A+S
Meeting the Holy Spirit Through Acts • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 17 viewsNotes
Transcript
The fear of God CANNOT be separated from our faith! - NT dictionary Greek
God truly was among His people - as seen in Acts 2 and 4-5
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.
The big idea today as we consider the person and work of the Holy Spirit is that:
The Holy Spirit judges the heart rightly.
We’re going to break this story down today and explore two demonstrations of how the Spirit rightly judges each person’s heart. The first is that…
The Spirit Reveals
The Spirit Reveals
Let’s read verses 1-2 again:
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.
Think about it: a man walks into wherever it was that some of the church is gathered, and like others before him places money to be put into the community pot at the Peter’s feet. This is not an uncommon occurrence at this point in the life church. As we’ve already explored at the end of Acts 2, this new church was living in unprecedented harmony. Moreover, the section directly before this narrative (Acts 4:32-37) has a man named Barnabas doing exactly the same thing as Ananias and Sapphira: Selling property and bringing the proceeds to the church.
This seems good, doesn’t it? You’d expect Peter to say thanks and accept the money. But that’s not what happens:
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.”
Let’s stop here: What just happened? This isn’t exactly how we would expect Peter to react, is it? What’s the problem?
Peter establishes a fact: The land was Ananias and Sapphira’s to do with as they pleased. Moreover, in selling it they didn’t have to turn the proceeds to the church. They could have rightfully kept the money for themselves, or given it to the church. This is a common misconception with the first part of the story. Peter isn’t rebuking them over the sum of money itself, or even that only part of it was given. So it has to be something deeper - heart-deep, for it has to do with Satan filling their hearts.
In verse 2 we read that together, they kept back some of the proceeds from the sale. Is that wrong? Our english translation is entirely unhelpful when understanding the meaning of these words. The words translated “kept back” are just one word in Greek. And that one word nosphizō, means to withhold, not handover or share. There’s this sense of stealing or holding something that isn’t yours. It’s the same word that is used for Achan’s story in Joshua 7.
In Joshua 7 the people of Israel are continuing their conquest of the promised land, led by Joshua. They plunder Jericho, and God tells them not to take the silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron. These are for God’s tabernacle. They are not for the Israelites to keep. Strict warning is given: Don’t take these thing, lest trouble come upon the nation.
However, in Joshua 7:1, we read:
But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.
From this the people of Israel loose the battle with Ai, because God is not with them.
Is this about God being greedy? No, but it does have to do with disobeying God’s law. In the same way as Achan, Ananias and Sapphira acted deceitfully, allowing Satan to fill their hearts against God. As a result, they kept back something that was God’s and lied about it. The heart condition of Ananias - and his wife as we see later - is one that is black with deceit and greed.
Remember our main point:
The Holy Spirit judges the heart rightly.
Peter is given prophetic insight through the Holy Spirit to see through the deception Ananias tries to bring. This is a serious offence to the new community of believers. We’ll explore that more in a moment, but to start, we can see the exposing of Ananias’s heart through the Spirit’s empowering. This is crucial. Do we understand the depth of wisdom and knowledge our God has? We are told in 1 Cor 3:20
and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
Moreover, in Acts as the Disciples are praying about who will replace Judas as one of the 12 apostles, their prayer affirms this truth: That God knows men’s hearts:
And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen
to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”
Talk about Simon the magician? (Acts 8:9-24)
Talk about Elymas? (Acts 13:8-12)
Do we realize the impact of this? It is important for us to realize that if we are going to be a Spirit-filled community of believers, there cannot be anything that we try to hide from the Spirit of God, because he searches every person’s heart, knows us, and knows our intentions. And he will reveal the heart of those who would damage, hurt, or otherwise harm the church. We must guard our hearts, because temptation from the evil one will come. It is both the Spirit who sees, knows, and helps us to stay true.
The Spirit Purifies
The Spirit Purifies
Peter prophetically exposes the heart condition of Ananias and Sapphira by the Spirit. But what comes next is chilling, and sad:
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.
When we read this, we may think “that’s harsh, isn’t it?” Both of them are struck down! They die! In fact, the way the text puts it, the very breath of life seems to be taken away from Ananias in particular. Since it is God through the Spirit who brings swift judgement. Ok, so he lied, big deal, right? We might think this, but we would be wrong. This is serious.
Peter tells Ananias that he has lied not to people, but to God Himself. To Sapphira he asks:
Acts 5:9 (ESV)
“How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?
These are both on and the same. They have chosen to lie to the Holy Spirit. They have tested the Holy Spirit.
Matthias Wenk - a theologian and pastor - shares this great insight on the testing of the Holy Spirit:
Testing the Spirit of the Lord means to oppose the course the Spirit is taking with the community. Their treachery is that they are conspiring together in deception to steer the community in a different, satanic direction. Luke reveals that their plans to infect and divide the community are quickly exposed and brought to an end.
The God knows our hearts. The Spirit knows each heart. Our God acted through the Spirit with swift judgement on both of these individuals because they were directly opposing the course of the Spirit. In fact, their deception is satanic in nature. This must help us to see the great threat here!
Like the Israelites in the OT, Ananias and Sapphira are putting the Spirit's presence on trial as to whether the holiness of the community will be protected. - J. Kienzler
This is a community of believers united in the Spirit - the powerful Spirit of the Holy God. But Satan, the great adversary of the Spirit, has poised these two. And lest we think it’s not their fault, Peter clearly says why have you allowed… they allowed this, conspiring with Satan towards a threat to the early church. The condition of their hearts is not just about them, but poses a threat to this new community of believers.
In acting in such a way, allowing Satan to fill their hearts with deception, Ananias and Sapphira violated this sacred community of believers. This community that is held together and empowered by the very Spirit of God. In verse 10 we see this new community for the very first time Acts called the church. It’s not like any other community - it is the Spirit-empowered people of God! Ananias and Sapphira slapped God in the face with blatant defiance for His laws and the Spirit’s moving in their new community. They broke the profound unity that was clearly part of the group until this point. In Acts 2 and 4 we get pictures of this community being…
ὁμοθυμαδόν - With one mind/ One accord - Acts 2:46.
καρδία και ψυχή (Kardia and psyche) one heart and soul (4:32)
“in common” (4:32)
These characteristics are gifts to the early church in these last days. They have this profound unity where even their possessions are sold, and together they take care of each other’s needs. God’s new covenant people are living very differently from the world around them. I don’t think this was a picture for how the church should be all the time, but recognize the unprecedented moving of the Spirit at this moment in history! The first four chapters of Acts demonstrate the profound difference in these redeemed united by the Spirit as Christ’s people. They are transformed!
Then comes this couple. Inspired by Satan, they threaten the very existence of this unity by acting in a way that is deceitful towards not just people, but God. This is a seious threat to the DNA of the church. Our passage is bracketed by two other passages that talk about the church and the Spirit. In Acts 4 31 we read:
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
This is right after Peter and John are released from prison. The church’s response is to pray for the Spirit’s empowerment: for witness, for boldness, for signs and wonders! And that’s what happens. Then skip down to Acts 5 12:
Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico.
Again the ending bracket to this sad story about Ananias and Sapphira shows the Spirit’s direct and powerful involvement. For Ananias and Sapphira to allow their hearts to be filled with Satan and break the unity and directly go against the movement of the Spirit was a huge threat to the church.
The swift judgement this couple receives is hard to swallow. There’s no other story like it in the New Testament. See the point - the Spirit has protected this young community of believers from the influence of Satan. He gave swift judgement to two people allowed Satan to enter. The Spirit brought judgement upon Ananias and Sapphira. We see demonstrated the Holy Spirit’s great power in judging each heart in their judgement, and it becomes a warning to us:
There is a sacredness about this gathering of believers that is defended by God’s very Spirit. Remember from previous weeks we have asked, how is it that some movement started by 1 man 2000+ years ago has now gone across the entire world. It’s message hasn’t changed, and it’s power is real. No human can do this, but God can. It is the message of salvation in the One who saves: Jesus. In Acts, the Spirit empowers the church - this body of those who have place their faith in Jesus - moving through the them, and draws people into it. But here we see something very important: The Spirit also purifies the church, protecting it from threats both inside and out. Today it is the same. The Spirit purifies the church, maybe not by striking people dead, this story is definitely not the norm. But, our God does defend and protect His church and purify it.
Conclusion
Conclusion
God knows our hearts. Ananias and Sapphira thought they could deceive the apostles by masquerading their portion of money as the sum total of what was promised to bring to the church. Satan-filled, they thought they could get away with a lie. Peter is empowered by the Spirit to speak prophetically and calls them out on it.
Is this a harsh story to read? It certainly seems so at first. But in reality, this was the Spirit’s action to protect and cleanse the community.
What would the HS find in your heart?
References:
Kienzler, Cornerstone, Tyndale Commentary Acts, LRLGNT, New American Commentary Acts.
