A lot for me to think about. . . you too?

Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 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. 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? 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 to men but to God." When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?" "Yes," she said, "that is the price." Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also." At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. Acts 4.36-5.11

Good Morning.

I was well into my writing of today's Morning Briefing, answering the question, "Who is espressocd?" But then. . . as I read Acts 5, I decided espressocd should wait! Didn't we just discuss the unity of the believers--their being of the same heart and mind? Dang, all of a sudden, folks are falling out dead. . . what happened here? Well, like any group of people, sooner or later, evil finds its way in--and then, the continuing health and good will of the community may just be determined by how that evil is handled. Let's take a look. . .

It seems that Barnabas (of whom we will talk about throughout Acts), sold a piece of land and brought the proceeds to the apostles for distribution for the needy among them. Clearly, word got out about his generous gift, and he may have experienced some accolades as a result. This positive perception was attractive to Ananias and Sapphira, so that was what the devil used to tempt them. They too decide to sell property and give the funds for the needs of the community. However, Peter exercises a clear gift of discernment here, knowing that their motive was not pure; they lied that they were giving the entire amount, when really they kept back part of the money. They lied to win the esteem of others. Their deceit was against God, but also, their sin hurt the new, tender community as a whole. God was quick to judge them, and this put a holy fear in others who heard what happened to them.

This passage screams several things very loudly at me--see what you think:
1- Peter was confident in his gift of discernment; come on, you know he didn't know of Ananias' conduct, he trusted his Holy Spirit-given wisdom, and acted on it immediately. Remember, A & S were perfectly entitled to only give part of the proceeds to the church--it was theirs to do with as they wished--their sin: they LIED. . .

2- A community of believers can be growing together in wisdom and intimacy in the things of God, and be instantly compromised by the hypocritical sin of her members. . . do you see why that might be true?

3- Impression management is a slippery slope to offering up an appearance that is not genuine; like A & S, I can fall into caring too much about the esteem of others. I was thinking about this today, and realize that temptation comes on subtly because after all "a good name is more desirable than great riches", (Proverbs 22.1), so we should seek to have a golden reputation, but we must guard our authenticity, lest pride corrupt us. 'Ah, Lord, keep me close to Your heart. May I be aware of what breaks your heart, and check my thoughts and behavior, that I might not hurt you with my sin. . . '

4- God will not prosper a believer if he enters knowingly into sin, but rather will exact a judgment--sooner or later. God does not wink at sin. Just when you think no one will discover your lie, check out this verse I found: Jesus said, What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. Luke 12.3

5- Finally, when A & S were tempted to enter into this series of actions, they had a choice; rather than turn from the temptation to deceive, they gave into their flesh. God does not tempt us--James makes that clear--"each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin..." James 1.14,15

Okay, so maybe you wished I would have stuck with my original topic, but I could not. I have known the story of Ananias and Sapphira since I was a little girl, but I had not thought about how God felt because of their actions. . . I had not thought of how the unity of the young church would have been compromised, and the believers hurt. . . Indeed, this passage gave me a lot to think about. . . perhaps you too. Hit 'reply', let me know...
Christine (DiGiacomo) Blogs on Allaboutgod.com, powerinthewordofgod.com, and "Morning Briefings group" on Facebook. See what believers around the world are saying. . .