Be A Barnabas

Read: Acts 4:46-5:11

He was the kind of man you would want with you if you had to travel into a hostile land. His name was Barnabas. Most of us know him as the apostle Paul’s missionary companion on Paul’s trip to Galatia.

Before Barnabas became a missionary, however, he was known in the early church as a generous giver. Acts 4:36 tells us he had sold a field and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

In the very next sentence, however, the Bible introduces us to another man named Ananias. Ironically, their stories are very similar. Like Barnabas, Ananias sold a piece of property. Like Barnabas, he brought the proceeds of the sale and placed the money at the apostles’ feet. Unlike Barnabas, however, Ananias and his wife Sapphira decided to hold back a portion of the money.

When confronted about this sin, they both lied about their actions. In a word, they “committed the sin unto death” by lying to the Holy Spirit. In short order God struck both of them dead as an example to the other believers in the early church.

There is an interesting lesson in this story. The root of their sin was not greed or even lying, but it was pride. It is interesting how the Scripture tells of Barnabas’s example of giving with the proper motives and then immediately a similar example of giving with improper motives.

Can’t you see Ananias and Sapphira observing Barnabas’s gift and the attention he received and desiring the same attention for themselves? After all, they could have given only a portion of the proceeds from their land and still benefited the church and honored God. Instead they wanted others (including Peter) to think they had surrendered it “all to Jesus.” They wanted to be honored.

The next time you place your gift in the offering plate, check your motives. Are you being a Barnabas and giving from you heart to honor God, or are you being an Ananias and trying to honor yourself? Be a Barnabas.