Ananias and Sapphira

Acts 5 and the Background of Barnabas

The scripture lesson this evening is found right where you would expect it to be. Acts chapter 5. We continue with our study from this morning. Continuing our study of Papyrus 45. And we are in Acts chapter 5.

Before we look to God's word, let's ask the Lord to bless our time together. Heavenly Father, now we ask that you would help us to quiet our hearts, to focus our minds, to hear your word, and to be benefited by the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the word amongst us.

We pray in Christ's name. Amen. This morning we began looking at this section and we noted that the division, specifically Acts 5 .1, is somewhat of an unfortunate division. It is not really a logical breaking point that the story that is being told has a consistent thread that goes from chapter 4 into chapter 5.

Specifically, it is the rather unique situation of the early church in those very, very primitive days before the sending out or being cast out of Jerusalem, but the sending out of a mission amongst the Gentiles.

You have a very homogenous group. You have people selling land and bringing material so that no one has need. We looked this morning at what that does and does not mean as far as the teaching of the apostles and things like that.

And we noticed right at the end of chapter 4, the story of Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles. Now, this is a man who is going to become fairly well known in the church.

He is the son of encouragement. And this Barnabas evidently had some wealth. And so he owned a tract of land and he sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. And so we speculated that in all probability, as a result of this, there would be...

Well, how would we put it? I don't want to use the term praise, but certainly amongst the people of God in the early church there in Jerusalem, he would be looked upon with great favor. How's that for a nice way of putting it?

There would be many people who would look at him as being a particularly godly individual. I don't get from reading the words of Barnabas or the actions of Barnabas that this was something he was looking for.

This was not something where he was... It was not like the scribes and the Pharisees and the temple that would blow trumpets when they put their money into the treasury and this kind of a situation. But the word does get out and there is a result from this.

There are certain people in the congregation who see this and go, I like what he's... I like what's going on here. I like the fact that people are looking at him and people are approaching him and he's being treated in a way that people recognize what he's done.

He didn't do this to gain that, but that's what happened. And so we have this strange, somewhat difficult story of Ananias and Sapphira. Neither name, especially when taken together, carries amongst the Christian people a very good reputation.

There are some other Ananiases in scripture. I don't think there's any other Sapphiras. Maybe I've missed one someplace. But Ananias and Sapphira are a couple. And the story of what happens to them is a story well known to all of us, to anyone who has read the scriptures.

And certainly we understand the general teaching of scripture regarding these two individuals. But it is important, I think, to put it into its context to really appreciate what is being communicated to us here.

The Lie of Ananias and Sapphira

And so let's look at the story beginning chapter 5, verse 1. But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. Now it says they sold a piece of property. They seemingly maybe had others.

And kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife's full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?

While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.

And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last. He expired. And great fear came over all who heard of it. The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter responded to her, tell me whether you sold the land for such a price. And she said, Yes, such a price.

That was the price. Then Peter said to her, Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.

And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead. And they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came over the whole church and over all who heard of these things.

Well, such an uplifting story. One that would undoubtedly result in very peppy, clappy praise choruses at the end of the service this evening. Well, no, I don't think that that's normally how this story is viewed.

But there are some things that I think can be of benefit to us as we consider this brief story from the early church. Now, what is very clear is that what Ananias and Sapphira have chosen to do is to try to imitate what happened with Barnabas.

That's why the division of the chapter is somewhat unfortunate. And sometimes what Barnabas did is disconnected. It can't be because it's the background. It's the foundation of why Ananias and Sapphira did what they did.

They wanted to receive what Barnabas received as far as the view of the people were concerned. But they didn't want to do what he did. Because it's plain that when Barnabas sold the land, if there was any discussion about what it cost or anything else, he was honest and straightforward.

It's fairly obvious that what he sold it for is what he then gave to meet the needs of the saints. But what's very clear from looking at the whole story is that when Ananias and Sapphira seek to recapitulate this in their own experience, not only do they amongst themselves choose to hold back some of the price of the land for whatever reason, but they then somehow, either they were asked, or I get the feeling they volunteered, what the, well Ananias did anyways, because this was done at separate times, volunteered what the actual price of the land was, so that it would appear that what he was doing was a direct parallel to, he was doing the same thing that Barnabas had done.

He didn't say, you know, we sold this land and we've decided to give 70 to the needs of the saints of the price of the land. He didn't do that. And so there is not only conspiracy between Ananias and Sapphira, but there is also this desire to be looked upon in a particular fashion by the rest of the congregation.

I think one of the first things we need to see here is this goes directly against what is said earlier about being of one heart and one mind. It's wonderful when that happens, but it simply has not been the experience of the church down through the years that that kind of thing can last for a long period of time.

Simply because we need to remember that no matter how great the mountaintop you might have, how great, you know, sometimes there are things that happen in a fellowship that draws everybody together, and everybody pulls together because of a tragedy that takes place, or a sickness, or a disease, or the building burns down, or whatever else it might be.

It pulls people together, and people put aside all the petty stuff, and all the stuff about me, myself, and I, and putting myself out there, and all the rest of that stuff. And there's great unity, and there's great peace, but the church is made up of sinners, and we live in a fallen world, and there are going to be divisions, and there's going to be, eventually, you know, you can't help but look at the reality that by the end of the New Testament, John is having to write 1st, and 2nd, and 3rd John, and he's warning about antichrists that are drawing people away, and denying the resurrection, and causing schisms, and all sorts of stuff like this.

And that's why I said this morning that it's important, it's so easy for us to think, well, if we could just get back to the apostolic period, well, exactly what part of the apostolic period? You know, a few weeks?

A few months? We don't even know how long it was. But this is the reality of living in a fallen world, and yes, they were all together, one heart, one mind, and then someone does something good, and their doing of something good kindles an improper desire in the heart of other people in the congregation that results in what we see here.

Barnabas certainly had no intention of causing such a problem like that. The apostles didn't have any intention in the acceptance of Barnabas' gift to, in some way, prompt this kind of an attitude on the part of Ananias and Sapphira, but that's what happened.

And there are many times you look through the history of the church, you look through just the history of our own fellowship, and sometimes when there are problems, you couldn't have seen it coming if you tried.

I mean, you give good counsel, and it seems like you give the best wisdom you can, and it doesn't turn out the way you want it to at all. Couldn't see that one coming. Things to learn from that. But here's the situation.

And so here is the first insertion of a sinful situation, and my, it is dealt with very, very severely. So Ananias comes in, and he lays the money at Peter's feet. Now we don't, you know, it's easy. We read this, and we sort of sit back and go, well, did the apostles just sort of sit around during the day, and people come in and ask questions?

Was there just a eight-hour-long church service all the time? Or, you know, it's hard to tell. Where was this? Was it a particular room, a particular building? What's, what's, we're not told. We're not given that information.

But however it was, whatever was going on, what could happen with Ananias could happen without Sapphira knowing about it. Now we don't know why that is, but she was not there when Ananias first brings this money and lays it at Peter's feet.

And Peter is given supernatural knowledge. I mean, how else would he know? I mean, unless Peter was related to the realtor or something that was involved. I don't think they had realtors back then, but you know what I mean.

Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? So Peter knows. You know, those who would take a more naturalistic look at the New Testament might say, well, you know, Peter knew Ananias, and Peter knew that Ananias wanted to be viewed highly by other people, but he knew he was also, you know, sort of Scottish and therefore skinflint and cheap, and so there's just no way that he would give the whole thing or something along those lines.

You know, people try to get around it that way. But given that Peter uses a fair amount of supernatural language, Satan, the Holy Spirit, and of course I should mention in passing that this is one of the texts in the New Testament that are almost always listed as one of the references to the deity of the Holy Spirit, because you'll notice lie to the Holy Spirit, but then at the end of the next verse, you have not lied to men but to God.

And so lying to the Holy Spirit, lying to God, the same thing. And you can't lie to an impersonal active force. Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, believe the Holy Spirit is like running water or electricity.

Good luck lying to electricity. We have some electricians amongst us. You treat electricity with respect, but if you find an electrician talking to electricity, that might be an indication that they've been out in the sun a little too long.

Just saying. So obviously the Holy Spirit is not merely an impersonal active force. You lie to a person, and that is what is taking place in this situation. And so Peter knows, and can you imagine? And again, the naturalist is going to go, wow, well Ananias had just a really weak heart.

And so when Peter knew the truth about him, then his heart rate shot up and he died. Something along those lines. Well, maybe that's what the Lord used, but there's clearly something more important going on here.

Then, as we noted this morning, it is very important to note, while it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? So much for the command to communism. In Acts chapter 5, there is no command to communism.

There was no commandment to Ananias and Sapphira to sell this land. It was theirs, and if you possess something, it's because God has placed it in your hand. You are responsible for it. But there is no concept here whatsoever of saying, well, you had this land and we know that we just need to make everybody equal and we need to animal farm the New Testament.

Well, no, that's not what's going on here. While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? There would have been nothing wrong if Ananias and Sapphira had sold the land, kept 50 for their own retirement fund or something, and gave the other 50 to the church.

The point was the lie. The attempt to create a representation that simply was not true that made them look like, or made Ananias at least at this point look like, Barnabas in the eyes of the early congregation there in Jerusalem.

And so even after it was sold, didn't you have control of it? Couldn't you have done with it what you wanted? So clearly there was no compulsion. There was no doctrinal demand that you were to rid yourself of all your private property and turn it over to public control like what has happened down through history, like what specifically, as I mentioned this morning, did in fact happen in Munster, as we will be talking about in the church history class in a matter of weeks.

Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? Well, I think Peter probably knew, but this was more of a rebuke of Ananias. This wasn't something they just did on the spur of the moment. This was conspiratorial.

This was sitting around going, did you see how everybody was looking at Barnabas? You know, we've got that land over there, and it's going to take a lot of work to do anything with it. How about we sell it, and we'll say we got X amount of drachmas for it, or a certain amount of silver, and we'll keep back part of the price because we need to do this, we need to do that, the dishwasher's on the last leg, and so on and so forth.

But we'll say that we got X amount, and okay, that sounds like a good idea. There was forethought involved here, and it shows a fundamental disunity with the rest of the body as to why they were doing what they were doing.

And so even at this wonderful, beautiful time of one heart and one soul and unity, sin crops up, and sin decides to make itself known and brings about division in the body. You know, years and years ago, we weren't heroes at another church, and we would go on youth retreats, and some of them were really special.

And, you know, sometimes we Reformed folks have a tendency to make fun of some of those things, but those are some of the most formative times in my life. I remember a couple of summer youth retreats that were extremely important in the forming of my Christian character as a young person and things like that, and I'm very appreciative for those experiences.

Some were just up in Prescott and places like that. There was a couple over in a place called Glorieta, New Mexico, which is a really beautiful area over there. But, you know, you can be in the midst of a spiritual high, beautiful worship, and I remember one year I was dealing with the issues of doubt and concern about one's salvation and things like that, and, man, it was a very, very important time.

You lay down some foundations. That's an important period in a person's life. And yet I can't help but remember that I had to focus upon truly spiritual things because there were a lot of folks in our group that were not there for overly spiritual things.

Oh, they may have had to have shown up for the worship services and the afterglows and things like that. I've never figured out that term, afterglow, but anyway. But you just knew better than the youth ministry and youth staff knew.

They were there for completely other reasons. And it did bother you that you were really wanting to be there and you really wanted to be serious about your faith and you really wanted the Lord to do something, but you just knew that there were a bunch of folks that were singing those songs with you and clapping along and everything else.

You just knew they were doing it for other reasons. And I suppose in the back of your mind you just go, well, leave it up to the Lord. Maybe He'll do something later on. I don't know. But the fact is, this happens in the Christian fellowship.

And this doesn't change the fact that there was one heart and one mind and the apostles were powerfully demonstrating the resurrection of Christ and this was a vitally important part in the time period in the history of the church and the establishment of apostolic authority and all the rest of that stuff, but they still had to deal with this.

And I don't know about you, but I don't get the feeling that Peter, when Ananias' eyes roll back in his head and he falls dead at his feet, I don't think Peter is standing there going, yeah, don't mess with us apostles.

I think he was just as astonished as anybody else. And it says very clearly, great fear came over all who heard of it. Well, I'm sure that everybody that was there. Can you imagine? Can you imagine what this looked like?

I mean, I remember once there was a little girl named Wendy in my, I can't remember if it was first grade or fourth grade. In first grade and fourth grade, all the girls are bigger than the guys anyways, but I just remember we were in a PE class in the, we called them multi-purpose rooms back then.

It was the cafeteria, but it was also, that's where he did everything else. And I just remember once I happened to be looking at her, we're staying in line, when her eyes crossed and she just went like a tree, right?

I mean, whacked her head good. I mean, oh my goodness, she just passed out. She did not die, but she just passed out. And man, when someone goes down like that, when that body hits the ground, goodness.

And yet everybody in that place knew this guy hadn't just passed out. He had just passed on. And he fell down and the English translation says breathed his last. Well, yeah, that's one way of putting it.

It means to die, to expire. It's sort of a nice way of saying it, but Ananias is struck dead in the midst of the church. Can you imagine if something like that happened in the midst of the fellowship today?

Wow. Hadn't happened before. This was, this was a new thing. And, um, I suppose we could, we could identify this as the beginning of church discipline. Uh, but it's, uh, interesting way of viewing its origin.

Uh, and, uh, it's, it's all gone downhill from there as far as severity goes. Uh, though you do have that reference in first Corinthians about the Corinthians partaking of the Lord's supper in an unworthy manner and some of them sleeping and that's the normal term for dying.

So, um, Ananias falls down and, uh, the young men got up and covered him up and after carrying him out, they buried him. So what was that conversation like? Uh, where was he buried? How far away? Uh, was it a, how'd they get the land?

Was it, we don't, we're just not told. I mean, these are all details that evidently we don't need to know, but, uh, can you imagine what, what, how you would have been impacted as a young man, a new believer in Jesus carrying a dead body through the streets of Jerusalem that just was struck dead, uh, in front of the apostles for lying.

I can guarantee you they never forgot that the rest of their lives. And you, you can't help but be impacted by that. And then the rest of the story is, uh, about three hours later, his wife came in, came in where I wish I knew wherever the apostles are.

Um, you know, it's not like they have a headquarters or something at this point in time. Uh, they're, they're hunted men. So somebody's home. Could it have been the upper room could have been, I don't know.

It's not like there were, you know, it's not like they could have these big, huge places and there were now thousands of followers of Jesus. And so maybe they did sort of have to have all day church services and rotate groups in and out.

I mean, I, I don't know, but about three hours later, Ananias comes in and Sapphira comes in and it's like not knowing what had happened. Hmm. What was she doing? Was she outspending the money they held back, uh, doing some shopping someplace.

Maybe she had gone far enough away that she wouldn't be recognized. I don't know. I don't know. But she comes in not knowing what happened. And, and Peter responded to her. So that's an interesting, because the term there, Apocrypha is, is normally what you use when you respond to someone's statement.

So, so maybe she had come in assuming, well, you know, Ananias has given the money. So now I guess I can come in and I'm, I'm the wife of the real, the next real generous guy. And so I wonder how people are going to respond to me now, you know, and they get treat, treat me the way, and Ananias, the way they, they looked up to Barnabas, you know, and, and so maybe she was even cheeky enough to have greeted Peter or something.

Don't know, but it does say he, he answered, Peter answered, responded to her. Uh, tell me if, uh, such and such was the, the price that you received. And she said, yes, such and such. So, uh, whatever that price was there, they're not, the text isn't interested in giving us specifics.

It would be irrelevant to us anyways. So, yep, that's, that's what we got. And Peter said to her, why is it that you have agreed together to put the spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out as well.

And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. It almost seems, couldn't prove it, but it almost seems like the young men are just now returning from having buried Ananias.

That, that's almost how it strikes me. He says, the, the feet of those who've just buried your husband are at the door. And so they walk in. What, what are they thinking? Wow. What have we gotten involved with here?

What on earth is going on in this situation? They, the young men come in, find her dead, look at each other, cover up, take her out, start digging again. Wherever they had just buried Ananias. And great fear came over the whole church and over all who heard of these things.

Well, that seems to me like somewhat of an understatement. We can read about these things. Our minds immediately turn to the, the lessons we can learn and things like that. But I think it's, it's very useful to, to spend just a moment trying to think about what kind of an impact this would have upon this infant congregation in Jerusalem.

I certainly see a, a danger of rumors, false information going around. Isn't that the tendency of things to start blowing things up, uh, embellishing, adding some things. I would assume that the apostles would make sure that everyone understands that Ananias and Sapphira had conspired together to lie to God and to misrepresent their actions for an evil purpose.

I cannot imagine what would have been going through the minds, not only of these young men who've buried these bodies, but anybody else who had likewise been tempted in looking at how the congregation responded to Barnabas to do the same thing themselves.

So many things that you could consider. What was the, if there was congregational singing at this point, and we, we get the feeling that there was, I mean, there was congregational singing amongst the Jews.

And so it would have been natural for there to be congregational singing of, uh, the Psalms. What was that like in the next service? I'm not trying to make light of it. I'm just trying to put this in a real life experience because it happened in history.

What's, uh, what kind of an impact? Normally what you hear is, wow, we need to take very, we are dealing with the living God in this situation. And that's quite true. That is quite true. That's normally what you hear.

And that is a proper application, but there would have been a tremendous impact upon the normal believers in that church. When faced with the reality that you're dealing with life and death, you're dealing with sacred things.

Everybody's thinking about a number of stories from the old Testament. I mean, that's their Bible. That's the only scriptures they have. They don't have the story of Ananias and Sapphira. That just happened.

So they're thinking of Uzzah and they're thinking of Aaron's sons and they're thinking of, uh, Korah, Dathom and Abiram and the rebellion against Moses. And, uh, there, there's, there'd been a few times when God's wrath has broken forth, but this wasn't for violation of rules.

And regulations. This was from lying to God. This, this was, this was doing something voluntary, something most of us would consider to be generous, but their motivations had been exposed. This God that we have to deal with, man, he looks at the heart.

There's no way to hide anything. There is no faking in front of this God. That's what is going to be very quickly understood by every single person in that congregation. And so when it says great fear, I've, I've told you many times before in my, my now colleague, but a former Greek professor, Dr. Baird likes when I repeatedly tell him, uh, when we get together once in a while that I'll never forget sitting in the life and letters of Paul class.

He was droning on about Paul and half the class was asleep. I was wide awake cause I was already involved in apologetics and therefore I knew how important this stuff was. And, um, I remember exactly what room I was sitting in, what direction I was facing when, when Dr. Baird with great wisdom and scholarly acumen and talking about the term, the fear of the Lord and the apostle Paul says now the Greek word for fear means fear.

And, uh, I, I dutifully wrote that down. Uh, that's a wonderful scholarly tautology, uh, because it actually was meant to communicate something. And, uh, there was, yes, it can mean respect and reverence and all those things, but it never stops meaning fear.

And, uh, in fact, you're, you are, you know what the Greek word for fear is, whether you know that you know it or not. It's phobos, which we get phobia. And so, uh, great phobos, Megas. That's, that's, that's what it's, that's what it says right there.

The, the third and fourth words in verse 11 in Greek phobos, Megas, mega fear, great fear came over the whole church. Now, is this a fear that I'm going to run away from God? No, but it's a healthy and proper thing to realize that you are dealing with God.

And I don't know about you, but if what calls itself the church in America had a phobos, Megas, you would not see 99 of the foolishness that we see. And you wouldn't see 99 of the silly teaching we see either.

If there was a phobos, Megas, amongst the people of God, innovation and teaching, innovation in worship shows a lack of the fear of God. That's what, that's where it's, that's the origin and source of it.

Just don't take it seriously. Just don't take it seriously. It is a great thing. And I will never forget. And I've, I've mentioned this over the years that what truly grabbed hold of me when I first came here and you'll have to ask Roxy now where it was, I sat.

She does remember that first night on a Sunday evening. It was somewhere over here. I do remember that. Back toward that section. But she remembers what I was wearing. Again, it's very frightening. She may have written it on a sticky note.

I don't know. When, when she goes, she may, she may, we may well discover an entire library of sticky notes. I'm not sure if there is a sticky note scanner that we can digitize all this with for the entire Chronicles or Roxy or whatever it is.

But, but she remembers and she's mentioned it a few times to me. And I just remember that what really, really grabbed hold of me that night was the, the reverence. The, the way that the word of God was handled.

Yes. But, but just, it was so different than what I was accustomed to. And there was a, a reverence for the word of God. I hope we never lose that. I hope that's always a part of our, of our experience.

The Fear of the Lord in the Church

And so Ananias and Sapphira, God takes very, very seriously his worship. And in this instance, what we see again, this is a period of time where apostolic authority is being established. You walk before an apostle.

He's representing Jesus Christ. Would you lie to Jesus that way? This is his church. This is his body. You don't try to promote yourself within that body by lying about what you've done and trying to make yourself look better in the eyes of others.

God punishes this very directly in this situation. And we learn from that, that God takes very seriously what takes place in his church. May we, as his people in this body, always take very seriously what he has called us to.

May we show him reverence in all of our worship. Let's pray together. Our grace heavenly father, we do thank you for your word, even when it is difficult to read and to consider. And Lord, as we have considered this difficult story this evening, we ask that you would once again help us to understand the seriousness of what we do here, the handling of your word, the handling of your truth.

May we show that we understand that by living our lives in light of your word in this coming week. May we not be amongst those who make that strong and sharp distinction between who we are when we're amongst the saints and then who we are out in the world.

May we be one in service of you in both of those places. Lord, thank you for this evening. Give us traveling mercies as we return to our homes. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.