Peter said, “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? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” (Acts 5:3, 4)
Up until this point in the story Luke presents, there have been times where people who are born again are filled with the Spirit and speak boldly and live holy. Indeed the previous chapter had a time where after the people prayed and the building shook, the people were filled to talk and live.
It’s interesting, then, to see the first major problem recorded within the community of grace. It’s also of interest to note the nature of the problem. The surface issue is a couple who look to pull a fast one and keep some of the money they make from selling their property. What Peter says about what’s going on beneath the surface, though, is the really challenging element of this episode.
In a community marked by people filled with the Spirit with those who walked with Jesus particularly sensitive to the Spirit, it takes something distinct to detect something horribly wrong. The matter is Ananias and Sapphira allowing themselves to be filled by Satan. What a fascinating statement. God can fill us or Satan can fill us. When Satan fills our heart, we can try and pull off a devious deed as something noble.
I imagine the scene of Ananias putting his proceeds with everyone else’s and to a regular onlooker they wouldn’t have a problem with it. Here’s a person giving money to the apostles just like anyone else, what could possibly wrong with that. Yet like Cain before the first murder, if the motive is wrong, if the heart is filled by the wrong source with the wrong substance, anything we offer could get us in trouble.
The event with Ananias and Sapphira put the fear of God into the faith community. They realised that their commitment to the good news of Jesus Christ required being filled with the Holy Spirit to live holy lives in front of a holy God. I reflect on that and thank God for His mercies to me, where He spared my life when I know some of the motives for doing His business wasn’t driven by Him. I realise once more that the good news is not about a life free of consequences from sin, but a life free to live with my heart filled with the Holy Spirit to do and be everything pleasing to God.
It’s good to check our hearts from time to time and reflect on who fills it.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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