Spread The Word Despite The Odds Sermon Vii: Faithfulness Epitomized By Philip Series

PHILIP EPITOMIZED FAITHFULNESS . . . (Acts 8)

Stephen was dead. He had been stoned to death due to his boldness in telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about the sin of rejection and the absolute necessity for salvation through Jesus Christ.

This man of God had stood before the supreme court of Judaism and indicted them for the murder of Jesus! Their anger toward Stephen escalated into killing another innocent victim of viciousness. (They had killed Jesus.)

They cursed Stephen . . . spat upon him . . . kicked him . . . hit him . . . dragged him by the hair of his head to the outer courtyard . . . threw stones at him until he died.

That act of violence was not enough to satisfy their sadistic appetite for blood; so, they turned on any one who was known to be a follower of the Way, the result being that Christians fled Jerusalem to seek safety in other places. However, wherever they went, they did not stop witnessing.

One of those who left the danger zone was Philip. Of all places, he wound up in Samaria where he found refuge among non-Jewish foreigners. Remember the parable of the Good Samaritan?

In the parable, which two passed by on the other side after the traveler on the road to Jericho had been robbed, beaten and left in a ditch to die? Weren’t they a priest and the “chairman of the board”? Who was it that had pity on the victim and ministered to him? A “good for nothing” Samaritan!

Philip had a story to tell; and who better to tell it to than folks who, like Philip, were despised by those despicable self-righteous hypocrites who ruled Jerusalem!?

Philip found refuge among them; and, out of a heart of love, he shared with them the good news of Jesus Christ. He demonstrated the power of God to make sinners “whole” by allowing the Spirit of God to work through him to heal and to cast out demons --- Acts 8:4-8 . . .

At this point in our study is a good time to interject an explanation for the fact that some of the first Disciples of Christ were used as instruments for performing the same kinds of miracles that Jesus had been known for. Keep in mind that these early followers of Jesus were starting something NEW – the worldwide movement of Christianity. There had to be validation of them as being commissioned by Christ to carry on His work in the world.

Philip, being used by the Holy Spirit to perform the same kinds of acts that Jesus had performed, gave evidence that he and all the other believers were continuing the work that Jesus had begun. Go back to the very first verse of the Book of Acts; Luke says: “In my former book, I wrote about all that Jesus BEGAN to do and teach.”

Now, in the Book of Acts, Luke is relating everything – at least, everything he knew about - that Jesus CONTINUED to do and teach. Acts is the story of the continuation of the ministry of Jesus Christ, Son of God.

How is Christ going to continue His work if not by way of the faithfulness of His followers?

Let us understand that God the Father sent God the Son for the purpose of saving all who repent of sin and receive Christ as Savior - and that God the Holy Spirit was sent to come upon and dwell within believers for the sake of the salvation of others! If we the Church of Christ do not exist for spreading the Gospel, then why, pray tell, do we exist?

Philip understood! He was in that supposedly “God-forsaken” city of Samaria; but he knew in his heart that he had what they needed; so he took a stand for Christ right then and there. You might say that Stephen’s death by stoning had not been in vain; it drove Philip out of Jerusalem into a foreign land to preach the gospel, just as Stephen’s boldness to speak the truth at the risk of losing his life proved that Christ’s death had not been in vain.

There was great JOY among the Samaritans who saw the miracles, heard the gospel, and believed; they realized that God’s grace included them! Heretofore, the only hope for any kind of new life that the folks in Samaria had to cling to was sorcery – witchcraft.

One of the challenges missionaries have faced in foreign lands is the supernatural powers of evil that draw people to things that are mystical or weird – like the “witch doctor” that rises to a position of power through mind control. Anyone who comes into a situation like that and gets people to focus on any other kind of power is perceived as a threat.