The Early Book of Acts

The Early Book of Acts

The early book of Acts delivers a message that blessings from the Lord are exceedingly abundant. We are shown that prosperity and blessings were bestowed upon believers that were eager to give unselfish sacrifice to God, but only when done so with an honest heart. When the offerings were tainted with deceit, the blessings turn to curses and the prosperity was vanquished by famine and death. An example of such a case is represented in the story of Ananias and Sapphira.

And Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles, translated means “Son of Encouragement”, sold a field which belonged to him, and brought the sum of money and laid it at the feet of the apostles, (Acts 4:36-37) was a man filled with the Holy Spirit. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith (Acts 11:24). Then there was Ananias, whose heart was filled with Satan. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled you heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land” (Acts 5:3). Here we have two sides of a spectrum. One was utterly truthful, while the other a liar. There offerings show us the differences in counter pointed faith and unbelief, selflessness and selfishness, goodness and deceitfulness, sacrifice and sacrilege, trust in God and the worship of self, total commitment and supported hypocrisy. Even when grace was offered the selfishness of man prevailed and the consequences were severe.

Discussion

However, there are major problems and concerns that we can question concerning the nature of Ananias’ sin. Ask yourself what if Ananias had just said: “Here is where we would like to be, with Barnabas’ kind of trust and generosity, but we find that we are not there yet. All we can do for now is give part of the proceeds. May the Church of the Holy Spirit help us grow toward what we would like to Become?” Then there would have been healing, nurture, and grace mediated through other believers in the caring fellowship. But instead there was deceit and death.

Ananias and Sapphira were ordinary people who wanted to flaunt a spiritual beauty they didn’t possess. Then again, what sins might have we committed if we were sure we’d never be found out? If people carried out some of the evils they plan or dream about, all of mankind would be in jail for life. But the sin of Ana...

... middle of paper ...

...me out best in every comparison, but they seem to only come out best in there own eyes. On the other hand, the essence of grace is acceptance. It’s an acceptance by God, of others, and most importantly of us. Grace is love before worth and it creates a worth in another rather than responding to worth in others.

We therefore can conclude that grace abounds were sin abounds. While the church is a society of people on the receiving end of God’s grace, it’s the communal balance of excellence were we accept others fully on the same basis as God has accepted us. Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God (Romans 15:7). While God’s grace is offered, anyone with honesty can accept this offer.

Acceptance is solely on the basis of grace; not law, not doctrine, not sacramental observation, but God’s grace alone.

Works Cited:

The Holy Bible, New American Standard Version. La Habra, California: THE LOCKMAN FOUNDATION. 1984. Luke 10:17, Acts 4:32-35. , Acts 5:1-8, Acts 11:24, Romans 15:7

The Bible, New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan

Bible Publishers, 1984. Luke 10:17, Acts 4:32-35. , Acts 5:1-8, Acts 11:24, Romans 15:7