1 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.
3 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 just to human beings but to God.”
5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”
“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”
9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! 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. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
Lying to God
This is one of the more challenging passages in the Bible because it reminds us of the high standards that God expects of us. In the passage, two Christians — Ananias and Sapphira — sold some property but apparently lied about its full value. They donated "some" of the money to the Christian church community, but they kept the rest of the money for themselves.
On the surface, their sin doesn't sound "too bad," right? Like they didn't kill anyone? But the punishment for their dishonesty?... The Bible says they both died on the spot within three hours of each other!
It seems God caused their death as a result of their disobedience and dishonesty to Him. Why such a severe punishment? And why this particular offense? After all, everyday those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus probably do things like this and worse... not honoring the Sabbath, using God's name in vain, putting other things ahead of God, not loving God with all of our heart, not donating our money to ministries, etc. Will God also bring about our death too?
One thing we can clearly take from this passage is that God EXPECTS all of us to be obedient. And the punishment that Ananias and Sapphira received (death) is what we ALL deserve. The Bible says "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). The Bible also says that the punishment for our sin is eternal death. In other words, Ananias and Sapphira just got what they deserved for their sin. Why God chose to punish them at that moment and not each of us when we sin? I am not sure, perhaps to remind us of the standard He expects?
May this passage be a wake-up call to all of us... Even though we are forgiven because of Jesus' death on the cross, we deserve to be punished for our sins. It is because of God's grace alone that we do not get what we deserve. God still expects holiness and obedience. May we all be reminded of this the next time we think of being dishonest before God.
- Brian Hall
No comments:
Post a Comment