The Book of Acts: Biblical Discipleship Pt. 21 Deal With Sin & Blessing Will Follow!

The hard task of addressing sin within the early church culminated in the deaths of Ananias and his wife, Sapphira. They plotted together to deceive the Holy Spirit filled apostles by keeping some of the money for themselves after selling their lands. 

However, Luke tells us that all other believers who sold lands freely gave all the proceeds to the apostles to be used for meeting needs within the church. 

We learned from Old Testament examples that what they did compares to Nadab and Abihu offering strange fire before the Lord. It was comparable to Achan's sin of taking the things at Jericho which God said must be burned, because he was a covetous man.

There are many other examples that occurred during the leadership of Moses where God swiftly judged the people because they chose to sin and defile His name. 

Each of the following texts records instances of the Hebrews sinning while God was in the midst of them, Each time, God judged their sin by pouring out His wrath.  See Numbers 11:31-35; 14:32-38; 16:41-50; 21:1-9; 25:1-8). 

Begin with the fear of the Lord.

Acts 5:11-12  And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. 12) And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; 

A proper and reverential fear of the Lord was the healthy blessing of God purging sin out of His church. This fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom where we grow in our faith and know our Lord better. Knowing God more intimately always brings about an inward transformation that God does in our heart. 

God demands that we seek holiness in our lives. 

1 Peter 1:13-16  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14) As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15) But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16) Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. 

After dealing with the sin of Ananias and Sapphira, the apostolic ministry moved forward, fully blessed by God. We must remember that God commands us to "Be ye holy for I am holy" and we must heed His command. 

Sanctification before service

1 Thessalonians 4:1  Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. 2) For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. 3) For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: 4) That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; 

The lesson of the sin of Nadab and Abihu is that personal "sanctification" must precede service to God. Never assume to do something that God has not said "yes" to. 

God tells us how to be sanctified and what He does to cleanse us from our sins. Obedience is better than being presumptuous. Paul said that we have received from God instruction on how to walk in a God pleasing manner.

Christ Jesus gave His commandments and when we hear and heed what He says, we are sanctified.

"Sanctification" is the act of God making us holy. In an evangelical sense, it is an action of God's grace by which the affections of men are purified or alienated from sin and the world, and exalted to a supreme love to God.

Purity before praising

Psalm 24:3-5  Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4) He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 5) He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

This text answers the question about who is fit to ascend the holy hill where the Temple of God once stood. Any person whose hands are not defiled and who has a pure heart will receive blessing from Jehovah, including salvation and righteousness.

Purity must come before praising God. The lesson of the sin of Ananias and Sapphira is that their motives were not pure. Selfishly they sought to keep some of the money from selling land for their own purposes. Thus, they permitted covetousness to rule their motives.  How can anyone with an impure heart and impure motives come and praise God? 

Confession before communing

1 John 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Psalm 32:5  I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. 

Confession to God must be given before communion with Him. The lesson of Achan's sin is that he willfully sinned and literally covered it up. He confessed at the urging of Joshua and he suffered judgment for his sin because he brought sin upon the whole congregation. 

We must confess our sins and when we do we will find that the blood of Christ will always cleanse us from all iniquity. The word confess means to agree with what God says about our sin and to turn from our sins with repentant, contrite hearts. 

The Jewish people were polarized by all that they had seen.

Acts 5:13  (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them. 

The crowds surrounding the apostles saw that God conferred special honor upon them. 

At that time, the Jewish nation was divided into many different sects, teaching widely different opinions on various articles of faith and practice. 

The apostles rejected all false teaching and inaccurate articles of faith. So astonished were most of the Jews from various sects that none of the them dared to join themselves to the apostles and the early church.   

All of those whom the Lord had saved felt the force and power of the apostles’ doctrine, and magnified God. No more did they attend to the teaching of the others. The apostles taught them as men having authority and power from God that certified they were His spokesmen.

Acts 5:14  And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.) 

Remember that the church began with 120 people. One the day of Pentecost, God saved more than 3,000  souls. Shortly after, more than 5,000 more people were born again into the family of God. 

This text tells us that more and more believers were added to the early church. The words "the more added" mean to a much greater degree, with more intensity more people were joined together in the church. 

Luke used the word "multitudes" of men and women to convey how throngs of people were being saved by the preaching of the gospel and the working of the Holy Spirit. 

The word translated "multitudes" is contained in the word "plethora." A plethora means a superabundant or inexhaustible supply of something, in this case, new believers added to the church.

A plethora of signs and wonders

Acts 5:15-16  Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. 16) There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.   

Luke told us in Acts 5:12 that many additional mighty works were done by the hands of the apostles. This text describes some of them. 

So mighty were the works of God that family members took their sick and afflicted ones and laid them on beds, mats in the streets. They hoped that Peter would pass by that direction and that his shadow might pass over the afflicted ones. 

Word spread about the mighty works God was doing in Jerusalem and people from the surrounding areas also brought  those who were sick or possessed by demons and added them to the crowds of afflicted people laying in the streets. 

The apostles were continuing the Kingdom ministry that the Lord Jesus Christ initiated. As Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out devils, made the blind to see and the deaf to hear, so too, did the apostles. 

What God was doing was simply astounding and mind boggling. Luke simply says of all the afflicted people that "they were healed every one." 

In our next post, we will see that the enemy of God is going to launch a vicious attack against the apostles. 

Thoughts to Ponder...

First, I think we need to have hearts ready to praise God because He is always at work, but sometimes we are not looking for what He is doing.

Second, I think that remembering to seek God's sanctifying work in us before we attempt to serve Him is an important lesson to learn. 

Third, we need to maintain our purity before we seek to praise God. We need clean hands and pure hearts. 

Fourth, we must be diligent to confess our sins because we will stumble and fail Him. When we confess our sins, God cleanses us and restores our fellowship with Him so that we might commune together with Him.

The early church learned these lessons with the incident involving Ananias and Sapphira. We also can learn from this as well as the Old Testament examples I pointed out. 

Better to hear and heed what God is saying, than to strike out on our own by disregarding His gracious instructions for us.

May we willingly submit to God's authority in our lives. May He find us as clean vessels ready for use by our Master.

Bob