Continuing in Acts, Morning Praise (2)

In one paragraph

The pastor was in Acts 4:32 through 5:11, a passage that spans a chapter break on purpose. The first half is a picture of the early church at its best, unified and generous. The second half is one of the most uncomfortable stories in the whole book. The passage opens with the believers being "united in heart and soul," which is the Greek word for soul, not mind, even though some translations...

Read together

1. Acts 4:32-5:11 the main passage read and expounded throughout the sermon
2. John 17 Jesus' high priestly prayer that believers would be one, used to explain the unity described in Acts 4
3. 1 Corinthians 10:13 God will not put on us more than we can handle and will always provide a way of escape from temptation

Talk about it

1. The pastor pointed out that unity in this passage is not about organizational lockstep or everyone thinking the same way, but about closeness to Christ drawing people together from different backgrounds. Where have you seen that kind of Christ-centered unity work in practice, and where have you seen it fail?
2. Peter told Ananias that the property was his to sell or not sell, and the money was his to give or keep. Since ownership was clearly allowed, what do you think drove the early believers to share so freely, and what makes that kind of voluntary generosity hard for us today?
3. Barnabas is introduced here for the first time in Acts, and the first thing Luke tells us is his nickname: son of encouragement. What does it say about a person that their defining quality, the thing a community names them for, is that they build others up?
4. The pastor suggested that Ananias and Sapphira may have been motivated less by greed and more by wanting the reputation that came with generosity, without paying the full price for it. Can you think of ways that same temptation shows up in church life today?
5. The sermon closed with the observation that Ananias and Sapphira were believers, part of the group on whom God's grace was resting, and that they would spend eternity with Jesus. How does that change the way you read their story, and what does it say about how seriously God takes the purity of the church?