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Scripture Reading: Acts 4:32-37; 5:1-12
In 4:32—5:11 we have the continuation of the church life, and in Acts 5:17-42, the continuation of the persecution by the Jewish religionists. Concerning the continuation of the church life, there is a positive scene in 4:32-37 and a negative scene in 5:1-11. In this message we shall consider the church life as seen in 4:32—5:11.
Acts 4:32 says, “And the multitude of those who believed was of one heart and soul; and not one said that any of his possessions was his own, but all things were common to them.” As in 2:44, having all things common was a sign not of love but of Christ’s dynamic salvation that saved the believers from greed and selfishness. This was practiced for a short time at the initiation of God’s New Testament economy; it did not continue for the long run as a practice of legality in the church life during Paul’s ministry.
Verse 33 says, “And with great power the apostles gave testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” The apostles were witnesses of the resurrected Christ not in word only, but also by their life and action. In particular, they bore witness of His resurrection.
According to 4:33, great grace was upon all the believers. The law makes demands upon man according to what God is, but grace supplies man with what God is to meet what God demands. Actually, grace is God Himself enjoyed by man. Grace is the resurrected Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) to bring the processed God in resurrection into us to be our life and life supply so that we may live in resurrection. Therefore, grace is the Triune God becoming life and everything to us.
Acts 4:34-35 say, “For neither was anyone among them in need; for as many as were owners of lands or of houses sold them and brought the proceeds of the things which were sold and placed them at the feet of the apostles; and it was distributed to each according as anyone had need.” As in 2:45, the selling of lands and houses was an evidence of the Lord’s dynamic salvation. This salvation caused the believers to overcome their earthly possessions, which occupy, possess, and usurp fallen mankind (Matt. 19:21-24; Luke 12:13-19, 33-34; 14:33; 16:13-14; 1 Tim. 6:17).
In 4:36 and 37 Luke gives a positive example of one who sold his land and placed the proceeds at the feet of the apostles: “And Joseph, who was surnamed Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated son of encouragement, a Levite, a Cyprian by birth, possessing a field, having sold it, brought the sum of money and placed it at the feet of the apostles.” The Greek word rendered “encouragement” in verse 36 also means consolation. Barnabas, a Levite and a native of Cyprus, sold his property, brought the money from the sale, and placed it at the feet of the apostles for distribution among the saints according to need. This is part of the positive scene in 4:32-37.
Following the positive scene at the end of chapter four, Luke presents the negative scene in 5:1-11. The negative scene involves a couple, Ananias and Sapphira: “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a piece of property, and put aside for himself some of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it; and having brought a certain part, he laid it at the feet of the apostles” (vv. 1-2). Ananias and Sapphira had an evil plan to deceive, to lie to, the indwelling Spirit. “But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart that you should lie to the Holy Spirit and put aside for yourself some of the proceeds of the land?” (v. 3). Ananias lied apparently to the apostles but actually to the Holy Spirit, who is God (v. 4), because the Spirit and the apostles were one.
As we read these verses, we see that two persons were making their residence in this couple. First, the Spirit was no doubt dwelling in them. Because they were saved, the Holy Spirit had taken up His residence within them. Second, Satan was dwelling in them, for he had filled their hearts to lie to the Holy Spirit. Therefore, two residents — the Holy Spirit and Satan — were dwelling in Ananias and Sapphira.
We need to realize that, as believers, we also have these two residents within us. However, some teachers of the Bible do not believe that Satan remains in the believers; neither do these teachers believe that saints can be possessed by demons. Because Jessie Penn-Lewis spoke about cases of demon possession of believers in her book War on the Saints, some went so far as to call her a “witch.” Although some may deny that believers can be possessed by demons, it is a fact that certain genuine believers have been demon possessed. Here in chapter five of Acts is perhaps the first case of believers possessed by or deceived by Satan. Peter asked Ananias, “Why has Satan filled your heart?” This indicates that Satan was not merely outside them but was in their hearts deceiving them and seducing them.
How could Satan have such ground within them? Satan had this ground because of their ambition. I have learned over the years that believers can be ambitious to have a name, position, title, and rank. This ambition can be found even among those in the church life. Both in the Orient and in the West I have seen those in the church who were ambitious concerning rank, position, title, and name. Even the young people may be ambitious to be leaders.
Recently in Taipei the Lord moved among us in such a way that we established more than four hundred small groups in the church. When we established similar groups in the past, we appointed a leader in every group and also assistants. However, we found out that those appointments became a factor of corruption. Therefore, this time we told the church that there would not be any designated leaders in the small groups. Rather, every one in every group could take the lead.
The ground in Ananias and Sapphira that was the basis for Satan’s deception of them was their desire to have a name. They wanted to have the reputation for having sold everything for the church. Because of their ambition, they formed a plan. They sold a piece of property, kept some of the proceeds for themselves, and then brought a certain part and laid it at the feet of the apostles.
As we have pointed out, Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit. Do you think that the Spirit to whom they lied was the Spirit in the heavens, the Spirit outside them? Do you think they lied merely to an objective Spirit? Ananias and Sapphira lied to the very Spirit who was within them. If the Holy Spirit had not been within them, why would Peter have said that they lied to the Holy Spirit? Both Satan and the Holy Spirit resided in Ananias and Sapphira at the same time.
Today there is a trend among Bible teachers to deny the fact that Satan, the Devil, dwells in man’s flesh. But consider Peter’s experience in Matthew 16. Peter recognized that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Lord said to him, “You are blessed, Simon Bar-jona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in the heavens” (v. 17). Later in the same chapter we see that Peter, the one who received a revelation from the Father, was also occupied by Satan. When Peter took the Lord and began to rebuke Him, “He turned and said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan” (v. 23). Here we see that Satan was within Peter, not merely outside of him.
Satan is not far from us, and we need to be careful lest we be deceived by him. If we would avoid Satan’s deception, we must reject, condemn, and abandon the ambition to be somebody in the church life. Whenever we have the thought of being somebody in the church life, Satan has the ground to deceive us and, spiritually speaking, to bring us into death.
Ananias and Sapphira had the ambition to be somebody in the church; they had the ambition to have a name. Because of their ambition they were deceived, and that deception brought them into death. As the record indicates, both Ananias and Sapphira died physically.
We should not think that because there is no physical death in the church like that of Ananias and Sapphira, that this means there is no death at all. On the contrary, the ambition to be somebody, the ambition to be a leader, brings the ambitious ones into spiritual death. Those who are ambitious may not die physically, but they will die spiritually. We have seen cases like this in the Lord’s recovery. These cases make it evident that ambition results in spiritual death. Concerning this we all need to be very careful.
The fact that Ananias and Sapphira suffered the punishment of physical death does not mean that they will suffer eternal perdition. Although Ananias and Sapphira were saved, they committed a sin unto death (1 John 5:16-17). In God’s governmental dealing, some of His children may be destined to physical death in this age due to a certain sin. This was the situation of Ananias and Sapphira, who were punished with physical death because of their lying to the Holy Spirit. Their case teaches us to be extremely careful about ambition and dishonesty in the church life.
The Holy Spirit used Luke to record the case of Ananias and Sapphira to point out to us that although the church life may be wonderful, we still need to be careful concerning ambition. We should not have any ambition to be somebody in the church. We should not have the ambition for rank, position, or name. If we have such an ambition, we shall give the enemy the ground to bring us into spiritual death.
In 5:4 there is a word related to having all things common: “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And when it was sold, was it not in your authority?” This indicates that to sell possessions and distribute them to others was not considered by the apostles a practice of legality. The believers were not required to have all things common. That was something that should have been done willingly. If Ananias and Sapphira did not want to sell their property, they were not required to do so. Furthermore, the money from the sale was in their own authority. Their sin was that they intended to lie to the Holy Spirit. It would not have been sinful to keep their property or to keep the proceeds from the sale of the property. Their sin consisted in lying to the Holy Spirit. Their intention was to cheat the church and to get a name for themselves by lying. This was a gross sin that offended the indwelling Spirit. Their sin was a willing cooperation with Satan, the evil resident within them. We all need to learn the lesson afforded by the case of Ananias and Sapphira.
In 5:3 Peter told Ananias that he lied to the Holy Spirit. Then at the end of verse 4 Peter said to him, “You did not lie to men, but to God.” This proves that the Holy Spirit in verse 3 is God.
Later, when Peter was speaking to Sapphira, he said to her, “Why was it agreed together by you to test the Spirit of the Lord?” The Holy Spirit in verse 3, God in verse 4, and the Lord in verse 9 are all one, especially in the experience of the believers.
In verse 11 Luke closes his account of the negative scene by saying, “And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all those who heard these things.” The Greek word for “church” is ekklesia, composed of ek, out, and a derivative of kaleo, called; hence, the called out (congregation), the assembly. This is the first time that the church is mentioned in Acts as a local church. As we shall see in a later message, 8:1 speaks of the church in Jerusalem. This was the first church established in a locality. It was established within the jurisdiction of the city, the city of Jerusalem. It was a local church in its locality, as indicated by the Lord in Matthew 18:17. The church revealed in Matthew 16:18 is the universal church, which is the unique Body of Christ. The church revealed in Matthew 18:17 is the local church, the expression of the unique Body of Christ in a certain locality. The record of the New Testament concerning the establishment of the church in its locality is consistent throughout (Acts 13:1; 14:23; Rom. 16:1; 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 8:1; Gal. 1:2; Rev. 1:4, 11).
Acts 5:12 says, “And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders took place among the people.” The record here is very similar to that in 2:43, where we are told that “many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.” We need to realize that wonders and signs are not part of God’s central testimony of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ. Neither are they part of His full salvation. Rather, wonders and signs are only evidences that what the apostles preached and ministered and how they acted were absolutely of God and not of man (Heb. 2:3-4). This means that wonders and signs are neither a part of God’s central testimony nor a part of God’s salvation. Wonders and signs are means used by God to prove that the preaching and ministry of the apostles are of God. At the apostles’ time there was the need for signs and wonders to be done through them. No doubt, that caught the attention of the multitude. However, we today should not emphasize wonders and signs.
