Pastor's Ponderings: Tuesday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 5:1-11 (September 16, 2025)

September 16, 2025:  Tuesday Bible Study on Acts 5:1-11

Good afternoon.

Well, my intentions were good to get the Tuesday Bible Study out this morning.  However, I was doing some work that needed to be printed out, and my wireless printer decided not to work.  So, I did everything that I knew how to do to get it up and running again, but none of it worked this time.  So now we must re-enter all the wireless information using one up and one down button running through the entire alphabet that way.  I am truly thankful for my son, Jesse, who has patience for such an endeavor.

In our passage for today, after reading yesterday about idealism, strong faith, generosity, kindness, and mutual caring in the early church, today's passage lets us see that the new church was not the home of perfect people.  In fact, it seems a lot more like the church today.  The two people we meet were not nasty, awful members of the new church, but they choose to negate promises that they had made to the LORD for their help in the provision of money for the people there, and for the mission of the Gospel.  I want you to note that we are talking about their commitment to the LORD, not promises to Peter, or John, or James, or any person, their promise was made between themselves and God.  When they were approached by Peter about the sale of their property, and their failure to give all its proceeds for the work of the church, which according to the preceding passage was what people, moved by the Spirit, were doing, they fell dead.  First, Ananias, and about three hours later, his wife Sapphira.  They had both held back from the promises which they had made to provide for the Apostle's ministry for Christ, and for the support of the new community in general.  Are you troubled by this passage?  I am!  I can't think of a single person who is without sin.  So, what made the actions of this husband and wife seemingly so unforgiven?  After all, they were sinners just like every other person in the new Church, and in every church since then.  Regrettably, we just don't receive more information from the author, probably Luke, who shared this information with us.  His source would have made him at least a secondhand bearer of the news of this difficult happening.  So, it is likely that Luke did not have more information to share other than what we have read in this passage.  He wasn't there!  So, what might we understand from this reading?

1.       Failure in diligence is a sin against the LORD.

2.     Failure to use our talents is a sin against the LORD.

3.     Failure in truth is a sin against the LORD.

Goodness, I think that I may have failed from time to time in every one of these things, and a bunch more according to God's Law.  I am so thankful that I did not drop dead and lived on to continue to try to repent, do penance, and move forward in my faith journey.  You and I have every reason to literally jump for joy every day because we have the Christ of God filling our lives with His Spirit.  There is one other thing here which we can learn from this passage.  The Bible does not avoid the realities, both good, and bad, when sin is in the lives of the faithful, which it always is, but so is the Grace and Forgiveness of our Savior!  I have made commitments in my heart of faith to continue to provide music for worship, offer at least ten percent or more of my income, and provide for a generous additional gift for CROP this Autumn.

And even more than that, I am challenged by my promises to the LORD to speak the truth of His Word, through Bible Study, my Preaching, and in my interactions with people.  Sometimes, at my age, I feel like I have so much more to share, and only a few more years of limited time during which I will be able to do so!  When my end comes, I know that I will be ready in many ways for that new journey, but I wonder if I will know if I have spoken and lived God's justice, love, compassion, and grace throughout my life?

With love in Christ,  Pastor Kim