“THE CHURCH & PERSECUTION” Acts 8:1-4
MIDWEEK BIBLE STUDY
FBCF – 7/8/20
Jon Daniels
Coronavirus – lots of talk about how it spreads & how to prevent it from spreading faster & wider.
Acts 8 – the “virus” of the Gospel is gaining momentum & spreading faster & farther. And with that growing momentum comes growing opposition & persecution
- Already seen Stephen stoned to death in ch. 7
- Stephen’s message was God’s final invitation to Israel. If Israel rejected the message, then God would turn elsewhere to root & ground His Church.
- Tragically, Israel did reject the message – the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Messiah that Israel had long looked for.
- When they killed Stephen, they launched a savage persecution against the young Church to try & destroy it & stop the spread of the Gospel.
- They thought that if they could just stop the spread of this “idea” about this Jesus, then these new converts would just go away.
- But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is much more than just an idea! Rom. 1:16 – It is the “power of God to salvation for EVERYONE who believes.”
- “power” – dynamis – It’s God’s “dynamite” & with it, He breaks down & blows away sin’s barriers. He blows the bars off the sin’s prison cells & sets the prisoners free to salvation & eternal life!
The time has come on God’s calendar for the Church to move out & begin spreading the Good News of Jesus all over the known world at that time in Judea & Samaria, just as Jesus had commanded in Acts 1:8. The Church would not be stopped! But that didn’t stop some from trying to stop it.
THE RISE OF PERSECUTION
Acts 7:58b – “…And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.”
This is the first time we see Saul of Tarsus mentioned. This is the man who, as we see in Acts 13:9, was also known as Paul.
- Many think that, on the road to Damascus, Jesus changed Saul’s name to Paul, as He did Simon to Peter in Matt. 16:18-19. That’s not true.
- It was common in that day for people to have dual names.
- When the unsaved Jewish Saul was busy persecuting the Church, he used the Hebrew name, Saul
- When he got saved & became “the apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13), it made sense for him to begin using the Roman name, Paul, as he traveled farther & farther into the Gentile world.
But as we see here in Acts 7:58b & 8:1a, the unsaved Saul was a ruthless, vicious enemy & persecutor of Christians. He certainly was a major leader – maybe THE major leader in the rise of violence & persecution against the early Church.
- “approved” in v. 1, means he gave his full consent to Stephen’s execution & martyrdom. He willingly approved it – approved it w/ pleasure – was happy to approve it & gleefully watched it happen – he applauded it.
- Paul was inflamed w/ fury against the Church.
The persecution started quickly, on the very day of Stephen’s death – v. 1b – “And there arose THAT DAY…”
- Saul needed to strike quickly.
- The Christians were afraid & on the run, & he had to move fast to catch them before they could escape.
The persecution was “great” – not “great” in a positive way, but “great” in that it was a large outbreak against the believers.
- Gk word for “great” – mega – a “mega” time of persecution – numerous, large, loud, widespread
- Phillips – “On that very day a great storm of persecution burst upon the Church in Jerusalem.”
v. 2 – Even as the fires of persecution were heating up, some “devout” (God-fearing) men buried Stephen, grieving & mourning greatly over his death.
THE RAVAGING OF PERSECUTION
Saul pressed on in his persecution in an intensely damaging way.
- He was “ravaging” the Church. What a graphic word! The Gk word means “injuring severely; destroying; annihilate.” Other translations:
o CEB – “wreak havoc”
o ASV – “laid waste”
o NIV – “began to destroy”
- He went on a rampage. The picture is that of a wild beast ravaging & tearing a carcass to bits. And the verb tense means that he kept on ravaging & wreaking havoc upon the Church.
- He stormed into people’s homes, dragging men & women off & throwing them into prison.
Reminds me of persecution that’s happening right now all over the world.
- In China where the police storm into churches & drag people off to jail & tear crosses off of steeples.
- Laos – Couple of weeks ago, 2 Christian families driven out of their villages b/c they declared their faith in Jesus
- Missionaries killed in Republic of Congo, leaving 4 children as orphans
- Evangelist in Columbia is in hiding b/c the members of the military group she left when she became a Christian are looking for her so they can kill her.
Saul was on a rampage b/c he was under the direction of Satan then. And many others are on a rampage today b/c Satan is on a rampage now.
THE REASON FOR PERSECUTION
Ever stepped on an ant bed? They go everywhere when you disturb them.
- That’s what happened here, too.
v. 4 – “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” Love what Warren Wiersbe said: “Persecution does to the Church what the wind does to seed: it scatters it & only produces a greater harvest.”
The Gk word for “scattered” means “to disperse; to scatter seed.” These believers who were under great persecution were God’s seed. And the reason that God allowed this persecution to happen was not to punish them – nothing in the Scriptures tell us that they were negligent or rebellious. God used the persecution to move them to new soil where the Seed of the Gospel could be planted in Judea, Samaria, & some in more distant places.
- Acts 11:19
One of the more challenging aspects of our faith is to trust God’s plan when we can’t understand why things are happening like they’re happening.
- Coronavirus
- Cancer, Alzheimer’s
- Persecution
- Crime, violence, & wars
- Immorality & evil on the rise – homosexuality, abortion, gay marriage, cohabitation, rampant greed, substance abuse, child abuse, trafficking, etc.
- “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?”
o First of all, none of us are good.
o But, His plan is greater than our plans.
o He know what He is doing & when we gave our lives to Christ, we committed that we would trust Him w/ everything in our lives to do with as He pleases.
o Are we willing for that trust to mean that we may endure opposition, ostracization, marginalization, unfair treatment, persecution so that the Gospel will spread in ways that we cannot even fathom, & in no other way than through that persecution?
Friends, it simply does not matter what happens to us in this life. Our lives are not our own – we have been bought w/ a price. And we are “living sacrifices.” We are to deny ourselves & DAILY take up our cross & follow Him, NO MATTER WHERE HE LEADS US!
