WHEN APPEARANCE REPLACES CHARACTER
The Danger of Appearing to Be What We Have Not Become
By Reverend Edward Rodriguez Main Text: Acts 5:1–11
Central Supporting Texts: Psalm 139:23–24; John 15:4–5
Central Message
God is not looking for people who merely know how to appear spiritual. He is forming people whose character, motives, private lives, and public lives are being brought into alignment with Christ.
INTRODUCTION — THE QUESTION BEHIND THE STORY
There are some stories in the Bible that we read and immediately understand.
And then there are stories that make us stop.
We read them and say:
“Wait… what happened here?”
Acts chapter 5 is one of those stories.
A man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sell a possession.
They bring part of the money to the apostles.
Ananias lays it at the apostles’ feet.
And then something happens that makes us uncomfortable.
Peter confronts him.
And Ananias falls down and dies.
Several hours later, Sapphira comes in.
She does not know what has happened to her husband.
Peter asks her about the amount for which the land was sold.
She confirms the same false account.
Peter confronts her.
And she also falls down and dies.
Then Scripture says:
“And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.” — Acts 5:11
And if we are honest, one of the first questions that comes to our minds is:
“What exactly did they do that was so serious?”
Did they steal from the apostles?
No.
Did they murder someone?
No.
Did they refuse to give?
No.
Did they keep part of their own money?
Yes.
But Peter says something that immediately changes the way we understand the story.
Acts 5:4:
“Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?”
Peter is telling Ananias:
“The property belonged to you.”
You did not have to sell it.
And after you sold it, the money was still under your control.
You could have kept all of it.
You could have given half.
You could have given ten percent.
You could have given any amount honestly.
The amount was not the issue.
So what was?
That is the question behind this story.
Because Acts 5 is not primarily a story about money.
It is a story about truth.
It is a story about motive.
It is a story about integrity.
It is a story about appearance and reality.
And ultimately, it is a story about whether what we show publicly agrees with what is actually happening within us before God.
And church, this connects directly with something we have declared about the kind of church we want to be.
We have said:
“Una iglesia de esencia y no de apariencia.”
“A church of essence and not of appearance.”
We do not want to be a church that merely looks spiritual.
We want to be a church in which Christ is genuinely forming His life in us.
But hear me carefully:
A church of essence cannot be built by people committed to appearance.
If we want to be a church of essence and not appearance, it must begin with every one of us.
Because the church is not only a building.
The church is people.
And a church of integrity must be made up of people who are allowing God to develop integrity within them.
So when I use the word character today, I am speaking specifically about Christlike character:
Truth.
Integrity.
Holiness.
Love.
Faithfulness.
Humility.
Obedience.
A life in which what we profess publicly is increasingly becoming true within us privately.
And that brings us to the title:
WHEN APPEARANCE REPLACES CHARACTER
The Danger of Appearing to Be What We Have Not Become
1. THE SIN WAS NOT WHAT THEY KEPT — IT WAS WHAT THEY PRETENDED
There is something important immediately before Acts chapter 5.
At the end of Acts chapter 4, we meet a man named Barnabas.
Acts 4:36–37 says that Barnabas had land.
He sold it.
He brought the money.
And he laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Then immediately Acts 5 begins:
“But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife…”
That contrast matters.
Luke places these stories beside one another.
Barnabas demonstrates genuine generosity.
Then Ananias and Sapphira present an act that resembles radical generosity outwardly—but something different is happening underneath.
Peter says to Ananias:
“Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost…?” — Acts 5:3
Notice where Peter goes.
The heart.
He does not begin with the money.
He begins with the heart.
Because behavior is often the fruit.
But the heart is the root.
Now, Scripture does not tell us every private thought Ananias and Sapphira had.
So we should not pretend to know more than Scripture tells us.
But we do know this:
They deliberately represented the transaction falsely.
And the placement of their story immediately after Barnabas strongly suggests that they wanted the recognition associated with a level of sacrifice that they had not actually made.
Their problem was not that they kept part of the proceeds.
Their problem was that they pretended.
They wanted to present one reality publicly while living another reality privately.
And suddenly Acts 5 becomes very close to us.
Because most of us will never stand before Peter with the proceeds from a piece of land.
But every one of us faces the temptation to manage how people see us.
We want people to think:
“He is spiritual.”
“She is generous.”
“He is humble.”
“She has tremendous faith.”
“He has everything together.”
And sometimes we become more concerned with protecting the image than allowing God to deal with the reality.
That is the danger.
And there is something worse than doing something wrong.
It is doing something wrong while constructing an appearance that convinces everyone that we are doing something righteous.
That is hypocrisy.
Jesus repeatedly warned against it.
2. GOD SEES BEYOND THE APPEARANCE
Let me give you a picture.
Imagine a man who has spent years restoring an old house.
He works on the exterior.
He paints it beautifully.
He repairs the windows.
He installs beautiful lights.
He puts landscaping in front.
Everything visible from the street is impressive.
People drive by and say:
“What a beautiful house!”
And the owner loves hearing it.
But one day someone walks inside.
And behind those beautiful walls there is mold.
The plumbing is leaking.
The electrical system is dangerous.
And underneath everything else—
the foundation is cracking.
Now answer this:
Does the paint repair the foundation?
No.
Does beautiful landscaping repair the plumbing?
No.
Does everybody saying,
“What a beautiful house!”
change what is happening underneath?
No.
Because:
Appearance can hide deterioration, but appearance cannot heal deterioration.
And I want you to remember this sentence:
God is not trying to make you look whole. He is trying to make you whole.
By wholeness here I mean Christlike integrity, not a promise that repentance immediately removes illness, trauma, anxiety, or other suffering.
The paint cannot heal the foundation.
And spiritual appearance cannot transform the heart.
David understood this.
Psalm 51:6 says:
“Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts.”
Not only truth in my mouth.
Not only truth in my testimony.
Not only truth in my public prayer.
Truth in the inward parts.
God is not merely asking:
“Did you say the right thing?”
He is asking:
“Is what you said true within you?”
Jesus confronted the religious leaders about this very thing.
Matthew 23:27:
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward…”
And verse 28:
“Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”
There is the contrast again.
Outward appearance.
Inward reality.
And this is why character matters.
Character is revealed when there is no audience.
When the microphone is turned off.
When the lights go out.
When nobody is watching.
When nobody is applauding.
When nobody can promote you.
When nobody can reward you.
Who are you then?
Look at Saul.
God commanded Saul to obey.
Saul did not completely obey.
But when Samuel confronted him, Saul said:
“I have obeyed the voice of the LORD.” — 1 Samuel 15:20
But he had not.
Eventually Saul admitted:
“I have sinned… because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.” — 1 Samuel 15:24
There it is.
The approval of people.
Saul wanted to retain the appearance of obedience while his actions revealed something different.
And Samuel said:
“To obey is better than sacrifice.” — 1 Samuel 15:22
God is not impressed by the appearance of sacrifice when the heart is resisting obedience.
You can give God something—
while refusing to give God yourself.
And Jesus takes this even further in Matthew 6.
He speaks about giving.
He speaks about praying.
He speaks about fasting.
All of these are good spiritual practices.
But Jesus warns:
“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them…” — Matthew 6:1
Concerning prayer He warns against praying:
“…that they may be seen of men.” — Matthew 6:5
Concerning fasting He warns against those who alter their appearance:
“…that they may appear unto men to fast.” — Matthew 6:16
Think about that.
Giving can become appearance.
Prayer can become appearance.
Fasting can become appearance.
Even humility can become appearance.
Anything good can be corrupted when the real audience becomes people rather than God.
Someone can say:
“Oh, I am nobody.”
while secretly hoping everybody answers:
“No! You are wonderful!”
Even humility can become a way of attracting attention.
Even weakness can sometimes be displayed in a way designed to control how people see us.
That does not mean every wounded person is manipulative.
It does not mean every expression of weakness is false.
It means something much simpler and much more searching:
God sees the motive underneath the appearance.
And every one of us needs Him to examine that place.
Then look at Simon in Acts chapter 8.
Simon sees the apostles ministering.
He sees the work of the Holy Spirit.
And he says:
“Give me also this power…” — Acts 8:19
Peter responds:
“Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.” — Acts 8:20
And then Peter says:
“Thy heart is not right in the sight of God.” — Acts 8:21
Again—
the heart.
Ananias wanted to create an appearance around what he gave.
Simon wanted spiritual power for his own purposes.
Different actions.
Same deeper question:
Am I seeking God Himself, or am I trying to use the things of God for myself?
Why am I serving?
Why am I giving?
Why am I preaching?
Why am I praying?
Why am I fasting?
Why am I helping?
Why am I doing what I am doing?
Is it because I love God?
Or because I love what doing it gives me?
Recognition?
Influence?
Approval?
Status?
Control?
The appearance of spirituality?
God sees farther than everyone else.
God sees the heart.
3. THE DANGER OF BECOMING THE APPEARANCE
Then there is Judas.
Judas walked with Jesus.
He heard Jesus teach.
He saw miracles.
He was numbered among the twelve.
And yet John tells us:
“…he was a thief…” — John 12:6
Think about the contrast.
Externally:
Disciple.
Internally:
Corruption.
He was near Jesus.
But proximity to Jesus had not produced surrender to Jesus.
And that should sober every one of us.
You can be around Christianity without being transformed by Christ.
You can know Scripture without obeying Scripture.
You can know church language without having a surrendered heart.
You can know about Jesus without abiding in Jesus.
And then we come to some of the most sobering words Jesus ever spoke.
Matthew 7:21:
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven…”
Then they say:
“Have we not prophesied in thy name?”
“And in thy name have cast out devils?”
“And in thy name done many wonderful works?”
And Jesus says:
“I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
Think carefully.
They appealed to spiritual activity in His name. They claimed spiritual accomplishments. But their claims did not establish that they knew Him.
And Jesus says:
“I never knew you.”
That means:
A gift is not the same thing as character.
Power is not the same thing as holiness.
Ministry is not the same thing as intimacy.
Appearance is not the same thing as transformation.
And then 1 Corinthians 13 takes this even further.
Paul says that I can speak with extraordinary eloquence.
I can prophesy.
I can understand mysteries.
I can possess great knowledge.
I can have faith strong enough to move mountains.
And Paul says:
“…and have not charity, I am nothing.”
Then Paul says that I can even give away everything I possess.
And without love:
“…it profiteth me nothing.”
In other words:
I can do impressive things and still be missing something essential in the character of Christ.
And there is another danger.
Repeated choices do something to us.
Repeated choices become habits.
Habits help shape character.
And character increasingly reveals what has been ruling the heart.
Paul speaks in 1 Timothy 4:2 of consciences being:
“…seared with a hot iron.”
Ephesians 4:19 speaks of becoming:
“past feeling.”
This does not mean every mistake means someone has a hardened heart.
We all stumble.
We all need grace.
We all need correction.
Anxiety, depression, trauma, exhaustion, or emotional numbness do not by themselves prove a hardened heart.
The danger is when sin is repeatedly protected instead of confessed.
When deception is repeatedly justified instead of brought into the light.
When appearance becomes more important than repentance.
Because eventually—
the lie does not shock you anymore.
The manipulation does not bother you anymore.
The false humility becomes normal.
The performance becomes automatic.
And eventually you can become so accustomed to protecting the appearance that you stop recognizing what is really happening inside.
That is one of the most frightening forms of self-deception.
When we no longer know who we have become.
4. GOD IS AFTER INTEGRITY — NOT IMAGE
So what is the opposite of hypocrisy?
Integrity.
But let us define integrity carefully.
Integrity is more than simply having the same thing on the inside and outside.
A person can openly live wrongly and still be consistent.
Biblical integrity means:
Wholeness before God.
It means that my inward life and outward life are being brought together under the truth and lordship of Jesus Christ.
What I profess publicly—
I seek to live privately.
What I say I believe—
I submit my life to.
My spiritual language—
is being matched by spiritual formation.
My generosity—
is not a performance.
My humility—
is not a strategy to make people admire me.
My ministry—
is not a way to build myself.
My service—
flows from love.
My obedience—
is not dependent upon applause.
That is integrity.
And David gives us one of the most important prayers for integrity in all of Scripture.
Psalm 139:23–24:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Notice what David does not say.
He does not say:
“Lord, search them.”
He says:
“Search me.”
Not:
“Lord, expose their hypocrisy.”
But:
“Lord, expose mine.”
Not:
“Lord, show me everything wrong with everybody else.”
But:
“Lord, show me what is happening inside me.”
That is where transformation begins.
Because this sermon becomes dangerous if we leave here thinking only about somebody else.
“I know somebody who needs to hear this.”
No.
The first person who needs to hear this sermon is me.
The preacher.
The leader.
The worshiper.
The servant.
The person sitting in the pew.
Every one of us.
Search me.
Because the greatest deception is not when other people do not know who we really are.
The greatest deception is when we no longer recognize what we ourselves are becoming.
And here is where our church declaration becomes personal.
We say:
“Una iglesia de esencia y no de apariencia.”
A church of essence and not appearance.
But church:
Una iglesia de esencia y no de apariencia comienza con personas de esencia y no de apariencia.
A church of essence and not appearance begins with people of essence and not appearance.
We cannot ask the church collectively to become something that we refuse individually to become.
We cannot demand authenticity from everybody else while protecting our own masks.
We cannot ask for integrity in leadership while excusing dishonesty privately.
We cannot sing about surrender publicly while refusing surrender privately.
It begins here.
Search me.
Not them.
Me.
5. THE ANSWER IS NOT BETTER APPEARANCE — IT IS TRANSFORMATION
So what do we do?
Do we try harder to look spiritual?
No.
Do we become better at Christian vocabulary?
No.
Do we polish our public image?
No.
Do we simply learn to hide our weaknesses better?
Absolutely not.
The answer to hypocrisy is not better acting.
The answer is:
Repentance.
Truth.
Grace.
And abiding in Christ.
Repentance means I stop defending what God is confronting.
I call the lie a lie.
I call pride pride.
I call disobedience disobedience.
I bring it into the light.
Truth means I stop constructing an image before God.
I come before Him as I really am.
And grace means I discover that I do not have to pretend before the One who already knows me completely.
Grace gives us the freedom to stop pretending.
Because God already knows.
He knows what nobody else knows.
He knows the thoughts we never speak.
He knows the motive behind the action.
He knows the insecurity behind the performance.
He knows the fear behind the need for approval.
He knows every broken place.
And still—
He calls us.
Think about the cross.
The cross is where pretending ends.
We do not come to Jesus saying:
“Look how righteous I am.”
We come saying:
“Lord, I need You.”
We do not come saying:
“Look how strong I am.”
We say:
“Lord, without You I can do nothing.”
We do not come saying:
“Look what I have accomplished.”
We say:
“Everything I have is because of Your grace.”
At the cross we stop defending appearances.
Because the cross tells us two things at the same time.
Our sin is serious enough that Christ had to die.
And God's grace is great enough that Christ willingly died for us.
So I do not have to hide.
I can repent.
I can come into the light.
I can tell God the truth because God already knows the truth.
But God does not merely forgive us and leave us unchanged.
Jesus says in John 15:4:
“Abide in me, and I in you.”
And verse 5:
“…for without me ye can do nothing.”
There is the answer.
Abide in Christ.
Because Christianity is not merely behavior modification.
It is Christ forming His life in us.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18:
“…we… are changed into the same image from glory to glory…”
Notice that word:
Changed.
Not disguised.
Not covered.
Not cosmetically improved.
Not given another coat of religious paint.
Changed.
God is not trying to make you look whole.
He is trying to make you whole.
He wants to heal what is underneath.
He wants to purify motives.
He wants to restore truth.
He wants to free us from the need for applause.
He wants to break our dependence upon people's approval.
He wants to free us from constructing an image.
Because when your identity is secure in Christ—
you do not have to spend your life convincing everybody else who you are.
CONCLUSION — LET GOD WORK ON THE FOUNDATION
Come back with me to that house.
You can paint the walls.
You can repair the windows.
You can decorate the rooms.
You can put flowers in the yard.
You can make everything visible look beautiful.
And everyone passing by can say:
“What a beautiful house.”
But if the foundation is cracking—
eventually the house will reveal it.
And sometimes we spend years painting the outside while God is standing at the foundation saying:
“Let Me work on what is underneath.”
Do not be afraid of that.
God exposing something does not automatically mean God is rejecting you.
Sometimes God exposes something precisely because He intends to heal it.
Conviction is not the same thing as condemnation.
God does not show us the crack in the foundation so that we can stand there admiring the crack.
He shows it because He wants access to it.
He wants truth in the inward parts.
And so I do not want today's call to be simply:
“Don't lie.”
That is too small.
I do not want today's call to be:
“Give more.”
That is not Acts 5.
I do not want today's call to be:
“Try to look more spiritual.”
That is exactly the problem.
The question is deeper.
Are you willing to let God make what you profess on the outside true within you on the inside?
Are you willing to let God search your motives?
Are you willing to let Him expose the places where appearance has become more important than reality?
The places where you need people's approval?
The places where you want recognition?
The places where you are pretending to be stronger than you are?
The places where you are pretending to be more spiritual than you are?
The places where even humility has become another way of being noticed?
The places where you are doing good things for wrong reasons?
The places where you are more concerned about reputation than character?
Because God does not want your performance.
He wants you.
All of you.
The part people see.
And the part nobody sees.
The public life.
And the private life.
The words.
And the motives underneath the words.
The ministry.
And the heart behind the ministry.
And the prayer today is not:
“Lord, make me impressive.”
It is not:
“Lord, make everybody admire me.”
It is not:
“Lord, make me look spiritual.”
It is:
“Search me, O God.”
And then:
“Lord, bring everything in me—what is seen and what is hidden—under the truth and character of Christ.”
Because:
A church of essence and not appearance begins with people of essence and not appearance.
And here is the sentence I want you to carry home:
DON'T SPEND YOUR LIFE POLISHING THE OUTSIDE WHILE GOD IS ASKING YOU TO SURRENDER THE INSIDE.
God is not trying to make you look like something.
He is forming you to become something.
Not merely religious.
Not impressive.
Not admired.
But:
Authentic.
Whole.
Truthful.
Faithful.
Aligned.
Abiding.
Christlike.
ALTAR CALL — “SEARCH ME”
Before we pray, I want you to forget about everybody else for a moment.
Do not think about someone who disappointed you.
Do not think about somebody you believe is hypocritical.
Do not think about somebody you wish were sitting here hearing this message.
This moment is between you and God.
David prayed:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart…”
Can you pray that sincerely?
Because it takes courage to say:
“Lord, show me me.”
Not the person I have presented.
Not the person everybody thinks I am.
Not even the person I tell myself I am.
Show me what You see.
And if there is something that needs repentance—
I will repent.
If there is something that needs healing—
I will bring it to You.
If there is pride—
deal with it.
If there is fear—
deal with it.
If there is deception—
bring it into the light.
If there is dependence upon people's approval—
break it.
If there is an image I have been protecting more than my relationship with You—
tear down the image.
Because I would rather have God repair the foundation than spend the rest of my life painting over the cracks.
And if that is your prayer today, wherever you are—
whether you come forward or whether you stand where you are—
let your heart say:
“Search me.”
“Change me.”
“Make me whole.”
“Form Christ in me.”
FINAL PRAYER
Father,
We come before You without masks.
We do not want to impress You.
You already know us.
You know our hearts.
You know our thoughts.
You know our motives.
You know the things nobody else knows.
And today we pray the prayer of David:
“Search me, O God.”
Search our hearts.
Search our motives.
Search our ambitions.
Search our relationships.
Search our words.
Search our private lives.
Search our public lives.
Show us where appearance has replaced reality.
Show us where image has become more important than integrity.
Show us where pride has disguised itself as humility.
Show us where fear has become dependence upon people's approval.
Show us where we have been more concerned about what people think than about what You know.
And Lord—
do not simply expose us.
Transform us.
Where there is sin—
give us grace to repent.
Where there is deception—
bring us into truth.
Where there is brokenness—
bring healing.
Where there is pride—
produce humility.
Where there is fear—
teach us to trust You.
Where there is dependence upon applause—
teach us to live before an audience of One.
Create in us a clean heart, O God.
Renew a right spirit within us.
Teach us to love truth in the inward parts.
Teach us to walk honestly.
Teach us to serve without needing applause.
Teach us to give without needing recognition.
Teach us to humble ourselves without turning humility into another appearance.
Teach us to minister without using ministry to build ourselves.
Teach us to walk with You when nobody is watching.
And above everything else:
Teach us to abide in Christ.
Because we do not want only to carry His name.
We want to carry His character.
We do not want only to speak His words.
We want His truth living within us.
We do not want merely to appear Christian.
We want Christ formed in us.
Bring our public life and our private life under Your lordship.
Bring our words and our hearts under Your lordship.
Bring our motives and our actions under Your lordship.
Make us people of integrity.
Make us people of truth.
Make us people whose lives are being brought into alignment with You.
And Lord, make us what we have declared we desire to be:
Una iglesia de esencia y no de apariencia.
A church of essence and not appearance.
But let it begin in us.
One heart at a time.
One life at a time.
One surrendered place at a time.
And when people look at us, may they not simply see a carefully constructed appearance.
May they see something real.
May they see something transformed.
May they see something of—
CHRIST.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.