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Acts 5 "Trying to Look Good"

We left off last week with the church as a kind of commune, everyone who had possessions sold them and shared with those who had need. One example of this kind of giving was Barnabas, who the apostles called the "Son of Encouragement" This guy was so thankful to God that he sold his land and laid it at the apostles feet. We will see later in the book of Acts that not only was he giving his fortune to Christ, but he was giving his life. He was in effect saying to God, "There is nothing to tie me down, Lord use me however you want to." And God used him as part of the first missionary team with Paul.

"But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. 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 apostle's feet. 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? 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." Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him. Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?" She said, "Yes, for so much." 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." 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. So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things."

When I first read this, I thought, "Wow, this is really harsh!" Why did Peter come down on these two so hard? Actually, why did God judge these two so severely, because Peter didn't judge them, he was just the messenger. What was the sin that required this kind of judgement?

This couple had a piece of land, which they sold, and gave the proceeds to the church. Except they did not give all of it, they kept back some for themselves and then gave the rest. But, they made it look like they were giving everything. Peter makes it very clear, that their sin was not just giving less than they could. He says, "While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control?" Nobody was forcing them to sell their land. Nobody had demanded all of the money. I am sure that God would have been pleased with even less of a gift. So what was their sin? Their sin was trying to look better than they really were. They had seen Barnabas' gift, and how everyone started to look up to him, how they called him the son of encouragement, and they thought, "Hey, we could do that too." But where Barnabas' gift showed his surrender to God, trusting the Lord to do His will in him, the money that Ananias and Sapphira held back showed just as clearly that they were unable to trust God. The sin that God knew the church couldn't have in its midst was the sin of trying to look better than they really were. A very important part of Greek culture was the drama. They called the actor, a man who could pretend to be someone who he was not, by the word "hypocritus" from which we get our word, "hypocrite". Ananias and Sapphira were pretending to be super Christians, but their hearts were far from trusting in God.

It is interesting to see that Jesus, who usually treated sinners with such gentleness, who sat and ate with tax collectors, who forgave sins, always got angry with one sin in particular. That was the sin of Hypocrisy. He called the Pharisees, "white-washed tombs" Looking white and clean on the outside, but inside full of corruption and dead bones. The reason why is because this sin misguides people away from God. It stands in the way of people who want to know God, but instead get someone saying "Look at me!" Can you see how this hypocrisy would undo the church that was just starting out. How if this sin was left unjudged, the church would soon look just like the Pharisees.

In the book of Joshua there is a story of a man named Achan, who after Joshua's victory over Jericho took some of the spoils of war and hid them under his tent. Joshua suffered defeat after defeat until Achan's sin was exposed and punished. Like Joshua, the church in Acts was experiencing victory, but also like Joshua the church needed to be purified first before the real work begun.