Daily Thoughts from Acts: Loving Discipline (Acts 5:1-11)

But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.  And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.  (Acts 5:1-11 ESV)

In contrast to Barnabas and others who brought their gifts with sincere hearts, Ananias and Sapphira wanted the glory that came from giving without all the sacrifice.  They had undoubtedly seen the honor given to Barnabas and others for contributing the proceeds of their land sales and they wanted that.  But they did not want to be parted from all the money they had gotten.  Did they not trust that if they had a need the church would care for them?

Peter here makes it clear that they were perfectly within their rights to either keep their property or, if they sold it, to give however much of the proceeds they desired.  They would not be viewed as lesser Christians or vilified in any way if they gave nothing or gave only some.  The sin here is lying to “God” (lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God because the Holy Spirit is God) and to the congregation about it in order to get credit from everyone as super-Christians.  Are you still trying to get that?

Peter evidently is told by the Holy Spirit the reality of what this couple is doing (Is this the equivalent of the gift of “knowledge” Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 12?).  He is supernaturally aware of what Ananias and Sapphira are trying to keep secret.  When Peter sees God’s action of taking Ananias’ life, he gives Sapphira a chance to tell the truth and when she doesn’t, knows that God is going to take her life as well.

Is this what a loving God does?  God knows that His people are still sinners and that they mess up, but here in the newly-born church there is a need for a disciplinary measure to help people grasp how sacred the church is to God.  Yes, He loves us, but because of that and because of the reputation of His name, there must be discipline for wrongdoing.  What is true of us corporately is true of us individually.  He disciplines those He loves (Hebrews 12).

Ananias and Sapphira didn’t lose their salvation.  We should expect to see them in heaven.  But it would not have been loving to them to ignore their misbehavior.  God’s love for us moves Him to shape us into the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus (Romans 8:39).  It is unloving to fail to do this.  Likewise, when we see sin in our fellow believers, it isn’t loving to say nothing or simply avoid them or write them off as bad Christians.  The loving thing to do is confront them with compassion and concern and seek to restore them to a godly path (Galatians 6:1).

I recently had a meal with an old friend from college days and as we were catching up I mentioned an aspect of my life that I did not see as wrong but that definitely was.  He very lightly challenged me in an indirect way.  He didn’t stop loving me or respecting me, as evidenced by other things he said.  But I took away with me the impact of his challenge and it helped me repent. It wasn’t comfortable to be so challenged, and this is undoubtedly why we resist doing it.  But it was the most loving thing he could have done.