Stephen asked us the very important question ‘Where Is God?’ yesterday morning. Like many people, he has a tendency of putting objects ‘in a safe place’, only to forget where that safe place is. Sometimes we can be like that with God, keeping Him ‘in a safe place’ for special occasions and then not remembering where He is.

Elijah, in a time of difficulty and trial, must have wonedered where God was. (1 Kings 19:9-18) God was not in the great wind or the earthquake or the fire, but came to Elijah in a gentle whisper, Often, we may find God in unexpected places.

Some answer the question ‘Where is God’ by answering ‘God is in heaven.’ Mankind was created in God’s image, in the image of God’s triune glory, but in rebelling against God and seeking a life of independence, found a ‘God-hole’ in life which can only be filled by a relationship with God through His only Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus may physically be in heaven now, but has sent His Spirit to dwell within us.

Others may say, ‘God’s in church’, which leaves us confused at times (if a church closes, does that mean God has moved somewhere else?) God does indeed dwell within His church (the people of God), but it’s best if we don’t limit God’s presence in this way. In English, there is a clue to where God is in the word ‘where’ itself; if we remove the ‘w’, we are left with the word ‘here’, and that is such a wonderful truth. God is here, with us, wherever we are (a fact we are reminded of as we think of the name ‘Immanuel’ – ‘God with us’.) As we share in Holy Communion, we are reminded of this truth; God is here with us.

God is also ‘there’, wherever ‘there’ is, because ultimately He is everywhere. God’s omnipresence is one of the characteristics which makes Him God. We can be reassured by the fact that God is here, there and everywhere! We can’t hide from His presence (Ps 139) and His presence is not limited to set places (church meetings, for example). We can experience the presence of God wherever we are.

We had three more birthdays to celebrate tonight.

Honesty, they say, is the best policy, a statement with which the Bible is in agreement. Giving false testimony is condemned (Ex 20:16); Prov 24:26 tells us, ‘an honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.’ When we live honestly and with integrity, we can be trusted and relationships can flourish. Where deceit and dishonesty rule, there is strife and doubt. The book of Proverbs has much to say about truth and lies: ‘An honest witness does not deceive, but a false witness pours out lies,’ for example. (Prov 14:5)

Our society is sometimes called a ‘post-truth’ society, with the OED defining ‘post-truth’ as ‘relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.’ This kind of society is dangerous, because people’s personal beliefs and emotions can vary so greatly; we need objective truth to guide us or we can be at the whim of every passing fancy.

Ananias and Sapphira faced God’s judgment because they decided their own rules and lied about what they had done, pretending the amount they had given for the sale of their property was the whole amount, when in actual fact they had kept some of the money back for themselves. They were not honest with Peter and the apostles and were certainly not honest with God, even though He sees the heart (1 Sam 16:7) and nothing is hidden from Him. (Luke 8:17) God desires inward truth (Ps 51:6); honesty will always be the best policy, not only with God, but also with people.

There seems to be a prevailing attitude in our modern society that ethics are purely situational; in other words, it is necessary to take into account the particular context of an act when evaluating it ethically, rather than judging it according to absolute moral standards. Whilst the motivation behind actions can be really helpful in understanding a person, we have to acknowledge also that God gives us absolute moral standards and we do well to focus our attention on obedience to these, rather than offering excuses for our sin in the guise of rationalisations or ‘reasons.’ God’s grace, as Paul vividly expounds to the Romans, is not a reason to sin! (Rom 5:20-6:14) Rather, His grace and mercy are the motivators to holiness we desperately need.

The account of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11 does not dwell on the motivation behind their actions. We don’t know what made them decide to withhold part of the proceeds from the sale of their property from the apostles or to lie about this. Our text seems to say that whatever our motive might be, if the act is a violation of God’s Word, then the act is sin. Peter’s emphasis is that Ananias and Sapphira lied, not only to men, but to God. (Acts 5:3-4) Regardless of why they lied, they lied, and that was a sin worthy of death. From a Christian point of view, one may do “the right thing” for the wrong motive and thereby sin, but one can never do the wrong thing for the right motive and do that which is pleasing to God. Machiavelli taught that ‘the end justifies the means’, but this is no Christian doctrine.

One of the ways we sift our motivation and seek to obey God in every aspect of our lives is by regularly praying David’s prayer: ‘Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’ (Ps 139:23-24) Jeremiah warned us of the deceitfulness of the heart (Jer 17:9) and we need God’s help if we are to avoid situational ethics, chameleon-like tendencies rather than the distinctively different lifestyles God longs to grow within us. Paul, when discussing Holy Communion with the Corinthians, warned that some had died because of their failure to discern the body of Christ (1 Cor 11:29-30) and went on to say, ‘if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment.’ (1 Cor 11:31) Earlier, he had urged the Corinthians to ‘build with care’ so that they would build something of lasting value (1 Cor 3:10-15). We can rely on God’s grace and help to sustain us, but we also do bear responsibility for how we live and this is best done in prayerful response to God’s word.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6) and that God’s word is truth. (John 17:17) Jesus is described as being ‘full of grace and truth’ (John 1:14) and promised He would send the Spirit of truth to His disciples (John 15:26). Truth is of paramount importance to God, as John makes clear in his letters; John’s greatest pastoral joy was when he heard of people ‘walking in the truth.’ (3 John 1:4)

The opposite of truth is a lie. Jesus described Satan as the ‘father of lies’ (John 8:44) whose native language was lies. Elsewhere, Satan is described as a deceiver (2 Corinthians 11:3; Revelation 12:9-10). Clearly, truth over lies matters enormously to God, and it was this act of lying through pretence for which Ananias and Sapphira were judged. (Acts 5:1-11)

Peter accused Ananias of ‘lying to the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 5:3) and lying to God (Acts 5:4, thereby equating the Holy Spirit with God.) It’s easy to be distracted by the details of the story, wondering if this means private ownership of property is automatically condemned by God, but Peter makes it clear that the property was theirs to do with as they wished. What was so abhorrent were their lies and pretence, trying to appear holier and more virtuous than they actually were. They were effectively putting God to the test (Acts 5:9), as the Israelites so often did in the wilderness (see Ex 16 as one example of this.) When we doubt God’s ability to provide for us and wander from the paths of truth, we are on dangerous ground.

Some may ask why this kind of judgment is not seen so frequently nowadays, given that we are just as prone to sin, lying and hypocrisy as Ananias and Sapphira were. In all honesty, I do not know, but I do know this story has a preventative twist to it. God’s reasons for bringing about the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira involve His abhorrence of sin, the hypocrisy of the couple, and the lesson for the rest of the church, both then and now. It can be easy today to gloss over the holiness of God, to forget that He is righteous and pure and that He hates sin wholeheartedly. This particular sin of hypocrisy in the church was dealt with swiftly and decisively at the time and the sudden, dramatic deaths of Ananias and Sapphira served to purify and warn the church. (Acts 5:11) May they continue to do the same for us today, reminding us to ‘worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”’ (Heb 12:28-29)

Acts 5:1-11 is not the easiest passage in the book of Acts to read or understand: Howard Marshall says of this passage, ‘The story must be ranked among the most difficult for modern readers of Acts.’ The explosive start of the church following the Day of Pentecost and the apparently unhindered growth of the growth make for exciting reading, but here, after the news of a tremendous healing and unprecedented unity, we have the story of Ananias and Sapphira, a couple who found their deceit and dishonesty were not tolerated by God or by the church and whose deaths remind us, if we needed reminding, that it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Heb 10:31) Peter was later to write that ‘it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household’ (1 Pet 4:17), and there is no doubt that this shocking account leaves us stunned with the severity of the judgment and can make us feel very uncomfortable and uncertain.

John Stott comments that this account ‘illustrates the honesty of Luke as a historian: he did not suppress this sordid episode. It throws light on the interior life of the first Spirit-filled community: it was not all romance and righteousness. It is also a further example of the strategy of Satan.’  The attitude of Ananias and Sapphira is contrasted with that of Barnabas in Acts 4:36-37 and is also reminiscent of Achan, whose sin led to the Israelites’ defeat at Ai (Joshua 7). This is the story of how two members of the community attempted to gain credit for a greater personal sacrifice than they had actually made by offering only part of the proceeds of a sale to the apostles and passing it off as if it were the whole amount. There was no compulsion on them to sell their land and give to the apostles (Acts 5:4), but their lack of integrity and hypocrisy (wanting to appear more virtuous than they were) are judged severely by God, speaking through Peter.

The ultimate truth of this story is that God is not tame or cosy. He will not be fitted into our image; He is holy and just, righteous and true. We may question the severity of the judgment meted out by God, but this shows us how radically God views sin and how easy we find it to gloss over sin, categorise it and rank certain sins higher than others. This passage illustrates that the church is founded upon truth, and it grows by means of truth. The unity of the church is also dependent upon truth. ‘Deception is an attack on the truth, and it is also one of the primary means of attack employed by Satan, the liar and deceiver. To tolerate even a small deception is to open the door to an attack on the truth which would be devastating and thus the consequences of the actions of these two people are extreme.’ (Bob Deffinbaugh)

The core of the sin described in this passage is lying to God (Acts 5:4). Lying can often seem so inconsequential to us, but all lies gradually erode truth and therefore must be shunned. We need to heed the warnings of Acts 5:1-11 and learn from the example of Ananias and Sapphira.