Key Principle #6: Communion-ity (part
2)
3
But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the
Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 4
While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in
your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You
have not lied to men but to God.”
Acts 5
As you
look at the book of Acts, notice that in the church, there was a submission to and a trust of leadership. All of the
funds were voluntarily laid at the feet of the apostles, a poetic way of
stating that once they sold their property, it was no longer under their
control, but rather under the direction of the leaders of the early church.
That speaks highly of both sides, because the leadership had proved themselves
trustworthy. Would you trust the leaders in your church with all of your
finances? If you are a leader, would you deserve it?
Again, I’m not
recommending that this would be a practice that we could do today, but would
you be willing to trust others that much? Someone has said if you want to know
what is truly important to people, look at their calendars and their checkbooks
(although people don’t use checkbooks now, so look at their "bookings and
budget"). Many today are not willing to trust the church with even
one percent of their income, let alone ten percent and certainly not 100
percent.
Communion-ity
can be shown by a resource more important than money and that is with time.
People have different amounts of money, but everyone has the same amount of
time and all of it is precious. You can lose a fortune and gain it back, but
you cannot regain one single moment of time. When people give time to the
community of the church, the church needs to be as careful with it as it is
with money. And even more so.
Are you and others in the church at a
point where you could be described as of one heart and one soul (Acts 4:32)? If
not, commit now to pray for the church that they (and you) would be deserving
of such trust and that you would be willing to not hold back in areas that are
needed for the church to be where God wants it to be.
My experience
has been that we are sadly a far cry from where God wants us to be as a
communion-ity. In Chapter 5, the sin of Ananias and Sapphira was not that they
kept a portion of the money back. In fact, their sacrificial giving was
actually quite commendable. It probably would be welcomed today in many
churches, even if they were a little disingenuous to the leaders…and, oh yeah,
to God…and to the Holy Spirit.
But therein
lies the problem. They weren’t just a little disingenuous, they lied to the
leaders and they lied to God. And the motivation for their lie was demonic.
There is a
danger of appearing to be spiritual and yet all the while, harboring a willful
sin and hypocrisy within. The key principle of communion-ity is that we need to
be sincere. That means to be transparent, open, and not “two-faced,” not only
privately with God but with one another.
If you didn’t
catch it, Ananias and Sapphira saw what others were doing, especially Barnabas,
and saw the applause they were getting and decided they wanted to do something
like that.
They probably
originally planned to give the whole proceeds of the sale to the church. But
Ananias decided to hold some of it back. He talked to his wife and she didn’t
have any problems with it either. He
could have kept the possessions and he would have spared his life. Or he could
have sold it and kept the money, and not even tell the church. Or he could have
just been honest and gave a portion of it in all sincerity. But he lied, held
back on God and held back on honesty to the church. As a result, he was struck
down. So the issue was not what he did but why he did it.
Communion-ity occurs when the church does not
“hold back” on God. It may not be money or time, but it could be your
sincerity, or in your openness, or your spiritual giftedness, or something
else. Ask God what is holding the church back from true communion within the
community.
One last thought: Communion-ity is important
not only in the church, but any relationship, especially marriage and
families. Are there friendships, work relationships and other areas
that you are holding back on? Just remember the lessons of Ananias and
Sapphira: Holding back can be a killer in communion-ity.
