Titles and Names
Acts 5:1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.
Without doubt the Church was in a season of a strong moving of the Holy Spirit. This manifested itself in an unprecedented extravagance of giving from the Church.
The same Spirit who enabled Jesus to give everything on the cross was here in the church once again moving the believers to surrender everything for other people. As this happened the testimony of the church grew.
The church has withstood the attacks from outside and inside they are experiencing the mercies of God. Their world may be ugly but inside the community it was beautiful.
The irony of the story that we begin to read today is that the name Ananias means ‘God is merciful’ and Sapphira means ‘beautiful’.
This couple (and nothing else is known of them) were members of the Church witnessing the Spirit and they became participants of this move of God. God is merciful and Beautiful acted like everyone else was doing who had property, they sold theirs.
What we will find out is even people who benefit from the work of the Spirit and who carry titles and names that suggest they are being used by the Spirit can be nothing more than fraudulent members of the body of Christ. It is shocking, the darkest of times for any church. We must tip-toe through this story with a renewed sense of the awe of God. Earthly titles and names are no guarantees of heavens approval.
Missions Paul 