Recently I was preparing a bible study for the youth group. I won't disclose the source but the study was on integrity. This study focused on the story of Ananias and Sapphria in the book of Acts chapter 5. The story goes that this couple were jealous of the attention and notoriety Barnabas received for selling some property he owned and laying all the proceeds at the feet of the apostles to distribute as needed by the church. They decided in their infinite human wisdom to sell some of their own property. The two secretly kept some of the proceeds for their own use and laid the rest at the apostles feet. They evidently made a big show of this and pretended to give all the money from the sell to the church. The Lord revealed the sin of their lie to Peter. The short end of it is that Peter confronted both of them about their lie and the spirit of the Lord struck them dead for their transgression. This is one troubling story for me. The study directed me to allow the kids to discuss if they think that this punishment was too extreme and to direct them to the fact that we should be thankful that Jesus died on the cross, paying for our sins, and protecting us from this kind of harsh judgement.
WHAT???????
AM I MISSING SOMETHING???
HADN'T JESUS ALL READY DIED ON THE CROSS BY THE TIME OF THE EARLY CHURCH IN ACTS???
OK, if there is one thing I have learned about youth its that they are not stupid. This is exactly the kind of question I would expect from these kids in this scenario.
I will choose to focus on the idea that a lack of christian integrity can truly undermine the unity of the church. This truly disables the ministry of the church. not to mention if we don't live what we believe how can we expect the unreached to receive what we believe when we witness to them.
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