Word of Salvation – January 2026

 

When Church Is A Health Hazard

 

Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Acts 5:1-11 

Reading: Acts 4:32 – 5:11

Singing:       BoW.102         You O Lord are God alone
                        BoW.210         Have Your own way, Lord
                        BoW.034a      Through all the changing scenes of life
                        BoW.531          I will arise and go forth                  

[Click here for a Podcast (audio file) of this sermon]

Theme: God’s judgment on the self-centred lies of Ananias & Sapphira show: a holy God wants a pure church.

 

Introd:  I toyed with the idea of taking some photos of cigarette packets and putting them up on the screen.

But some of those sad pictures of diseased organs are probably too graphic for church.
I’m sure you’re familiar with them: photos of gangrenous toes and diseased lungs.
And of course, splashed right across the packet are the words: Smoking is a health hazard.

 

Well, I’m announcing a competition you may like to enter.
I’d like to challenge you to draw up some posters – not about smoking but about the church.
It will also need some very graphic pictures and the words: “Church is a health hazard”.

 

Because… isn’t that what we find here in the book of Acts?
For example: look at your Bible and tell me: what is recorded later in this chapter, in verse 40.
What did the authorities do there to the apostles?  They had them flogged.
That sound to me like something that is hazardous to your health.
So maybe your poster could have a picture of someone being flogged.

Or turn over a few pages further and read what happens at the end of Acts chapter 7.
Verses 59 and 60 would give us some more material for graphic pictures.
Stephen – a deacon in the church – is stoned to death.
I don’t want to be flippant, but that sounds very much like a health hazard to me.

Acts 12 opens with yet more graphic imagery: James the brother of John is executed.
And for no other reason than that he is a Christian and a leader in the church.
In Acts 16 Paul and Silas are flogged and are in the stocks in prison.
Why would anyone want to join the church?  It’s a health hazard.

 

And here in our text this morning we’ve got two corpses in the church: Ananias and Sapphira.

We need a poster: Warning: Church is a health hazard.  You can end up killed as a martyr… or as a liar.

 

A]       THE MOTIVE OF SELF-GLORIFICATION.

 

1. To understand this story of Ananias and Sapphira we need that context at the end of Acts 4.

It presents a wonderful picture of harmony and love.  Notice verse 32 of chapter 4:
All believers were one in heart and mind.  No one claimed that any
of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.

 

And that is said about a church that wasn’t just made up of a few dozen or a couple of hundred people.
This is a church that has grown – in a matter of days – to more than 5000.
People with property are selling it and bringing the money to the apostles for the needy.
That’s not a Christian form of communism… it is not enforced.
It’s not like some sects that demand that you sell everything and share with everyone.
This is totally voluntary.  It’s quite an amazing picture.

And then we’re told of the outstanding example of the Levite, Joseph.
He sells a field and he brings the money and puts it at the apostle’s feet.
They’ve nicknamed him Barny… a name that means “son of encouragement”.
He is a wonderful example of Christian love and generosity.

 

So Ananias and Sapphira decide to do the same thing.
But somewhere along the line they decide they won’t give the Apostles all the money.
Maybe they had second thoughts when they got that brochure in the mail.
A holiday cruise on the Dead Sea – that would be wonderful – let’s keep some money for that.

 

Okay!  We’re not told exactly how it went – but it is so perfectly understandable isn’t it?
You make the sale and suddenly you’ve got all this money in your hands.
You were going to make a sizeable donation to some worthy cause – a charity.
But – hang on – we worked hard for this… and we do need that holiday.

 

So they pretend that they are bringing the whole sum of what they received from the sale of their land.

But they keep back part of it for themselves.  Hey!  Who’s to know anyway?

 

2. Today if I asked you what you thought the worst sin is, I wonder what you would say?

For some Christians it would be homosexual activity.
Just merely mentioning that already gets some church folk quite wound up.

For others the worst sin might be the abuse of one’s spouse or children.
It’s a terrible thing to be hurt by those who are supposed to love us.

Still other have lived daily with the damage that drunkenness does and they loathe it.
In their eyes this is the worst sin in our day and age – it causes so many other problems.

 

But the sin of Ananias and Sapphira is a capital offence.  They actually die for their sin.

Did God really have to be so hard on them…?  Isn’t this an over-reaction?

 

That’s a problem for many people today because this is not a major sin by our standards.
This is just wanting to look a little better… a little more generous than we really are.
Ananias and Sapphira want to look good and compassionate… like Barnabas.
So they pretend to give everything – all of it – so that people will think well of them.

 

But – in a sense, congregation – isn’t that the heart of all sin?
Sin is basically putting ourselves at the centre of the universe.
The heart of all sin is our lust for self glorification.  It’s all about me.
And that comes out in a hundred and one ways today.  We see it all around us.

Today our young people are being told: You should make your own choices in life.
In other words don’t let your parents tell you what to do.
Don’t believe that there might be some moral absolutes that a Creator-God has set.
No!  You make up your own moral choices because life is all bout you being happy.
And that is precisely the fatal mistake Ananias and Sapphira make here in Acts 5.
It’s all about me… my happiness… and me being thought well of by others.

 

3. This morning this passage of the Bible is highlighting that with God sin is sin.

God doesn’t grade sins the way we do… so that we have some sins that we can put up with.
But there are other sins that we frown upon and regard as unacceptable.
And still others that we speak against with passion and outrage.
That’s how it is with us.  But that’s not how it is with God.

 

This was a lesson that the young infant church had to learn here, early in its history.
That the church must learn to take sin seriously because God takes sin seriously.
We need to deal with that sad situation that we want to be at the centre of the universe.
Life has got to be about me… about my happiness… and my popularity… and my success in life.
And God says: No! That is really the very essence of what sin is.

That makes us realise that like Ananias and Sapphira we have so often deserved to die too.
Because we want to make our own choices in life and do our own thing.
And we take no notice any longer of the choices God sets before us.

 

Today the modern church needs to learn this as badly as did the early church here in Acts.

Instead we have television preachers pumping people full of exaggerated self-esteem.

So more and more Christians today have this sinful idea that life is all about me.

 

B]       THE AGREED-ON LIES OF HYPOCRICY.

 

1. In the case of Ananias and Sapphira this self glorification works itself out in the telling of lies.

They want others to see how caring and generous they are so they deliberately set out to deceive.

 

Interestingly the word isn’t actually mentioned in our text but we all know what this really amounts to.
Hypocrisy…!  And hypocrisy is something that God loathes.
That’s what Jesus so often accused the Pharisee of.  Their words didn’t match their deeds.
And the words of Ananias and Sapphira didn’t match their deeds either.

 

Today hypocrisy is a huge issue for the church.
You’ve probably heard people say it: “The church is full of hypocrites!”
It’s tempting to say to people like that: Well, come on in… there’s always room for one more.
But the sad reality is that there is too much truth in it for us to dismiss that charge lightly.

Because Ananias and Sapphira are alive and well in the church today.
Okay… they have different names… but the problem is the same.
Too many Christians don’t match their deeds to their words.
Like this couple in Acts 5, what they say doesn’t square with their actions.
Vows are made but easily broken… promises are given but not kept.

 

That’s especially why we see the church here at its infancy being called to deal with it.
Hypocrisy is a barrier to the gospel.
When others can’t see integrity in us they don’t want to embrace our faith.
Hypocrisy hinders people from coming to Jesus.
So here it’s as if God nips hypocrisy in the bud before it festers and spreads in the church.

 

2. Let me point out a couple of others things about this sin of Ananias and Sapphira.

Verse 4 makes clear that this is not just a sin against man but a sin against God.
Maybe that’s a little hard to see.  Wasn’t this just two proud people deceiving other people?
They wanted to be thought well of so they lied to the apostles.
How does that make this a sin against God?  Well, in two ways:

 

First, because as I already pointed out, their hypocrisy would have been a barrier to the gospel.
Their lack of integrity would turn off others who found out about it.
But secondly, they actually broke God’s command not to bear false witness.
Any sin is always first of all a sin against the God who’s commandments we break.

There is a good example of that in Psalm 51.
David wrote that Psalm after his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah.
But in that Psalm he laments: Against you, you only have I sinned…!
David had – as it were – thumbed his nose at what God required of him.
Sin is always – primarily – an offence against God.
Because we’re following our own choices and not God’s choices.

 

The other thing about this sin that we ought to realise is that this was a lie.
Today we tend to see lies as relatively unimportant.  What’s the problem with some untruths?
After all our world is brim full of lies.
Politicians today are renowned for their lack of truthfulness.
We’re wise today not to believe the half of what we’re told in advertising.
Goods are described in deceptively glowing language; our wants are turned into needs.
So who in today’s world really cares about an occasional white lie?

 

But lies are not just a minor matter – they are serious because lies undermine the very fabric of life.

More than that.  Lies are Satanic in origin because Jesus told us that the devil is the father of lies.

 

3. We should also notice the deliberateness of the lies of Ananias and Sapphira.

This isn’t a lie made in the heat of debate.. or a lie made under the unexpected pressures of life.
This was deliberate… premeditated… because they agreed to do this together.
Peter later asks Sapphira whether that was indeed what they got for the land.
And without hesitation she affirms it.  They conspired together to lie about this.
Peter proves they were co-conspirators in this sin against the Lord.

 

I must admit that it’s very easy to become partners in sin with those who are close to us.
Let me give you an example of how that can happen in a family or in a marriage.
The phone rings and Johnny is about to answer it.
His father calls out from the lounge: If that’s Bill tell him I’m not home.
Well, it is Bill and so Johnny dutifully tells Bill that his dad is not home at present.
That’s a situation in which they have conspired together to lie.

I think of the husband who covers up for his wife’s gambling problem.
Or the wife who covers up for her husband’s drunkenness.
And those situations are sometimes so understandable.
We have to live with our spouse and with our family… so we go along with the deception.

 

And now this morning this story of Ananias and Sapphira remind us that we have a higher loyalty.
You have a more important loyalty than your loyalty to your husband… to your wife.
You have a more important loyalty than your loyalty to your parents… to your children.
And that higher loyalty is to God.
It is to uphold – also in your family – the moral standards that God sets for us.

 

In fact, let me ask you the question: what is the more loving thing to do?
Is it to join our spouse in telling lies…?  To join our parents in deceiving others…?
Or is it say to them: This is really not what God would have us do.
To firmly and lovingly say: Sorry, I can’t join you in this hypocrisy.
Ananias and Sapphira lied together… and they died together.

 

C]       THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT OF GOD.

 

1. And that brings us to the very heart of this story… and the most difficult part of it.

What stands out in this passage of the Bible is God’s judgment.
God’s Spirit gives the Apostle Peter special insight into what has really happened.
And through the Spirit Peter pronounces God’s death sentence on this couple.
But it makes people ask: what kind of God is this, who kills people?

 

Well, this is not the only place where people are killed for sinning against God.
In the book of Exodus two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu decide to be creative about worship.
Instead of following God’s instructions for worship they make up their own rules.
And they are struck dead on the spot.
In the book of Joshua there is the story of Israel’s victory over Jericho.
But Achan takes some gold from the plunder that God had devoted to destruction.
And he and his family are stoned to death for their disobedience.

 

Our problem today is that we have domesticated God.
We have turned him into the kindly grandfather figure who lives upstairs.
He’s become – to so many people – a kind of celestial Santa Clause.

And we’ve lost the Biblical understanding of the awesome holiness of God.
The God we worship is the God of Malachi who comes like a “refiners fire”.
He’s the God who wants to burn away the garbage of sin out of your life and mine.
And it is He… and not we… who is the centre of the universe.  It’s not about us… it’s about Him.

 

2. This action of God also raises some questions about church growth.

A corpse in the church is hardly an incentive to church growth.

And two corpses in the church are an even greater barrier to church growth.
By the way, you may be wondering why Ananias was buried without the knowledge of Sapphira.
I take it to be because of God’s judgment on this man.
Because of that they buried him post-haste – with a minimum of formalities.
And perhaps Peter told them to keep it quiet because he wanted to confront Sapphira.

 

But the point is that these two deaths in the church were off-putting for others.
They make us want to put out those posters: Warning: Church is a health hazard.
We understand the reaction mentioned in vs.5: Great fear seized all who heard what happened.
That’s repeated in vs.11: Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
Later, vs.13 speaks of a reluctance of many to join the church.

So it’s all very well to say that God does this because of His holiness and majesty.
But doesn’t the Lord know what a damper this puts on the growth of the church?

 

Well, there is another side to this – and that is the purity of the church.
God is more concerned for a pure church than a large church.
And He wants His church to be concerned about the purity of the church too.
In fact – that’s precisely why the Bible has a lot to say about church discipline.
God has put in place some Biblical procedures for dealing with sin in the church.

 

So the book of Acts presents us with the balance.
OTOH there is the blessing of the gospel – we see people coming to faith in Jesus.
OTOH there is the curse of God as sin in the church is dealt with.
That presents us with quite a contrasts.
OTOH the power of Christ… the lame man leaps for joy in Acts 3.
OTOH the righteous judgment of God… the liars die in Acts 5.

 

Acts takes salvation in Christ seriously.  But Acts also takes sin seriously.  And we must do the same.

 

3. I’ve pointed out several times that this is happening to a vulnerable church in its infancy.

The devil has just tried for the first time to stop the growth of the church from the outside.
The authorities took Peter and John prisoners and demanded their silence.

Since that didn’t work the devil now tries to destroy the church from the inside.
Deliberate lies undermine the integrity of this young church… but God intervenes to protect it.

 

One big final question is whether God still does this sort of thing today?

There was once a bishop who preached on the story of Ananias and Sapphira.
He said to his congregation: It’s just as well God doesn’t strike people dead anymore for lying.
Then he added: “After all, where would I be if God still did that today.”
A snigger ran through the church.
He interrupted it by roaring back: “I’ll tell you where I’d be, I’d be preaching to an empty church!”
So does God still do this today?

 

In 1Cor.11 we read that the Corinthian church was disciplined by God by the death of some members.

And elsewhere in the N.T. there are other hints that God still sometimes still removes people by death.

That is God’s ultimate form of discipline of those who continue to rebel against him.

 

So church is a health hazard… but the solution is not to stay away from the church.
The end of Acts 4 shows us the glorious blessings of belonging to God’s people.
And the rest of the book shows us how God changes people through His grace.
By His grace… BUT it’s not a cheap grace… as if we can now forget about personal integrity.
By grace we know the health hazards and we deal with them.
By grace we can live with integrity the wonderful new life that we share with Jesus.  Amen.