Intro to "Sins of the Saints" (Acts 4:32-5:11)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/2/2017 10:35 AM

My Worship Time                                                                   Focus:  Intro to Sins of the Saints

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 4:32-5:11

            Message of the verses:  As in our last introduction when we began looking at Acts 4:1-31 and did not copy the verses onto to that introduction, I will not put all of these verses on this introduction either because of the length of them.  We will look at them when we get to the different verses that are broken down into sections as we move through these rather important verses from the book of Acts.  The book of Acts is not a book of the Bible that is all about different theologies as some of the letters of Peter, Paul, and John are, but this book is about the history of the early church, which means that we can take larger portions of it to look at as I am sure you have noticed as we have been going through it.  I am not saying that there is no theology in it, as there is, but history is more of Luke writes about as he writes this book originally to a friend of his who probably was a believer.

            One thing that causes me to believe that the Bible is the Word of God is how brutally honest it is in its recording of redemptive history.  What I am saying is that if man were the author of the Bible, and by that I mean that man was not writing the Bible by the influence of the Holy Spirit, which he is, then man would not write about all of his failures in the Bible.  In the Bible we see the good things that people do and also see the sinful things that they have done.  Moses for example is seen in his righteous defiance of Pharaoh, and also his defiance of God that actually barred him from entering the Promised Land.  The same is true of David as David wrote many of the beautiful Psalm, and yet two of his Psalms are his confession of the sins he made with Bathsheba.  Yes the Bible is brutally honest.

            As we have been looking at some of the events that took place in the early church so far it has shed a wonderful light on these events, but remember people make up the church and people sin, and we will see this as we move through these verses. 

            John MacArthur writes “Satan’s purpose is to oppose the work of God.  In doing that he is living up to his name, which means ‘adversary.’  Where God is at work, he will be active.  His initial attack on the church, the persecution of the apostles by the Sanhedrin, backfired.  Not only did it fail to silence the apostles, but also Acts 4:4 records that ‘many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of them came to be about five thousand.’  Further, it gave Peter and John the opportunity to preach the gospel to the Sanhedrin.  Faced with that defeat, Satan changed his tactics.  Realizing that external pressure only tended to fan the flames, he decided to get at the base of the fire.  To do so, he infiltrated the church to attack it with corruption from within.  Through the centuries, that tactic has proven to be far more effective than external persecution.

            “The sins of the saints were a greater burden to Paul than all the opposition he faced from unbelievers.  In 2 Corinthians 11:23-37, he catalogs a horrifying list of the physical persecutions he had endured:

‘23 Are they servants of Christ?-I speak as if insane-I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.’

“All that paled into insignificance, however, in light of his burden for the churches:  ‘Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure upon me of concern fro all the churches.  Who is weak without my being weak?  Who is led into sin without my intense concern?’  (2 Cor. 11:28-29).

            “Paul expressed that ‘intense concern’ when he urged the Romans to

‘17 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. 18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting (Romans 16:17-18).”

“He lamented that the Galatians were ‘so quickly deserting Him who called [them] by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another,’ and warned them of ‘some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ’ (Gal. 1:6-7).  To the Philippians he wrote, ‘If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose’ (Phil. 2:1-2).

            “The greatest burden any pastor carries, the thing that grieves his hart the most, is the sin of his people.  Peter was the first to have to deal with that problem, one every succeeding pastor has faced.  Acts 5:1-11 records how he handled it.  Before showing us the ugliness of the impurity of the church, however, Luke provides a backdrop with a last look at the purity of the church in 4:32-37.  This background makes the sin appear all the more vivid, showing that a church at its noblest and purest is only one act away from spiritual tragedy.  The passage thus falls into two sections:  the sharing of the saints and the sins of the saints.”

            I have to say that the things that I read in this introduction kind of caused me to continue to quote from John MacArthur as I had not intended to even do this whole introduction this morning, but am happy it worked out that way.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There is a song that as far as I am concerned goes along with what we have been writing about:

As a child I foolishly turned God away
Not knowing the heartache a sinner must face
But God in His goodness has let me return
To share with His children this lesson I've learned
Sin will take you farther than you wanna go
Slowly but wholly taking control
Sin will leave you longer than you wanna stay
Sin will cost you far more than you wanna pay

So with pleasure and promises sin took control
Leaving me dying with nothing to show
Gone were my loved ones and my dearest friends
Only a Savior could love me again
Repeat Chorus twice

 

Sin will take you farther than you wanna go
Slowly but wholly taking control
Sin will leave you longer than you wanna stay
Sin will cost you far more than you wanna pay
Sin will take you farther than you wanna go
Slowly but wholly taking control
Sin will leave you longer than you wanna stay
Sin will cost you far more than you wanna pay

Oh.. Sin will cost you far more than you wanna pay   

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Remember the lyrics to this song.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “In the clouds in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

10/2/2017 11:27 AM