Acts 5 - A Safe Place for the Dangerous Kind!

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Ananias and Sapphira

Not everything was "hunky dory" in the newly formed church. Though we saw in the last chapter people were selling their property and putting the proceeds at the feet of the apostles, in the case of Ananias and Sapphira not so much. Though they had sold their property, they gave some to the church but kept some of the proceeds to themselves. 

The real sin here is deception. When they laid down the proceeds with the apostles, they were publicly stating that they were giving it all to the church. But, Peter also says that Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit. Though we don't know deliberately how he did this, before one lies to another human usually they have lied or at least tried to deceive the Holy Spirit. Of course, since the Holy Spirit is God, he was never going to get away with it. 

But, then something dramatic happened. When Ananias heard this, he fell over and died. Wow! As you would imagine great fear seized the body of Christ, and young men took him out and buried him. When Sapphira came in 3 hours later, Peter asked her if they had given all the proceeds back to the church to which she replied. "yes". 

Peter told her the same men who carried her husband were at the door ready to carry her out as well. Once again, Luke tells us that great fear seized the whole community. How could it not?

This is a very challenging story to say the least. Where is the grace? Haven't we all, in some sense of the word, lied to, or at the very, least quenched the power of the Holy Spirit? How can we make sense of this somewhat disturbing story? What is the point, and the lesson God was teaching the early church? It is interesting that Luke goes on the next story with no transition from this one. 

Let's see what the commentators say about this one.

"What Ananias did also must be seen in the context of its time. This was a critical juncture for the early church and such impurity, sin, scandal and satanic infiltration could have corrupted the entire church at its root. “The Church has never been harmed or hindered by opposition from without; it has been perpetually harmed and hindered by perils from within.” (Morgan)

"As much as anything, the lesson of Ananias and Sapphira is that we presume greatly on God when we assume that there is always time to repent, time to get right with God, time to get honest with Him. Any such time given by God is an undeserved gift that He owes no one; we should never assume it will always be there." (Guzik)

"If Ananias and Sapphira were actually heaven-bound, it shows that God was beautiful and gracious enough to not deny them salvation even for a grievous sin." (Guzik)

I think these explanations help some, though it is still a pretty disturbing story. And, maybe that is what it is supposed to be ... disturbing. What I get from this is a warning not to take sin too lightly. In our contemporary Christian culture we are often "light on sin". We focus on God's forgiveness, grace and mercy, as we should, but maybe we forget about the righteous nature of God, our Father, and His holiness. We mustn't forget how much God hates sin, and especially lying to the Holy Spirit. 

We can also thank God for his mercy when he does not hold us accountable in this way for our sin and deception. This story makes me want to take God's standard of holiness and truth telling seriously and not cheapen God's grace by being comfortable with my own sin. 

The Apostles Heal Many

If you are interested here is some information about Solomon's Colonnade.

Where was "Solomon's Porch" (Acts 5:12)?

Also known as "Solomon's Colonnade" or "Solomon's Portico," Solomon's Porch was a long, covered but open gallery created by two parallel rows of columns supporting a long wooden roof. Solomon's Porch ran along the eastern edge of the temple area, overlooking the Kidron Valley and facing the Mount of Olives to the east.

Why did they keep gathering at Solomon’s Porch?

It was centrally located and one of the few public places in Jerusalem that was large enough to accommodate a large crowd. It was also where people passed through or gathered to socialize and discuss before or after their sacrifices and prayers at the temple, and therefore a good place to share the Gospel.

The apostles continued to do many signs and wonders, so much so that though they were highly regarded, they were seen as "daring" and the people kept their distance from them. 

Wouldn't it be great if people considered us "dangerous" because of how powerfully the Holy Spirit was working through us?

My friend Mike Bradley, a Lutheran Pastor, has written a book titled, "Being a Safe Place for the Dangerous Kind", which is a great read. It addresses the spiritual potency of the early church and how the church today might be as effective and powerful. 

A Safe Place For the Dangerous Kind, By Mike Bradley

Regardless, the signs and wonders drew people to the church and many of them became believers, as the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. The apostle Peter was living in so much Holy Spirit power that people were laying sick people near him, so they might come in contact with his shadow. 

Remember this is the same Peter who denied Jesus three times for fear of his life. How else can you explain the difference in Peter than the transformation which occurred in him due to seeing the Risen Lord, and being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit? 

The spiritual potency of the Church of Acts brought people from all around Jerusalem to be healed by the apostles. They also brought those who were demon possessed (i.e. spiritually sick), and they were healed too! It says, "All of them were healed!"

"However God chose to bring the healing, there is no doubt that a remarkable work of healing was present. We shouldn’t miss the connection between the purity preserved in the first part of the chapter (with the death of Ananias and the fear of God among the Christians) and the power displayed here. God blessed a pure church with spiritual power." (Guzik)

The Apostles Persecuted

You knew it would not be long before the apostles were persecuted. Usually it was the Pharisees and teachers of the Law who were most upset by the work of Jesus, but in this case it says the Sadducees came to oppose them. We know that Sadducees taught against anything supernatual happening because it didn't match up to their "high brow intellectualism". They were like our modern day Liberal Protestant movement that removed miracles from the bible, because they couldn't explain them. 

The Sadducees had had the apostles arrested and put in jail, but an angel came in the middle of the night and opened the prison doors. The angel walked them out telling them to go out and preach about "the new life" in the temple courts! When the Sadducees sent for the apostles and they were gone, they were shocked to see them out in the temple courts preaching. They were befuddled and betwixt. 

Finally, the captain and the officers rounded up the apostles not forcefully so as not to rile up the crowds, who were sympathetic to the apostles at this point. The apostles were then brought to the Sanhedrin, which was the 70 member ruling body of the Jewish community. The leaders were furious with the apostles, not only for disobeying their orders, but also because they were pinning Jesus' death on them. 

You have to love Peter's bold reply when being ordered to not teach in Jesus' name anymore. 

"Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” 

I wonder if we could say, "We must obey God rather than human beings!" It is something the church has had to discern through its many years of being either persecuted or silenced by the governing authorities. It was certainly something Dietrich Bonhoeffer had to wrestle with, as he participated in a plot to assasinate Adolf Hitler. 

This is a challenging verse for every Christian. Notice too Peter's response directly indicted them for killing Jesus. Peter also says Jesus is now exalted at the right hand of God as Prince and Savior so that he might lead Israel to repentance and forgiveness for their sins. This again infuriated the prideful ,religoius leaders. It was the same message Jesus gave and the apostles were going to receive similar retribution for it. 

If it were not for Gamaliel this probably would have happened, but he prevailed upon the Sadducees to go easy on them. He cited two cases of insurrectionists, who had thousands of followers. When these men died, the movement was effectively decimated. If Peter was the same, the results would speak for themselves. Because Gamaliel was so revered, they listened to him and only had the apostles flogged and then put out!

This only made the apostles rejoice more than they had suffered for the name of Jesus. Persecution often makes the church stronger and inspires us to proclaim Jesus more boldly! 

Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more!  What the devil meant for evil God used for good!