In the early chapters of Acts, one of Luke’s main goals is to paint a picture of the early church.  Up to chapter 5, the picture is amazing; it’s beautiful.

The Holy Spirit manifests His presence in powerful ways and the fruit of His activity can be seen everywhere. It can be seen in the fresh infillings of the Spirit they enjoy.  It can be seen in their evangelistic fruitfulness.  It can be seen in their godliness. It can be seen in their rich fellowship and unity of purpose.   And it can be seen in their bold and powerful witness.

Many church members, like Barnabas, were extremely generous, selling their possessions and donating the proceeds to the church, for those in need.   At the end of c.4, Luke summarizes life in the Jerusalem church. He says:

“the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul”   and
“great grace was upon them all.”

However, the full portrait of this local church not yet complete. You ask, “What was missing?”  Well here’s what was missing:  In reading the opening chapters of Acts, it’s difficult to identify any blemish, any imperfection in this church.  The gloomy shades of sin seem to be entirely missing from the picture.

In chapter five all of that changes with the story of Ananias and Sapphira.  This congregation no longer looks like some kind of super-church.  Sin enters the picture.  And here, we are reminded that sin uniquely, like nothing else, has the potential to undermine unity, threaten mission and grieve the Spirit.

Therefore Like the Jerusalem church, we must be sobered by the story of Ananias and Sapphira.   We do not want the colors and hues of sin to cast a dark shadow over the brilliant and beautiful colors of grace we’ve experienced in this local church.

Folks, its imperative that we understand that the he same Spirit who brings us salvation — the same Spirit who empowers us — is also the Holy Spirit, who calls us to holiness. In other words, God’s presence in the church requires holy living. Now, that said, let’s take a closer look at the narrative, beginning with Annanias and Sapphira’s sin.  We’ll then proceed to look at the judgment they experienced and finally the people’s response.

The Sin of Ananias and Sapphira

As we read this story, it’s important for us to understand, Ananias and Sapphira’s main sin was not greed.  It was not that they withheld some of the money from the sale of their land.  It was that they lied.  Ananias told a lie and Sapphira repeated it.  The couple told Peter that they had donated the entire proceeds of their home, when in fact they had only donated a portion of the proceeds.

They were guilty of deliberate deception for the purpose of self-exaltation.  They worked to create a false impression of superior spirituality among the leaders and their fellow church members.

They wanted to appear more generous, more holy, and more devoted to God than they really were; so they told Peter, “This is the whole thing.  Here are all the proceeds.”

In reply (vs. 3)  Peter charges Ananias with lying – lying to the Holy Spirit.  Notice that throughout the text, Peter identifies the Spirit as the offended party. In planning to lie, vs.9 Ananias and Sapphira tested who? – The Holy Spirit.   And the Holy Spirit is God.

So in verse 5 Peter summarizes – “you have not lied to men but to God.”  Though guilty of lying to Peter, Ananias and his wife sinned primarily against God.  They lied to the Holy Spirit.  They lied to God.  This reminds us – All sin, both theirs and ours, is first and foremost against God before it is against any person.  When we sin, we grieve the Holy Spirit who saves, who sanctifies, who fills, who empowers  every believer in every church.  Our sin grieves Him!

Which brings us to our second point:

The Judgment of Ananias and Sapphira

Ananias and his wife Sapphira attempted to deceive Peter and deceive their local church family. As a consequence, God judged them and they died.  Which begs the obvious question, “Why?”  Most of us read this and the judgment seems harsh.  It can seem severe. We think, “Why did God bring death to this couple for lying?”  Allow me to offer you some perspective that I hope will help you process this tragic event.

First, in reading this, we must remember that according to Scripture, all sinners deserve eternal death.  Paul says in Romans, “the wages of sin is death” – which encompasses both physical death and eternal death.   So God didn’t give Ananias and Sapphira a raw deal.  He didn’t judge them more severely than they deserved.   In fact, if they were believers (which is possible), upon physical death they were welcomed into God’s presence with open arms – which is what?  It’s grace.   It’s mercy.  It’s kindness.

When I was at Pastors College years ago, Jeff Purswell remarked:

‘It’s possible that Ananias and Sapphira were saved, and God judged them for this particular sin in an extreme example of fatherly discipline.  God can see the trajectory of our lives and it may be a mercy for him to take us out early so we don’t feel the effects of our sin for a lifetime.’

So this couple could have been believers, who sinned in a grievous way.  If they weren’t believers at all, then of course this wasn’t a judgment of discipline; it was a judgment of punishment.  Whatever the case, passages like this should remind us – we deserve God’s judgment for our sins no less than Ananias and Sapphira.

In scripture, when people are “executed immediately upon a specific sin” we shouldn’t think that those executed were somehow worse sinners than others.  Theologian D.A. Carson says,

“It is because of the Lord’s mercies that we are not all instantly punished whenever we sin….If for various reasons (only some of which we can discern) he chooses to hold someone to account immediately, he does not thereby become unjust (How Long Oh Lord, 113).”

Folks, our story should cause us marvel at God’s amazing grace and mercy because we are not all that different from Ananias and Sapphira.  Every breath we sinners enjoy, is mercy.    Every breath is grace.  May we praise Him for it.

Now, in reading this difficult story, it’s also important for us to recognize that this incident came at a sensitive moment, a critical juncture in the history of God’s saving plan.  At the time, the Jerusalem church was the sole mission base for the continuing ministry of Jesus.   There was no “plan B”.  This was the only local church!

Therefore it was crucial that in this church, the colors and hues of sin not be permitted to cast a dark shadow over the brilliant and beautiful colors of Gospel grace; because if such hypocrisy, such pretense to godliness, such deception – took root and spread in this community, the potential outcome could have been disastrous – disastrous not only for their testimony but also for the future spread of the gospel message itself.  The death of Ananias and Sapphira was a rather unique and strategic mercy to preserve the open and honest fellowship the early church enjoyed and thus advance the mission.

Therefore we can conclude, supported by the rest of the NT, that the instantaneous, direct judgment Ananias and Sapphira experienced is not God’s normal way of relating to believers.  I thank God for that.  So should you.  If this was God’s normal way, none of us would be alive.  However, that doesn’t mean we have nothing to learn from this story.  There is much for us to learn.  We learn that God’s presence in the church requires holy living.

So far in our study of Acts, we’ve seen remarkable demonstrations of the Spirit’s power.  We’ve seen people saved by the power of the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, bearing the Spirit’s fruits.  We’ve seen miracles performed in the power of the Spirit.

And here in chapter 5, we see the same power at work, bringing God’s judgment to bear on Ananias and Sapphira.  There they are lying dead if you will, in the Spirit.

And the response of the people sheds light on how we should respond to God’s word this morning.

The Response to the Death of Ananias and Sapphira

In our story, the response of the congregation is fear.  In verse 5 we read:

When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last.  And great fear came upon all who heard of it.

In verse 11, it says:

“And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.”

Understandably so.  Wouldn’t you experience a measure of fear, if an event like this happened here, in this local church?  Summarizing the passage, Bock says:

“The resulting fear that the judgment creates is exactly what the passage seeks to engender—respect for God and for righteousness as well as recognition that sin is destructive and dangerous.”

Now listen.  As I mentioned earlier, the fear this passage is designed to engender is not a servile fear that is always cringing in expectation of imminent judgment from God.  That would be an improper application of this passage.

Here’s the proper application.  Aware of God’s Spirit and God’s presence among us, we should live with an appropriate fear of the Lord.   We should live with an appropriate respect for God and for His righteousness.  We should recognize that all sin is destructive and dangerous, more destructive and dangerous than we think.  If unchecked and unopposed, it can undermine the integrity of our fellowship, which greatly hinders our mission together.   So, we should be ever aware that  God’s presence in the church requires holy living.

We should pursue holiness, with all of our might, recognizing that there is much more at stake than we realize.  In particular, we should give very careful attention to the words we speak.   There is a general point in this passage about God’s concern for holiness and also a more specific point about honesty with our words.

Its message is clear. Avoid the sin of Ananias and Sapphira.  Don’t deceive people.  Don’t imagine that the Holy Spirit isn’t listening, or doesn’t care.  His presence is very real in our fellowship.   So don’t lie, don’t use your words to make others think better of you.  Don’t be a hypocrite. Walk in the light.  Walk in integrity.  Be transparent.  Don’t compromise the honest, open fellowship of the church in an effort to gain a positive reputation for yourself.

Just think about it.  What does it do for our mission if unbelievers come in and see in the church the very same thing they see in the world – people incapable of open and honest truth telling – simply playing politics – managing perceptions and keeping up appearances?  How does that help our testimony?  How does that cultivate the unity of the Spirit?

The root of the couple’s sin was the desire for human praise.  Bock notes,

“the desire for human praise is more important to them than being faithful to God.”

Because of remaining sin, remaining pride, we all desire human praise more than we ought.  If we’re completely honest with ourselves, there are moments when a desire for others to think well of us utweighs the desire to please God.

• They are the moments  – when we tell someone a reason for a decision we’ve made which is not the main reason.   The main reason might reflect poorly on us.
• They are the moments — when we share a nugget of wisdom as if it’s our own, when we learned it from someone else.
• They are the moments — when we act like we know something and we really don’t.
• They are the moments — when we say that things are going great at home, or with the kids, when they are not.
• There are moments — when we suggest that we’re experiencing the thrill of marital bliss, when in reality, we feel guilty, discouraged or even hopeless and we don’t know what to do.
• They are the moments– when we share the one example of a time we did well in a particular area 10 years ago.  But we conceal the fact its a tremendous weakness in the present.
• They are the moments — when we downplay or withhold the severity of a struggle.
• They are the moments — when we really should talk to our pastor or to another brother or sister because we need help, but we stand alone because of fear of how we might be perceived.

CONCLUSION

Brothers and sisters, when we sin in these ways, we are behaving like Ananias and Sapphira.   Do we, any less than them, deserve God’s judgment for how we have used our words, perhaps with unconscious instinct, to deceive, to create false impressions in the minds of others?

Folks, this passage reminds us, we ought to be afraid.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, God has regenerated our hearts.  Again and again He has been faithful to fill us with His Spirit.  The fruits of the Spirit are wonderfully evident in our midst.  The unity the Spirit has created among us is an amazing gift.  Empowered by the Spirit, we participate in the spread of the Gospel in this area and beyond, and we have seen good fruit.  Surely God’s presence is with us.  Surely He is near.  Surely he is moving among us.

The question our text poses to us this morning is this:

Will we by our sin undermine unity and mission?”   Will we treat God’s presence in our church as something to be trifled with?  Will we grieve the Spirit?  Will we test the Holy Spirit in our midst, as Ananias and Sapphira did, by taking sin lightly?  Will we create false impressions by our words or our silence?

Our passage shows that God by His Spirit is present when we gather and he cares very much about our holiness and our honesty.

So, may we leave today sobered AND thankful!

• Let us be thankful for his presence among us
• Let us be thankful that we are not instantaneously punished when we sin!
• Let us be thankful for the mercy of another breath!
• Let us be thankful for the mercy of another day to live and glorify Him!
• Let us be thankful that Jesus suffered, bled and died for all of our dishonesty and deceit, and all of our sin!
• Let us be thankful brothers and sisters!

And let us be sobered.   Sobered as we’re reminded God’s presence in the church requires holy living. Let us not allow sin to cast a dark shadow over the brilliant and beautiful colors of grace we experience in this local church.

PRAY