Lie Detectors and Heart Conditioning

Once upon a time, there was a good king who did a very wicked thing, or rather, a string of very wicked things. This good king, a man who, by all accounts, loved God with all his heart, but who also loved a woman who belonged to another man, took that woman and slept with her. When he discovered she was pregnant, he had her husband killed, a man named Uriah the Hittite. Then the king brought the woman to his palace and married her.  

He doesn't sound like such a good king after all, does he? But God Himself called the good king "a man after His own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14).

Great was the rejoicing throughout the kingdom as a young prince was born not quite nine months after the wedding. If no one else did the math, a prophet of God did, especially after the Lord spoke to him and told him to go to the king and confront him for his sin.

Let me just tell you, prophets don't get an easy life. You think it's all cool and stuff to be able hear some powerful words from the Lord... but when those words are words of judgment, and you're the one appointed to go tell that word of judgment to the king, of all people, who might just decide you're the next Uriah the Hittite... 

You've got to be very sure of your calling to speak the word of the Lord. Check out Romans 12:6: "If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith."

Well, anyway, it turns out Nathan the prophet had a pretty good proportion of faith and obedience. He goes to the good king who did the bad thing, and since the good king is... generally... good, he welcomes the prophet of God. Nathan tells the king a story, in which he uses psychological displacement and metaphorical imagery to show the good king the evil thing the king had done. 

The good king, naturally, is furious about the evil thing. "As surely as the Lord lives," the king cries, "this man must die."

Then comes the proverbial "weighted pause," just before Nathan the prophet breaks the fury and judgment of the whole story on the king's head: "You are the man!" he cries out. 

And hoo-boy! The blinders come off. The good king who did the evil things (David, in case you didn't recognize the story from 2 Samuel) says, belatedly and understatedly, "I have sinned against the Lord."

Ya think?

David had ignored the clear directives and guidelines set up by the Lord and plowed through them to get what he wanted. He turned to his sinful nature and allowed it to take over.

Psalm 51:10-12 is David's raw, honest plea for forgiveness from the Lord. His words are words I have prayed when I know I've messed up, as we all do. "Create in me a pure heart, oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me."

David, for the record, doesn't get to escape the consequences of his sin, even though he bitterly repented of what he'd done. The son born to him and his new wife dies, despite his pleas to the Lord to spare him. David's heart has returned to its alignment with the Lord's righteous commands, but one small place in David's family is forever empty because of the choices David made.

Do we ever think God is unfair? But God, I said I was sorry! I forgive you. But I'm still suffering. Yes. Because of your choices. Take those away, Lord. Those are to keep you here, right here, listening to me.

Jump with me over to Acts 5. Now we've got another story about sin and judgment. This is soon after the first Pentecost celebration following Jesus' resurrection and ascension into heaven. The early church is just getting started. They're experiencing some light persecution at that point, a little bit of prison, a little bit of questioning from the governing authorities, but Stephen (the first martyr for Christ) has not yet been stoned. Acts 4:32 says: "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had."

This wasn't just groceries, y'all. This was land, property, deeds, and money. And this is the thing, it was on a voluntary basis. No one was commanded to do this. This is not the price of admission into the church. "For two acres, you get the front pew. For an additional half acre, we'll throw in a baptism for you or a member of your family."

This volunteering of land, money, property, etc, is partly what makes this next story so startling. Ananias (not the same Ananias who is later called to come pray over Paul for him to re-receive his sight) and his wife Sapphira are new members of this forming church, and since they've got some property, they decide they want to be like all their new brothers and sisters in Christ, and they sell what they've got with the intent of bringing their proceeds of sale to Peter and the other apostles.

Problem is, they get into their own head. If they give up all their proceeds, if they give up all their securities -- they might not have anything to live on if the bottom drops out of this new movement. Better keep some back.

So they keep some back, stick some in savings, open up a certificate of deposit, toss some into mutual funds, whatever. They gather up the rest and take it to Peter and drop it at his feet. The Scriptures don't say what it was that Ananias said, but the following events make it clear that Ananias intended for the apostles to believe that he and Sapphira were giving everything. 

Picture with me if you will: Ananias glances at the others bringing in money. Is his bag of money bigger than theirs? Maybe. He straightens up a little taller, holds his bag a little more prominently. Best not to mention that this isn't all his proceeds. Then they'll all know how generous and good-hearted he and his wife are. 

My boy Peter is the best one to bring down the fire on this, and I'll explain why in a second. Peter says: "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men, but to God!"

When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died.

And when Sapphira came in three hours later, unaware of what had just happened to her husband, she was caught in the same lie... and she, too, died.

Ouch!

Deuteronomy 21:21-23 says this: "If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. Whatever your lips utter, you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth."

So... Ananias and Sapphira both sealed their own death warrants... by purporting to give all when they only meant to give some, and the heart of the matter was -- they didn't lie to the apostles (well, they did, but more importantly); they lied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3), who is the One Who convicts us of sin. They allowed Satan -- enemy of God, in case you need reminding -- to fill up their hearts with deceit, and then they play it off like it's no big deal.

And the Lord set the example for the church: Don't lie to me. In Acts 5:11, it says: "Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events."

Y'all, somewhere along the way, we've lost the fear of the Lord. "But He's a loving and compassionate God." Indeed.

But He's also the Ancient of Days. 

But He sent His Son to die in our place.

Yes, He did. He is also a consuming fire that calls us to live out deeds of gold, silver, and costly stones, so that the wood, hay and straw may be burned up.

Why was my boy Peter the best apostle to call down wrath on Ananias and Sapphira? Ananias didn't have to pretend, didn't have to lie... Ananias would have been doing a great thing, but he was dishonest in the performance of that thing.

So. Peter once stood on board the deck of a ship with several other followers of Jesus. He didn't have to climb over the side of the boat and step onto the surface of the water, but he did. His incentive wasn't to call attention to himself from the rest of the disciples. His incentive was to walk closer to Jesus.

Ananias climbed out of a boat and stepped onto the surface of the water, but his incentive wasn't to draw closer to Jesus. His incentive was to make himself look good.

When Peter stepped out of the boat, there were eleven other followers of Jesus left in the relative safety of the boat. Were they sinning by staying there?

Absolutely not. Peter went the extra mile with a heart bound to Jesus. Ananias went the extra mile with a heart that lied to the Holy Spirit.

And Peter calls down the wrath of God on this blatant distinction, and Ananias and Sapphira pay the ultimate price for this heart condition.

And so now, near the end of this blog post, I'm finally getting to 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, where Paul talks about lawsuits among believers. Granted, it was the first verses of the chapter (1-8) that got me to go look back at David's story and at the story of Ananias and Sapphira... but it's the final verses of the section where the lesson is: 

1 Corinthians 6:9-10: "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

Take note: Ananias and Sapphira were a part of the church. They were a part of this movement where everyone shared everything with everyone else and had everything in common. They were swept up in the teachings of the apostles. It was their heart condition that killed them. 

So lest we say: Hey y'all, I go to church. I pray. I listen to sermons. I give offerings. I'm a part of the worship team or the prayer team or the Bible School committee or the church council or the secretarial staff at church...

It doesn't matter. What does matter is what you do with your heart and your interaction with the Holy Spirit. 

So -- I know it's hard to imagine, but do try -- once upon a time, there were sexually immoral people. There were idolaters, people who actually idolized their pop culture icons. Weird, but whatever. There were male prostitutes, maybe even female prostitutes. There were homosexual offenders. Not that we have those today, but whatever. There were greedy people. That one's hard to wrap our minds around, but it's the truth. There were people who drank too much alcohol, whaaat? Nuh-uh. There were people who gossiped about other people, and there were people who tried to get money out of other people without being completely honest with them (my entire spam filter on my gmail account). 

Some of these people were in the Corinthian church, and Paul is calling them onto the line. Don't lie to the Holy Spirit! Don't pretend that you're holy when you're living in sin.

Paul reminds the church: There is a razor sharp distinction between sin... and cleansing. And we find that distinction in 1 Corinthians 6:11: "And that is what some of you were (that whole list that I just typed out). But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." Hallelujah!

The cross wipes away all sin for those who recognize what they're doing and who repent. "Create in me a pure heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me!" (Psalm 51:10).

You know, I think we sometimes get so caught up in looking holy to everyone else, we forget that the only performance we're supposed to be making... is our performance before God. We dance for Him and Him alone. We climb out of that boat under His watchful eyes, not the other disciples. 

In church, we raise our hands to Jesus; we don't raise our hands, because Bob up there in the front row is raising his hands, or because Jane on the back row needs to see how holy we are.

Y'all, I feel muddled in my words today. I pray the Holy Spirit speaks His message right to your heart. He sure did to my heart this morning. Get these words of mine out of the way; take the message... and run with it straight to Jesus.

He is the only One watching you Who matters.