ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA :1-11

Acts 5:1-11

Cornelius VanTil remains a name forever tied to Christian apologetics and the offering up of not only a good defense for the Christian faith but also a strong polemic – a strong attack – against opposing ideas. Though it may not be novel to VanTil, VanTil spoke of people operating on "theoretical" and "pre-theoretical" levels of thought. Let me explain… • When two people are sitting in a room having a deep discussion about the nature of the universe and the evidence of design, that is a "theoretical" discussion. • But when you have just made an offer of $2 to your children if they can find your car keys or phone (something I did many times), that would be on the level of the "pre-theoretical."

Now, in Christianity, I think that, at times, we take some pride in our coming up to the level of the "theoretical." I was giving a ride to an Uber rider a month or so back and after he told me what he attended and how although he loves his church he often goes home having learned nothing, I told him that at Burning Hearts in the adult Sunday School class we had been discussing, just that past Sunday, Modalistic Monarchianism. I wasn't at all surprised, when this fellow – an engineer – while stepping out of the car, asked, "And what's the name of your church?" I thought, "We may see him someday, because I think he is looking for more."

The scriptures support this challenge to move up or step up to the level of the "theoretical" when we read in 1 Peter 3:15, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have" (NIV).

Preparation…answers…reasons…this is all on the "theoretical" plane.

But most of life doesn't operate on that level. We get up in the morning, maybe drink a cup of coffee, take a shower, get dressed and soon we are out the door. It is simply life…the daily grind…earning a living to put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads.

2

Our passage before us this morning, from Acts chapter 5, is also not on the theoretical level. To quote VanTil, this is "pre-theoretical" – just dealing with life. When we eventually make our way up to Acts chapter 15 and there discuss the Council, or maybe when we are in Acts chapter 17 and there find Paul speaking with the Athenian philosophers on Mars Hill, THEN we will be on the level of the "theoretical"…but not today.

For today we have this short and simple narrative about a husband and wife who in an apparent attempt to impress others were, the entire time, being deceitful.

Now, last Sunday we spoke, from :34, about how the early church was caring for each other: making certain that every person's needs were being met. That text even went on to mention a man named Joseph (also called ) who sold some land and brought the proceeds to the apostles for them to distribute the proceeds to those in need. Joseph was under no obligation to do so, but he did so, freely and without any compulsion. Throughout the this is the model that is presented to all of us regarding giving. I have heard that in modern Jewish synagogues, those who are part of the synagogue receive, each year, a bill from the synagogue noting their expected giving. And long ago, back in the colonial period of this country, I have learned that church members literally paid dues for the pews in which they sat. And so, today, one can visit one of these old church buildings (in Williamsburg, Virginia or Philadelphia) and there find the Washington box (a pew with a door on the end), or the Monroe box. The seats in that pew were literally the rented property of that family. So for you who have had, on occasion, someone sit "in YOUR seat" I would remind you that at Burning Hearts we don't charge a seat rental fee, so any seat is fair game. So if you really want to claim a seat I guess you simply need to be there first!

But back to our narrative, chapter 5 goes on to tell us how, Ananias and Sapphira did the same thing that Joseph had done – they sold some land and then brought the proceeds to lay at the apostle's feet. The only catch is that in this latter case 1) they didn't come together, and 2) they were not honest regarding the amount of the sale

3

Now that they didn't come together and that the wife was literally HOURS late…what can one say about that without getting into trouble? I mean, if the text had suggested that the wife came first and that the husband came later, we would likely mark it off to the husband not being as involved as was his wife. But when a wife shows up later than her husband does we tend to mark it off to… well, again, I'm not going down that road. I just spent the past day and a half with my wife and we had a wonderful time. So I'm going to leave things there!

But as to both of them being dishonest, that we can deal with. And one can only surmise, reading between the lines, that Ananias and Sapphira, had together colluded (a word hardly ever used in the English language prior to the past couple of years in Washington, D.C.)…they colluded together…to be deceitful about the sale of their property.

Their deceit would be akin to someone telling you that they "tithe" but then you actually SEE their annual tax return and you learn that their "tithe" was more like 2% or 3% and hardly a full 10%.

This is like when, some years ago, I was at a meeting and it was suggested that we should all fast for a period of a week or so. When I asked what they meant by "fast" I heard, "Oh…just that you would give up something you really crave." I didn't say anything in response to that comment but I thought, "What a crock! I really like golf. So if I don't go golfing for a week you would consider THAT a fast? What a crock!" It is like a Benedictine Fast that I ran across some years ago. It was many pages long noting the foods that one MAY eat and the foods one MAY NOT eat during the fast. Based upon THAT fast, one could easily gain a lot of weight while fasting. Maybe I've lived in a different world, but where I'm from when one fasts it means they go without ANY food.

Well, what was behind Ananias and Sapphira's deception – and I might add that one needs to, in a sense, "read between the lines" to understand what was going on. My "reading between the lines" leads me to conclude that they sold the land (say, as an example here, for $30,000) and instead of saying they sold it for $30,000 and then bringing $20,000 and giving it to the apostles – something that Peter says they would have had every right to do – 4 they suggested that they sold the land for $20,000 (when in fact they had sold it for $30,000) and now were bringing the suggested "entire proceeds" and giving them away. verses 3-4

Ananias and Sapphira could have kept their land AND THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE.

Ananias and Sapphira could have sold their land and given none of the proceeds to the apostles AND THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE.

Or Ananias and Sapphira could have sold their land and brought some portion of the proceeds to the apostles AND THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE.

What was NOT FINE is that they lied to the apostles – clearly trying (it seems to me) to IMPRESS the apostles, or others within the church, with their generosity – suggesting that the monies being given to the church were the SUM TOTAL of what they had received.

So, they lied.

They didn't need to have done so, but they lied.

Have YOU ever lied? I have. I'm not proud of it, but I have. I went on to confess it when I did. But I've lied. I recall a time, now some 25 or so years ago when at an elders' meeting I was caught off guard and asked if I had visited with a certain person. I said that I had and the meeting continued. Immediately I was struck to the heart and thought, "You liar! Here before these good men you just lied!" And so it was that some minutes later I interrupted the meeting and said, "I need to confess to you all that I was just untruthful with you. I lied when I said that I had visited with (and then I named the person). I have had every intention of visiting with him but I have not yet done so. Please forgive me and please pray for me." Although that was a long time ago, I believe they, at that 5

time, did forgive me and did pray for me that I would always be a man of integrity.

But I had lied. And on the day recorded here in Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira lied.

They brought in a bunch of money. That money would be used to bless a lot of people. The text doesn't tell us if the land had been a BIG piece of property or a SMALL piece of property. But either way, what they were doing was a really wonderful thing…something they didn't need to have done.

But they lied about it. They hadn't cheated anyone. They hadn't killed anyone. These weren't idolators or adulterers. They just offered up the suggestion (and they probably weren't even asked)…they offered up the suggestion that the property had sold for a certain amount and now they were handing over that whole amount.

And God struck them dead for that lie. First Ananias and later Sapphira.

So the early church gained some money but lost two members, all in the same day!

Now, let's move this story into the "theoretical" plane for a few minutes, okay?

1. The fact that God took the life of both Ananias and Sapphira because of their deceit underscores the fact that God takes lying very seriously. • King David, following his adulterous affair with Bathsheba, arranged things such that Bathsheba's husband would be killed in warfare. Yet, even for that, David's life was not taken. • Amnon raped Tamar, his stepsister, but even for that Tamar's life was not taken. • was high priest over Israel and oversaw the trial of , condemning Jesus for blasphemy. He, in effect, pushed Pilate to make certain Jesus was executed. But even for that Caiaphas did not lose his life.

6

But here we have a married couple, part of the church, and not merely a part of the church but a couple who had decided that they could financially bless the church. And bringing the proceeds from a sale of a property they owned they gave those proceeds to the church. Their only failure, their only sin, being in that they were dishonest as to the actual amount of the sale. And for that they were both stricken DEAD. And not over time (like Adam and Eve, whose actual death did not occur until much, much later), but instantaneously they died.

So it would seem that God takes our being TRUTH BEARING people very seriously.

Revelation 22:14-15

In Ephesians chapter 6 the apostle Paul writes about the spiritual armament that we each should wear. The very first article of warfare clothing he mentions is not the helmet of salvation, nor is it the breastplate of righteousness. It is, rather, the belt of truth. The first thing: truth.

Before our modern world, it is ESSENTIAL that we tell the truth. And in regards to questions about God, man or the universe if we don't know the answer we would do well to say, "We don't know" as opposed to trying to come up with some answer that is rooted more in our imaginations than it is in the revealed word of God.

2. Remember that everything we own is, at least in a way, ours. It ultimately belongs to God but he, for awhile, has granted to us these things to use. God can, if he so desires, take everything away from us in a heartbeat…literally in a heartbeat. But we have been granted, for awhile, ownership of things: be it land, a house, a car, a boat, clothing, a chain saw or a toothbrush. These things, we say, are OURS, or they are MINE. • "We'll meet you at OUR house" we may say to a friend. • "Here, you can borrow my car." • "How do you like my new coat?" • "Man, I should never have bought that snowblower."

These and a thousand other statements could be made regarding things and our ownership of them or claim to them.

7

And when God has granted us these things, he has done so knowing that we will need to give an account of what we have done with these things on the Day of Judgment. Did we use them wisely? Did we waste them? I was talking to someone the other day about a man who has, over the years, purchased 4,000 dvds. I learned that the purchaser of the dvds said that he could not afford to pay for Netflix. But it seemed to me like Netflix would be a WHOLE LOT CHEAPER than buying 4,000 dvds. Have we used what we have wisely? Have we used it for 's kingdom? Have we been honest about it?

3. Lastly, note the FEAR that came upon the church as a result of all this… verse 11

Fear is not an element we run into very often in church life. I recall when I was a young boy hearing my dad tell the story of a pastor friend he had. My dad said that this pastor had received nothing but grief from a few church members. And so he began to pray for them. He didn't wish any harm or ill will against them, but just a change in their attitude. And then, over the weeks and months that followed, one by one these who had given him so much grief, and for whom he was praying, began to die. After several of these had died it became clear to those in the congregation that God was winnowing that church, pruning off the branches, so to speak. And then it became, albeit tongue in cheek, a regular occurrence for those remaining to ask the pastor to "please don't pray" for them!

Well, it doesn't tell us what the exact ramifications were of Ananias and Sapphira being struck down but you can pretty much bet that no one…at least not for a very, very long time…tried to deceive the apostles in the same way that Ananias and Sapphira had tried.

This also had to have had the effect of putting a bit of fear in the hearts of all in regards to Peter. For in our account, Peter merely spoke some words to both Ananias and Sapphira and the effect was that they both died.

This element of FEAR…real FEAR…coming into the church had to have had a refining effect upon them: helping them to get rid of those who took 8 what was going on all too casually. So many today see church as just another thing that people do – like playing golf, taking up hiking or YOGA, or dining with friends. But this DEATH and FEAR element would have served to remind the church that what is going on here is serious. And that God, the giver AND TAKER OF LIFE, is very aware of who we are deep down. And as for trying to impress people with our good deeds – like selling a piece of property and then giving the proceeds to the church – they learned, and we learn from them, that Jesus was right when he said that we should give in such a way that our right hand doesn't even know what our left hand is doing. There's no show, no talking about it, no boasting of what we have done. We just do what we think we should do and leave it at that. For God searches the hearts of men and knows what is in each of us. And he, in his good time, will reward those he wants to reward. And as for those that he desires to punish, well…Ananias and Sapphira are reminders to us of how quickly things can change.