Putting Possessions in Their Place

An old Jack Benny skit portrays him walking along the street when suddenly he’s accosted by an armed robber who demands: “Your money or your life!” There is a long pause. Finally, the robber asks: “Well?” To which Jack Benny replies: “Don’t rush me, I’m thinking!”

It’s been said there are two things that prove what’s important to us: Where we spend our money and where we spend our time. If you really want to see what’s important to a person just take a look at their checkbook register.

Jesus was even more direct: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Which is another way to say your actions betray your passions! Jesus knew possessions have a way of controlling our passions. Did you know out of the 38 parables Jesus told, 16 of them (nearly half) touch on the subject of money or possessions? Did you know one out of every ten verses in the Gospels speaks about money? There are approximately 500 verses in the Bible on prayer, 500 verses on faith, but there are nearly 2,000 verses on money-related topics.

Evidently, money is a spiritual issue. And so God’s word has a lot to say about how to save it, spend it, make it, use and not abuse it, and what happens when we love it.

Don’t get me wrong. Money isn’t bad and possessions aren’t evil. Being wealthy doesn’t make you greedy any more than being poor makes you virtuous. The Bible simply says, whether we have a lot or a little, there are right and wrong uses of our possessions. When used for good, money is a gift from God. When used for evil, money destroys the very essence of what God has created for good. And so what is the purpose of possessions and what are the perils of possessions? This passage from Acts helps answers those questions.

The right use of our possessions is generosity modeled for us by a disciple whose name was Joe. It was common in Semitic language to use “son” (bar) to indicate a person’s character or disposition. For example, Jesus gave nicknames to his disciples. He nicknamed Simon, “Peter” or “Rocky” (no doubt after Sylvester Stallone). He nicknamed James and John “Sons of Thunder” for their “gentle pastoral way.” In like manner, the disciples gave nicknames to each other. One of them was Joe. His real name was Joseph. His nickname was Barnabas, which meant “Son of Encouragement.”

One of the reasons he was such an encouragement was his incredible generosity. Barnabas heard there were some needs in the Church and he wanted to help. And so he sold a piece of land he owned and gave the money to the Church. He called his realtor and said: “Let’s see how much we can get for this real estate.” After the sale he laid the entire profit at the apostles’ feet. They, in turn, distributed it to those in need.
Barnabas had a community mindset: “If I really believe in this Christian koinonia thing, then I’m going to put my money where my mouth is. What’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine.” And he freely gave of us his resources.

It wasn’t hard for him to do because he recognized what he had really didn’t belong to him anyway. It all belonged to God. Everything he owned was a gift from God and he was only a manager of it. Therefore whatever God chose to do with God’s money was God’s business. And God’s use of money is always an expression of His love--it’s tangible! So Barnabas freely and happily gave.

He had the same open-handed philosophy as Corrie Ten Boom who said: “I’ve learned to live my life with an open hand so God can put in and take out whatever He wants, and that way I never miss the blessing.”

The Early Church was generous with each other and they shared everything they had. It wasn’t Marxism--the wealthy didn’t suddenly become poor and the poor suddenly become wealthy. They just helped each other when there was a need and as a result the Bible tells us, “There were no needy persons among them.”

What a community! Surely nothing bad could happen there. But when it comes to possessions even the best of people can make the worst of decisions. Let’s look at chapter 5.

The wrong example of how to use possessions was Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias and Sapphira weren’t bad people. Ananias meant “recipient of God’s grace” and Sapphira meant “beautiful”. But they wanted a nickname too. Maybe, they thought: If we give enough to the building fund the church will name the education wing after us. If Barnabas can do it, so can we.

So they picked out a piece of their property and prayed: “Lord, if you’ll help us sell this real estate we’ll give the money back to the church.” But when they did sell the property, God so blessed their capital gains their profit was far more than they expected. They began second guessing the whole thing: You know, putting a little of this away for a rainy day wouldn’t be a bad idea. This is a lot more than we expected, and it wouldn’t be prudent to just throw it away.

It reminds me of the country preacher who was talking to the farmer. The preacher asked: “If the Lord gave you two cows, would you give Him one back?” The farmer said: “Yes.” The preacher asked: “If the Lord gave you two horses, would you give Him one back?” The farmer said: “Yes.” The preacher asked: “If the Lord gave you two pigs, would you give Him one back?” The farmer said: “Hey, no fair! I already have two pigs.”

Why is it so easy for us to offer those things to the Lord we don’t have, but when it comes to what we do have, we want to hold back? Apparently the more we have the harder it is to give up!

There was a study conducted recently on who gives the most money to charities. Do you know what the study discovered? Lower income Americans give a greater percentage of their income to charity than higher income Americans. In 1998, those who earned under $10,000 gave 5.2 percent. Those who earned $10,000 to $20,000 gave 3.3 percent. And those who earned $75,000 to $100,000 gave only 1.6 percent.
Ananias and Sapphira weren’t bad people--they were just a little too attached to their possessions. They had forgotten affluence in the kingdom of God is not for personal indulgence but for building community.

And so the Bible tells us they kept back some of the money for themselves. “Kept back” is a little Greek word nosphizo, which literally means, “to pilfer or embezzle.” It’s interesting how Luke uses this word, because technically the money they kept back was theirs to begin with.

Nosphizo is not a very common word at all. It appears only one other time in the entire New Testament in Titus 2:10 where it’s translated “steal.” The context is slaves influencing the lives of their masters. “Slaves must obey their masters and do their best to please them. They must not talk back or steal (nosphizo), but they must show themselves entirely trustworthy and good. Then they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way.”

The modern equivalent would be somebody pilfering pencils from work or punching more on a time card then they’d actually worked. Not only is it stealing from an employer, it diminishes the integrity of the employee and it discredits the God they serve.
The second instance of nosphizo is found in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament. There the word is also used one time in Joshua 7:1 in the story of Achan. Joshua and the Israelites had just defeated powerful Jericho. They are then defeated by a tiny city named Ai. Why? Because a soldier named Achan had kept some of the plunder from the spoils of war that had been devoted to God. “The Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things. Achan took (nosphizo) some of them, so the Lord was very angry with the Israelites” (Joshua 7:1). It’s interesting there was a community aspect to this sin, and here, just as in Acts, the sin met with a severe punishment. Achan was killed.

Because nosphizo is such a rare word in the Bible, it is important to note Luke so deliberately drew on it’s meaning as the very sin of Ananias and Sapphira. Rather than being up front and honest about their decision, they tried to be deceptive and lied about the total. They didn’t tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

But Peter discerned what was happening. Maybe it was their lack of a poker face. Maybe they were better with cheating than they were at lying. Do you know what I think it was? I think the biblical truth was fulfilled: “Always be sure your sins will find you out.” One way or another our sin, like a homing pigeon always comes back to roost.
Peter’s response to Ananias and Sapphira was telling: “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to us but to God!” (Acts 5:3-4, NIV).

These verses highlight four imperative truths about keeping possessions in their place:

TRUTH #1: AN IMPROPER FOCUS ON POSSESSIONS CAN LEAD TO SIN.

Jesus said: “It is very hard for a rich person to get into the kingdom of heaven” Matthew 19:23. “For the love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10).

Those verses don’t mean money is bad or people with money are bad. Barnabas’ life demonstrates money can open up tremendous avenues of service. But an improper focus on possessions has the power to lead us astray and cause us to stumble.
Luke makes it clear, both in his Gospel and the Book of Acts, money and possessions can take control of a personality. Just like Achan in the Old Testament and Judas in the New Testament, the “love of money” is what separated Ananias and Sapphira from the deep fellowship of the people of God.

Peter asks: “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart?” The evil one had so infiltrated and controlled Ananias’s heart that he was swept along in the riptide, until he was pulled under the current.

But it’s also important to note Satan’s temptation did not remove responsibility from Ananias. He still had a choice to make, and verse 4 places responsibility for his action squarely on Ananias’s shoulders. Peter said: “The property was yours. The choice was yours. The money was yours. It was your decision!”

You see, keeping back part of the money was not the heart of the issue. Peter even said he could have done whatever he wanted to with the money. That wasn’t the sin! But what Ananias and Sapphira didn’t realize is that when they lied to the church, they also lied to the Holy Spirit.

TRUTH #2: A MISUNDERSTOOD VALUE OF POSSESSIONS CAN LEAD TO SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND PRIDE.

Ananias and Sapphira’s deception tells us they sold their property, not only because they wanted to help, but also because they wanted the recognition of the Church. They lied to gain the prestige they had seen given to Barnabas.

They wanted to have the reputation of lavish generosity, while keeping something aside for a rainy day. The assumption of the story is that setting something aside wasn’t a bad thing and would have even been acceptable. But what was not acceptable was their deceit!

Ananias and Sapphira fell into sin not because of what they held back, but because of their attempt to deceive the Church, appearing more honorable than they really were. They were more interested in the display made in the front of the sanctuary than they were of the offense made before the eyes of God. They valued possessions more than people. They valued esteem more than authenticity. Whenever we care more about the esteem of people than we do the approval of God we are on thin ice. Not only because it causes us to be dishonest with people--it causes us to be dishonest with ourselves.

When Jesus gave His kingdom manifesto in the Sermon on the Mount it was marked by a common theme: Those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are all on the right track because they are not hiding their helplessness and need for God. In Christianity, power comes through grace--undeserved, unmerited favor. And one thing that will hinder the work of this grace is self-sufficient pride--the sense we deserve what we get and the belief we can make it on our own.

TRUTH #3: POSSESSIONS ARE NOT AN INDIVIDUAL MATTER.

Peter knew this sin had to be dealt with in a decisive way because it wasn’t just about Ananias and Sapphira--it was about the Church! He knew dishonesty and deception hinders fellowship in the body of Christ. 1 John 1:17 says: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.” Which is another way to say that if we don’t walk in the light we don’t have genuine fellowship with one another.
Dishonesty and untruthfulness is the deadly cancer that can destroy the life of a church, because when people are not truthful, they can’t be genuine. And when people are not genuine a spiritual superficiality sets in that begins to tear away at the fabric of Christian community.

The koinonia fellowship of the Church of Jesus Christ is first of all spiritual: “Of one heart and soul.” But spiritual unity always spills over into the physical, emotional, and material world of believers.

What is at stake here is the integrity of the community indwelled by the Spirit. One act of secrecy and selfishness violates the character of the openness and honesty required by the church of Jesus Christ.

TRUTH #4: THE INAPPROPRIATE USE OF POSSESSIONS IS SERIOUS IN GOD’S EYES.

After their confrontation with Peter, Ananias and Sapphira both dropped dead on the spot. Talk about an intimidating pastor! You can imagine how surprised the bystanders must have been as they saw Pastor Peter, speaking for a church that wasn’t exactly rolling in the dough, rebuking the givers of a large contribution.

But the size of the gift wasn’t the issue. The integrity of the church was. You see, God doesn’t just want our possessions--He wants us. He doesn’t need our money--He wants a relationship.

There is a right and wrong place for possessions. Ananias and Sapphira got it wrong. Barnabas got it right because he knew putting possessions in their proper place is living with an open-handed generosity that trusts God with the harvest.