Thursday, February 2, 2012

Acts 5:9-11


Summary retelling of Acts 5:9-11:

Peter catches Sapphira in her lie and informs her about what has already happened to her husband.  Sapphira falls to the ground, dead.  She is carried out by the young men of the congregation and buried beside her husband.  Fear (or awe) came upon the whole group of believers when they heard about what happened.

Thoughts for Today:
First Thought:
Peter is blunt with Sapphira.  He knows she is lying and he is aggressively pursuing the lie.  Yes, he gives her an option of admitting her mistake.  Yes, he gives her an option of telling him the truth.  But once it is clear that she does not want to walk the path of humble contrition, he is blunt and aggressive about letting her know that she is caught in a lie.

What kind of boldness do you think Peter had to have to play his role in this story?  Where do you think Peter’s ultimate priority was – with his relationship with God or with his relationship with Sapphira?

Second Thought:
Sapphira falls over dead and the same people who buried her husband now have to bury her.  Yet, in all of this we don’t get the idea that they were shocked by any of this.  It is as if they are just going about business as usual.  Furthermore, remember that in ancient Judaism it was a bad thing to come in contact with a dead body.  It meant that you were impure and could not worship at the temple for a week (if not more).  Here these people have to come in contact with two dead bodies on the same day!  Yet they do the work that is before them.

How do these young men teach us about faithfulness and doing the tasks that nobody else would want to do?  What are some things in your life that you can do that nobody else really wants to accomplish?

Third Thought:
The Bible says that fear comes upon all who hear about Ananias and Sapphira.  In today’s culture, we think of fear as a bad thing.  We think of horror movies, nightmares, and life decisions gone horribly wrong.  But in ancient cultures fear was directly tied to awe and it was a good thing.  The fear (or awe) of a snake’s power to kill helped keep you safe by staying at a distance.  The fear (or awe) of the power of death helped keep you from getting close enough to catch whatever killed the dead person (or fall into the circumstances that killed them).  In a similar manner, the Proverbs (1:7, 9:10,14:27, 15:33, and 19:23) talk about the fear (or awe) of the Lord as the beginning of wisdom and even life itself.  Fearing (or being in awe of) God’s power is a good thing.

Do you think we put much emphasis on “fearing the Lord?”  Is there a point at which we can put too much emphasis on “fearing the Lord?”

Passage for Tomorrow: Acts 5:12-13

2 comments:

Leandra said...

They just died? Why?

PJ said...

Why did they die?

They sinned. It's the same reason that all of us will die. It's one of the lessons Romans 6:23 teaches us. "The wages of sin is death..."

The first time we sin, we prove ourselves worthy of being judged unrighteous and we prove ourselves worthy of dying. It's just truth.

Now, I don't want you going around thinking that the next sin you commit might be your last breath. That kind of "fear of the Lord" is unproductive. But there is nothing at all wrong with going around thinking that your next sin will prove to God that you deserve to die.

Now, you might be wondering how it is that God can cause a person to die because of a sin. Well, the truth is that every time we die we are likely dying from some sin - sometimes it is quick, sometimes it is a long process. Here's a few examples:

1. Quick death from sin: Suppose I drive home drunk, and in the process I lose control of the car and get into a horrible single-car accident in which I die. The truth is that had I not gotten drunk that evening, I probably would still be alive.

2. Quick death from sin: I go to a foreign country to preach about Christ. While there, the government hears about what I'm doing and they imprison me, torture me, and kill me. Now, I didn't likely die because of my sin, but I am sure dying because of the sin of the people who are rejecting Christ. (Jesus Himself is a great example of this one)

3. Prolonged death from sin: Let's say all my life I am really vain about how I look. I went to tanning salons, had plastic surgery, got the botox injections, had a few hair transplant/removal procedures, maybe even throw in a liposuction. after years of procedures, the doctor comes in and tells me that I've got some form of cancer due to all the junk I've done to my body. Had I not been so vain about my body, I might have been able to avoid death at that moment.

Now, some of these examples are a bit far fetched and I acknowledge that. But the truth is that all of us will die because of the sin in our life. Some of us will die quickly because of the sin and some of us will die after a prolonged struggle with our sin. But we will all die because of it - after all, the wages of sin is death.