Love without pretence
by Tim Castle-Schmidt
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With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet (Acts 5:2).
Read Acts 5:1–11
This is one of those readings that can make the room go quiet. Ananias and Sapphira sell property, give some of the money and keep some back. The problem is not that they kept some money. Peter is clear: it was theirs to use. The problem is the lie. They wanted the reputation of radical generosity without the truth of an undivided heart.
It is tempting to keep this story at a safe distance. ‘Well, I would never do that.’ But false righteousness is sneaky. We can perform holiness. We can curate generosity. We can want people to think we are more prayerful, more sacrificial, more loving or more impressive than we really are. We can even use good works to hide from God.
Acts 5 tells us that God takes the truth seriously because he takes his church seriously. Love cannot grow well in the dark. Community cannot thrive on religious pretending. The Holy Spirit forms a people who can tell the truth: about our sin, our fear, our mixed motives and our need for mercy.
The good news is that Christ does not justify our false self; he kills it and raises us new. We do not need to fake righteousness, because Jesus gives us his. We do not need to exaggerate our love, because he has loved us truthfully and completely. That kind of grace is both frightening and freeing. It exposes us, yes, but only to heal us.
Vindicated by Christ, God’s people are freed and formed to love. Freed from performance, freed from image management and freed to be honest before God and one another. And in that honest place, the Spirit starts forming something beautiful: truthful generosity, humble repentance and love without theatre.
Holy Spirit, bring us into the truth. Strip away our pretending, forgive us in Christ and grow in us honest generosity and humble love. Amen.
By his own admission, Tim Castle-Schmidt is a broken man. Broken in body, mind and spirit, he says he is learning that God is at work in and through human brokenness. He says that while God has not ‘fixed’ him, God continues to work through his brokenness to connect with the world. Tim is the pastor of Nunawading–Waverley Lutheran Church in Melbourne. After spending many years as a teacher in Lutheran schools, he finally listened to God’s call to the pastoral ministry. Tim is passionate about social justice and engaging the church with contemporary society. Tim shares his life with Fiona, Miranda, and a Jack Russell called Otto.
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