Crazy generous love vs. showy religion

“Why Has Satan Filled Your Heart?”

(Acts 5:1-6, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, May 22, 2011)

5:1 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 men 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.

5:1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property,

At the end of Acts 4, a gift of the complete proceeds of a property sale was given to the church. This was just one example of the Holy Spirit working in the church in Jerusalem. Barnabas was not exalted in the story. The truth was plainly told without giving glory to anyone but God. A man sold a piece of land and put the money from the sale at the feet of the apostles. This was how God was moving in the hearts of this new community of faith. People were not clinging to their property as their own. We should expect this kind of unselfish behavior from followers of the Savior who said that He “came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” It should never have been an opportunity for boasting in anyone but Christ. This is what Jesus had instructed His disciples: “When you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.' ” Make sense?

Well... A man named Ananias also sold a piece of property. He did this with his wife Sapphira. We will consider her role and the dynamics of showy religion in a marriage relationship next week in verses 7-11. For now we want to focus on our own sin and God's grace from verses 1-6.

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.

Ananias held back a portion of the proceeds. He did this “for himself.” We do many things for ourselves, and we don't face this kind of serious rebuke from God. It is normal to care for yourself. Doesn't every normal person have some concern for his own comfort and security? What was it that went wrong here? Ananias did not want anyone to know that he kept back some of the proceeds for himself. He wanted to make it look like he had given the whole amount to the church.

This was an example of showy religion. It was a great temptation. It was sin. It was pride. It was unbelief, since it required the self-deception that God did not know or did not care. In the days when Israel was first coming into the Promised Land, there was a man named Achan who was overcome by covetousness. This strange greed can blind a man into thinking that he can get away with evil and that he can somehow hide it all from God. But the Lord revealed to Moses that the nation was facing an unexpected military defeat because of a secret sin. God found him out. The pattern of holiness had to be established at the outset of the new life for Israel. How much more for the church now that the Redeemer had risen from the dead. God knew about the deception, and He was determined to bring this matter to light.

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 men but to God.”

Back to Ananias and this religious showiness: Peter found out the truth. Ananias had kept back a part of the proceeds of the land sale for himself. The apostle's words to Ananias were very instructive. “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?” Ananias was responsible for his sin, but he was not the only one involved in this deception. Satan had filled his heart. That was one aspect of the ugliness of this sin. It put Ananias in league with some very bad company. On the flip side of this consideration was another ugly fact. This sin put Ananias in a position of fighting against the God who had never done anything against him. Ananias was lying to God the Holy Spirit.

Peter was not saying here that Ananias did not have the right to give less than 100% of this gift to the Lord's church. Ananias did not have to give any of the proceeds to the church. Peter said, “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?” The kind of crazy generous giving that people like Barnabas were doing in the early church was not a matter of law. It was a response to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. It came freely from people that were moved by the death and resurrection of Jesus for them. It was the gift of hearts that proclaimed a good word without hypocrisy: “Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!” See 2 Corinthians 9.

This scheming to look holy in the eyes of the church or the world was not a good impulse. It was not like Jesus, but like the Pharisees. It might have fooled some people, but it would not help the cause of Christ. Peter said to Ananias, “Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last.

How should Ananias have responded to this? The secret of his heart was laid bare. “He fell down and breathed his last.” Remember Achan. No second chance. If you are here now, you can change. Jesus took the cross for you. He did not come today with stones. He wants you to live.

There is a way to be cut the heart and still live. That ought to be happening in Christian worship. Paul said that in 1 Corinthians 14, that if the Word comes to a person, especially from multiple testimonies, where the church is able to say something that only God could have known, it could have a big impact on someone that God is calling home. Paul said, “He is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.” Ananias fell down. We need to fall down too, not in death, but in worship, and then we need to stand up and live.

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.

The church learned something that day, that we need to learn again in every generation. God is not pleased with praise-seeking hypocrisy that condemns the weak, the trapped, the lost, and justifies the showy. “Great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.”

Let the Christ who died that we might live work that good fear in us, so that we would hate the remaining religious hypocrisy in us. Flee from all showy giving. There is one gift that counts: His. Our giving is just the obvious response, and it is not worth talking about too much. We are just unworthy servants who have been given the privilege of falling down in worship and rising up again to serve. When we do that, we are just doing what we ought to do.

1. How does this story relate to the account at the end of Acts 4?

2. What was the problem with what Ananias did?

3. What is Peter's message to Ananias?

4. What is God's message to the church through this sad episode?

OT Passage: Joshua 7