In The Garden
"The Church That Is Respected"
Pastor Wayne Clabaugh

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Scripture text: "And of the rest dare no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them" Acts 5:13 (KJV)

Another "mark" of a New Testament church or a church alive with the "Spirit of God" is that of a church that is "respected", and growing. So what do I mean by "respected" and growing?

If we look at Acts Chapter 5, verse 13, we find what seems to be a contradiction to what we have already heard, and what verse 14 tells us. Let's look at it.

"And of the rest dare no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them." (v.13)
"And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women." (v.14)

There are a lot of behind the scenes things going on that we do not read in these passages, some of which have to do with the loving heart of Barnabas, and the ministering of "helps" to the people in need, whether they were Christians or not.

But the troubling part of this verse is where it says that "the rest dare no man join himself to them". What do you suppose was the reason for this? Was it not their commission, and their purpose to bring more people into the house of God, than to keep them out? So what was the problem, and why the contradiction with verse 14?

First let me say, that the designs of God the Holy Spirit are not always "in sync" with the designs of man - Isaiah 55: 8 & 9 says this about it:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD" (v.8)
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (v.9)

All of these upstarts who line the corporate halls of Wall Street like to say they "think outside the box". Well, why aren't more of them Christians? God the Father was the original at thinking outside the box, and what we have just read shows that man could never think or know the thoughts of God nor understand them unless He reveals them to us through His Holy Spirit.. So next tine someone says they think outside the box, shake them up a bit and say, "Oh really? I'm a Christian too!" Let it be the ice- breaker to witness for the Lord. It works!

But, back to the lesson here today, what was happening here and the why there seems to be a contradiction is that God the Holy Spirit, through Ananias and Sapphira's deceit, had placed an "enrollment of purity" upon the early church. This placed a "mark" of respectability on the church so that no hypocrisy could be spoken of within the body. You see, to belong to Jesus meant (should mean so today) that you would be "all or nothing at all". And while the people of the day respected what the early church members did, many of them found that they were not ready to make that kind of a commitment. The price was too high, and they would rather stay a heathen, than to be "constrained" at such a cost.

You say, the Gospel was free, and it brought freedom to man rather than bondage. Yes, I agree that this sounds like another contradiction of terms . . . but it isn't. For those who joined the early church (and verse 14 tells us that there were multitudes - both men & women) they were set free! The constraints that were on them were in the form of "surrendered loyalty" - not binding laws or "willful" pilfering of conscience. They gave what they had - everything they had to God - holding nothing back.

You say but that's just not practical! Maybe not (remember Isaiah 55:8 & 9) but it is spiritual! That's the whole point of the story behind Ananias and Saphira. They had much to give - but didn't wish to give it! They were not just holding out on the Apostles or the church, they were holding out on God! In so doing - their lives were demanded of them "on the spot".

God may not make you and I to lay down and die there on the spot when we withhold our part of what we have to give to Him. But the point here is that you and I die spiritually, bit by bit, every time we withhold our love or forgiveness, or sensitive caring. We lose respect of the body when we fail to do visitation to the sick and the shut-in, let alone those that are well. And the worst of all epitaphs are placed at the door of our churches -

"And of the rest dare no man join himself to them, because there was no love . . . no forgiveness . . . no restoration . . . no life."

Let's pray.

Father,

All my days and all my hours;
All my will and all my powers.
All the passion of my soul
Not a fragment but the whole.
Shall be thine Dear Lord.
Shall be thine Dear Lord.

In Jesus Name Amen.