What Greed Does (Acts 5:1–11)

This is Acts chapter 5, verses 1 through 11:

¹ But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, ² and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. ³ But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? ⁴ While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” ⁵ When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. ⁶ The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

⁷ After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸ And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” ⁹ But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” ¹⁰ Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹ And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

Well, we’ve just looked at this loving, mutual, sacrificial, joyful community. Now, we are going to see the exact opposite. Ananias and Sapphira were members of the sacrificial community; this mutual, sacrificial, shared way of living is what made the work of the gospel possible. It funded the work of the early church. But there was something in the hearts of this couple that got in the way of their commitment to that sacrificial mutuality. What was it?

The answer is pretty simple. It’s this nasty thing called ‘self.’ In this case, it was in the form of greed. Now, this should not surprise us because the apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5:15, tells us that the DNA of sin, if you could say the chemical composition of sin, is selfishness. He says that Jesus came so that those who live would “no longer live for themselves.” Self is always the reason we disobey God at any time and in any way. Self is why we have problems in our marriages and our friendships. Self is why we get angry at our children. Self is why it’s more comfortable for us to buy something that we’ve set our eyes on or our heart on, than it is to sacrificially support the ministry of a church or some gospel ministry.

So this incident was recorded for us, this is important to get, not because we are radically different from Ananias and Sapphira, but precisely because we are like them. As long as sin lives inside of us, there will be a selfishness war in our hearts. Every day you wake up to that war: the war between what I want and what God wants for me. And just because you’ve come to faith doesn’t mean that that war is over. Yes, all of your sins have been forgiven, but your sin hasn’t yet been eradicated. And so, it still lives in your heart, and with that sin, that selfishness is still there.

But there is more. Not only were they greedy and not giving as they had committed themselves to give, but they covered their selfishness with a lie. Now that lie wasn’t spoken, that lie was lived out. As I was reading this passage, I remember what my dear mom used to say again and again and again. So many times now, at my age, I haven’t forgotten it, “Planned deceit is a lie. If you plan to deceive someone, that is the moral equivalent of speaking a lie to them.”

Ananias and Sapphira’s intention was to deceive the apostles into believing that they too had shared all they had, when in fact, they had kept some for themselves. And in this passage, shockingly, we see how seriously God takes selfishness and deceit. But that message is not just in this passage, it’s all over Scripture. The Bible is very clear that God takes our sin seriously. He takes the selfishness, which animates our sin, seriously, so seriously that he was willing to sacrifice his own Son to die a cruel death so that we would be freed from our bondage to us. Jesus came to rescue us from us so that we would know the freedom of serving him. Now, that’s what I call grace!

Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion

1. Even though it may not appear that way at first glance, why is it such a horrible thing that Ananias and Sapphira did what they did? Why do you think God took their selfishness and deceit so seriously as to warrant death?

2. At the root of all sin is selfishness. In what ways can you see the element of selfishness in the DNA of your sin? How does it typically play out when you think about the sin you regularly commit and wrestle with?

3. What specific ways do you see yourself in Ananias and Sapphira? What are the feelings that naturally come with discovering your similarities to them? Why isn’t guilt an appropriate response to discovering your similarities to Ananias and Sapphira? What do you think IS an appropriate response?

4. As you take personal inventory, what would you say are the intentional sins in your life? In what ways have those intentional sins been destructive to you and others around you? Why is it God’s grace to confess your intentional sins and bring them into the light?

5. Would you say that you take your sin more seriously today than you did a year ago at this time? What do you think is stopping you from taking your sin seriously? If you don’t take your sin seriously, what do you think your life will look like in a year from now?

Conversation Prompts to Use with Children

For Younger Children:

• Why do you think selfishness is such a bad thing? Can you think of a time when selfishness hurt or upset you? Was there a time when your own selfishness hurt or upset someone else?
• Why do you think it is the kindness of God to point out our selfishness? What are some areas of selfishness in your life that God wants to change in you? How can I help you with that? Would you be willing to help me with that too?
• Why does God care about the secret sin in our lives that nobody else will ever see? How can we know for sure that God takes our sin seriously?
• What do you think it means that God sent Jesus to rescue us from ourselves?

For Older Children:

• Why is it important to understand that selfishness is at the root of all human sin? In what ways have you seen selfishness play itself out in the sin of other people around you? How have you seen it play itself out in your own life? What about in my life?
• How could it be the kindness of God to point out our selfishness when we are unable to see it ourselves? What might be a few areas of selfishness in your own life that God wants you to work on and change? How can I help you with that? Would you be willing to help me with that too?
• Why is it such a big deal when we secretly sin, even though nobody may ever see it? What do you think is the evidence that God takes all of our sin seriously?
• What do you think it means that God sent Jesus to rescue us from ourselves? Why do you need to be saved from yourself?