After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, 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 breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
If you are not familiar with this story you might find it not just amazing, but as those who saw it first hand, fearful. In the first six verses of the chapter we are told about this couple, Ananias and Sapphira. We don’t know much about them other than they had some property, sold it and gave some of it to the church. We will get back to the some of it, in a moment. It should be noted that the two of them were inspired to do all this based upon another man in the church, Barnabas. Barnabas we know because it would be he who eventually ministers to Paul and goes on the first ever missionary journey with Paul. Barnabas inspired Ananias and Sapphira because, as recorded in the last chapter, he, too, sold property and gave the proceeds to the church. But it was not just him, the entire church was caught up on selling property and giving it to the church:
Acts 4:34-37 (ESV)
There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
The difficulty we have with Ananias and Sapphira is that they did sell their property but apparently mis-represented how much they sold it for and how much they reported to the church. God was not concerned that they give all the proceeds of the sale to the church. There was no requirement for that. The challenge we have is that they said they were giving all the proceeds to the church (like the others) but kept some back for personal gain. Here was Peter’s statement to the husband:
Acts 5:4 (ESV)
While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”
The point of the story is not that you have to sell something and give the proceeds to the church. The lesson we are to learn is that God takes mis-representation of your heart in front of others as a serious lie in front of Him. The couple lied to the Body of Christ. Peter tells them they lied to the Holy Spirit. It is doubtful that most people in the church equate lying to the members of a church as lying to the Holy Spirit. But the fear we read about, as Sapphira is rolled up in a rug and carried out to be buried next to her husband, is a genuine realization that God does not mess around. This is Old Testament type judgment. Imagine anything resembling this being played out in our churches today. Imagine passing an offering plate and having someone claim one thing about their giving and doing another and then suddenly dropping dead. This sent shock waves through the church. And it should. Perhaps if our churches today understood the seriousness of genuine true worship from the heart vs an appearance worship in front of man, we would have more people coming to Christ and less country club churches.
No comments:
Post a Comment