Acts 5:1-11

January 13, 2002     

The Danger of Counterfeit Goodness

Every day, thousands of people travel from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, China, and head straight for Lo Wu Commercial City, a giant shopping mall that sells imitations of luxury items. With five floors and 500,000 square feet of retail space, Lo Wu may be the world's capital of counterfeit goods.

People eagerly pay $58 for a bogus Rolex watch. They buy imitation Gucci shoes, Armani suits, and Channel wallets for a fraction of the prices charged for the real thing. Scuffles often break out as shoppers struggle for the most popular goods. What a commentary on humanity’s tendency to value outward appearance more than reality! We pay big money to have the right label and look, even if the merchandise is not authentic. (Our Daily Bread, 1/7/00)

Our lives are filled with such evasions, some practical and innocent. We buy furniture with a veneer to save the cost of solid wood, less expensive brands that do the same job for less money. We exchange pleasantries which evade our true feelings. We may pay top dollar for a running shoe and never hit the pavement or the court. It looks like we care about our bodies without breaking a sweat.

But this is a problem whenever we try to hide our true selves and the sin in our lives, whenever we imitate something genuine to deceive, defraud or pretend something to be what it is not in reality – we counterfeit, we are hypocrites.  Author George MacDonald once wrote that “Half of the misery in the world comes from trying to look, instead of trying to be, what one is not!”.

Our passage this morning deals with this all too common issue. Yet it does so in a most uncomfortable way. The passage seems harsh and perplexing. Up to this point in Acts the believers live a charmed existence. Primitive Christianity appears as a utopia, where nice and good people do nice and good things. Sin is radically removed and righteousness reigns supreme. Flowing from a common confession is a unified heart to help those in need.

But into this paradise of virtue a satanic counter attack hits the church in three areas. We’ve seen the first hints at physical violence as Peter and John are threatened by the ruling authorities. Soon their threats will be realized. In time, blood will be shed. But not only is there the external pressure of persecution, there will be soon the internal distraction as some needy in the church are not receiving help. The Apostles are faced with the distraction of overseeing both the spiritual as well as the physical needs. But here in Acts 5:1-11 we see a subversion of the gospel through moral compromise. Rarely does the cause of Christ suffer so much damage as when those who claim to serve him plaster their lives with the veneer of goodness in order to camouflage their depravity.  READ Acts 5:1-11.

This story is difficult. Here is a couple, selling property, giving a portion to alleviate the needs of those in distress and yet the Apostle Peter, with seeming supernatural insight, pronounces a curse without an opportunity for repentance. In what to some may seem magic, the couple both collapse in death.

This passage raises questions such as: “would God really strike people dead on the spot for committing this specific sin?” “Is it right for Peter to be so heartless and quick to judge?”

First we need be careful not to assume connections in a story which gives us few details. But read the story with a view to see what God teaches us in his Word.

The first thing we see is: Short-circuiting discipleship

The chapter division between Acts 4 and 5 is unfortunate and the NIV’s “now” doesn’t help. What happens here is a continuation of the story of a unified confession of faith leading people in a unified desire to help those in need. Ananias and Sapphira want to be a part of the fun without the personal cost.

Last week we saw how Barnabas’ name meant Son of Encouragement. His life and actions were consistent. But here, Ananias and Sapphira prove the opposite. Ananias means God is gracious and Sapphira means Beautiful. But those names mock them, as God’s grace is a pretense for deception and beauty is only a deceptive smile. Rather than goodness flowing from a unified confession resulting in sacrificial love, just make it look like you are good. Why be good when you can just “act” good?

It is good to see husband and wife joining together in that which is good. For a couple to agree on how to use their finances may even be rare. But here they join in that which is evil, and like our first parents agree to defraud God.

Perhaps swept up in the excitement of the moment, as some sacrificially gave, they saw the dual benefit of helping others as well as receiving praise. While judgment falls quickly on them we need to understand what is happening here.

Before we wag our finger at them too much – they are giving. Their fraud is not absolute or complete. As we have said when looking at Acts 2:42-47, last week and here in 5:4, giving was voluntary. The issue here is not that they did not give or that they did not give enough. The key word here is in v2 “they held back.”  That verb is important – nosphizomai – which means to misappropriate, to pilfer or embezzle or steal.

One can not embezzle what one already owns. The word is also found in an Old Testament story that bears similarity. In Joshua 7, during the early successes of Israel’s conquest of Canaan, just as the walls of Jericho fell and it seemed as though nothing would stop God’s people, a terrible defeat was suffered at Ai. It was soon revealed to Joshua that there was sin in the camp. Achan had contraband, he had stolen forbidden items from Jericho and buried them under his tent. In the LXX the word of Achan’s theft is the same as here.

Assumed in Acts 5 is that the sale of the property came after their promise to donate the proceeds of that sale to the church, so that when they kept back a portion, they were taking that which was already promised and therefore is embezzlement.

The problem here then is that this was not a mere miscalculation in their checkbook, but premeditated deception. This was pious pretense, religious sham, simulated holiness, Christian fraud. (Hughes, 76) It is not just that they were tight fisted, but that they took what was no longer theirs then lied in order to receive credit for their sacrificial generosity, without the inconvenience of it. Giving to the poor was but an avenue for them to garner a good reputation.

To put it another way: this is short circuiting discipleship. It is virtual Christianity

When I go to Chuck E. Cheese, I’ll pilfer a few kids’ tokens to play the skateboard game. It’s thrill without risk. I may imagine I’m the buff guy in the half pipe, but when I wipe out, there’s not a scratch.  But virtual reality is a contradiction. If it is virtual it is not real. That is the essence of hypocrisy.

Why go through the pains of following Christ when you can just make it look like you do?

Whenever there is piety without practice, when our faith is a show with no substance, we commit the same sin. We do this when we impress people with our prayer life, when it is weak and shallow, we seemingly have all the answers, have our life together, promote the idea of our generosity when in fact we know little and what we do have is in shambles.

Have you seen the recent ads for the gut busting belt. Using electrical currents to rapidly contract muscles so that you can have a six-pack stomach without ever doing a stomach crunch – far too often we want to communicate the joy and peace of God without ever admitting we are unhappy. We want others to think we know God without ever studying His Word. This the Christian life with faith, but never repentance, of claiming discipleship without any discipline. The issue here is the desire for public recognition to which we have no right.

But what are we to make of the harsh condemnation by Peter?

In vv3-4 we see the horrific nature of this sin.

How did Peter know? We aren’t told. He may have been perceptive enough to know, God may have given it to him supernaturally, or God may have revealed it through natural means by an informant.

His response helps us see what is at stake.

First we see the relationship between influence and responsibility

In v3 Peter points to the activity of Satan at work in Ananias’ heart. But in v4, Ananias contrived it in his own heart. Peter does not let Ananias off because he did was contrary to who he is. Whatever role the Evil One has, he can not be blamed for the sin.

The Puritan Thomas Brooks pointed out, "Satan must have a double leave before he can do anything against us. He must have leave from God, and leave from ourselves, before he can act anything against our happiness" (Works, vol. 1, 153). God in his providence permits this assault, but the responsibility lies with the individual.

Second, Peter’s response helps us to better understand the person and deity of the Holy Spirit.

In v3 the lie is against the Holy Spirit. You can lie only to a person and not an object or some ethereal entity. The person of the Spirit is then equated to God as in v4 he clarifies the extent of this lie, it is against God. Peter puts this sin in divine perspective.

Ananias’ sin is against God, because he is defrauding the church.

In Psalm 51 David confesses that his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Urriah is primarily against God, even though others were certainly involved. So here Peter goes to the heart of sin, that to pretend devotion to God in order to attain public recognition is a sin against God.

In accusing Ananias of lying to the Spirit in v3, Peter’s words are strong. Literally, he has falsified the Spirit. His actions are a denial of the Spirit’s presence in the community.

Here we see the evilness of hypocrisy. The sham of counterfeit goodness is not just the deception of people, but the repudiation of God’s grace. But in faking faith, they may fool people but never God. Contrary to the bumper sticker which reads: “Jesus is Coming. Look Busy” our busyness is self apparent to God and harmful to the body of Christ.

Ananias dies, breathes his last.  Verse 5 describes his death as a judgment by God. The ultimate cause of Ananias’ death is not Peter’s harsh rebuke nor his terror in being uncovered as a fake.

Then there is Round 2 with Sapphira

She comes in, having been absent for Ananias’ confrontation. Peter offers her a chance to repent, for she too is responsible. But she maintains the lie.

The irony is that they lied with the money they placed at Apostles’ feet so they fell dead at their feet. They planned together to deceive – so they were buried together, having joined her husband in conspiracy, she now joins him in the grave.

In Lexington, KY a judge’s order to relieve inmate crowding necessitated the building of a new jail. But amid the rolling bluegrass smack in the heart of Kentucky's horse country, not just any jail would do.

The solution: Disguise the lockup as a horse farm. As Vice Mayor Teresa Isaac joked when the $71M project was shown to the city council last year. ''It will be the first jail in Southern Living.'' The Fayette Co. Detention Center houses 1,200 inmates in a building that incorporates leading-edge corrections design with none of it visible to travelers on the scenic Old Frankfort Pike, leading to some of the world's most famous thoroughbred horse farms. People will see only a landscaped hill, topped by an administration building designed to look like the main house at a horse farm. (USA Today, 9/27/99)

That is the perfect picture of our own hypocrisy. Just as in that wealthy KY county not wanting to admit criminals live among such opulence, so we cover up our sin, refuse to be honest.

The problem with hypocrisy is not just that we miscommunicate something about ourselves to others, but we lie ultimately to God. We refuse to see our need is Him. Our acting good is enough, rather than him declaring us good in Christ. Hypocrisy is ultimately a denial of the gospel, of the work of Christ.

This lie to God says that my superficial goodness, my virtual righteousness is enough. I don’t need another’s. Christ’s perfect keeping of the Law for me, his death in my place is not necessary. I can make myself acceptable to God not through Christ, nor even by means of the impossible task of trying harder. I’ll get into heaven through deceit. Approval by others is all that counts.

What can we learn?

What does this not teach?

• This is not the place to go to tell people that if they have unconfessed sins, God may strike them dead at any moment and they’d spend eternity in hell. If that is the case, get the white sheets ready, call the young men, we are all going to die!
• This is not a text to preach on stewardship. Though I am sure if it were a record offering could be taken. This is not a text about holding back what belongs to God. It is not at all about money or tithing. When we have a capital campaign, the pledges are private and the issue is integrity.
• Neither does this teach that all who die suddenly or tragically are sinners above all others.

This does remind us of the gravity of hypocrisy

That vv5b, 11 are repeated points us how to respond, that great fear gripped the church.

Falsehood ruins fellowship. Just as with Achan who stole at the outset of the conquest of Canaan was dealt with severely, so with this couple. If the hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira had not been publicly exposed and punished, the Christian ideal of an open fellowship would not have been preserved, and the modern cry “there are so many hypocrites in the church” would have been heard from the beginning.

Such an accusation is often used hypocritically. If a person refuses to go to church because there are too many hypocrites, then their inconsistency should make them feel at home. Business is full of hypocrites, but that does not stop him from doing business. Society is full of them, but he does not decide to become a hermit. Hell is full of hypocrites, so if a person doesn't like hypocrites he had better make sure he's not going there.

When this accusation is used we need to acknowledge that the church is certainly full of sinners of which we are all part of that number. Yet this is not to say that we willingly tolerate counterfeit goodness, superficial spirituality. The greatest travesty is not the presence of sinners in the church, for that is where we all belong, but unrepentant sinners. When we give the impression that we have our act together, that we are holy and have ceased to struggle, we then point to ourselves and not to God’s grace. Remember, those who have ceased to struggle with sin are either spiritually or physically dead.

There is nothing better than to point others to Jesus’ goodness rather than your own.  Too often the church markets Christian faith like toothpaste. If you want a perfect life, with a perfect job, perfect spouse, perfect kids – then be like me! We think we can attract people to Christ by making them covet our perfection, i.e. our hypocrisies.

As painful as this passage is, as much as it should make us examine our motives and in fear look in faith to Christ, as it points us once again to the gospel. While at first it seems so “non-redemptive,” so contrary to Christ’s work for us, forgiving us, showering his grace on us, it does help us realize that, but for the grace of God, go I.

The question is not so much “How could God do such a thing to this couple?” But rather personally, “Why does God so withhold his wrath from me? I too deceive and cast false pretense, yet he is gracious to me.”

Ananias and Sapphira wanted credit for their own works. They had no need for Christ’s righteousness. They were struck down for their own sins because they rejected another’s death in their place.

When we speak of Christ’s death as a propitiation, as a sacrifice sufficient to turn aside God’s righteous anger towards those in Christ, we have good reason to stand in awe of his grace to us. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ you can be assured that God's anger toward every sin that you have ever committed, are now committing, and will yet commit has been forever removed. God's anger toward your public and hidden sins was instead aimed at his own Son, and if you are in Christ, you can be assured that Satan cannot enter you, exposing you to such immediate wrath. Though God may indeed expose your secret sins, you need not fear of being stricken dead -- for Jesus Christ has been stricken dead for us, and even now he is in heaven praying for us so that Satan cannot have his way with us. For it is only through the cross that we can freely approach God and that we can know that our own deceit and hypocrisy have been washed away by the blood of Christ. (adapted from  Riddlebarger, You Have Lied to the Holy Spirit)

Dr. Barnhouse pastor of the famous Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia a generation ago, on the basis of this text, would never let his congregation sing the third stanza of “At Calvary”

“You see,” he said, “if God acted in the same way today that he did in the fifth chapter of Acts, you’d have to have a morgue in the basement of every church and a mortician on the pastoral staff.” The truth is, we would not have a pastoral staff either. (Hughes 75)

While we should be careful never to promise that which we refuse to do, we should never create a counterfeit goodness to impress others, we can and should sing this. But not in our own strength and power. Rather than having this passage paralyze us, keeping us from commitment, let us move forward in faith, knowing that what God calls us to be and do he empowers us and takes our feeble and often sinful works and covers them with the work of Christ, making them holy.

Our final song calls for us to proclaim that which we may be reluctant to sing in light of this passage. Yet this is a prayer, that God would make us what we are not into what we should be. If you are looking to Christ, sing with your whole heart, knowing God’s grace will empower you to keep God’s commands. If you don’t know Christ, keep quiet, but more importantly, speak with me or one of the elders following this service.