Pretense

01.29.14

Acts 5.4 4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!” (NLT)

This story has always mystified me – there are so many things to consider. First, how did Peter and the other apostles know that Ananias had lied? Second, Peter said, “…Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself." (Acts 5.3) Then Peter said the statement above, “You weren’t lying to us but to God!” Ananias was in a bad way. He was in such a bad way that he died. Wow!

I wonder how the Church of today takes this passage of Scripture seeing as others (including myself) have routinely lied to the Church about how things are in life, and they aren’t consistent with the culture that is spelled out for the Church in Acts. We are a secretive people and the good news for most of us is we don’t drop dead at the front door of the meeting place because we’ve allowed Satan to fill our hearts with pretense and lie to God!

Here’s a typical greeting exchange at the meeting on Sunday morning:

Bill: Hey Ted! Good to see you, how’s it going?

Ted: Fine! You?

Bill: Fine. Hey, we need to grab coffee sometime.

Ted: Yeah, we need to do that. Catch you later.

Bill: Yeah, man, catch you later…

We have to take Bill and Ted at their word: they’re fine. But what happens when Bill says to Ted, “Ted, haven’t you been having issues with your job and your marriage? How could you allow Satan to fill your heart and make the proclamation that you’re fine? You’re not lying to me but to God!” I think Ted would avoid Bill after that.

Does that mean we need to spill our garbage at every meeting? Does that mean we need to walk on eggs whenever we’re together? Does that mean we pretend things are good when things are not? No. But we do need to quit pretending that we’re doing better when we aren’t. We can never do better. The lie of Satan is: we can.

Last night, I was at a meeting of Christian friends and the speaker said this: Christianity isn’t about me doing better and being the best I can be. Christianity is about Jesus being the best He can be through me. I was floored. I mean, I understood what he was saying and where he was coming from; but I was guilty as sin: I’m always trying to be the best I can be. And the worst place to do it is in the company of my Christian family when we meet and we tell each other, “I’m fine.” (Especially when we’re not.)

The church gathering isn’t a place for pretense. The church gathering isn’t a place for masks and hiding. The church gathering is a place where Bill takes Ted at his word, but makes sure they have that coffee sometime that week so Ted can take off his mask and be forthcoming about what’s really going on. And Bill and Ted can speak the truth, pray, and seek the presence of Jesus for healing and real-life transformation. Help us, Lord!