A Few Bad Apples…
Acts 4:32-5:11
Jeff Hughes – March 23, 2003
Calvary Chapel Aggieland
I. Introduction
a. The old saying goes, a few bad apples will ruin the whole bunch. The church at Jerusalem was growing by leaps and bounds. Thousands of people were being added to their numbers. Their influence in the city was growing as well. The church was no longer an underground movement of a few Galileans, because now thousands were part of this body of believers.
b. Today, we will get a look into the life of the early church through the eyes of those who were there, and recorded by our friend Dr. Luke. We will see the truth about the church and not a sugar-coated fairy tale. This wasn’t a sales pitch for the church, it was the truth. We know this because as we continue through this passage today, we will see both good things happening in the church along with the bad things.
c. We will look at two different men, both mentioned here for our benefit, one was an shining example of what is right and good in the church, and one who embodied the sin that can creep in among us. One approached God with right motives, and the other one approached God with wrong motives. These two were similar to Cain and Abel in this respect. One gift God accepted and one gift God rejected, and just like in the story of Cain and Abel found in Genesis, someone was going to die.
d. Today, we will finish chapter 4 of Acts, and continue through our study of the early church. But first, let’s pray, and ask the Lord to come and bless our study today.
II. PRAYER
III. Illustration
a. It happened one time after a pastor had made an appeal in church for a great and worthy cause, that a certain woman, a member of the church, came to him and handed him a check for $50, asking at the same time if her gift was satisfactory. The pastor immediately replied, "If it represents you." There was a moment of soul-searching thought and she asked to have the check returned to her. She left with it and a day of two later she returned handing the pastor a check for $5,000 and again asked the same question, "Is my gift satisfactory?" The pastor gave the same answer as before, "If it represents you." As before, a truth seemed to be driving deeply. After a few moments of hesitation she took back the check and left. Later in the week she came again with a check. This time it was for $50,000. As she placed it in the pastor’s hand, she said, "After earnest, prayerful thought, I have come to the conclusion that this gift does represent me and I am happy to give it.".
b. Guys, your giving is important to God. If we serve an all-powerful, all-knowing God, and we do, then He is aware of what you give to Him according to what you make according to His grace. Whether you are a good steward and whether you give with the right motives is between you and God.
c. When we started Calvary Aggieland, I told my pastor, my wife, and my God that I was never going to twist your arms to give. I’ve heard about churches that ask to see your W-2, and ask you to sign up to giving a certain amount each month, and they base their budget for the year off of that. That will never happen here as long as I am Pastor.
d. Here, we budget off of what has come in the previous month. This church is here in Bryan / College Station by God’s grace. Where God guides, God provides is a saying you’ll hear a lot if you hang around Calvary Chapels. What it means is that we won’t presume for God how He is providing. God’s not poor. He can provide exceedingly abundantly above what we could ever ask of think.
e. So far, God has met all of our needs. We continue to pray about finding another place to meet for Sunday services. The reality is that to rent even a modest place all the time is going to cost about roughly three times more than what we are paying for the place we are meeting now only on Sundays.
f. I am praying that God will provide us a space that we can rent that will meet our needs and our budget, and I have no doubt that He will provide it in the coming weeks.
g. God takes care of His church and His people, and we will get to see an example of that today. Open your Bibles to Acts chapter 4, verse 32, and we will study through chapter 5, verse 11 today as we continue through the Book of Acts.
h. If you need a Bible, just raise your hand, Acts is just past John, and before Romans in the New Testament.
IV. Study
a. Intro
i. 32 Now the multitude of those who believed were 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. 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. 34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. 36 And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, 37 having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. 2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 4 While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." 5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. 6 And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him. 7 Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter answered her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?" She said, "Yes, for so much." 9 Then Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out." 10 Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. 11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.
ii. In this passage, we see God’s power at work. We see an unselfish church, led by a group of leaders who are Spirit-filled and Spirit-led. Most of these people were being led by the Holy Spirit, and we see the generosity and fellowship that sprung from their growth.
iii. The apostles were experiencing much fruit in their ministry. God was working powerful miracles through them, and the people in the church at Jerusalem were being led by the apostle’s example.
iv. One man who followed the leading of the Holy Spirit and the example of the apostles was a man named Joses, who was also called Barnabas. You see, Barnabas had the spiritual gift of giving, and he was exercising that gift by selling some property and giving the proceeds to the church, to be distributed among those who had need.
v. This was a notable contribution to the church, but the recognition of men was not something that Barnabas was after, but someone else was.Anninias and his wife Sapphira wanted the recognition of men for a gift. They chose the easy path. They chose the lie. God didn’t take this too lightly as we will see in our study today.
vi. We will look at 6 points in our study today, the Abundant Fellowship, the Acceptable sacrifice, the act of deception, the accusation of Peter, the act of deception part two, and the awe of God.
b. The Abundant Fellowship (Acts 4:32 - 35)
i. 32 Now the multitude of those who believed were 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. 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. 34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.
ii. There are three things I notice here in the first verse. The first thing is that the group of believers at Jerusalem is called a multitude. This lends to the fact that there were many thousands of people that were followers of Jesus in the city, that obviously had come to Christ in a short period of time.
iii. The second thing I notice is that even though this group of believers was large, they were all in one accord, and living in harmony. They were of one mind, and one purpose, and that was to follow Jesus Christ.
iv. The third notable thing I see is that they held all their possessions in common, meaning that they shared with one another. They gave to each other as someone had need.
v. The unity of love for Christ and the love for one another in need were commanded by Jesus. Jesus in Matthew chapter 22 starting in verse 37 said - ’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ’You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
vi. The early church at Jerusalem was large, but they were sticking to the basics. They loved God wholeheartedly, and they were loving their neighbors. This had a profound effect on the fellowship, which we see in verse 33.
vii. The Holy Spirit was at work in this fellowship. This is the power source for the church, and as verse 33 tells us, there was a lot of power. The apostles were moving in the Spirit as they witnessed to others about the resurrection of Christ.
viii. Also though, God’s grace was upon all of them. They were right in the middle of God’s will, and God’s favor was upon them all in the church. This was also a product of their being obedient to God, and Him blessing them.
ix. That’s how a relationship with the Lord is. It is a circular relationship. God loves us. He is the initiator. However, as we begin to love and serve Him, we open ourselves up for more blessings and grace from the Lord. We tend to break the cycle with sin though. But, God is always there, waiting for us to repent. Once we repent of our sins, we can some into God’s presence again, and fellowship with Him.
x. Many people get to a point in their life where they feel like they are far from God. That their prayers are not getting above the ceiling in their room. Ever feel like that? I have. It’s a terrible feeling to be a Christian and disconnected from God.
xi. At that point the relationship between you and God is damaged. The question is, who damaged it? I wasn’t God. It was me. It’s the sin in my life that is separating me from God. It is in those times that I need to spend a lot of time on my face before God, asking His forgiveness, and reading His Word. That relationship starts to cycle again, when my heart is clear of all the sin separating me from God, and I can walk in fellowship with Him.
xii. The early church had that kind of fellowship with God, and they also had a healthy relationship with one another. They lived as one big family. If someone was hurting, they got comfort, if someone was laughing, they laughed with them. If someone had a need financially of physically, that was met, too.
xiii. They had an interesting way to meet their needs in the early church. Those that had an abundance, the people that God had blessed financially, sold their possessions, and gave this money to the church to help others.
xiv. This was because they were like a big family. You love your family, and you’d do anything for them. This was the prevailing attitude in the early church.
xv. They sold their land, and they sold their houses. They then took the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. They let God handle the money, and that’s always the best policy, because after all, it’s all His anyway.
xvi. On a more practical note, many people in the church today uphold these verses as a sort of commandment for communal living. That’s not what is being done here at all. They weren’t some kind of early model of communism.
xvii. No, the church at Jerusalem was one of compassion, and not of compulsion. They gave because they were led by the Spirit to give, not because someone was twisting their arm.
xviii. Some folks squirm when we talk about money, and that’s something that can’t be avoided if we go through the scriptures verse by verse.
xix. But the most important thing here is not the giving itself. It was the obedience to God’s direction and the joyful attitude in which they gave. If we can’t give with good motives, we shouldn’t give. Paul tells us this in 2nd Corinthians – God loves a cheerful giver, not a grudging giver.
xx. In the next few verses we will see a notable and good example of a man who gave with a the right attitude, Barnabas.
c. The Acceptable Sacrifice (Acts 4:36-37)
i. 36 And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, 37 having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
ii. We see here a man names Joses, which is the Greek variant of the traditional Jewish name Joseph. This was a common name in Judea at the time, and the early church probably had several Joseph’s.
iii. But we see here in verse 36 that the apostles gave him the name Barnabas, which meant Son of Encouragement. Barnabas was an encourager. He was one of those kinds of people that comes alongside you and encourages you, and builds you up, so that you can go farther, and reach higher.
iv. People like that are necessary in the Body of Christ. I like to call these people the “tune-up specialists”. Maybe you have hit a rough spot in your life, and you need help.
v. At that point God puts this person in your life. Sometimes, you don’t want to be encouraged, you feel like you’d rather be depressed. Guess what? God doesn’t care what you think, you belong to Him at that point, and He wants you to get straightened out, and to let that person speak encouragement into your life.
vi. If you’re the encourager here this morning, if that’s your gift, then you need to step out and use it, because frankly, some up us could use a good tune up once in a while.
vii. Barnabas, the Son of Encouragement was a Levite. What does that mean? That was his tribe. He was part of the tribe of Levi. These guys were the workers in the temple. The were the temple staff, that was this tribe’s job from God.
viii. But, at some point in history, Barnabas’ family moved to Cyprus, which is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. This island had a large Jewish population, and that’s where he was from.
ix. One thing that I noticed here is that Barnabas’ owned land. This might not seem odd, but it was forbidden of Levites to own land from the Mosaic law, we find this in the book of Deuteronomy. But, at some point in history, this law was not enforced anymore, because we see in Jeremiah chapter 32 that Jeremiah bought a field.
x. Whether the field was in Cyprus or in Judea, we don’t know, but we do know that Barnabas sold the land, and gave the offering to the church, to be distributed to those who had need.
xi. His gift was out of a simple heart of generosity, and love. He is an example of how we should give today. But, in the next few verses, we will look at a bad example, set by a man named Ananias.
d. The Act of Deception (Acts 5:1-2)
i. 1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. 2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
ii. We see in verse 1 the word but. These verses flow into the last few of chapter 4, telling us about Barnabas’ gift. Chapters and verses were not in the original writings. These were added later. The Bible was divided into chapters by Stephen Langton (who later became Archbishop of Canterbury) early in the 1200s. Robert Stephanus, a book printer from Paris, is credited with dividing those chapters into verses in 1551. The first complete printed Bible using the chapter and verse divisions was the Geneva Bible of 1560.
iii. So, these thoughts were connected. The account of Ananias and his wife Sapphira was in contrast to the account of the giving of Barnabas.
iv. Oftentimes in the kingdom of God, Satan will counterfeit the good things with something that may look similar in may respects, but at the heart of the matter, it is rotten.
v. This was the case with Ananias and Sapphira’s gift. It looked similar to what Barnabas had done. Ananias and his wife had a piece of land, and sold it, bringing a sum of money and placing it at the feet of the apostles.
vi. Ananias’ name means – God is gracious. Sapphira means beautiful. But what they did was neither gracious nor beautiful. You see, they wanted the respect and prestige that followed Barnabas, who was a rising leader in the church, as we will see later in Acts.
vii. You see, in the back, at the heart of the matter, they kept back a portion of the money, and brought it to the apostles as if it was the whole sum. At the heart, at the core, what they were doing was rotten.
viii. Their sin was not selfishness as some might assume. Their sin was hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is looking good on the outside, and being eaten up on the inside. All of us are hypocrites at some level. I am I sin daily. I identify with Paul when he calls himself the chief of sinners.
ix. Take for an example though - Some people. They come to church, put on their good clothes, sit in a pew, smile and greet people, sing a few songs, and they may even give. But when you run into them during the week, they’re no different from lost people. Their language and habits are of the world. That’s hypocrisy, I call it playing church. Guys, don’t come here to play church, you’re wasting your time, you’re wasting my time, and most importantly, you’re wasting God’s time.
x. Ananias and his wife were playing church though, and God wasn’t going to stand for it.
e. The Accusation of Peter (Acts 5:3-6)
i. 3 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 4 While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." 5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. 6 And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.
ii. The apostle Peter spotted the fake a mile away. That’s called discernment. The Holy Spirit let him know what was going on, and he confronted Ananias about it.
iii. Ananias was no doubt taken by surprise. Satan had motivated him to act, and what he was doing was an affront to God’s church, and a lie to the Holy Spirit that was at work in the fellowship. He had lied to God, as Peter clearly states here. He was free to keep some of the money. That was his choice, like I said, the sin wasn’t selfishness, it was hypocrisy.
iv. Peter asks him in verse 4 – Why have you conceived these things in your heart. The sin was squarely on Ananias. Some people like to play off their sin by saying – “The devil made me do it.”
v. That’s a lie too. Nowhere in all of scripture do we see Satan to blame for a Christian’s sin. The sin comes from our own wickedness. Satan may entice us, but the sin is all ours, I want us to realize that.
vi. Look at verse 5 though. Peter didn’t kill Ananias, Peter didn’t say a word. That was God. God struck Ananias dead from his sin. Some people today might say that this was harsh. How can a loving God do something like that?
vii. I really like what David Guzik had to say about this. He writes - The greater wonder is that God delays His righteous judgment in virtually all other cases; Ananias received exactly what he deserved; he simply could not live in the atmosphere of purity which marked the church at that time.
viii. The sin of Ananias could have corrupted the entire church if it had gone unpunished. God would not let that happen. The church was God’s instrument for carrying the gospel to the world. He was not about to let it get destroyed with scandal from the outset.
ix. God accomplished His goals though, and great fear or reverence came upon the entire congregation. They saw this example, and they figured out real quick that they should walk the straight and narrow.
x. Death is God’s weapon of mass destruction for a believer. It is a scary thing to think that God will take our life for sin, but as we see here, He can, and He sometimes will. Death is the last resort. Sometimes He brings us home, rather that to let us keep on sinning.
xi. The first act of deception had already played out, with swift justice coming at the end, now, we will move on and look at the second act of deception.
f. The Act of Deception Part 2 (Acts 5:7-10)
i. 7 Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter answered her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?" She said, "Yes, for so much." 9 Then Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out." 10 Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband.
ii. Three hours passed, and Sapphira comes in, maybe she was looking for her husband. She had no idea what happened. Satan keeps people in the dark like that. They have no idea what’s going on until destruction comes.
iii. But, Peter asks her, and I am sure at this point Peter wants her to come clean. He doesn’t want another one of the church members drop dead right in front of Him. That can’t be good for publicity.
iv. But, sadly, she doesn’t. She goes along with the story. This is sad because it speaks about a Christian marriage. We are supposed to encourage one another and help each other with our walk in marriage if we are both believers, and keep each other from sin.
v. That didn’t happen here. Sapphira told a bald-faced lie to Peter, and this one didn’t take a whole lot of discernment, seeing as what just happened to her husband.
vi. Ananias and Sapphira had conspired together to sin against God, to lie in order to gain recognition. But, added to that was Sapphira’s sin of trying to cover up the sin of her husband. Deception always generates more deception, because we want to cover it up, that’s the whole point of deception.
vii. But, like we talked about last week, sin can’t be hidden from God. Just ask Adam and Eve. They tried, it didn’t work. They still got kicked out of the garden and brought death into the world through their sins.
viii. This was a sad day for the church at Jerusalem. Sapphira realizes she is caught in her lie, and then Peter drops the bomb on her that her husband is dead.
ix. Justice falls for Sapphira just as quickly as her husband. The young men were just getting back from burying Ananias, they walk in, and Sapphira falls dead on the floor as well.
x. They carried her out and buried her by her husband. They were together in heaven with the Lord. Many scholars and I too believe that Ananias and his wife were followers of Christ. It wasn’t all that bad if you look at it from that perspective. They fell dead from sin, but were caught up face to face with the Lord. That truly speaks about God’s grace. He doesn’t hold a grudge. He’s always there to forgive us.
g. The Awe of God (Acts 5:11)
i. 11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.
ii. Very similar wording here to the wording found in verse 5, except that we have the word church added. Two people dropping dead three hours apart as judgment from God for their hypocrisy was pretty shocking.
iii. Luke wants us to understand this. That’s why he says it twice. Many times in scripture, we will see a phrase, and then some more text, and then the same phrase again. This is to give emphasis to the text. The story of Ananias and Sapphira is something that all of us should take note of and learn something from.
iv. One other thing to note is that Luke calls the body of believers at Jerusalem the church for the first time here in Acts chapter 5. The word church there is the Greek word ekklesia. It refers to an assembly. The church is the group of people, not a building.
v. One of the benefits of seeing God discipline believers is that people notice. People wake up and look at their own lives. No doubt there was much of that going on at this point.
vi. The deaths of Ananias and Sapphira caused a great fear to come upon the whole church, and even to people who weren’t in the church who heard about it.
vii. God wants the church to be pure. He wants us to be ready for His return, and he is willing to take dramatic steps to achieve that end, as we see from our study today.
viii. Peter later writes in 1st Peter 4:17-19 - 17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?" 19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.
ix. Our witness is an important tool that God uses to bring others to Christ, and His desire is to bring people to Christ. If we ruin our witness by living sinful and hypocritical lives, God will punish us, and we are at His mercy.
x. God will use us if we are available for God use. Sin will stand in the way. Next week, you guys will have a guest speaker. But, in two weeks, we’re going to continue on through Acts chapter 5, and we will see God using the church again to draw people.
xi. Point Summary – Drawing to a close though, there are three things I want us to take away from this message -
1. God wants us to give to others and the church with a good attitude, to share the abundance that He has given us.
2. God wants us to be honest with Him, and not play games.
3. God will discipline us for our sins.
xii. I‘d like to close with a short story.
h. Conclusion
i. The Queen Mary was the largest ship to cross the oceans when it was launched in 1936. Through four decades and a World War she served until she was retired, anchored as a floating hotel and museum in Long Beach, California.
ii. During the conversion, her three massive smokestacks were taken off to be scraped down and repainted. But on the dock they crumbled. Nothing was left of the 3/4 inch steel plate from which the stacks had been formed. All that remained were more than thirty coasts of paint that had been applied over the years. The steel had rusted away.
iii. When Jesus called the Pharisees “Whitewashed tombs,” He meant they had no substance, only an exterior appearance.
iv. The question to us this morning is this. Maybe you look good on the outside. You’re a good person, you go to church, you pay your taxes. But, what is important, what really matters is, what’s on the inside? Is it all rusted or rotten away? If it is, God wants to make you whole this morning. You need to come clean and confess your sins before Him, and dedicate your life to Him.
v. Maybe you have never made that decision to follow Him. In a minute, I am going to pray, and give you that chance to do just that.
i. Let’s Pray.
V. Closing Prayer
