Tag: Sapphira

This passage is not a comfortable one. But I don’t think we should be avoiding uncomfortable passages. God put them there for a reason.

Here you have God striking down Ananias and Sapphira for their sin. Why?

Not only did they sin, it was a deliberate sin. At their home, they discussed lying to Peter and to everyone else in the church. But in lying to Peter and the church, they lied to the One who was dwelling in them. They lied to the Holy Spirit. They lied to God. And that is a serious thing: it shows a total disrespect for God. Ananias and Sapphira took God lightly, and as a result took their sin lightly. The result? Death.

It was a harsh discipline. It was in fact the harshest discipline possible. Why so harsh? Because an attitude of taking God lightly and taking sin lightly can easily spread in the church like a cancer. And God pulled it out before it could spread in this young church he had just started.

You see this in 1 Corinthians 11 as well. Believers were getting sick and even dying because they were taking God and their sinful attitudes toward each other lightly at the communion table.

So Paul warns

If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged (I Corinthians 11:31).

In other words, search your heart. Don’t ever take God or sin lightly. If you don’t, discipline will come. And it may be harsh.

But even in the harshest discipline, there is hope. For Paul continues,

but when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned with the world. (11:32)

In short, we are not judged as the people of this world who reject God are. I believe Ananias and Sapphira went home to be with the Lord. They were harshly disciplined for the sake of the church. The church learned a valuable lesson from their actions. But God did not reject Ananias and Sapphira. There was forgiveness even for them. Why? Because Jesus took their ultimate punishment on the cross.

But let us never make the mistake that they made. Let us never take God lightly. Nor let us take our sin lightly.

How do we know if we’re taking God or our sin lightly? If our sin doesn’t bother us. If we can sin or plan to sin, and we think, “It’s no big deal. It’s not that big of a sin. And even if it is, God will forgive me.”

That kind of thinking spreads poison in our lives and in the church. And God loves us and his church too much to let that poison spread for too long.