Acts 5 - Why You Should Not Mess with the Holy Spirit!

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Ananias and Sapphira

5 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 heartthat 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.
Today's story is frightening.  Yesterday, we saw the example of Barnabas, who sold his property and laid it at the feet of the apostles to be used for the needs of the community.  Today we learn about Ananias and Sappira, a couple who sold some property and kept some for themselves.  The worst part is not they kept some, but they lied to the community and to the Holy Spirit/God.  It is interesting that the Holy Spirit is so connected to the community that to lie to the body of Christ is to lie to God.
And the result was deadly for both Ananias and his wife..  A high price for their deception.  I have to admit that this is one of those stories in the bible that is hard to explain.  There is no rosy ending, or positive spin on the story.  The question we have to ask is why were the consequences so high for their deception?
Although lying to the apostles was grievous enough, the severe offense that cost them their lives was lying to the Holy Spirit.  The passage also says they were, "Lying to God!"  All 3 gospels quote Jesus' teaching about blaspheming the Holy Spirit.  Jesus says in Matthew 12, "Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven."  
So why is lying to Holy Spirit such a big deal?  As His name implies, He is holy.  That means He wholly other, not of this world.  Holiness is not to be taken lightly as we see in the Old Testament when Isaiah came into God's presence and responded,  "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Sexual immorality is singled out as a very serious sin because it is connected to our body, where the Holy Spirit dwells.  Here is what Paul specifically says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
"18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?"
So what might this mean to us?  First we need to respect the power of the Holy Spirit and not take the Spirit casually.  Second, we need to be careful to use the Spirit's name in vain or in a spirit of deception.  Finally, the Holy Spirit dwells in you as a believer in Christ, therefore glorify God in our body.  We have been sanctified by God's grace and the gift of the Spirit.  Now we need to live according to the Spirit.  As Paul says the fruit of the Spirit is, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and  self control."  Against these qualities there is no law.  What a gift God has given us, let's use the Spirit wisely!

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