But a man named Ananias, with his
wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge
he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and
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 for yourself part
of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain
your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that
you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to
God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last.
And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and
wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
After an interval of about three
hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to
her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for
so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed
together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have
buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the
young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her
beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon
all who heard of these things. Acts 5:1-11
Many of us,
if we are honest, do not like this story—we do not know how to make sense
of it and the reason why is because we don’t view sin properly and we fail to
take it as seriously as God does.
God
is serious about sin—especially sin in the church. He does not want us to be okay with it. He
does not want us to tolerate it. He wants us to take it seriously personally, and in our world and in His church.
That’s one of the main reasons the majority of His epistles were
written. They were written to address
various issues in church. They were
written to teach us how we are to handle these issues and to call for those who
are struggling to repent and turn back to God.
Scripture is clear that those who do not will be faced with some serious consequences. At the very beginning of 1 Corinthians, Paul
is writing to one messed up church in Corinth and He begins this book by
calling them saints—he refers to them as those who are sanctified in
Christ. So he
is writing to believers, but believers who have had some major issues. And in 1 Corinthians 11 we learn that many
were not taking the Lord Supper in a worthy manner and Paul tells them in v. 28
that when they do that—when they abuse that ordinance, he says, “they drink
judgement on themselves.” He says, That
is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
Here
we learn that God had taken some of the Corinthians out because of their
wickedness and he does that here in Acts 5 with Ananias and Sapphira. God is serious about sin—especially sin in
the church. He did not save us and set
us apart for us to just drift back to where we were and live like the world and
make a mockery of His church. He saved
us and set us apart to be a light in this dark and dead world.
