The Tale of Two Tithers
An older man was walking on the beach and found a magic lamp. He picked it up, rubbed it, and a genie appeared. "Because you have freed me," the genie said, "I will grant you a
wish." The man thought for a moment and then responded, "My brother and I had
a fight 30 years ago and he hasn’t spoken to me since. I wish that he would
finally forgive me and love me."
There was a thunderclap, and the genie declared, "Your wish has been granted.
You know," the genie continued, "most men would have asked for other things like wealth or fame. But you only wanted the love of your brother. Is that because you are old and dying?"
"No way!" the man cried. "But my brother is, and he’s worth about $60
million."
Motives of the heart are sometimes hard to discern by what we see on the surface.
Among other things, Acts 4:32 – 5:11 tells us about two, actually, three tithers… one received a new name, the other two were struck dead. We will learn why.
As we search for the meaning of membership in the church that Jesus Christ built, we discover four more things from our text:
1. That there are great blessings for development and growth in Christ.
2. That there is discipline from God for those who would do things to damage the church.
3. That God knows what is in our hearts.
4. That God has established leaders in the church through whom the Lord protects, preserves and provides for the way of blessing.
5. That hidden sins will surface sooner or later, with or without your confession. Best confess and be blessed.
I am reminded of a couple of Paul’s statements to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 3: 16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
And also chapter 11: 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly.
30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
God holds his beloved church in his own heart! Jesus Christ loves the church and gave himself up for her! She is his new creation by water and the word. When the membership maintains motives that match our Master’s holy heart, we find incredible unity and love. Look at Luke’s descriptive observations of these members in 4:32-35!
1. There was a unified heart and soul expressed in sharing all things in common.
2. There was powerful witness by the apostles to the resurrection of Jesus.
3. There were no needy members among them.
4. There were incredibly generous givers.
5. There were fair distributions of the gifts.
6. There was clear leadership authority and submission to it. (That is something God will put an exclamation point on in the next chapter).
First, notice exhibit “A” among the membership. Joseph the generous. No, Joseph the Son of Encouragement! There it is! What a great example of first love faith this man shows! Even the apostles are impressed. They give him the new name, Barnabas. We will meet this man again later in Luke’s report. But suffice it to say, Barnabas fits in well among the members of this great church. And he’s only one of the many Luke chooses to tell us about as a good example of generosity. Now… if the whole story had stopped right here we’d have a rosy record of righteous remembrances. But unlike the next two characters, Luke is too honest in his reporting to leave us thinking that the church had no internal problems. What happens next is both shocking and deadly serious.
The Enemy is on the move. His intent is to destroy or at least mar the membership of God’s people. His methods are the same as always. He starts by messing with the motives or our hearts. The Bible warns: Guard you hearts! Set your hearts on things above! Give God your whole heart! Store God’s word in your heart! Satan will always fill a heart that’s empty of God’s word and not focused on the Lord.
Let’s look at today’s text…
Commentaries noting the language here point out that the same word is used in reference to Achan’s sin in Joshua 7:1 when in Acts 5:2-3 it says twice that they “kept back” some of the price. The word translated “kept back” means to misappropriate. John Stott says it looks like they might have come and made an earlier agreement with the apostles to give all the proceeds from this property to the church. But now they are practicing deceit about it.
Let’s read and note what it says in verses 1-2. So… what’s the big deal? Right? Didn’t he do a good thing here by selling the property and at least giving part of the money? I mean where is the evil action here that deserves death? This thing is deeper than the actions on the surface. Look at verse 3 where Peter points out two things that Ananias has done: first, he let Satan fill his heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and second, he kept back some of the price of the land.
Look at the four questions Peter asks in verses 3-4:
1. Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land?
2. While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?
3. And after it was sold, was it not under your control?
4. Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart?
Notice that motives are as important as actions in Peter’s questions. But then, after the questions comes the final statement of Peter: You have not lied to men, but to God.
One of the meanings of membership is being honest to God.
When Peter said these words, You have not lied to men, but to God, Ananias fell down dead! Whoa! Can you imagine that happening in church today? What would you do if something like this happened during a worship service that you attended? We’d be administering CPR and calling 911 wouldn’t we. We’d probably do everything we could to keep Ananias alive!
Imagine the collection plate is being passed and Ananias and Sapphira are here. As the plate comes by he puts his dollar in… but they both promised God he’d be giving 10% of his income this Sunday. Suddenly they fall over dead in the pew! Someone said that if God dealt with every member of the church the way he did with Ananias and Sapphira, there’d be a lot more seats available in the church. I disagree. It was this powerful presence of God that produced both fear and faithfulness and amazing growth in membership of the church. Look at verse 14 And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number;
That is because God dealt with sin directly here and confirmed the leadership of the apostles. It was discipline against sin. God doesn’t take our sins lightly. Especially when they are deceptive and endanger the integrity and unity of the church.
If this sin of Ananias and Sapphira had succeeded, Satan would have had a foothold against the leadership of the apostles too. All sin is serious, and yet there are some sins that are more damaging to the church than others. Hidden sin festers. Confessed sin can be forgiven and redemption extended. But hidden sin doesn’t go away, it eats away.
The second part of this story is about Sapphira. She wasn’t there when her husband placed the money there at the apostle’s feet. She doesn’t know anything about his sudden death. We don’t know where she was, probably shopping with the proceeds that they kept back… I don’t know. But after three hours, Ananias hasn’t come home for supper and she heads down to the meeting place to get him. In she comes, probably looking around… where’s Ananias? Peter speaks to her: “Tell me, is this how much you got for the property?” Maybe he holds out the money so she can see it.
Here’s her chance to come clean. Here’s the opportunity for her to say no to Satan’s lies and yes to God’s truth. Let’s stop a moment here. What is wrong with hiding a sin? Listen to me. You and I have no idea how dangerous a hidden sin is. From our perspective, we see the surface of things, but in reality there’s a spiritual world watching and even angels beholding us. Did you know God’s word tells us that? Ephesians 3:10 and 1 Cor. 11:10 mention it. When we, particularly as Christians sin, Satan uses it against the glory and honor of God. We test God. But when we repent and confess our sins, God is glorified and all heaven rejoices! Luke 15 tells us this.
Part of the meaning of membership is to bring glory and honor to God through the name of Jesus Christ. Hidden sin reverses that and brings dishonor to God and slander to the name of Jesus Christ. Confessed sin restores what hidden sin destroys. Ultimately all sin will be exposed and all sinners who hide them will be judged.
Let’s get back to Acts 5. Sapphira’s sins are about to be exposed. But before that, Peter extends an opportunity for confession and forgiveness. It is an opportunity Sapphira rejects with a lie. Look at verse 8 And Peter responded to her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?" And she said, "Yes, that was the price."
Wrong answer.
This answer revealed her heart and cost her life. She surely didn’t see it this way but by hiding her sin she saddled up with Satan and tried to ride with the enemy. Was it worth it?
God did exactly what was needed for the good of his people. He established the authority of the apostles and the honor of the name of Jesus Christ. God made it clear to anyone out there that membership in the church is serious business. God’s sever punishment may seem to us to be too serious, but we are not in a position to judge the deeds of God. Just know this: the same God that put these two to death is still in charge of the church today. It is an honor to be a part of so glorious a church that God cares enough about to protect.
There’s a time for great fear among the faithful. Not fear of persecution or danger in missions, but fear of our almighty Lord, our maker, redeemer and king who says: it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God. If you are hiding any sin, today would be a good time to confess it so that you can receive God’s grace and forgiveness and be restored. Don’t hide like Ananias and Sapphira. It’s not worth it.
