Acts 4:32-5:16, "Experiencing Grace or Profaning Grace"

What are some ways you have experienced the power of grace in your life? What happens when you are given great grace? You become more humble, thankful, gracious, more wholehearted. You become more filled with grace. What can happen through the life of one person who has a whole heart, filled with God’s power and grace?

In contrast, what happens to those who make light of grace? What about cynics who don’t trust grace, always looking for the angle? What happens to people who take advantage of the grace of others? What happens to the person who lives with a divided heart, believing that self-protection and self-promotion are means to fullness of life? What can happen to someone who profanes God’s power and grace?

Our passage today contrasts people who have experienced the redeeming power of the grace of God by His Spirit and those who profane His power and grace. People who have been made whole by the power and grace of God live generous lives, free from fear. Some people want these benefits but don’t understand the power or grace of God, and scheme to achieve the benefits for themselves. As we look at this contrast, we can ask ourselves, am I experiencing a whole heart, filled with the power and grace of God’s presence by His Spirit, or am I faking it, believing that I am responsible for my provision and healing?

Great Power and Great Grace Grant Selfless Generosity

Full number of one heart and soul. Total unity. What would this be like?

“No one said”, “hey that’s mine!” They were united in their way of thinking. They were united way of life. They had “everything in common.”

Acts 4:32 (ESV)

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.

We found out in 4:31 that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. This filled the apostles with great power, and all the Christians with great grace.

Acts 4:33 (ESV)

And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

4:33 - Great power in the testimony of the apostles, great grace upon them all. This resulted in provision (4:32-36) and healing (5:12-16).

No needy because when there was a need, people would sell possessions to provide for them. Joseph Barnabas led by example.

This kind of generosity comes from hearts made whole by the power and grace of God in the gospel of Jesus.

Verse 33 explains that a powerful witness to the resurrected Jesus fills the church with great grace, and this leads to unity and generosity. Jesus crucified for my sins and risen to overcome sin, death, and evil teaches me the the grace of God. This makes my heart whole. I need nothing from anyone. My provision and acceptance come from God, totally free to me, at great cost to Him. But the power of God in raising Jesus from the dead tells me that I have nothing to fear from anyone. I can give, expecting God to provide for me and heal me.

How powerful is our witness to the resurrected Jesus? Is He among us to heal and care and comfort and remove our self-protection, self-promotion, and self-absorption? Are we living with whole hearts, filled with God’s grace? We will see fearless generosity.

Profaning God’s Power and Grace Grants Destruction

Then we’re given the contrast to Christians filled with the Holy Spirit, experiencing great power in the gospel and great grace.

Ananias, with his wife’s knowledge, sold a property and kept some money back for themselves. They only brought a part. Already, we should anticipate a bad outcome. They have divided hearts. They aren’t experiencing wholeness, and now this is leading them into deception.

God doesn’t deal in parts. He wants all of you. Ananias and Sapphira thought they could deceive the apostles, and maybe God too. But really, the were only deceiving themselves. If they were filled with the Holy Spirit, their hearts would be united in God’s power and grace. The fact that they were holding back for themselves demonstrated they were filled with something else.

Acts 5:3 (ESV)

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?

Satan filled his heart to lie to the Holy Spirit. He demonstrated he didn’t understand God at all. He has been deceived and chooses to live by deception. Peter asks six questions as a judge at a trial. And his final words seem to bring the sentence.

Acts 5:4 (ESV)

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.”

Ananias had no need to do any of this. This was more than an unintentional slip into temptation. This was a deliberate attempt to profane the sanctity of the grace of Jesus at work through the Holy Spirit in the life of the early church. What he had been trying to accomplish, we’ll never know.

Acts 5:5 (ESV)

When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it.

Three hours later, Ananias’ wife, Saphhira, comes into the room. When Peter asks her about the truth of their transaction, she chooses to continue in the lie she and her husband began.

Acts 5:9 (ESV)

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.”

I have so many questions. First, why was this sin worthy of death?

This was premeditated lying to God. This demonstrates a complete lack of faith and mockery of the power of God. Reading into Peter’s questions to Ananias and Sapphira, they blasphemed the Holy Spirit six ways:

They lied to Him, as if He wouldn’t know

They only gave a part, as if that’s what God deserved

They profaned grace, missing the effect of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the disciples

They faked generosity, as if God would accept it

They premeditated evil deception, as if you can deceive God

They tested the Spirit of God, which makes a person judge over God

They had a form of godliness, but lacked its power. This is not just an innocent misunderstanding. They have made a deliberate mockery of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit among the Christians. God will not allow this kind of corruption to spread as the church is just getting going. The entire endeavor depends on faith in the power of the Holy Spirit to continue the work of Jesus, bringing eternal life to all who repent and believe. So God demonstrated His power to reveal secret sins through the apostles, just like the prophets of old.

Mocking God and living by deceit can become habitual. And both are destructive to your soul. It may have been God’s mercy to take Ananias and Saphhira’s lives before they can make a habit of this profanity. Or more likely, they were not true believers, since a heart filled with the Holy Spirit would never have done such a thing.

Another question is, why do we not see this more often? Almost all of us have at one time or another lived in a deception. We have hidden parts of our lives from God, deceiving ourselves that He isn’t looking or doesn’t care. So why doesn’t He strike us all down dead? But this brings us back to the grace of God. It is a wonder that God lets any of us live. He alone knows when someone has profaned His grace and blasphemed His Spirit and deceived themselves beyond repair. This is His power and grace at work, to have this warning written down in the Bible for us to give us one more chance to examine our own hearts.

Am I living in the power of the gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ? Can I see the fruit of selflessness, grace, and generosity? Or am I living with a divided heart, hiding my true self from the Christians around me and trying to provide for my own acceptance and healing?

The warning to the early church works.

Acts 5:11 (ESV)

And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

And for those outside the church, the signs, wonders, and healing that Jesus continues to work through the apostles by His Spirit create awe. People are afraid to get to close, but they also can’t stay away. This is the power of God and His grace. People are afraid of it, but when they see the wholeness of those who experience it, they want it.

How about you and me? Am I living in a powerful experience of God’s grace through the gospel of Jesus Christ? Is He calling me to a greater generosity, selflessness, or fearlessness? Have I been faking with the church?

2 Timothy 3:5 (ESV)

having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

Have I tried to adopt the outward forms of godliness but denied its power? Am I in danger of profaning God’s power available to me through the risen Jesus Christ? Am I profaning the grace of God by trying to appear godly on the outside but filled with greed and self-protection on the inside?

May I invite you to experience the power of God’s grace available to you today? Communion

Questions for Discussion

What are ways you have experience grace in your life? How have those experiences helped overcome fear or selfishness?

What do we learn about God in this passage?

What do we learn about ourselves in this passage?

In our own cultural context, what are ways we can experience the unity and generosity we see in the shared life of the early Christians?

What does this passage teach us about the fear of the Lord?

What is our church’s reputation with those in the community around us? How does it compare with what we see in Acts 5:12-16? What should we learn from this?

How will you respond to this passage this week?

Who is someone you can share this passage with this week?