Living a Life of Integrity
Acts 5:1-11
Intro: This is almost an unbelievable story to most people today. Can you imagine something like this happening today? I think it is safe to conclude that God does not always choose to work in this way. We do have some examples from the OT where God actually killed people because they took Him lightly and did what was evil in His eyes. We read about Nadab and Abihu, who disobeyed God by using their own fire to burn incense to the Lord. God destroyed them with fire. Then there were the first two sons of Judah (Jacob’s grandsons) who were so wicked that God just killed them. So, we know that God did personally put some people to death, but if He still does so, we don’t really know what we are seeing. Paul says that some people in Corinth have died because they did not discern the Lord’s body when they took communion. We understand the Lord’s body to be the body of believers that made up the church in Corinth. It seems that the wealthy members were having a feast with fellow wealthy members, while the poor were shuffled off to the side because they could not afford an elegant feast. However, my point today is not that God is out to kill anybody. The Bible says that He did not come to condemn, but to save. The enemy is the one who wants to steal, kill, and destroy. The real lesson today is about how we treat God and one another. Here it is in a nutshell:
Prop: As our merciful God is working His goodness into our hearts and lives, He requires sincerity and integrity from us.
Interrogative: How do we know this to be true?
TS: Acts 5 shows us at least 4 principles that tell us what God wants from us.
I. God Cares about Proper Motives (Generosity or Greed?)
-As we can see in Luke’s account of Ananias and Sapphira, one of the first problems that surfaces in their lives has to do with motives. Have you ever had something nice done for you, but you knew that the person was not doing it for the right reasons? Or, we could put the shoe on the other foot. Have you ever done something nice for somebody, but as you look back, you weren’t doing it so much to help them as to help yourself in some way?
-Well, at the end of ch.4, Luke mentions that Barnabas sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet. He wasn’t the only one to do so, however. Acts 4:34-35 says, “There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”
-So, we have the positive examples of people who gave because they wanted to help meet a need in the family of God. As far as we can tell, they were giving for the right reasons: to honor God and to help those in need.
-The fact that we should be givers is very clear in Scripture. The Bible says a lot about giving. Jesus told His disciples, “You have received freely, now give to others freely.” Later in Acts, Paul tells the Ephesian believers to remember the words of the Lord Jesus who said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” James writes that if we see someone in need and we don’t do anything to help them, then our faith is dead and useless. So, giving is part of being a Christian. I would almost go so far as to say that if a person refuses to be generous and give when there is a need, then God’s love is either not in them, or it has grown cold. We are not saved by works such as giving, but it is (or should be) a reflection of the work that God has done in us.
-Giving is important, then. I think we would all agree with that, and I trust that you are obeying God as He leads you to give to various needs. But let’s talk about the motivation for giving. This is where Ananias and Sapphira dropped the ball.
-By the way, the name Ananias was a common Jewish name which means “The Lord is gracious.” It is almost ironic that someone with such a name would be self-centered and ungracious in their giving. The name Sapphira means “beautiful,” although she and her husband had chosen a way that was anything but beautiful.
-On one hand you might say that giving money to help feed the poor was a good thing. I would agree that it is. However, the gift alone is not what pleases God. He is more interested in the heart of the giver. There were at least 2 wrong motives that we can see in the lives of Ananias and Sapphira. First, we see greed. They loved their money so much that they were not willing to part with it. In one sense that was okay, because nobody was forcing them to sell their property and give all the proceeds. So the 2nd wrong motive now comes to the surface: they wanted recognition, just like Barnabas got. They wanted people to praise them for their generosity and to think well of them. That may not seem so bad. In fact, I dare say we’ve all wanted recognition and people’s good opinion – even if we did not deserve it. Nevertheless, greed and pride are sins that can easily sidetrack us from doing what honors God. These were forgivable sins, but these failures were accompanied by the choice to lie to the church and to God.
-TS: That leads us to the 2nd point.
II. God Requires Honesty from His People
-God has a very high standard for His people to follow. For a Christian, honesty is not the best policy; honesty is the only policy. This applies to how we interact with people and especially how we interact with God. God knows our hearts and He knows the facts. We can never fool God. We can fool other people, and we can fool ourselves, but we cannot fool God.
-Perhaps Ananias & Sapphira did not perceive that their dishonesty was directed at God. They just thought they would pull the wool over the church’s eyes, and nobody would ever know. However, God knew, and He showed Peter what was really going on.
-I really believe that if they had decided to keep half of the money, it would have been fine. If they had brought it to Peter and said, “Hey, we’d like to help those in need, and here are half of the proceeds from the sale of our property.” However, they decided they could get more mileage out of it by pretending that they were giving all of it. We don’t read whether or not Ananias came right out and said, “This is all the money from the sale of our property,” or how he presented it. We do know, however, that he and his wife were in on it together and had agreed on what they would tell anyone who might ask about how much they sold their property for.
-Now we know that people lie all the time. Why was this case of dishonesty so offensive, bringing God’s judgment? I certainly don’t have all the answers to this. In fact, this is one passage that has bothered me at times. Why did God strike them dead? Surely someone like the high priest or some of the other religious leaders who were dishonest and underhanded deserved death as much as this couple.
-TS: The third point may give us some insight on why God was so tough on them.
III. Personal Sin Affects Those Around Us
A. Our Family- We don’t read anything about Ananias and Sapphira having other family, but it is very likely they did. Regardless, they had each other, and one of them had apparently influenced the other to go along with the scheme of selling their property, and lying that they were giving all the proceeds to the Christian community.
-Some people say that what they do does not affect their family. However, even secret sins that nobody ever finds out about but God have a silent, deadly effect on those around us. Why? Because sin creates distance between us and God. And if we are not close to God, then we will not be able to influence others to be close to Him either. Fathers who are hiding secret sins will not be able to train up their children in the way they should go, because they have distanced themselves from God. Mothers who are hiding secret sins will not be able to provide the Godly influence their children need, because God’s presence is not with them. Please understand, I’m not talking about the common failures and offenses that we commit. Hopefully, we bring those to God each day and ask Him to forgive us. Neither am I talking about some of the bad habits that can get a hold of our lives- although they often set us back through self-condemnation. The sin I’m talking about is the kind where we make a conscious choice to disobey God and His word, and we really don’t feel all that bad about it- at least not bad enough to repent and turn back to God. This kind of sin, whether private or public, can bring great harm to your family.
B. God’s Family- God will not allow anyone to jeopardize the purity of His Church.
-If you look back to the story of Achan in the book of Joshua, ch.7, you find a situation with a similar ending. God told Israel that He would help them conquer the city of Jericho, but they were not to keep any of the plunder. Achan secretly took some of the plunder and hid it in his tent. Because of Achan’s sin, Israel suffered defeat at the hands of a small army from the city of Ai. They asked God why He let them be defeated, and He eventually showed them it was because Achan had disobeyed Him and had stolen plunder from Jericho. When confronted, Achan confessed, then was taken out and stoned to death.
-Now I realize this story may raise more questions than it answers, because this too seems like a very harsh punishment. However, it tells us that God takes it very seriously when someone compromises the purity of His people. He was building a nation that would represent Him, and right after they go into the Promised Land, someone directly disobeys what God had told them. Achan’s sin did not just have an effect on him and his own family. It produced drastic consequences for the rest of God’s people. Some of them were killed in the battle they lost as a result of Achan’s selfishness.
-Now, fast forward to Ananias and Sapphira. God was doing a new thing and had birthed His church in Jerusalem. Several thousand people had received Jesus as their forgiver and leader and had been filled with the HS. The giving of the HS was a sign that they had entered a new era in God’s kingdom. The HS was going to help them reach the world around them with the news that God loved them and was offering forgiveness and peace to them. Now, during a time when the church was in close unity and they were effectively pushing back the darkness in Jerusalem, Ananias and Sapphira decide to capitalize on the situation and gain both money and good favor in the eyes of this new community of faith.
-God was not pleased, because He knew that their sin would have a harmful effect on the character and testimony of the church. He was not going to allow their greed, pride, or dishonesty to be a blemish on His name or on the identity of His church.
-Now, I’ve heard various views on where Ananias and Sapphira ended up after they died. Some might say they were never really saved in the first place, or that if they were, they lost out with God because of their sin. We don’t really know what happened to them, but I can find where the Bible says that the Lord disciplines those whom He loves. In fact, in 1 Cor. 11, where Paul said that some believers had died because they were not honoring the rest of the body of Christ when they took communion, we understand this to be the discipline of the Lord, not eternal condemnation. God loves and us and has begun a good work in us. However, He will do what is best for His Church, and if that means getting someone out of the way, He will do it. My personal opinion, for what it’s worth, is that Ananias and Sapphira are in heaven. I can’t really back that up, but here is my reasoning. If they were trusting in Christ for their salvation, but allowed greed and pride to creep into their lives, then their works would be burned up, but they themselves would still be saved, as Paul writes in 1 Cor. 3, “as one escaping through the flames.“
-But putting all my conjecture aside, the main point here is that our choices do affect those around us, and we will have to answer for the influence we have on others.
-TS: Finally, let’s take a look at the effect this whole event had on the church.
IV. God Does Not Want People to Take Him Lightly
-The “great fear” that seized the whole church was a healthy fear. Look at what the Bible says about the fear of the Lord:
Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Proverbs 10:27 Fear of the LORD lengthens one’s life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.
Proverbs 14:27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death.
Proverbs 19:23 Fear of the LORD gives life, security, and protection from harm.
Proverbs 22:4 Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life.
-These verses show us that fearing the Lord is a good thing. It does not mean that we do not trust Him or love Him. It simply means that we do not take Him lightly or expect Him to overlook our willful acts of sin. There are so many benefits to the fear of the Lord. One benefit is the miraculous. It has been observed that where people have a healthy fear of God and give Him the honor and reverence that is due Him, miracles happen more frequently. Just look at Acts 5:11-12 11”Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. 12 The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people.” It would appear that miracles go along with the fear of the Lord.
Conclusion: Let’s bring this all together now. The motives of Ananias and Sapphira were greed and self-promotion or pride. Their methods were deception and lying to God. God is concerned about our motives and about how we set out to get what we want. Lying is a common characteristic of those who will spend eternity apart from God. God just wants us to come clean with Him, and then stay clean. However, if and when we get dirty, He will forgive us and clean us up – if we will stay close enough to let Him. He expects us to live a life of honesty and integrity before Him, and He will help us do it.
-God wants us to understand that if we willfully choose to sin and dishonor Him that it will affect those around us. It will affect our family and friends, and it also affects the family of God, the church. So, let’s be quick to repent and purpose to live lives of integrity and holiness before Him.
-If you have questions about anything we’ve talked about today, I would love to hear from you. It is one thing for me to speak in generalities from up here, but it is another to discuss the issues of life on a more personal basis in light of God’s word. If you need to change in any of these areas, I’m guessing you already know it. Now it is up to you to ask God to help you make those changes. I am happy to talk with you or pray with you or point you to someone who can. Let’s pray and ask God to help us in whatever areas we need His help.
