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by Sandy Shaw
Having seen such a beautiful picture of a young pure powerful Church of Jesus Christ, suddenly the pendulum swings, and this is something we see often in The Bible. It is something we experience in everyday life too.
The scene changes, in Acts Chapter 5, and we read of another aspect of church life which is just as real.
We read of a husband and wife - Ananias and Sapphira. They sold a piece of property. Let's say, just to get the feel of what was happening, that they got £100,000 for it. They talked it over, and deciding to bring £60,000 and present it to the leadership in The Church, but giving the impression they were offering the entire amount.
Peter challenges Ananias when he comes with what might be regarded as a substantial offering, "Why are you lying to the Holy Spirit? Why?
"You were free to handle the money, weren't you? Why have you behaved in this way? Whatever made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men - but to God."
Ananias dropped down dead. A great reverential fear came upon all who heard what had happened. Sometimes it is good to get a real fright. Sometimes it is good to be filled with a healthy fear.
About three hours later, his wife came into the Jerusalem Fellowship, not knowing what had happened. Peter asks Sapphira some questions. "Tell me, is this the price you got for the property you sold? Was it £60,000?" "YES, that's right. That's what we got."
Is Peter giving her the opportunity to confess her sins, repent, sort things out and put right what was very wrong? There is no sense of Repentance or Confession, and she too dies.
If there was one thing, God was not going to permit in the Church at this time it was hypocrisy. If this had gone unchecked, it could have wrecked and ruined that young Church.
Hypocrisy wrecks The Church of Jesus Christ quickly, and where money is involved hypocrisy and deception can become dangerous.
Their sin was that they wanted to be thought of as being as generous as Barnabas, without paying the cost. We saw earlier that there is a COST in PENTECOST. Jesus Christ was so tender with adulteresses, but blasted hypocrites.
The signs and wonders continued, but the crowds of people joining evaporated and disappeared. People continued to come to faith in Jesus Christ, but it was a slightly different situation now.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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