One in Heart and Mind

Aberra Wata worked with Christian youth in the southern part of Ethiopia during the time of Communist rule (1974–1991). He reported the following story to fellow missionary John Cumbers:

Word came from the commandant that the Party leaders had studied my report about the work among the Christian young people. The authorities decided I had to be executed because of my “treasonous” words.

“The only way you can overturn this sentence,” said the commandant, “is for you to deny that you are one of the believers.”

What could I say? I told the commandant, “If they execute me, I will be immediately with the Lord.”

The commandant replied, “That’s what I expected you to say.”

As I awaited execution in prison, my Savior gave me songs to sing I had never heard before. He turned me into a composer. [My fellow prisoners and I] reveled in the joys of praise to our God. The guards kept trying to silence us, but with the threat of execution hanging over us, why should we keep quiet? Seven men had come to Christ in that prison, and we all sang together.

One particular guard took delight in mocking us, yelling at us, and insulting us. He would put filthy words to the tunes we sang. One night he patted his revolver and promised, “Tomorrow morning at this time you won’t be in the land of the living.”

Just after midnight that evening a tremendous storm burst on the town and the prison. Huge hailstones fell, wrecking several roofs, including the one where the insulting guard was sleeping. He became terrified, pulled out his revolver, and shot at random into the darkness, using up all the bullets he had promised would finish us off the next day.

One by one the roofs were taken off the commandant’s house and the offices of the chief judge, the administrator, and his deputy. The prisoners in cells three, four, and five got a soaking from the rain too. We were in cell one and were kept dry. There were a lot of wet and unhappy people in Yavello that night.

At nine o’clock the next morning, while expecting the cruel guard to fulfill his promise to shoot us, we observed a remarkable sight. That same guard was pushed into our cell, without his uniform, by the commandant, who was whipping him with his belt. Other people in the background were yelling, “We told this man to leave the believers alone, but he refused, and so God has sent this terrible punishment on the town and prison. He deserves to be given some of his own medicine.”

After some time the guard was released and given back his uniform. He told us, “I know that the Lord was with you. I know the way I should have treated you, but Satan persuaded me otherwise. Please forgive me.” We did, and several more men came to Christ in the prison.

Let’s pray for God to speak to us today as we study Acts chapter 5.

Pray (Fill us with Your Spirit and give us boldness to speak Your Word.)

Today we are continuing our study through Acts with chapter five. I love the testimony we opened with because it sounds so similar to the disciples imprisonment stories in the bible, one of which can be found in today’s scripture. Before we get to that, though, let’s start with one of the most difficult and confusing passages in the Bible.

At the end of chapter 4, we saw that the believers prayed for boldness to speak God’s Word, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. According to Luke, all of the believers were one in heart and mind, even going so far as to share all of their possessions. Some of the believers even sold their land or houses so the money could be distributed to anyone who had need.

Chapter 4 ends with a note about a guy the apostles called Barnabas who sold a field that he owned and put the money at the apostles’ feet. Chapter 5 begins with a stark contrast…

Acts 5:1–2 NIV

1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Let’s pause for a second. This story is interesting because there are some parallels for us to examine. First, let’s think about the context again. We are talking about the early Church. At this moment, the Holy Spirit is moving in powerful ways. Prayer rooms are shaking, miraculous things are happening, people are being healed, people are speaking in foreign languages, we’ve read about wind and fire. The presence of the Holy Spirit is very strong and powerful, and when people see it they are in awe!

So what do these followers of the Way do? They give everything for this movement. Not just one or two of them, they all do. They were in one heart and mind, sharing everything they had. Barnabas sold a field he owned and laid the money at the apostles feet. Next, Ananias and Sapphira do the same thing. At least, that’s what they pretend to do. A little bit of greed slips into their hearts and they hold on to some of it. They lie to the others. They lie to God. They are NOT united with God or the other believers. Then Peter says this…

Acts 5:3–4 NIV

3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

This story is a tough one to read and even tougher to try and understand, but I believe the key to understanding this husband and wife’s sin against God is the fact that they lied. Outwardly they were pretending to be “one in heart and mind” with the other believers, but inwardly they were allowing greed into their hearts. They were supposed to be letting God fill them with the Holy Spirit, but instead they were allowing Satan to fill their hearts with sin.

Let’s keep reading to see what happens to them…

Acts 5:5–11 NLT

5 As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. 6 Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him. 7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?” “Yes,” she replied, “that was the price.” 9 And Peter said, “How could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too.” 10 Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.

What a powerful and terrifying story! This is one of those stories that makes you think, “Why would God respond in this way with these two, but let others do the same later?” It’s a tough question and we aren’t given a clear answer, but we can look for connections that will help to shed some light.

First, this is the first recorded sin in Jesus’ new church. This sin also happens to be perpetrated by a husband and wife. If this sounds familiar to you, it should! The first sin recorded in the Old Testament also involves a husband and wife, Adam and Eve! What a coincidence, right? The original sin was about Adam and Eve seeking their own desires instead of obeying the Lord. In the early days of Christianity, Ananias and Sapphira also sought their own desires instead of obeying the Lord.

If you are taking notes, here is key thought we can explore about this passage…

God’s presence and purposes for humanity depend on unity.

What happened to Adam and Eve after they broke the unity with God? They turned on God, then they turned on each other. Division destroyed their relationships. The same thing threatened the new church. God had a purpose for them, but in order to use them for His purposes they could not be divided in spirit.

The Greek word Luke used in this story means “embezzled.” It is the same Greek word that is used in the Greek version of a story in Joshua. It is a very rare word, so it appears that Luke was intentionally connecting the stories. In Joshua, a man named Achan took some of the things God had declared devoted to destruction at Jericho. In that story we can see God’s reaction to their heart of division…

Joshua 7:11–13 NIV

11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. 12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction. 13 “Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.

Just like the early church, God had a purpose for Israel at a crucial time in history, but in order to use them for His purposes they also could not be divided in spirit. They had to remain fully in the presence of the Lord.

The same thing happened again with Elisha’s disciple. In 2 Kings, Elisha healed a man named Naaman. Naaman was so thankful for the miraculous healing that he wanted to give Elisha something in return. After refusing, Elisha’s disciple, Gehazi, decided to capitalize on the opportunity. He ran after Naaman and asked for silver and clothing, to which he was given about 175 pounds of silver! Today that would be worth about $65,000!

Elisha confronted Gehazi in the same way Peter did with Ananias. Gehazi lied, just like Ananias, and was supernaturally punished. The affliction that Naaman was healed of was put on Gehazi, which likely killed him.

The crazy thing about this story is that it wasn’t even a requirement for Ananias and Sapphira to do any of it. They didn’t have to sell their house. They didn’t have to give the money to the church. They volunteered to do it, and then lied about it. I don’t know why they did this, but one thing is clear. This action invited disunity and disharmony to the church that, by all appearances, the Holy Spirit would not tolerate. Particularly during this specific stage of emergence of Jesus’ church.

As a side note, it is interesting to me how the penalties in each story were handled. When Adam and Eve gave in to the greed because they wanted to rule and be as God, they were removed from the rule they already were a part of with God. When Achan decided to take what was to be destroyed, he was inviting that destruction on the Israelites. When Gehazi took what wasn’t his and lied about it, the punishment was the leprosy of the man from whom he stole, Naaman. Ananias laid the proceeds for the sale of his house at the feet of the apostle’s, but later Sapphira falls down and dies at the feet of Peter. The very place where they sought to deceive the apostles becomes the place where judgment is executed upon them. This is known as situational irony.

Possibly the craziest part of these stories is the fact that all of these people decided to sin at a time when God was working in dramatic ways. The Holy Spirit’s presence was visibly manifesting Himself in powerful displays of supernatural miracles and awe inspiring events. These weren’t moments where the people had never seen God move and had no idea He was among them. Quite the opposite! All of these people likely saw miraculous signs and wonders of God and the Holy Spirit, but for some reason, instead of awe, they felt greed.

I believe this shows us another important thought about God’s purpose. God’s purpose for us depends on unity with each other and most importantly with Him. Second…

God’s presence and purposes have no room for evil.

In the initial stages of the Church in Acts, there could be no room for a Judas. There was no tolerance for the devil to enter. Look again at what Peter said to Ananias…

Acts 5:3 ESV

3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit…?

What might have happened if God had allowed Ananias and Sapphira to get away with their lie? Maybe they would have been emboldened? Maybe they could have encouraged others to be like them? Even today, people will describe Christians like Ananias and Sapphira to prop up their decision to deconstruct their faith or to hate Christianity all together! What kind of damage could that have done to the early church? Clearly God didn’t want something similar to happen to the early church. For another Judas-type figure to try and kill the church as Judas did Jesus.

So what do we do? How can I apply this lesson of unity to my life? What could Ananias and Sapphira have done different? Something that stands out to me in this story is just how disunified they were. They didn’t even approach the apostles together! Maybe they should have come together with the group and been more open about their situation. They obviously had a strong group of Christians who cared deeply for God, His purposes, and His people. If they had have simply opened up about their struggles, their greed, and their sins, this could have all been avoided…

Everyone needs to be accountable to someone.

Just a little bit of confession and transparency might have saved Ananias and Sapphira. The moment we begin to operate outside the bounds of God’s expectations is the moment that Satan will try to divide and destroy the Body of Christ. Satan tries to fill our hearts with something other than God so that we do what under normal circumstances would appear to be upside down and insane! Today, we hear stories in the news of people doing horrible things and we think, “How could they do that?” They let evil fill their hearts with sinful thoughts and desires, like greed, instead of letting the Holy Spirit fill them.

In the story I read in the beginning, the prison guard told Aberra Wata, “I know the way I should have treated you, but Satan persuaded me otherwise.” As we keep reading chapter 5 of Acts, the Sadducees do the same thing. Right off the bat, Luke tells us that they were filled with jealousy…

Acts 5:17 NIV

17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.

So they did something they would not have done if they were filled with God’s Spirit. They threw the apostles in jail. In another bit of irony, an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought out the apostles. It’s ironic because the Sadducees didn’t believe in angels. (Acts 23:8) So the Sadducees round the apostles up again and question them. They are filled with jealousy and they are just getting more and more mad at the apostles. Then they say this…

Acts 5:28 NIV

28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

We talked about this last time. They told the apostles not to teach in Jesus’ name and they said, “You decide what is better, to listen to you or to listen to God.” Now they are pretending to be innocent of Jesus’ blood. This is very ironic! Remember when Pilate washed his hands of the murder of Jesus and said to the crowd, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. It is your responsibility!” All of the crowd, including the religious leaders, answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

When you let Satan fill your heart, you may know how you should treat others, but you will be persuaded otherwise!

Now, the religious leaders were ready to kill the apostles, but even they could be swayed by the accountability of someone. Gamaliel doesn’t appear to have been a Christian, but he was a teacher of the law. After he gets up and speaks, the religious leaders decided not to kill the apostles, but their bloodlust wasn’t completely quenched. If they had have let the Holy Spirit fill them with God’s Word, things would have been completely different. Instead of killing the apostles, they flogged them and let them go.

It’s important to note that the level of violence is ramping up for the Sadducees against the apostles. They have gone from prison, to strict reprimands and threats, to now being beaten. These floggings were no laughing matter. It entailed thirty-nine lashes across the front and back of the body. Some men died from flogging alone. It was brutal, barbaric, and deadly. Yet, the apostles rejoice!

Acts 5:41–42 NIV

41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

How amazing is that! Can you imagine suffering under the threat of death and rejoicing that you were given the opportunity? That is something I am going to have to sit with for a while to even allow my mind to grasp. It’s amazing what God can do in us when we are unified together with Him, filled with His Spirit to share His Word, giving no quarter to Satan or evil, and working together to stay unified through transparency, openness, and confession.

That’s what Acts chapter 5 speaks to me. I fully believe God wants to do amazing things through us as we unify with each other to Him and His purposes.

Pray

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