Tag Archives: Ananias

ACTS THE SEQUEL…THE WAR WITHIN – 10

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“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.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

There were believers and counterfeit believers in the company. Of course! That’s how the enemy infiltrates. Spies! Imposters! Anything to spoil the purity of the church…anyone willing to pretend…to muddy the waters…to destroy the witness, could infiltrate the company. 

The first crack appeared in this apparently perfect church…the one Jesus said He would build in the most ungodly of places. A couple in the congregation craved the recognition and accolades that the sincerely generous ones received for sharing their bounty with the have-nots.   

It happened like this. 

“With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭4‬:‭33‬-‭35‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God’s grace had invaded the hearts of ordinary people. 

One can imagine the gratitude of the recipients of this generosity.  The givers were named, praised, and respected for their deeds…and Ananias and Sapphira wanted the same recognition. They hatched a plot to win the admiration of the church too. 

So, they also sold their land but…they weren’t ready to give all the proceeds away. They gave their gift with a flourish! They were also part of the “righteous” ones…the generous ones who had a heart for the needy but…a red light flashed in their bank account!

It wasn’t that they had no right to share their profits as well as save some for a rainy day. It was that they were hypocrites…pretending to be as generous as those who gave all. 

And Peter got a tip-off…from the Holy Spirit! You see, when the Holy Spirit is in control, it’s impossible to keep secrets, especially if they are “dirty” ones…and that they affect Jesus’ church. 

Oh, horrors! Peter spilt the beans…in public…and he didn’t cushion his words. He called a spade a spade. 

“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 just to human beings but to God.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭5‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Peter quickly recognised the source of this deception. Of course, it was the devil at work…the deceiver…the intruder…infiltrating the company of God’s people. 

Ananias was so shocked at the disclosure that his heart stopped beating, and he fell dead…right there…at Peter’s feet…in front of the whole church. A few young men quickly removed his body and buried him. Jesus would not allow compromise to sully His people. Their witness, at this crucial moment in the infant church’s life, must be untainted and unspoiled by selfish ambition. Jesus was on display, through all of them. 

Unfortunately for Sapphira, who was in cahoots with her husband, and who told the same lie, suffered the same fate. The two lying hypocrites lay side by side in death…This was a swift and clear message to the church that the Holy Spirit, the representative of Jesus in His people, would not tolerate impurity in His body.    

The outcome was fear… holy fear that swept through the church and the people of Jerusalem. No one dared mess with the Holy Spirit and yet…fear had an unexpected outcome…a fear that set the direction of this mighty work of God. . 

“Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭5‬:‭11‬, ‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

…the church kept growing! There was a new respect for God and holy things. Just as, in the days at Sinai, after God had joined with His people in a solemn union sealed with a covenant, He acted decisively against rebellion and disobedience, so the Holy Spirit did the same at this crucial moment. 

In future days, when the fervour had cooled, when the discipline was forgotten, when the enemy’s inroads were more subtle…and the church spread across the Roman empire…so would the attacks against it. There would be the frontal attack of persecution which, like an oil fire that cannot be extinguished with water, only spread the blaze. Then there would be the subtle, more dangerous infiltration and dilution of the church with error and compromise…which demanded wisdom and divine authority to counter. 

There would be generations to come that would need truth to steer the ship and hold it on course. 

But…Jesus knew…and Jesus had His response…His men, armed with His Spirit…to inscribe and protect the truth…to preserve with pen and ink His infallible Word…to arm future generations with the weapon that will ultimately win the victory. 

God is never at a loss to handle any issue that arises!

And so, as the church grew in numbers and influence, as the opposition surfaced…and the Holy Spirit countered it with the written record of truth…in the stories and communications of ordinary people empowered by the Holy Spirit, so God’s eternal Word was preserved…and His plan to spread and secure His message to the whole world for all generations slowly took shape…

Peter would write. Paul would write. John would write. Even Luke, the Gentile “outsider”, would  write. They would tell the story…of Jesus…of His church…that would forever record the miracle and mystery of this living organism that carried the presence of Jesus in the world…then…and now. 

To be continued

THE BOOK OF ACTS – A HORNET’S NEST

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A HORNETS’ NEST!

“‘And that’s when I met Ananias, a man with a sterling reputation in observing our laws — the Jewish community in Damascus is unanimous on that score. He came and put his arm on my shoulder. ‘Look up,’ he said. I looked, and found myself looking right into his eyes — I could see again!

“Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has hand-picked you to be briefed on His plan of action. You’ve actually seen the Righteous Innocent and heard Him speak. You are to be a key witness to everyone you meet of what you’ve seen and heard. So what are you waiting for? Get up and get yourself baptised, scrubbed clean of those sins and personally acquainted with God.'” Acts 22:12-16 (The Message).

Paul was very careful to emphasize Ananias’ credentials, a Jew from Damascus who had good standing in the Jewish community there; but that did not take away from the fact that he was also one of those who followed Jesus in the “sect” they called “the Way”.

Just as Paul was looking for every way to defuse the situation, the crowd was waiting for him to indict himself by his own words. Up to this point there was nothing in his story to condemn him, so they allowed him to continue.

“‘Well, it happened as Ananias said. After I was back in Jerusalem and praying one day in the Temple, lost in the presence of God, I saw Him, saw God’s Righteous Innocent, and heard Him say to me, ‘Hurry up! Get out of here as quickly as you can. None of the Jews here in Jerusalem are going to accept what you say about me.’

“‘At first I objected: ‘Who has better credentials? They all know how obsessed I was with hunting out those who believed in you, beating them up in the meeting places and throwing them in jail. And when your witness, Stephen, was murdered, I was right there, holding the clothes of the murderers and cheering them on. And now they see me totally converted. What better qualifications could I have?’

“But He said, ‘Don’t argue. Go. I’m sending you on a long journey to outsider Gentiles.'” Acts 22:17-21 (The Message).

Paul’s credentials in his old, pre-Christ life were also impeccable. He was so zealous for the law that he was willing to kill those whom he considered traitors to Moses. Strange, isn’t it, that he was murderously defending the law that said, “Do not commit murder”! He was oppressing those whom the law defended against oppression! He was making decisions for those to whom God had given the right to make their own decisions! Isn’t this how religion works?

He had turned his religion into an idol which he worshiped with such fanatical zeal that it had turned him into a heartless monster and as blind as a bat to the truth. He had long since lost the understanding of the true God — the God of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who established a covenant of love with them and taught them, through the provisions of that covenant, to care about people and to protect them, not to destroy them because they had believed in their Messiah about whom his Scriptures had spoken.

It had taken nothing less than a face-to-face confrontation with Jesus to convince Paul that he was dead wrong about Him. Now Paul was trying to convince people who were as equally blind and stubborn as he had been that Jesus was their Messiah! His journeys through Asia and Europe had not yielded much fruit among the Jews. It was not likely that it would be any different here in Jerusalem.

Paul was standing next to a hornets’ nest and at any moment they would break loose and strike!

THE BOOK OF ACTS – A MAN FROM TARSUS

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A MAN FROM TARSUS

“There was a disciple in Damascus by the name of Ananias. The Master spoke to him in a vision: ‘Ananias.’

“‘Yes, Master?’ he answered.

“‘Get up and go over to Straight Avenue. Ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus. His name is Saul. He’s there praying. He has just had a dream in which he saw a man named Ananias enter his house and lay hands on him so he could see again.'” Acts 9:10-12 (The Message).

Strange, isn’t it, that Jesus didn’t speak directly to Saul and heal him without going through another human being! He could have, but He didn’t. Why? Could it be that He takes His partnership with human beings seriously?

When God assigned the management of the earth to people, He really meant it. He also meant us to live together as a unit, interacting with each other in the oneness that reflects His oneness in the Trinity. Since Jesus not only reconciled us to God but also  to one another in Himself, it is always His way to foster unity between fellow believers by ministering His grace to one another through us by the Spirit.

Saul was isolated and disorientated by his shocking encounter with Jesus. He never dreamed that his mission to destroy the church in Damascus would turn out this way. On top of it, he was blind! Was this his punishment for what he had been doing? Then he dreamt that a man named Ananias came and prayed for him and his sight was restored. Was that wishful thinking? He did not know what to make of any of these things.

Jesus enlisted the help of a seasoned believer. Ananias was obviously comfortable with personal communication with Jesus. He was not thrown by this vision. His response was spontaneous. He knew who was talking to him.

“Ananias protested. ’Master, you can’t be serious. Everyone’s talking about this man and the terrible things he’s been doing, his reign of terror against your people in Jerusalem! And now he’s shown up here with papers from the Chief Priest that gave him licence to do the same to us.'” Acts 9:13-14 (The Message).

Ananias’ reaction was quite understandable if the news of Saul’s conversion had not yet reached him. Even if it had, he might have been suspicious. Was it a ploy to get in among the believers and then carry out his wicked plan to decimate them? Only a divine revelation would convince him that the change in Saul was real.

Saul needed the reassurance that the church would forgive and accept him. Because of the hostility that surrounded them, the believers stuck together and supported one another. How could Saul ever break through into the fellowship of a group of people he had come to destroy? Jesus’ solution? Ananias!

So He recruited Ananias to be Saul’s passport into the family circle in Damascus. From there he would find entrance into the wider church family when he could prove that he was no longer a persecutor but one of them.

Ananias needed convincing before he took on this assignment. Only reassurance from Jesus would set him on course to visit this man and welcome him into the fellowship of the church. He was not afraid to question His instructions and Jesus was not offended by his protest.

This story is a beautiful example of the vibrancy of a believer’s relationship to Jesus. This is no religious rigmarole but intimate fellowship with Jesus and the joy of doing life with Him. This is what He wants and this is how it should be.

A Hornet’s Nest

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A HORNETS’ NEST!

“‘And that’s when I met Ananias, a man with a sterling reputation in observing our laws — the Jewish community in Damascus is unanimous on that score. He came and put his arm on my shoulder. ‘Look up,’ he said. I looked, and found myself looking right into his eyes — I could see again!

“Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has hand-picked you to be briefed on His plan of action. You’ve actually seen the Righteous Innocent and heard Him speak. You are to be a key witness to everyone you meet of what you’ve seen and heard. So what are you waiting for? Get up and get yourself baptised, scrubbed clean of those sins and personally acquainted with God.'” Acts 22:12-16 (The Message).

Mmm! Paul was very careful to emphasize Ananias’ credentials, a Jew from Damascus who had good standing in the Jewish community there; but that did not take away from the fact that he was also one of those who followed Jesus in the “sect” they called “the Way”.

Just as Paul was looking for every way to defuse the situation, the crowd was waiting for him to indict himself by his own words. Up to this point there was nothing in his story to condemn him, so they allowed him to continue.

“‘Well, it happened as Ananias said. After I was back in Jerusalem and praying one day in the Temple, lost in the presence of God, I saw Him, saw God’s Righteous Innocent, and heard Him say to me, ‘Hurry up! Get out of here as quickly as you can. None of the Jews here in Jerusalem are going to accept what you say about me.’

“‘At first I objected: ‘Who has better credentials? They all know how obsessed I was with hunting out those who believed in you, beating them up in the meeting places and throwing them in jail. And when your witness, Stephen, was murdered, I was right there, holding the clothes of the murderers and cheering them on. And now they see me totally converted. What better qualifications could I have?’

“But He said, ‘Don’t argue. Go. I’m sending you on a long journey to outsider Gentiles.'”
Acts 22:18-21 (The Message).

Paul’s credentials in his old, pre-Christ life were also impeccable. He was so zealous for the law that he was willing to kill those whom he considered traitors to Moses. Strange, isn’t it, that he was murderously defending the law that said, “Do not commit murder”! He was oppressing those whom the law defended against oppression! He was making decisions for those to whom God had given the right to make their own! Isn’t this how religion works?

He had turned his religion into an idol which he worshipped with such fanatical zeal that it had turned him into a heartless monster and as blind as a bat to the truth. He had long since lost the understanding of the true God — the God of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who established a covenant of love with them and taught them, through the provisions of that covenant, to care about people and to protect them, not to destroy them because they had believed in their Messiah about whom his Scriptures had spoken.

It had taken nothing less than a face-to-face confrontation with Jesus to convince Paul that he was dead wrong about Him. Now Paul was trying to convince people who were as equally blind and stubborn as he had been, that Jesus was their Messiah! His journeys through Asia and Europe had not yielded much fruit among the Jews. It was not likely that it would be any different here in Jerusalem.

Paul was standing next to a hornets’ nest and at any moment they would break loose and strike!