Acts 5:7-11. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 18, 2022.
Last week, we dealt with the death of Ananias, and today we will deal with the death of his wife, Sapphira.
Ananias is a Greek form of the Hebrew name Hananiah. It means ‘the favor of Yahweh,” or “the grace of Yahweh.” Sapphira’s name is a reference to the sapphire gem.
Though one could think of their names as ironic in this story, it is more likely that they serve to emphasize the tragedy of their lives and their fall into judgment. God was pouring out the greatest grace and favor that the world had ever seen in the work of Jesus. He followed this up with the amazing gift of pouring out the Holy Spirit upon those who believed in Jesus. How tragic to fall short of the grace of God.
Similarly, Sapphira’s name should remind us of God’s ultimate goal for believers, which is spoken of in the Old Testament. Daniel 12:2-3 says that the righteous who are resurrected will “shine like the brightness of the firmament,” and “like the stars forever and ever.” This imagery of shining stars is used in the Bible for spiritual beings. It also is connected to gems. Read Malachi 3:15-18. God speaks of a day in which He declares that the righteous will become His. “’They shall be Mine,’ says the LORD of Hosts, ‘on the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’”
This story is a tragedy of the highest level. May God hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
Let’s get into our passage.
It might seem strange to us that Ananias is buried without his wife’s knowledge, but it would have been similar to her husband being in the morgue. In those days, a family would typically have a tomb that had a platform in the middle. The dead body would be laid on the platform and allowed to decompose over the course of a year. Later the bones would be gathered up into a bone box called an ossuary and deposited within one of several niches that would be in the walls. Whole families would be buried in the same tomb this way. Also, It would be necessary to deal with a body right away due to the heat.
Verse 2 tells us that Sapphira knew what her husband was doing. We should pause and discuss the difficulty of having a spouse who is pursuing sin. Many Christians have had to deal with being married to unbelieving spouses. In fact, the Apostle Paul encourages such to stay married as long as the unbelieving spouse is open to it because you never know how God may use it to save their soul. It can be more nuanced if you have a “believing” spouse who is serving their flesh rather than Jesus. Regardless, Sapphira had a choice to make. She could refuse to stand with her husband in this sin, or she could join him in it. Sadly, she chooses to join him in his sin.
Don’t get me wrong. There is no reason to make Sapphira to be the instigator, or innocent bystander. Perhaps she was like Jezebel goading Ahab on in worship of Baal. Maybe she was not. All spouses should recognize that their life deeply affects their spouse for good or for bad.
It is three hours after the death of Ananias that Sapphira shows up. It would stand to reason that she is looking for him, wondering why he is taking so long. She gets there minutes before the men who have buried her husband make it back to the place where Peter is.
It is at this point that Peter questions Sapphira about the value of the property sold. It would be easy to blame Peter here. Couldn’t he have led with the fact that her husband had lied and had been struck dead by God? Yes, he could have. However, Peter questions her to see if she is in on it. I mentioned last week that I don’t believe Peter knew up front that Ananias was going to die. Otherwise, we would expect him to pronounce something so, like he does here with Sapphira. God had made it shockingly clear to Peter that this was to be taken seriously, and Peter is only taking this seriously. How bad has this wickedness spread?
Tragically, Sapphira lies to Peter, and therefore, lies to the Holy Spirit as well. Peter rebukes her for her sin, and adds some further light to why this is taken so seriously. Sapphira will fall down dead and breathe her last as her husband did.
The first part of this rebuke is in reference to the Holy Spirit. Sapphira had agreed with Ananias to “test” the Holy Spirit. The Greek term it translates is often used of the devil tempting us. It typically means to test so as to make someone fail. A test can be a good thing that measures your progress and helps you to see where you need to improve. In general, teachers are not actually trying to fail their students, but they do have a duty to make sure that the kids are learning the material. This will ensure that the student is able to get more work on the failed problems.
The plot of Ananias and Sapphira is not devised to strengthen the Church, Peter, or God. They hope to get the social reputation of donating all the proceeds of their sale without having to do it. Their lie is selfish, and somehow, they believe that God won’t do anything about it. This begs a lot of questions. Were they actually saved, or only going along with the group because amazing things were happening? Did they actually believe God was behind these things, or did they somehow believe it was more like magic, the involvement of an impersonal force? Of course, we cannot know.
I believe that America is testing the Holy Spirit today, and has been for a long time. We have been coasting on the grace that prior generations have won for us, but now, the judgment of God is in our land. Everywhere around us, we see the crumbling culture. The principle of death is being breathed into the land through every action of sin. Yet, there is still hope. We can see the turmoil and repent.
In fact, God generally sends his judgment in increasing waves. This makes me wonder if Ananias and Sapphira hadn’t had some warnings from God earlier.
Peter tells Sapphira that the same men who were coming in the door from burying her husband will now bury her. She then dies as Peter has prophesied. No leader should ever dare to utter this kind of statement unless it is really from God. As I said, God had made it clear that He wasn’t letting this pass.
Whether I am judged by God on the spot or after 80 years of this life, the testimony of Scripture is that Jesus is a righteous judge. He knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts. You cannot fool God.
Yet, none of us can be good enough to merit grace in that hour. I don’t believe that God wants us to be unsure of that day. 1 John 5:13 states that we can know that we have eternal life. Still, there is a tension between being confident of our salvation, and yet not letting that become an excuse for sin. The saved person will fight their own sin. There will be losses and wins in that battle, but the Lord will deliver them from them all. This tension can be described as a tension between being afraid of God and having a healthy fear of the Lord.
Luke mentions twice that fear came upon everyone who heard about the story (vs 5, 11). For Christians, it would be the fear of the Lord that wisely fights against sin in their life. For unbelievers, it is more than likely a fear of the unknown. It would be a fear of not knowing what is really going on among those people.
Just because this is the Age of Grace does not mean that God is no longer making judgments. If we eat up His grace and spend it on our lusts, instead of putting our faith upon Jesus, working to become like him, then we will pay with our life. We will receive eternal life or eternal death, eternal glory or eternal shame.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It teaches us to stop asking how close to the cliff we can hang out without falling. The whole point is to want to be close to Jesus, to have intimate communion with him. I fear the holiness of God too much to try and lie to Him.
Of course, any time we tell Jesus that we love him, we are somewhat like Peter was in John 21. My words may be greater than my flesh can back up right now, but Lord you know my heart. You know that my spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak. God is gracious and is not looking for an excuse to take you out. That tells me something drastically wrong was going on inside of Ananias and Sapphira. I should not try to look like anything more than a sinner being set free from my sins as Jesus helps me.
Now, let’s come full circle on God’s love for us. Remember, God is not willing that anyone perish, but that all come to repentance and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. More than that, God wants for you to be the recipient of His grace and favor. He wants you to be at His side shining like the stars. In fact, a beautiful thing about gems is that they don’t have internal light. At His side, we will not only be gems, but the most dazzling light of God will be shining through us. What a day that will be!