Aug 03, 2014
Acts 8:5-8
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Outline:
With the close of Acts 7 and the opening of chapter 8 we see a dramatic shift in the way the Jewish leadership approached the followers of Jesus.
Passive & Tolerant Tactic: The first three years of Christianity.
Active & Violent Campaign: Starting with Stephen’s death and spearheaded by Saul.
Scottish preacher William Arnot, “Conviction goes before conversion; but conversion does not always follow conviction. When such a home-thrust takes effect on the conscience, a great anger is generated. That anger burns like fire, and it must have some object to consume. It will either burn inward to consume your sins, or outward to persecute the preacher who exposed them.”
Acts 8:1-4, “At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.”
In Acts 2 a fire was ignited in the lives of those filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and over the course of the last few years this flame had nearly engulfed all of Jerusalem. And while there is no doubt Saul’s intention was to disrupt and curtail the spread of Christianity, the first four verses of Acts 8 are clear his entire approach had backfired.
Luke directly attributes Saul’s religious persecution concentrated in Jerusalem with the spread of the Gospel extending out into Judea and Samaria. Acts 11:19 informs us that because of Saul these believers would “travel as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch.”
Though Saul was trying to stamp out the Gospel, in a divine twist God directly uses this “great persecution” to intentionally distribute His people into new territories. The result… “Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.”
It’s interesting to think, but Saul was used by God to spread the Gospel throughout the unbelieving world years before he’d ever embark on his first missionary journey.
Lesson: Even the things Satan means for our harm God can use to accomplish His purposes in and through our lives. The Bible is full of examples…
Moses was born into trying circumstance, but God used these circumstances to place him into the house of Pharaoh so that he might be prepared to lead a nation.
David spent decades running from evil King Saul who was seeking his life, but it was during these years in exile that God was preparing David for his eventual reign.
Peter would tragically deny Jesus on three separate occasion, but Jesus would use this situation to teach Peter a very important lesson on forgiveness and restoration.
The Apostle John was arrested, boiled in oil, and exiled to the island work camp of Patmos, but it was while in isolation that he received the “Revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Satan thought he had dealt a death blow to the redemptive plans of God when Jesus was unjustly arrested, illegally tried, and brutally executed, but it was by this very act that Jesus willingly offered Himself as a permanent sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world and by His resurrection create a way by which all humanity might be saved.
Acts 8:5-8, “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city.”
“Then Philip…” Not to be confused with the Apostle Philip found most prominently in John 1, this Philip was a second-generation believer cut from the same cloth as Stephen. First mentioned as one of the young men chosen to be a deacon in Acts 6:5 we know that Philip was a man of “good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.”
Once again there are two ways to view Philip’s actions: He either “went down to the city of Samaria” in order to escape persecution or this persecution was seen as a clear indication it was now time to move out of Jerusalem into the surrounding regions.
While some speculate these believers remained in Jerusalem and had yet to fulfill the missionary call to take the Gospel into the world because they had grown comfortable and apathetic in their present situation (which is why God allowed persecution to arise), I believe these Christians remained in Jerusalem for an entirely different reason.
In Matthew 10:23 Jesus told these men that “when they persecute you in this city, flee to another.” I believe these believers viewed persecution to be Jesus’ cue that the time for action and outward mobility was finally at hand.
Geographically “Samaria” (a region known by its largest city) was situated north of Jerusalem, but topographically Samaria was of a lower elevation which explains why Luke records that Philip “went down to the city.” Note: Samaria is located in the “West Bank.”
Philip choosing to go to Samaria is of peculiar interest when you keep in mind that the Jews and the Samaritans hated each other because of two basic prejudices:
1. Racial Prejudice: In 721 BC the Northern Kingdom of Israel (10 tribes) was conquered by the Assyrian Empire. As was their custom a significant portion of the population was dispersed (known as the 10 lost tribes of Israel) and replaced with Assyrians.
Over time the remaining Hebrews who had already proved to be an idolatrous and wicked people intermarried with these pagan gentiles forming a new race known as the Samaritans (today there’s less than 1000 Samaritans still in existence).
Because the Law forbid such behavior those from the Southern Kingdom of Judah (which had been spared) looked down on the Samaritans as being illegitimate half-breeds who had sold out their birthright. The animus was so great the Jews even refused to enter Samaritan territory or come in contact with this people group.
According to one source, “Both Jewish and Samaritan religious leaders taught that it was wrong to have any contact with the opposite group, and neither was to enter each other's territories or even to speak to one another. During the New Testament period, although the tensions went unrecognized by Roman authorities, Josephus reports numerous violent confrontations between Jews and Samaritans throughout the first half of the first century.”
The hatred between these groups was so palpable that after being refused entrance into Samaria two of Jesus’ most trusted disciples requested permission to (Luke 9:54-56) “command fire to come down from heaven and consume them.”
This should explain why Jesus’ parable about a “Good Samaritan” was so offensive to the population at large. Telling a story to Jews with the hero being a Samaritan would be akin to telling a story at a klan rally with the hero being Django. These racial devisions were deep, nasty, even historical - and ironically religiously justified.
2. Religious Prejudice: Beyond ethic divisions, there was also a strong disagreement between these two groups as it pertained to the worship of God. Dating all the way back to the original devisions of the unified Kingdom, the Hebrews believed the temple was to be located in Jerusalem while the Samaritans believed the temple should be located on Mount Gerizim. Each group viewed the other as heretical.
For more than 700 years the vast majority of Jews had refused contact with the Samaritans; and yet, when he could have taken the Gospel anywhere Philip specifically chooses to go to this forbidden “city of Samaria.”
I think there are two explanations.
1. Jesus called Philip because He had prepared a harvest that needed reaping.
John 4, “Jesus left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband…
The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). When He comes, He will tell us all things." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He…” The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" Then they went out of the city and came to Him…
And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him and they urged Him to stay… and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world." Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.”
While several years beforehand Jesus had sown seeds in this area of Samaria now it was Philip’s job to bring in the harvest. It seems obvious that the Holy Spirit testified in Philip’s life that Jesus had called him “to be His witness in Samaria.”
2. Philip’s heart towards the Samaritans had been transformed.
While one can reason Philip had grown up harboring these same racial and religious prejudices towards the Samaritans, surrendering His life to Jesus and being filled with the Holy Spirit had transformed his heart in real tangible ways.
Philip understood that since salvation came by grace (not works or heritage) no man was beyond the reach of God and no man had the moral standing to look down upon another. In Christ there is simply no room for racial divisions!
Along this same thread the Apostle Paul would declare boldly in Galatians 3:28-29, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Before we move on I think there might be another component at work. It’s true that Philip had just experienced for the first time the same type of religious and racial prejudice at the hands of the Jewish religious leaders that had been experienced for centuries by the Samaritans. You know it becomes much hard to maintain a prejudice when you become the recipient of that same prejudice.
Luke tells us that “Philip preached Christ to them.”
Philip “preached” or literally he “heralded or openly proclaimed” Christ. Please note what Philip didn’t do… Philip didn’t preach a religious code to live by. He didn’t herald for social transformation or rail against the politics of the day. Rather Philip simply preached a person! He told people about Jesus - who He is and what He’s done for us.
What I find interesting about this passage is that we find an interesting combination of sorts laid out in Acts 8 that on the surface might seem contradictory. On one hand Luke has just told us “those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word,” but now he tells us Philip “preached Christ.”
Question: Did Philip preach Christ or did he preach the Word?
Answer: Preaching the Word is how we preach Christ! The two are inseparable!
Revelation 19:11-13, “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.”
In every sermon preached in the book of Acts we find this model demonstrated… Peter, John, Stephen, later Paul, and in this instance Philip all preached Christ-centric messages based on God’s written Word. Note: Even during His earthy ministry Jesus used the Word of God as the basis for communicating His purposes (i.e. In Luke 4 he turned to the Prophet Isaiah to lay out His mission statement). Ultimately, Jesus would quote directly from 24 OT books.
Understand, it is not just that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17) or that “the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart,” (Hebrews 4:12) but ultimately it is by the Word of God we are able to know the Son of God - Jesus the Christ.
I think this reality further demonstrates the incredible brilliance of God because…
Written Words are relatable… They are the basis for all human communication.
Written Words are knowable… They are how we express ourselves to one another.
Not to mention Written Words transcend culture and endure time.
What makes preaching the Word of God so essential to the development of our Christian lives is not just that we learn “about Jesus” but that we become more “like Jesus.” It’s simply a truth that we become like the people we hang out with meaning it is impossible to become like Jesus without spending time in His Word!
1 Thessalonians 2:13, “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.”
Sadly, many churches today are failing their congregations by not teaching the Bible. William Still made this sobering and stark observation, “It is to feed sheep on such truth that men are called to churches and congregations, whatever they may think they are called to do. If you think you are called to keep a large worldly organisation, miscalled a church, going, with infinitesimal doses of innocuous sub-Christian drugs or stimulants, then the only hope I can give you is to advise you to give up the hope of the ministry and go and be a street scavenger; a far healthier and more godly job, keeping the streets tidy, than cluttering the church with a lot of worldly claptrap in the delusion that you are doing a job for God. The pastor is called to feed the sheep, even if they don't want to be fed. He is certainly not to become an entertainer of goats. Let the goats entertain goats, and let them so it out in goatland. You will certainly not turn goats into sheep by pandering to their goatishness. Do we really believe that the Word of God, by His Spirit, changes, as well as maddens men? If we do, to be evangelists and pastors, feeders of sheep, we must be men of the Word of God.”
Luke continues by telling us “the multitudes heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.”
Don’t overlook the significance of this subtle detail. This revival among the Samaritans took place because (first) they were “hearing” the words of Philip, but (secondly and maybe more importantly) they were also “seeing” the very power he spoke of being practically demonstrated in and through his life.
We should all keep in mind that what makes the resurrected Jesus so compelling to the world around us is not that there are solid intellectual proofs (though there are), but rather that Jesus practically transforms individual lives!
Please understand, while you all have a responsibility to tell people about Jesus by simply explaining the radicle way in which He has personally transformed your life, it is also simply a reality your life must then validate your message!
What makes your life different from the unbelieving world around you? Is there a difference? Do people people see the joy of the Lord oozing from your life? Do people see a peace that can only be described as otherworldly? Do you demonstrate the grace of God or pass along the love of the Father to those around you? Please consider… If people were only reaching conclusions about Jesus by looking at your life, what conclusions would be reached?
Sad to say, but according to Barna Group the most common negative perceptions of present-day Christianity is that Christians are judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), old-fashioned (78%), and too involved in politics (75%). 91% of young non-Christians believe Christianity is “anti-homosexual.” Does any of this sound like Jesus?
Once again William Still explains how being an effective witness is ultimately possible and what the ultimate remedy is… He wrote, “Indeed, my whole view of the Christian’s responsibility for primary evangelism is founded upon that belief that the greatest evangelistic and pastoral agency in the world is the Holy Spirit dwelling naturally in God’s children, so that Christ shines out of them all the time - or nearly all the time - and is known to do so by those with whom they have anything more than casual contact, and even with them. We have to let our light shine - not hide it, and certainly not flash it, which draws attention to ourselves - and we must believe that it is shining. Now and then comes the opportunity to let its beam blaze out like a lighthouse, as some need is made known, or we are challenged as our faith. But, normally, we let the light shine, believing that Jesus Christ is witnessing through us, in and to the world.”