God blesses His pious Church (Acts 5:1-11)

[Stephan Choe]

February 10, 2023

Key Verse 11: "And there came great fear upon all the church, and upon all who heard."

God is still alive today and loves his church.

One problem, however, is that people do not see God with their physical eyes. Therefore, we should have faith in God and live by this faith.

God blesses every church that fears God and allows itself to be cleansed with His presence and growth.

Today, we want to learn about the story of Ananias and Sapphira in the early church, so that we can learn to fear God. When we fear God and live before Him, He blesses His church and makes it grow.

1. The Fear of God in the First Church and Its Growth

The first church was full of love. Everyone brought their gift for others.

An example was Joseph. Everyone was talking about him, who sold his field and brought the proceeds to the apostles for the needy. Because of his devotion, the apostles called him Barnabas, meaning “son of comfort” (4:36-37).

In the first church, a married couple, Ananias and Sapphira, also attended. The couple saw everyone praising Barnabas. They also wanted to be praised, like Barnabas. But they didn't have faith in the risen Lord. After talking to his wife, Ananias sold their field, hid a good part of the proceeds and brought the rest to the apostles. He told the apostles that he gave all the money from the sale. He expected kudos.

But Peter said to him: “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart that you have deceived the Holy Spirit and kept some of the money for the field? Couldn't you have kept the field when you had it? And couldn't you still do what you wanted after it was sold?

Why did you set this in your heart? You have not lied to people, but to God” (3).

Peter made clear the sin of Ananias: Ananias did not believe in the invisible God. This is why Ananias meant that he could deceive the Church of Christ and pose as a devoted believer.

This was a serious temptation for the First Church. What Ananias really tried to do was to deceive God. The Church of Christ was in great danger.

But the Holy Spirit helped the Apostle Peter so that Peter recognized Ananias' lie.

Peter explained to Ananias that he had not lied to men, but to God, the Lord of the church.

As soon as Ananias heard Peter's words, he fell to the ground and died. So the young men got up, covered him up, carried him out, and buried him.

A great fear came upon all who heard this story.

About three hours later, his wife named Saphira came in. But she didn't know what had happened. Peter said to her, "Tell me, did you sell the field for that price?

She replied, "Yes, for that price."

Peter said to her: “Why then did you agree to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who buried your husband are at the door and will also carry you out.”

She immediately fell to the ground without human intervention, gave up the spirit and died. And there came the younger men that had buried her husband, and found her dead. They carried her out and buried her with her husband.

Verse 11 records the people's reaction to this event

"And great fear came upon all the church, and upon all who heard it" (11).

The First Church learned from this incident that they must fear God.

If this church had not recognized the diabolical temptation of Ananias and Sapphira, it would lose the atmosphere of purity and the church would have become a playground of the lying spirit and an atmosphere of distrust would prevail in the church.

Satan tempted the first church through the lying spirit of Ananias and Sapphira.

But the Holy Spirit helped the First Church that the apostles recognized the work of the lying spirit and cleansed the church from this lying spirit.

What was the result of Ananias and Sapphira cleansing the church from the lying spirit?

Verse 11 says, "And there came great fear upon all the church, and upon all who heard."

And in verses 12 and 13 it is further said: “Now there were many signs and wonders among the people at the hands of the apostles; and they were all with one accord in the hall of Solomon. But none of the others dared to approach them; but the people thought of them.”

This is how the First Church protected itself from hypocrisy. Christians learned to fear God through the events of Ananias and Sapphira. They realized that Christ really lives, and they should live before the living Christ. They could clearly say that they believe in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.

The people who could not yet believe in Jesus as Christ did not dare pretend to be Christians. But they valued Christians very highly and had a desire to one day believe in Jesus Christ and become Christians.

We remember the word of Christ: “I am the true vine and my Father the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he will take away; and every one that bears fruit he will cleanse so that it bears more fruit” (John 15:1-2).

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. He purifies his church to bring more fruit.

The First Church continued to grow.

Verses 12-16 give us the reasons for the growth of the First Church:

The apostles gave credible testimony to the word of God and its power.

God also worked miracles through them.

The Christians feared God and were of one mind.

The non-Christians dared not deceive themselves as Christians. However, they held the Church in high esteem. As time went on, more and more non-Christians became converts.

All three groups - Apostles, Christians and non-Christians - felt God's presence.Because all groups felt Christ's presence, the gospel continued to spread and the church continued to grow.

2. The Fear of God in the Church of China and Its Growth

Our God lives and works mightily. God cleanses his church to make it fruitful.

God cleansed his church from the lie of Ananias & Sapphira and blessed his church. Then the church grew.

The purification of the Church of China and its growth is a fine example of faith in the living God. God used the communist persecution of Christians in China to cleanse and grow His Church in China. If we only look at the merciless hands of the persecutors and fail to see the hands of God, we will doubt God and be terrified at the pains of Christians.

But God lives and blesses his church.

Mao Tse-Tung took over all of China and solemnly declared the birth of the Democratic People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949, in Heaven Square in Beijing.

At first, the communist government only observed the church. 1950, communist began to close the church. All foreign missionaries had to leave China. They cried bitterly that their life's work on the China mission would be in vain. And almost all Chinese pastors or leaders were sent to forced labor, and all Christians had to renounce their faith in order to survive. Everyone felt that China would now have no trace of Christianity.

But Open Doors reports 2021 as follows:

“…In 2021, Open Doors estimates the number of Chinese Christians at 97 million, although some very well-informed sources put that figure even higher. If the Chinese church continues to grow at the same annual rate as it has since 1980, namely 7 percent, then the number of Christians will be almost 300 million in 2030 and almost 600 million in 2040.”

What's going on in China? What happened?

Brother Yun's book, <Back to Jerusalem>, reports that God used the policies of the godless Communist Party to purify Christianity and spread the gospel.

In this way, God proved himself to be a living, good God.

God had taught the fear of God to the early church through the story of Ananias and Sapphira. Faced with the presence of God, Christians could learn the fear of God and live before God. Because the Christians feared God and lived before God, the non-Christians had great respect for the church and wanted to become Christians. God blessed the ford of the First Church so that more and more non-Christians converted to faith in Jesus Christ. So God worked for his glory and for the blessing of his church.

God wants Christians to fear God and live their lives before God, whether they are in a bad situation or a good one.

If we fear God and live before Him, we will experience God's presence and blessings and become good witnesses of Christ to non-Christians.

God wants Christians to fear God.