What’s Holding You Back?

I delivered a sermon in the midst of Northway’s stewardship campaign on October 16, 2016. Here’s the manuscript.

One of my favorite shows of all time is the Newsroom. It’s written by Aaron Sorkin, the same guy who also wrote the shows Sports Night, and the West Wing, along with the movies A Few Good Men, The Social Network, and Moneyball.

The Newsroom focuses on a main character, Will McAvoy, a cable news anchor who does well in the ratings because he doesn’t bother anyone. He works hard to walk the middle line. He keeps his political identity a secret, and seems to be just fine with this lot in life.

But right away we learn about some of his major faults. He comes off as a rather big jerk to his staff. He doesn’t know their names. He makes assumptions about them based on their race and gender. He doesn’t take the time to get to actually know them.

These character flaws are revealed in the first scene of the first episode, through the rant that McAvoy goes on in the opening minutes. He’s sitting on a panel at Columbia University, and he’s asked a question about why he thinks America is the greatest country in the world.

Through his rant, McAvoy reveals that he believes that the younger generation of Americans is blissfully ignorant about the world around them, overly-entitled and under-informed about what is actually going on. It’s an indictment of self-centeredness and laziness. He ends up calling the millennial generation the WORST. PERIOD. GENERATION. PERIOD. EVER. PERIOD.

But as the show progresses we learn that McAvoy is in for a big transformation. He’s gets a new executive producer, Mackenzie McHale. He gets a youthful, inexperienced staff composed mostly of the generation he just went off on, and he gets a new direction for the show. A direction that forces him into relationships with the people around him, forces him to ask hard questions about himself, and forces him out of his comfort zone, his “don’t bother anyone” mentality into a space that speaks truth to power.

This transformation won’t be without obstacles. It won’t be without mistakes made, and it won’t be without McAvoy being seriously conflicted about whether or not what he’s doing is right. In fact, he’s so conflicted that he almost attempts to reverse track, only to be challenged by McHale with the simple question, “are you in, or are you out?”

Are you in, or are you out?

Seven words that fully challenged McAvoy’s investment in the work that Atlantis Cable News was doing.

I think that’s a hard question to answer for a lot of people, depending on how and when it’s asked. It typically comes only when we’re the most unsure, when we’re gripped by whatever it is that’s best at holding us back.

But sometimes it’s a question that needs to be asked.

Now, I’m going to change that question up slightly for us right now, but I would like to challenge you in a similar way.

Ask yourself. How invested are you in the work the church is doing? How invested are you in the work that God is doing? Is it enough?

Really ask yourself. Are you doing enough?

Our scripture lesson for this morning is not one we typically read during a Sunday morning worship service if we ever read it at all. Acts 5:1–11. The story of the death of Ananias and Sapphira. A married couple, members of the early church, who withheld a portion of their income back from the church in secret. But in order to begin to understand what’s going on in this text we first need to understand how the early church operated.

The early church was focused on ensuring that everyone in the community had what they needed. That meant taking care of things like food and shelter for those who were too poor or downtrodden to access those things for themselves. We see this throughout the New Testament. In Acts chapter 6 we see seven leaders of the church assigned to caring for the widows in the community. In Galatians chapter 2 Paul recounts that caring for the poor was one of the first tasks taken on by the Disciples post-Jesus. In James chapter 2 we hear the words of Jesus echoed in a call to keep from discriminating against the poor, or showing favoritism to the wealthy.

This was the good, life-giving work of the early church. But, it was hard work to do. The early church didn’t have a lot of easily accessible cash. No investment funds. No savings accounts. No accumulated wealth. They were reliant completely on their own community for finances. So, when the church was in need, members of the community would sell their possessions or their land or both, and give the money to the church, knowing that it would allow the church to continue its mission.

This wholehearted commitment to the church, and more importantly to the work these community members believed God had commanded them to do, is why the early church grew. It’s why the early church was so effective at participating in God’s work in the world.

We see an example of this just before we get to our scripture for this morning. Acts 4: 36–37. Barnabas sold a field that belonged to him, and he brought the money from the sale to the apostle Peter and gave it to him.

It’s a simple process, really, and by following the process members of the early church were putting on full display their commitment to the church and to God.

But then we get to Ananias and Sapphira. And that’s when things get a little sticky. Acts 5:1–11 reads as follows.

“But a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property; with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. “Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You did not lie to us but to God!” Now when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard of it. The young men came and wrapped up his body, then carried him out and buried him.

After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you and your husband sold the land for such and such a price.” And she said, “Yes, that was the price.” Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and died. When the young men came in they found her dead, so they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear seized the whole church and all who heard of these things.”

Now, a point of clarification. We’re not reading this text this morning so I can stand up here and look at you and tell you that if you’re not giving what you should financially that you’re going to die. That’s not what I’m going for. I’m also not going to tell you that if you’re lying to God about what you’re giving that you’re going to die.

In fact, I should probably clarify that the fact that Ananias and Sapphira are described as falling down dead in our scripture lesson for this morning isn’t in any way, shape, or form, what I want us to focus on this morning.

What I want to focus on are the questions I have every time I read this text.

Why did they withhold a portion of the money? What was holding them back from being fully invested?

One of our tenets as members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is that we study scripture for ourselves. We critically, and thoughtfully, study scripture. And in doing so, we can find where it is most relatable to us. Most inspiring. Most faith-provoking.

This question this text raises for me is one of those kinds of questions. Because the text doesn’t give us an answer. It simply says that Ananias, with Sapphira’s knowledge, withheld money from the church.

I wonder, though, if the author of the text did that on purpose. It would be easy, if the text provided a reason for their misstep, for us to then read the text and say, “well, they were foolish, and this is just a lesson to not do that specific thing.”

But instead we are left to wonder if Ananias and Sapphira were held back, were gripped, by the same reservations we have today.

Maybe they were afraid. I wonder if they had kids. Maybe their jobs didn’t pay enough for them to put food on their table every day. Maybe Sapphira was worried about how they were going to pay their mortgage. Maybe Ananias didn’t know for certain if they would have enough money to buy diapers for their young children. Or maybe they were trying to put a child through college.

Maybe they were saving for retirement, or maybe they had already retired and realized they may have done it a bit too soon.

Fear can be a powerful motivator. It can absolutely stop us in our tracks. So perhaps that’s what was holding Ananias and Sapphira back.

Or maybe they just wanted that money. After all, it was their land. Their property that they sold. That property was more than likely one of the ways they did put food on the table, and buy all of the things they wanted for themselves. Maybe Ananias had plans for an addition to their house. Maybe Sapphira wanted to upgrade to a new car. Whatever it was maybe they knew that keeping just a bit of that money would help them get what they wanted a little sooner.

Greed can also be a powerful motivator. It diverts our attention away from what God desires for us, to something more self-serving that we desire for ourselves.

Or maybe, maybe it had something to do with the church itself. Perhaps Ananias and Sapphira didn’t fully trust the church to spend that money well. Maybe they thought they were better off reallocating some of those dollars somewhere else, somewhere where they would have a little more control over what happened to it.

Maybe they had already sold another portion of their land, and when they gave all the money then, and didn’t have any power or control within the community in return, they said to themselves, never again.

Maybe they saw the church as a bad investment.

Any of those sound familiar?

Seems to me, any, or maybe several, of those reasons could be what was holding Ananias and Sapphira back. Or maybe, just like you, it was something else.

Whatever it is for you, know this about today’s scripture. What it’s communicating loud and clear is this: whatever reason we might give for not being fully invested, when we hold back, we might as well not be there at all.

Like I said earlier, this isn’t a scripture that we read in worship very often. It’s easy to see why. It’s not an easy read. Frankly, I’d almost rather read a comprehensive list of all the terribly dumb things I did in college than to be confronted with what keeps me from fully investing in the church, and in God’s work.

And it gets even more difficult when we realize that being fully invested in the church doesn’t begin and end with how much money we give. It is an investment of time. It is an investment of talent. It’s an investment of our hearts.

It is very easy to go around and say that we are Christian, that we go to church, that we participate in church activities and in the work of God. But saying without doing, or doing these things halfheartedly, is not enough. We have to put our hearts fully into the game. We have to love the LORD our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. That is what being fully invested means.

Fully investing our hearts into the church and God’s work can be a terrifying proposition. Loving anything or anyone is exactly that. Because we worry that when we open up ourselves that much, when we let ourselves get to that point where we are so vulnerable, and real, and exposed, that something bad is going to happen. That we’re going to be let down. But it’s a risk we have to take. Because God takes it for us every day. God’s work in the world has to be the number one priority for our hearts. We know this.

We know this because Jesus tells us as much in Matthew chapter 10, verses 37 through 39.

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

It is an investment of every waking moment of our lives to Jesus Christ. We know this. But frankly, it’s far easier to not think about it than to be challenged day in and day out with how difficult that reality is.

Fortunately, though, we aren’t the only ones who are investing our everything. God is too. It’s all a part of this covenant agreement we have with God. God will fully invest in our lives and we will fully invest in God’s work.

We see this explicitly when we go to the Lord’s Table. We see that God, too, has fully invested heart, mind, soul, and strength into us. Jesus Christ makes it abundantly clear, through his body broken for us, and his blood poured out for us. And we should understand that even when we have days that make us a lot more like Ananias and Sapphira than like Barnabas, God is still fully invested, and a part of that investment is the full power of God’s grace, and love, and forgiveness for our shortcomings. But for some reason, that doesn’t always seem to make our investment that much less difficult. It’s easy to see why this is such a hard commitment to make.

It’s difficult because it forces us into relationships with people. People much different than us. When we become fully invested in the life of the church and the work of God in the world we may discover that there are people here at Northway who don’t look like us. Who don’t think like us. Whose belief set may be slightly different from ours. And yet, we are called to come to the Table together and share a meal, and sit in the presence of the living Christ as one body.

It’s difficult because it forces us to ask hard questions about ourselves. It forces us to look at all our cracks and our faults and our weaknesses and realize that part of this investment is an investment of trust. Of faith. That God will make up for those cracks, and faults, and weaknesses as we journey together.

It’s difficult because it forces us out of our comfort zone. It pushes us to a place where we are speaking, physically speaking, truth to power. That truth is a truth of God’s undying love, of God’s unrelenting commitment to working for unity and peace in this world.

But trust me, when we do these things, we start to see glimpses. Glimpses of what’s next. Glimpses of what the God’s kingdom looks like. Glimpses of heaven on earth.

I’m lucky enough to have caught a few glimpses of it. I know all of you have too. One of my most recent glimpses came on the youth mission trip this summer. The 28 trip participants were at Inman Christian Center in San Antonio, and it was the first day of work. We finished the tasks given to us in just a few hours, tasks that the folks at Inman thought would take us at least a day, if not several days. So, while they scrambled to find new projects for us, they asked us to play. Play with the children that were there for summer programs.

And so we did. Boy, did our youth, and our adults, play with those kids. Tag. Kickball. Steal the Bacon. Basketball. And a bunch of other games that looked a lot like just running around.

There was laughter and joy as new relationships were formed. Relationships with people from different backgrounds, and different socioeconomic statuses, and different priorities for their own lives.

And in that moment I thought to myself, this is what heaven looks like. It was just as it is written in Revelation 21.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.”

When Mackenzie McHale askes Will McAvoy “are you in, or are you out?” he just kind of walks away. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it was a commitment he needed to make. So he calls her back later that night and says two words: I’m in.

And once McAvoy made that commitment it changed more than just his news broadcast, it changed his life. And if we answer that same question this morning with regard to the church and God’s work, it will change ours too.

Because when we are full invested in the church and in the work of God in the world, we encounter the new reality that God has for all of us.

So. Are you in, or are you out?