THE WINDOW
Bible-Teaching Ministry
of
CEDAR LODGE BAPTIST CHURCH
Thomasville, NC
a fellowship of faith, family and friendships
November 21, 2004
1Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. 3Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.” 5When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
7About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”
“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”
9Peter said to her, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” 10At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
12The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.
Acts 5:1-16 (NIV)
Any time the Bible uses the same phrase multiple times in a short passage, it is a subtle signal for us to sit up and take notice. In our text the phrase “great fear seized” is used twice to describe what happened to the good church folk of the First Church of Jerusalem.
I looked up the Greek words used in the manuscript. “Megas phobos” (ìÝãáò öüâïò) – means “great fear”! Those folks were afraid…VERY afraid; they were terrified! There is no need for further clarification; there is no need to try to dance-around the meaning of “fear”. We don’t need to substitute “reverence” or “awe”. They were petrified! These early believers had their knees knocking with trembling over what had happened.
The story of Ananias and Sapphira is a knee-knocker. Knowing the sermon was on this infamous couple, I wonder if any of us were motivated to put more in the offering plate when it was passed a few minutes ago? (Would anyone like a second shot at the offering plate now, before I proceed? All hearts clear?)
The incident recorded by good Dr. Luke is not about our responsibility to give; it is more about our responsibility to be genuine – not hypocrites. The explanation of that is in the context. There was much generosity and sharing going on. Barnabas had sold a house and given the proceeds to meet needs in the church family. That was generous, and it was genuine.
Many others were selling possessions and bringing the money to help the poor. These were acts of generosity driven by a sense of genuine spiritual joy and thanksgiving. By contrast, the actions of Ananias and Sapphira were motivated by the hypocrisy of wanting to be thought spiritually-mature, by a big show of giving, but not actually letting-go of the money. They were greedy, but wanted everyone to think they were generous. They were not genuine; they were hypocrites.
The very premise of the story proves how spiritually-immature Ananias and his wife were; they were attempting to impress the people at the church, and ignoring the Lord of the church. How dumb is that? Ananias assumed he was able to hide his real intentions from both man and God. That is certainly impossible. You may deceive men, but God always knows what is in your heart.
We have an example of that in the process of selecting the young shepherd boy David to be king, God revealed the way He looks at us all…
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7b (NIV)
The fact that what happened to Ananias and Sapphira caused great fear to seize the church, leads me to conclude that (first…it was a pretty smart church group!), but that God really wanted great fear to seize the church. God wanted the church to unite under the banner of fearing God. I believe that is true today; God wants us to fear Him, to reverence and worship Him.
But, it seems there has never been a time when God has been less-feared – unless perhaps the day of Noah. In our day, as with Noah, God is mocked, ignored, defied and blasphemed to an extent that seizes this preacher with a great fear for the next knock on the church door. There are times I wonder who will be carried out next.
In the last few generations there has been such an emphasis on the love and tender mercy of God, and that is good. However, I believe we have begun to forget that God is also a holy and righteous God. He did not look the other way to ignore the sin and hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira; He will not ignore it in us today!
As we prepare for the Lord’s Supper table today it is a perfect time to talk about examining one’s life for such hypocrisy in our dealings with each other and the world. First Corinthians 11:28 tells us we should do that, lest we become weak and die.
I would like for us to consider perhaps the main teaching of this passage. It is found in the connection of the fear caused by exposure of sin, and the mighty things that God did when that fear of God became the unifying call for the church to live obediently.
Did you notice the progression?
• Ananias and Sapphira sinned
• God judged
• the people feared and began to live obediently
• God went to work healing people and growing the church for His glory.
Now, that is a domino-effect which you can trace, not only here in this text, but all throughout the Scripture and church history. Let me cite a few examples:
There is an echo of Ananias and Sapphira in the Old Testament account of Joshua (7) and the children of Israel defeating the city of Jericho. You recall the miraculous victory; they marched around the city once-a-day for seven days. On the seventh day they circled the city seven times, blew the horns and the walls fell flat…not one stone left standing on another.
One of the clear directives God had given was to take no spoils…all the silver, gold and livestock belonged to God, and was to be returned to Him as a sacrifice offering. One of the “soldiers” named Achan tried to grab some of the choice items for himself. He hid the gold and silver in his tent, thinking he’d gotten away with a real sweetheart 401(K) retirement plan. He was right, except that retirement came the next day when God brought his sin to the surface. He was brought to the edge of the camp and stoned to death with his entire family by the whole nation of Israel!
The epilogue to Achan’s sin was that the nation of Israel became convinced that when God told them to keep their cotton-pickin’ hands off something, He meant it! And they did it! It led to great unity and obedience, and eventually, great victories.
Years later, Ananias and Sapphira (as part of their upbringing) had been taught this story in synagogue school; they should have known better. The pattern is sin, judgment, fear and repentance, God’s forgiveness and healing.
Another example:
In 1734 Jonathan Edwards of Northampton, Massachusetts began to preach sermons that depicted the foul state of obedience to God which existed at that time. Many people who heard his sermons began to experience the judgment of God, and the revival became known as “The Great Awakening”. Sin was exposed, judgment fell, people feared God and repented, and the Lord changed America.
Here, 270 years later, we have largely forgotten that fear. Massachusetts, the cradle of a God-honoring revival that feared God, now is the poster child state of homosexual marriage and abortion. We sing of the sweet forgiveness and mercy of the Lord; we refer to the loving God as the “man upstairs” as if we just don’t bother him too much, he will stay out of our way, and life will be ok. We treat God as if He is always on our side, no matter how we live…or as if He is insignificant – not part of life’s equation. That, my friends is how Ananias and Sapphira treated holy God.
Today, in a religious show we casually come to the Lord’s Table with little or no self-examination. Today there are people all over America who will, without so much as a thought, eat the bread and drink the juice; it will trickle down, past hearts so blackened by unconfessed sin and animosity towards their fellow man that it will sour in their stomachs, and they won’t even know it. Like Samson, they wist not that the Lord had departed .[1]
Lives are lived in an expedient, pragmatic way these days. Sin is winked at; anemic Christianity is excused as “the best I can do” when it is really “all I want to do” and the body of Christ is weakened daily in a show that makes the unbelieving world laugh, and the Holy Spirit of God weep.
WHAT MUST WE DO?
Each time we come to this blessed table there are opportunities set before us, and challenges to those opportunities. The challenge may present itself in different ways; however the main thrust is always the same:
Will we lie to the Holy Spirit – or will we be genuine with God and each other?
The Scripture has given us what happened to Ananias and Sapphira. Death for them was instantaneous…and God could do that again. More often the death is by increments…by degrees, little steps, if you will.
• We die a little on this hypocrisy of saying we love and accept each other when we really don’t.
• We die a little more when we gossip about that brother or sister.
• We die a little more when we fudge the Income Tax form.
• We slide further down the path when we fail to do right.
• We scowl and get sick. We complain and the body of Christ aches.
• We remain negative and unbelieving…death, death, death!
The other choice in the challenge is to be repentant, fearing an Almighty God, a holy Lord. In living that way we will be unified, thankful, joyful, lifting each other. And when we act that way, with great fear seizing the church…in the next heartbeat you will see many signs and wonders.
It will not be the sign of prosperity, or the wonder of all the cream of society coming to join our church.
• It will be the dregs of humanity showing up at our doorstep, weak, sick, hungry, poor, sinful, spouse abusers at the end of their rope.
• It will be those on their 5th or 6th marriage wondering if there really is something of value in family life.
• It will be the descendants of those who were brought to be laid in Peter’s pathway, simply hoping to catch a little touch of his shadow as he passed by.
And if the Lord brings such to our doorstep, it will be a sign and a wonder. It will be the Lord’s way of saying to us, “…this is my beloved church…well done good and faithful servants.”
Are you ready for that? Caution!!! Only say that with a heart that means it. God expects us to be afraid; be VERY afraid! So…be afraid – fear the Lord right now. Feel the thirst and hunger after righteousness. Sense your need, give-in to His call, and come to the table and dine. Let the church say Amen!
-------
ENDNOTES
-------
[1] Judges 16:20
