Acts 5:1-11: But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. 2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part 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 keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 4 While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. 6 And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.
7 Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?”
She said, “Yes, for so much.”
9 Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. 11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.
I would like to draw our attention to a grave sin that Ananias and Sapphira committed in the new testament church which still plagues the church of today: pretending to be more holy by means of outward acts but being messed up on the inside. This sin is also called pretense.
Why was Ananias and Saphhira’s sin so grave, you ask? It was their field after all, right? And their right to decide how much they wanted to share?
I want us to look at Acts 4:32 to understand this background: “Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.”
The early disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and with that indwelling of the Holy Spirit came the realization of the fact that everything they owned, possessed CAME FROM GOD, belonged to God and that they were channels not reservoirs to hoard what was God’s!!
James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift IS FROM ABOVE, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
In 1 Chronicles 29:13-14 king David acknowledges this, “Now therefore, our God, We thank You and praise Your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You. For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, as were all our fathers; our days on earth are as a shadow, And without hope.”
Every single thing we have- our life breath, our family, our possessions, our jobs, our salaries, our children, our friendships, our community, the roof we live under, the cars we possess- everything has been given to us by God. We have not earned this. This is not ours. God gives us the salaries that we have. God gave us favour and granted us to have the jobs we have. Everything comes from God. King David, one of the greatest and most powerful kings from biblical times openly acknowledged this before his people.
The moment we fail to recognize this, we fail to see God’s Hand behind it. We unconsciously begin to exalt the self and unconsciously begin to think that we deserve this because of our intellect, our talent, our potential, our hardwork. That is the way of the world and as God’s people, NONE of it must be found in us. A recognition of SELF as the world does leads to pride and all forms of pride are ungodly. Excess focus on self leads to entitlement and arrogance. It turns us into narcissistic individuals with selfish motives and self-seeking interests. We cannot be useful to the community around us with such attitudes.
When we base our foundation on our SELVES, we start wrong.
As human beings we are imperfect and building our entire lives on our imperfect selves is not sustainable for the long haul- there will be times when we are exhausted, worn out, lonely, miserable. We need a strong foundation that is stronger than our own intellect and will. We need a God-centered foundation.
Exaltation of the self, or even giving the SELF a place of identity is in direct opposition to what God’s Word says. When we give our lives to Christ, our SELF DIES!! I NO LONGER live, BUT CHRIST lives in me and the life I now live, I live for Christ!!
In Galatians 2:20 Paul, a learned academic of those times says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
The Christian life is Holy Spirit led. It is a life of faith. It is a life where the SELF IS NOT DENIED BUT CRUCIFIED BY CHRIST. There is a difference between denial and crucifixion (=killing/ execution)!!
The dictionary defines denial as “a refusal to accept or believe in someone or something”. It takes a SELF effort to deny something. But biblically, the SELF is not denied- for it would imply that we are trying by our own effort to work out our own salvation. Biblical salvation is by God, comes from His will and purpose- it is NOT by our own efforts!
The moment God stirs our hearts to give our lives to Him, He takes over-our hearts, minds, will, soul-provided our foundation is based on faith in Christ, we are totally yielded to Him, we stand on Christ’s righteousness not our own. God needs to have absolute pre-eminence and we need to be in total surrender for His Spirit to do His work in us, to reveal His plan for us and to carry out God’s plan and purpose in us. A Christian life totally yielded to Christ is like being in a driverless car. We take our hands off the steering wheel of our lives and allow God to steer it for us. He takes us through mind blowing experiences and we do far more than those with human strength and effort so God may have the Glory.
So what does this denial of self have anything to do with Annanias and Sapphira’s grave sin of holding back?
They were both consciously claiming the land they owned to be their own. By doing so, they refused in their hearts to acknowledge the supremacy of Christ in their lives. They failed to recognize that what they had was actually from God and they were only stewarding their possession and not owning it. They were pretending to be holy on the outside. They were pretending to be righteous before God. They were pretending to have an outward show of godliness.
God is not swayed by our outward affections towards Him. We may fool people around us by how we behave, by the way we churn out verses for every situation, pray loudly to appear holy, seem all put together. God sees through all that outward pretence and looks right into our hearts. We are naked before Him. No matter how much we may attempt to cover up and look good.
If God were to see right through your hearts today, will He find a total and complete surrender to Him, a DEATH to SELF (self-confidence, self-esteem, self-importance, I/me/myself first, MY rights, MY ambition, MY career, MY life)? Can we truly say before God, with open hearts that we are HIS?
I believe God is calling us to have a deep heart check before Him today, to return to Him-our first love, to acknowledge that everything we are, have, possess comes from HIM. When we come to that place of absolute surrender (oh how sweet the realization that our striving to do/ be something/someone is unnecessary!), God can work powerfully in our lives for His Glory!! We become transformed in our minds, in our hearts. We allow the Holy Spirit to steer us through the day-through every big and small decision, every easy and difficult task. We sail over life despite myriad challenges, experience deep joy that is not dependent on circumstances and situations. God is glorified in our actions and words. And when God begins to move in a life that is totally surrendered to Him, others begin to take notice and realize this radical transformation comes from One greater than any human on earth!!
God does not expect you to work out your salvation by your own effort. When you surrender to Him, you can rest assured that He not only supplies the power and wisdom for everything you need for this life but He keeps you surrendered until the time you are with Him again for eternity.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, You bore deep into my heart today to come back to You in total surrender. I was so wrong, have lived my life constantly striving in my our strength, doing things my own way instead of asking You to steer my life. But I return to You now, my God, Take ALL of me and transform me from the inside out. Align my heart to Yours. Align my life to Yours. I want to die to SELF. I want to live for You and for Your Glory alone. In Jesus’ Name, amen.