Written by Mark Driskill:
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Read Acts 5:12-16
” that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them.”
What kind of shadow are you casting on the world? Remember this event took place soon after the Ananias and Sapphira scandal. Peter dealt with it head on risking everything to be obedient to the Spirit. It may have been tempting to just ignore Ananias’ sin to avoid a scandal in the community.
Try to imagine if the Apostle had handled this couple the way many churches do today. What if Peter had said to himself upon discovering Ananias sin, ” Um well, I don’t want to cause a scandal right now. I mean the church is doing so well. If we raise a stink over this it may adversely affect our witness in the community. We want to be known as a loving church, not a condemning church. So I’ll just accept this gift and pray for Ananias.” Worse still, try to imagine the dinner table at Ananias’ house later that evening. “See Sapphira, I told you it would work out just fine. You see, they don’t care about a little ole lie as long as they get their money! I told our neighbors about it and they said they could use the tax write off if they did the same thing. See, we’re helping people. Look honey, the church gets money, we get a little well-deserved recognition, and our neighbors just might join the church and become Christians now that they know it can help them save money. Everybody wins!”
Thank God Peter had more integrity and faith than to reason away his responsibility. He knew that the integrity of the gospel depended on the integrity of the church’s actions. Better to have the community be a little afraid to join for awhile than to sacrifice truth on the altar of public image. Oh how we need this lesson today. I love how this passage ends. It shows people coming from all over the bring their sick and afflicted for ministry. They wanted Peter’s shadow just to fall on them. His shadow was not magical of course. It was their faith in Christ that healed them, but they saw in Peter something of Christ that led them to seek his shadow.
Part of what they saw was the holiness of the gospel reflected in Peter’s integrity. I believe if he had taken the easy way out with Ananias people would have seen something a little different in the Apostles shadow. They would have possibly seen the love of money, or the fear of man. Rather than faith it would have cast a shadow of cynical unbelief. You see our decisions as believers cast a certain shadow on the world. When they see that we love big buildings and high salaries more than the billion starving around the globe it casts a shadow of unbelief. But when they see us living out the faith we proclaim regardless of the cost it casts a shadow of faith. I believe Peter’s obedience to the Spirit enabled many to have faith in Christ. Your actions will create a shadow of faith or unbelief today. Which will it be?
Mark Driskill and his wife Mary are homeschooling community ministers in Breathitt County Kentucky. They have four children. They co pastor Emmanuel fellowship Church, serve as Camp Pastors at Bethel Mennonite Camp, and Mark Teaches at Oakdale Christian Academy.
Mark is web minister for Begotten by theWord , a ministry of Helping Hands Christian Resources.
Once a month he preaches on the local radio station through the “Lion of Judah” program. Mark also preaches in youth rallies and revivals upon request at no charge. Their vision is to see true spiritual awakening come to the mountains of Eastern Kentucky and to the nation.
Contact information:
Email: driskill@hilbillymail.com
Facebook: Mark Driskill
Address: PO Box 1159 Jackson KY.
