Sapphira - The Power of Proximity
Hello and welcome to Wifey Wednesdays, a podcast for women who are seeking to be the best wives they can be. I’m your host, Emily Hatfield, and this is the show where the plan is always to do things God’s way, especially our marriages.
Today we are cycling back to the negative, with a powerful example that we don’t need to miss. The woman for our consideration today is a wife, living in the early church period, who shows us exactly what kind of wife we do not need to be.
In Acts 5, during the infancy of the church, we meet a couple named Ananias and Sapphira. We don’t know much about them really, other than they must have had some means because they had land to sell. The problem is, they sell their land and claim to give all of the money to the apostles like the highly praised Barnabas had done. Maybe they wanted some of the same accolades Barnabas got — you know, he got this whole son of encouragement nickname, maybe they wanted that. I think I’d prefer a nickname over the name Sapphira, but that’s just me. Anyway, they had the land, they sold the land, but they claimed to give all of the money to the apostles when in fact they kept some back for themselves.
Peter speaks to Ananias first, while Sapphira is somewhere else. He says, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land. While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” That’s found in Acts 5:3-4.
And then, famously, Ananias drops dead. Yikes. Young men come in and cover him up and take him out and a few hours pass and then Sapphira comes in, not knowing what has happened. Peter asks her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?” And she says yes. Now, if you back up to verse 2, you’ll see that it says that Ananias sold the property and kept back for himself some of the proceeds “with his wife’s knowledge.”
So when Peter asks Sapphira, she knows. She knows the truth. But she hangs onto the lie she’s agreed to with her husband. And, famously, she also drops dead and is carried out by the same men that buried her husband.
Whew. This is some Old Testament sounding stuff, right? But it’s happening right at the beginning of the church. What can we learn from it?
I think the obvious answer is, don’t lie. No matter what it’s about, don’t lie. I think we also have to learn, don’t love stuff. Don’t love money. What was the point of not giving all of it to the apostles? Did they not trust that God would care for them if they didn’t keep back some for themselves? Did they like the freedom that they had with their own significant amount of wealth? We cannot get so attached to stuff that we are led to lie about it or choose it over the needs of others.
But, for the remainder of our time, I want to focus on what I think is a crucial lesson for us here on Wifey Wednesdays, and that is - you cannot honor anyone above God.
Here’s where I think Sapphira’s biggest problem was. Whose idea was it to keep back the money? It seems like the idea originates with Ananias, but the text specifically tells us that Sapphira knew. And if she had been an innocent bystander in this, God’s perfect justice would not have sentenced her to the same end as her guilty husband. But she did know, and she did lie, and she did hold to her husband more closely than she held to God.
We cannot do this. We cannot honor our husbands above God. We cannot honor anybody above God. Not our husbands, not our parents, not our children, not our elders or preachers…nobody. We cannot cover up or participate in any kind of sin. We cannot go along with sin, no matter how close to the participant you are. Sapphira is an excellent example of why. The end of that road is destruction.
And why shouldn’t it be? We’re placing someone else above God. It’s a form of idolatry. Their preferences mean more to me than God’s commands. Their ideas are louder to me than God’s will. Jesus was very plain when He said that you cannot love anyone above Him, and if you do, you really don’t love Him at all. You aren’t really a disciple of Jesus if you are following someone else more closely than you are following Him.
This is hard, when you’re married to someone that you love so very much, that you respect, that you want to make happy — what if they become the priority? We have to guard our hearts, asking God to help us love them how we should, which is to love them less than we love God and that we follow them but not as closely or whole-heartedly as we do Jesus.
As wives, this can sometimes be a hard balance, because we are put in the unique position within our homes as those who submit. But this lesson from Sapphira shows us that this is not blind submission, and this is not submission to anything at any moment. If there is sin, we are not to go along with it - period. We are not to submit to the authority of our husband’s if they are not submitting to the authority of Jesus in a certain matter. That doesn’t mean if your husband is not a Christian you just don’t have to submit — Peter will tell us that wives can win their husbands over without a word because of their actions and humility. But, if your husband wants you to participate in sin, you absolutely have the right to say no — to follow God instead of him. And the same is true for anybody. Just like Peter and John tell the high priest and other religious rulers - whether it’s right for us to obey you more than God, you be the judge. Obviously the answer is, we’re going to obey God rather than me. And amen to that sentiment. That’s what I want to do, too. I want to help my husband and my children and my church family and everyone else I come in contact with to know Jesus and see Jesus and follow Jesus. I want to be the wife I am called to be, the mom I am called to be, the church member I am called to be. But part of that calling - part of who I am supposed to be - is someone who is pure and holy. I cannot abide sin in my life or in the lives of those that I love. And I most certainly cannot go along with it just because I love someone. Truly loving the people in my life means showing them God’s will for their lives. Truly loving the people in my life means saying no to sin when they want me to say yes.
How different would Sapphira’s situation have been if she had followed Jesus instead of her husband? Wouldn’t God have taken care of her? Even in widowhood? Wouldn’t God’s church have surrounded her and helped her? When we say no to sin and yes to God, God will be with us and strengthen us - even if He is strengthening us for a trial or persecution that arises because of our faithfulness to Him. He has promised to never leave us and never forsake us, and He has promised that if we will remain true to Him then we will receive the crown of life when this life is over. That’s what I want. I want to see Jesus in His eternal glory. I want to bow down and worship in His presence. And the way that that’s possible is by me following wholly after Him; giving my entire self to His ways. I cannot follow two masters, which means I am going to say no to the sin that comes up in my life - I am going to say no when others want me to follow the sin in their lives, even if those are the closest people to me.
May we learn the lesson of Sapphira. The reason I titled today’s episode ‘The power of proximity’ is because her downfall was the one closest to her — that her husband was closer to her and more of an influence over her than Jesus was. May we not be closer to anyone or anything than we are to Jesus. May we not love anyone or anything more than we love Jesus. May Jesus be the closest one to us all the days of our lives.
Thank you for listening, and until next time remember - love God, love your husband. And in that order, lest we fall into the trap that Sapphira did.
