Take a moment and read Acts 5:1-11. 

“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.

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. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.”

Wow.  When was the last time you saw someone drop dead in church?  If that doesn’t make you think twice about what you put in the offering plate, I don’t know what will.  This passage has always freaked me out a bit, but there’s a lot we can learn from it.  Really, there is tons to unpack here, but today we are just going to focus on a handful of things.

Now take a quick second and read a few verses before, for a little context to the story, Acts 4:34-37. 

“…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.

Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”

A few things stand out in this story.

• First, this was not a mandatory offering.  Ananias and Sapphira were not required to place any money at the apostles’ feet, they chose to.  It was supposed to be an act of worship, but exposed both a desire for personal glory and a posture of irreverence to God.  A literal translation of the situation is that they embezzled from what they were offering to God and then conspired to cover their tracks.

• Second, this isn’t about money.  Greed wasn’t the issue that resulted in such a swift and decisive judgment…it was deceit.  Ananias, and then Sapphira, believed they could lie to God and get glory for themselves.  It’s natural to think that we can fool men…we lie to people all the time.  We twist truths and we make ourselves look better than we are.  But you cannot lie to God…and Ananias and Sapphira both had the audacity to believe they could slip something past the Holy Spirit.  They made a conscious choice to lie to the apostles (still a sin) but their punishment was rooted in the fact that they lied to God.  If there had been no punishment for this offense, it would have made a mockery of God, made dishonesty with Him appear both acceptable and lucrative, and set the precedent of believing that the Holy Spirit could be deceived.

• And third, it had less to do with the amount and more to do with the heart in which it was given…the motive behind the gift was self-serving, not God-serving.  Ananias and Sapphira wanted glory without sacrifice.  We are on dangerous ground when we do anything, regardless of how good, for the glory of self.  The reminder in this is that our fellowship is to be selfless.  It is to be transparent and that we as the church are to guard the church’s integrity, unity, and purity.   It’s a call to fully embrace Christ and take seriously the consequences of sin.

Ananias and Sapphira were normal people…we can relate with them pretty easily, right? How often do we make worship more about what we look like to others than what we are offering to God?  Every day, our culture tells us to value significance and elevation of self over integrity.  We see that in politics, in business, in relationships and in our daily interactions.  But as Christ’s followers, the Holy Spirit is guiding us, not the world.  We are called to live for God’s glory, called to offer ourselves completely to Him, called to guard our hearts from Satan’s influence.

• Take time to identify areas in your life that you are struggling to be honest with God and guard well.
• How is God growing you in those areas?  How has He shown you His grace in these areas?

The Holy Spirit is not interested in feeding your ego…ain’t nobody got time for that.  The Holy Spirit is interested in taking up residence in your heart…in transforming you from the inside out.  I pray you rest in that Truth today.