One of the great stumbling blocks
to new Christians in our day is the concept of the jealous God. We have an
image of the "loving God" - which is much weaker than the truth, that
God is love - and when we read passages like this one, we wonder,
"How could a loving God do that?" Let us examine the passage and
see:
(Acts 4:32-37 NIV) All
the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his
possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. {33} With great
power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and much grace was upon them all. {34} There were no needy persons among them.
For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the
money from the sales {35} and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was
distributed to anyone as he had need. {36} Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom
the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), {37} sold a
field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.
(Acts 5:1-16 NIV) Now
a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of
property. {2} With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for
himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. {3} Then 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? {4} 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 to men but to God." {5} When Ananias
heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had
happened. {6} Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried
him out and buried him. {7} About three hours later his wife came in, not
knowing what had happened. {8} Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the
price you and Ananias got for the land?" "Yes," she said,
"that is the price." {9} Peter said to her, "How could you agree
to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your
husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also." {10} At that
moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and,
finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. {11} Great
fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. {12} The
apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all
the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade. {13} No one else
dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. {14}
Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added
to their number. {15} As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and
laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some
of them as he passed by. {16} Crowds gathered also from the towns around
Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of
them were healed.
Background
For us to understand this passage
correctly, we must begin with a little history lesson. Our view of land is
that it is a possession, a commodity to be bought and sold without much
emotion. Yet even at that you can feel an attachment to a place. We lived 16
years in our house at Hawthorne. It may seem silly, but as I walked out the
door of that place, I stopped one last time to ask God to bless it, giving its
new owners the peace we had known there. (My wife, as far as I know, never
looked back and left with a big smile on her face. She did not like that
house.)
The Jew of this time would be
steeped in the laws of the Old Testament. There was a different view of land:
land was held to be a gift from God. At the year of Jubilee it was to be
returned, even though this custom was no longer followed. What more natural
evidence of a changed life for God that to take the one thing you are sure God
has given you, sell it and bring the money into his house?
Christian Communism?
Some may ask, was this not
Christian communism? In one sense it was; in another it was not. There is a
very big difference between being told, "In order to become a Christian,
you must sell your land and bring the money here" and the idea that once
you become one you voluntarily decide to do so. It's the distinction between
cause and effect.
You can see it here in Barnabas,
who is nicknamed "Son of Encouragement." It is not so much that he
has to do it, but that it is so encouraging to others. This is the clue: he
is not doing this for himself, or for his reputation in the church - he is
doing it for others, to encourage them.
Indeed, this is a very good
example, as Paul points out to Timothy (perhaps with Barnabas in mind):
(1 Timothy 6:17-19
NIV) Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor
to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in
God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. {18} Command
them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to
share. {19} In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm
foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is
truly life.
You belong to God; but do you
belong to each other
The preaching that the church is
one is frequent (I've done it myself many times). But it is instructive to
consider a question here from Ray Stedman:
Here
is where the problem lies with many churches today. There is unity, there is a
oneness of spirit, but there is no experience of it in the soul. It is quite
possible to come to church and sit together in the pews, united in a physical
presence with other Christians, to sing the same hymns and listen to the same
message, and relate to God individually, but to have no sense of body life, no
sense of belonging to one another. It is possible to come week after week, year
after year, and never know the people with whom you worship. When that happens
there is no unity in the soul. This is what our younger generation today, in
desperation, is trying to tell us. "There is no soul in your
services," they say to the church at large, "there is no sense of
oneness. You don't belong to each other. You may belong to God, but you don't
belong to each other." That is what is lacking today, and what the early
church so wonderfully possessed.
The early church was one in heart
and mind. We are one in mind and alone in heart.
We agree in mind; we agree in
doctrine, our heads go north and south together at the preacher's words - and
then we have no life together. We are not one in heart. There is the key
problem of our church today. We do not share each others' pains.
It is an unconscious hypocrisy.
We did not intend to be hypocrites, it just turned out that way. And anything
which pulls us into the lives and pains of others seems to be someone else's
problem. It is not so.
God, the Jealous God
All well and good, teacher. But
how is this connected to this episode which shows so clearly that God is a
jealous God?
Old Testament Examples
God, in the Old Testament, does
this sort of thing frequently. In each of these instances, we shall see that
the example touches not only upon the jealous God but also the community of
Israel:
·
First, consider the story of Achan, who hid something which was
to be delivered to God. The Israelites were unable to defeat their enemies -
despite the active presence of God - because of his sin.
·
Next, consider the sons of Aaron who offered unauthorized fire at
the altar - and were dead by fire from it. They were carried outside the camp
for burial, because evil could not be tolerated within that camp.
·
And perhaps most poignant of all was Elisha's retort to Gehazi,
who extorted money and clothing from a very willing Namaan. "Was not my spirit with you when the man got
down from his chariot to meet you?"
The Jealous God
So God is a jealous God. Why do we think this so strange? How can love
be jealous. C. S. Lewis puts it this way:
You
asked for a loving God: you have one. The great spirit you so lightly
invoked, the "lord of terrible aspect," is present; not a senile
benevolence that drowsily wishes you to be happy in your own way; not the cold
philanthropy of a conscientious magistrate, nor the care of a host who feels
responsible for the comfort of his guests, but the consuming fire Himself, the
Love that made the worlds, persistent as an artist's love for his work and
despotic as a man's love for a dog, provident and venerable as a father's love
for his child, jealous, inexorable, exacting as love between the sexes.
·
Love always wants what is best for the beloved. Is it any wonder
then that God, who is Love, wants us to be pure, to handle pure things in a pure
way and to show that purity to the world?
·
Pure love is always possessive - not in the sense that it can use
the beloved, but rather in the sense that the relationship is always unique.
No other father, no other mother, no other wife - and no other God.
Great sins against great love
Against such a love there are
sins - great sins.
·
Sacrilege. Sacrilege is the trivial use of holy things.
You are married in a holy covenant; to take so solemn a vow, for such an
important relationship, and then have a "one night stand" - that
trivializes your vows. It is a sacrilege against love in the form of
marriage; how can you then say it is no great thing?
·
Purity. The pithy proverbialist of the New Testament,
James, defines true religion as a combination of purity and good works.
One seems inner; one seems outer; both are required.
·
Hypocrisy. It is no surprise, sadly, to see "S and
S" Christians. It stands for "Saturday and Sunday"; it is the
Christian who on Saturday night feels greatly superior to those around him
(because he's such a spiritual guy, of course) and superior the next morning
(because he alone is a man of the world, not naïve like these other
Christians.)
Counting the cost
Our Lord encouraged us to count
the cost of entering into the kingdom. The first unpaid bill in that cost, in
our time, is the union of fellowship with our brother Christians. Nothing is
compulsory in the church in this aspect; all is voluntary. We look at the
voluntary and feel like we've been drafted. Consider your Lord's words well,
and how frequently he talks about sharing your worldly wealth in a way far
beyond the ways we see today.
Separation of the hypocrites
This passage makes clear one
thing: God will separate out the hypocrites from among us, in his good time.
We may see this as "distinguishing judgments" (as one ancient author
put it) by which God cleans his house. More commonly, we shall know them, as
we do all men, by their fruits. The important thing is to be among those who
are still in the church. Get real; don't be a hypocrite.
Results for the church
Note the three results of this:
·
"Great fear" came upon the church. Why not? Is not
the fear of the Lord the beginning of wisdom? And should you not know the
character of the God you worship?
·
"None dared to join"
- which means that those who would have used the church as a kind of social
club for the truly approved were effectively dissuaded.
·
But there was great power in the church
- healing, and true growth.
The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom - in this instance it also provided a goodly amount of
power and growth as well.