Acts 5
COMMENTARY:
: 3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? (5574 “lie” [pseudomai] means to speak deliberate falsehoods, to deceive, opposite of truth, or speak untruth.)
DEVOTION: The beginning of the church was not easy on the people involved. There was a lot of confusion. There was a change from the law to grace.
It was a time period of many signs and wonders. It was a time when a majority of the church was made up of people who were from out of town. People had come to celebrate Pentecost with just so much money and here they were staying behind to learn more about Jesus. It took money to live in Jerusalem.
The people who lived in Jerusalem who had possessions and property were selling what they had to support those who were there with no money. They were selling what they had and bring it to the church to be distributed.
Now we have a couple who wanted to receive praise for their actions while holding back part of the money and being false about how much money they were giving.
The Holy Spirit revealed to Peter that they were not telling the truth. They were looking for praise but were confronted about their falsehood. Peter gave both of them an opportunity to repent. They continued to state a falsehood.
Remember that Paul wrote about what would happen to unrepentant believers. At the communion table they were to confess their sin. If they didn’t confess their sin they could suffer weakness or sickness or premature death.
In this case death happened right away to get the attention of the rest of the believers. They suffered great fear because of what they saw. It would cause them to think twice before trying to deceive the apostles or the church.
Don’t overstate what you are doing for the LORD. Don’t try to receive the praise of men over the truth. God wants HIS church to be pure not sinless. HE knows that we are going to sin until the day we die. He wants us to confess our sin regularly to remain in fellowship with HIM.
CHALLENGE: Keep short honest accounts with God. Confess your sins to the LORD. HE has a desire to fellowship with all believers.
: 28 Say, Did not we strictly command you that you should not teach in this name? and, behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood on us. (1014 “intend” [boulomai] means will, be minded, be disposed, be willing, to purpose, to plan, desire, want, wish, or to have in mind as a purpose.)
DEVOTION: We are to be teachers in the name of Jesus. Our instruction should come from the Word of God. When Jesus taught HE used the Old Testament to instruct those who followed HIM. HE knew the Old Testament because HE wrote it. HE quoted the Old Testament.
Now the disciples had the responsibility to train all the new converts. It was an awesome task. They had to move from what they knew to what they should know to reach others in the name of Jesus.
They knew God but now they needed to know about the Messiah, Jesus Christ. They had to know that salvation came by believing in HIM and HIM alone. HE died on the cross was buried and rose from the death as their substitute for the penalty for sin. Their sins were going to be forgiven on the basis of HIS sacrifice. The animal sacrifices were no longer necessary.
The religious leaders didn’t like this teaching because they earned their money through the tithes and offerings of the people. If the people stopped bring their money and animals to the Temple they would have nothing to live on. They really didn’t want that to happen.
New believers in Christ were bringing their offerings and sacrifices to the church for those who had need. It was a whole new age for those who were followers of Jesus Christ.
CHALLENGE: We need to learn the Word of God, so that, we know Jesus Christ better and can witness to others about HIM.
: 32 And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him. (3144 “witnesses” [martus] means martyr, record, or one who is a spectator.)
DEVOTION: The apostles were spectators at all the miracles of Jesus. The church is growing. The apostles are still in Jerusalem spreading the good news of the Gospel. They are performing signs and wonders in front of the people through the power of the Holy Spirit. They are healing the sick.
However, this chapter brings a truth that we need to understand to light. There were people in the church that were fakers. They claimed to be followers but money was their god. They sold their property and told the church that they gave all the money to the church. They didn’t give it all. They lied. Here we have the first example of God prematurely taking the life of those who claim to be followers. God wants absolute obedience. HE killed this couple to send fear into the church regarding obedience. (Should HE do this today?)
Because the apostles were doing all these great works in Jerusalem the religious leaders of the Jews were angry. They had the apostles arrested. An angel came and released them from jail. The leaders sent for them in jail but they were not found there but in the Temple teaching.
They were brought before the council and asked to stop teaching this doctrine. Peter, however, preached a sermon to the council concerning what they had done to Jesus. In this sermon he told them that they were spectators at the crucifixion of Jesus. The apostles were spectators at the resurrection of Jesus.
Now things were changed. Now they were in front of the religious leaders to tell them what they had seen and heard. They were no longer spectators but they were those who recorded the truth about what happened to Jesus. The religious leaders didn’t like it.
However, the Father liked it. HE gave them the Holy Ghost to help them with their record of the truth. The apostles were obeying the commands of the LORD. They were willing to die for the LORD.
We need to realize that the same power and authority that the apostles received we can have to be spokesmen for the LORD. If we are obedient to the LORD, HE will give us the words to say in front of all those we meet. The Bible gives us all the information we need to tell others the truth concerning Jesus. Are we sharing this truth? Some of the disciples became martyrs for Jesus. Are we willing to become martyrs?
CHALLENGE: Be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading in your life. HE will give you opportunity to share your faith and the right words to say at the same time.
: 39 But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it; lest haply you be found even to fight against God. (2647 “overthrow” [kataluo] means to destroy or cause to fail, throw down, demolish, to cause to come to an end, to cause to become nothing, put an end to, make invalid, abolish, or to dissolve.)
DEVOTION: Here we have an individual named Gamaliel who was a doctor of the law. He was the instructor of Saul or Paul who wrote most of the New Testament.
At this time he was just a member of the Sanhedrin that was judging the apostles for their actions. The rest of the members of the Sanhedrin wanted to kill Peter and the other apostles.
He suggested that they might not be true followers of God like two other men who rebelled against the Jewish leaders. Those two men were killed and their followers were scattered. He thought this could happen to these men and their followers as well.
He warned them that they should not fight against anything that might be of God. They would not want to be accused of doing something that God would disapprove of. The rest of the council listened to his advice. The beat the apostles and then let them go. It was a victory for the LORD.
We need to watch who we judge now. There are people who believe differently about some of the minor doctrines or teaching that we hold to be true. Those that don’t agree with the major doctrine need to be corrected. There are some convictions that people have that the LORD would like us to allow them to keep.
We can only work with those who agree with us on the major doctrines of the Word of God. Separation is necessary only from those who don’t agree with the Word of God on these doctrines or teachings.
I know that some of the ones I love dearly think that only Baptists will be in heaven. The problem is that some of them won’t get their either because of some of the false believes they hold. Remember that there are at least twenty-two different Baptist here in America. Some are liberal and some are sound. This is true in many other denominations too. There will be no denominations in heaven only believers.
CHALLENGE: Satan enjoys watching Christians fight one another over minor differences. It is sad but true.
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