bread, with the nations, and with glory.

Well, what's wrong with bread? Aren't we supposed to pray, give us this day our daily bread? What's wrong with the nations being offered to Christ? Doesn't he inherit the nations as the Son of God? What's so wrong with glory?

Isn't it true that in all things Christ must have the preeminence? So what's wrong with glory? But Satan offered it all to Christ twisted, twisted in a way to disobey God, to collude against God, and Christ would not collude in the least.

Abraham would not take a single sandal strapped from the King of Sodom, lest the King of Sodom says, I made Abram rich. Christ would not collude in the least with Satan, lest it be said Satan made Christ rich.

So the collusion is ascertained. Ananias and Sapphira are in collusion with Satan. They are appearing to do what is right and good and noble, but in fact, what's at work is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life.

So the corruption that is attempted here, the attack that Satan is engaging on the bride, the defilement he attempts in Christ's new covenant temple is one in which deception reigns. He seeks to establish a beachhead of deception, of falsehood.

What is Ananias and Sapphira, what are they trying to accomplish? Here they are, in and about the community of the church. They're involved in the things going on here with the Lord's people. They're obviously in relationship.

They're in connection with them. They're gathering with them. They're part of the religious life of Christ's church, but they're seeking to use religion as a covering to look good. They sell their land and give the money in such a way that they will look good, and they get to keep some for themselves.

So they're about getting the praise of men while improving themselves. You see what they're using religion for? They're using religion to impress others and do some good for themselves. In contrast to this, when Jesus talks about genuine piety, genuine expressions of religion, such as giving and praying and fasting, He says that we are to use religion for communion to love God, not for a covering to look good, but for communion to love God.

People get the wrong idea about the Bible. They say, well, the Bible is anti-religious. Actually, it's not. The Bible has good things to say about pure and undefiled religion. Religion is simply the way that you organize your life for spiritual matters.

Why are you here today? Some amount of organization was required for you all to make it here today, right? It cost you something in terms of energy, time, planning, and so on. I hate to break it to you, but you're religious.

The fact that you showed up today proves it. Now, don't break out in hives. You are religious if you came here today. That's not a bad thing. The question is, why are you here? If you're here because you want others to think well of you, you're missing the mark.

If you're here because you're on a self-improvement campaign, you've missed the mark. Jesus says the reason why we engage in various spiritual disciplines, organizing our lives and directing our lives towards these spiritual matters, is because we want to love God and worship Him and praise Him.

Make sure our lives are in orbit around God, giving Him glory. So, the corruption that is attempted here, Satan is seeking to deceive the bride of Christ, to move her away from rejoicing in her raiment, fine linen, bright and clean, granted to her the righteousness of the saints in Christ, both given to her in Christ, and she is led into righteousness by Christ, to move her off of that to some sort of filthy rags, some kind of fig leaf failure, of only appearing to look good in self-interests.

That is the attempted corruption, that we would use religion as a covering to look good, that we would engage with and relate to the New Covenant Temple in a way that would redirect the focus away from the Lord, away from God, and to ourselves.

That we would use the New Covenant Temple, that we would use the church to make ourselves look good and pursue self-satisfaction, self-improvement. So, that was the attempted corruption. Satan is all about that.

How did he enter into the garden? What did he say to those who were made in the image of God? Don't you want to be like God? What did he say to those whose lives were full and abundant of fruit from God?

Don't you want some fruit? You see how he takes that which God has promised and God has designed, and he just has to twist it just a little bit to be the father of lies, as Jesus calls him, a murderer from the beginning.

Christ Exposes the Deception and Guards His Bride

If we understand Satan's ploy, then we ought to agree with, and amen, the Savior's plan. The Savior's plan. What does Jesus do here through his servant Peter? Christ exposes that in this multitude that we read about in Acts 4, among this multitude, there were some who did not really believe.

Some who did not actually believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that they were saved and genuine members of the New Covenant, filled with the Holy Spirit. No, Ananias was filled with Satan, so you can't be filled with Satan and filled with the Holy Spirit.

There are a variety of Bible verses that will help us out there, if you're confused about that. So, we have some imposters. Remember that Paul talks about Satan not as a red-horned, pointy-tailed, hoofed, French goatee being.

Satan would be pleased, if you would think of him in that image. Actually, he comes as an angel of light. So, Christ exposes that among the multitude, there were some who really were not of one heart and one soul.

They were not actually trusting in Him, and so they were acting in ways that were devilish and satanic and deceptive. And Christ exposes this. Now, think about the situation with Ananias. He thinks, and he knows in his heart, that he is lying to men.

This is all part of what he has decided to do, how Satan has filled his heart to lie. He thinks he's lying to men, but he is deceived by Satan, whom he is colluding with. In fact, Ananias is lying to God.

He's lying to the Holy Spirit. In trying to deceive the church, in this trying to deceive the church, Ananias is lying to the Holy Spirit, who indwells the New Covenant Temple, which is the church. And therefore, he's lying to God Himself, for the Holy Spirit is God, a very God, the third person of the Trinity.

And so, he lies to the Holy Spirit, not simply lying to man. Ananias is man-centered. He's thinking man-centered thoughts. He's thinking about how to look good to men, how to gain the praise of men.

He's focused on man. He's focused on himself. How can I keep part of it back, so that I have the best of both worlds here, the praise of men, and some extra money on the side. He's very man-centered in his thoughts, but when Peter confronts him, he confronts him with God.

You have lied to God. And he says the same thing to Sapphira, who is very fixated on, again, men. She is very sad, but she's backing her husband up on this deception. And Peter says, no, you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord, to test the Spirit of the Lord.

So, Peter is establishing the priorities here. This is about God. The priorities in the New Covenant Temple, the priorities in the church are about God, not man. The church is not a self-improvement program.

The church is not about helping people look good to one another, and good to the outside, and concerned about, how can we look good to the world? How can we get the world's approval? How can we get one another's approval?

And how can we focus on men to make men better? That is not the focus of the church. If it were Ananias and Sapphira, you know, they'd be fine members, right? But they're not. So Christ, through his actions, and it's really a kind of a humorous thing when you read the venerable professors who write the commentaries on Acts 5, how far afield they go to try to say God had nothing to do with killing Ananias and Sapphira.

You know, they just got scared and their heart stopped working. But in fact, this was the judgment of God. To put it another way, the New Covenant Temple, the church, is not a safe space. It's not safe.

This is not a safe space. This is not a place where people come, and our job as believers is to affirm everything you think, everything you feel, everything you say, everything you do. That's what Satan wants.

Satan wants sinners fully affirmed in their sin, so they will burn in hell with him forever. Safe spaces are traps. In the church, this passage here about Ananias and Sapphira dying because they lie to God is an absolute agreement with the previous passage where love is the theme.

They are absolutely in agreement. What is the outcome in the text of this judgment of God as Ananias and Sapphira died is said twice. Verse 5 says, great fear came upon all those who heard these things.

Verse 11 says, great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. Nothing is more proper, nothing is more right, nothing is more loving than to put our attention upon the Lord, to think of him first, and to think of him most.

To put these things in their proper order and their proper perspective. And Christ is jealous for his bride. He loves his bride. He loves the church, and so he, unlike Adam, does not allow her to be deceived, and he stops the infiltration of the serpent into his garden.

This is love. Christ is the Good Shepherd. He defends his flock. Christ is the Good Husband. He defends his wife. He cleanses his temple. Now this morning, we gathered together around this new covenant feast, and it's not about us.

It's about our Lord. It's about his glory. It's about his worthiness. It's about God and his holiness, and how we are only saved and reconciled to him because of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Communion is not a safe space.

It's a place for us to fear God and revere him, and ensure that we are confessing his truth about our lives. Not our truth, his truth about our lives. First Corinthians 11 verse 27 says,. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, meaning in a man-centered manner, will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep, Paul says. The Corinthians were not keeping Jesus Christ central and elevated and preeminent in their communion with one another, as they gathered together on a regular basis and shared a meal together, honoring the Lord's Supper on those occasions.

They were not thinking of Christ first and foremost. They were not fearing the Lord first and foremost. And what happened in this is that they were eating and drinking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner, and this was no safe space.

Paul says, many among you are weak and sick, and many sleep. Many have died because you have mistreated this meal. Now, we have a great Savior. We have a perfect Savior, and that's where our focus needs to be today.

This is not a self-improvement program. These are not spiritual vitamins that make us better Christians the next day because we took our vitamins. That's not what this is. This is about putting our attention upon the Lord who has bought us, the Lord who has given His life for us, the Lord who has shed His blood on behalf of the church, recognizing Him as the head, Him as the one who is in authority, and recognizing that the only way that we can properly love one another and be in right relationship with one another is through Him.

Loving one another as He has loved us. That's what we should be reminded of when we take this meal and we eat this bread and drink this cup. Look how Jesus loves me. Look how He has loved His people. I am to love His body the way that He loved me.

I am to give my life for those here in my local congregation. Let's pray. Father, I thank You for the time You've given us in Your Word. I thank You for a reminder, Lord, of Your holiness and the supremacy of Jesus Christ.

I thank You that He is a good Shepherd. Lord, thank You for reminding us that what we do here is not for show. This is not for personal improvement. This is for Your glory and ultimately for our good as we love You and love one another.

We pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen.