On Wednesday night in our Good Time Bible Hour we have been tracking along with our study in Acts.  I preach a sermon on Sunday and then we follow it up on Wednesday night with a more fun version of the same story.  We also sing a lot and memorize things.  We are currently memorizing what is in each of the chapters in Acts.  You could ask Tyler or Joseph Martin about what was in Acts chapter 5, they would tell you about this picture. Who is this guy holding an axe in one hand with an ant on his shoulder and tree sap on his chest?  And then they would tell you Acts 5 is about Ananias and Sapphira; which is where we are this morning and where we will be this coming Good Time Bible Hour on Wednesday.

But before we get to ants and tree sap, I want to re-re-emphasize what Luke is doing in his two books.  He is not just telling us what happened to Jesus or writing church history.  He is telling us how to do church, how to be the church.  I wish I knew who Theophilus was.  Remember Luke is writing both Luke part 1 and Luke part 2 to a guy named Theophilus.  All we can figure out is deduced from what Luke talks about. I am beginning to form a picture of who Theophilus was.  I think he is a Christian in some church, perhaps a leader.  Luke is telling Theophilus how to be Christian as well as telling him how to help his church. 
-He began by telling him how to wait for the Spirit – waiting is powerful.
-He told him the essence of the message – Jesus of Nazareth crucified, resurrected and exalted!
-He told him about the gifts that are better than HDTVs.  Repentance and baptism precedes forgiveness and the Spirit.
-He told him about healing; God does it in his own timing.
-Last week he told Theophilus he needed to be bold.  Theophilus is a guy who, perhaps, needed to be reminded to be bold; as do we.

Today, Theophilus needs a lesson about money; more specifically the goofy things that money can cause you to do.   Ants and tree sap is about money and its influence over us.  I guess Theophilus and his church needed this lesson.  I guess we do to.  But this is not Theophilus’ first lesson on money.  Did you know Luke writes more about money and our attitudes and its effects, than anyone else in the Bible?  Consider the money stories in Luke’s Gospel:
-The Good Samaritan (10:29-37),
-The Rich Fool (12:16-21),
-The Shrewd Manager (16:1-8),
-The Rich Man and Lazarus (16:19-31),
-The rich young man could not part with his money (Luke 18:18-23)
-Luke’s version of the Talents (19:11- 27)

Wealth is not, for Luke, a sign of divine approval. It is a danger. And now we come to the first problem in the early church and guess what it is?  Ants and tree sap is about lying over money.  Ananias and Sapphira are set in contrast to another person; Joseph, better known as Barnabas. 

Acts 4:32-37 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.  With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.  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 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.

There are some great lessons for us in these few verses.
-The church shares without reciprocity. Reciprocity?  Without concern for being repaid.  The church wasn’t these bunch of middle-rich class of people who gave and expected to be compensated.  The gifts were given without any expectation of return.  They freely gave without asking what they would get in return.  That is an amazing lesson. The church shares freely!
-Note the connection of verse 33 with the context.  “With great power…” Sharing brings with it amazing power.  There is power which comes from giving.  The power of witness and grace!  God works in churches which freely give. 
-Being a part of the family of God is a commitment to family.  Does this paragraph sound like family?  Here is a family model of church.  They took care of each other!

Wow.  That is the church I want to be a part of.  That is the ideal church according to Luke.  That is what Luke wants Theophilus and his church to become.  That is what Luke wants us to be.   Luke wants us to be Barnabas.  The church is to be so one heart and one mind that everyone is taken care of.  Isn’t this an amazing statement?  The people of the early church in Jerusalem were not only committed to God and being bold about the message, they were committed to each other.  Whenever there was a need in the church someone, like Barnabas, would step up and sell something and meet that need! 

It would be fun to stop here, sing a nice song and go home. We could say the early Jerusalem Church was wonderful and they had no problems and everything was peachy keen. But Luke tells it like it was and goes ahead with ants and tree sap.  Theophilus needs to see the seriousness of this lesson about money. 

Acts 5:1-11  Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.  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.  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?  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."  When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.  Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.  Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?" "Yes," she said, "that is the price."  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."  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.  Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

Isn’t that a terrible story? I certainly liked the one heart and one mind story in chapter 4 a whole lot more than this story.  Why was the punishment of Ananias and Sapphira so sudden and so dramatic?  How could something like that happen at church?  If that were to happen today, somebody would be accused of murder and go to jail.  What was so terrible that God struck this couple dead?  Whatever it was Theophilus needed to know it.  Whatever was so bad that caused their deaths we need to make sure we get the point and don’t do it.  Don’t you think?

Well, they did keep back part of the money.  They didn’t give it all. They hid some of the money they received.  But, Peter says it was theirs to give or not.  They could have kept or given any part of it they chose.  They could have brought half the money and said to Peter this is half the money and that would have been okay. So, what was the problem?

It seems they wanted the recognition.  They wanted to be like the others who gave the entire selling price of their properties. Here is where we find money making them do goofy things.  They wanted the recognition of the church of being really devout givers.  I’m sure they thought, “That Joseph guy from Cyprus who sold his property was given a nick name by the apostles; Son of Encouragement.  It would be nice to get that kind of praise.  It would be nice of the church to name something after us as well.  Maybe we could have the “Ananias and Sapphira Poor Folks Charity Fund.”  Bad things happen when we use money for recognition.  But that hardly seems bad enough to get zapped for.  Wanting a little recognition for their generosity was bad, but bad enough to get fried?

Obviously, the problem has to do with the lying part.  It was bringing a part of the money and saying it was the whole amount that was the issue.  But who is Peter to contemn them for lying? After all Peter had told what seemed to be a worse lie just a couple of months before.  Remember he lied that he didn’t even know Jesus when he was on trial.  Why wasn’t Peter terminated? 

Maybe it was the cold blooded conspiracy to lie that made it so bad?  Peter had a hard time with this part, “How could you agree to lie?”  It wasn’t a spontaneous lie, but a calculated lie and that seemed worse.  But even calculated lies hardly seem worthy of death. 

The point Peter made that seems to be significant to him is that they were not lying to people but that they were lying to God.  They lied to the Holy Spirit.  I’m sure Ananias and Sapphira did not intend to lie to God.  They just wanted everyone to think that they were generous.  But note we can lie to the Spirit? But what does it mean they lied to the Holy Spirit? 

In fact Peter accused them of having Satan in their hearts.  The last time Luke mentioned Satan in someone’s heart, it was… Judas.  The similarities are notable.  Both had to do with money. Both had to do with property.  Both ended in death.  Both had to do with betrayal and I think that is getting close to why they were toasted.

There is something going on here that is more fundamental, that led to their deaths. Let’s put all the clues together. 
What was in the first verse we read this morning?  One heart and mind.
What is in the last verse we read?  The word “church.”  This is the first time the word church is used by Luke. 
Who is it that forms this unity of one heart and mind in the church?  The Holy Spirit. 
Who is it that wants to destroy this fellowship?  Satan
How did Satan go about attempting to mess with their fellowship?  Through the love of money and the need of recognition.
What is the real danger to the church’s unity? Lying!

Lying destroys the community of the church.  Lying leads to the death of relationship.  Lying is an affront to the Spirit because in breaks the one heart and debilitates the one mind.  And that is serious!  Our community, as a church of Christ, is held together by a bond of trust.  We can only exist if each of us is fully committed to each other in love and faithfulness.  The ideal church, which takes care of each other’s needs, can only function if we can depend upon each other.  And all of the beauty of holiness within the body can be erased by deceit.  If we can’t trust each other we have nothing.  We cease to be the body of Christ.  And that is what was so serious about ant and tree sap lying to the Holy Spirit.  It was a cut to the heart of the church.

Perhaps the bottom line for us should be what the bottom line was for them, which was the bottom line for Theophilus, “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.”  We must hold our relationship together, as church, sacred and never damage that unity with lies.  One heart and mind is a sacred calling!