Inside the Huddle

Acts 4:32–5:11

Main Idea: In these two contrasting stories, Luke shows us how Christian unity is established, experienced, and endangered.

1. How Unity Is Established: The Gospel (4:32a)
2. How Unity Is Experienced: Generosity (4:32b-37)
   1. Extensive sharing (4:32b)
   2. Empowered sharing (4:33)
   3. Extraordinary sharing among the affluent (4:34-35)
   4. Exemplified sharing in Barnabas (4:36-37)
3. How Unity Is Endangered: Hypocrisy (5:1-11)
   1. What they were: determined hypocrites (5:1-4)
   2. What happened to them: instantaneous judgment (5:5-11)
   3. What they needed (and what we need)

One of my favorite moments in a recent NBA All-Star game happened during the pregame huddle. Coach Steve Kerr looked at all of the incredible talent on his team and announced, “I’ve got a great play planned for the first play. So one of you guys get it, and, like, throw it to one of the other guys. And then you throw it to someone else, and then you shoot it.” The entire huddle laughed at his intentionally vague words. Normally, however, such a playful attitude doesn’t exist inside a huddle. A coach has issues to address and plays to call. He must work to get everyone ready to cooperate effectively.

In Acts 4:32–5:11 Luke takes us inside the interior life of the church—inside the huddle.

Acts regularly shows us the church scattered on mission. Its work happens at a fast pace, like the pacing of a basketball game: the gospel spreads throughout Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to ends of the earth; the apostles preach, heal, plant churches, head to Rome. As we read about the church scattered, however, Luke occasionally calls a time out and allows us glimpses into how things looked inside the church gathered. This passage is one of those time-outs.

One of the pictures Luke provides here is wonderfully positive and encouraging (4:32-37); the other is terrifying and sobering (5:1-11).

These two stories are intimately, and no doubt strategically, tied together. Historically, Luke describes the actions of certain members of the church who lived during the same time period. Their stories are tied together grammatically. After telling the first story, he begins the next story with the word but (5:1). Both accounts describe the selling of property and the giving of an offering from the sales. Both stories also use the adjective “great”: in the first story we read of “great grace” (4:33); in the next we read of “great fear” (5:5,11). Luke uses the two scenarios to highlight the kindness and severity of God at work in the church. As a whole, the two stories cooperate to illustrate the nature and importance of unity. Verse 32 describes the unity of the church. The first story highlights how unity is experienced, and the next shows how unity is endangered.

The Bible is filled with examples of marvelous togetherness and awful division within Christ’s body. The psalmist expresses the blessing of unity in Psalm 133:

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!

It is like fine oil on the head, running down on the beard,

running down Aaron’s beard onto his robes.

It is like the dew of Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion.

For there the Lord has appointed the blessing—life forevermore. (Ps 133:1-3)

In my experience, it seems that the older godly saints get, the more important unity becomes to them. They value it more and more. They hate seeing anything threaten the unity of the church. Why? Because they realize that God is conforming us to the image of Christ, and the more we Christians look like Jesus, the more we will value one another and remain committed to the mission he has called us to fulfill. Jesus wants his people unified (cf. John 17).

These two passages help us understand and pursue Christian unity. Maintaining unity is not easy, but it’s not complicated either (Azurdia, “The Simplicity of Unity”).

How Unity Is Established: The Gospel

Acts 4:32a

How many people comprise “the entire group”? Probably more than ten thousand. In verse 4 Luke mentioned five thousand men. Surely most of them were married.

How is it possible for ten thousand people to be unified? It’s simple. They “believed” the gospel. Faith in Jesus united them. In verse 33 we read that the apostles kept preaching this message, and the people were in harmony around this most powerful unifier.

They had the same mind in that they understood what mattered. They were utterly committed to the same gospel of the risen Christ. They were one in heart, meaning that a great spirit of love permeated the church.

Therefore, we don’t create unity. God establishes it. We maintain it, but we don’t create it. God is redeeming a people. God’s gospel brings people together in mind and heart.

The presence of such unity in Acts 4 is astonishing when you consider the backgrounds of these people. In 2:1-13 people from “every nation under heaven” were present. People from diverse lands and cultures believed in the risen Christ, and they enjoyed this God-established unity. This scene is a great reminder that unity doesn’t mean uniformity. Diverse individuals were united in gospel belief. Our strongest source of unity, then, isn’t our common affinities; it’s our gospel identity. And the further we drift away from this ultimate unifier, the further we get away from the kind of countercultural, world-impacting, Christ-exalting unity Luke highlights.

How Unity Is Experienced: The Gospel

Acts 4:32b-37

So how does our established unity become an experienced unity (Azurdia, “The Simplicity of Unity”)? It’s not difficult to see how the church in Acts 4 experienced such remarkable oneness: they were generous. Theirs was a sharing congregation.

When every member shares consistently, the church is united powerfully. We often think that unity will be experienced through our agreement on every minuscule doctrinal matter, on childhood educational philosophy, or even should we all share a political party. But it’s possible to agree on every point yet have division in the church. The type of unity Luke describes begins with a common gospel identity and a radical practice of sharing. Every member shares a common way of life. They share one another’s burdens and joys. They share their time and possessions. Let’s consider four aspects of their sharing.

Extensive Sharing (4:32b)

Consider the wide-reaching nature of the church’s generosity. First, Luke tells us who shared: everyone. “No one claimed” that anything belonged to him.

Luke also tells us when they shared: all the time—whenever anyone had a need (vv. 34-35). This concept of caring for the “needy” is taken straight from Deuteronomy 15. God wanted his people to be a generous people. The old community failed to deliver, but God creates a new people, empowered by the Spirit, fueled by a vision of the generosity of their Savior (2 Cor 8:9). They care for the needy with great grace. This kind of sharing spilled over to unbelievers well.

Luke tells uswhat they shared: everything. No one claimed that “any of his possessions” was his own. They held all of their possessions loosely.

We shouldn’t try to make this more complicated than it is. I teach my kids about sharing all the time. We sometimes play “Do the Opposite Game.” In it I assign role-playing activities that encourage them to do the opposite of what they typically want to do—give up a seat, take someone’s dishes to the sink, say a kind word, or get a refill for a brother or sister. Frankly, I can’t say that my attempt to teach my kids sharing in this way is working well. My point, though, is that I want them to think about how they treat others and to feel how difficult it is to be truly kind and generous so that they will begin to ask the Father to change their hearts.

Generosity is easy to understand but difficult to apply. We don’t need further explanation of the concept; we need to better apply it. We can easily become like the lawyer with whom Jesus shared the good Samaritan parable. He wanted to exegete the word neighbor (Luke 10:29). Jesus just wanted him to embrace his neighbor. Christ’s message in the parable serves as a warning that we must avoid following the pharisaical pattern of talking philosophically about topics like kindness and giving and sharing without practically applying what we say we believe about them. Frankly, we sometimes like to make things more complicated than they are not because we lack understanding but because we don’t want to obey. Our talk is often a smoke screen for our lack of willingness to do what we know we can and should do. So let’s pause and ask God to make us a generous people.

The type of generosity he wants to see in us requires not only a relinquishing of possessions but also sensitivity toward others. We must be involved in people’s lives if we are to know when they have a need. A generous person is a relationally involved person.

Empowered Sharing (4:33)

Here we see another great example of the need for word-and-deed ministry. The apostles are declaring the gospel in preaching, and the church is displaying the gospel in generosity.

As the apostles continued to teach the church about the resurrection, individuals within the church learned that the resurrection power of Jesus resided in them. They gained a proper perspective on possessions as they pondered the resurrection. They could speak and give fearlessly because they were secure in the Father’s love (cf. Luke 12:32; Rom 8:14-7).

Additionally, they were recipients of the undeserved favor of God. He delighted in blessing them and loosening their grip on material possessions. When God’s grace is at work, people get generous. This reality makes you wonder about professing Christians who never give. Do they truly understand the gospel?

Extraordinary Sharing among the Affluent (4:34-35)

Wealthy people existed in the early church. The Bible does not say there were no rich people among the first Christians; rather, we read that “there was not a needy person” among them. Luke isn’t describing communism here. He is talking about a group of generous people who are sensitive to the needs of others. No one went to bed hungry because they could prevent it; no one slept on the street; no one went without clothes. The members took care of one another, and the wealthy even sold property in order to ensure this reality.

If you are wealthy, you need to see it as both blessing and responsibility. God has gifted you, but you’re accountable for what you do with the resources entrusted to you. Scripture doesn’t teach that you should necessarily sell it all (unless Jesus tells you to!), but you must take passages like 1 Timothy 6:17-19 to heart:

Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share, storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of what is truly life.

The wealthy people mentioned in Acts 4 provide a wonderful example of what it looks like to embrace and apply this text.

Exemplified Sharing in Barnabas (4:36-37)

At this point in the chapter, we’re introduced to one of Luke’s heroes: Joseph. He gets mentioned twenty-three times in Acts! Religiously speaking, the man was a Levite. Nationally, he was a foreigner from “Cyprus.” And his nickname, Barnabas, means “son of encouragement” or “son of exhortation.” This nickname embodied his life and ministry remarkably well. Azurdia says, “His ministry became his moniker” (“The Simplicity of Unity”).

If mature believers were to look at your life and give you a nickname based on their impressions, what would it be? For what are you known?

Later in Acts we read more about Barnabas. He invested in the lives of younger believers (9:26-30). He had a good eye and a glad heart (11:19-23). He encouraged believers to remain faithful to the Lord (11:23). He was humble and trustworthy (11:25-30; 13:1–14:28). He was patient with the imperfections of others (15:36-41; cf. Col 4:10; 2 Tim 4). But here in this passage, Barnabas’s generosity is emphasized.

Barnabas, like the others, didn’t have to sell a field and bring the proceeds to the apostles, but he chose to do just that. This act of generosity demonstrated how he loved Jesus and people more than stuff. The fact that he “laid it at the apostles’ feet” displays submission, humility, and trust. He trusted the apostles to distribute it. He didn’t want credit for how it was used. He wasn’t interested in self-glorification but in God’s glory.

Luke introduces him here because he stands in stark contrast to Ananias and Sapphira. In doing this, Luke is saying, Be like Barnabas, not like Ananias and his wife.

Churches couldn’t make it without generous heroes like Barnabas. The church has been sustained, enriched, and blessed by unsung heroes throughout her history, by those who have given generously to kingdom causes. We need to honor such servants. And we need to encourage people to see the extraordinary impact of a faithful personal giving ministry. Just as some Christians have a lifetime of teaching ministry ahead of them, others are positioned to spend their lifetimes blessing others through financial giving.

May we be a people who look for ways to give generously, sacrificially, and gladly. May the truth of the resurrection and a deeper grasp of Christ’s grace make us Barnabas-like servants. May such generosity lead to a wonderful experience of unity.

How Unity Is Endangered: Hypocrisy

Acts 5:1-11

We must respect Luke as a historian. He doesn’t ignore the faults of the early church. He’s not writing a fairy tale about the figurative body of Christ. In Acts 5 we find the sad story that follows the previous beautiful one. This is a reminder that even in the most Spirit-filled congregations, the evil one is at work. Every gospel-preaching church will face opposition from the outside (4:1-31), and this story teaches how sinful actions create opposition on the inside, too.

While I could point out many lessons in this passage, Azurdia expresses its overarching idea succinctly: “A dangerous holiness is God’s response to a determined hypocrisy” (“The Simplicity of Unity”). Indeed, here we read about the duplicity of Ananias, the complicity of Sapphira, and God’s resulting, terrifying holiness.

What They Were: Determined Hypocrites (5:1-4)

Jesus called out Pharisees for their hypocrisy. They wanted to be known and praised for their righteous acts. Ananias and Sapphira exemplified that same spirit.

They were spiritual posers (vv. 1-2). Theirs was a sham holiness, a fake piety. Ananias and Sapphira were forced neither to sell a field nor to give all of the proceeds once property was sold. Doing either was totally voluntary. So what was the problem? Ananias apparently pretended to give more than he actually gave. They kept some of the proceeds, claiming to give it all.

They were praise seekers (vv. 1-2). These two wanted a reputation like Barnabas without having the compassion of Barnabas. Perhaps Ananias wanted a nickname too, a phrase that would make him sound important and that just might increase his popularity. Unfortunately, this same quest for the praise of people still infects the church today. Many live for the applause of the powerful. Others want to be on the inside with the leaders. Still others want admiration from members.

They were liars (vv. 3-4). The couple lied about their charity! And they did it together! The ease with which one can lie without considering the damaging ramifications on self and others demonstrates the sinful nature of humanity. Paul says that a symptom of one’s sin nature is lying (e.g., Rom 3:13). This contrasts with God’s nature, for it is impossible for God to lie (Titus 1:2). And God calls his people to be a people of integrity. He despises lying (Prov 6:16-18).

The reason the judgment on these two people seems so outrageous to some is simple. Few understand how serious lying really is. Peter says the pair lied to God (implying the deity of the Holy Spirit). That concept is terrifying! It suggests that God takes the untruths we tell as personal offenses. When people don’t value the holiness of God, they minimize sin. And when they do that, they devalue the cross, where Jesus traded places with liars.

They were greedy (v. 3). Peter says that Ananias and Sapphira “kept back” part of the proceeds. The verb used here means “to pilfer” or “to embezzle.” The same rare verb occurs in the Greek version of Joshua 7:1-26, in the story of Achan, which Luke would have known. The stories of Achan and Ananias are similar in multiple ways, including in the fact that the progress of the mission central to each story gets interrupted because of sin inside the camp. The stories of Achan, Ananias, Judas, the rich young ruler, and millions more testify to the devastating nature of greed. It must have no place within the church.

They were deceivers (v. 4). These two planned what they did. How foolish to think that no one knows about sinful plotting. God always knows what is done and said in secret; we can’t hide anything from him.

They were Satan’s instruments (v.3). Whatever we make of Peter’s question about Satan filling Ananias’s heart, we must affirm the real influence of Satan. The devil destroys through love of money, falsehood, and hypocrisy. He tempts people to act unwisely and godlessly. He tempts people to think that sin is no big deal. But make no mistake: his ultimate goal in all of this is to destroy people and the church. Jesus told Peter, “Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:31).

They were Spirit grievers (vv. 3-4). Ananias and his wife lied to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not a force but a person who can be grieved. One grieves the Spirit when he or she lies, deceives, steals, and participates in anything that is contrary to his holy nature.

What Happened to Them: Instantaneous Judgment (5:5-11)

As a consequence of this couple’s massive offense, judgment fell. It came from God, not Peter. In this scene Peter simply does what brothers and sisters do: he holds these professing believers accountable. Some argue that they died of heart attacks or some other common cause, but in any case the resulting spirit of fear that came upon everyone as well as the unceremonious burial they were given indicate that the people recognized what happened to these two as divine judgment.

But wasn’t this instantaneous judgment extreme? Only if you minimize the offense by minimizing the One against whom the sin was committed. God had been belittled by the actions of these two, and his church was facing a satanic assault made apparent by their deeds. God takes these things seriously. Paul spoke about God’s terrifying judgment as people took the Lord’s Supper impurely (1 Cor 11:28-30). That account wasn’t as dramatic as this one, but what happened in that case was real and serious, too.

This story should make us repent and say, “God have mercy on us! Make us like Barnabas, not like Ananias.” And, “Thank you Lord for your amazing patience with us. Grant us grace to avoid hypocrisy and to pursue integrity.”

In verses 7-10 Peter approaches Sapphira about her own involvement in the matter. The results of that meeting were the same. She shared in her husband’s conspiracy and would share in her husband’s fate. Sometimes it’s sinful for a wife to submit to her husband; her loyalty first belongs to God. She should not have gone along with Ananias’s devilish plan.

What They Needed (and What We Need)

Obviously, Ananias and Sapphira needed a healthy fear of the Lord. The God of all the earth demands respect. So, as we consider this passage, we shouldn’t think, God would never do that to me. Rather, we need to remember that “God is not mocked” (Gal 6:7). Just ask Uzzah, Nadab and Abihu, King Uzziah, the exodus generation, and the powerful people in Revelation who want the rocks to fall on them because their fear of the King’s judgment is so extreme. Proverbs teaches us that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 1:7). If you don’t stand in awe of God, you are unwise. Destruction will come eventually.

Sapphira and Ananias also needed the application of the gospel. They either didn’t understand the gospel or had not allowed it to work down deep in their hearts. The gospel frees us from addictions to self and stuff. It frees us from pretending. It frees us from wanting praise from people. It frees us from wanting to lie, steal, and deceive. It makes us honest and generous. It sets our minds on the glory that is to be revealed. Let this story remind you of how badly you need to understand the gospel of grace and your identity in Christ.

Finally, this couple needed to livein repentance. We must learn from their mistake. When we are aware of personal sins, we must repent of them. In truth we are all guilty of hypocrisy, but as soon as we recognize it, we must repent. This couple had been living in known rebellion and sin. It appears they were OK with their hypocrisy.

This story calls the church to repent while there’s time. God does extend grace. The next story, in fact, shows how the church continued to increase and multiply in spite of this scene. God purified his church for the good of others who would believe, offering even more grace along the way. This truth teaches believers to repent and go and sin no more by the grace of God. It’s calling us to pursue the kind of existence outlined in 4:32-37 instead of 5:1-11.

May God make us a people known for gospel-saturated generosity, not evil hypocrisy.

Reflect and Discuss

1. What’s the difference between Christian unity and other forms of unity?
2. In what ways have you seen others practice generosity in your congregation? Explain the impact of such giving.
3. What keeps people from being radically generous?
4. How is the concept of grace tied to generosity?
5. What does the resurrection have to do with generosity?
6. Identify a needy person who could use your help this week. Choose to act generously.
7. How does the story of Ananias and Sapphira challenge you?
8. What does the story of Ananias and Sapphira teach about hypocrisy?
9. What does the story of Ananias and Sapphira teach about the need for repentance?
10. Take a moment to pray for unity in your own local congregation in view of these passages.