Acts 5

I always dreaded coming to this chapter when teaching Sunday school or leading Bible studies. The first part with Ananias and Sapphira reminded me a lot of the Old Testament God who was full of wrath and smited people left and right for sinning (see Numbers 16). But the more I study this chapter, the more it reminds me of God's grace to me. Here's my perspective on what's happening (keep in mind I have no idea if this is the "right" interpretation).

From earlier chapters, we can see that this early church was in a state where the presence of the Holy Spirit was great. By the power of the Holy Spirit, they were healing the sick, performing miracles, and spreading His gospel with power. Many of the believers would offer up all they had and trusted their lives to the Lord knowing that He would provide for them. There's no indication that this was a command from the apostles but it seems more like these people were compelled by the Holy Spirit to give up their possessions. In the end of the last chapter, Barnabas is recorded as giving up his land and giving all the proceeds to the church. Later on, he is used greatly by the Lord (more to follow!). But in this chapter, there's two people who conspired together to pretend to give their all but retain some of the money for their own use. I think what Ananias and Sapphira were looking for was the respect and honor of the community. In verse 3, it says that Satan filled their hearts to lie to the Holy Spirit. With Barnabas, the motivation was to glorify the Holy Spirit, with Ananias and Sapphira, it seems like the motivation was to glorify themselves. Their punishment by God speaks to me about how much the Lord treasures purity in His church. If I'm not mistaken, I think this is the first time Acts records any sin in the church and at that time, the Lord was working mightily in His church. Along with the miracles and acts of wonder, also came the justice of His righteousness. I know that for myself, I have lied to the Lord and to myself often. There have been times when even when I was spiritually distant from God, yet I still tried to continue my services. When this happens, it wasn't love of the Lord and His church that motivated me, it was saving my own face. I didn't want the embarrassment of other people knowing I was unfit for service. Why did He not strike me down? I don't know but I know that judgment belongs to the Lord. By His grace, He gave me time and opportunity to repent and hopefully correct my mistakes. I really thank the Lord for giving me time. I can only hope that I may use the time and opportunities that He's given me to live without regret.

In the end, we can see that at the conclusion of this situation, we see that the Lord caused great fear to come over the whole church. In Greek, the same word used for "fear" here, was used as "awe" in Acts 2:43. I think Solomon was right in Proverbs 1, the fear of the Lord really is the beginning of all wisdom. I think my problem is I don't fear Him enough and still believe that I can get away with things without Him knowing. But if my God is the God who created the universe, how could I ever thing to hide anything from Him? My goal for today, is to live honestly before the Lord without regret.