The other day as I was reading my Bible, I came across a story in the book of Acts, that really made me stop and think. It’s not that I haven’t read the story before. I have. Many times, actually. And that is the point here. I have read the story and never thought much of it. But this time as I read the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Act 5, I had a strange thought. What if today’s church leaders did what Peter did that day? Would Christianity look different than it does now? Would we be able to turn the world upside down, the way they did back in the early days of the Church? So I decided to look at other stories in the Bible, and say “what if”? I kept it to the book of Acts in this article, for brevity’s sake. Allow me take you on my journey of discovery and you decide if I’m right. Would the modern church look different today, if leaders acted the way Peter and Paul did.
Let’s start with Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11. They were an ordinary couple who were known for their generosity in the church. We would no doubt call them generous donors and perhaps even honor them. Certainly the pastor would. They had offered to sell their estate and give the entire amount to the church building fund. What an example they were! There was only one problem. They lied. They sold it for a certain amount, kept back some of the proceeds, and gave the rest to the church. You might be asking, so what? But that’s not what Peter said. Peter received a word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit the day Ananias came and gave him the money. “But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:3-4) Ouch. Good grief. What does it even matter? I mean, he was generous. So what if he lied! So what if he kept some of it? Exactly. And that is no doubt what many of today’s church leaders would say. Even if they knew Ananias had lied, they would say nothing but “thank you”.
But look at what happened next. In verse 5 we are told: “Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last.” The Lord killed him! For lying, no less. And it gets worse. When his wife showed up a few hours later, Peter, who is now emboldened by what the Lord did, confronts her and when she also lies, pronounces the same doom on her. “Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last.” (Verse 9) What really struck me about this whole story however, is what happened afterwards in the church. We are told, “So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.” The fear of the Lord came down upon the body of Christ. The message: “Don’t lie to the Holy Spirit!” Do you think it possible that the church would look very different today, if people actually feared the Lord so much, that they thought twice about sinning?
The next story, also in Acts, comes from a slightly different angle, that might be hard to see at first. In Acts 19:11-20, we are told a story about some Jewish religious leaders who had watched Paul and the miracles he did, and decided to copy him. Unfortunately, they were not believers in the Messiah, Jesus Christ, so they went at it a different way. They thought they could just use the Lord’s name, to get what they wanted.
“Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”
It’s almost funny, when you think about it. Imagine their faces as the evil spirit said this to them!
But what that spirit did next was anything but funny: “Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”
In order to really understand what happened here, we have to look at the context. Right before we are told this story, we are told something about the ministry of Paul. “Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.” In other words, Paul, a leader in the church, walked in the power of the Holy Spirit and God was able to use him to deliver His sheep, the church. That’s why the Jewish religious leaders tried to copy him. They were hoping that they could somehow harness this same power and use it to their own advantage, but, without having to give up their false religious beliefs. And what were the consequences? The Fear of the Lord came upon them! And that takes me right back to my original question, would today’s church look different if leaders acted like Paul.
Let’s look at the effect this had on both the church and the world, which was watching the church in action. Here’s what happened next:
“This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.”
Both the church AND the world repented because they recognized the power of the supernatural and realized that the evil spirits which they had previously not been afraid of, (they had been practicing magic) actually had great power and there was only one name, the Name of Jesus, that could deliver them from that power.
I have one more. In Acts 24:25 Paul, who is now a prisoner, is defending himself in front of Governor Felix and his wife Drusilla. Felix apparently enjoyed listening to Paul preach, although there is no evidence that he ever believed. On this particular day, it tells us, “he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come…” I want to stop right here for a moment. Look at the words that Paul uses to present faith in Christ to Felix. Righteousness. Self-control. Judgment to come. When is the last time you heard those words in church? I would venture to say that they are, what Paul calls the “whole counsel of God” in Acts 20:27. I want to point out the effect this sermon had on Felix. “Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”
Even though Felix was afraid, he did not repent. But, and this is important, he heard the truth, the whole truth, from the mouth of Paul. Not a washed down version of the gospel, not what most churches and ministries teach in this day and age, but the whole truth and nothing but the truth. A truth that scared him. And well it should. Seriously, when was the last time you heard a sermon that scared you?
When I look at just these three examples of what went on in the early church, I see a common denominator: the fear of the Lord. Because the leaders, the apostles, feared the Lord, they obeyed Him and therefore the Lord was able to use them to turn the world upside down. Imagine a world, where the church once again fears the Lord and obeys Him. I think things would look different than they do right now. What do you think?
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