In preaching Acts 5:1-11 recently at Providence Baptist Church I wanted to address some important matters from the text that were not really in line with the driving point of the text. So, I just listed them at the beginning of the sermon, and I will list them here for you in this post. We are not going to get into the “meat” of Acts 5:1-11. You can listen to the sermon, or, perhaps, I’ll blog about that sometime as well. For today we will address these tertiary matters.

Now, please note that by “tertiary” I don not necessarily mean tertiary to sound doctrine. Point 2 is not tertiary at all. It’s primary. I simply mean tertiary to the focal point of Act 5:1-11. So, here are some things I listed and I hope you find them helpful:

  1. Public Offering – 4:36-37 – I have been asked a few of times before why our church does public offerings during worship. Why not a box at the back? I don’t think it’s wrong to have a box at the back. But I do think we have at least an example here of public offering. The thing that began to tempt Annanias was the fact that Barnabas publicly gave and was publicly recognized. Annanias wanted that to. 
  2. The Holy Spirit’s Divinity – 5:3-4. The Holy Spirit is truly God. Our confession says in 2.3 – [The] divine and infinite Being consists of three real persons, the Father, the Word or Son, and the Holy Spirit.  These three have the same substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence without this essence being divided.
  3. The use of the Word Church – 5:11 – This is the first time this word is used in Acts. It shows us that all that Luke has covered thus far in this great book has been about Christ’s reign over the church and building her through the gospel. 
  4. The church has a great and subtle enemy in Satan – 5:3 – Annanias was responsible for his actions. But certainly we see here, like Judas, he was influenced by Satan. Do not underestimate the church’s enemy. Satan knows that hypocrisy will destroy a church. He is just trying to push the door slightly open so that soon it will be full-fledged apostasy. God hates hypocrisy. Satan hates holiness. 
  5. The consequences of poor leadership in the home – 5:1 – Sapphira is a wicked woman and will meet justice. But Annanias is doubly guilty because of leading his wife into sin. Let husbands take careful note here of our responsibilities for godly leadership in the home. 

I might offer this application here as well:  Sin entered the home before it entered the church. We must take heed parents to be diligent about sin in the home, lest it then infest the church.

What does it matter if we think we fight sin here, but allow it to fester in the home?