Who are you ultimately accountable to?

Jeff Peper
Written By Jeff Rybacki
 

“But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, 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.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. 

Acts 5:1-11

After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.” 

This story is normally preached in reference to our need for honest and cheerful giving to the church. Ananias and Sapphira wanted to be known in the community as people who had given everything they had in the name of Christ, as Barnabbas had done in Acts Chapter 4. However, they also wanted the security of knowing they still had money if this whole Jesus thing didn’t work out. The Spirit quickly rooted out this problem with Ananias and then shortly after did the same with Sapphira. 

Whether it was Ananias, Sapphira or both of them who had angst regarding their future provision is unclear, however they did make the decision to be dishonest when reporting how much they were giving. As I was reading this a thought came to my mind that was initially meant to come to Sapphira’s rescue. Should Ananias been the one to say he did not want to give everything they had to the church, Sapphira would not have been able to say much about it given the laws of the time. She would have had to go along with the decision made for her and would be in a pretty tough spot. What do you do when your spouse is acting in accordance with the world, but you are trying to live according to the Spirit? In short the question you should be asking is, “Who are you ultimately accountable to?” 

In the second paragraph we’re told that Sapphira comes back to where Peter is at which point Peter directly asks her how much they had sold the land for to which Sapphira lies and she immediately dies. Sapphira had the final opportunity to be truthful but whether for financial security or because she feared her husband she lied. 

Everyone reading this is accountable to someone, or should be as part of a healthy life. We are accountable to our bosses, children are accountable to their parents, we even make each other accountable to close friends as well to make sure we are continuing to fulfill our covenant with God. 

As I was sharing this with my kids they were more than just a little excited to know that Mom and Dad are not their final source of authority and that sometimes we are wrong in the ways we’re raising them. I told them that the right thing for Sapphira to do was to be truthful and that some day they may find themselves in a similar situation. At that time I was also informed of God’s calling on my kids life to play as much Nintendo Switch as possible rather than doing their chores, apparently we have been wrong about limiting video game play! 

So what do we do when those in authority over us act contrary to scripture? It can be a difficult question to answer but it gets to the core of why we all rebel against authority so often. We are to first try and correct that person, bring up to them why you think they’re wrong. Let them know that while you may support them, you do not support this decision. You are ultimately accountable to your Heavenly Father, above all else. While He has created order of structure within the home, community, countries and the Church, all of our leaders are all as reliant on God’s redemption as those of us who are entrusted to lead little. We are to prayerfully seek out the Spirit in times of conflict and ask that He may show what is correct, why the other person might see it another way and when necessary to change hearts. We are to seek out scripture to make sure we’re not in the wrong and bring it to those wo are believers and hold scripture as their final source of authority. But when that does not work, we may have no choice but to stand up and hold our ground against those in authority over us, keeping in mind we are first accountable to God.

Jeff Rybacki
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