Being Honest With God

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

BEING HONEST WITH GOD

Acts 5:1-11

5:1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 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. 3 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? 4 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." 5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. 7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?" "Yes," she said, "that is the price." 9 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." 10 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. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

NIV

Ananias and Sapphira is a famous story of two who wanted the glory and praise from men instead of from God. There is no other reason for them to conspire to hold back a portion of the sale of their piece of property without telling anyone that is what they did. They wanted the Apostles and the others to think they were so generous and did what the others did by selling their possessions and giving it all at the Apostles' feet. “Look, are we not being good Christians?” “Look how much we gave” Is it not true that surely our sins will find us out? This is what Moses told the Israelites and it was true for both Ananias and Sapphira. Only through the power and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit could Peter have known their conspiracy to hold back a portion of the selling price. What was amazing about this is that there was no reason for them to lie about how much they received for the land. Peter made that clear, the money was all theirs and at their disposal. They could have said that they sold some land and are giving ninety percent of the sale to the church. That would have been acceptable as it would have been the truth. This is the same truth that guides us today. We look to the concept of tithing as giving only one-tenth of our income to the church. Whether we give the exact amount or slightly less, or maybe more is completely up to us and should not be anyone else’s concern. We should be careful in making a public confession that we are faithful tithers for that may not be totally honest. The only one we need to be concerned about is the Lord. Secondly, if we are honest with ourselves, why would we tell anyone anyway that we are tithers? It would be the same as Ananias and Sapphira conspiring to lie to men, even if we were off by a penny in our giving of this ten percent. Isn’t it ours to begin with? Is not the money at our disposal? Then we must consider is the tithe a new testament concept or is it a law that Jesus fulfilled? We know that Abraham gave a tenth of all his spoils to Melchizedek and that was before the law of Moses. We also know that the same concept was given through the last prophet Malachi, about bringing the tenth into the storehouse. It is biblical to support the cost of the church, the building expenses, and the salaries of its ministers. We would never expect pastors to go without compensation. So, we give, but the point here is that we are not restricted in the amount to give or demanded to give ten percent. The only things we need to consider are what the Lord desires of us and simply follow his leading. Of course, the church keeps records of our giving, and as with any organization it has requirements for its leadership and that includes giving the tithe. However, we might also consider why the church keeps a record of our giving. Yes, that is a good accounting practice, but then why give us a report so we can claim our giving on our taxes? Is that not our reward? Would not that be our only reward? It is somewhat like boasting about our “Good deeds” so that we receive praise from men instead of from God. For the most part, preaching or teaching about money makes many believers uncomfortable and it is usually avoided. Here, Peter made it clear, just give what you decide to give and that is all that is needed and there is no reason to make it look like more than it is. Both Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead on the spot when confronted with the truth. At least that does not happen today, as we do not attempt to lie to men and to the Spirit. We only need to give however the Spirit leads us and He is the one who rewards us. There is no need to be seized with fear and fall down dead.