At the Apostles' Feet | Disruptive Presence 21

In which John and David discuss the slightly disturbing story of Ananias and Sapphira. The early church has begun in charity and commonality, how would it respond when that was challenged. And how would the Holy Spirit? What can we learn from a story that at first glance seems more than a little troubling.

Episode 74 of the Two Texts Podcast | Disruptive Presence 21

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Transcript

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[00:00:00] David: Well, John, we've hit chapter five of acts and the perhaps infamous I was gonna say famous story, but let's say infamous story of Ananias and Safara. 

[00:01:01] John: Yeah, absolutely. It's just, it's just exciting to be in a new chapter, right? So, we have, we, we are, we feel like we're making serious progress now. But yes, it, it, it is a, a fascinating jump from the end of chapter four, isn't it? And our reflections last time on Barnabas and this amazing moment we left it on, and then there is this, wow, this almost compare and contrast moment. 

[00:01:27] Now we're introduced to these two very interesting people and very interesting actions and responses, I suppose. So, yeah. Amazing, amazing story. 

[00:01:38] David: So you're gonna read the story for us and we're gonna just look at this story today in, in, in, in our episode of, of chapters five. Verses one through to 11 aren't. 

[00:01:48] John: Yeah, I would be honored to. So here we go. Chapter five of the book of Acts, verse one. Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sevi, also sold a piece of properly. With his wife's full knowledge. He kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles feet. 

[00:02:10] Then Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has fulfilled 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? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? 

[00:02:32] You have not lied just to human beings, but to God. When Anna and I has heard this, he fell down and died and great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later, his wife came in not knowing what had happened. 

[00:02:56] Peter asked her tell me, Is this the price you and Aniah got for the land? Yes. She said, That is the price. Peter said to her, How could you conspire to test the spirit of the Lord? Listen, the feet of the man who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out. At that moment, she fell down at his feet and died. 

[00:03:18] Then the young men came in and finding her dead . I just, it does make me laugh a little bit. I shouldn't laugh at that point, but there we are. Finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Grit, Fear, seized the whole church and all. Who heard about these events? Wow. Okay. What. 

[00:03:42] David: to In, in Willie Jenning's commentary, he opens this section of his commentary with this sentence. Standing in front of the apostles is a dangerous place which I think is a brilliant understatement of the way that that story is told in almost a brilliantly understated way, isn't it? It's 

[00:04:05] John: It is, it is. It's I, I'm, our, our listeners will have to forgive me for sort of laughing at a really inappropriate moment. But I, I just love that sort of, I, I love this sort of almost human humor humanness of, of the story where it's like it says then the young man came in and finding her dead as, as if, like, that's just what happens normally in their world. 

[00:04:27] So, It's it's a very, very, it's a bit of a gear change, isn't it, David, from chapter four, where we have this beautiful, beautiful sort of conclusion to this series of events. And then it, it's like a real shift of gear that's going on in chapter five. 

[00:04:45] David: mm-hmm. . Oh, yes. No, definitely. And there's a shift of gear, and I kind of find myself in the place often with this text that there's a shift of gear that I don't think we always take. Seriously in terms of how it's giving us insight into what God's doing through this church and how this, how this is, is processing its way out. 

[00:05:10] That there's, there's big features to this, to this story, even around this question about, where, what is God doing and, and how is God trying to, To, to, to move this kingdom. And, and there's even, there's even this sort of complex question. Some commentators I've seen will actually compare this to Aikens sin in the, in the Old Testament where, where he tries to, everything is to be given to the Lord, but he tries to keep some back for himself and. And what I've read some commentators do is is try and say, you've got echoes of this story going on here, that the withholding is the offense because God is trying to do something that requires a kind of full commitment to it and this resistance to the new order. And just sort of, these are my kinda little check checklist of things, John. 

[00:06:07] Just remember what we did in the. Episode we talked about the attitude towards possessions of this Holy Spirit community was that possessions don't matter and that possessions can be given at the apostle's feet to serve the wider community. And now you have a couple who want the, who want to be in the place of the community, but are refusing to give themself up to it. 

[00:06:32] So there's a question for this embryonic church of. Are we going to allow a way of living that says, I wanna look like I'm part of this, but I don't really want to be part of this. So that would be my sort of checklist of things immediately sort of hit me about what might be happening in this text. 

[00:06:51] John: Yeah, absolutely. And, and I, I really do resonate with the sort of the Aiken illusion. So if our, our listeners are aware of that, that's found in Joshua with seven, As the people are about to gole the land, and Aiken makes a decision. To take some of the set aside possessions, the stuff that God said was only for him, and I can then encroaches on that and takes it for himself. 

[00:07:21] And you get this incredible link and, and certainly in my research, David, what was fascinating is the freest kept back. Used in verse two, in verse three. It's a, a real strong repeat of the idea. You kept it back. It's not just that, there's a, this is a bit accidental, but there's a very definite Anas, if I have made a very conscious decision to keep back something that they have on the surface of it said, has been given to the Lord. 

[00:07:50] And it's interesting that, that that word noso is, is only, I, I discovered, was only used three times in a New Testament text, and twice it's here in X five and the other one is in Titus two 10, where when Paul is speaking to followers of Jesus who happen to be slaves, he says, Don't steal from your masters. 

[00:08:16] So you get this sort of the only time these words are used is in, is in taking from someone what belongs to them, which really does fit with the Aiken pattern. And, and in my research, I, I discovered that that a, the Sept version of the Old Testament, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, that actually it's the same word being used, a vacant, even though the. 

[00:08:41] Idea is that he took the, the SubT implies he kept back. He, he took away. So, so I, I do think there's more than a little hint to Aiken there. I think there's something very powerful. There's some real parallels going on there that as a, as God's people are about to go in to the land, Promise and in fact have already crossed over the Jordan into that land and are starting their, their process that, that an event happens, which, which the Lord can't ignore. 

[00:09:16] There's something that Akin does, which he cannot ignore, and it's in this context, it feels sort of the same, you. 

[00:09:24] That why, why is the Lord picking on this one? Why, why, what is it that Anna As and Sya have done that finishes with them both in a, in a premature grave? And it seems to be that there's something of a deeply serious nature around this community being called into something that anana Sophia's behavior is not just resisting, but, but actually a. 

[00:09:54] In some ways opposing in an opposite direction. And I think that that made explain the seriousness with which, cuz it feels, I think when you're reading a book of X, this feels a bit, Ooh, ooh, that's, that feels a bit strong. Could not just have had a bit of a slap on the hand and, and being told, Right, you're being caught. 

[00:10:12] Don't do that again. But this, this really feels. quite brutal. And of course when you read the Joshua story, the conclusion for the, for Aiken and his family is really quite brutal. And you, you sort of go, Wow, okay God's taking this pretty seriously because of, of the consequences of the action. So I, I do think there's some parallel there. 

[00:10:37] Definitely worth for our listeners to hunt down a little bit. 

[00:10:40] David: it, I think I, I wondered if we might get to this later, but let me just say it now because it, it sort of dovetails off what you were saying. There are, however, Fascinating contrasts as well between the Aiken story, and again, as we would often say, this is, this is just surmising. I, I think, I mean, I think it's fascinating, John, that Luke chews is a very rare word that also happens to appear in the sep again, version of this story. 

[00:11:11] When I see stuff like that, I tend to think Luke's doing it on purpose, he's doing, he's, he's naturally triggering. If, if he assumes his audience are well versed in scripture, which it does seem, Luke thinks this right, then I want, I find it hard to believe that choosing a very rare, awkward, perhaps old type word might not trigger his scripturally aware audience to go by having a minute. 

[00:11:37] I know that word's used in the Aiken story. there's a couple of fascinating pieces you mentioned, but just to say this now, the dark aspect of this story is that two people die. So obviously, like you say, it's spoken about in very matter of fact ways, but, but we can't miss that. 

[00:11:52] This is, this is a huge shift that we've not seen in the previous four chapters. That, that now is, is God, are, are people, are people. They're being killed for this. This is kind of surprising. This doesn't feel like the welcome that we'd expected, but what's really interesting is the dark end to the Aiken story is the people of God. 

[00:12:14] Kill Aiken, what's fascinating in the, an essence of fire story is the apostles do not kill 

[00:12:21] John: Yes, Yes. 

[00:12:22] David: And, and I think that that sense that the church, in fact, let's just be honest, they, they don't speak any curs over them. They don't. They just, they actually don't even see themselves as the source of the offense. 

[00:12:39] Right? It's like, this is, but, but I do think it's interesting that we've talked about how this is a, this is a church of the resurrection. This is a church of God, bringing life to these people that maybe I'm pushing it too far, but feel logically, I think this is, let me say it like this, another. Point of the New Testament story where we see that God has removed from humans the right to take life. 

[00:13:06] We had turn the other cheek with Jesus, and now we have even people who have done, things which are opposed to the process that we're part of that could be catastrophic if late to continue. God doesn't give the apostles the right to end the life of Anani of I, and I think that. I'm gonna call it the resurrection arc, So, So I would want to argue that Luke has intentionally. Triggered your memory to the Aiken story. Right. But partially so that you can see the parallels to the story, but I think predominantly so that you can see that this story is different in a subtle but hugely significant way that humans are not the ones to dish out the judgment. 

[00:13:55] John: Oh, no, that's a great observation, David. I think that's really worthy of consideration, a fantastic observation. And, and when you, when you sort of look at the text and how that's, how that's phrased, it's like Peter puts it to him and then when Anna Andanis heard this, He fell down and died. So it's not even like Peter is pronouncing that Peter's just stating the facts. 

[00:14:20] So, however, Peter knows those facts. We, we might surmise by some word of knowledge given to him by the power of the spirit that he knows something is a foot in a way that. He would not normally know and gets inside the world, inside the head, inside the heart of Ananias. And it's, as that information is exposed, he falls down. 

[00:14:42] So, and that's really important for us to stress there, that there's no pronouncement of judgment from the apostles, from Peter. It's, it's the announcement of the facts. And then whatever happens next is sort of, so, so we, we might surmise if, if Ananias hadn't have died then, then probably Peter and the Apostles may have put Ananias and Sia on under some sort of, Okay. 

[00:15:10] Stricture or, or challenge or, or process of, okay, what's going on here in terms of helping them to move forward. But of course, that's taken out of their hands now because Anna and Na and Shi are, are both taken out of the picture by God himself. And, and I think that observation is very, very powerful indeed in terms of seeing. 

[00:15:33] It seems that this is an act of God rather than a decision of the apostles. 

[00:15:39] David: I do find that line in verse four really fascinating. You did not lie to us, but to God, the 

[00:15:47] John: Mm. 
 

[00:15:48] David: like, I think we could spend a lot of time and I'd encourage. Are listeners to spend a lot of time reflecting on this as to how often are things done, which are wrong, let's say, and we absorb the offense ourselves, right? 

[00:16:06] And we live, we, we, we make ourselves the, the center of the problem. That, or I have been wronged and the. I need to figure out the recom pene for this. And I think it's fascinating that if you read this story on one level, and, and forgive me, I'm not trying to disagree with scripture here, John, but if you read this story on one level, it seems to me quite obvious that it is the apostles in the church who have been wronged , right? 

[00:16:33] It's quite, that they're the ones that are impacted by this. They're the ones that are directly affected by it. So I think it's a phenomenal statement by Peter to. You're not lying to me. It's God that you've lied to and his ability to sidestep even allowing himself to be the source of the offense is, I think it's a remarkable, I think there's even a model from it. 

[00:16:56] Maybe it's just my pastor heart that wants to turn it into a sermon, but I think there's a model. To it is to, how much offense are we often taking about stuff that's actually between that person and God, and, and we can't get over it because we're convinced that we need to dish out the forgiveness that, that we need to dish out the punishment perhaps. 

[00:17:14] So I, I find that little line just, it stirs me somehow, John. 

[00:17:18] John: And, and, and maybe that's the heart of the conversation, David, that is, is this why, the Lord acts the way that he acts? That, that, that actually, this is not about Anana and Sia just breaking some code of the church, or, or but this is, A willful decision to try and deceive both the community and, and even the Lord, which seems like a futile thing to do. 

[00:17:47] In, in which of course, and, and again, I think that that's the comparison back to Aiken, did Aiken somehow think he could do this and not be seen by God and. 

[00:17:58] And not understand, well, even if I physically get away with this or at a community level get away with this, there's a sense in which if, if Akin believed what we think he believed about the God of the covenant, then that God knows all things and can see all things. 

[00:18:16] So there is that, there is that something within the human that, that somehow believes that, that we can, if we can get. With it at a human level, that somehow that's, that's allowed us to duck and dive the 

[00:18:31] David: can. 
 

[00:18:31] John: sort of divine insight into this. And I, I sometimes have said this to people, sometimes we say things like we have a private world and a public world. 

[00:18:41] And I know what we mean by that. I have my private world with my wife and my family, which will look and feel a little bit different to my public persona. So we recognize there's always a little shift in in behavior around things like that. But of course as, as followers of Jesus with a Bible world view, I think we're trying to have a congruent world. 

[00:18:59] We're trying to have a world that at a private level and a public level, although it has a slightly different face, it's driven by the same belief system. But sometimes I have to remind myself that for the follower of, of Jesus, for the follower of the Lord, there's no private world. There's no bit of my world that is outside of his. 

[00:19:18] There's just the world. Isn't there? And, and in that sense, like whatever I do in the privacy of my world, away from the scrutiny of people, actually, there's no privacy from the eyes of, of the Lord. There's no privacy from his ability to see into. My attitudes, my behaviors, and what I'm, I'm trying to achieve. 

[00:19:40] And I think that's, that's quite a, in, in the most, Can I say this in the most positive way? I think it's a very sobering idea that that shouldn't be something that makes us in the bad sense, fearful or anxious, but in the most positive sense, it draws our actions, our spirituality, into the. That even in private, we are in the light, even in the pri in the privacy, our, our private world is seen and therefore embrace, embrace that reality rather than try as humans have done from the beginning to time, to hide that reality and disguise that reality. 

[00:20:20] And, and I, and I love that. That's the idea. That's at the heart of this conversation. You, you've lied to God, and that's a pretty futile thing to do. 

[00:20:30] David: You, your comments remind me of the various moments in Jesus's ministry where. He is aware of what people are thinking, right? And you, and I think about, there's a couple of times I think he says to the, like the, the scribes or the Pharisees, like, why, why are you holding this evil in your, in your heart, right? 

[00:20:51] I think about the command to love God with all your heart, mind, and, and strength and saw these, this awareness of Jesus, that what actually. That, that what comes out of, inside of us is what is problematic. So that you see it in a few cases in Jesus's ministry where you say, Well, you're worried what this person does, but I'm gonna tell you that even thinking these things, because cuz it's in the thinking of these things that things begin, isn't it? 

[00:21:16] And it's in the, it's that they're, that the ideas are formed. These ideas become, become reality. And, and I love that, that notion, the, the knowingness of God. Is aware of where things start to go wrong for us, and things don't start to go wrong, You know when you punch somebody in the face, you know it didn't start to go wrong as you clenched your fist, something was forming. 

[00:21:42] In you prior to that, The, the, and, and that's the bit that I think you see. And, and that's what I love about this text here, that, something has come into your heart before all of this, it was, and, and this, it's, I think it's very interesting how they navigate this story. Both the apostles keeping themselves. 

[00:22:03] Out of the story, but also being aware of how the story has gone, has gone wrong. Like, it's interesting verse three, number one, just as a throwaway comment, John well maybe it's not a throwaway comment. Let me just make the comment . Number one, how does Peter know this, right? Like, I love the fact we're only five chapters into this story and Luke doesn't feel that he needs to let us know how Peter knows this, right? 

[00:22:30] John: yep. 
 

[00:22:30] David: That's kind of neat that, that we can make all of our assumptions, but they are just, it could legitimately be that Peter heard through the gossip grapevine. I think Acts wants us to think that it's a revelation of God somehow. Does that make sense? 

[00:22:46] John: yeah, yeah. Totally. Absolutely. That's there, , And again, little parallel to the Aiken story in, in that, We don't really know what the situation is, but, but they're brought out group by group, family by family, tribe by tribe, And it's, it's then, it's then God puts his finger on the person it, So there's a sense in which the, the knowing. 

[00:23:07] If the parallel is there, the knowing in the Aikens story wasn't by some brilliant deduction or by loose lips that led it out. Oh, by the way, Agans got some treasure in his tent that he didn't have before. He's driving a flash car that he didn't drive before, so, So there's no deduction here. I, I personally like the idea that this is, this is the Holy Spirit speaking to Peter and saying, Okay, I, I have to act here, so I have to move in and I have to protect what is happening in this new community because the euphoria, the positivity, the. 

[00:23:46] The, the, the, the working of this wonderfully disruptive spirit that we've been reflecting on is magnificently celebrated at, at chapter four. But now we see, can I say this reverently and carefully. Now we see a slightly other side or even, some might wanna head darker sight of this disrupting spirit who's actually saying, No, I'm not prepared to tolerate this. 

[00:24:09] I'm, I'm not, I'm gonna draw the line here and I'm going to expose. And I, I. I like the idea of this Holy Spirit, so wanting to defend what is happening in the church that he acts, he moves and, and there doesn't seem to be a hint that Peter knows what is coming next. It, it could be, It's as much a shock to Peter as it is to everybody else. 

[00:24:37] When Anna and I hits the. Peter's job is to simply say what has been, however it's been revealed to him, what has been revealed to him.  

[00:24:45] David: and then you've got this, again, just like verse three is really, verse three really fascinates me because like the one hand, Luke doesn't feel the need to explain. How Peter comes to know this. And I would resonate with you. I think Luke just assumes, okay, you kind of know how this works now, , but then you get this. 

[00:25:02] Why does Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? Now, this is now, this is now to, to make sense of a statement like this because Luke's not giving you any lead up to this sort of thing happening. So, are we getting Is Luke trying to draw attention back to like Satan and the temptation stories in his gospel where Satan's trying to encourage Jesus to keep and take things that he shouldn't. 

[00:25:26] Is this Luke reaching further back into Torah to the Genesis story of, of somehow, that well, wait a minute, humans can get to do what they want. Like it's, it's a, it's a really interesting little moment in Luke, I think. A very, you, mean, I think that this is quite clearly what Peter said, so I'm not asking that. 

[00:25:47] But the, but the fact that Luke chooses to report it verbatim, what Peter said 

[00:25:52] John: Yep. 
 

[00:25:52] David: is, has got some interesting places you could potentially go with that isn't there? 

[00:25:55] John: Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and of course we, we may have heard the echo of this phrase before in the experience of Judas. 

[00:26:05] David: Mm-hmm. 

[00:26:06] John: know, in that last supper moment where, where you get this sense that Jesus has washed the disciple's feet in including Judas, if you follow the Johan track on it. And yet you also get this, this sense of, of Satan entering into him that, that seems sort. 

[00:26:26] Feel and a nuance that seems to be presented there, that that, that you've got that happening there. Is that, is that another illusion? So you, I think it's in, it's, I think it's in John, if I'm recall calling that right. That after, after he took it, Satan entered into him. In fact, let. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:26:46] Let me just check it right now. Yeah, I've just found it so sorry, I was just reaching for it because it literally just popped up in my head as you said that. So it's John 1327 and, and say it and entered into him, and, and in Jesus says, Whatever you've gotta do, go and do it. Sort of, do it quickly there. 

[00:27:06] David: But interesting though in, in. Luke, the prequel to acts obviously Luke 22, 3. Then Satan entered into Judas called acat, who was one of the 12. So, so, so Luke is using that language as well, isn't he?  

[00:27:19] John: Absolutely. It, it is, it's, it's fascinating and cuz I was just, I was just looking at something there filled your heart. Yeah, Ama amazing sort of, certainly the language seems to be connecting some of the big pictures of the, of the scriptures in terms of what the enemy has done before, even what the enemy's tried to do with Jesus. 

[00:27:41] And of course, like the ink is still wet on the whole Judas betraying Jesus moment and the connection between this, this private decision. Private decision to enter into something that is contrary to the heart of God and how. Certain in each of these cases seems to take advantage of it. And and I I, I'm not implying here, and I'm not sure if I understand that way, that that Ananias was demonn possessed or demonized in this sort of classic sense, but certainly some sort of. 

[00:28:17] He has opened, he has opened his heart to something that has now taken him in the opposite direction of, of the Lord. And it's a very powerful sort of moment there that, that that, that we see in that text. 

[00:28:28] David: Well, I, I'm thinking as well. John, just as we're looking at, at this I'm, I'm . I now want to do . I now want to do a study in my own time about the connections of money in all of that as well. So you have the, you have Judas Satan interests his heart. There's a financial thing going on, and it all, Judas is the, is the kind of keeper of the purse for the disciples. 

[00:28:55] And now you've got, Now you've got Anai and Sapphira. They have money that comes to their disposal. They choose to keep it. The description is, is this idea that SAT's entered the heart and then I'm drawn to like a wellknown pathogen in scripture in one. First Timothy six, right? 

[00:29:15] And, and verse nine and 10. And it talked. Well actually, if we go, even if we go even bigger than that, what have we got? In, in first Timothy chapter six. He's talking about conceit and he's talking about envy and wrangling, and then he says this in verse six. So first Timothy six, verse six. 

[00:29:31] There's great gain in godliness combined with contentment for we brought nothing into this world so that we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, We'll be content with these, but those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil and in their eagerness to be rich. 

[00:29:58] Some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. I mean, like what? What a fascinating little text there in terms of the conversation we are having, isn. 

[00:30:09] John: Completely a, and of course it does again it does elude back to Aiken as well. There's a financial element to. And, and I think we've touched on this before, I'm sure, I'm sure we have lent into that, that the only thing that Jesus compares as a direct rival to God in his teaching is mammon, this, this money materialism. 

[00:30:30] Now, of course, look, we we're, we're, we're not. We're not saying that money is bad, but we're saying, Actually, isn't it interesting that in three examples we've seen of three individuals, or at least four individuals in total who have acted in a way that actually has put them on the wrong side of the God agenda? 

[00:30:53] It, it's not only decisions they've made, but it's decisions they've made linked to. Reaching out for personal gain, greed, selfishness. And it's back to our little conversation last time where we, we, we reflected on this sort of the willingness to give up our freedom for the greater purpose of God. And I think again, when it comes to wealth and, and possessions, these are hard issues for humans to truly relinquish control of. 

[00:31:24] And and we've seen Barnabas sell the field relinquish control of an asset and literally lay it at the apostle's feet. In other words, as, as we reflected last time, not only, not only liquidating in an asset, but letting someone else spend that asset relinquishing complete control of it. And here's Anna. 

[00:31:43] Announce of Fire. Trying to manage the. Trying to control the asset With Aiken, he's reaching out for the asset for Judas. He is, he's benefiting from the asset, and so there's, there's, there's stuff that's striking at the heart of, of the human condition. It's striking at the heart of our ego and our greed and our desire and our vulnerability. 

[00:32:06] And it, it all does seem to be linked together there. And I think, I think that Anna Nelson and Shi, had they come and said, Hey, the, the field I sold it was worth 20 grand and, but I'm gonna give you 10. They'd still be alive, sort of thing. In the context of our story, it's the fact that they want to give the impress. That they've done a good thing, but actually at the heart of it is covetousness in greed. Which strikes, Which strikes not just at the heart of the human condition, but I think. But I think it, it's this idea of humans replacing God with something, and I think that's why it's so dangerous. 

[00:32:48] David: Well, I would, I would even wonder, John, just. That at the heart, I can, could I push it a little further or maybe ask, maybe encourage, maybe I'm pushing you further. I don't know. Or maybe I'm pushing us off a cliff. Let's, let's decide. But at what is at the heart of covetousness and greed is actually a failure of faith. 

[00:33:10] It's a failure of trust in God. So I. Believe that God is gonna, you think of the manner in the desert for the Israelites, I'm gonna take more than I'm told to take. Why would you take more manner than you're told to take? Well, the only reason you would do that is that you don't believe God is gonna be sufficient for you tomorrow. 

[00:33:27] And the at the root of Conte, at the root of all sin is a lack of trust in God, I suppose, at some level. But, looking at looking. The first Timothy reference we were looking at, you've got this sense of the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and I'm emphasizing that cuz this text gets misquoted all over the place. 

[00:33:46] If I had a pound for every time I'd heard the love of money is the root of all evil. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, but there are, there are evils out there that have nothing to do with money. Let's just, make sure the Bible's clear on that. But the response to Timothy is from Paul is, as for you, man of God shun all this, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness, right? All of these things relating to the trust in God and the, the, the, the, the realization that Gods can sustain you. So, and in I essence Sapphira, it's their, They can sell it for 20,000, give 10,000 to the church, keep 10,000 for themselves. 

[00:34:28] But there is, even in that still an admission that we feel we need to keep this for our own sustenance. Whereas what Barnabas does is we talked about in the last episode, is like I am now all in either I can trust God. Or I'm dead . And and, and I, I laugh at the nervousness of that rather than it being laughable. 

[00:34:46] Sorry. So forgive me on that. But, but, but, but Barnabas has played his hand now and, and, and he is now saying, I now need God to be true. And and I, and I need God not to be a liar because I got, I got no fallout plan. If, if this doesn't work out is it, I mean, I, am I being too strong there, John? 

[00:35:06] John: No, no, no, no. And, and I think, I think we hear the echo of Jesus, when he, when he brings to a conclusion, magnificent teaching on the Sermon on the Mount, he says, Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness. I mean, that's an, that's Paul's echoing, not surely to Timothy and all the things you need, all the things that, and to quote Jesus, the pagans are running. 

[00:35:30] you'll have, but the introduction to that session is it, that whole session is, is is about two masters. It's about where your treasure is. It's about where you're placing your value system. That's the introduction way back, in Matthew six versus. Verse 19, way back. That's the beginning. The climax is in this. 

[00:35:51] Now, if, if you're prepared to make God your master, if you're prepared to have your treasure in not earthly things, but eternal things if, if you're, if you're gonna train your eye to be good and not allow your eye to be bad, then, then actually, Seek the f, the kingdom of God first. Let the righteousness of God be your, be your focus and all the things you need. 

[00:36:10] I'll give you and I'll take care of you. This has now been worked out in chapters four and chapter five of Acts, and I think in Anani and Sia and in the contrast, and compared to Barnabas, you've, you've got some of these decisions of faith being made, wrapped up. Of course. Also with, with a deep level of, of ego driven deceit that wants the gift to appear better than it actually was, which I think is an another, another idea that God is striking at. 

[00:36:40] David: And I just wanna squeeze something else in John here just as we come to the end of this episode. But going back to the first Timothy text those who want to be rich fall into temptation are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. I, I heard a priest say this on a podcast I was listening to actually, just a few weeks ago, he said, That doesn't need defending 

[00:37:05] He said, he said that is, that is self evident from history. That, that he said, Here is a piece of the Bible, First Timothy six, first nine. That is just true, right? That, that the pursuit of Richies will bring you into ruin and destruction in some way. Right. So, so thinking now about the lesson in the text so hold that comment in your mind. 

[00:37:27] I think Luke does something really, I want, I almost said cheeky, so I'm gonna say cheeky and then apologize for it later. Right. But I, I also struck me in this text, the couple of little things that are interesting just in his use of words. One is his use of the word feet , the, the, the word feet. And I, I'm gonna admit my own embarrassment. 

[00:37:50] It took me a while to connect it, but when I was reading this text, like he keeps talking, falling down at the feet of, of them. We get this look the feet of the people who've buried your husband at the door. And I just wonder if he's just been a little cheeky to remind us of the previous story that, that we have. 

[00:38:06] Barnabas sold a field and where did he put the money? He laid it at the apostles feet. So there's story one, the contrasting story ends with Safira dead Peter's feet. So, so, Everybody ends up laying something down before God. Right. And, and Barnabas voluntarily says, Here's my possessions and I'm now gonna trust God to sustain me. 

[00:38:34] And Shi and Anias decide for whatever reason we are going to sustain ourselves. And ultimately that costs. Their life, and, and there's almost a metaphor of reading this of you. You do have to give something up, right? And, and it seems like there's a choice. I think of, I think of the rules in Rah, about if somebody doesn't keep Sabbath, they should be stoned to death. 

[00:39:01] And you think, why would you? Ever kill somebody for refusing to rest. Right. And, and then, but I think you realize over, and what we're realizing now, psychologists and therapists know this, When we don't rest, we eventually die. A and so, so that it's like, I'm, I don't think I'm articulating this well just now, John, but it feels like there's a, there's a beautiful little dangerous contrast for us there isn't there? 

[00:39:24] , life will cost you something and and, and you've got the Barnabas model of the Safara model. 

[00:39:29] John: It's a super, I'd never seen that connection before. It's beautiful, David, and I think again, it echoes Jesus. Jesus. Jesus says to us, If we, if we try to save our lives, we'll lose it. But if we give up our lives, we'll, we'll have it. And that's a contradiction. That's a logical, yet in the, in the economy of the kingdom of God, the more you laid down. 

[00:39:53] Genuinely for a love of him. Whatever you lay down and however you lay it down, if it's laid down completely, it leads to life. Whatever we try to hold on to at a selfish egocentrically driven level, in some ways we lose and leads to death. So I, I think there's a powerful idea when we think about laying things at the feet of the. 

[00:40:19] David: Yeah, no, absolutely John. And, and did you notice as well, like I I, I've, I got, I'm so excited by this text, so there's so much good stuff in it. But did you, did you notice and, and, and listen, this is just cuz I'm in your, I'm in your club of just thinking that, that, that Dr. Luke is a genius, right? But did you notice again, verse three, right? 

[00:40:38] You've got you've got, Satan has filled your heart. To cause you to lie to the Holy Spirit. So just thinking, I'm setting this up here, so, but, but 

[00:40:48] John: Hmm. 
 

[00:40:48] David: Satan has filled the heart, therefore the Holy Spirit is not filling your heart. I think that's, that's kinda interesting. To, to me. So, but then just, did you notice that all of the English translations say, When Anna and I heard these words, he fell down and. 

[00:41:03] Right. And then verse nine, Peter says to Safara, You agreed to put the spirit Lord to the test. Immediately she fell down and died. But the Greek word that is actually there is, is not the ordinary word you'd expect to see with died, but is actually that they were out of spirit as it, not as in their spirit, But actually almost as if they ran out of spirit, right? 

[00:41:28] They were. Do you see that there? 

[00:41:30] John: No act. 

[00:41:30] I've never seen that  

[00:41:31] before. It's, Yeah.  

[00:41:32] David: of them are described as , as having had their spirit gone. Right? And I mean, it's, it, it's, it's not an unfair way to translate it as dead, but it did just strike me as interesting that the question of you have been filled with Satan and therefore not filled with spirit, and, and the net result is you. 

[00:41:53] spirit.  

[00:41:54] John: breath.  

[00:41:55] David: Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Exactly.  

[00:41:57] John: It's, it's the genius of how he's connecting things, isn't it, in this sort of sense that her, her breath left her breathed her lost Yeah. 

[00:42:06] Fast. Never seen that before, David. So I'll have a way look at that. 

[00:42:09] David: It's one of these places where you just, again, wonder is Luke just being. Brilliant in his 

[00:42:16] John: Yes. 
 

[00:42:17] David: parallels and comparisons of just joining texts together. And it wouldn't be two texts if we didn't try and look at at least two texts. 

[00:42:26] John: Beautiful. Beautiful.