Year 1, Day 238: Acts 5

Ananias and Sapphira

Ananias and Sapphira give us a wonderful story about lying.  No, this isn’t a story about greed; it is a story about telling the truth.  The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was not in their wanting the money; their sin was the deception they harbored in their hearts towards the church and towards God.

There is no coincidence that this story comes on the heels of Barnabas’ gift.  No doubt Ananias and Sapphira saw Barnabas’ gift and saw the glory given to God.  And I’m going to give Ananias and Sapphira the benefit of the doubt and assume that they saw the glory being given to God and not given to Barnabas.  I’m going to assume that Ananias and Sapphira genuinely wanted to also give so that God’s name would be glorified.  Admittedly, that is a courtesy not usually extended to them.

Why do I make that point?  Because in making the point it shows the problem of lying rather than putting the emphasis on greed.  And that really is what Peter accuses them of doing.  Peter tells them that the land was theirs.  Peter tells them that they had the right to do whatever they wanted with the land.  The problem is not that they kept back some of their money; the problem is that they told everyone that they sold the land for what they were giving the apostles!  The problem is that they lied about keeping some of it back! 

Going by Peter’s words – especially the words to Sapphira about the amount gained from the sale of the land – I genuinely believe that there would have been rejoicing if they would have come in and said “Peter, we sold this land of ours and we’re giving 80% of the proceeds to the apostles for the purpose of ministry.”  The problem isn’t that they kept money; the problem is that they were deceptive about it.

God knows we all need to buy food, pay for bills, etc.  God does not mind us having monetary resources.  But what God does mind is when we try to deceive people.  God wants us to be honest with each other about what we have and what we are doing with the resources God has given to us.  A church born out of deception is not going to be any church that does worthwhile ministry.

Return to the Temple

Then we move to another scene in the temple.  Peter and the apostles are doing great works.  Again I pause and ask the simple question: what is the point of these works?  Certainly not for the glory of the apostles or even that a few specific people would have their burdens eased.  No!  The point is that God’s name was being praised, the truth was being told, and disciples were being made.  That is the point of the signs and wonders from God!

Gamaliel’s Advice

Once again these signs and wonders lead Peter and the apostles into trouble.  They get arrested and thrown into prison – although the Lord sees fit to deliver them out of the prison without anyone knowing about it.  Here is another sign and wonder from God that brings glory to His name!  And what is the result of this trial?  Gamaliel stands up to give a great piece of advice to the gathered Sanhedrin.

Gamaliel says to be patient with these disciples of Jesus.  Other “messiahs” have come and gone; and after their death their movement dispersed and things went back to normal.  So it will be with this Jesus.  If Jesus was just a man, people will soon forget about Him and go back to their lives.  If Jesus was God, then nothing they can do will stop the movement because those who truly follow God will never go back to their lives.  Those who truly follow God will always proclaim God’s truth.

I think that is a very important piece of advice.  Those who truly follow God and who are truly spiritual beings can’t stop proclaiming God’s truth.  Those who are following someone out of their human desires will go back to their human ways after a short time of loyalty. 

I am reminded of the story of the feeding of the 5,000 as told in John 6.  A great number of people are fed and call Jesus a prophet.  They even follow Him to Capernaum to listen to even more teaching.  But then Jesus begins to reveal truth to them.  Jesus begins to tell them that they only follow Jesus because He gave them food.  Jesus tells them that they need to really follow Him because He is the Son of God, the true bread from heaven.  The Jews grumbled against Jesus because He called Himself God.  The Jews grumbled against Him because He taught them that unless they “eat of His flesh” they cannot know salvation.  And after this teaching John 6:66 gives us a wonderful insight into humanity.  “After this, many of the disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.” (ESV)

Those people with Jesus didn’t have what it took to be spiritual beings.  To return back to Acts 5, Gamaliel points us to what it means to be a spiritual being.  The one who is spiritual and who is in God cannot be defeated by a human agenda.  The truly spiritual person will continue to speak about God regardless of the circumstances and danger to self.

Gamaliel’s words bear out truth.  The church grows into what we see of it today (faults and all).  And in many cases, the church grows because the early apostles were willing to put their life on the line for it.  Jesus died for them; they gave up all for Him.  That is the true disciple.

As for the one who follows until it gets tough and requires a sacrifice … ? 

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