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Prepare: Praise God for his good gifts to you.
A bit extreme?
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather this passage weren’t in the Bible. It seems a bit extreme, doesn’t it? Ananias and Sapphira are freely giving the church some of the proceeds from the sale of their own land and God strikes them dead for a mere lie. Lying would hardly top our list of serious sins.
Let’s look at the context: in 4:36,37 we hear about Barnabas, whom everyone praises for his generosity. It seems that Ananias and Sapphira were not seeking the welfare of the poor, but rather to be praised, honoured and respected like Barnabas. As Peter tells Ananias, he was not required to sell the land, nor to give all the money to the church should he choose to sell (v 4).
Bad attitude
The issue was not that they kept back some of the money for themselves, but that they wanted people to believe they had given it all. They were more interested in being praised by people than in being right before God.
Their attitude was the opposite of that taught by Jesus in Matthew 6:1–4, where he warns us not to announce our giving with trumpets, but to give secretly so that only our heavenly Father will see. God is more interested in the attitudes of our hearts than our good works.
Respond: Think of a way you can give this week (money, time, encouragement, etc) and take care to do it without telling anyone.
http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-07-02
A bit extreme?
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather this passage weren’t in the Bible. It seems a bit extreme, doesn’t it? Ananias and Sapphira are freely giving the church some of the proceeds from the sale of their own land and God strikes them dead for a mere lie. Lying would hardly top our list of serious sins.
Let’s look at the context: in 4:36,37 we hear about Barnabas, whom everyone praises for his generosity. It seems that Ananias and Sapphira were not seeking the welfare of the poor, but rather to be praised, honoured and respected like Barnabas. As Peter tells Ananias, he was not required to sell the land, nor to give all the money to the church should he choose to sell (v 4).
Bad attitude
The issue was not that they kept back some of the money for themselves, but that they wanted people to believe they had given it all. They were more interested in being praised by people than in being right before God.
Their attitude was the opposite of that taught by Jesus in Matthew 6:1–4, where he warns us not to announce our giving with trumpets, but to give secretly so that only our heavenly Father will see. God is more interested in the attitudes of our hearts than our good works.
Respond: Think of a way you can give this week (money, time, encouragement, etc) and take care to do it without telling anyone.
http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-07-02
Scripture
About this Plan
WordLive provides a daily slice of Bible reading and commentary that, over four years, covers most of the Bible. The commentary encourages the reader to engage with the Bible passage in order to deepen their relationship with God, through reflection and practical application. The WordLive website offers further multimedia content and group Bible study, while registration offers a daily email, journal and bookmarking, and community tools.
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We would like to thank Scripture Union England & Wales for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: www.wordlive.org/youversion
