Acts  Sermon Series

Wheelersburg Baptist Church 4/22/01 Brad Brandt

Acts 5:1-11 "What God Thinks of Little Sins"**

It’s amazing for me as a pastor to watch the trends in church growth tactics. In the past couple of decades one of the common approaches to growing a church has been this.

Conduct surveys to find out what unregenerate, non-churched people want in a church, provide it for them, and then they’ll come. Since the surveys indicate that many non-church-goers think church is "boring," liven it up with drama and entertaining music. Since the surveys indicate that boomers and busters are concerned about their families, offer them state of the art programs for their children. Since they like recreation, give them recreation at church (I read about one church that has a bowling alley at its facility). Become a "full service" church, and then people will come. That’s how you grow a church, so we’re being told.

Are the "experts" right? It depends what you mean by "right." Sure, you may attract a crowd, but I’m reminded of what a wise pastor told me years ago: "Just remember this, Brad. Whatever you use to hook them, you’ve got to use to keep them. And if you pull a rabbit out of the hat this week, it’ll have to be an elephant next week."

Now I’m not opposed to being sensitive to the needs of unregenerate people, and I’m certainly not against the use of new methodology in reaching people. But it seems to me, when you sum it all up, there are actually only two approaches to doing church.

One is man’s way. Man’s way says, "Let the church be what the people want." The other is God’s way which says, "Let the church be what God wants it to be, as revealed in His Word."

You say, "How can you tell if a church is doing things God’s way?" There are many factors, but here’s one vital test. To be a church that pleases God we must take sin seriously.

No survey will tell us that taking sin seriously is what people want, but the Bible tells us that’s what God desires and we desperately need.

I love the story—it’s one I’ve shared before—about the husband who came home drunk, and tried to conceal his sin from his wife. The drunk husband snuck up the stairs quietly. He looked in the bathroom mirror and bandaged the bumps and bruises he'd received in a fight earlier that night. He then proceeded to climb into bed, smiling at the thought that he'd pulled one over on his wife. When morning came, he opened his eyes and there stood his wife. "You were drunk last night weren't you!" "No, honey." "Well, if you weren't, then who put all the band-aids on the bathroom mirror?"

Be sure your sins will find you out. There’s perhaps no more powerful illustration of this truth in the New Testament than the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11. It’s also a story that reminds us that God wants His church to take sin seriously.

How seriously? The story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 shows us what God thinks of ‘little’ sins. It’s a sobering account, one that involves three scenes.

"Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 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."

In the book of Acts we see a growing church. It started with 120 people in Acts 1, and then exploded to 3,000 in Acts 2, and then 5,000 in Acts 4.

Jesus said, "I will build My church," in Matthew 16:18. That’s a promise. Is God interested in seeing His church grow? Yes, He is.

But never at the expense of purity. He never wants His church to tolerate sin.

Through the first four chapters of Acts, things were going well for the young church. Real well, in fact. Then, with the first word of chapter five, comes the caution flag.

The NIV begins the account with the word, "Now." Actually, the Greek term is better translated, "But," as reflected in the KJV. All of a sudden, there are some band-aids on the bathroom mirror, if you know what I mean.

One of the great things about the Bible is that it doesn’t try to hide the flaws of biblical characters. There are times, then as now, when God’s people blow it. And the Bible records those blemishes. God wants us to learn from past blunders.

Luke has a contrast in mind between Barnabas, a character we met at the end of chapter 4, and the couple we meet in chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira. What do we know about this couple? Two things…

A. On the surface, they did some things right. Like what? First of all…

1. They gave to the church. Verse 1 says they sold a piece of property, and gave some money to the church. Nothing wrong with that. Giving to the church is both commanded and commendable.

2. They submitted to the church leaders. Luke says the couple brought the money and put it where? At the "apostles’ feet." That, too, is commendable. They demonstrated submission in their giving. They weren’t free-wheeling mavericks, but loyal church members.

Those are some pretty good traits, aren’t they? Most churches would love to have on their roll two people who are givers and who submit to the church’s leaders. But you wouldn’t want Ananias and Sapphira, not if you wanted God’s blessing.

Why not? Because what you see is not always what you get. Granted, on the surface Ananias and Sapphira did some things right. BUT…

B. In reality, they did something very wrong. According to verse 2, "With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself."

I went to the Hardware store once and discovered a powerful reminder that a bunch of "rights" don’t cancel out a "wrong." I checked out the label on D-Con’s rat poison. It read as follows, "Inert ingredients—99.995%. Active Ingredients--.005%." It’s amazing to me that very little of the product is actually harmful. Just think of it, 99.995% of that rat poison is no problem at all for the rat. It’s actually edible. It’s the .005% that’s the problem. Yet the tiny little bit of poison not only makes the rest inedible, but deadly.

You say, "What did Ananias and Sapphira do that was so bad? They sold their property and gave their money, didn’t they?" Actually…

2. The problem was what they said they gave. No one forced them to sell their property. And no one forced them to give all of the proceeds from the sale of their property. That’s not the issue here, as Peter will make clear in a moment. The problem was that this couple misrepresented the truth.

Again, the unfortunate chapter division in our English Bibles keeps us from seeing the contrast between Ananias & Sapphira and Barnabas. Chapter four concludes by saying, "Barnabas sold a field and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet." Chapter five begins, "But a man named Ananias…sold a piece of property…and kept back part of the money for himself."

Do you see the contrast? Acts 4:32 says, "All the believers were one in heart and mind." All, that is, except for two—Ananias and Sapphira. Somewhere along the line these two believers—and I see no reason to question that they were genuine Christians—got out of true koinonia. Instead of thinking about the Fellowship, they began to think about themselves and using the Fellowship for personal gain.

William LaSor offers a plausible reconstruction of the plot: "Everyone was talking about the generous act of Barnabas. Sapphira said to Ananias (or the reverse; it makes no difference): ‘That was nice, what Barnabas did, wasn’t it? Didn’t the church make a fuss over him? Why don’t we do something like that?’ Ananias replied, ‘We can’t afford it; not if we’re going to enlarge the living room.’ Sapphira said, ‘But couldn’t we sell a field, and keep some of the money to enlarge the house?’ Ananias answered, ‘Yes; but the church would think we were selfish, keeping some of the money when so many poor people don’t have enough to eat.’ And Sapphira said, ‘But who would know how much we got for the field?’ So they worked out their satanic plan (5:3), in order that no one would ever know. But some One did know."

Yes, this was a premeditated crime. So ends scene #1…

Actually, the confrontation took place in two phases. For reasons not given in the text, Ananias delivered the money to the church all by himself, with his wife arriving three hours later. With the crime committed, the confrontation begins in verse 3.

A. Peter exposed Ananias (3-6). "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? ⁴ 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."

You’ll notice that Peter called Ananias by name. And that he was not fooled at all. "How did Peter know?" you ask. Apparently, God revealed the hidden crime to him. Peter was an apostle, and as such possessed special abilities (Heb 2:4).

Peter probed Ananias with four rhetorical questions. How has Satan filled your heart? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? Wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing?

What’s the purpose of the questions? They’re intended to expose this crime. According to Peter, Ananias had a twofold problem.

1. There was a heart problem. "How is it that Satan has so filled your heart?" Ananias had a heart problem. He pretended to be something he was not. That’s called hypocrisy.

In fact, in the Greek language the term "hypocrisy" means play-acting. In the Greek theater, an actor wore a mask. What he was under the mask was very different from the way he appeared to the audience. He was just playing a part.

That’s exactly what Ananias and Sapphira did, right? They pretended to be something they weren’t. And they went down in infamy with the distinction of being the first (though certainly not the last) hypocrites in the church.

Be clear on this. What Ananias did was no small thing. He portrayed himself to be more spiritual than he was. He tried to create a false impression that would result in praise from men.

Do we ever do that? Do we ever pretend to be something we are not? A little boy once said to his mother, "Mother, why is it that whenever I do something wrong, it’s because I am a bad boy; but whenever you do something wrong, it’s your nerves?"

Beloved, Kent Hughes is right, "We share Ananias’ sin not when others think we are more spiritual than we are, but when we try to make others think we are more spiritual than we are."

Here are some examples: telling people we’ll pray for them—and then not doing it; acting at church like we’ve got the perfect family when the fact is all we’ve been doing lately is fighting at home; singing a solo about how much we love Jesus when we know we haven’t spent any quality time in His Word for weeks.

If we’re honest with ourselves we may be a lot more like Ananias than we care to admit. I read that Pastor Donald Barnhouse, on this basis of this text, wouldn’t allow his congregation to sing the third stanza of "At Calvary:" Now I have giv’n to Jesus everything; now I gladly own him as my King. "You see," he said, "if God acted the same way today that he did in the fifth chapter of Acts, you’d have to have a morgue in the basement of every church and a mortician on the pastoral staff."

For Ananias, as with us, the problem started in his heart. It didn’t stop there.

2. There was a tongue problem. Putting it bluntly, Peter said, "You have not lied to men but to God (4)."

Ananias lied. He claimed the money he gave was the money he made from the sale. That was not true. He was lying. Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, "Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all."

A store manager heard his clerk tell a customer, "No, ma'am, we haven't had any for a while, and it doesn't look as if we'll be getting any soon." 

Horrified, the manager came running over to the customer and said, "Of course we'll have some soon. We placed an order last week." 

Then the manager drew the clerk aside. "Never," he snarled, "Never, never, never say we're out of anything--say we've got it on order and it's coming. Now, what was it she wanted?" 

"Rain," said the clerk. 

Lying seems to be a way of life for many people. We lie at the drop of a hat. The book The Day American Told the Truth says that 91 percent of those surveyed lie routinely about matters they consider trivial, and 36 percent lie about important matters; 86 percent lie regularly to parents, 75 percent to friends, 73 percent to siblings, and 69 percent to spouses.

Is lying a big deal? If you think it’s not, take a close look at what happened to Ananias in verse 5, "When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. ⁶ Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him."

You may wonder, "Why was God so severe with Ananias?" I don’t know for sure. But I wonder if, perhaps, the real issue is just the opposite. Why is a holy God so patient with us when we do the similar things all the time?

The fact is, every once in awhile, God does take action. Indeed, as you examine the Scriptures, at the beginning of key phases in redemptive history the Lord did judge sin severely. After the tabernacle was built, He killed Nadab and Abihu for offering unacceptable fire to Him (Lev 10). Right after the Israelites entered the Promised Land, Achan was stoned to death because of his deceitful disobedience (Josh 7).

It may not be a coincidence that the word Luke used in Acts 5:2, translated "kept back," is the same word used in the Greek version of Joshua 7:1 to refer to Achan’s sinful action. F. F. Bruce remarks, "The story of Ananias is to the book of Acts what the story of Achan is to the book of Joshua."

But the confrontation involved a second phase beginning in verse 7.

B. Peter exposed Sapphira (7-10). Here’s how it happened, "About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened." Stop there. Can you imagine the looks the people gave her as she entered the room? Peter broke the ice in verse 8, "Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?"

Talk about getting to the point! Here’s where I want to scream, "Come on, Sapphira! Tell the truth! This is serious!" But to no avail.

"Yes," she said, "that is the price."

Another blatant lie. Again, the question is asked, "Were Ananias and Sapphira believers? I see no reason to assume otherwise. Do Christians ever sin? Do they ever blow it? The fact is, there is no such thing as a sin-free Christian. Thankfully, we have a loving Heavenly Father who loves His children too much to allow them to hide in their sin.

You say, "Why didn’t Sapphira show up until three hours later?" LaSor suggests the possibility that this three-hour interval was pre-arranged. That maybe Sapphira was staying out of sight until just the right time to make a dramatic entry to the oo’s and ah’s of the adoring church crowd: "There she is! What a generous, spiritual woman!"

Maybe that’s not why Sapphira arrived later, yet of this we can be sure…

1. She tried to fool people. But…

2. She could not fool God. Verses 9-10, "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.’ ¹⁰ 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."

The next time you find yourself thinking, "It’s nobody else’s business what I do. What I do affects me and only me!", think again. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira affected other people. Most sins do. How would you like to have been the young men whose task it was to bury them on the spot? I’m sure this was a day they never forgot.

Which brings us to scene #3. We’ve seen the crime and the confrontation. Finally…

"Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events (11)." Sin has consequences. Always. In this case, two Christians lost their lives. But others were affected, too. Two groups…

A. It shook up the church. By the way, in verse 11 you see the first appearance of the word "church" in the book of Acts. "Mega [that’s the literal Greek term] fear seized the whole church." The church was stunned, as we would be. Their membership roll just dropped by two people. Is God interested in church growth? Yes, but never at the expense of church health.

That’s why we practice church discipline as a church. Matthew 18 says that when a church member refuses to repent of sin, he is to be confronted, then confronted again with witnesses, and then confronted again by the church family. If he repents he is to be restored, but if he still refuses to repent, he is to be put out of the church.

Some would say, "If a church did that kind of thing, people would shy away from it." Some might. My hunch is that some though twice about joining the Jerusalem church after what happened to Ananias and Sapphira, particularly those who were just playing games with God.

But the opposite is also true. Many people are attracted to a church that takes sin seriously. I was standing in the church parking lot one time after we had just practiced church discipline. A man walked up to me and said, "Wow. This church really does believe in the Bible, doesn’t it?"

When God removed Ananias and Sapphira from the Jerusalem Church (and from the planet), it shook up the church. Secondly…

B. It shook up the community. "Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events (11)." People who had scoffed at the church as "irrelevant" now began to pay attention. Great fear seized them. It was a day no one in the community would soon forget.

Beloved, there is no such thing as a small sin.

Imagine what it would take to walk from New York City to San Francisco. Just think of all the obstacles you’d have to overcome. One man who accomplished this rare achievement mentioned a rather surprising difficulty when asked to tell of his biggest hurdle. He said that the toughest part of the trip wasn't climbing the steep slopes of the mountains, or crossing hot, dry, barren stretches of desert. Instead, he said, "The thing that came the closest to defeating me was the sand in my shoes."

Again, there is no such thing as a small sin.

I’ll mention three lessons…

1. God takes sin seriously, and so must we. Until we grasp how big a deal sin is to God, we’ll never fully appreciate Christ. You see, God hates sin. And I mean He really hates sin. If you doubt that, look at the Cross.

At the Cross, Christ took upon Himself the sins of every person that would ever believe on Him, and then endured the horrid consequence of those sins in their stead. God exhausted His righteous wrath against His Son. In the words of 2 Corinthians 5:21, "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."

God doesn’t overlook sin. Because He is holy, He must judge it fully. That’s what happened at the Cross, beloved. The Son of God died to pay the penalty of sin so we don’t have to. Then three days later He conquered death to prove His substitutionary death was sufficient to save.

There are only two options. Either you will pay the penalty for your sin, or you will trust in Christ and His redemptive work. Sin is a serious matter with God.

You may object, "Wait! If God hates sin as you say, why don’t people fall over dead in church today?" To which I would respond, who says that don’t? Every once in a while God gives a vivid reminder of His holy standard.

But I grant you that typically God doesn’t deal with His people as He did with Ananias and Sapphira. Why not? The answer is mercy. Usually we see His forbearance and mercy.

God sends His rain on the just and the unjust, as Jesus said in Matthew 5:45. Is that because the injustice of the wicked doesn’t offend Him? No. It’s because He is gracious and merciful.

Yet He is also holy. Which brings us to lesson #2…

2. The time to take inventory is now. To do so, I’d like to extend two warnings. Warning #1 is this. If you don’t know Christ as your Savior, then according to the Bible you are still in your sin. And if you are still in your sin, then you are but one heartbeat away from experiencing the consequences of your sin, that being the eternal fire of hell. One heartbeat, dear friend, just one.

Don’t presume upon God’s mercy. O sinner, come to Christ today. Do not delay.

The second warning is serious, too. It’s for you, fellow believer. If you are a Christian and yet you have known sin in your life, take note. God may continue to exhibit patience and mercy with you. But then again, He may call you to account, and He may do so today. That being the case…

3. Never presume upon God’s mercy. Seek His forgiveness today. Don’t delay.

Acts  Sermon Series