Acts (7) The First Crisis in the Early Church – Deception

by Rev. Jeremiah Cheung
(Acts 4:32 – 5:16)

In 1Corinthians 16:9, Paul said, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” The gospel door is great and effective, but great also are the opposition against it. This was not only the situation during Paul’s missionary journeys, the Early Church’s experiences are perfect examples of such oppositions, too.

On Pentecost Day, Peter stood up to preach and three thousand came to the Lord. Outside the gate called Beautiful, a man born lame was healed, and five thousand came to the Lord. The gospel door had indeed been great and effective, but opposition had also begun to appear. The first instance of opposition came from the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin had the Apostles arrested, tried them, threatened them and forbade them to teach in the name of the Lord. However, the Church was not to be cowered, they prayed to the Lord and asked for boldness and grace. After their prayer, the place where they were meeting was shaken.

But Satan is a relentless enemy, he will not abandon his attack on God’s church, and we see this with the incident of Ananias and Sapphira. We must note what Peter said in verse 3, “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?” Peter said, “Satan has filled your heart, you lied to the Holy Spirit.” This is the first internal crisis that the Early Churched encountered – deception. Deception originates from Satan. Why did such a thing happen? Wasn’t the Early Church an outstanding church, a model church? There are two main reasons why such a thing happened:

I. The Early Church had Too Good a Testimony 32-37

Upon reading this passage, you will have an impression that this was an exceptional church. I tell you, it was indeed because the church was too good that Satan sought to destroy it.

D.L. Moody is called the prince of preachers. He was an excellent preacher. He used illustrations effectively to reinforce his messages. He once made an illustration which accurately explains this truth:

“A man had a dream wherein he saw angels took him to observe two churches. In the first church, he saw many demons on its rooftop, all the demons were busy doing something. And then, the man was taken to another church. In contrast to the other church, this church had only one demon on its rooftop and it was sleeping. The angel asked the man, “Do you understand what you saw?” The man replied, “Yes, I understand. The first church must be a bad church, for it is full of the devil’s work. The second church must certainly be a good church because only one devil is there, and it is not even doing anything.”

The angel said, “It is just the opposite. The first church is a very good church. The believers there love one another, they serve the Lord industriously, they honour the name of the Lord. Therefore, Satan sent many demons to try and destroy it, to divide the church. The second church is a bad church, there is division and strife among the believers, they aren’t sharing the gospel, they have no testimony, they have long disgraced the name of the Lord. Therefore, Satan sent only one demon and it doesn’t even have to do anything, so it just sleeps.” With that, the man woke up from his dream.

I don’t know how many demons are on our church’s rooftop, I guess there must be a lot, hence, we must be careful!

From this scripture passage, we can see three admirable testimonies of the Early Church:

1. The Unity of the Church – This was indeed a united church. The believers were one in heart and mind, they had everything in common, no one experienced any lack. At this point, the Early Church had already a couple of thousands in membership. A portion of those who became believers on Pentecost Day may have already gone back to their homes, yet, there were still about 5000 people in the church. How can 5000 people have unity? The church is a living organism, but the church must also have organization. Without organization, there will be chaos. As a pastor, I sometimes have to deal with some issues I don’t like to deal with; however, I cannot ignore them, for to do so would invite chaos. On the other hand, if we only have an organization but no unity of life, we will simply become a religious organization. The Church is a living organism, the Holy Spirit is in its midst, we are to be united in doctrine, in fellowship, in giving, and in worship. And the Early church was definitely such a picture of unity.

2. The Growth of the Church – “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all.” What does this mean? The apostles were filled with more and more power to preach the gospel, more and more people were being blessed and getting saved. The Early Church was a growing church. From chapter two, we see clearly that the church was growing continuously, more and more people were being added to the church; because in the Early Church, not only a few were witnessing for Jesus, not only a few were working, but all the believers willingly worked, because they wanted everyone to know the resurrected Jesus; as a result, members of the Sanhedrin grew envious.

3. The Generosity of the Church – Now, we must understand that the Early Church shared everything they had. The believers sold their land or houses and brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet. This was not stipulated by the Early Church, the people did it voluntarily. And not every believer did so, thus, we see this was not out of compulsion. Yet, the Bible also tells us there were no needy persons among them. We can see therefore that there were many who were capable of giving! And how they gave! In v.36-37, Barnabas was specifically mentioned. Barnabas’ offering must have been noteworthy, just like the giving of the widow during Jesus’ time, it was commendable. Through the moving of the Holy Spirit, the Church shared with one another. To them, giving was not a burden but a blessing.

II. Satan’s Deception 5:1-10

Ananias and Sapphira were believers. There is no question about that. But they became tools used by Satan, there is also no question about this. Actually, each one of us believers who belong to the Lord, can become instruments used by Satan. Among the 12 disciples, Jesus had once rebuked Peter saying, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” On the night Jesus was betrayed, the Bible says, “Then Satan entered Judas.” May the Lord help us, may we not become unwitting instruments of Satan. Ananias and Sapphira were taken advantage of by Satan.

If it were not for the Holy Spirit revealing their sin to Peter, the couple could have become cancer (malignancy) in the church. Why? Because their offering could surely have earned the praises of men, and then they would have been elected as leaders of the church. With such kind of people for church leaders, you can just imagine how the church might have been corrupted. What was this couple’s sin? Why did the Holy Spirit have to slay them? If it was because they did not give their 100% in the offering, I think all of us would have been slain dead, because none of us gives 100% offerings. If not because of that, then what was their sin?

1. Lying to the Holy Spirit – They sold their land and kept a part of it for themselves, yet they told the apostles it was the whole amount. For example, they sold it for 10 million, they kept a million for themselves and offered the 9 million, but they told the apostles that they offered everything. Peter told him, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit…you have not lied to men but to God.” As a result of this, he fell down and died at the apostles’ feet.

The standard during the time of the Early Church was very high. Actually, that is how high God’s standard is at the start of every era. For example, when the Tent of Meeting was being built in the wilderness, it began a new era for the Israelites. The Tent symbolized God’s presence with them, so it was the beginning of the Tabernacle Era. God’s standard then was very high. When the High Priest Aaron’s two sons, who were priests, offered unauthorized fire, fire came from the presence of the Lord to consume them and they died. When Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan, the first battle they fought was the battle of Jericho. God had forbidden them from taking anything, not even a piece of thread, not one garment, because this was the beginning of the Battle Era. However, Achan disobeyed and so his whole family was killed by the Lord.

Chapter two of the Book of Acts is the beginning of the Era of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit cannot tolerate any hint of uncleanness or deception. I do not know whether to rejoice or to be sad with this following thought – if the Holy Spirit didn’t lower down his standards, how many people would still be here next Sunday? I believe that even the number of pastors and ministers will be significantly reduced. May the Lord have mercy on us, let us be more sincere and honest, and get rid of falsehood. We may deceive men, but we cannot deceive God. This is not man’s church, but God’s!

2. Envy – In Acts 4:36, a name was mentioned, Joseph, whom the apostles later referred to as Barnabas. Then, in chapter five, Ananias and Sapphira were mentioned. These are a contrast. Joseph brought the money from the sale of his land and dedicated all of it to the Lord. Everyone praised him for his action. The apostle even gave him a new name -Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement.

Barnabas must have been greatly esteemed by the apostles. Ananias and Sapphira took special note of this after witnessing the incident and they envied Barnabas. It is just like when there is a very beautiful sister in our midst. All the men would be staring at her, but then, some sisters would be unhappy about it. This is envy. However, do not suppose that only women are capable of envy, many men can be overcome by envy too. Envy never brings any good outcome. When we see others achieving much success, why don’t we learn from them, why do we envy instead?

As a pastor, my most important ministry is preaching. But I do not envy anyone who can preach better than I do, on the contrary, I seek to learn from them. So every week, I listen to sermons of other pastors, and try to learn from these gifted preachers how to preach better. But if all I do is envy them, not only will I not improve, I will regress in the end. Just like a Russian Doll, which can become bigger and also smaller, if I only know how to envy others, I will only become smaller; but if I learn from others, I can grow bigger and bigger.

3. Pride – This couple’s motive in giving was to seek glory for themselves. Their hearts were filled with pride. Barnabas’ offering must surely have earned praises from the church. And at that point, Satan must have whispered in the couple’s ears: `You can also earn the same glory! You can also be like Barnabas, people will deem you very spiritual!’ It was obvious that they didn’t resist the temptation from Satan, because their hearts really sought such false glory.

Theologian Daniel Defoe called pride the president of hell. Lucifer became Satan because of pride, he wanted to be equal to God. Adam and Eve fell into sin because they wanted to become like God. The serpent told them, “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When a heart is filled with pride, pride will open its door wide to sin and worse sins will then ensue. Initially, it was only pride in Ananias and Sapphira’s hearts, then pride produced envy, and what happened next was that the couple conspired to deceive the church, they lied to the Holy Spirit and thus, were slain by the Holy Spirit. It is such a shame, for this couple was a very united couple; Peter said, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord?”

Yes, many couples can’t cooperate with each other, they are not united, but this couple was united, yet sadly, they cooperated towards wrongdoing. I would like to advice the sisters in our midst. Sisters, you must be your husband’s helpmeet, this is the reason the Lord God created women. If you see your husband doing wrong, you must caution him and not help him; for to help him is not submission, but to harm him. My wife would sometimes caution me: “That is not right.” Initially, I would be displeased, but later on I would listen to her. Brothers and sisters, when you turn forty, the number of people who can tell you the truth diminishes, because we refuse to listen; so others will not tell you for fear they will get into conflict with you. But to be a good wife, a good husband, you cannot keep silent. When I see my children doing wrong, I cannot keep quiet. It is good to be in unity, but please do not be united in doing wrong.

III. Crisis Turns into Turning Point 5:12-16

We often hear the saying, “a crisis is a turning point.” Every conflict can turn into a blessing, as long as we handle it properly. If the issue of Ananias and Sapphira’s deception was not dealt with, the consequence could have been grave. Why? If the Holy Spirit didn’t deal with them, this couple could have been commended by people, before long, they could have become church leaders. We can just imagine with such people as leaders in the church, what problems could occur in the church! But praise the Lord, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church dealt with the couple. Probably, the Church then didn’t even know that the outcome would be that serious, that they would be slain by the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.” This crisis became a wonderful turning point:

1. The Church was feared and respected by the people – The Bible says: “No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people.” The Bible spoke of fear and respect simultaneously. This means reverence, respect and fear. When the Church dealt with the deceitful couple, on one hand, the people became afraid lest they behave carelessly with regards to the Church, and on the other hand, they respected the Church all the more.

2. The Church Grew More and More – More and more men and women believed in the Lord. The Early Church had been a growing church since the beginning. After three thousand came to the Lord on Pentecost Day, the Bible says: And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. After the Church dealt with the crisis, the Church became even more pure, and the incident served as a warning for the people to not follow Ananias and Sapphira’s example but Barnabas’. The Church became more upright, and with that God’s grace increased even more, as a result, many more believed in the Lord.

Next year is our church’s 25th Anniversary, and the publications committee came to me to interview me on my sentiments regarding my ministry in the church these twenty years. During the interview, they asked me a question, “In these 20 years, what unforgettable lessons have you learned?” As I thought about it, I recalled that there was a time when aside from myself and my wife, the church had three male pastors and three female pastors serving together. But in a matter of one year, the three male pastors and two female pastors left the church.

Among them, a couple (Ptr. Samson & Juliet) went overseas for further studies. At that time, I came under tremendous pressure. Not only did I have to take on the duties they had left behind, I also had to take on the criticisms that came. I felt like giving up then, but by the grace of God, I kept quiet; I simply continued doing my ministries.

After two years, the Sunday worshippers’ attendance increased to a thousand, not counting the youth and children. Now, when I look back, I feel like the crisis became the church’s turning point. The church may still have crises to face in the future, but as long as we rely on the Lord and his grace, hold on to the word of God, every crisis can turn into a great opportunity.