Title: Ananias and Sapphira
Date: February 4, 2007
Text: Acts 5:1-11
Introduction
- early church - rapid growth
- a lame man had been healed by Peter and John, trusting in Jesus' name
- persecution by authorities
- the disciples pray for boldness to witness in spite of threatened jail sentences
- the Holy Spirit came and filled them all with boldness
- the church was united in its purpose, and members shared their possessions
- the apostles witnessed powerfully about the resurrected Jesus
- people sold their personal property, to provide a fund from which the needy could be supported
- Barnabas gives a solid example of this generosity, in a united church
- this is the context in which the story of Ananias and Sapphira unfolds
- Acts 5:1-11
- let's examine what went wrong with Ananias and his wife
1. The Sin
- in the previous chapter, we read of Barnabus who sold some land and brought it to the church for distribution to those in need
- that Barnabus had taken this action was known by the church, it was recorded here for us
- there is a contrast here between Barnabas and Ananias - the word "but" in verse 1
- Barnabas willingly and voluntarily came and brought his offering, in the spirit of unity that we read about when this church period is described
- his offering was sincere, his motives were pure, he was known by the apostles for his encouraging attitude
- "but" - when Ananias brought his offering, he wanted to make it appear as though he were just as generous as Barnabas
- in actuality, he sold a piece of land for $5,000 but only brought $2,500 to the church
- the money was his, he could give as much or as little as he wanted
- the problem was in the deceit and in the hypocrisy
- Ananias presented himself as a fine, upstanding, generous church member who wanted to help the needy
- in fact, Ananias was selfish, a hypocrite, who wanted only to build his own ego at the cost of truth.
2. The Penalty
- we read that God took a dim view of this hypocrisy
- The Holy Spirit makes Peter aware of what has happened, and Peter tackles Ananias about it
- he says that it was not about the money, but about the lying and deceptive attitude with which Ananias made his offering
- God is always more concerned about the integity of our heart than about the numbers of dollars and cents
- he wants us to be pure before him, not compromising our integrity for the sake of looking good
- if we are deceptive in one part of our life, we cannot be trusted
- how can we then be supportive and unified with the rest of the body
- the church at this time was "of one heart and one soul, neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common"
- Ananias chose not to subscribe to this attitude of love and self-lessness
- he allowed a spirit of greed and selfishness to take hold, and this then led him to lie to the church and to God
- the result of this was that God allowed him to die - he probably had a heart attack about what he had done and that he had been found out
- his wife Sapphira was in on the deal too, and she suffered the same fate
3. Grace
- why does God seem to be so harsh here in punishing Ananias and Sapphira
- after all, haven't we all lied or misrepresented ourselves at times?
- we were not immediately hit by a lightning bolt
- we have all tried to make ourselves look good while our inside did not match our external appearance
- but God has not suddenly zapped us
- so why did he punish Ananias and his wife so severely?
- part of the reason is stated as being because they had lied to God
- God was making an example of them, for our benefit
- it says that great fear came upon the church as a result of this event
- it would have had the effect of encouraging people to be honest in their dealings with God
- God does not want hypocrites, Jesus describes them in Matthew 23, read it some time
- God wants us to be real with him
- notice though, that Sapphira had an opportunity to repent
- Peter asked her for how much the land had been sold
- she could at that moment have repented and told the truth - then she would have received grace
- she had a chance to change her ways, but she did not take the opportunity
- the result was that she suffered the same fate as her husband
- this does not necessarily mean that they went to hell, assuming they had truly accepted Jesus
- but a penalty had to be paid
4. All we like sheep have gone astray
- we have all sinned, we have all misrepresented ourselves, we have all lied and cheated
- but God is aware of that, he knows our hearts and the thoughts we are thinking
- God gives each of us an opportunity to repent
- Paul says to the Corinthians, "now is the day of salvation"
- we don't know how many opportunities to repent will be given to us
- let's make use of the day we have been given, and turn to God and ask him to forgive our sins
- 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"
- grace is available for the asking, we have only to repent and set our heart to do things right in the future, and ask Jesus into our heart
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