(For the video click here)
The story of Ananias, in Acts ch 5, is a pretty horrible story.
It is a pretty puzzling story: A man and a woman sell off some of their possessions. They then bring some of the money and give it to the church to help the poor. They keep some of the money for themselves – after all, it is their money. But for that, they are struck down dead.
At the end of it all it says: “So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things… Yet none of the rest dared join them.” No surprise there!
It is a pretty horrible story.
But I believe it is basic to what the church is all about.
Let me explain:
Trouble
Here, for the first time, there’s trouble from within the church.
Up till this time, the church has faced increasing trouble. But it’s all been coming from outside the church.
Back in Acts 3 you have a wonderful miracle: a lame man being healed.
Peter uses this as an opportunity to preach the gospel.
This leads to trouble in chapter 4. The apostles are arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin – which gives Peter another opportunity to preach the gospel.
The Jewish leaders are incensed, but eventually let them go, warning them “not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” (v 18)
The disciples’ response is to pray for boldness (v 29); and God grants that they are “all filled with the Holy Spirit” so that “they spoke the word of God with boldness.” (v 31)
That’s the church at the end of Acts chapter 4:
– It is a church that is facing increasing trouble.
– But, it is a church facing trouble with faith and boldness.
And, something else: “Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul…” (4:32)
Paradise
Someone once said that the definition of true friendship is “one soul in two bodies.” Not “two souls becoming one flesh” as in marriage. But “one soul in two bodies.”
The first Christians were just that.
The curse of the Tower of Babel was being reversed.
Back then, men and women were “united” in pride in their opposition to God.
To punish them the Lord gave them all different languages. This shattered their perverted idea of “unity”, scattering them abroad.
But in Acts 4 true unity is being restored.
This unity was being expressed in a practical way: “Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.” (v 32)
What did this mean in practice?
“All who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.” (vv 34-35)
Note that no one was required to do this; each did so freely and willingly.
Mr Encouragement
One man who did this was Joses: “Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” (vv 36-37)
Among so many other generous people, Joses was a shining example.
Consequently, those in the church gave him a nick-name: “Barnabas” – which translates roughly in our speech as: “Mr Encouragement”.
This is the church at the end of Acts ch 4:
The sinfulness of Eden, and the self-centredness of Babel, is being reversed.
This is seen in the selflessness and generosity of many in the church – as epitomised in Mr Encouragement.
God was reversing the effects of the fall, and gradually restoring: Paradise!
At least, this is about as close to Paradise as we’re going to get on this earth.
Trouble in Paradise
Then, in chapter 5, a “but” enters:
“But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife…”
Three characters appear, who haven’t appeared in Acts up till now.
- First, there is: a man and his wife (v 1).
- And then a third character: Satan (v 3).
We get a nasty feeling about this.
We have this sense of déjà-vu.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
“And God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.”
That’s what we call Paradise.
Into that Paradise, God introduced a man and a woman.
That’s the first two chapters of the Bible.
Then Genesis chapter 3: “But the serpent…”
A “but” comes in. Satan enters Paradise.
Satan entered Paradise intent on destroying what God had made.
He tempted the man and the woman with the sin he knew best: the sin of pride.
He told them: “Go on, eat the forbidden fruit. You’ll be wise, and great, and beautiful – just like God. You will be admired and looked up to – just like God!”
The woman listened to Satan, and disobeyed God.
The man listened to Satan, and disobeyed God.
Paradise was lost!
Pride led to their downfall; pride destroyed that first Paradise.
It was many sins. It was:
- doubting God’s Word
- not believing God
- believing the Devil
- covetousness
- lusting after something to satisfy the flesh…
But, behind it all was this sin of pride!
Then, they tried to cover up.
They tried to run away and hide from God.
The first Paradise was lost.
It was lost by the sin of pride.
The Threat to the New Paradise
So, God began again.
The Church is God’s New Beginning. It is God recovering Paradise.
It’s not perfect – not yet. Though, it one day will be.
But it comes as close to perfect as it ever will be, here on this earth.
Into this Paradise, comes that “but”!
Into this Paradise comes:
- A man, and his wife.
- And Satan
Ananias and Sapphira saw other members of the church selling up their possessions, and sharing the proceeds with those in need.
They saw Joses do this. Joses isn’t even from Jerusalem. He’s from out of town: from Cyprus. Yet this Josie-come-lately, this outsider, rocks up and gives to the poor… and everyone is talking about him.
They don’t even call him “Joses” anymore. They now all refer to him as “Mr Encouragement”.
Everyone looked up to “Mr Encouragement”.
Ananias and Sapphira would’ve liked it if people looked up to them that way.
They thought, “What Barnabas has done isn’t all that great. We could do that. And then, everyone would speak well of us too.”
So they sold a parcel of land they had.
Then they took the money they got for it, and put it together to take to the apostles.
Only, when they actually got the money in their hot little hands, they suddenly thought – and said: “That’s a lot of money, isn’t it? The apostles will never know. The church won’t know the difference. Let’s keep a sizeable portion for ourselves.”
This, Ananias and Sapphira both agreed to do. It was a conspiracy on their part.
No one made them sell up their land. Having sold it, they didn’t have to bring all – or even, any – of the money to give to the poor. (See 5:4)
Ananias came and brought the money to the apostles.
He pretended that this was the full sum they had obtained for the sale of the land.
He really wanted to be thought of as someone great – just like Barnabas.
But Peter knew.
He challenged him, he exposed him.
And, immediately, Ananias fell down dead – and was taken out, and buried.
Death in Paradise!
Because of one man’s sin.
This is the first death we read of in this New Paradise.
After three hours, Sapphira comes, looking for her husband.
She has heard nothing about the fate of her husband.
She comes to where God’s people are gathered together.
She expects they will gather round, and start praising her. She expects that, just for once, the people won’t be talking about Barnabas – but about Ananias and Sapphira.
She walks into the midst of this people. Suddenly everyone goes quiet.
There is an eerie silence. Everyone turns to look at her in horror.
This is not… what she was expecting.
She doesn’t understand what is going on.
Peter challenged her; he exposed her.
And, immediately, Sapphira fell down dead – and was taken out, and buried.
The Sins of Ananias and Sapphira
What were the sins of Ananias and Sapphira – for which they were judged so severely?
As in the Garden:
- They were covetous.
- They doubted the goodness of God. We covet and hang on to what we possess because we doubt that God could provide for us as well if we let it go.
- They conspired together to cover up their sin.
- They actually tried to cover up – by lying and deceit.
But, behind it all was the old sin of:
Pride!
They didn’t have to lie, did they?
If they wanted to keep part of the price for themselves, they were free to do so. They could’ve said: “Look we sold our possession. We really want to paint the kitchen, so we are going to keep some of the money. But the rest – please use to help the poor.”
There was nothing wrong with that; they could’ve done that.
But – and here was a very big ‘but’ – but then, they wouldn’t have looked as good as Barnabas. They wouldn’t have looked as good as others.
Yes, there were many sins here: covetousness, doubting God, conspiracy, lying, deceit.
But, in the end, their real undoing was that they wanted to look as good as those admired by the church.
In the end, it was just pride!
Pride destroyed the First Paradise.
And pride almost destroyed the Second.
Pride in the Church
One of the most common ways that we struggle with pride (yes, even in the church of God) is when it comes to covering up who we really are, what we really are.
Even when it comes to serving others.
Matthew Henry says:
“Many are brought to gross lying by reigning pride, and affectation of the applause of men, particularly in works of charity to the poor.”
I believe this is the most common form of pride that we, as Christians struggle with.
But we don’t have to pretend to be what we are not.
All of us, in the church, are sinners.
Yes, saved sinners – if you have believed in Jesus Christ. But sinners, nonetheless.
We are not living in the first Paradise of God, where all was perfect.
But this new Paradise we live in is made up of saved sinners.
And, because we are sinners (who have been saved), we don’t have to relate to one another as those who are perfect – or, almost perfect. We don’t have to pretend.
I know I am a sinner. I know I don’t deserve the grace of God. I know I don’t deserve His forgiveness. I know I have broken every one of the commandments of God.
That is all I am. That is all we all are.
We are all only sinners who are saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We’re not saved because we project a good image.
Adam and Eve tried that: they tried to pretend they were like God.
Ananias and Sapphira tried it: they were so concerned about their image in the eyes of others in the church. And, they came so near to destroying the New Paradise of God.
That is why (I believe) this sin had to be dealt with so severely. Had it not, it could’ve set the course for the church for the near future, if not for rest of history.
Let us all embrace the truth that we are saved only by Christ; by Christ alone.
It is His sacrifice, and His righteousness, that brings us to God – not our image, or what others think of us.