Peter, Guardian of the Flock 130714

The church was growing by leaps and bounds. In those early days of the church, following Pentecost, there were thousands of new believers centered on Jerusalem. We do not have any early record of those who had come from afar to Jerusalem and were present when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost and were saved. Many of them left town and returned to their homes. If you remember, many countries were represented on the day of Pentecost. Those from out of town who came to faith took this faith with them when they returned to their homes. There were: Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians. Obviously, many of them were not there as these events unfolded.

The church, beginning in the upper room, began to grow spiritually and in numbers. On the day of Pentecost some three thousand were saved. Soon, there are five thousand men in the church and it continued to grow! Opposition came from outside the church has Satan looked for an opportunity to undermine the church from the inside. The generous heart of Joseph, who was called Barnabas, gave Satan his opportunity. He planted the seeds of jealousy in the heart of a man named Ananias. Listen while I read…

Acts 5:1-11, But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 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. 3 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? 4 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 men but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. 7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 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.” 10 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. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

Interestingly enough I don't find a lot of sermon's preached on this text. It's a difficult one because jealousy and deception led to the death of two people. The Bible doesn't say directly that God killed them but all the evidence points to that of being the cause of their death. There was…

Jealousy in the Church. And, jealousy leads to division. Ananias…

Upon seeing Barnabas' generosity. Listen to Luke's account, Acts 4:34-37, There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

During the Clinton years Congress made an attempt to carry out welfare reform. During the debates it was often said that the churches should be the agencies of welfare. I was asked by someone, who was not a church member, if the churches could take care of all the poor. Immediately I said, "Yes, on one condition, everyone in the community must be a part of the church and contribute a minimum of a tithe, that would be 10%, of their income." He thought about it a minute and nodded his head saying, "I'm sure you're right." Of course, neither of those conditions exist in our world today. Only a small percentage of the population are involved in churches and a small percentage of those who do actually give a tithe of their income.

I remember a story coming out of the time of the depression. That would be the early 1930s. A man had gotten a job but could barely support his family much less give a tithe to the church. Or, at least, that's the way it seemed to him. He went to his pastor and said that he could not afford to tithe. This pastor was a wise man and asked him to remember that the Bible says, "The tithe is the Lord's" and, we are to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse and prove God and see if he will not pour out a blessing that there will not be room enough to hold it. Well, the man decided he would give his tithe first and then pay his bills. It was hard at first. But as time went by he learned to manage his money better and God began to bless him at work. Soon he was promoted in his job and given a substantial raise. Then a little later he went into business for himself. God blessed his business and it became very profitable. Soon a tithe of his income was actually more than all of his income was when he started giving to the church. He went back to his pastor and asked if he could withdraw his commitment to tithe. Pastor said let me pray about it. He bowed his head and said, "Dear Lord you have blessed this man with so much money he can no longer afford to tithe. So I ask you to reduce his income to a point where he can afford to tithe." The man immediately said, "No, don't do that! I get your point." I believe very strongly that every Christian should give a minimum of 10% of their gross income to the church where they belong. I believe God will reward that in many ways. I also believe the failure to do so will leave a person weak spiritually and financially.

Well, Joseph sold some land and gave the money to the church. A lot of people apparently were aware of this and spoke highly of Joseph so much so that they began to call him, "Son of Encouragement" or, "Barnabas". As the word spread jealousy been to move in and…

Ananias sold some land. Not the home he lived in just "some land". I imagine from the rest of the story that it probably wasn't very useful to him. His wife's name was Sapphira and she was a party to his scheme. I don't know when they decided to hold back part of the sale price. Perhaps it was part of the plan all along. But most likely the decision to hold back part of the sale price occurred when they looked at the money. They counted it and held it in their hands and under the influence of Satan they made a decision.

He and his wife lied to the Holy Spirit. It is a grievous thing to lie to God's Holy Spirit. Remember, he is always looking on. Look at what Paul wrote in , Ephesians 4:30, And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Notice that it does not say, "And do not anger the Holy Spirit of God," instead it says, "do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God." Grieve is a love word. You can anger anyone but you can only grieve someone who loves you. God is often grieved at his people. Sin brings grief to God and failure to God's people. After all, how can God bless someone who does not honor him with their life? I am not saying that a person loses their salvation by grieving the Holy Spirit. If that were so there would be no grief on God's part. Instead, grieving the Holy Spirit leads to many kinds of problems. For example, in the church at Corinth the Lord's Supper was being taken in an unworthy manner and many of them were weak and ill, and some died! (1 Corinthians 11:30) Ananias and Sapphira agreed to lie to God's Holy Spirit. They may have thought they were only lying to Peter! But Peter was God's chosen representative and knew immediately what they had done.

This was not something they did on their own. They had an accomplice.

Satan filled their hearts. This concept is used another time in the Bible. Satan entered into the heart of Judas when he betrayed Jesus. This was not a simple matter of holding back a little money. It was a matter of dividing the church by allowing sin in the camp of believers.

Some have said the early church used some sort of communism, or collectivism. Nothing could be further from the truth. Peter makes that very clear.

The property was theirs to keep. Look at what Peter said to them in, Acts 5:4, 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.”

They were under no obligation at all to sell all that they had to give it to the church. It was their property it was theirs to keep, or to sell, as they might choose. They were not obliged in any way to sell it. And when they did…

The money was theirs to keep. Their sin was not in holding back the money! Their sin was lying to God and they did that when they lied to Peter. Wait! Do I mean to say that Peter is God? Of course not! However, Peter was God's representative in the situation. In the very beginning, before they were scattered, Peter was the lead pastor in the church in Jerusalem. As such, he represented God to the people.

Now why would someone lie to God?

Their hearts were open to Satan. Perhaps Peter was remembering this instance when he wrote in his first letter, Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 1 Peter 5:8-9

Well, in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, Satan was looking for more than "someone" to devour! He was looking to devour the entire church by causing division and deceitfulness.

Now we need to remember that Satan can only operate within the permissive will of God. And when Satan raised his head…

God intervened. God knows all things and responds to save his people, and in this case to save his church.

Just as he did in the wilderness. Listen while I read the account, Number 16:1-3, Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. 2 And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. 3 They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” See how jealousy came in at the beginning of the establishment of the church in the wilderness? Moses was chosen by God. He had a relationship with God that was closer than any other except possibly for Abraham. When Moses spent time with God he glowed so that he put a veil over his face. At one point God threatened to destroy the people of Israel and make a great nation of the descendents of Moses. Not many men would refuse that offer but Moses did! He said it would dishonor the name of God to not take the Israelites into the promise land. Korah and his friends, jealous of Moses and Aaron, claimed their right to lead the people of Israel. As evidence of who God had chosen Moses told the people to withdraw from the vicinity of Korah and his friends. Moses then told them that if these men died a natural death God did not speak through him. The people withdrew and…

Verses 31-35, And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. 32 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. 33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. 34 And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” 35 And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men offering the incense. Many hundred years later the writer of Hebrews would make this statement, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." God does not destroy everyone who rebels against him immediately but sometimes he does.

This came about because of sin! Korah and his friends sinned against God in their rebellion against Moses. Ananias and Sapphira sinned against God in their jealousy and in lying to God's Holy Spirit represented by the Apostle Peter.

We are very conscious of the fact that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We also know that the wages of sin is death. But usually it is not visited as quickly as in these two cases.

Sin came into the heart in Eden. Remember the old account, Genesis 3:1-7, Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Adam and Eve were the subordinate rulers of the Earth. Everything had been given to them! We do not know how long Adam lived without a helpmate, nor do we know how long Adam and Eve were together before this incident. We only know that sin came into the world and in the human heart when they rebelled against God.

And death through sin. Listen while I read, Romans 5:12-16, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.

The deaths of Korah and his friends as well as Ananias and Sapphira were very dramatic illustrations of the consequences of sin.

We need not spend a lot of time thinking on those things. We need to remember that we have all sinned and that the wages of sin is death. We need to remember that we have an adversary, Satan! And we need to remember that Satan desires to destroy the churches throughout the world but knowing that he can't do that he will simply do all that he can to weaken the church.

When God established the church in the wilderness, after the Exodus from Egypt, Satan set out to destroy its unity. Satan raised up people to oppose Moses as God's chosen leader. In a different way, when God established the church in Jerusalem, Satan set out to destroy the fellowship through jealousy. Every church has its problems. Many times problems in the church are stimulated by Satan. He uses jealousy and every other human weakness. We need to remember the words of James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. If we submit ourselves to God we will be able to resist the devil. A few submitted yourself to God? Today is the day of salvation submit yourself to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All scripture quotes are from:The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.