Intro: I’ve done a little ancestry work with my siblings and in some previous travels to Cuba. We found out some interesting things; my ancestors on my Mom’s side go back to Spain in two generations, but on my Dad’s side they go back in Cuba 4 generations. Those great-great grandparents were an interesting combination. She was a Campbell who emigrated to Cuba from Scotland during the clan wars. He was a Turkish man who was probably from the holy city Medina in Saudi Arabia.
If certain parties get elected, I’m in double-trouble being Hispanic and descendent of an Arab.
There’s an old phrase that I heard often as a child. “trae tu mejor agua”
Never knew the origins of that, but it may be from this legend I found last week.
There was an old village in Spain who heard the King had decided to visit for the first time in generations.
They worried about how to honor him. It was a wine growing region so someone suggested each family could bring a cup of their finest wine and they would pour it into a keg and then he could try this combination of the best wines.
At the event, each family brought a cup and poured it through a funnel into the keg. When the King finally opened it up to take a taste it was all water.
Each person did the same, they held back their best wine and brought water thinking it wouldn’t be noticed with everybody’s else’s wine.
There’s a lot of ways to look like you’re doing the right thing, all the while doing the wrong thing.
That’s why this passage in Acts is so fascinating.
This passage seems so out of place to the rest of the story. Up to now Dr. Luke has been narrating a story around the power of the Holy Spirit and the unity of the early church.
Thousands coming to the faith; miracles of healing; having all things in common; it looks as if the early church was perfect.
Acts 4:33 “with great power…”
The story of the deaths of Ananias & Saphira seem an odd place to include at this moment.
It wasn’t perfect. There isn’t a perfect church anywhere. There never has been. Because churches are made of people and people are always going to be people.
People are never going to be perfect. I always kind of smile to myself when I hear people who aren’t of the faith characterize us as “pious hypocrites”. I smile for two reasons, one because we are; and 2 because it strikes me that anyone who says that hasn’t read the Bible.
Nothing in the Bible makes it appear that people of the faith are anything but broken, messed up and sinful people.
The story of this couple is a perfect example.
To get the full context you have to step back to the last part of the previous chapter.
Tell story
So now we have this odd story that is so jarring in the midst of the great things God is doing in the early church, but the contrast with the earlier story gives us a great lesson.
There’s a great many people today who are “Relativists”. It doesn’t really matter what you believe or which God you pray to as long as you are a “good” person.
I believe that this passage teaches us the opposite. It’s not important what you do but how and why you do it.
In other words, there are two different views on what it means to do good, and it may seem like they are very similar, but they are actually diametrically opposed to each other.
Barnabas is our example of one view and Ananias & Saphira are an example of the other view.
You may remember Barnabas. His parents called him Joses which is the Greek form of Joseph. But his actions and his character are so compelling that his name becomes Barnabas.
Son of Encouragement. In modern lingo, maybe “Hope-inator”. Have you ever know somebody who gets a nickname and that nickname identifies them forever?
There was this guy who was in our bridal party called “Sabonete”. I never asked if it was because he never used soap or if he used too much.
What if your nickname was the “Uplifter”? or “Hope Guru”?
But more important that what you’re known for is who you actually are. Who are you when you’re alone?
I saw a recent story where Robert Redford was followed through a hotel lobby. The woman finally caught him in the elevator and asked “Are you the real Robert Redford?”. He answered, “Only when I’m alone.”
Let’s look closely at these two examples.
There are three ways we can compare them:
Differences between the two types of good-doers
1. Those who give and those who take
2. Those who seek and those who hide
3. Those who fear God and those who fear Man
1. Those who give and those who take
Looking at the story in terms of what happened. Both Barnabas and Ananias gave a generous gift.
We don’t have details about Barnabas’ gift other than he sold a field. As a matter of fact, his story is just one of several who aren’t named.
This was the stuff they were made of. This is what community meant. It wasn’t celebrated other than Barnabas happened to have other qualities which people admired.
Ananias & Saphira weren’t really giving. The fact that they held back money isn’t important because there was some threshold of generosity.
It’s important because it was a lie, and that lie revealed something of their motive.
“They wanted the credit and the prestige for sacrificial generosity, without the inconvenience of it. So, in order to gain a reputation to which they had no right, they told a brazen lie. Their motive in giving was not to relieve the poor, but to fatten their own ego.”
They weren’t misers, they were thieves.
The opposite of giving is taking. The opposite of a gift is a theft. But what we learn here is that giving with the wrong motive is the same thing as taking.
To give friendship out of a sense of community is a gift that we can all treasure. To give friendship in order to negotiate a personal favor is a theft of trust and of the favor that was dishonestly taken.
To give our time out of obedience to Christ is a gift, to give our time so we can tell friends what we did is a theft of reputation.
Look the last thing I want to do is to minimize generosity. From our point of view, people giving away wealth is impressive. But that’s because we know the temptation of hoarding.
From God’s point of view, it’s irrelevant. All the cattle on a thousand hills are His. All the wealth represented by the top 1% is really His.
Giving of our things is petty. Giving of ourselves is heroic and honors the one who gave it all on our behalf.
There’s a second way to contrast the two.
2. Those who seek and those who hide.
In verse 3 and again in verse 9 the story tells us that you can’t hide from God.
Matt 10:27 “every secret will be proclaimed from housetops”
Here’s one of the important distinctions, Barnabas lived a life of transparency and Ananias was hiding.
We don’t much about this couple. We don’t know much about their status in the church. Were they new comers? Were they toxic members, always complaining and gossiping? Were they bragging about their gift before they actually gave it?
It’s important to note Peter’s comment. Nobody forced him to sell his property. There was no pressure, no expectations, nothing to be gained.
So why were they living this lie? Maybe we’re all like the moon, we have a dark side that we don’t want anyone to see.
It goes back to Adam & Eve hiding in the garden. They weren’t so much hiding from God as they were hiding from their own shame.
One thing is clear neither they nor most people today understand the enormity of living a lie before God.
Have you ever wondered about the kind of relationship the couple had in their marriage?
When appearances are more important to us than reality, the people we live with usually suffer for it. We are careful to veil most of the expressions of the flesh before others, but safely behind the walls of our own homes,
we have a tendency to let it all hang out—all the anger, all the temper, all the unkindness and inconsiderateness, all the selfish demands, all the pride, all the childish behavior.
And as a result, many Christian homes are riddled with wrangling and strife. But when some concerned Christian who might be able to help us asks how things are going at home, we quickly reply,
“Oh, just great, great. Yes sir, we’re getting along better than we ever did.” And we excuse our dishonesty by telling ourselves that what goes on in our home is a private matter, nobody’s business but our own.
But the dishonesty increases our burden of guilt, and the guilt leads to further defensiveness and irritability, and the irritability produces greater dissension and discord in the home. It’s one of Satan’s favorite traps.
By contrast we have stories of Barnabas.
He was the one who was sent to first interview Saul/Paul that everybody thought was possibly a spy
He was the one who was sent to see about the needs of the Jerusalem church
He was one of the leaders who argued about how Gentiles should be accepted without first becoming Jews
When the church was praying for who to send out as the first Missionaries, it was Barnabas and Paul who were selected.
He was the one who mentored and encouraged Mark the gospel writer and later when Paul tried to dismiss Mark, he stuck with him.
He faced some difficult circumstances and awkward conversation, even outright conflict, but he maintained this spirit of encouragement and transparency throughout.
Ananias & Saphira lived hiding from their own shame and ended dying in their shame.
By the way, take notice that there wasn’t a curse on behalf of Peter, this was more a case of God removing his protection on them.
Barnabas lived in transparency. That doesn’t make it easy, but his openness and his heart seeking God led to marvelous experiences and adventures.
The last way we can compare the two
3. Those who fear God and those who fear Man
Did you notice verse 11? “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about it.”
At the surface level, this appears to be really awkward. A couple dies in the church while giving a large donation and then everybody is afraid.
Seems like the makings of a cult horror film.
But then in verse 14 we read; “Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.”
People kept coming because they understood and were able to see what our cynical generation hopes to see.
Community CAN be real. Not perfect, but it can be real.
But for community (koinonia) to be able to happen, we need to give instead of take and we need to seek God instead of hiding and we need to stand in awe of God rather than concerned about winning a reputation.
Fear of God is a phrase that is often misunderstood and carries this hyperbole of fanaticism.
I think that “awe” is a word that speaks to our modern mindset.
When we come to worship we all too often have our minds in the here and now and forget the almighty, all powerful God we come to worship.
I found this great passage from Bishop Lockridge that I want to share. I’m sure I won’t do him justice.
PUT YOUR HOPE IN CHRIST
Now in contrast to His greatness, how can we really be concerned about what the guy down the street may think of us?
Do we stand in awe of God or do we stand in envy of a reputation?
Are we truly understanding the greatness; the enormity of our God?
There are 3 differences between those who would do right in God’s spirit and those who work on their own behalf.
1. Those who give or those who take
2. Those who seek or those who hide
3. Those who fear God or those who fear Man
