selling land

One of the hard things about being part of a church, or a follower of Jesus, is understanding that it isn’t what we do that matters so much, but how and why we do it.

One choice the early church in Jerusalem made was to live in such close community that they shared everything, even their personal possessions - we read in Acts 4 that they had everything in common. That practice led to this series of events, reading from Acts 4:36-5:2: 

“Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”

“Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 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.”

Here’s the problem: Ananias and Sapphira, wanting to look as good as Joseph, claimed to donate the whole amount from their land sale. They lied. They didn’t have to; no one would have questioned their right to hold back some money. They wanted to because they wanted the acclaim. And if you read further, you see that God struck them both dead.

Two instances of selling land, two donations, but only one was obedient. It wasn’t what they did, it was how and why.

We need to remember that when we do our own version of selling land, that sacrificial thing that the church calls us to do. Maybe it’s pledging, maybe it’s working, maybe it’s a prayer vigil. Whatever it is, it doesn’t count as obedience unless we do it in the right way and for the right reasons. 

Unlike Ananias, we might be able to fool our fellow church members. But God will know.