Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

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19 February 2010
Passage: Acts 4:32-5:11
Focus: “…he kept back part of the money for himself…”  Acts 5:2.

            The account of Ananias and Sapphira is definitely a disturbing one.  I think it is supposed to be.  And look at the effect it had on the church fellowship—“Great fear” (verses 5 and 11).  If it is true that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” then can it be true that the idea the non-fear  (that one can get away with tricking God) is the beginning of foolishness?
            Besides a shortage of “the fear of the Lord,” here is the root cause of the fatal problem confronting Ananias and his wife: He KEPT BACK what he should have given.  I’m not so much focusing here on money.  That’s only a symptom of the deeper root problem.  (And I can only assume that Ananias was claiming to give the total from the sale when he was really giving only a portion.)  I’m mainly thinking of Ananias’ heart condition.  He obviously KEPT BACK a significant portion of self and pride for himself that caused a constriction of full surrender to the Lordship of Christ in every part of his life.  Any residue of known sin that is deliberately permitted to remain in the life of a believer will always work like an infection of the soul that can escalate and spread and eventually extinguish spiritual life altogether.  His half-commitment contributed to his desire to win the attention of men as a spiritual hero and a selfless giver…but with contaminated motives. 
            We humans tend to have a real difficult time of giving everything to God.  Yet no matter how we may try to avoid full surrender; the fact remains that there is no other way for the true and victorious Christian life to function.  The song gives good advice when it says, “Give it all to Jesus.”  Technically speaking, you and I don’t own anything anyway…so why not?
            How did all those blood-washed, born-again, Spirit-filled, fruit-bearing servants of Christ down through the pages of Church history find such joy and perform such exploits?  It was certainly not by following the style of someone like Ananias.  No.  If they could respond right now, I’m sure they would exclaim in resounding unison: “We KEPT BACK nothing!”
            “The half-committed Christian is one of the devil’s best agents.”
 
Focus 2:  “With great power.”  Acts 4:33

            In the same way that a hopped-up powerful engine is powerless without fuel, so the Gospel is just another cold religious statue without the fuel of the Holy Spirit causing an internal combustion against sin, revving up the mind to understand TRUTH, and supercharging the heart with love for God and a burden for the lost.
            What a change has been wrought in the lives of these followers of Jesus since the Spirit’s outpouring!  What a change their witness has affected in the community!  There was a recent command of Jesus Himself to be witnesses.  There was the conviction that He would come back again.  There were the accompanying supernatural confirmations that God was at work in the form of signs and wonders, miracles, and healings, along with anointed preaching.  Wow!  What a time!  People were so fired up and excited, they could hardly stand it.  The Lord certainly granted a good deal of fuel for the starting of His Church.
            But here you and I are, two thousand years later.  The church has been running for a long time.  In some times and places it has run with almost original power.  In other times and places it has had the appearance of completely running out of fuel…or worse.
            I suppose we would all have to admit that our own personal history reveals a certain amount of rise and fall.  We too have been a composition of weak and strong.  Our own “walk in the Spirit” has been less than stable and consistent.  I think it’s healthy to recognize that fact.  At the same time I think it’s good to avoid feelings of inferiority when comparing the way things are with the way things were.  Understand that, while times and environments change, the power and fuel source is still the same.  Just stay close to Jesus.  He’s the One Who said, “All power is given unto me” (Matt. 28:18).  And it is still “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27