Introduction
On Sunday, January 8, 1956, on the shore of a lonely river deep in the Ecuadorian jungle, five missionaries were murdered by primitive Auca Indians, known today as the Waorani.
News of the massacre shocked the world.
To some, their deaths seemed a senseless tragedy.
Many decried that promising missionary careers were cut short, the five young wives were left without husbands, and the children were left fatherless.
Those with deeper spiritual insight saw things differently, however.
Elizabeth Elliot, widow of one of the martyrs, Jim Elliot, commented:
To the world at large this was a sad waste of five young lives. But God has his plan and purpose in all things. There were those whose lives were changed by what happened on Palm Beach.
In Brazil, a group of Indians at a mission station deep in the Mato Grosso, upon hearing the news, dropped to their knees and cried out to God for forgiveness for their own lack of concern for fellow Indians who did not know of Jesus Christ.
From Rome, an American official wrote to one of the widows, “I knew your husband. He was to me the ideal of what a Christian should be.”
An Air Force Major stationed in England, with many hours of jet flying, immediately began making plans to join the Missionary Aviation Fellowship.
A missionary in Africa wrote: “Our work will never be the same. We knew two of the men. Their lives have left their mark on ours.”
Off the coast of Italy, an American naval officer was involved in an accident at sea. As he floated alone on a raft, he recalled Jim Elliot’s words (which he had read in a news report): “When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is die.” He prayed that he might be saved, knowing that he had more to do than die. He was not ready. God answered his prayer, and he was rescued.
In Des Moines, Iowa, an eighteen-year-old boy prayed for a week in his room, then announced to his parents: “I’m turning my life over completely to the Lord. I want to try to take the place of one of those five” (Elisabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendor [Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale, 1981], 253).
I can add my name to this list, for in 1978, in Cape Town, South Africa, God used the story of these five young martyrs to call me—along with thousands of others—into vocational Christian ministry.
Last time, we examined the martyrdom of Stephen, the church’s first-century martyr.
At first glance, Stephen’s death may also seem pointless. Here was another promising career cut short.
He was a powerful preacher with a deep knowledge of the Old Testament.
Such was the godly character of his life that he was one of the Seven chosen by the church to oversee its daily administration (see Acts 6:1-6).
Why was it necessary that one so gifted have such a brief ministry?
The answer is that God, in his wisdom, used Stephen’s death to advance his kingdom.
God used Stephen’s death to turn the world upside down.
Today, let’s see how God uses persecution to advance his kingdom.
Scripture
Let’s read Acts 8:1-8:
1 And Saul approved of his execution.
And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was much joy in that city.
Lesson
On January 9, 1985, Pastor Hristo Kulichev, a Congregational Church pastor in Bulgaria, was arrested and put in prison.
His crime was that he preached in his church even though the state had appointed another man as the pastor, whom the congregation did not elect.
Pastor Kulichev’s trial was a mockery of justice.
He was sentenced to eight months in prison.
During his time in prison, however, he made Christ known in every way he could.
When he got out, he wrote, “Both prisoners and jailers asked many questions, and it turned out that we had a more fruitful ministry there than we could have expected in church. God was better served by our presence in prison than if we had been free” (Herbert Schlossberg, Called to Suffer, Called to Triumph, p. 230).
There are thousands of stories like this to tell today.
The lesson repeatedly proves true: God uses his people’s persecution and suffering to spread the truth of Jesus and bless the world (cf. Luke 21:12-13).
I want to encourage you this morning from Acts 8:1-8 that God rules over the sufferings of the church and causes them to spread spiritual power and the joy of faith in a lost world.
It is not his only way.
But it is a frequent way.
God spurs the church in its missionary service by the suffering it endures.
Therefore, we must not judge the church's apparent setbacks and tactical defeats too quickly.
If you see things as God does, who is the Master strategist and cannot lose because he is omnipotent, what you see in every setback is the positioning for a greater advance and a greater display of his wisdom, power, love, and grace.
Today, I want to show you four encouraging ways God guides the church in accomplishing its mission of making disciples.
I. God Makes Persecution Serve the Mission of the Church (8:1b)
First, God makes persecution serve the mission of the church.
In verse 1b, Luke says, “And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.”
Up until now, in the Book of Acts, all ministry has taken place in the city of Jerusalem.
But Jesus said in Acts 1:8 that the coming of the Holy Spirit was to empower missions in Jerusalem and beyond: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Notice that Acts 8:1 Luke uses exactly those two unreached areas—Judea and Samaria—in the same order: “… and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.”
Now, the church may have eventually awakened to her calling without persecution.
Nevertheless, the fact is that God used persecution to move his people into the mission he had given to them. Or, as someone has put it, “It took Acts 8:1 to fulfill Acts 1:8.”
To confirm this missionary purpose of the persecution, look at Acts 11:19–21:
19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
In other words, the persecution sent the church to Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1) and beyond to the Gentiles (Acts 11:19), and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
There is a tremendous lesson for us here.
The lesson is not just that God is sovereign and turns setbacks into triumphs.
The lesson is that comfort, ease, affluence, prosperity, safety, and freedom often cause tremendous inertia in the church.
Inertia is the tendency of something standing still to stay standing still.
Too frequently, we think that things like comfort and ease and affluence and prosperity and safety and freedom will produce vision and personnel and energy and creative investment of time and money in the cause of Christ and his kingdom, but instead produce the exact opposite—weakness, apathy, lethargy, self-centeredness, and preoccupation with security.
Three decades ago, The Star Tribune had an article (on Friday, May 3, 1991, p. 2A) showing that the richer we are, the less we give to the church and its mission proportionate to our income.
The article noted that the poorest fifth of the church gives 3.4% of their income to the church, and the wealthiest fifth gives 1.6%—half as much as the poorer church members.
It’s a strange principle, one that probably goes right to the heart of our sinfulness: Hard times, like persecution, often produce more personnel, more prayer, more power, and more open purses than easy times.
Jesus said, in his parable of the four soils, that some fall away during persecution because they have no root.
But it seems true that even more people are like the third soil: “But the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful” (Mark 4:19).
Persecution can harm the church, but prosperity seems to be even more devastating to the mission to which God calls us.
My point here is not that we should seek persecution.
That would not be wise.
The point is that we should be very wary of prosperity, excessive ease, comfort, and affluence, and we should not be disheartened but filled with hope if we are persecuted for righteousness’ sake (Matthew 5:10).
As Luke shows us here in his first encouraging truth, God makes persecution serve the mission of the church.
II. Obedience to Christ Is Honored (8:2)
Second, obedience to Christ is honored.
The persecution in Jerusalem started because of Stephen.
That’s clear from our text and also from Acts 11:19, which tells us that the believers were “scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen.”
I can imagine some cautious, prudent, and well-meaning believers in Jerusalem saying something like,
"Stephen’s speech was utterly uncalled for. There are other less inflammatory ways to defend the truth than to call the Sanhedrin ‘stiff-necked people [who] always resist the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 7:51). It’s always hotheads like this that get the church into trouble. Now the whole city is against us. Look at the waste of life, property, and time. Look at the families that are being broken up. Look at the homes being lost and the children being taken away from all their friends. Now, we have to live like refugees and exiles in Judea and Samaria. Why didn’t Stephen think of all that before he spoke?”
But when Luke tells God’s version of the story, Stephen is a man full of grace and power (Acts 6:8).
When Stephen spoke his final words that enraged the council, Luke said that he was filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:55).
And here in Acts 8:2 Luke says, “Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.”
Jewish law prescribed the duty of burying the bodies of executed persons, but the Mishnah (Sanhedrin vi.6) forbade public lamentation for them.
Stephen, however, is honored and not blamed for the persecution—at least by the devout men who buried him and mourned deeply for him.
Worldly people might be more worried about goods and kindred and status.
But godly people, who think the way Jesus thinks about life, say with the hymn writer, “Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still.”
So, the second encouraging truth is this: obedience to Christ is honored.
When persecution comes because of courageous, faithful, God-honoring obedience, godly people don’t blame the servant of the Lord.
They honor that person.
III. Sometimes Our Worst Enemies Become Our Best Friends (8:3)
Third, sometimes, our worst enemies become our best friends.
In verse 3, Luke says, “But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.”
This Saul is the one who would later be dramatically converted (Acts 9:1-19) and become the best friend and advocate Christianity ever had.
We need to live in this hope again: fearsome foes can become precious friends.
Adversaries can become advocates.
Critics can become comrades.
For most of us, it’s easy to believe that an intimate disciple, like Judas, can become a deadly betrayer. That’s the way the world is.
But we need to remember that a deadly persecutor can also become a great ally and partner in the cause of Christ.
That’s the way God is. That’s the kind of power he has.
Look on your adversaries with the eyes of faith—that someday, by the power of God, they could experience a turn-around as unique and unexpected as Saul’s.
Years ago, I heard US Representative J. C. Watts (R-Oklahoma) talking on National Public Radio. I believe he was speaking during one of their lunchtime programs, and I don’t even know the subject of his speech.
Representative J. C. Watts told a story that captured my attention.
Apparently, in 1976, Representative Watts had a relationship with a girl that resulted in her getting pregnant. He did not want the child to be adopted by someone outside of the family.
An uncle, Ed Watts, a pastor, agreed to adopt the baby girl.
Representative Watt’s uncle Ed and his wife raised his daughter.
Representative Watts deeply loved and appreciated his uncle Ed and aunt for what they did for him.
Ed Watts was at one time the state president of the NAACP.
He traveled around the state, wherever there was injustice, to bring peace, justice, and, especially, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
One day, he offered to debate the state Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan on the radio.
During the debate, the Grand Wizard repeatedly vilified and verbally attacked Ed Watts and frequently called him horrible names.
Ed Watts listened quietly and responded each time by saying, “God loves you, and so do I.”
Ed Watts died on December 13, 1998.
At the huge funeral a few days later, there were many testimonies of thanks and gratitude for the consistent life and testimony of Ed Watts.
But no testimony was more moving than when the former state Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan got up and said, “I stand here today as a Christian because of the love and life and testimony of Ed Watts.”
One man’s obedience to Jesus Christ made a difference in another man filled with hatred.
God used Ed Watts’ obedience to Christ to bring the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan to faith in Jesus Christ.
So, the third encouraging truth is this: Sometimes, our worst enemies become our best friends.
When they see Christ in us, God may use that to draw them to himself.
And they will become friends of the gospel.
IV. The Word That Brings Persecution Also Brings Joy (8:4-8)
Finally, the word that brings persecution also brings joy.
Even though the word of God brought persecution and exile, it is still good news and brings joy.
In verse 4, Luke says, “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.”
The scattered believers announced the word that brought persecution as the “good news of the Gospel.”
I had a professor at seminary who said that the persecuted believers “gossiped the gospel wherever they went.”
Verse 8 confirms that it was good news: Luke tells us, “So there was much joy in that city.”
The word that brings persecution also brings joy—and the joy it brings is so much greater and longer than the trouble it brings that the trade-off is worth it.
Why?
Well, verse 7 says that unclean spirits were coming out of people and leaving them free, whole, and pure.
It says that many who were paralyzed or lame were being healed.
But the main reason there is joy is what we read in verse 5: “Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.”
Christ alone has the power to deliver us from Satan and all his evil.
Christ alone has the power to heal our bodies now and finally in the resurrection.
Christ alone has the right and power to forgive our sins and make us right with God (Acts 10:43).
So if you have Christ, if you know him and trust him, then no matter how severe the persecution is, no matter how great the suffering of life, you have hope, and you have joy.
“There was much joy in that city” because Philip preached Christ.
I remember hearing a story of a secret meeting at a Christian church in Russia.
At one point during their worship service, the doors suddenly burst open, and a Russian soldier with a gun stormed into the room.
He asked if that was a Christian worship service.
The pastor told him that it was.
Then the soldier said that those who wanted to have their lives spared should leave—or face the consequences.
No one left.
With his rifle pointing at them, he told them again that those who wanted to have their lives spared should leave.
Again, no one left.
The pastor told the soldier that each one there had found true and lasting joy in Christ and that they would sooner die than disown their Savior.
At that point, the soldier put his gun down and told the believers that he, too, was a Christian and that he wanted to be sure that he was among true believers before he revealed his identity in Christ.
Everyone was relieved, of course, and they enjoyed wonderful fellowship together.
What is it that will make Christians sooner die than deny Christ?
Why, the joy comes from the word and from knowing Jesus Christ.
As the apostle Peter said to Christians suffering terrible persecution, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9).
The final encouraging word here is this: the word that brings persecution also brings us joy.
The gospel of Jesus Christ may bring us persecution, but it also brings us joy that will last for all eternity.
Conclusion
So, I urge you to put your faith in Jesus Christ this morning.
If you do, all these reasons for encouragement become personally valid and not just generally true.
First, God makes persecution serve the mission of the church—even your God-ordained mission and your ministry.
Second, obedience to Christ is honored. If your faithfulness brings trouble to the church (like Stephen’s did), you will be honored and not blamed—at least by devoted Christians.
Third, sometimes, our worst enemies become our best friends. Your worst critics can become your precious comrades through the power of Christ’s converting grace.
And fourth, the word that brings persecution also brings joy—always and forever. Amen.
