Acts 4:32-37 The congregation is
unified, the apostles exhibit great power, and members continue to generously
donate the proceeds of the sale of property to the community. We now see that
this outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the 8,000 or so early Christians continued
to result in a community with common property and great generosity. This seems
to be an expansion of the initial community property arrangement discussed
above, in connection with Acts 2:44-45. Acts 4:33 makes it clear that this is
one with the power of the gospel witness and the grace of God upon them all
(all 8,000). The poor were taken care of, because anyone with property would
sell them and give the proceeds to the apostles to distribute to the needy.
This was not based on a human principle, for example, "From each according
to his ability, to each according to his need." Rather, this was a
fulfillment of an Old Testament command. (e.g.
Deuteronomy 15:7-8) And so the same warning should be applied to this example.
No one can take a Biblical example of a social or governmental structure or
system, wrench it from its Biblical roots, and apply it in the world without
the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, and have it succeed. The early
church succeeded because they manifested God's power, and this was possible
only through the indwelling (and obeyed) Holy Spirit.
Acts 5:1-11 The sad story of Ananias
and Sapphira: Joseph, also called Barnabas, donated the proceeds from selling
land to the church. (Acts 4:36-37) This lines up with earlier descriptions of
the common property arrangement in the early church. But Ananias and Sapphira held back part of
the proceeds and laid the rest at the apostles' feet. Peter's interrogation
zeroes in on the fact that it wasn't their failure to donate 100% of the
proceeds to the church that caused their harsh judgment, but their lies in
claiming that they had. Peter said that they had lied to the Holy Spirit. And
so they fell down dead, and were buried (immediately, it seems).
There
seems to parallel here to the case of Achan recorded in Joshua 7. In both
cases, the people of God were entering into a new life. The unity of the
community in pursuing God's plan according to His command was paramount. In the
case of Joshua, the people were to conquer the land and utterly annihilate the
inhabitants. The commands were very specific, that if they allowed them to
continue in the land, they would be a snare to Israel. (Deut. 7: 16 & 25;
Joshua 23:13) And in fact they were. (Judges 2:1-5) So it was important that
they meticulously follow the commands of God as given through Moses and then
through Joshua. Since Moses had commanded them to destroy their gods, Achan's
disobedience as a result of greed at the very outset (the first real battle, at
Jericho) threatened to undermine the basis of the new community.
In
the birth of the church as recorded in Acts, God was establishing a community
whose existence would be defined by the presence of the Holy Spirit and His
work in the lives of the individual members, moment by moment leading and
guiding them. So the key disobedience was that Ananias and Sapphira lied to the
Holy Spirit. They thought they could get away with pretending to be completely
obedient to the leading of The Lord when in fact they were not. The Holy Spirit
is God, and so this shows us that at the very inception of the community of
Christians - the church - He was establishing that one cannot lie to the Holy
Spirit. He knows. And there are consequences. We might lie to people and get
away with it. They may or may not ever find out. But the Holy Spirit knows. We
should not even try to pretend He does not know. And without the Holy Spirit we
cannot be part of this community. So Ananias and Sapphira were in a sense an
object lesson for this principle.
Who
among us can live up to this standard? Who is so filled with the Holy Spirit
that they never err? Obviously, in this life, none of us. But the key point
here is honesty and humility. Instead of pretending that we are walking in the
spirit, we need to own up to the truth. When we fall short of a 100% Holy
Spirit anointing, let's not pretend otherwise. It is exactly the same way Jesus
treated the Pharisees. They were claiming to be followers of Moses and fully
obedient to the law as given through Moses, but it was a sham - they weren't
and they knew it, but they couldn't or wouldn't admit it.
This
is confirmed in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7. "Now this I say, he who sows
sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap
bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not
grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." There was
never a compulsion - God want hearts that generously give, and do so
cheerfully. Ananias and Sapphira could have honestly sowed sparingly, and the
only drawback would have been that they would have reaped sparingly. And this
principle applies to all aspects of God's kingdom, not just money. It is just
that money is an overt and open way in which our commitment to The Lord and our
walk in the Holy Spirit can be seen. But Ananias and Sapphira failed on a more
fundamental level than sowing sparingly. They did not understand the
fundamental principle above, that it is impossible to lie to the Holy Spirit.
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