Acts 5:1-11 – Opposition from Within
The Living Word With Chuck Davis
Acts 5:1-11 – Opposition from Within
"Welcome to the Living Word with Chuck Davis." Acts 5-1-0-11, opposition from within. But a man named Ananias with his wife, Safira, 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 apostle's 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. In great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young man rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. After an interval 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 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 and they found her dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. In great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. This can be a challenging story to us. It feels a little harsh, but really it's God showing mercy to his church. The church is young and it's vulnerable. In this idea of the two of them contriving in their heart, it's going to be an issue of posturing and posturing will break community down really quickly. The body was going to face some things in the days ahead and we will get to that and the Lord prepares them by keeping them united together, not having any weak links. What was their crime? It had nothing to do with the money. It was that they would present to the church body something that was not a reality. It's posturing. It's misunderstanding how valuable a LinkedIn Unified community really is. They were free to use those funds in that land however they want, but they played somewhat of a spiritual ruse suggesting that they had sold it and given everything. They had opportunity to come clean. The way the Peter unfolds it with Ann and Iris is giving him opportunity after opportunity. If we think this is too harsh, I think we need to consider Ezekiel's words where he declares of the Lord, "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked." But at the same time, God takes no pleasure in hypocrisy or pretension. Why? The gospel message itself stands against the reality of the need for pretension. We don't need pretension because there's nothing to hide. There's nothing to prove, nothing to protect. We should hate the things that Jesus hates and Jesus does not like it when a community is broken apart. We were meant to live in unity. Some people would say, "Well, what kind of God is this?" I would say it's a God to be feared. Sometimes we make God too safe. I always feel comfortable coming to him as my father, but I don't ever want to reduce him as to someone who just tolerates unattended sin in my life or the life of the community. My now-what is a reminder of my commitment to the church. I say the church. It's to the people of God, not to the institution. I don't want to give Satan a foothold. I don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit. I don't want to suggest that I'm anything other than who I really am. And I want to take sin seriously because I never sin alone. I always sin in community and it has impact in the community. So Lord, here we are today. We want to do everything to lift up your name and we want to avoid anything that would bring your name down by spoiling the reputation of your community. And so we ask that you would feel so fresh by your spirit and that we would live honest lives before ourselves and before others. Because in the end, as we're living those realities and being honest, we're actually living before you. In Jesus' name. Amen. name. Amen.