Danger and Opportunity: Experiencing Biblical Community
Acts 8:1-25
Intro:
Do any of you read Chinese? I wonder if you can read the characters on the screen behind me and translate them for us. (Chinese word for crisis; two distinct characters, put together these = “crisis”) What is significant about this? One of those Chinese characters, on its own, is the word “danger.” That makes sense; in a crisis there is some type of danger. The second character is the fascinating one: on its own, that second character is the word “opportunity.” In a time of crisis, there is often great danger, but there is more, as we learn from this Chinese wisdom: there is often great opportunity. I think that is very insightful; and it is certainly true of our Scripture passage this morning – Acts 8:1-15.
Danger; certainly…
As you are looking that passage up in your Bibles, let me give you a brief review of the events leading up to chapter 8; without which it might not make much sense. The early church in Acts experienced rapid growth as God did amazing things, and that caused some problems. In chapter 6 we learn of some tension and possibly bias between two groups of Jews, and we saw how the apostles maintained their focus on preaching and teaching and selected seven other men to use their gifts and take care of some of these administrative things. One of those was Stephen, who is killed in chapter 7 for his belief in Jesus. A second one is Philip, who we read more about today. As I read the passage you will see how it was definitely a time of great danger for those who claimed to follow Jesus. Read Acts 8:1-25.
Danger from Persecution: vs. 1-3
Verses 1-3 record the immediate after effects of the stoning of Stephen – a great persecution broke out against the Christians in Jerusalem, led by Saul. It is a frightening picture – I don’t even want to try to imagine living in fear of a crash on the door and a hostile appearance of someone whose sole purpose at that moment is to capture and throw in jail anyone who believes in Jesus. Thankfully, that is beyond my experience.
Yet it is not beyond the experience of many Christians in our world today. The website for the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (idop.ca) reports, “in Nepal, Christians trying to share the gospel with neighbouring villages have been jailed because they were mistaken for terrorists fighting in Nepal’s brutal civil war. In Iran, Christians who share the gospel with Muslims continue to face torture and death for their faith. Right now around the world over 200 million are suffering for their faith.” I have two reactions to statistics like that – relief and thankfulness to God that I am not one of them, and despair as I feel helpless to do anything about it. The second reaction is not true. The one request of the persecuted church in our world, today, meeting maybe at this exact time in a secret location for fear of persecution, is that we pray for them. That is what they ask: “pray for us.” On Nov. 16, the official IDOP, we will dedicate our prayer time in the service to honor that request, but why wait till then – why not do it right now? (pause and pray generally for the persecuted church).
Opportunity: vs. 4
So we see in the first three verses that there was certainly danger. But there was also opportunity in the midst of this crisis, and we see that in verse 4. With the crisis of having to get out of Jerusalem came the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with a whole new bunch of people outside of Jerusalem, which verse 4 tells us they did! Some, like Philip, did that in the way we sort of envision – going to a town and “preaching” and attracting a crowd and demonstrating the power of God miraculously. But I think many others shared the good news just by being honest about their life. Picture it: a new family arrives in town, people are going to ask “where are you from? What brought you here?”, and the honest answer in this situation leads to a conversation about Jesus and about faith. That still applies: if we are honest about our lives with the people we know who are not Christians, that honesty will lead to conversations about Jesus. For example, tomorrow morning you might go back to work or school and be asked, “How was your weekend?”; or “What did you do with your extra hour?” Some of us answer those questions by mentioning everything we did in the weekend except going to church, or masking the facts: “Sunday night we had dinner with some friends…” Those questions, and others like them, might, if we are a little more honest, lead naturally into conversations about Jesus and about faith. Try it! See what God does – see what opportunities He brings!!
The Example: vs. 5-25
So Luke tells us that persecution began, and that believers were scattered outward from Jerusalem. And then he tells us one of the stories, the story of Philip in Samaria in verses 5-25. A little bit of background is important to really understand this story and its significance. The first is the relationship between Jews and Samaritans: it was not good. There was a lot of ethnic tension, a lot of hatred. I’m not an expert, but I think it might be analogous to the relationship between Jews and Palestinians today. The second critical piece of background is Jesus’ instructions to His disciples in Acts 1:8, to be “my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The persecution of the church pushes them into obedience to phase 2 of Jesus’ commission – to take the good news to those outside of Jerusalem. Let me point out one timeless truth that this reminds us of: no matter what the crisis, no matter how bad it might look like things are in your life, God can use it for the glory of His Kingdom. Things looked pretty bad for the Jerusalem church – door to door persecution and oppression – but God turned it into something wonderful for His Kingdom. The same is true in your life – God can take even the worst possible situation and redeem it. Make something good out of it, turn it into something beautiful, use it for His glory and the glory of His Kingdom.
Philip In Samaria:
The basic plot of the story is simple: Philip goes to Samaria, preaches and God accompanies the preaching with miracles, the Samaritans respond and are baptized, Peter and John come to check out what happened and lay on hands and the Holy Spirit comes on the people of Samaria. Woven into that basic plot is the story of Simon the magician, who also hears and responds, but then demonstrates that he hasn’t really understood who God is by attempting to purchase the power that Peter and John had demonstrated through the laying on of hands. Here are the elements of the story that I believe speak to us today:
It really is Good News! vs 8
Luke reports the result of Philip’s teaching of Jesus: people were healed, people were set free, and “there was great joy in that city.” And that is what happens when people meet Jesus – they are set free from slavery to sin, they are healed in their relationship with God, and they are filled with the incredible joy of knowing they are in the right with God, and that they are adopted into God’s family. Do you remember what that feels like? Do you remember when Christianity really was that simple for you, and you were just filled with “great joy”? And can you imagine how great it would be for others you care about, who don’t know that joy, to meet Jesus and experience that? Why don’t you try to share that with them this week? Call them on the phone, let them know you are not trying to be pushy or anything, but that you were just wishing for them the very best of joy and of life, which you have found in Jesus. If they are interested, share a bit of your story and your joy, see where God takes it. We must never lose sight of the fact that Jesus is risen, and that really is good news!
Building Bridges: vs 14
Verse 14 tells us that “When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.” Now remember the background of hatred between Jews and Samaritans, and let us recognize the shift that is taking place. First with Philip, who bridges the gap, and then with Peter and John, who also leave their prejudice behind and accept the Samaritans as full brothers and sisters in Christ.
It is a picture of profound inclusion. Of Christians being Christians first, and recognizing that our kinship in Christ trumps any other differences, and that our bond as God’s children is stronger and more significant than the issues that we disagree on. Some of those disagreements are significant, but the things we believe that are the same are more numerous and more important that the things we disagree on, and we need to be united as Christians in our mission to bring the message of salvation to those who need it. The Jerusalem Christians bridged huge ethnic and cultural prejudice, and I believe they set a model for us as well.
Is there a personal application of this idea? I think so. Most of us can probably think of someone in our circles who is, for one reason or another, excluded – despised – looked down upon. Maybe it is at work, or school, maybe someone in your family or in your small group – somebody on the outside. Maybe we have a personal prejudice that needs to be challenged. Acts 8 sets a beautiful example for us of how important it is to be united in Christ, and reminds us to make the effort to put our prejudices aside and build unity.
Baptism and the Spirit: vs. 15-17
The next couple of verses open a sticky conversation, between baptism, the Holy Spirit, and laying on of hands. The facts of the story are these: Philip preached, the Samaritans responded in faith and were baptized, but when Peter and John got there they recognized that they had not received the Holy Spirit, so they prayed and laid on hands, and the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit.
So what does this say to us? Well if we start at the end, we recognize that God’s desire for us is that we are filled with His Holy Spirit and empowered by Him to live and be free and work in cooperation with His Kingdom. That is the goal, that is the important part – that we are filled with the Spirit. Next we ask the logical question: how do we become filled with the Spirit? And this is where it starts to get messy: some Christians believe we are filled with the Holy Spirit the moment we come to faith in Jesus – the reason being that we can not be made into new creatures, we can not be forgiven and adopted into God’s family, unless the Holy Spirit does that work in our lives. And they are right. Some Christians believe we are filled with the Spirit at the moment of baptism – they appeal to the example of Jesus, upon whom the Spirit descended in the form of a dove at His baptism. That too is correct. Still other Christians believe that we must have some sort of second experience, that in addition to salvation we need a second experience of God where we receive the Holy Spirit, often through the laying on of hands – they would quote texts like this one in Acts 8 to back up their claim. Is it possible that they are correct also?
Let me share my conclusion to the question “how do I become filled with the Holy Spirit?” by saying this: I do not believe that there is one time or one way in which we are all filled with the Holy Spirit and then “done.” I believe that yes, we are filled with the Holy Spirit at the moment of conversion – but that is not the end. And yes, at the moment of baptism, our public profession of faith, we very well may be filled with the Holy Spirit – but that is not the end. And yes again, we might at other times in our lives have another or many other experiences of being filled with the Holy Spirit, possibly through the laying on of hands. And so we should. And here is why: our relationship with God is not a static thing. It is not a one-time, ok now you’re done, kind of thing. No real relationship is. It is dynamic, it is changing, it is exciting, and New Testament Christianity is about being filled with the Spirit continuously. We have seen that in Acts – the early church was “filled with the Spirit” on more than one occasion. We read about it in Paul’s letters, who urges us, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Gal 5:25). That does not describe a one-time thing! Instead, it describes an incredible way of life – life “in step with the Spirit.”
How Great is That?? Simon Magnus…
That life is so great, so incredible, that when Simon saw it he simply had to have it. I know he has a prominent place in the passage and I have barely mentioned him, but let me just point out this one thing about him: he recognized that life in the Spirit was far better and far superior to the life he had been leading. Remember the text tells us he was famous, and full of magical power, but he was amazed by what God did through Philip and then through Peter and John, so much so that he tried to buy his way into that power. Of course that is not how it works; the Holy Spirit is God and so is not and never will be controlled by us, and cannot be bought or sold or put into any box of our design and control. I think that is why Simon receives such a harsh rebuke – essentially a curse – from Peter. But the thing I want to point out from Simon is that he recognized that being filled with the Holy Spirit was really an incredible thing.
Conclusion:
I know we’ve covered a lot of different ideas in this passage, from persecution to opportunities for evangelism to building bridges to baptism and the Holy Spirit. Let me leave you with this thought/question as we wrap up. Today, right now, are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Maybe you have been, but you are feeling a little drained today. Maybe you are like the Samaritans, and don’t feel like you have ever really been filled with the Spirit. Where are you, and where would you like to be? Let me assure you, it really is great, and it really is worth it, to live in step with the Spirit. In Acts 1:8, Jesus promised “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you,” power to live and share the incredible good news of the Kingdom of God. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
