Acts 5:1-42

Read: Acts 5:1-42 Notice at the end of chapter four, Barnabas gives money he made off the sale of his property to the apostles. We aren’t told the motives behind Barnabas’ action, but contrast his action to what happens at the outset of chapter five. Ananias, his name means “Yahweh” is gracious and Sapphira, her name means “beautiful,” also sell some land they owned and were willing to give a portion of their profit to the apostles. It appears that their motives were purely selfish. Maybe seeing the treatment of Barnabas, this couple decides to give a gift to draw attention to themselves, in other words they wanted to hog the spotlight. They weren’t being very generous with their possessions. People who were in love with Jesus learned to love other people. This was already mentioned twice in Acts (2:44-45; 4:32-37) where the believers had sold their possessions and were given to everyone as they had need. These early followers of Jesus were more in love with Jesus than they were their stuff.  Earlier I mentioned what Ananias’ and Sapphira’s names meant. Well, their selfish deed to give some of the money instead all of it and then lying about it demonstrates that Ananias’s had not learned how to be gracious toward others and Sapphira exhibited the ugliness of deceit and deception (Shelly, 74). What can we learn from these two people who apparently lacked integrity? I think first of all we must take a good hard look at how we view our “stuff.” What item do you possess that you are unwilling to share with another person? When I was little I loved my G.I. Joe collection. I played and played with my action figures, but when friends or cousins came over I hoarded my stuff. I didn’t want them to touch my stuff. I was tightfisted and more concerned about a piece of plastic than the preciousness of relationships. So, spend some time this week looking at how you view your stuff. If we are truly in love with Jesus we will learn how to love others by sharing our possessions.  

As you continue to read the rest of Acts 5 notice how the Apostles are treated. They are arrested again, and this time taken into the see the Sanhedrin. The religious rulers tell the apostles that they are forbidden from speaking about Jesus. Those in the Sanhedrin were jealous of the popularity of the Twelve and the growing group of followers meeting with them daily in Solomon’s Colonnade. Instead of giving up and throwing in the towel the apostles tell the Sanhedrin that would only obey God and not the threats of powerless men, and then Peter once again preaches about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Infuriated at the stubborn persistence of Peter the Sanhedrin is about to have these 12 Jesus followers executed. At the time of high tension and murderous threats a man by the name of Gamaliel intervenes. Gamaliel is a member of the Sanhedrin and a teacher of the famous school of Hillel. Gamaliel’s wisdom to consider the previous movements that challenged their power. These earlier two revolutions were short lived and Gamaliel cautions that they should watch, if this new movement was from God that couldn’t stop it, they would only be fighting against the Holy One. So, instead of having more innocent people murdered, the religious rulers heed the advice of this wise elder. But, to demonstrate what appears to be act of intimidation the Sanhedrin have the apostle’s flogged. I love what happens after their flogging. The twelve leave the Sanhedrin meeting rejoicing that they have been considered worthy to receive a beating for the name of Jesus.

 

I know that not many of us have ever been beaten because of our faith and commitment to Christ. But, we all may face some sort of persecution; a crude joke, people poking fun of us because we don’t do certain things. In those moments when those in the world, those are not following Christ treat us disrespectfully, degradingly or even despicably we should consider ourselves honored that we have been mistreated because of the name of Jesus. We are called not only to follow Jesus, but to also suffer for him (Phil. 1:29; 3:10; 1 Peter 2:23; 1 Peter 5:9-10).

 Did you notice the words of Gamaliel? He mentioned that if this movement was from God then it wouldn’t be stopped. The work of God in this world is unstoppable. As children of God in 2006, we are partners with this unstoppable God to bring the good news to those who haven’t heard.   *Rubel, Shelly. Falling in Love with Jesus’ People