B-A-C
Loyal
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2008
- Messages
- 12,067
Acts 5:1; But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property,
Acts 5:2; 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.
Acts 5:3; 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?
Acts 5:4; "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."
Acts 5:5; And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it.
Acts 5:6; The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.
Acts 5:7; Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
Acts 5:8; And Peter responded to her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?" And she said, "Yes, that was the price."
Acts 5:9; 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."
Acts 5:10; 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.
This has to be one of the more fearful stories in the New Testament.
A man and his wife own some property. They sell it for a certain price... so far so good.
They want to take the money from this and give it to the church. That seems like a good thing to do... right? Now it doesn't give a price for the land, but we know land isn't cheap.
However they want to keep some of the money for themselves. So what do they do? They lie about the price they sold the land for. They tell the church they got less money than they actually did.
The first question here is... why did they want to do this? Why did they want to give money to the church? The obvious thought here is... they were members of the assembly.
Now there was no law that said they had to sell their land. They could have kept it all to themselves.
There also was no law that said even if they did sell it, they had to give the money to the church. In fact there was no law that said they couldn't give a portion of the money to the church.
It seems it would have been better for them just to keep the land, or at least the money. But they were "trying" to do the right thing. They were trying to help the church.
and yet, the crux of the story is... they were dishonest about it. They lied to the church about how money they got for the land. It seems all they had to do, was tell the truth. We are keeping some of the money for ourselves.
Perhaps they did not want to "appear" selfish. But in truth, they were being selfish whether they wanted to appear that way or not. Still... it seems the sin wasn't being selfish... it was lying to the church.
It doesn't say here that the apostles ( Peter ) did anything to them that caused them to die. So what caused this? Satan or God? My answer would be "both".
Peter says "Satan filled your heart to lie", so apparently Satan had a hand in it. ...and yet, didn't Peter lie to Jesus also?
Matt 26:34; Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."
Matt 26:35; Peter *said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You." All the disciples said the same thing too.
Now I suppose Peter didn't intentionally lie to Jesus. He wanted to stand with Jesus no matter what.
On the other hand Ananias and Sapphira, intentionally lied to the church. They planned it together. ""Why is it that you have agreed together".
It wasn't even a "total" lie, it was just a half truth. ( A half truth, is still a whole lie )
So then Sapphira comes three hours later. They ask her the same question about how much the land was sold for. She gives the answer that she and her husband agreed on.
I am thinking we should be careful about agreeing to be in cahoots with someone who is planning to be dishonest. Just because they want to do it, doesn't mean you have to do it also.
Of course Sapphira falls down dead also.
At first glance this seems severe that God would strike them down. After all "all they did was lie". But they didn't lie to just anyone, they lied to the church, they lied to God... as Peter says.. they lied to the Holy Spirit.
Now can we ever truly lie to God? He knows everything we've ever done whether it was in secret or not. But it seems we can try to deny it.
It make me wonder... have you ever lied to God? Have you ever lied to the church about anything? Have you ever lied to the Holy Spirit? Have you ever told a "half truth"?
Remember this is the new Testament. Jesus has already been crucified and resurrected before this story takes place.
Acts 5:11; And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.
I think if I witnessed this, a great fear would come over me as well.
Acts 5:2; 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.
Acts 5:3; 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?
Acts 5:4; "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."
Acts 5:5; And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it.
Acts 5:6; The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.
Acts 5:7; Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
Acts 5:8; And Peter responded to her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?" And she said, "Yes, that was the price."
Acts 5:9; 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."
Acts 5:10; 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.
This has to be one of the more fearful stories in the New Testament.
A man and his wife own some property. They sell it for a certain price... so far so good.
They want to take the money from this and give it to the church. That seems like a good thing to do... right? Now it doesn't give a price for the land, but we know land isn't cheap.
However they want to keep some of the money for themselves. So what do they do? They lie about the price they sold the land for. They tell the church they got less money than they actually did.
The first question here is... why did they want to do this? Why did they want to give money to the church? The obvious thought here is... they were members of the assembly.
Now there was no law that said they had to sell their land. They could have kept it all to themselves.
There also was no law that said even if they did sell it, they had to give the money to the church. In fact there was no law that said they couldn't give a portion of the money to the church.
It seems it would have been better for them just to keep the land, or at least the money. But they were "trying" to do the right thing. They were trying to help the church.
and yet, the crux of the story is... they were dishonest about it. They lied to the church about how money they got for the land. It seems all they had to do, was tell the truth. We are keeping some of the money for ourselves.
Perhaps they did not want to "appear" selfish. But in truth, they were being selfish whether they wanted to appear that way or not. Still... it seems the sin wasn't being selfish... it was lying to the church.
It doesn't say here that the apostles ( Peter ) did anything to them that caused them to die. So what caused this? Satan or God? My answer would be "both".
Peter says "Satan filled your heart to lie", so apparently Satan had a hand in it. ...and yet, didn't Peter lie to Jesus also?
Matt 26:34; Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."
Matt 26:35; Peter *said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You." All the disciples said the same thing too.
Now I suppose Peter didn't intentionally lie to Jesus. He wanted to stand with Jesus no matter what.
On the other hand Ananias and Sapphira, intentionally lied to the church. They planned it together. ""Why is it that you have agreed together".
It wasn't even a "total" lie, it was just a half truth. ( A half truth, is still a whole lie )
So then Sapphira comes three hours later. They ask her the same question about how much the land was sold for. She gives the answer that she and her husband agreed on.
I am thinking we should be careful about agreeing to be in cahoots with someone who is planning to be dishonest. Just because they want to do it, doesn't mean you have to do it also.
Of course Sapphira falls down dead also.
At first glance this seems severe that God would strike them down. After all "all they did was lie". But they didn't lie to just anyone, they lied to the church, they lied to God... as Peter says.. they lied to the Holy Spirit.
Now can we ever truly lie to God? He knows everything we've ever done whether it was in secret or not. But it seems we can try to deny it.
It make me wonder... have you ever lied to God? Have you ever lied to the church about anything? Have you ever lied to the Holy Spirit? Have you ever told a "half truth"?
Remember this is the new Testament. Jesus has already been crucified and resurrected before this story takes place.
Acts 5:11; And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.
I think if I witnessed this, a great fear would come over me as well.
