Teaching Text

Acts 4:32-5:11

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them allthat there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

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.

Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled 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 sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

When Ananias 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. Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias 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 men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

Sermon Recap

This Sunday, Pastor Keithen Schwahn continued our series through the Book of Acts, The Fifth Act, by sharing a teaching on the story of Ananias and Sapphira from Acts 4:32-5:11. 

Pastor Keithen set the context by explaining how we are currently at a tipping point in Church history, particularly in the West. After decades of generational decline in faith, we’re beginning to see a resurgence in the Church, especially among young people. While this is encouraging, movements like these can come with the risk of complacency in the Church, and revival requires vigilance. We must ask: What is Jesus’ vision for a community of His disciples, and what could threaten that vision among us today? The enemy would love nothing more than to discredit or destroy the beautiful work God is doing in this generation.

The early Church was rooted in teaching, fellowship, worship, prayer, and radical generosity. The Church didn’t live in scarcity but in the confidence of God’s abundance. Pastor Keithen traced this spirit of generosity and provision back to the Garden of Eden, where God placed humanity in a setting of delight and plenty. Throughout the Old Testament, God repeatedly instructs His people to care for the orphan, the widow, and the foreigner as part of His family. Jesus embodied this heart in His ministry—feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and showing compassion to the marginalized. The early Church carried that same spirit. Christians were known for their self-giving love. They tended to the sick at personal risk and cared not only for their own poor, but for the poor in other communities as well. Their sacrificial love stood in stark contrast to the brutality of the surrounding culture and ultimately began to transform it.

In Acts 5, we read of the first deliberate sin within the early Church: Ananias and Sapphira sell a piece of property and pretend to give the full amount to the community while secretly keeping some for themselves. This isn’t just about money—it's about deception, image, and the kind of spirit they bring into a sacred space. Peter confronts them, and they lie about the price they paid for the property to cover up their sin. At such an early point in the Church’s life, this moment was critical. In His divine judgment, God acts with a “severe mercy,” removing deception and financial corruption before it could infect the Church’s foundation.

This leads to a sobering truth: God is willing to dismantle anything that claims His name but misrepresents His character. Ananias and Sapphira’s hypocrisy exposed four dangers that still threaten the Church today: jealous hypocrisy (wanting to appear as spiritual as others), performative hypocrisy (doing religious things for applause), manipulative hypocrisy (using spirituality for personal gain), and misrepresentative hypocrisy (claiming to carry God’s name while living outside His commandments). 

The invitation to us today is to believe again that Jesus’ vision for community is possible. Many of us have gone from optimism to realism to cynicism, but we are called to fight for hope. Real Christian community—marked by worship, learning, love, generosity, and multiplication—can still exist. Pastor Keithen invited us to embrace a rhythm of “confession unto revival.” Drawing from past awakenings, he laid out a path: confess all known sin, remove anything that might hinder communion with God, surrender fully to the Holy Spirit, and make a public confession of Christ. God is offering a window of repentance, asking us to bring even the small things that the world might overlook, so that we can live in full communion with Him.