Wanting To Look Good Before Others

INTRO

Our word that represents the picture of the Messiah in the book of Acts is Authority. Jesus is the Authority, and He is in charge of all things—our marriages, parenting, jobs, ministry, and finances. As the Authority in our lives, Jesus then calls on us to represent Him to other people. If Jesus is not in charge of our lives after we’ve claimed Him as our Savior and Lord, then we are hypocrites. Wiersbe describes hypocrisy as “wearing a mask” or “playing the actor.”¹In Acts 5 is the story of two people who were hypocrites.

TEACHING

Acts 5:1–6: Ananias and his wife Sapphira were believers who sold a piece of property (v. 1). In Acts 4, Barnabas sold a piece of land and gave everything he received to the apostles (4:36–37). The expectation in verse 1 is that Ananias and Sapphira would do the same thing. However, Ananias kept back part of the proceeds, with Sapphira’s knowledge, and gave the rest to the apostles (v. 2). Peter questioned Ananias about why Satan had filled his heart as Ananias lied about the proceeds. Peter pointed out his lie was actually to the Holy Spirit (vv. 3–4). At those words Ananias dropped dead, and everyone felt fear (v. 5). The young men who were there wrapped up Ananias’s body and buried him (v. 6).

How did Peter know? He knew because he was walking in the authority of the Holy Spirit and had been given the gift of discernment. Obviously, Ananias thought he could get away with keeping back what belonged to God, but he wanted to look good before the other believers. Nelson’s Commentary states, “God’s children, who have been freed from the tyranny of Satan, have the ability to choose whom they will allow to control them. When we choose to sin, we open the door to Satan.”²Ananias and Sapphira allowed Satan to tempt them into lying before God, and by so doing, they took on the very character of the one who had tempted them—“a liar and the father of liars” (John 8:44).³As Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits.”

Acts 5:7–11: Three hours later, Sapphira came in and did not know what had happened (v. 7). Peter asked her if she and Ananias had received a certain amount for the field, and she said it was (v. 8). Peter asked her why she had agreed with Ananias to “test the Spirit of the Lord” and then “pointed to the people who had buried her husband and told her the same people would carry her body out as well (v. 9). Sapphira dropped dead instantly, and the young men took her out and buried her beside Ananias (v. 10). Great fear came over the whole church and those who heard what had happened (v. 11).

Wiersbe points out that “the Lord judges sin severely at the beginning of a new period in salvation history.⁴Examples include:

• After the tabernacle was built, Nadab and Abihu tried to show “false fire,” and God executed them (Leviticus 10).
• God had Achan killed after he disobeyed God’s orders for coming into the Promised Land (Joshua 7).

According to 1 Corinthians 10:11–12, God uses “these things [that] happened to them as examples, and they were written as a warning to us.” In Acts 2:42–47, the process for the early church was established: they came together every day for teaching, fellowship, and prayers; they held everything in common ownership and sold everything they owned to give as needed to those in the congregation; and they added to their numbers every day. When Ananias and Sapphira decided to cheat the system of the church, God refused to allow their sin to go unpunished, using the authority of Peter to walk it out. When God puts something in place, don’t touch it!

Acts 5:12–16: The apostles were doing many signs and wonders at Solomon’s Colonnade under the Authority of Christ (v. 12). The rest of the church was too afraid to join them there, but people praised them highly (v. 13). people continued to become believers, and for the first time, Luke notes the believers included women (v. 14). They would carry the sick on cots into the streets for Peter to pass by, hoping his shadow might fall on some of them (v. 15). Nelson’s Commentary states, “In the ancient world many people believed that a person’s shadow could possess magical healing powers.”⁵Others from the towns around Jerusalem brought the sick and those with unclean spirits, “and they were all healed” (v. 16).

As Peter walked out the Authority of Christ, it brought glory to Him (John 14:13–14). Wiersbe explains Jesus had three purposes for performing miracles and signs; these purposes included the apostolic miracles as well: “(1) to show compassion and meet human need; (2) to present His credentials as the Son of God; and (3) to convey spiritual truth.”⁶

Acts 5:17–21a: In response to the growth of the early church, as well as the signs and miracles performed, the religious leaders became jealous and arrested all the apostles and had them put in jail (v. 18). However, an angel of the Lord opened the jail doors and brought them out during the night (v. 19). In the Old Testament, every time “the angel of the Lord” was mentioned, it referred to the pre-incarnate Christ. Although there’s no support of this in Scripture, it’s an interesting thought that this may refer to the resurrected Christ. The angel told them to go back to the temple and preach about Christ (v. 20). They responded in obedience, and at daybreak, they began to teach (v. 21a).

Acts 5:21b–33: The high priest and those who had been with him, when the apostles were arrested, convened the Sanhedrin, and sent for the apostles to be brought from the jail (v. 21b). The temple police reported the jail was still locked securely, and the guards were still at their posts, but the jail was empty (vv. 22–23). The commander of the temple police and the chief priests were baffled (v. 24). Then someone came in and told the Sanhedrin that the apostles were teaching at the temple (v. 25). The commander and the temple police brought the apostles before the Sanhedrin without force so the people would not stone them (v. 26). There the high priest said the apostles had been ordered not to teach in the name of Jesus, but the apostles were filling Jerusalem with their teaching and accusing them, the Sanhedrin, of killing Jesus (v. 28). Peter replied the apostles would obey God, not men (v. 29). It’s as though the apostles finally understood the significance of Acts 1:8. The apostles stated that God had raised Jesus from the Cross which the Sanhedrin had put Him on and had exalted Him as ruler and Savior to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins (vv. 31–32). The apostles had been witnesses of all this, as was the Holy Spirit who had now come upon His believers (v. 32). The Sanhedrin became so enraged they wanted to kill the apostles (v. 33).

Acts 5:34–37: However, Gamaliel, a Pharisee, and the teacher of Saul/Paul, was respected by all. He stood up to the Sanhedrin and warned them to be careful about what they did to the apostles (vv. 34–35). Gamaliel told them several examples of men who rose up and were followed but were quickly overthrown (vv. 36–37). He told the Sanhedrin to leave the apostles alone because if the apostles were not from God, their work would be overthrown. But if the apostles were from God, they would not be overthrown, and the Sanhedrin would be fighting against God (vv. 38–39). Some of the Sanhedrin were convinced. The Sanhedrin called in the apostles, had them flogged, ordered them not to preach in the name of Jesus, and released them (v. 40). This was the first actual persecution of believers recorded in Acts. The apostles left rejoicing that they had been found worthy “to be dishonored on behalf of the Name” (v. 41). The apostles continued teaching and proclaiming at the temple and in homes that Jesus was the Messiah (v. 42).

CLOSING

In Matthew 5:10–12, Jesus told His followers that they would be persecuted, insulted, and lied about. But they would also be blessed (Philippians 1:29; 2 Timothy 2:12)! Who are you? The hypocrites Ananias and Sapphira, who wanted to look good before others? Or Peter and the apostles, who boldly continued to preach the good news of Jesus as Savior and Lord, regardless of the threats, lies, and persecution they faced?