Great Grace, Great Fear

Acts of the Apostles (11)

Introduction

We come now to the famous story of Ananias and Sapphira, the moral of which is sometimes thought to be “look what happens to chintzy tithers.” But actually, that is not the point at all. Many more layers are involved.

It is also worth noting at the beginning that we come across three men named Ananias in the book of Acts. We have this man here in our text (Acts 5:1), we have the man who was used to bring Saul of Tarsus into the covenant (Acts 9:10), and we see the high priest who was so hostile to Paul (Acts 23:2; 24:1). And so in a figure, we have Achan, we have Joshua, and we have the king of Jericho. 

The Text

“But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God . . . (Acts 5:1–16).

Summary of the Text

So we come now to the well-known story of Ananias and Sapphira (v. 1). He and his wife sold a possession, held back part of the price, and Ananias brought the remainder to set at the apostles’ feet (v. 2). Peter asked him why Satan had moved him to lie to the Holy Spirit about the sale (v. 3). Wasn’t the land theirs? Wasn’t the sale price theirs? Why did he do this? He had lied to God, not man (v. 4). At these words, Ananias toppled over dead, and great fear descended on everyone who heard about it (v. 5). The young men carried him off (v. 6). Three hours later, Sapphira came in, not knowing anything about what had happened to her husband (v. 7). Peter asked her about the sale price (v. 8), and she confirmed the amount. Peter asked how it came about that they had agreed together to tempt the Spirit of God (v. 9). He said the feet of the men who buried your husband are here for you now (v. 9). She fell down dead, and the same thing happened to her—she was carried off (v. 10). Capital punishment was being administered in the new Israel by God directly, and fear descended on the church, and on everybody who heard about it (v. 11).

The apostles were performing mighty signs, and they were all meeting with one accord in Solomon’s Portico (v. 12). They were feared, but respected, and people did not dare to join them (v. 13). But multitudes still joined them, men and women both (v. 14). Those people who want the church to grow by being “winsome to the max” are thinking, not like evangelists, but like a PR department. Things got to the point where just the shadow of Peter passing by was powerful to heal (v. 15). And a multitude of sick people from surrounding towns came to Jerusalem, along with those with demons, and all of them were healed (v. 16).        

The Font of Sin

Peter speaks about the origin of this sin in various ways. He first asks how it is that Satan “filled your heart” to do this (v. 2). But in the next verse, he attributes it to Ananias himself (v. 3). Why have you conceived this thing? And then in verse 9, talking with Sapphira, he says “ye have agreed together.” It is apparent that Satan’s working does not displace our own complicity in sin. Such things are not billiard balls, where only one can occupy one space. It is never possible for us to say “the devil made me do it” . . . even if he was involved.  

All Things in Common

Peter is very plain that whatever this couple sold was theirs, and theirs to keep. There was no obligation to sell, and no obligation to donate. The early church was not communist—there was nothing coercive about this. So once they sold it and the money was in their hand, it was theirs to keep. The donations from the believers were not being strong-armed from them.

The fact that Jerusalem was doomed was a unique situation, as was the fact that there were so many people there from out of town. But the spirit of koinonia-unity that these believers enjoyed was not a one-off thing. We see it elsewhere in the New Testament, and we should consider it normative.

We see the balance in Galatians. Each person should take care to bear their own burdens (Gal. 6:5). Pull your own weight. The community of Christians is not a place where you are invited to become a dead weight. At the same time, we are woven together as a people, and we should make it our business to carry one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2).    

The Holy Spirit is God

It is important to note how this lie was directed. It was not a lie told to men (v. 4). Peter says plainly the that lie was told to the Holy Spirit (v. 3), and then in the next verse he says that the lie was told directly to God (v. 4). Hang on to this because it will help to clarify the whole picture in a moment. But we should note in passing that to lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to God. The Spirit of God is God.

And this also establishes the context in which this sin took place.

Great Fear

The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was not a lack of generosity, but rather the lie. But much more than this, it was the high-handedness and impudence of the lie. It was the context of the lie, and God’s response to their sin simply added a number of layers to that context. Great fear was already the context of this early church: “And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles” (Acts 2:43).

And in response to them dying, great fear came to everyone who heard about it (v. 5). Great fear came on the whole church (v. 11), and to everyone else who heard. The fear was so great that no one dared to join them (v. 13) . . . but then it says a bunch of people were joining them anyhow (v. 14)—multitudes, men and women both.

To understand this, think about Achan back at the fall of Jericho. They had marched around the city repeatedly, then seven times in one day, and then they blew the trumpets, and the city walls collapsed. For a man to think that this was the moment for pilfering is a stupefying testament to the blinding power of sin. What do we have in both situations? A doomed city and hidden goods. By furtively hiding a piece of the doomed city, Ananias and Sapphira turned it into forbidden spoil. They attached themselves to the land that was devoted to destruction, and so they were the first inhabitants of Jerusalem to fall in the pending judgment. The others were selling and letting go, and these two were just “kind of” letting go . . . reluctantly, the way Lot’s wife died looking back at her favorite shopping malls. And talking about the destruction of Jerusalem, who did Jesus say that Sapphira should have remembered? Remember Lot’s wife (Luke 17:32). Their lie revealed that they were trying to preserve a bit of the old world, doomed to destruction, carrying it around with them in their pocket.

Nadab and Abihu were consumed by fire from the altar because they failed to read the context they were in. They offered “strange fire” before the Lord, which is why fire shot out and consumed them (Lev. 10:1-2). Immediately after this judgment, what did God command Aaron? No more drinking on the job (Lev. 10:8). When God Himself is dwelling with you, and you are living and working in that context, is that the time to get hammered?

Think of an Israelite, crossing the Red Sea with all the others, concentrating on how to pick a few more pockets on the way. Don’t you know where you are? Can’t you see what is happening?   

Think of that great victory under Jehoshaphat, where it took them all three days to gather the spoil from the defeated armies of Ammon and Moab (2 Chron. 20:25), and there is some Israelite back in Jerusalem, rifling through his neighbors’ storage sheds. Don’t you know where you are? Can’t you see what is happening? 

Think of a married couple, coming away from the feeding of the 5,000, getting into a quarrel over the bread they brought back with them (Matt. 14:21). Don’t you know where you are? Can’t you see what is happening? 

Simon Magus saw the gift of the Holy Spirit being given through the laying on of hands, and he thought it was a trick with the hands that he could somehow buy with money (Acts 8:18). He couldn’t see where he was. When Judas started pilfering money from the account (John 12:6), it was in between stupendous miracles. Let us say it was in between the feeding of the multitudes and seeing Jesus walk on water. He did not see where he was. When the golden calf incident happened, the people were dancing around the idol lasciviously, at the base of the mountain, doing so while the mountain was on fire (Deut. 9:15). They did not see where they were.    

So it cannot be. You cannot have the new world and the old world both. It must go one way or the other. The old world is dead. You can’t carry any of it out with you by hiding some of it away. The essential sin here is an inability to see the incongruity of continuing in mundane sin while a new order is taking shape around you.

The mercies of God are like a giant oak tree, and acorns are all over the ground. Senseless people are like swine under the tree, eating those acorns, but unable to look up, unable to see where they are coming from.