Acts 4:32 - 5:11 - Motive
Acts 4:32 - 5:11 - Motive
Something exciting happened in these early days of the Jesus movement. The believers decided to share their possessions and live in the community.
“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” - Acts 4:32 NIV
There is something so alluring about this on the one hand, and then on the other, my selfishness kicks in, and the allure sort of fades. But in all seriousness, the believers being in one heart and mind is such a beautiful picture of community. They were on a mission, and living out a unified purpose, sharing the message of Jesus.
“With great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.” - Acts 4:33-35 NIV
Can you imagine this? Unified in mission, purpose and being of one heart that people sold land and houses and brought all the money from the sale and put it at the apostle's feet. A complete redistribution of wealth by choice and all the needs were meet in this community.
This takes us to chapter 5, where Luke introduces us to Ananias and Sapphira.
“Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 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.” - Acts 5:1-2 NIV
Here we start the story of Ananias and Sapphira (A&S), a very shocking and sad story that I believe we can really glean a lot from. But, we need to move beyond the surface of the story and get to the heart of the matter. We read that A&S were deceptive and lied about their gift and generosity. This lead to their ultimate death.
“Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 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.” When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.” 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.” 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.” - Acts 5:3-10 NIV
As I wrote earlier, this is shocking and sad. On the surface, it’s hard to wrap my mind around this partial gift leading to near-instant death. But I think the message is much deeper, and what we can glean from this is powerful.
Studying a few commentaries gave me some fascinating perspective. First, I read this: After they saw the great generosity of Barnabas and how well he was respected (Acts 4:36-37), Ananias and Sapphira decided they wanted to receive the same respect.
Ouch. See this distorted motive, they saw the respect that was offered, and they desired this same respect. Pride rose, ego and vanity arose, and this couple wanted in on that action, but nothing was pure about this; this was never about generosity; this was about vanity. They wanted the image of great generosity, without actually being remarkably generous.
This, in a commentary, also added some important context: The ancient Greek word for kept back is nosphizomai, which means “to misappropriate.” The same word was used for Achan’s theft in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (Joshua 7:21). The only other time nosphizomai is used in the New Testament, it means to steal (Titus 2:10). The story of Ananias is to the Book of Acts what the story of Achan is to the book of Joshua. In both narratives, an act of deceit interrupts the victorious progress of the people of God.
To misappropriate, to steal, to act in a deceitful way. This was at the core of A&S actions. It was not about fear of giving it all, and it was not about struggling with full faith and trusting in Christ Jesus. This was about vanity and wanting great respect. This action, as it says, would have interrupted the victorious progress of the moment of God, and God was not going to stand for that.
So I turn to my self, I also challenge you to read and process this story through our lens. Our motives and actions and get real honest with ourselves about our motives, and how pure are they? Do we find ourselves sometimes really just wanting our name to look a certain way, we want the great respect of our peers, our leaders and we work the system to make it look good. These words of Calvin were tough to process....the evils packed under the actions.
According to Calvin, these are the “evils packed under” the sin of Ananias, beyond the mere attempt to deceive God and the church:
· The contempt of God
· Sacrilegious defrauding
· Perverse vanity and ambition
· Lack of faith
· The corrupting of a good and holy order
· Hypocrisy
God wants, desires, and really demands our motives to be pure. When our motives are parked with these evils, He sees it, and our actions become nosphizomai. We are stealing, misappropriating, and living a lie.
Lord, open my eyes to any impure motives I may have and change my heart. Forgive me for them, and help me live a pure life and one that brings honor and glory to your name. Allow my ambition only to be for what brings you glory. Amen.