The Bible says, “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17 NKJV). We demonstrate our sincere love for the brethren by sharing the world’s goods or our possessions (such as land, houses, money, food, clothing) with those in need. We cannot be selfish. The moment we come into Christ, love must dethrone selfishness and greed, and love must reign in our lives. We cannot cling to the world’s goods and watch our brethren lack and suffer hunger. The world’s goods should only be of value to us inasmuch as we are able to share them with the needy. In the early years of the Church immediately following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost the believers were very conscious of the love of Christ and demonstrated love for one another to a degree that still confounds many people today. The first mention of this demonstration of love is in the Second Chapter of the Book of Acts. “And with many other words he (Peter) testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Then THOSE WHO GLADLY RECEIVED his WORD WERE BAPTIZED; and that day ABOUT THREE THOUSAND SOULS were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and FELLOWSHIP, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now ALL WHO BELIEVED WERE TOGETHER, AND HAD ALL THINGS IN COMMON, and SOLD THEIR POSSESSIONS AND GOODS, and DIVIDED THEM AMONG ALL, AS ANYONE HAD NEED. So continuing daily WITH ONE ACCORD in the temple, and BREAKING BREAD FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE, THEY ATE THEIR FOOD WITH GLADNESS AND SIMPLICITY OF HEART, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:40-47 NKJV, brackets and emphasis mine). Praise God! Here, we have a picture of what the new birth did to the men of the early church after the love of God was poured out in their hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to them. They yielded to the love of God that was in them and lived it to such impressive degree. They were all together (this is speaking of unity or togetherness), and had all things in common – they shared all things, caring for one another. O, how beautiful it is when believers yield to the lordship of love!
In fact, there is a second love scene recorded in the Fourth Chapter of the Book of Acts, which is also similar to the first. The Bible says, “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. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And GREAT GRACE was upon them all. NOR WAS THERE ANYONE AMONG THEM WHO LACKED; for ALL who were POSSESSORS of lands or houses SOLD THEM, and BROUGHT THE PROCEEDS of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; AND THEY DISTRIBUTED TO EACH AS ANYONE HAD NEED.” (Acts 4:32-35 NKJV, emphasis mine).
It is simply an amazing miracle when a multitude of people – selfish men that had lived all their lives to make money and acquire wealth and possessions for themselves, like all natural men do – suddenly give up all their possessions, sharing with others, having ALL THINGS IN COMMON, and no man saying that what he possessed was his own. It is just awesome! And no man can love this way who does not have the love of God in his heart. This is a perfect picture of what happens when the children of God let loose the love of God that has been poured out in our hearts. This early body of believers lived in manifestation of the God kind of love. They must have recognized that God (Love) was indeed at work within them, willing and working His own good pleasure. (see Philippians 2:13). And so they yielded to Him. They must have known and believed that indeed they were overcomers, because greater is He (God, Love) who is in them, than he (Satan, Hatred and Selfishness) who is in the world. (see 1 John 4:4). Therefore they overcame selfishness. There was no selfishness whatsoever among them. It was an awesome work of God! Just beautiful! But then, Satan who hates all things beautiful, plotted to destroy the work of God, just like he tried to do when Jesus began His earth ministry. You would recall that immediately after Jesus’ baptism and after the Holy Spirit came upon Him, the Spirit led Him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan (the devil), as Satan tried as hard as he could to derail Jesus from His mission here on earth and to destroy the mighty work God was to accomplish in Jesus; but Satan failed; Jesus would not bow or yield to Satan. (see Matthew 4). This was Satan’s first failed attempt to destroy the work of God in Christ.
Then, when Jesus first informed His disciples about the death He was about to suffer, be buried and rise again on the third day, Satan again creeped in through the apostle Peter in an attempt to dissuade Jesus from accomplishing the new work God was to accomplish in Him. But Jesus, immediately discerning the voice of Satan in Peter, rebuked him. (see Matthew 16:21-23; Mark 8:31-33). Peter was (for lack of a better word) lucky that Jesus did not command the power of God to kill him, like he (Peter) did to Ananias and Sapphira.
Here again in the early church, God had begun a new work of establishing the love way of life on earth through the Church. And Satan again sought to destroy this new work of God, because you see, without love (agape), the Christian way of life will be an empty way of life like the world’s way of life. Thus Satan cunningly creeped into the midst of the believers by filling the heart of Ananias and Sapphira with selfishness and lies, in an attempt to destroy this awesome work of God, to destroy this precious gift of love that these believers had for one another. The Bible says, “But a certain man named ANANIAS, with SAPPHIRA his wife, SOLD A POSSESSION. 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. 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? 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.” Then ANANIAS, hearing these words, FELL DOWN AND BREATHED HIS LAST. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and BURIED HIM. Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?” She said, “Yes, for so much.” 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.” 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. So GREAT FEAR came upon ALL THE CHURCH and upon ALL WHO HEARD THESE THINGS.” (Acts 5:1-11 NKJV, emphasis mine).
Evidently, Satan’s plan failed. Peter, through the gift of discernment, saw the hypocrisy – the lies and selfishness – Satan was trying to bring into their midst through these beloved brethren – Ananias and Sapphira. And he stopped it instantly by the power of God. Peter thus judged (by the Spirit of God in Him) that it was better for Ananias and Sapphira to die than for them to corrupt the entire Church with this spirit of hypocrisy. Ananias and Sapphira had become the leaven (the hypocrisy and corrupting influence) in the church, and thus needed to be purged out so that they would not leaven (or corrupt) the entire Church. In their walk with Jesus, the apostles (including Peter) were often warned by Jesus to beware of the leaven (which is hypocrisy – the doctrine) of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and Herod. (see Matthew 16:6; Mark 8:15; Luke 12:1-3; Matthew 16:12). And so Peter, accordingly, had developed a quick discernment and strong distaste for any form of leaven, as evident from his response to Ananias and Sapphira. Paul also in writing to the Churches of Galatia warned them that “A little leaven leavens the whole lump,” (see Galatians 5:9), and he called for judgment upon whoever was leavening or corrupting the churches in Galatia, whoever was persuading them or hindering them from obeying the truth. (see Galatians 5:7,10). Again, when Paul received reports that there was sexual immorality among the Corinthian Church as is not even named among the Gentiles (or unbelievers) – that a man in their church was even sleeping with his father’s wife – he scolded the entire church for being puffed up rather than mourning that he who had done this deed MIGHT BE TAKEN AWAY FROM AMONG THEM. (see 1 Corinthians 5:1-3). And so Paul judged the man who had committed such abominable act, and commanded that, “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, WITH THE POWER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, DELIVER SUCH A ONE TO SATAN FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FLESH (body), that his spirit may be SAVED in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (1 Corinthians 5:4-5 NKJV, brackets and emphasis mine). What Paul was basically saying here was that they should do to this man exactly what Peter did to Ananias and Sapphira; they should deliver him to Satan by the power of God, so that his body will be killed, and his spirit will be saved. As believers, our spirits are already saved, and so, until we commit the unpardonable sin of rejecting or denouncing Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and choosing instead to work for our own salvation, we remain saved, and any other sin we commit only affects our body and affects our ability to be effective witnesses for Christ. Hence, churches are commanded here to pray for the death or destruction of the body of believers who are committing sins that hinder the work God has entrusted to us. Indeed, believers who are evildoers are a bad influence on other believers and a bad witness of and for Christ. And so Peter (by the power of the Holy Spirit) gave Ananias and Sapphira over to Satan for the destruction of their body (see 1 Corinthians 5:5), but their spirits were saved, because they were believers.
The lesson in the story of Ananias and Sapphira is for believers to beware of leaven in our midst, just as Jesus repeatedly tells us in the four gospels. In that same Fifth Chapter of Paul’s First letter to the Corinthians that we cited above, Paul gave to the Corinthian Church the same warning he had given to the churches in Galatia. He said, “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that A LITTLE LEAVEN LEAVENS THE WHOLE LUMP? Therefore PURGE OUT THE OLD LEAVEN, THAT YOU MAY BE A NEW LUMP, since you truly are UNLEAVENED. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with THE LEAVEN OF MALICE and WICKEDNESS, but with the UNLEAVENED BREAD of SINCERITY and TRUTH.” (1 Corinthians 5:6-8 NKJV). We all as believers are to walk in the truth and conduct ourselves with all sincerity and truth, not resorting to any acts of malice and wickedness.
Now, I know someone may say, “I thought we were under grace; how could people be killed for sin?” Yes, we are under grace, but as Paul tells us in the sixth chapter of his letter to the Romans, grace is not a license to sin. Jesus, in His letter to the lukewarm church in Revelation 3:19, says, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent.” There are many believers (even preachers) who believe that preaching more grace will lead people to sin, or as they like to put it, "give people a license to sin." But the truth is that preaching the gospel of grace (which is the only gospel regardless) won’t give people permission to sin, if we rightly divide the Word of truth and let believers know the consequence of sinning under grace. Even in the apostle Paul's time, there were people who raised such concerns about grace giving people a license to sin, which Paul responded to by saying, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" (Romans 6:1-2). We Christians, as new creations (see 2 Corinthians 5:17), are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness in Christ (see Romans 6:18). As people who are born of the Spirit (see John 3:5-6), live in the Spirit (see Romans 8:9), are to be led by the Spirit and are to walk in the Spirit (see Galatians 5:18, with Romans 8:14, Galatians 5:25, Romans 7:6), we bear and demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23) and not the acts of the flesh (see Galatians 5:19-21). Thus no believer who has truly experienced God’s amazing grace and understands the price Jesus paid for our salvation will continue to live in sin (see 1 Corinthians 6:20). Sinning under grace is a mark of hypocrisy; it is a sign that you are living according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit. And the Bible warns that, “if you live according to the flesh YOU WILL DIE; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13 NKJV). Ananias and Sapphira died when they lived according to the flesh, just as the Bible promises will happen to all who live as such.
You may also recall that, under grace (that is, before the days of Moses through whom the Law was given), Judah’s firstborn son (Er), who was judged as wicked in the sight of God, was killed; THE LORD KILLED HIM. (see Genesis 38:7). Then afterwards, when Er’s wife and widow, Tamar, was given into marriage to Onan (Er’s brother) so that Onan will raise up an heir for his brother, the Bible says that Onan, knowing that the heir would not be his – that is, any children he will have with Tamar will not be considered his own children, but his brother Er’s children – when he went to sleep with his brother’s wife, he practiced the birth control method that is known today as Coitus interruptus; Onan, to avoid, having children for his brother, emitted his semen on the ground, instead of into her. (see Genesis 38:8-9). Now, mind you, all the children born along the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were to be God’s chosen people; so this malicious act committed by Onan was actually thwarting or hindering God’s new work on earth of raising a people for Himself. So the Bible says, “And the thing which he (Onan) did displeased the Lord; therefore He (the Lord) killed him also.” (Genesis 38:10 NKJV). Onan was killed by God because God had to stop or purge out the leaven (that hypocrisy) from leavening the whole lump (that whole family of men that the Lord had chosen). God would not allow that kind of bad precedence to go unnoticed or unpunished. And so, under grace, God purged out the leaven, just as He did with Ananias and Sapphira, and continues to do in the Church today.
Indeed, grace does not give us the license to sin. Grace elevates us and empowers us to walk in the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and when we do that, we effortlessly walk in good works which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (see Ephesians 2:10). Paul in his letter to Titus says, "This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men." (Titus 3:8 NKJV). In the New Testament, Ananias and Sapphira, and the man in the Corinthian Church whose name was not given, were not the only ones who were purged out from the church for not maintaining good works. Paul again tells us in his first letter to Timothy about how he (Paul) had delivered Hymenaeus and Alexander to Satan “that they may learn not to blaspheme.” (see 1 Timothy 1:19-20). Unlike Ananias and Sapphira and the man in the Corinthian Church, Hymenaeus and Alexander had even rejected the faith and blasphemed the Holy Spirit, and so their case was even worse. The Bible says, “If the righteous (that is, believers) receive their due on earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner (that is, the unbelievers)!” (Proverbs 11:31 NIV, brackets mine). Whatever we do in our body here on earth, is rewarded or punished. And as believers (called to practice righteousness), we even suffer more in life for doing good, which makes it even more difficult to live a godly life; there's no way we could survive a day of the Christian walk, if not for the help of the Holy Spirit who is in us. The Bible forewarns us that "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God." (see Acts 14:22). Indeed, we must all suffer as believers. Peter says, “But let NONE of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone SUFFERS AS A CHRISTIAN, let him NOT BE ASHAMED, but let him GLORIFY GOD IN THIS MATTER. For THE TIME HAS COME for JUDGMENT TO BEGIN AT THE HOUSE OF GOD; and if it begins with US FIRST, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now “If THE RIGHTEOUS ONE IS SCARCELY SAVED, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.” (1 Peter 4:15-19 NKJV, emphasis mine).
Again, Peter says, “But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And ABOVE ALL THINGS HAVE FERVENT LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER, for “LOVE WILL COVER A MULTITUDE OF SINS.” Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:7-11 NKJV, emphasis mine). Love indeed covers (or prevents) a multitude of sins. This is a restatement of the truth that love is the fulfillment of the law.
Beloved, when we walk in love, we will not sin. It is written of our blessed Lord Jesus, “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” (see Psalm 45:7; Hebrews 1:9). We believers, since the Spirit of Christ dwells in us, should likewise love righteousness and hate iniquity. The Bible says that we that love the Lord are to hate evil. (see Psalm 97:10). The Bible also says that, God knows every man that loves Him. (see 1 Corinthians 8:3). So we cannot deceive God; we cannot love God and love evil at the same time. No one can serve two masters. (see Matthew 6:24). Our duty as believers, then, is to encourage one another to walk in love, and rebuke those who stray from the Way of love. The Bible commands all of us who are overseers of the flock to rebuke those who are sinning, in the presence of all, so that the rest may fear. It says, “Those who are sinning, REBUKE in the PRESENCE of all, THAT THE REST also MAY FEAR.” (1 Timothy 5:20 NKJV, emphasis mine). This was what Peter did with Ananias and Sapphira. And indeed, fear came upon the Church. (see Acts 5:5,11). And I believe from that point onwards among those early believers, at least for a decent amount of time, the case of Ananias and Sapphira was a cautionary tale for all, against hypocrisy. And it is a caution to all of us also who are believers today. Let us walk in love, and we will not walk in fear. The Bible says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18 NIV). Beloved, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of LOVE and of a sound mind. (see 2 Timothy 1:7). We have a spirit of LOVE. Let everything we do be for the sake of love. (see Philemon 1:9). Let our work or labor in Christ be the labor of love. (see Hebrews 6:10; 1 Thessalonians 1:3). Let brotherly love continue. (see Hebrews 13:1). Let us love as brethren. (see 1 Peter 3:8). “And let us consider one another in order to STIR UP LOVE and GOOD WORKS, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but EXHORTING ONE ANOTHER, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25 NKJV, emphasis mine).
“Now, May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. (see 2 Thessalonians 3:5). “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.” (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 NKJV). “Mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you.” (Jude 1:2). Amen.
I share this message, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16).
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