Wait, They Died?

Read

Acts 5:1-5 "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."

Think

Up until this point, Acts reads like the best few months any church has ever had.

Three thousand people get saved in a single day. Then two thousand more. A man who has never walked in his life is jumping around the temple courts. Peter is preaching to crowds. People are selling property so nobody in the church goes without. Luke keeps using the same kind of language over and over. “Everyone was filled with awe.” “They gave to anyone who had need.” “God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all.”

And then chapter 5 opens and two people lie about money and drop dead on the floor.

If your reaction to that was to stop and read it again, good. You are supposed to. Luke wants you to feel it. Verse 5 tells us the church felt it too. “Great fear seized all who heard what had happened.”

So the honest question is not, “Is this story too intense?” The question is, “Why would Luke put this story right here?”

He has just spent four chapters showing us the greatest movement of God in history. And then he immediately shows us the ugliest moment inside that movement. He does not save it for an appendix. He does not bury it. He puts it in the middle of the highlight reel.

Here is why -- because revival is not just about more people. It is about a holy people.

Everybody wants the first part. More students at The Mix. More friends showing up. More people getting baptized. Bigger rooms and louder worship. If you asked a hundred students what revival looks like, ninety of them would describe a crowd.

But God is not primarily building a crowd. He is building a people who belong to him all the way through.

And notice what the sin actually was, because if you read fast you will get it wrong.

Peter does not say, “You did not give enough.” Read verse 4 again. “Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal?” Peter is saying the money was yours the whole time. You could have kept all of it. Nobody required this.

They were not required to give the money. They chose to lie about it.

They wanted the church to believe they had given everything when they had not. They wanted the reputation of total surrender without the reality of it. They wanted to be seen as more sold out than they actually were.

That is what killed them. Not stinginess. Pretending.

Before you decide this story is only about ancient people, ask yourself how much of your week goes into managing what people think of you spiritually.

You know how to look engaged during worship. You know when to nod in small group. You know which parts of your week to mention to your youth pastor and which to leave out. You know how to answer, “Hey, how have you been doing with God lately?” in a way that ends the conversation without lying outright.

That is not a small thing. That is the exact thing Ananias was doing.

God is not interested in the version of you that you perform for everybody else. He is after the actual you, the one who exists on the drive home, in your room, on your phone at midnight.

This is more uncomfortable ground than most of what gets said about revival. That is on purpose. The God who fills people with boldness is the same God who wants them holy, and you cannot have one without the other for very long.

Start today by admitting the gap. Not to your small group. To God, who has already seen it.

Apply

Tell God the truth – Name one specific way you manage how spiritual you appear to other people. Say it to God plainly today, without softening it. He already knows, so the only person the honesty changes is you.

Pray

God, I have spent real energy on making sure people think well of me spiritually. You have seen all of it. I do not want a reputation with people and a gap with you. Show me where I am performing and start pulling it apart this week. In Jesus’ name. Amen.