Most people don’t really “like” sermons on sin. They don’t like hearing them, and (at least in my case) they don’t really like preaching them. I think that is because judgmental-ism and “holier than thou” attitudes have typically characterized our discussions of sin, and often the end result has been twisted into helpless guilt, spiritual manipulation, or some other presentation that leaves us feeling like “bad little boys and girls” who have just been chastised and had better “try harder to be good” or else the big bad god in the sky will get us.
Ugh. No wonder we preachers today approach the topic with some trepidation, and often out and out avoidance. I think we in general, and I know myself in particular, struggle to know how exactly to preach on sin in an atmosphere of love – to deliver a message that is straight and true to Scripture and yet not come across as judgmental or “holier that thou” or make you as listener feel like “bad little girls and boys”. It is tough to get the message across that truly says (in both word and tone), “because I love you, I’m going to preach about sin, because sin destroys us, and I don’t want any of us to face that kind of pain.”
One of the main reasons I like to preach straight through Scripture is that it forces me to talk about what the Bible talks about, and today, in our journey through Acts, it talks about sin. So let’s read Scripture, and then dive into what it says together.
Acts 4:31-5:11 (NLT):
32 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. 33 The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. 34 There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them 35 and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need. 36 For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. 37 He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.
1 But there was a certain man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. 2 He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest. 3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. 4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!” 5 As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. 6 Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.
7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?” “Yes,” she replied, “that was the price.” 9 And Peter said, “How could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too.” 10 Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.
Context:
Before diving into the meaning of the passage, and how God wants us to respond to it, I need to back us up. Remember we are reading of a time and place and culture 2000 years removed from us, who didn’t think like we do today and who didn’t act like we do today. Understandings of death were very different, as were burial practices. So when we come to a story like this, we must be open to understanding it in its original context, to the best of our ability, and then ask God to help us understand what it means for us, in our context today.
I choose to begin the reading in chapter 4, the passage we studied last week, because it truly is all one section. The key introduction is the attitude reported in 4:32: “they felt that what they owned was not their own”, which we explored together last Sunday. This heart attitude is then contrasted – first the positive example of Barnabas, who “sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.” (4:37). “But”… is the next word, which starts chapter 5. In contrast to Barnabas, we have a second example, this one not positive.
The Story:
This second story is a story of sin. And despite our reaction as we read it, of feelings like “well that’s not one of the BIG sins…”, or of “well at least they were giving, shouldn’t Peter and the others just be grateful for the money even if it was given under false pretenses”, or of “hey that is way too harsh, death by lying? that’s over the top…”, the story as God has given it to us is very simple. Ananias and Sapphira, the married couple, sold a field (just like Barnabas), then brought some money to the apostles, and then willingly and in agreement together lied and said it was all the money they got for the field, and as a result of this lie they both died on the spot.
Our Problems with The Story:
That’s the simple story, let’s acknowledge some problems we have with it. 1. it’s harsh – the “punishment doesn’t fit the crime”; in fact it is almost unjust. 2. it’s cruel – the wife isn’t even informed of her husband’s death before she is questioned and repeats the lie and suffers the same fate; in fact she isn’t even part of her husband’s burial. 3. neither are given opportunity to repent and be forgiven; they are caught in the lie, and they die. And 4. it appears to make Peter judge, jury, and executioner, all at the same time. Let me take a crack at those problems:
1. It’s harsh. Yes, it is harsh. I think our problem with this stems from our tendency to create a hierarchy of sin – some sins, like sexual sin or murder, we see as “more offensive” than other sins, like greed or lying. And certainly there are different levels of pain inflicted on others through some types of sin, but from God’s point of view all sin really is the same. Sin is sin. And no matter the “type”, or “how bad” WE think it is, God sees how it all brings death and God hates it all and God is desperate for us to run away from all those things that destroy us and bring death to us and our relationships (with God and others), because of how great His love is for us.
There is another response to this problem, and it is again rooted in the context. I notice a pattern in the stories of Scripture: many times, after a massive outpouring of the goodness and grace of God, there is a harsh incident like this that serves to remind God’s people that He is Holy. Think of the story of Achan in Joshua 7, who hid some plunder under his tent floor and ended up dead. Think of the priest who touched the Ark of the Covenant when David was bringing it back to Jerusalem (2 Sam 6) and was killed instantly. Now think of Ananias and Sapphira. At each point, God was renewing or beginning, and a very serious incident reminds everyone in the community of the people of God that God has not changed in how He views sin. For this new Christian community in Acts, the true message of grace and forgiveness could easily have been abused or extrapolated to mean that sin wasn’t a big deal – like a country singer I saw on TV on Friday night who was talking about country and gospel music, who said “you know, country has always been about goin out on Saturday night and having a good time, and then going to church Sunday morning to get some forgiveness for the night before”.
I believe God is harsh here exactly so that His holiness is re-asserted, and His people reminded that sin is not a small thing. Sin kills; if not literally like it did here, it certainly kills the soul, it kills community, it kills momentum, and it kills our witness in our world. And this is true of all sin – gossip, greed, selfishness, pride, dissention, lying, trying to look good and holy on the outside in vanity, and all the rest. These are sin, and sin destroys. Still true today.
2. It’s cruel. This is our second problem with the passage, it seems cruel. Sapphira doesn’t know about Ananias, who has been taken away and buried without her. To this problem, we have to respond by recognizing the cultural differences, where burial happened quickly, coupled with the perception of the community that his death was an Act of God identifying Ananias as a sinner convicted by God who thus may not have been deserving of proper burial, and third the recognition that we don’t have all the details – maybe they’d tried to find Sapphira but couldn’t.
3. No opportunity for repentance is our third problem. My response to this problem is again, we don’t have the whole exhaustive story, so we don’t know what other things there might have been going on. Maybe Ananias hardened his heart and tried to protest his innocence, or otherwise tried to keep the lie and the image of himself as just as generous as Barnabas alive. One could argue that Sapphira did have an opportunity to tell the truth when Peter asks her if this really is all the money; even though she didn’t know the lie was out in the open, she could have chosen then to admit the lie and probably be forgiven.
4. Peter’s power is a fourth problem for us – it is easy to see him as being the one who “kills” them both, but that isn’t really what happens. He simply names the sin to Ananias, and many commentators argue that that realization gives Ananias a heart attack. Then they argue that the same thing happens to Sapphira. The argument goes that as their sin is named out loud they realize they have betrayed God and so go into shock and have a coronary. I’m skeptical of this explanation, though it is common in the readings I consulted, but I still wouldn’t go so far as to put the blame on Peter as exercising apostolic power over life and death. I’d rather say the responsibility is with God the Holy Spirit who chooses to end their life at this point because the community needed to know that God is Holy, and sin is not a minor matter.
Responding:
So with that basic understanding of the story, what are we to make of it today? We live in a culture that not only doesn’t believe in sin, most of the things that God has called “sin” are now celebrated. Pride – used to be sin, now we are told we should be proud of ourselves under the guise of self-confidence. Greed – used to be sin, now it is the very foundation of our economic reality. Lying – used to be sin, now it is the way to get what you need. Sex outside of marriage – used to be sin, now it is expected and assumed by our society. I could continue, but I think you get the point. I believe that the story of Ananias and Sapphira is a warning story to all of us who claim to follow Jesus, that sin is still a big deal to God. It is not minor, insignificant, understandable, justifiable, or measured by God comparing us to “others” whether across from us behind jail bars or across from us in this sanctuary. God’s character remains the standard of holiness, and we His children are still called to that level of holiness. Sin still matters.
Because, and I’ll say it again like I did right at the beginning, sin destroys us. That is the biggest reason God hates it – sin ruins our lives. We’ve often believed the opposite – sin is fun, God doesn’t want us to have fun, so He tells us not to do those things. But the truth is that sin, even if it is temporarily enjoyable (which I do not deny that it can be in the short term), sin always brings death. And Jesus came to bring life. And the bottom line is that God accepts us in our sin, loves us while we were still sinners, all so that He can fill us and empower us to not kill the life inside us by these sinful attitudes and actions. So again, it is and remains and always will be one more expression of the depth of love God has for us, that He would convict us of sin and lead us away from these things that bring death.
And here is the thing: if we’ll allow God to speak to us, allow His love to wash over us, allow His presence with us, we will be so transformed by God that we will eagerly and quickly turn from sin which leads to death and instead turn to Jesus who brings life. When we turn to Jesus and allow Him in and listen to Him, we begin to see sin for the ugliness that it is, instead of the false temptation it presents: we’ll see it clearly, and then we’ll hate it, and then we will be empowered by God and eager to run the opposite direction.
Conclusion:
So here is where I want to end today: not with a call to turn away from sin. That is where some of the guilt and manipulation and fear of punishment and “bad little boys and girls” stuff has come from and gotten twisted. So I’m not asking you to turn away from sin. I’m asking you to turn towards Jesus. Run towards Jesus. Throw off everything that might get in between you and Jesus. Then your heart will change, you’ll see sin for what it is, and you won’t want any part of it – you will turn away from it because it will disgust you, when you are free to see sin as God sees it, because you’ve turned to Him.
We’ve planned some space here at the end of the service for us to take some significant steps in obedience to this message – with the story of Ananias and Sapphira fresh in our minds, and an opportunity to make an important decision today: to turn to Jesus, to let ourselves be loved by Him, and then deal with sin after encountering the love of God in Christ Jesus made real to us now by the Holy Spirit. Alin is going to come and lead us in this exercise.
