Acts 5:1-11

 Acts 5:1-11

But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?  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.”  When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it.  The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

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.

Fear is a constant motivator in our lives.  It motivates us to do both good things and bad things depending on the object of our fear.  This passage is an illustration of this truth.  When we are motivated by a fear of men, we do things that we hope will make ourselves look good before others.  When we are motivated by a fear of the Lord, we strive to live in a way that pleases the Lord.  Unfortunately, Ananias and his wife Sapphira did not fear the Lord but were motivated by their desire to please themselves while, at the same time, trying to impress others.  The Lord knows all that we do as well as the motives behind all our actions. 

THE CONSPIRACY TO SIN: Rationalizing sin is one of those things that we are all very good at doing.  It is easy for us to talk ourselves into thinking that it is right to do wrong.  It does not take a lot of imagination for us to picture the conversation between Ananias and Sapphira.  They are excited to see what is happening in the new church they have joined.  The generosity, meeting of needs, growth, reputation, and joy must have been both infectious and motivating.  People want desperately to be a part of something that is larger than themselves.  So, the couple agrees that it is wonderful to be a part of this growing group.  Then, they begin to look at the property they owned and how it was not essential to them and their needs and they really want to participate in all that is going on.  They want to “fit it” with this new culture of generosity.  They sell the land.  Now it is time to take the funds to the church.  But…they start to think of all they could do with this extra money.  They think, correctly, that they can use the money however they want.  They are not required to give it all to the church.  However, the 100% standard has been set by others and they don’t want to look selfish.  They, like all of us, want to find a way to have their cake and eat it too.  There were two right choices: give it all or be honest about giving a portion of it.  Instead, they decide to pretend to give it all while keeping a portion for themselves.  This reveals that they are motivated by a desire to impress men and not to simply please the Lord and serve others.  We need to be aware that this same kind of rationalization happens in our hearts and minds on a consistent basis.  Impressing others must never be allowed to replace or compete with our desire to please God. 

THE CONSQUENCE OF SIN: Paul says in Romans 3:23 that the wages of sin is death.  Obviously, this couple never read the book of Romans, but the pattern of death as a result of sin was well established in the sacrificial system and the death of Jesus.  The Gospel is about saving people from sin and all of sins consequences.  Ananias and Sapphira were not thinking about the Gospel, the sacrifice of Jesus or even sin for that matter.  They were thinking of their own status within the church as well as their own personal comfort.  The church is not a place where people come to impress one another or to achieve a certain status or title.  The church is a place where believers gather to help one another become more like Jesus through teaching, prayer, worship, partaking of the ordinances, fellowship, accountability, encouragement, mutual edification, service, and cooperation in the mission.  There is no room for self-promotion in this environment.  When this couple conspire this deception, God decides to take their lives.  This does not mean that this couple was not saved.  The truth is that we don’t really know if their salvation was genuine.  What we do know is that God decided that for the purity of the church, this couple should die.  God is always faithful to discipline sin.  It is not always so immediate or fatal, but He is always faithful.

THE CONSTRAINT FROM SIN: If fear of man is a catalyst to sin; fear of the Lord is a constraint from sin.  The severity with which God judged Ananias and Sapphira was for the well-being of the entire body.  The Church must know that God hates and judges sin.  It may be possible to lie to men; but it is impossible to lie to God.  He knows about every sinful action, thought and motive.  Nothing is hidden from His sight.  No matter how much we may rationalize the things we do; God sees right through all of those things to our hearts.  Our desires must always be to please God.  If our motive is for His glory, no matter what results occur, He will be pleased with us.  If our motive is for our own glory, no matter what results occur, we are sinning against Him.  We must constantly be faithful to examine our hearts.

APPLICATION: Be very careful to examine our hearts for the rationalization that is so easy for us to do.  Understand the prevalence of the desire to impress and please other people as opposed to the Lord that appears so easily in our lives.  Remember that there are always consequences to sin.  Live to please the Lord.