Can You Fool God?
Acts 5:1-11
“Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.” vs. 11
“2 Chicken Dinners, Please!”
Several years ago, in Long Beach, California, a fellow went into a fried chicken place and bought a couple of chicken dinners for himself and his date late one afternoon. The young woman at the counter inadvertently gave him the proceeds from the day—a whole bag of money (much of it cash) instead of fried chicken. After driving to their picnic site, the two of them sat down to open the meal and enjoy some chicken together. They discovered a whole lot more than chicken—over $800! But he was unusual. He quickly put the money back in the bag. They got back into the car and drove all the way back. Mr. Clean got out, walked in, and became an instant hero. By then the manager was frantic. The guy with the bag of money looked the manager in the eye and said, “I want you to know I came by to get a couple of chicken dinners and wound up with all this money. Here.” Well, the manager was thrilled to death. He said, “Oh, great, let me call the newspaper. I’m gonna have your picture put in the local newspaper. You’re the most honest man I’ve heard of.” To which they guy quickly responded, “Oh no, no, don’t do that!” Then he leaned closer and whispered, “You see, the woman I’m with is not my wife…she’s uh, somebody else’s wife.”
Charles Swindoll, Growing Deep in the Christian Life, pp. 159-60
Have you ever thought what you might do if that happened to you? Not the affair par the money in the bag part. Would you have enough integrity to return the money or would you walk away with it knowing that no one would really know? It’s a big decision. It’s tempting to some. Today we are looking at a story you might know or maybe you’ve heard the names but not sure in what context. It’s a husband and wife duo named Ananias and Sapphira.
Read Passage – Acts 5:1-11
1Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2With 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. 3Then 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? 4Didn’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.” 5When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. 7About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.” 9Peter 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.” 10At 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. 11Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
Looking The Part
In our story, Ananias and Sapphira are part of the early church movement. It’s a new idea of the way things are done in the church and it’s not all that pretentiousness and exclusiveness that dominated the church through the Pharisee’s and Saducee’s. This was a church going couple who wanted to fit in and had embraced some of the new ideas the church had been built on since the death of Christ. One of the issues that had come to the forefront was what we today call Social Justice. The idea of helping those less fortunate than yourself and reaching out to those in need. Some amazing work was being done because in Acts 2 it tells us that it was common for people to sell their possessions and give to others. Verse 43 it says they were all together and had everything in common. This was exciting and energizing. It is this excitement that Ananias and Sapphira get caught up in and that they want to be a part of. Turns out they have this extra piece of property and decide to sell it and give the money to the church to help those in need. Sounds great. Anything wrong with that? No way.
We All Have Our Struggles
But what happens to them is what happens to all of us. They had a struggle. Really, we all have struggles. Some of us are better at hiding our struggles than others but the bottom liineis that we all have struggles. Their struggle surfaces when they sell the house and give the money to the leaders They put it out there that they were selling the house and giving the whole proceeds to the church. This is a very kind gesture but in their generosity their struggles surface. There was nothing wrong with selling the house and giving the money to the church.
Current Adages With Biblical Concepts
You may have heard this story before. Many who have heard it think that Ananias and Sapphira were killed because they didn’t give all their money to the church. Wrong! Their problems were much deeper. The attitudes of their hearts are the real reason behind their demise. I think some current adages and/or phrases that convey wisdom and observations about life help us understand what God is trying to convey to us through this story. And these adages have their basis in Biblical verses.
- Honesty Is The Best Policy
The first ot their issues that jumped out to me reminds me of the adage “Honesty is the best policy.” Remember, this story isn’t just about money. There is dishonesty in their heart. Verse 2:
“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.” vs. 2
The dishonesty is not that they only gave part, it’s that they were dishonest in that they gave off the appearance of giving it all; (100%) of the profits from the sale. I think from this we understand what their issue really was:
Their Issue: To Get Approval From Others
Their motivation was to look good, to look like they brought it all, bur really they just wanted to give some of it and keep some for themselves. Their motivation led them to lie. Genesis 19: 11:
“Do not lie.” Leviticus 19:11
Really what God is saying to us: Be honest. Honesty is the best policy. It’s hard sometimes, it can be tough, but it’s what’s best for us.
Ill. A few years ago they SF Giants put out this campaign about helping kids and it’s called Jr. Giants and they encouraged people to give toward this worthwhile program. It’s a great program that helps less fortunate boys and girls have baseball equipment and better parks to play baseball. During the baseball season I was always hearing commercials that promote this organization; I really admire the was(s) they are trying to help boys and girls. What they did was advertise that this one pitcher, Barry Zito, was donating $50k. He makes $18 million a year. That’s right $18M. This was suppose to be an encouragement to us to give as well. If Barry can give such a huge amount, couldn’t we spare some too? Well, I sat down with a calculator. $50k of $18M is .0027%. That’s 3 tenths of a percent.
So I did a little more calculating. If a the average earner makes $60K annually, and percentage wise you wanted to match Barry Zito, that would equal $162. No so impressive anymore is it. I am not criticizing Barry in any way. I am glad he gave as much as he did to this organization. I am sure he gives monies to other worthy causes as well and is a very generous person. But I felt pretty deceived by the commercial and a little manipulated too.
Like Ananias and Sapphira, it’s natural to want to look good in front of others. But we should follow God’s word and not lie especially so we can look good in front of others.
- All’s well that ends well
Another phrase that came to mind is “All’s well that ends well. It’s the idea that if everything comes out okay in the end then what you did to get there is okay. No. Back to verse 3:
“Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit.” vs. 3
When we let Satan take a foothold, he convinces us that we can take things in our own hands and make it work and that leads us down a very bad road. This reveals their second issue:
Their Issue: They Focused On Themselves Not God
We have to decide who we are going to follow. They lost focus of God’s ways and focus on Satan and their own way. That happens to us, we get that way. We feel we can handle it, that we can figure it all our and that we can work our way out of situations. Solomon told us:
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12
What he is saying is don’t loose your focus, if you think you can make it without God and without his ways, it can lead to death. In Ananias and Sapphira’s case this is literal. When Ananias lies to Peter, he drops dead. The glory was suppose to go to God but when we focus on ourselves we are more concerned about getting the glory ourselves.
Let me give you one quick warning. Focusing on God does not assure we won’t make mistakes. I’d like to say that it does but we still make mistakes. I have done some things with all the right focus and not had them turn out right. But when God is the focus even our mistakes can be used for his glory.
- Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right
A third adage that surfaces is “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” Isn’t interesting that there were two wrongs here; both Ananias and Sapphira. Verse 7:
“About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.” vs. 7
I find this so bizarre. Her husband dies, and is buried, and no one tells her. She walks in clueless. You would think someone would have said something. There seems to be a clue as wit why her husband dies and no one tells her and it’s in the last verse we read; great fear had seized the church. This scared the daylights out of people. It would me. Seeing this guy drop dead because of his lie. But she walks in and tells the same lie. So their third issue is:
Their Issue: They Established Unhealthy Patterns
When you start down the wrong path, it takes a lot of work to keep it up; and even more work to correct yourself and get on the right path. If you tell a lie, then you have to tell another to back that up, then another, and so on. Keeping your morals pure is work. 1 John 3:6 says:
“No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.” 1 John 3:6
John tells that it is essential for us to stop the pattern of sin and to establish healthy patterns in our life. This is probably not the first time they had lied and tried to look good in front of others. They had established unhealthy patterns and those can be hard to break.
So for you and I the lesson to be learned here is to establish healthy patterns.
Establishing Healthy Patterns
-Choose: God, Fruits of the Spirit, established healthy habits, i.e. going to church, praying, reading, good music, etc.
- What goes around comes around
Finally, there is a fourth adage that is so familiar to us today, “What goes around comes around.” In our story, what happens to her husband is about to happen to her. Verse 9:
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.” vs. 9
It’s true, Sapphira had a chance to break the pattern and her outcome would have been different. They were both deceptive people. In fqct, it even tells us in this verse that they are testing the Spirit of God. Wow! What guts! They planned their deception and they stuck to it.
Their Issue: Deception
I think their deception took on different aspects. They deceived (or were trying to):
-Themselves
-The Leaders of the Church
-God
It reminds me of a passage from Galatians:
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:7
We may feel we can deceive others, we may even get to the point of deceiving ourselves, but we cannot deceive God. We will reap what we sow. Many times we even might feel like we are getting away with the deception but it is not really that way, so many times others see right through it.
Ex. When I get angry and don’t think anyone can see it.
50 Seconds
Let me end with a staggering statistic I found on the internet.
Running red lights is the No. 1 cause of car crashes in American cities. Annual cost to society: $7 billion in damages, medical bills, and lost work time. The average amount of time saved by running a red light is 50 seconds.
U. S. Department of Transportation, quoted in MSC Health Action News, January, 1996
Don’t get caught making short term decision that have long term consequences. We need to be honest with ourselves, slow down, be patient, look where we are going and what we want to accomplish and to put healthy practices and patterns in our life.
