Acts 4:32-5:11: Preserving the Church's Purity

Acts 4:32-5:11: Preserving the Church’s Purity 

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of Acts, and today the next passage we come to is Acts 4:32-5:11 as the passage upon which today’s message will be based. 

32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it 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 to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. 7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

We’ve been working our way through the book of Acts passage by passage, and this morning that journey takes us to Acts 4:32-5:11. And let’s pray for God’s blessing before we go any further. [Prayer]

People are different in many ways, but one thing that just about everyone has in common is that we’re all repulsed by hypocrisy. Nobody appreciates hypocritical behavior. I’m reminded of the situation not all that long ago when many politicians enacted certain COVID regulations but then broke their own rules—going to restaurants without a mask, getting their hair done without a mask, and having crowded parties at their houses unmasked. Clearly, their approach to their own regulations was “rules for thee, but not for me.” Not surprisingly, that made a lot of people very upset. 

And of course, we’d do well to remember that there’s plenty of hypocrisy on the other side of the political aisle as well. In addition, it’s unfortunately even an issue within many churches. That’s one of the main reasons many non-Christians give for why they’re not interested in church, right? I can’t even count the number of times I’ve heard someone say that they have no interest in church or Christianity because so many of those who claim to be Christians are hypocrites. People can’t stand hypocrisy. And if there’s one thing our main passage in Acts shows us, it’s that God can’t stand it either. He can’t stand people who say one thing and do another. Not only that, but he wants to guard the church from such people. Another way to say it—and this is the main idea of this passage—is that God’s passionate about the purity of his church. God’s passionate about the purity of his church. And in a few moments, we’re going to see just how passionate he is. 

But first, we read in Acts 4:32-37 about how well things were going in the church. In fact, it’s amazing to read about how these early Christians were living and relating to one another. Look what it says, Acts 4:32-37: 32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 

So things were going great in the church. Verse 32 tells us that they were unified—being “of one heart and soul—and verse 33 records that “with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” Not only that, but perhaps the most distinctive feature that’s brought out in this passage is the radical generosity these early Christians exhibited. “No one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common,” verse 32 tells us. And the result, as we see in verse 34, was that “There was not a needy person among them.” And I believe this radical generosity says a lot about the hearts of these early Christians. You see, there’s this invisible cord that runs from a person’s heart all the way down here to their wallet. The two are inseparably connected. The way we steward the money God’s given us is one of the most reliable indicators there is about the condition of our hearts and about where our true priorities are. People can say all kinds of things about their devotion to Jesus that sound really good, but one of the truest measures of our devotion is our level of generosity. Generosity shows that our treasure is in heaven, that we care about others, that we’re trusting God to provide for our earthly needs, and ultimately that we understand God’s generosity toward us in the gospel. So the generosity of these early Christians speaks volumes about their character and about the grace of God that was at work within them. Verse 33 says it well when it states that “great grace was upon them all.”

Yet, as we’re about to see, even the best church will have some flaws. Also, Satan’s never far away. Even when things seem like they’re going extremely well, you can count on the fact that Satan’s hard at work figuring out how he can sabotage and undermine what’s happening. In fact, the better things are going in a church, the harder Satan works to put a stop to it. And as we look at the narrative of Acts so far, we see earlier in chapter 4 that Satan first tried to oppose the spread of the gospel through external persecution. But that didn’t work very well, so now he tries a different tactic—weakening the church from within. 

Look with me at Acts 5:1-11: 1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it 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 to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. 7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. 

So what in the world is going on here? Well, Ananias and Sapphira tried to appear more spiritual and generous than they really were. While claiming to be giving the full amount of money they had received for the field, they actually kept back a part of it for themselves. So understand that their sin wasn’t that they kept some of the money but that they lied about what they were giving. They could have sold their field and kept a portion of the proceeds and just explained, “Hey Peter, we sold this field and would like to donate most of the money we received from it and also plan on keeping a portion of it for ourselves.” That would have been totally fine. But Ananias and Sapphira didn’t do that. Instead, they lied to make themselves look good in the eyes of the rest of the church. That was their sin—hypocrisy. And in lying to the church, verse 3 says that they were actually lying to the Holy Spirit. So, God struck them dead. 

And it’s at this point that it’s very natural for us to wonder, why would God inflict such a severe judgment on them? It seems a little harsh at first glance, doesn’t it? So why would God do that? 

Well, one thing we need to remember here is that all sin is worthy of severe judgment. It’s a serious thing to rebel against a holy and righteous God. And the reason why we often don’t understand the seriousness of sin is because we don’t really understand the holiness of God. God is holy and loathes all sin. So what happens to Ananias and Sapphira here in Acts 5 is actually what should happen to each one of us if we really got what we deserved for our sin. And that’s one reason why this passage is in the Bible. It’s here as a warning to us. You see, our tendency is to get comfortable with our sin. Kind of a like a farm animal. Those of you who have been on a farm understand that some of those animals can smell pretty ripe. But of course, the animals don’t realize how bad they smell, do they? They think they smell normal. And that’s the way we tend to view our sin. We tend to view it as less than what it is and get comfortable with it and forget that our sin is unimaginably offensive to a holy God. Just a like a farm animal’s stench is offensive to us, our sin is offensive to God. 

Yet, as we try to understand why God brings such severe judgment on Ananias and Sapphira, it’s not enough to simply say that God takes sin seriously. Because there are many sins that are recorded in the Bible, and yet how often does God respond by striking people dead? Not very often. Yet he does that here in Acts 5, doesn’t he? Why? Well, you have to understand that this was a critical time in the life of the church. The Christian community was in its early stages at this point and was therefore very vulnerable. So if this sin wasn’t dealt with swiftly and decisively, there would be significant consequences. I don’t think it would be an overstatement to say that the future of the church was at stake. So we see God acting in a decisive way to guard the purity of the church. As stated in our main idea, God is passionate about the purity of his church. In other words, he’s passionate about the church being free from anything that might contaminate it—such as unrepentant sin or hypocrisy. That’s what I mean by purity. And God acts in a decisive way here to guard that purity. 

And here’s why the purity of the church is so important—and why God takes such extreme measures to guard it. Two reasons. First, the purity of the church is an essential element of our witness. And this is something that’s just as true today as it’s ever been—perhaps even more true. Because the reality is that people are tired of fake things. We encounter so many fake things over the course of an average day that it’s just ridiculous—advertisements that make exaggerated claims and social media posts that seem to intentionally project a false image of someone’s life and even news articles that are written with a specific agenda in mind. We’re swimming in so much fakeness. And I believe that most people are tired of it. People are tired of fake things. So there’s nothing that’ll destroy our Christian witness faster than others observing fakeness—or, to be more specific, hypocrisy—in the church. As I mentioned at the beginning, one thing just about all people have in common is that there’s a universal distaste for hypocrisy. 

Several years ago, before Becky and I started this church, I was working as a hospice chaplain, and one of my coworkers named Therese came up to me and paid me a very meaningful compliment. Therese was a health aide and was a very matter-of-fact kind of person. You never had to wonder what she was thinking because she would just tell you. And the clear impression I got from working with Therese for several years was that she was not a Christian and didn’t really care for Christianity that much. Yet Therese paid me a compliment one day at work that was so meaningful to me that I remember it to this day—seven or eight years later. She said to me in her usual matter-of-fact way, “You know, I like you because you’re buying what you’re selling.” “I like you because you’re buying what you’re selling.” 

Now my motive in sharing that isn’t to boast or toot my own horn. The more anyone gets to know me, the more they see how flawed I am in many ways. Yet I believe Therese’s compliment is a reminder of how critical it is for us to live out what we say we believe. We can have a real impact even on people who generally have a negative view of Christians and Christianity if we’ll just live out what we believe. In fact, I’ll even so far as to say that the only way most of the people around us will ever seriously consider the teachings of Jesus is if they see evidence of those teachings making a difference in our lives. So that’s why the purity of the church is so important. That’s why it’s so important for the church to be free from unrepentant sin and hypocrisy. The impact we as a church have on the people around us depends on it. 

Also, the second reason why the purity of the church is so important, in addition to it being an essential part of our witness, is because it brings glory to God. The purity of the church in itself—even apart from any evangelistic benefits—brings glory to God. One of God’s central desires is for his people to be transformed into his image and to reflect his character. Just as the moon shines not with its own light but with the light of the sun, God wants us to shine with his light. He wants us and the way we live our lives to reflect who he is. You might say that God saved us so that we could be trophies of his grace. He wants everything about us to put his grace on full display. And he’s passionate about that. He’s passionate about making us into the kind of people that display the glories of his grace. 

I love the way Paul says it in Ephesians 5:25-27. He writes, 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So understand the metaphor here: Jesus is like a groom, and the church is like a bride. And the reason Jesus died on the cross was in order to sanctify and cleanse the church, so that one day, he could present the church to himself as a bride in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. In other words, Jesus took the punishment for our sins on the cross not just so that we could be forgiven of our sins—though that’s also very true—but also so that we could be cleansed of our sins in every way—including being cleansed of sin in our hearts and in our lives. Jesus is passionate about that. He wants a pure bride. 

You know, in ancient Jewish culture, it was scandalous to marry a bride who had been defiled. It was shameful. No respectable man who wanted to remain respectable in the eyes of the community would ever accept a bride who had been sexually immoral prior to marriage. Purity was essential. And the tragic reality is that you and I, in our natural condition, are anything but pure. We’ve been defiled by sin—all kinds of sins—many times over. But here’s the beauty of the gospel. Jesus loves us so much that even though we’ve been defiled by sin many times over, he doesn’t cast us aside the way a man in that culture would almost always do with a defiled bride but instead finds a way to cleanse us. Obviously, in ancient culture, that wouldn’t really be possible, but in this case—spiritually speaking—it is possible. 

Yet it requires the unthinkable—that Jesus, in the words of verse 25, “give himself up” for his bride in his death on the cross. And the result is that when that wedding day comes in the future, Jesus can present the church to himself as a bride who’s undefiled—a bride who’s been cleansed and sanctified. That’s how profound his love is for us. And he’s determined to make sure that happens. He’s determined to make sure the church gets to heaven as the pure bride that he desires her to be. And when there’s significant sin in the church here on earth—like we see with Ananias and Sapphira back in Acts 5—that taints the purity of the church and therefore has to be dealt with in an appropriate way. 

So God’s passionate about the purity of the church for those two reasons—because the purity of the church is essential for the church’s witness and because the purity of the church in itself brings glory to him. 

And let’s not forget that we have an important role in all of this as well. Sometimes, like with Ananias and Sapphira here in Acts 5, God directly intervenes in order to guard the church’s purity. But most of the time, God expects us to act in a very intentional way to guard the church’s purity. And the phrase that’s historically been used for that is “church discipline.” Church discipline is the process of removing someone from church membership who insists on living in unrepentant sin. I wish we had more time for me to explain it in more detail, but the process is laid out pretty clearly in Matthew 18:15-17: 15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 

So this is the process our church follows if any church member—so I’m not talking about those who merely attend here on Sunday morning—but if any church member insists on living in sin without making any effort to repent. If that happens, we first bring the matter to the person’s attention privately, as Jesus instructs us to do. Then, if they don’t listen, we have a group of two or three church members speak to that person. Then, if they don’t listen to that, we have a members’ meeting and explain the situation to the whole church so that the whole church can pursue the person. And then if they refuse to listen even to the whole church, we’re forced as a last resort to remove the person from church membership. 

And that might sound like a harsh thing to do, but it’s actually a very loving thing. Because the whole point of this process is to help the person see that they’re on a path that leads to destruction and to persuade them to get off of that path and to repent and to start following the teachings of Jesus once again. Look very briefly with me as James 5:19-20. James writes, 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. So these verses show us that it’s a very loving thing to pursue a fellow professing Christian who’s wandering off into sin. Because, as we see here, sin brings death. 

You know, the reason why church discipline doesn’t make any sense to most people is because they don’t really believe this. They don’t really believe that sin brings death. Instead, they view sin the same way most of us might view a minor traffic violation—such as a rolling stop at a stop sign. Coming to a rolling stop at a stop sign might technically be against the law, but it’s probably not going to hurt anybody, right? And that’s the way most people view sin. They view it as one of those things that technically wrong but not really harmful. Yet the Bible says something much different. Sin brings death. It brings misery, it brings ruin, it brings destruction—both in this life and in eternity. So the most loving thing we as a church can do for one of our members who wanders off into sin is to pursue them and try to persuade them to repent—even if that involves us removing them from membership. Because even after we remove someone from membership in the church, our hope is still that they’d repent so that we can restore them back to membership. Removing them from membership is our final, desperate plea to them to repent and to save themselves from the misery and destruction that sin brings. 

Also, this process of church discipline is a critical part of us guarding the purity of the church. That’s what all of this comes back to—the purity of the church. Even though we’ll never be completely pure this side of heaven since we all battle sins in our lives, we can at least be pure in the sense that we don’t tolerate unrepentant sin among church members. Brothers and sisters, as we see back in our main passage of Acts 5, God’s passionate about the purity of his church, and he calls us to be passionate about the purity of his church as well. 

In addition, what happens to Ananias and Sapphira in this passage should lead us to take a long, hard look at ourselves. Is there any hypocrisy in our own lives? Listen to these words from the nineteenth century theologian J. C. Ryle: “Nothing darkens the eyes of the mind so much, and deadens the conscience so surely, as an allowed sin. It may be a little one, but it is not any less dangerous. A small leak will sink a great ship, a small spark will kindle a great fire, and a little allowed sin in like manner will ruin an immortal soul...There is nothing finer than the point of a needle, but when it has made a hole, it draws all the thread after it.” Do you see what he’s saying there? Even a supposedly small sin will bring unimaginable ruin to your life and to your relationship with God. And that’s because sins never stay small. They always grow. They always take us further than we ever thought we would go and make us pay more than we ever thought we would pay. Another theologian named Jeremy Taylor describes the natural process of sin in our lives. Remember how I said that sin leads us down a path that will one day end in destruction? Well here’s what that looks like, in the words of Jeremy Taylor:  “First, [sin] startles [a person], then it becomes pleasing, then easy, then delightful, then frequent, then habitual, then a way of life! Then the man feels no guilt, then is obstinate, then resolves never to repent, and then he is damned.” Sin brings death. 

So I can’t encourage you enough to let the narrative of Acts 5 cause you to examine yourself. Are you living a life of hypocrisy? Are you professing to be a Christian while at the same time tolerating secret sin? If Acts 5 shows us anything, it shows us that there’s no such thing as a sin that’s hidden from God’s eyes. Nobody here might know about it, but God knows about it, and it’s vile in his eyes. And yet God gives us a glorious promise in 1 John 1:9, which states, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” And, of course, that forgiveness and cleansing are possible because Jesus has already suffered the penalty for our sins on the cross. He already took the punishment our sins deserve and then rose from the dead so that he now stands ready to save everyone who looks to him for rescue. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or what kind of a situation you’re in right now. Just embrace Jesus for who he is and cry out to him for rescue, and you can experience for yourself the love and compassion Jesus has for sinners like you and me.