November 8 - Acts 3:1-5:42

Good morning everyone,

Oh my, look how Peter has grown up before our very eyes, so to speak. Peter was among the first disciples called by Jesus, perhaps this was why he was frequently their spokesman, for good or bad. Peter was bold but often times in the wrong, he seemed to always be speaking before thinking consequently continually putting his foot in his mouth. Right? You remember Jesus telling him, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me,” when Peter tried to rebuke Him, and then of course more recently, Peter denying Jesus when the guards arrested Him. 

Peter was the first one to preach on the day of Pentecost after being filled with the Holy Spirit and he was the first one to proclaim Christ to a Gentile. We read today of how the Sanhedrin, having thought they had solved their “Christian” problem by killing Jesus, are once more jealous, angry and frustrated with the hearings and wondrous signs the apostles are performing in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. They wanted to put the apostles to death, however, a Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel an honored teacher of the law, in fact was the one who taught Saul of Tarsus aka Apostle Paul, convinced them that if the apostle’s teaching was of men it would go away, but if their teaching was from God they would not be able to stop them. So instead of death the apostles were flogged and then let go. Peter, once a mere baby of a Christian, frightened, bumbling and unsure, had flourished into arguably one of the boldest apostles of all. He willingly suffered persecution, imprisonment, beatings, and even rejoiced at the fact that he was worthy to suffer disgrace for the Lord‘s sake. 

I want to, just for a moment, touch on Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. At that time, Christians were selling their houses, property and a lot of their personal possessions and giving the money to the church. So Ananias and Sapphira, not to be out done, also sold a piece of their property. They kept some of the money for themselves and gave the rest to the church saying “Here is all we got.” Peter knows the truth,though, whether by hearsay or the Spirit, who knows, and he calls Ananias out on the money he kept, telling him, “You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” Ananias heard this and fell down dead. Three hours later Peter repeats the scene with Sapphira, asking, “Is this the price you got for the land?” She says, “Yes” and then also died. Tough lesson!

Now, here’s the thing. It was never about them keeping some of the money for the sale of their property. They had not been told to sell their land, it was their idea and the money they received was theirs to do with as they pleased. Their sin was, they lied. They told Peter they were gifting all the monies they received from the sale when in fact they held some back in secret. Peter told them, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Friends, God knows our hearts and our motives and God most certainly will deal with sin, especially a Christian’s deceit and lack of integrity.

Hypocrisy is never pretty but it is especially ugly on someone who claims to be a follower of Christ Jesus. They think they are cleverly disguised when in fact they are quite transparent. That person casts the shadow of doubt on all Christians and you can believe there will be consequence of choice for that. Friends, if that were not enough, what is so much more sad is “appearance” alone will not get anyone into heaven and it leads to death of spiritual growth, zero spiritual usefulness and stunts relationships between friends, spouses, children. Faking it robs us of joy and God’s abundant blessing. 

God calls us to be a people of integrity. Proverbs 10:9 says, “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.” Proverbs 12:22 says, “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.” He is dead serious about it, Ananias and Sapphira found out the hard way. Abraham Lincoln was quoted as saying, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” Nor can you fool God! The world can rob you of so many things, actually almost everything but they can not touch your integrity. Cling to it. Hang on tight to it. Be who and what you say you are. Amen?

Have a great day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all …..