Ananias and Sapphira

Introduction

I hate that we live in a world where I get suspicious of all those feelgood stories we hear about. You see a video of a guy giving gifts and cash to homeless people while Heart of an Angel in the background and it’s sweet:

Someone is getting help

Their day just got better

They’ve experienced human warmth and kindness

But you wonder how much good in the world would get done if nobody was filming it.

Our Connection

It’s easy to to help yourself while helping someone else.

You get the ad revenue from posting it on YouTube

You get the praise of everyone in the comment section

But would we still do good if nobody ever saw it get done?

Text Connection

In Acts 4:32-37 there’s a lot of good being done through the church.

Acts 5:1-11 shows us how we ruin all of it.

Heaven on Earth

Acts 4:32–35 ESV

32 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. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 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 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

This is stunning

Not some, or even most - but all

We’re in a church numbering the thousands

We get suspicious of mega-church sizes because how can you keep track of discipleship in these situations

The have all things in common

It’s not that they were selling or abandoning property, they were sharing

Instead of keeping it all to themselves they were using it for everyone who had need

Not just the leftovers - selling land and property - real assets

This is what Deuteronomy 6:4-5 looks like

Because of the hope of the resurrection

It doesn’t matter how much I lose - Jesus is coming back

We can joyfully give up anything and everything like Jesus did - our lives and livelihood - and know we’re only trading up

The only way we get to something like this is through our love of God, expressed in love of neighbor

Barnabas

One particular example is given to us of how things should have been going and were going - Barnabas.

Acts 4:36–37 ESV

36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

He lives up to his name “Son of Encouragement” by selling a field and bringing the cash to the apostles.

This is what it looks like when people love God with all of their heart, soul, and might.

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 ESV

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Acts 4:32 - they were united in heart and soul

To love God with all of your might means to love him with everything you have power over

Our love of God is expressed in how we love our neighbor

But what happens when we love ourselves more? What happens when we take this incredible community and use it not for God’s glory, but our own?

Ananias and Sapphira

Acts 5:1–11 ESV

1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 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. 3 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? 4 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.” 5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. 7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 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.” 10 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. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

What Did They Do Wrong?

The reasons for Ananias and Sapphira’s death aren’t immediately obvious. The most obvious facts are that they sold some property for so much, but only gave a portion of it.

Acts 5:1–2 ESV

1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 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.

Some jump to the conclusion that they were required to bring all of it, just like Barnabas and the other landowners had. But look at what Peter says in verse 4:

Acts 5:4 ESV

4 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.”

Before it was sold it was their own property - the church wasn’t demanding it

After it had been sold it was still theirs - the church wasn’t demanding an all-or-nothing approach to charity

The issue is that they’ve lied.

Laying It At Their Feet

We’re told that in Acts 4:35 that people were selling land and laying the proceeds at the apostle’s feet.

Barnabas does the same thing in verse 37

Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:2

It’s not a practice you read about in the bible, but it was a common expression in Roman and Greek culture.

There’s an ancient court case where some officials are charged with theft. The defendants argue that there was no opportunity for theft since they were so open about the process: they had seized some gold and done so openly and then had laid it out at the feet of their master.

When you laid something at someone’s feet you were saying “Here it all is!” and inviting everyone to see and confirm that it really was all there.

It appears that that while Ananias and Sapphira were giving just a portion of the money they were tying to give the impression that it was really all of the money they had made.

Why?

And twice Peter asks, why?

Acts 5:3–4 ESV

3 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? 4 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.”

Why was Ananias motivated to lie here?

We can’t say the devil made me do it! Peter asks Ananias why Satan has filled his heart to lie. He asks Ananias why he’s contrived this deed. Why did you leave yourself open to his temptations and false promises? Why did you decide to lie?

They Were Thinking About Men More Than God

Notice what Peter says at the end of verse 4 - You have not lied to man but to God.

That suggests to me that Ananias wasn’t thinking about God and his opinions in this matter. He only cared about what the people thought. He wanted people to think his sacrifice was bigger than it was, that he was more righteous.

A billionaire giving away a million is great. But it’s also only 1% of their wealth.

Why was Jesus so impressed when the widow put her two coins into the treasury? Because it was all she had. Percentages can be a lot more impressive than amounts and so Ananias wants people to think he’s giving 100%.

So who is Ananias loving in that moment?

He gave service to God - but wanted all the glory for himself

He gave a real tangible benefit to the church - but only in exchange for recognition

In the end he was really only loving himself

You have to wonder if Ananias would have given anything if he didn’t get any recognition

Who Are You Serving?

We have to be careful about who we’re serving when serving in the name of God. Jesus tells us as much in Matthew 6:1

Matthew 6:1 ESV

1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

If you give charitably only to be seen by men, you’re serving yourself more than anyone else.

If you pray loudly on the street corners you’re not talking to God, you’re performing for an audience.

Fasting to get sympathy from people won’t get you any sympathy from God.

You can do good things for bad reasons. You can give great gifts to the church while Satan makes his home in your heart.

Connect and Apply

Ananias and Sapphira fell into a trap that is open for all of us - we want people to know how good we are

We want people to know when we’re sacrificial

We want people to know when we’ve gone out of our way for others

We want people to know how often we pray or read our bibles

Because we like being rewarded for how good we are.

So just like Ananias we come to worship and go out to do good not because we love God or our neighbor, but because we can get something out of it. It’s idolatry of self cloaked in the love of God.

Our motives matter.

But this deception is covering a deeper issue as well.

Ananias and Sapphira are showing a divided loyalty, a heart that doesn’t fully trust in God for satisfaction and fulfillment.

Half Kept Commitments

When Sapphira comes in, Peter doesn’t talk about her lying to God:

Acts 5:9 ESV

9 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.”

They’re testing the Spirit of the Lord.

That’s the same word that describes Israel’s actions in the wilderness after the Exodus.

They had seen the 10 plagues against Egypt

They had crossed the Red Sea while the Egyptians drowned

They saw the pillar of cloud and fire

And when they got hungry or thirsty, they immediately began to question if God was really among them or not. So they started testing him.

Before I got another step in this desert God needs to show me that I’m taken care of

Before I commit myself fully and completely to him he needs to show himself as worthy of my devotion

Peter is telling Sapphira that she and her husband are doing the same thing. They’re saying “Before we give all of it, let’s just give a little bit and see how we fare.”

They’re telling God and the church that they were all in while keeping themselves from jumping all in. They’re lying about their commitment.

But here’s the warning: If we say we’re giving all to God, we had better give all.

Stealing From Themselves?

Twice we’re told they had “kept back for themselves” some of the proceeds.

Acts 5:2–3 ESV

2 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. 3 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?

That phrase is a single word in Greek, and describes a specific kind of theft.

If you held funds intended for someone else and took some - you did what Ananias and Sapphira had done

Officials who dip into the public funds for private expenses “keep back for themselves”

In Ancient Spain there was a community who all shared the land and produce equally. But if you kept back some for yourself, something that belonged to the wider community, you were put to death

It’s the word to describe what Achan had done in the book of Joshua. When Israel conquered Jericho they were told that all the treasures in the city belonged exclusively to God. It was all to be burned as a sacrifice, devoted for his exclusive use.

But then In Joshua 7:1 we read that Achan had secretly “kept back” for himself some treasure - treasure that belonged to God alone.

But in verse 4 we have Peter saying “You were free to do whatever you wanted to do with the land and money” but we’re also told that they were stealing this money.

How does one steal their own money?

I’ll suggest to you that when Ananias and Sapphira laid it at the apostle’s feet, giving the impression that that was all the money they had made and that they were giving it all to the church - God expected truly all of it.

That is, when we tell God we’re giving it all, he knows what all really is, and he expects it - and that’s a difficult thing to do.

Trusting God Gives Up Control

We want to be the master’s of our own destiny. It’s ingrained in our cultural DNA.

We’re a democracy that rebelled against the king

We have our rights which shall not be infringed upon

We’re told from childhood up that we can be anything that we want to be

We love our independence and freedom. God says give that all to him. He will make the decisions and tell you what path to follow.

Trusting God Doesn't Make Sense

We might also think it’d be easier to trust in God and pass his tests if some of his commands made more sense.

God tested Israel with manna, those commands go against every survival instinct we have.

Don’t build up your storehouse while wandering in the desert

Don’t gather on Saturday’s

And the bible is full of commands that are non-nonsensical or paradoxical to us.

Got nasty water? Throw a tree in it!

Attacked by the Amalekites? Just put your hands in the air

Matthew 5:44 CSB

44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Matthew 10:39 CSB

39 Anyone who finds his life will lose it, and anyone who loses his life because of me will find it.

Matthew 20:16 CSB

16 “So the last will be first, and the first last.”

2 Corinthians 12:10 CSB

10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

God’s wisdom is just so counter-intuitive it has the full appearance of foolishness to most.

So we only give God some of our heart, while keeping the rest back for ourselves. We trust God to manage some of our affairs, but we’ll take care of the rest.

We test God - “Show me how well you do with this, and then we’ll talk about growing your responsibilities.”

Be Unburdened

We do it in the name of control and freedom - I’m the one in charge of my things. I control my own destiny.

We need to be careful because our love of earthly treasures and our desire to manage life all on our own sounds like freedom, but is really an incredible burden.

If Life is Stuff we will never have enough of it.

It’s why Apple sells ~220 million new phones every year.

And we spend all of our time and energy attaining, maintaining, and worrying about things that will inevitably break.

If Life is Achievement there will always be more to do.

Since 2000, 20-30 world records have been broken every Olympic Games.

So you’ll sacrifice your time trying to do more.

If Life is Our Reputation there will always be somebody who doesn’t care for you.

You’ll spend your whole life thinking about people who most likely aren’t thinking about you at all

In the end we are either left paralyzed and hiding with our insecurities and resentments of never having enough -OR- we’re led by the chains of our desires - always chasing but never grasping satisfaction

How was everyone else in the church able to give all that they had? How did Barnabas manage to sell that property and lay it at the apostles feet?

Because they loved the Lord with all of their heart, soul, and might. Loving God with everything means we are free from the burden of loving things.

Conclusion

Where’s your heart today?

Is it full of your own glory and self-love?

Is it holding out on God, still suspicious?

God is worth all of it.