Acts 5

This chapter has two parts - it reveals what we have to face as disciples of Christ.

The Church was young, just starting to grow, and they had to deal with problems within the church and problems outside the church. 

What did Ananias and Sapphira do that was so bad? 

What was the result of what they did?

There is a fine line between tempting God and obeying God.  Verse 9 says why did you "tempt" the Spirit of the Lord?  In the second part of the story Peter says "we ought to obey God".   Look how close these two words are in Greek.

Tempt = petharcheo  (pronounced peth - arch- o

Obey = peirazo (pronounced pe (short e) - ra (short a) - zo)

We need to examine our lives and make sure we are obeying God and not defying him.

Ananias and Sapphira were pretenders - hypocrites. 

What are the characteristics of a hypocrite according to this story?

1.      ________________ - v. 2 - purposely planning deception behind their back

2.      ________________ - v.2 - kept back part

3.      ________________ - v.3 - instead of letting God rule

4.      ________________ - v.3,4 - thinking they can lie to man and get away with it

5.      ________________ - v. 3,4 - the root cause, they want the best of both worlds

The disciples had to deal with this in the church from its infancy even till today.  But this chapter brings out a very encouraging point - repeatedly.  I'm glad because sometimes I get discouraged because of the Ananias's and Sapphira's of today.

The point is:  

The second part of the story is the response of the high priests and Sadducees to the church and their witness activities. 

What did the high priests and Sadducees do to the disciples? 

What did the high priests think they were?

Now we see that the disciples have to deal with trouble outside the infant church.  They are opposed by several different groups including the civil government because the captains come to put them in jail.

Why do they oppose the disciples?

1.      _______________ - v. 17

2.      _______________ - v. 24

3.      _______________ - v. 26

4.      _______________ - v. 28

5.      _______________ - v. 28 - makes them look bad

6.      _______________- v. 33

People who oppose us in our witness for God usually do so for the same reasons.  Maybe they envy our new found inner peace and happiness in spite of circumstances, maybe they are confused or fearful.  Perhaps because we accept different doctrines now they dig in their heels and refuse to look into it deeper to see if it is of God or not.  These frustrations often lead to anger, and in this story, they want to kill them.  We often get angry at what we can't control. 

What did Gamaliel do to help the disciples?

How does his advice apply to us today?

God is in charge.  He took care of the hypocrites in the church.  He took care of the new converts.  He took care of the opposers to the church.  We have nothing to worry about.

We only have to do what verse 41,42 say, "Cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." 

This chapter reveals three different secret alliances.

1.      Secret to Deceive - Annaias and Sapphira - make a secret pact to deceive the church but God revealed the secret to the disciples.

2.      Secret to Deliver - God secretly rescues the disciples from prison and in effect made a promise to be with them just like he was with Daniel in the lions den.  Then he uses the deliverance to openly impress the people.  How many times has he delivered us from some secret prison within our own hearts only to use us later to be better witnesses for him.

3.      Secret to Destroy - the council had a secret meeting to decide if they would destroy the disciples or not.  God raised up a man in that very council to share a piece of wisdom that would save his people.  Kind of like Esther.

So if you are a disciple of Christ - what can you expect?

            1.

            2.

            3.

Internal Peace  or External Peace

There is a contrast in this chapter between the deception and covetousness and hypocrisy of Annaias and Sapphira verses the honesty and loyalty of the disciples no matter what.  Annaias and Sapphira forfeit internal peace for external gain.  The disciples forfeit external gain for internal peace.  The two stories contrast being in conflict with God or being in conflict with man.  I'd rather have peace with both, but that doesn't seem possible, so I'd rather have peace within my own heart and peace with God - come what may - than to not be true to my own convictions for the sake of peace with man.

Summarize this chapter in your own words: