Community Bible Study -- Acts
Text of Presentation, Lesson 4, Acts 4:23-5:16
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Community Bible Study -- Acts Text of Presentation, Lesson 4, Acts 4:23-5:16 Click Here to see Lesson 4 Photos . . . Click Here to return to Acts Home Page |
In our last session . . . Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, performed a miracle the Jews believed was impossible except through the power of God. He claimed this miracle was done through the power of the resurrected Jesus, and it proved Jesus is Messiah. This happened in the temple in Jerusalem, home turf of the Sanhedrin: the Jewish “high court,” who sentenced Jesus to death for blasphemy. The Sanhedrin can’t deny this miracle, but can’t accept Jesus’ name as the power behind it; so they try to intimidate the apostles into silence. They jail Peter and John . . . then threaten them. But Peter and John defy the Sanhedrin . . . saying they must obey God instead. That Jewish peasants – with no “university” religious training – would talk back to Judaism’s intellectual elite catches the Sanhedrin totally off guard. They release Peter and John . . . while they contemplate what to do next.
When Peter and John return to the other disciples, we might imagine a 1st century version of “high fives” . . . yet Peter and John clearly understand what they did was not under their own power, but the power of the Holy Spirit within them; all praise and glory is due to God. So they pray.
Their prayer affirms Jesus as Messiah, and thanks God for empowering His followers to carry on His work. It begins with a reference to God as the all-powerful creator . . . then cites messianic prophesy from Psalm 2, in which David says:
Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth . . . gather together against the LORD and against (the Messiah). . . . The One enthroned in heaven laughs, . . . saying, "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." . . . You kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD. . . . Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed (Psalm 2:1-12).
The apostles interpret this prophesy in the context of Jesus, who was conspired against by the Jewish and Roman leadership. God laughed when these rulers thought they had defeated Jesus, because they had really carried out God’s plan for His ultimate victory over evil . . . installing Jesus as King Messiah. All rulers who defy God and Jesus His Son had best be forewarned to fear their own destruction! And as they conclude their prayer, the apostles apply this prophesy to those in the Sanhedrin who threatened them:
“Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus" (Acts 4:29-30).
After this prayer – as if a sign from heaven – the place where they are meeting is shaken. The Dead Sea and the Jordan River are on a major fault line, and the area is prone to earthquakes; perhaps God sent a tremor at this time and place . . . or the shaking might be something else. In any case, the apostles receive an additional filling “with the Holy Spirit,” and they “spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31).
Sure enough, God answered their prayer and gave them the power they requested. Reading from Acts 5:
The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. . . . People brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed (Acts 5:12, 15-16).
This is the most awesome healing power ever recorded: people are healed when Peter’s shadow falls on them . . . due to their faith, I’m sure. This is a power very close to that of Jesus, which shows just how much power the Holy Spirit can endow us with. And this great power brought great prestige to the believers (Acts 5:13)
But unfortunately, this is the high water mark of the power of the Jerusalem church. Although the Holy Spirit has equipped them with the power to withstand threats from without, they are soon undermined by a spiritual cancer within; and the story of Ananias and Sapphira illustrates this cancer.
But before discussing the story, we should review two passages we skipped over – one in the last lesson and the other at the beginning of this lesson: Acts 2:44-45, 4:32-34:
All the believers . . . had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need (Acts 2:44-45).
No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. . . . There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need (Acts 4:32b-34).
Some people use these verses to claim communism was the economic system practiced by the early church – and by inference the “proper” Christian economic system. Nothing could be further from the truth! The concept of holding possessions in common was practiced by Christians only in the Jerusalem church shortly after Jesus ascension to heaven. It was not practiced by other 1st century churches, and for a very good reason: as we continue through Acts, it becomes clear this economic system was not just a failure, but a disaster.
So why was it practiced in Jerusalem church? The apostles expected Jesus to return in a few days or weeks. With 20/20 hindsight, we know this expectation was incompatible with Jesus’ final instructions to go to the “ends of the earth (Acts 1:8) and preach to “all nations” (Matt 28:19) and with Jesus’ parable of the 10 virgins (Matt 25) – but apparently the apostles were optimists! And if we were convinced Jesus’ 2nd coming was imminent, we’d behave differently: we’d focus on nothing but getting ourselves and our friends and family right with God. We’d be concerned only with today’s food and shelter . . . and maybe tomorrow’s. We sure wouldn’t worry about saving for retirement!
That was the disciples’ attitude! Jesus told them to be his “witnesses” (Acts 1:8) . . . to “make disciples . . . (and) baptiz(e) . . . and teach” (Matt 28:19-20). So – quoting from tonight’s lesson – “they . . . spoke the word of God boldly. . . . (They) continued to testify to the resurrection of . . . Jesus” (Acts 4:31, 33) . . . and they did this with a sense of urgency. They couldn’t be bothered about saving or investing – that wouldn’t be necessary, anyway. So “from time to time” (Acts 4:34) believers gladly liquidated capital assets to underwrite what they thought was a short-term missionary program.
But the disciples had it wrong again! Days became weeks . . . then months; and Jesus didn’t return. The bible doesn’t say it, but people surely began to wonder.
That’s the context of tonight’s story of Ananias and Sapphira. We might imagine this couple watched fellow disciples sell their assets to pay for the immediate needs of the community. The assets are gone – literally eaten up – but where’s Jesus? Then comes the peer pressure: “Hey, Ananias . . . that property you own . . . when do you reckon you might sell it? The coffers are getting low again . . . !”
So Ananias and Sapphira sell their property . . . but give only half the money to the church. They’re hedging their bets; Peter says, there’s nothing wrong with that (Acts 5:4). The problem is they lied and said they gave the whole amount. Lying violates one of the 10 commandments – God’s fundamental laws. As Peter says – echoing the words of David 1000 years before (2 Sam 12:13) – Ananias and Sapphira “have not lied to men but to God” (Acts 5:4) . . . and as a result, they “fell down and died” (Acts 5:5, 10).
We are often given the impression Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for not giving all their money to the church – but this is wrong, and directly contrary to what Peter says. Peter says the sin of Ananias and Sapphira was lying, and the bible does not say they were struck dead: only that they fell down and died . . . probably from the stress and guilt of lying and being confronted with the lie.
What’s the story behind the story of Ananias and Sapphira. Were they new and not fully committed? . . . basically miserly? Or were they serious scholars who realized – for the reasons noted above – Jesus was not going to return soon . . . and hence the economic stupidity of selling capital assets to pay for day-to-day expenses was obvious. But all we can say for sure is that they lied – and that’s a sin!
Yet we must also consider the sins of the Jerusalem church – not to excuse Ananias and Sapphira, but to underscore the spiritual cancer in the church: gossip and envy and jealousy. If gifts to the church were truly voluntary, why should anyone care about what Ananias and Sapphira did with their property? But Peter’s comments make clear there was peer pressure to sell . . . and people who knew how much the property was worth were gossiping . . . why else would Peter take the time away from preaching and healing to confront the unfortunate couple? Apparently there was resentment that Ananias and Sapphira have property and money when others have none . . . but class envy has no place in Christianity.
Hence many believers fall into sin only weeks after Jesus’ ascension, as people bring their pre-Christian “secular practices” into the church, rather than taking Christian values to the secular world. But, unfortunately, that’s the real world! That’s how churches are today: including both true believers and self-righteous hypocrites!!
The bible says that after the death of Ananias and Sapphira, “great fear seized the whole church” (Acts 5:11). Modern believers should likewise be fearful . . . to make sure we are among the true believers and not the self-righteous hypocrites. Because Acts 5 seems to illustrate that being a believer can be a double-edged sword: God can bring great power to do other wonderful things to those who trust and follow Him, but great calamity to those who don’t – especially those like Ananias and Sapphira who claim to trust and follow Him . . . but lie.
As a concluding thought . . . communism is incompatible with Judeo-Christianity for a number of reasons. First, the concept of original sin. Judeo-Christianity assumes man is inherently sinful, and perfection is possible only in heaven. By contrast, communism assumes man can create a perfect society on earth, in which a benevolent government takes “from each according to his ability” and gives “to each according to his needs.” Communism always fails to achieve its goals because greedy people seize control and create an oppressive dictatorship. This happens every time one or a few people gain control of a nation’s economy, and the inevitability that this will happen is what original sin is all about! By contrast, God’s economic plan – spelled out clearly in the Old Testament – is a nation of small farmers and shopkeepers in which it is impossible to concentrate all means of production in a few hands! God knew about the “invisible hand” of capitalism long before Adam Smith!
Second, under communism, government confiscates private property for the “public good.” By contrast, Jesus emphasized private charity to store up “treasure in heaven” (Matt 19:21), but He never advocated enforced charity. In his speech to Ananias and Sapphira, Peter reiterates that sharing of goods in the 1st century Jerusalem church was voluntary – not compulsory (Acts 5:4).
And lastly, atheism is as fundamental to communism as God is to Christianity.
For these reasons, it’s hard to understand how can any Christian “buy in” to communism . . . not even in the context of the oft-cited emotional appeal: “if only people would practice the ideal of communism, it would be great!” We may find that in heaven . . . but not here on earth, where Satan rules (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11), and mankind is mired in sinfulness.
Next week’s lesson again contrasts the awesome power of Christians filled with the Holy Spirit with the growing spiritual cancer in the Jerusalem church. Ethnic favoritism in food distribution seems to show believers are no longer “one in heart and mind” (Acts 4:32). Already the church’s ungodly economic system is falling apart!
On the positive side, the apostles’ power through the Holy Spirit keeps growing . . . but the Sanhedrin decides to take action again. We’ll see how this plays out. In the process, we’ll encounter Gamaliel – the teacher of Paul – and perhaps gain insight into what the man who will be Christianity’s greatest missionary is being taught as these events unfold.