When I was in high school, a band called Big Tent Revival came out with a song called, “Two Sets of Joneses.” It told the story of two couples (both with the last name of “Jones”): Rothschild and Evelyn, and Reuben and Sue. At the beginning of the song, they all appear pretty even: two young couples with big dreams and nothing but the future ahead of them.
The first set of Joneses rocketed to what seemed like great success (primarily financial). To all the world, they looked like winners, like everything they touched turned to gold. They had the jobs, the beach house, the perfect family picture. That was what they wanted more than anything else, and they worked very hard to get that perfect family picture.
On the other hand, there was Reuben and Sue, who – as the song goes – “had nothin’ but Jesus.” When their first child was born, Reuben’s buddies had to take up a collection to help him offset the hospital bills. They didn’t look like a “success,” at least not in the sense we usually mean. They worked very hard at being successful, too – but they had a different measure of what meant “success.”
In Acts 4:36-5:11, we see another “two sets of Joneses.” In 4:36, we’re introduced to Joseph, called Barnabas (which, so we’re told, means “son of encouragement”). We don’t know how well off he was, but he owned a field and sold it to contribute to the needs of the very rapidly growing Jerusalem church. In an agrarian culture, land was obviously a really big deal, so selling it off was a very generous thing to do – and a very public thing to do.
The other set of Joneses in this story – Ananias and Sapphira – also sold off a piece of land. It was likewise very sacrificial, generous and very public. Both “sets of Joneses” in the Acts story wanted to be successful. But like the song, “success” meant different things. For Barnabas, success focused on the first part of that sentence: sacrificial, generous. He felt blessed to have the field to sell so that he could help those in need. For Ananias and Sapphira, they focused on the “public” part. They didn’t really want to sell the field, but the status and esteem they imagined they get from the fast-growing church when they dropped all that money at the Apostles’ feet were worth the price. (Well, most of it, anyway.)
Does it kind of freak you out that God killed two people who attended church and made a big financial gift to it? It does me. Ananias and Sapphira went wrong in trying to buy honor from their peers instead of caring only what God – who sees everything – thought. It had nothing to do with their holding some of the money back, as Peter pointed out. And it freaks me out that God killed them for their misplaced priorities because more often than I want to admit, I do good stuff with one eye on the crowd.
This bad attitude, of course, is something Jesus explicitly spoke against:
Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
– Matthew 6:2-4
What does success look like in your life? There’s nothing wrong with a big house, a nice car, a pretty family, just like there’s nothing inherently good or spiritual about poverty or struggle. Why do you do what you do? Be honest: would you still be motivated to sacrifice, to love, to give if nobody ever knew it was you who did it?
Success in the Christian life is not about money. Money can only buy temporary stuff, and God isn’t into temporary stuff. As Bono famously sang, “the God I serve isn’t short on cash, mister.” But He is unfortunately short on the genuine praises of His children.
So as you do what you do today, think about your motives. Why do you do what you do? Maturity in Christ means that most of it comes from a desire to use all that He’s given us – good stuff and bad – in a way that makes Him alone proud of us.
Add Your Comment