The Execution of a White Lie

Ephesians 4:11–13, a familiar passage, affirms that we not only have God’s Word and Spirit to teach us, He provides trainers. He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to the church for a specific purpose: to equip believers for the work of service in building the body of Christ. And He said He would do it until everyone was in unity in faith, in the knowledge of Jesus, mature and attained the measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 

We want God to use us. And as we seek to grow in this way, we must submit ourselves to the ministry—listen to those who minister the Word and in the Spirit. God has equipped His church with many unique gifts to help us mature in ministry. He wants to strengthen the entire body of Christ.

What does it mean to measure up to the full and complete standard of Christ? The Amplified Bible puts it this way. We are “manifesting His spiritual completeness and exercising our spiritual gifts in unity.” Unity is essential. Consider Ananias and Saphira (see Acts 5:1–10). This couple died when they acted deceitfully. Why were God’s consequences so final? We read right before this incident that the people were of one heart and one soul. It was this unity that caused the believers to sell what they had and to share it according to their needs. In fact, directly before this encounter with Ananias and Saphira, Barnabas is particularly mentioned as having land, selling it, and bringing all the proceeds to the apostles.

Although Ananias and Saphira were believers, something was amiss. They did not have to sell their land. There was no mandate to do so. They could have given an offering to support the community without pretending what they gave represented all the proceeds of the sale of their property. But the couple wanted to appear to be as the others in their community (see Acts 4:32). Powerful ministry was going forth and great grace was upon them all. Until. Until the deception.

God judged Ananias and Saphira so harshly not only because they attempted to deceive Him to look good among their brothers and sisters, but because their act broke the unity of the church. The story correlates with the Old Testament encounter between Achan and Joshua. In both accounts, the people were moving forward in victory until selfishness and deceit threatened to break the flow of God’s blessings on the entire faith community. In both cases, God’s people were at places of new beginnings and the corporate body was in danger of suffering because of the greed and deceit of others. Peter revealed the root cause behind the deception. He said Satan had filled Ananias’s heart (see Acts 5:3). The enemy was trying to stop the work of God by breaking the unity, the wholeness God was blessing.

God’s work goes forward with power when His people live in unity. How can we achieve this? “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD. And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:4–5). And “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:39). When we live out these principles in community with our brothers and sisters in Christ, the church is strengthened and the work of God prospers.