Total Surrender – Really?
Several times in the first five chapters of Acts, Luke tells us that the church was in “one accord” and that they were contributing in such a way, that no one in the church body was going without what they needed. In Acts 4:34-35, it tells us that there was not a needy person among them because people were selling their land and houses and bringing the proceeds to the apostles. With this money, everyone’s needs were provided.
It is immediately after this, that we see the story of Ananias and Sapphira who got caught up in a devilish scheme to make themselves look good. They had indeed sold some property and brought some of the proceeds to the apostles. However, they wanted the apostles to think they had given ALL of the proceeds to them. In verse 4, Peter just calls a spade a spade. “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it sold, was it not under your control?” In other words, no one was twisting their arm to sell the property or to donate the proceeds – it was under their control and was totally voluntary.
The problem came when Ananias and Sapphira allowed the apostles to believe that they had given ALL of the proceeds. They claimed to have surrendered all they had gained from the sale and in so doing, had not lied to the apostles, but had lied to God and attempted to gain glory for themselves. God does not share His glory with anyone or anything. Judgment was swift – Ananias died first. Three hours later when Sapphira came to speak to the apostles (without knowing her husband had died), she told the same lie and boom – she was a goner too.
This seems very harsh – but many times when God is ushering in a “new age”, He often judges sin dramatically. Think about when Aaron’s sons, Abihu and Nadab were struck down for using a “strange fire” to light the incense in the tabernacle in Leviticus 10. God was instituting the sacrificial system of salvation at that point in history. In the book of Acts, God was instituting the age of grace through the sacrifice of His only Son. God meant business and He wanted everyone to know it. This kind of hypocrisy was not acceptable in the church.
Are we saying we are totally surrendered to God, but in our heart, are we holding something back intentionally? Let’s quit wasting our energy on the “looking” part and start “being” the person who God wants us to be. God forbid that any of us is that person that another uses as an excuse not to follow Christ because we are such a hypocrite. We may fool a few folks in our life, but God sees us for who we really are.