God’s
Church needs God’s disciplines. I
had been troubled by the account of Ananias and Sapphira found in the Book
of Acts. Like many of the brethren, they had sold some property and had
given the proceeds to the apostles for the blessing of the Church. However, even
though the couple had only given half of the money from the sale—no sin in
itself—they lied and said that they had given over all of the money. Peter’s
response was absolutely chilling:
·
“Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie
to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it
remained, did it not remain thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thy
power? How is it that thou hast conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou has not
lied unto men, but unto God.” And Ananias hearing these words fell down and
gave up the ghost: and great fear came upon all that heard it. (Acts 5:3-5, KJV)
I was troubled by this. Such a
harsh judgment from God and absolutely no expression of remorse from Peter! After
all, Ananias did donate half of the proceeds. Besides, this was just a little
white lie, right?
Then there was the matter of the
way in which the apostle had spoken to Ananias’ wife. Peter’s treatment of
Sapphira seemed callous to me, especially in view of her great loss:
·
“Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much.”
And she said, “Yea, for so much.” But Peter said unto her, “How is it that ye
have agreed together to try the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them
that have buried thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee out.”
And she fell down immediately at his feet, and gave up the ghost. (Acts 5:8-10)
It seemed as if Peter had given only
the briefest opportunity for repentance before pronouncing judgment on this
unfortunate woman.
However, after these dramatic
judgments, both of which ended with death, here is the record of Scripture:
·
And great fear came upon the whole church, and
upon all that heard these things. (Acts 5:11)
Well, no wonder! No one is above
sin. If such a thing could happen to Ananias and Sapphira, perhaps it could
happen to anyone! Who then could serve such a wrathful God? Who could continue
to rejoice in Him and regard Him as their Savior, knowing that He might snuff
them out at any moment? It seems that some did indeed distance themselves from
the early Church because of this, according to Acts 5:13. And who could blame
them?
Who could blame us, as members of
Western culture, if we are embarrassed by such a God? Consequently, when we
evangelize and share our faith, we tend to soften these harsh aspects of our
God. But should we? Perhaps not! Here is the rest of the story:
·
The apostles were performing many miraculous
signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting
regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade. But no one
else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for
them. Yet more and more people believed
and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women. As a result of the apostles’ work, sick
people were brought… and they were all healed. (Acts 5:12-16; NLT)
Oddly, rather than discrediting
the Church, God’s judgments were building
the Church!
We often wonder, “To what extent
has the Church been taken captive by the culture of the West and its ideas?” Have
judgment and justice gone out of style? Atheist Richard Dawkins, speaking for
many of the educated in the West, famously claimed:
·
The God of the Old Testament is arguably the
most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty,
unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser;
a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal,
pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. (The God Delusion, Boston and New York:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006, p. 31)
Although most Christians wouldn’t
go so far, we still find Dawkins’ words stinging and embarrassing. We therefore
tend to want to make excuses for His judgments. Some have even gone so far as
to proclaim that God will save everyone. Some claim that God has repented of
His harsh ways. Finally, some of us would like to be able to say that Ananias
and Sapphira died because of a stricken conscience, and not from the judgment of
God. But saying this would be misrepresenting God.
Understandably, we want others to
be attracted to our God, so we do everything we can to massage His image and give
Him a face-lift. However, what represents an improved image in our eyes is
unacceptable to Him. Instead, His blessings accompany our faithful presentation,
within the context of His love, of who He really is.
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