No church is made up of all Barnabases. Sadly, Christianity also has its share of people like Ananias and Sapphira who want to be admired like Barnabas, but are in reality concerned only for themselves.

[Too bad he didn’t consider the five years of other peoples’ lives, he wasted. - DR]

Indeed! When one doesn’t care how he goes about attaining his desires, manipulating others to achieve his own selfish goals is no big deal – or so it might seem. Yet for those who trample on what is right and good for their own gratification, there does remain the sobering specter of the judgment, and while that might seem like something a long way off, sometimes God calls sinning people to account right now – like in the case of the portion of the book of Acts that we’re going to consider today in our continuing study from Acts of the Apostles. I called today's message, When Judgment Comes Swiftly. Our text is Acts 4:32-5:16.

In the last two messages we’ve considered what it was that gave the early Christians courage in the face of the threats they received from the Sanhedrin Council for preaching Christ and the resurrection. In this next portion of Luke’s writing he gives us more information about the fellowship of that first church in Jerusalem. In his description he includes accounts of several people – one, a man named Joseph, who was fully engaged in the spirit of selfless giving for the sake of his needy brethren, and two more, a husband and wife, who thought they could take advantage of the situation to garner special attention for themselves by lying to God about some land they sold. Unexpectedly to them, judgment came quickly Let’s go to our Bibles.

Given that these early Christians didn’t cave under the pressure of opposition, labeled this first portion of the passage:

What are Christians to do when ordered by their superiors to cease carrying out the commands of Christ? Since in such cases God's people are called to give heed to God rather than men, as we saw in our last message, the apostles, after they were warned by the council to cease and desist, went right back out and continued to speak the word of God what boldness. And that kind of courage had a powerful effect on the rest of the church.

What a wonderful time it was to be a part of the church!

Luke tells us there in verse 32 that this new congregation was made up of those who believed. What did these early Christians believe? The only thing there was for them to believe was the preaching of Jesus and the apostles and the evidence of the miracles the apostles were performing. There had not yet been time for whole churches to fall away from the fundamental tenants of the faith. There were no manmade creeds to divide them and no liberal theologians to take their faith apart. The deity of Jesus, His resurrection, the truth of fulfilled prophecy, the inspiration of the Scriptures -- these were all part of what made up their belief. All of these teachings have been brought into question since that time, however, and many no longer hold them. In absence of these basic beliefs that came from Christ and the apostles, whole churches have become nothing more than civic groups or clubs organized to do good for the benefit of the community. While doing good is commendable, it is not the essence of the church. The church is a community of people tied together by a common faith in the original teachings of Christ and the apostles as revealed in the Bible. As Luke says, that first church in Jerusalem was a congregation of believers.

Luke describes these believers as ones who "were of one heart and soul." We've seen in previous messages that they were of one mind. Now Luke is telling us something else about them. I think when he said "one heart and soul," that he was referring to the emotional ties that bound them together. Luke describes the result of those ties this way: "And not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own; but all things were common property."

Sometimes you see that kind of mutual concern among blood relatives, expressed when one family member has a setback and the other members of the family step in and help out. But these early Christians had that sort of concern for one another even though they were not physically related. Blood ties can run deep. This passage shows us that the ties we have in Christ can run every bit as deep -- perhaps even deeper.

Do the ties that bind us in this congregation run that deep? Only God knows for sure, but I think in many cases they do. As I consider the various public and private love offerings, food showers, hospital visits, prayers of concern, and other such activities among us, I think that we’re on the right track. We could always do better, of course, especially those who tend to hang out on the fringes and not get involved in the life of the church. God is our judge in these matters, not I, but I think it is wise for each of us to take a serious look into this area and ask ourselves about our attitude toward the brethren. Being a Christian goes beyond loyalty to Christ alone. It also involves sharing our lives with our brothers and sisters. It is more than Sunday morning church attendance where we can feel like we’ve done our duty and now we can go home and get on with our lives. For these early Christians, the church was their life. I don't believe a Christian can say "give me Christ but you can keep the brethren" and say he or she has the kind of faith that Christ and the apostles taught. Think about it. I promise you that I will, too.

"There was not a needy person among them," Luke tells us in verse 34. Why? Because of the character of:

Luke next cites the example of a man named "Joseph." If you've read through the book of Acts, you know Joseph better as Barnabas.

We will meet Joseph, called Barnabas, often as we go through Acts, because he was the kind of person who exemplified so much the spirit of brotherhood and active concern among the early Christians.

Joseph was born on the island of Cyprus where there was a very strong colony of Jewish people. He was from a family of Levites, those Jews who rotated in and out of the priestly services of the Temple. This meant that Barnabas had very strong ties to Jerusalem. Just when he became a Christian we do not know for sure, but once he did he immediately began to distinguish himself among the brethren. A giant clue to the life of this man Barnabas is found in the nickname he was given by the apostles: "The Son of Encouragement." The Greek word Luke used there for "encouragement" is a form of the word used elsewhere to describe the work of the Holy Spirit --parakletos -- "helper or comforter." The word described one who was called to the side of another for the purpose of strengthening and helping him stand.

Every time we encounter Barnabas on the pages of the New Testament that is what we find him doing -- helping, encouraging, affirming, uplifting, thinking the best of his brethren, and believing in them even when others didn't.

He was Paul's missionary companion. Actually he was the one who stood by Paul after the apostle was first converted during a period of persecuting Christians. The Christians would have nothing to do with Paul – they were understandably afraid of him - until Barnabas stood up for him.

Barnabas continued to believe in John Mark when the young man became a missionary dropout.

He stuck by Paul in his imprisonment.

What would we do without the Barnabases of the church, those sons (and daughters) of encouragement who continue to help and strengthen when we are weak or have failed? I have heard it said that in Christ the only losers are the quitters. For the Barnabases among us that is held as sort of a motto. They set their minds on keeping us going when we feel like giving up. They understand the biblical expectation that "A friend loves at all times."

Barnabas types of people are wonderful to have around. But do we really have to wait for a Barnabas to be born among us? Can't we become encouragers ourselves? Aren't we all possessors of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Encourager, the Helper? Should there not be some of the Barnabas spirit in all of us as God's Spirit grows in us? Aren't we all called to stand with one another, help and encourage one another, believe in one another, think the best to one another? That's what Paul wrote about in 1 Corinthians 13, the so-called "love chapter." Do you remember some of the characteristics of real love? "Love... bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails...."

But no church is made up of all Barnabases. Sadly, Christianity also has its share of people like Ananias and Sapphira who want to be admired like Barnabas, but are in reality concerned only for themselves.

Wow! Talk about swift judgment! So what exactly did Ananias do wrong? I don't know of any church treasurer who wouldn't be happy with the money he gave. Why such a harsh response from Peter and then God?

The key is in that phrase, "some of the price," in verse 2. Ananias and his wife sold a lot and laid aside a portion of the proceeds to give to the needy in the church. As we have already seen, such deeds served to distinguishing some members of the early church as those who were very dedicated and loyal and it brought a lot of admiration. Such admiration would have been there for Ananias, too, except that he lied when he laid the money bag at the apostle's feet. What he claimed was that he gave all he had received for the purchase price. The issue here was not that he didn't give all the money. No one was forcing Ananias to give a cent. The issue was that he pretended to give it all when in reality he only gave a part. And his wife joined in the deception.

And let's pick up the first part of verse 13 also: "But none of the rest dared to associate with them…."

Can you blame them? The phonies in the church were dropping dead! Suddenly it was dangerous to pretend in the fellowship of believers.

It makes you wonder what would happen in churches today if God were to suddenly start dealing with people in such swift judgment and there were no hypocrites in the church anymore because they were dead. How would things change? Would those who remained be a more effective force for God? Moreover, what would happen to you and me? Would there be things that gave us cause to fear? Would we suddenly realize we had some serious issues to deal with in our own lives?

And another question...Why such harsh treatment of these two? Surely there must have been other pretenders in the church by this time. Why single out Ananias and Sapphira? Is that fair?

Whether God executes judgment swiftly as in the case of these two or He postpones judgment as seems more often the case, ultimately judgment comes upon every person. No one gets off without a day of reckoning. The sudden death of Ananias and Sapphira is not unfair, because all of us, sooner or later, will face God's judgment. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:10, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." Ananias and Sapphira were judged no more harshly than every pretender will ultimately be judged.

Perhaps they received theirs early because few things hurt the fellowship of believers more than spiritual phoniness -- and a statement needed to be made in that day before New Testament Scripture was complete so that people would know that God is displeased with counterfeits who love to think and say they are a part, but really hold back.

It might be tempting for us to think, "This doesn't apply to me. I don't have any property to sell." Yet all of us have something that God has given us to share with the body of Christ. It doesn't matter whether we are rich or poor. Paul wrote in Galatians 6:10

"So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith." Contributing something we have, whether it's time, money, expertise, plain old elbow grease or something else, is called an "opportunity" here. The time we have here on earth is our opportunity to do good to all men and especially to our brethren – for the glory of God. We can use the opportunity or squander it - the choice is ours. And the outcome, whatever it is, will be ours, too.

Regarding the Jerusalem church then, we’ve seen their perseverance in the face of threats. We’ve had a look at a couple of their people. Now Luke tells us more about:

In passing, while I have not been consistently pointing it out, you might notice there again, the signs and wonders (miracles) were associated only with the apostles up to this point in Acts. None other than the 12 did miracles until chapter 6. Keep that in mind. It will be important to know as we continue through Luke’s letter.

That aside, Luke gives us another sterling report of their progress. God was backing them up with signs and wonders through the apostles, the people in Jerusalem who had not yet come to believe held in high esteem, and the pretenders were held at bay -- at least for a while.

It's exciting to a see how Luke reported the numerical progress of the church in Jerusalem. On Pentecost there were 3000. After Peter and John were arrested Luke tells us that the number of men came to be about 5000. Here it seems as though he just quits counting altogether and says "multitudes of men and women were constantly added to their number."

Barnabas, and others like him, were part of a glorious church. Ananias and Sapphira were not. They missed their opportunity because of selfishness.

Sometimes the judgment of God does not wait.

If your life is not right with God, I implore you to take the right action. If you are a backslidden Christian, you need to confess the things you’ve done wrong and turn away from them, turning back to God.

If you’re not a Christian, you need to come to God through Christ. You need to put your faith in Jesus as the Son of God, confess that faith before others, turn away from you sin and toward God in repentance, and be baptized to have your sin forgiven so you can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and begin to walk with God.

If these words apply to you, I implore you to get right with God. Sometimes judgment comes swiftly.

Footnotes: Please use your back button to return to your place.

1. From the Archives of the New York Times, January 1, 2005, seen online at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEFDC133EF932A35752C0A963958260
2. The Quest for Character, Charles R. Swindoll, Multnomah Press, Portland, Oregon. Pp. 42-43.

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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