Caught Dead in a Lie

Acts 4:32–5:16 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. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 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. 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. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

We are continuing our study of the book of Acts. This is the story of the birth of the Christian church. Jesus has returned to his throne in heaven. His followers, in obedience to his command, went and waited in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came and baptized them with power to be his witnesses. When the Holy Spirit came, he arrived with the sound of wind—the sound of God’s breath—and baptized them with fire. They spoke in languages they did not know, and with a new boldness they preached the gospel to a massive crowd of Jews. Three thousand people claimed Jesus as their Messiah that day and began following him.

Within a few days after Pentecost, Peter and John performed a miracle of healing a paralytic man. This act opened the door for them to preach and win 2000 more souls to Christ. They also experienced their first taste of religious persecution from the pharisees and temple priests who had them arrested for preaching Jesus.

But in all this, the church began to grow. Lives are being transformed. We see amazing things in this community of faith, and I’m not just talking about miracles!

Everyone is voluntarily sharing whatever they have with everyone else in the community. The wealthy believers are selling their valuables to provide for the poor believers. They are demonstrating genuine love for each other, with no respect to social status or position.

And so the church continues to grow. It’s not just because of the apostle’s preaching, which is powerful, but also because of the testimony of how these new believers are living out their faith.

But how many of you know that, when your garden starts growing, you’re gonna get weeds?

It happens in the church too.

People see the exciting, new things going on, and they want to be where the action is. Most come with genuine motives, but there is always someone who wants to figure out how to work this to their advantage.

That seems to be what we have going on with Ananias and Sapphira. They saw the miracles and heard the message. This was exciting and new. They were people of means, and now they had the opportunity to cash in on this new spiritual movement and become respected in the religious community as well as the financial and social community.

They see this man from Cyprus, Joseph, sell a piece of property and give all the money from the sale to the apostles. They are so impressed that they give him a new nickname, Barnabas, “son of encouragement.”

Ananias has found his in with the apostles!

He goes and sells property for a LARGE amount of money. Scripture does not say it, but you get the feeling that Ananias got much more for his property than Barnabas did. Here is my read on this, and I admit I am injecting more than what the word says, though it is in keeping with the spirit of what we read.

Ananias gets enough money from his sale that he can give at least as much as Barnabas AND keep a tidy profit for himself. I mean, if Barnabas is foolish enough to make himself a pauper for the sake of helping others, that’s his business, but Ananias has a lifestyle to maintain.

So he goes before the apostles and lays down this pile of money that is greater than what Barnabas gave, ready to be rewarded for his generosity. He even puts on a mask of humility and claims that what he gave is the whole amount from his sale.

Here’s the thing.

Ananias, his wife Sapphira, and all the Jewish people for that matter, had their whole lives seen the pharisees and religious leaders abuse their spiritual position. They twisted God’s laws to their advantage and found ways to extort money from people who didn’t have money to give. Those religious leaders had gotten away with it for centuries.

Ananias and Sapphira thought they could operate just like the pharisees did, using religion as a means to get ahead in the world.

But they made a mistake. Apparently, they had experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It was a common occurrence for new believers. So for Ananias and his wife to lie like they did to the apostles and the rest of the believers, acting as though the Holy Spirit had laid it on their heart to sells property for this price, is lying about the Holy Spirit they had personally encountered. It was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and that won’t be tolerated!