City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

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. 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. 

Acts 4:32-37

1But 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.

Acts 5:1-11

Reflection

There is much about the story of Ananias and Sapphira that doesn’t seem to make sense.

Peter, just thirty days before, denied he even knew Jesus, and Jesus forgave him. Here, Ananias and Sapphira tell a lie and this same Peter, whom Jesus forgave, confronts them and God strikes them dead.

And the lie wasn’t that bad, right? I mean, after all, they sold their property and gave most of the money to the church. They just kept some for themselves. It was their property after all. They had no obligation to sell it or give anything to the church.

This is one of those situations where, instead of concluding God is unfair, we need to start with the assumption God is just and our judgment may be flawed. Then we can start to understand what is going on here.

The only way this story makes sense is if religious hypocrisy is far worse than we’ve been taught to believe. 

Luke starts by mentioning the example of Barnabas selling a field and laying all the money at the apostles’ feet, no doubt an act of deep religious devotion and generosity. 

Ananias and Sapphira decide to do the same, but they hold some of the money back for themselves. No problem there. The problem is they represented to the apostles that they were giving all the proceeds to the church. And even worse, they thought God either wouldn’t notice or wouldn’t care (Acts 5:4). It was a show to people and a lie to God. They were being religious hypocrites.

Application

Jesus addressed religious hypocrisy. He reserved his woes for them (Matthew 23:13). He said they were like whitewashed tombs, full of dead men’s bones (Matthew 23:27).  He called them out publicly: “You hypocrites . . .” (Matthew 15:7-9).

Religious hypocrisy is particularly pernicious. It attempts to profit by misrepresenting the image of Christ. People see the example and think the outward appearance matters more than the inward reality, or people see the duplicity and think Christianity is a sham. Jesus said religious hypocrisy was like leaven (Luke 12:1) because it easily spreads to others (Galatians 2:11-13).  

Even the world recognizes the seriousness of attempting to profit by misrepresenting a brand. That is what a trademark violation is. When someone sells a fake Rolex watch or Gucci purse on the streets of New York City, they are attempting to profit by misrepresenting a brand. Brand counterfeiting is so serious it’s a violation of criminal, as well as civil, law.

How much more important is the image of Christ than a watch or handbag?

Religious hypocrisy also taunts a holy God (Acts 5:9). Ananias and Sapphira were pretending to do what Barnabas had done without having made the same sacrifice, and they either thought God wouldn’t notice or that He wouldn’t do anything about it. That is either an insult to God’s omniscience or His holiness. At its heart, it’s an act of dishonesty toward God (Acts 5:3-4).

And when we consider that Ananias and Sapphira’s spiritual counterfeiting happened during the birth of the church, it makes sense: Religious hypocrisy is so insulting to God and so destructive to the church that God publicly judged it at the very moment the church was being born.

And great fear came upon the whole church and all who heard of these things. — Acts 5:11

Prayer

Lord, help me to always have a healthy fear of You and a healthy hatred of religious hypocrisy. Amen.