X8 starting from verse one. And saw her approved of their
killing him. On that day a great persecution
broke out against this church, in the church, against the
church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were
scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
Godly man buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him, but the
soul began to destroy the church.
Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women
and put them in prison. Those who had been scattered
preached the words wherever they went.
Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the
Messiah there. When the crowd heard Philip and
saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what
he said. For with shrieks impure spirit
came out of many, and many were paralyzed, or lain were healed.
So there was great joy in that city.
Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced the sorcery
in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria.
He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both
high and low gave him their attention and exclaimed, This
man is rightly called the great power of God.
They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with
his sorcery. But when they believed Philip as
he proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of God and the name
of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Simon himself believed and was baptized, and he followed Philip
everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted
the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria.
When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers, though
that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit
had not yet come on any of them. They had simply been baptized in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their
hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
When Simon saw that the Spirit was given as the laying on of
the apostles hands, he offered them money and said, Give me
also this ability, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands
may receive the Holy Spirit. Peter answered, May your money
perish with you because you thought you could buy the gift
of God with money. You have no part or share in
this ministry because your heart is not right before God.
Repent of this wickedness and praise the Lord in the hope that
He may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart,
for I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.
Then Simon answered, Prayed the Lord for me, so that nothing you
have said may happen to me. After they had further
proclaimed the words of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter
and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many
Samaritan villages. This is word of God.
And we are in Acts chapter 8. We've been walking our way
through this book of Acts for quite some time now actually.
And we're going to take a break for Christmas in a couple of
weeks time. But in this history of the early
church written by a man called Luke, Luke wants to show his
readers several things. He wants to show us what it
looks like to be on mission with the risen Jesus.
That's the title we've given this whole series.
He I want to show us what it looks like to receive the power
of the Holy Spirit so that we can live as witnesses for Jesus
in this world. And I want to show us what it
means to live together as Jesus, church on mission with him in
this world. And Acts chapter 8, the bit
we're in today, it begins at a very dark moment in the history
of the church, because we have the early church under attack
here in Acts chapter 8. It begins with the followers of
Jesus in a dark and difficult place.
And Luke imagines us asking the question on their behalf, but
also on our own behalf. What is the Lord doing in times
of pain and loss? Again, the early church, they
have just lost their first leader, Stephen.
If you're last week, he was murdered by the religious
leaders. And for the early church, As for
Christians throughout history right up to the present, we find
ourselves asking what is the Lord doing in times of pain and
loss? Where is God when it hurts?
Where is God when his people are struggling and it seems God's
enemies are winning because the early church here is under
attack? On the surface, it looks like
all the work we've been reading about in chapters one to seven
is beginning to fall apart. The early church is scattered in
the opening verses of Acts 8. Look at verse one again with me
on that day, to the day that Stephen was murdered by the
religious leaders in Jerusalem. On that day, a great persecution
broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the
apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
Things look bleak for the early Christians.
People are being forced from their homes.
They're being dragged off to prison.
The days of toleration of the early church in Jerusalem, they
are now over. And yet Luke wants to show us in
the verses that follow that Jesus is working even through
this persecution. We want to show us that finally,
in this chapter of Acts that starts in such a dark place, the
gospel finally reaches Samaria. The Samaritan people, historical
enemies of the Jewish people, hated and despised for so long,
but now they're being gathered into the early church through
faith in the risen Jesus. And the Holy Spirit is
empowering them to live for Jesus too.
Seeing all that follows in this dark moment in the life of the
early church, Luke wants us to see something even in the
darkest of times. The risen Jesus is building his
church through the witness of his scattered people.
Jesus isn't absent. He's not abandoned his people at
this moment. No, He is actually working
through the hardship, the lost, the persecution to accomplish
his purpose. I think there's real
encouragement for every local church and every follower of
Jesus in this bit of acts. In many ways, this bit of acts,
we see Jesus keeping one of the most precious promises he made
to his disciples when he was here on earth.
We read that promise in Matthew 16, verse 18, where Jesus says
very simply, I will build my church and the gates of hell
will not overcome it. For the early Christians, it
might have felt like the gates of hell had opened.
They were being scattered from their homes, but Jesus is still
with them. Jesus is still building his
church through ordinary suffering, fallen people like
them. And today Jesus builds his
church through ordinary suffering, fallen people like
us. And nothing and no one can stop
what Jesus is doing. Let's look at this passage
together. Now he acts it again.
These opening verses. The early church is scattered
versus 1, so 3. Stephen has just been killed by
the religious leaders. He's died a brutal and bloody
and violent death. They've thrown rocks at him
until he died. And on that day, Luke says, a
great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem.
And all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and
Samaria. So before this moment, there
was, if you like, an uneasy truce in Jerusalem between the
religious leaders and the early church.
Back in Acts Chapter 5, you're with us.
One of the members of the Sanhedrin, A respected teacher
called Gamelio, said, let's leave these Christians alone.
Let's see if what they are saying is really from God and to
religious leaders. They still flog the apostles at
that point, but they're kind of stepping back and waiting to see
what will happen. But then in Acts chapter 8,
Stephen's trial and execution changes everything.
The days of tolerating the early church are now over.
The early Christians are driven from their homes, some drag to
prison. Only the apostles still enjoy
one the some measure of protection.
They're allowed to stay in Jerusalem.
The rest of the Christians are driven out into Judea and
Samaria. Verse 2 Stephen is buried,
probably by sympathetic Jewish believers.
If the Christians are being scattered and he is mourned for
deeply, Luke says Stephen's a huge loss to the church.
This hurts the early Christians. And then verse 3, we made a new
figure who will loom large for the next while.
The figure of Saul and Luke says in no uncertain terms in verse
3. And Saul began to destroy the
church. It was Saul's mission in life.
He is going house to house, reminding us that in the early
church, people didn't meet in church buildings.
They met in people's homes. And Saul is systematically
seeking to wipe out the church one house at a time.
He's dragging off both men and women to prison.
It is a terrifying picture of the church under attack by
savage enemies of God's people. And Fast forward, Fast forward
to the present day. The grim reality is there are
still plenty of souls at work in our world today.
A few weeks ago, if you were here, we observed persecution
Sunday. Together we prayed for believers
around the world who are persecuted for their faith in
places like North Korea, Iran, China, Somalia.
We learnt that one in seven Christians living today across
the world, one in seven faces severe persecution for their
faith in Jesus. A couple weeks after that, I
went to Blackpool to the FIC Leaders Conference.
The focus was on world mission. We spent the middle evening
praying for the persecuted church worldwide or the
particular focus on Nigeria and Sudan.
And I'm sitting there and you may know one of our mission
partners that the Wallace family, Matt and Lisa Wallace,
and their children are in Nigeria.
And we know that the more Christians are killed for their
faith in Nigeria than in all the other countries of the world
combined, that the world of persecution didn't end in Acts
chapter 8. They're so countless Christians
today, persecuted for their faith, scattered from their
homes, dragged off to prison, killed for what they believe.
The world of Acts 8 is still the world we live in today.
And many of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the
world are on the front line today.
And so of course, for them, just As for the early Christians,
they might ask at times, what is the Lord doing right now for the
early church? They're thinking, well, well,
things were going so well, we were growing so great.
Why? Why is it we're suddenly facing
fierce opposition? And this early church that has
just been growing and growing is now scattered.
So the early church feels finished in Jerusalem.
But then verse 4 and following and I'd say the picture and the
mood changes dramatically. It's as if looks or wants to
pull back the curtain a little and show what is really
happening behind the scenes at this moment.
And what is happening is the risen Jesus is building his
church. The church may be scattered by
persecution, but it's through that very scattering that Jesus
is at work building and extending his Kingdom in this
world. The gospel finally reaches
Samaria. That's verses four and five.
Those being scattered preach the Word wherever they went.
And Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the
Messiah there. And we might think, well, what's
the significance of that? Well, to understand that we need
to kind of flick back to the very beginning of Acts, Acts
chapter 1 and the opening Commission that Jesus gives his
disciples there Acts chapter one, verse 8, Jesus says this,
you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and
you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and
Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
Some of that verse is seen as like the contents page for the
book of Acts. It shows how Luke structures his
book, and up to the end of Chapter 7, we've seen the
disciples as witnesses for Jesus in Jerusalem.
But now from chapter 8, Jesus is leading his people outside the
city of Jerusalem and into all Judea and even into Samaria.
It is a key moment in the book of Acts.
And it's clear that even behind the attacks of his enemies,
Jesus is at work. He's leading his people on
mission to proclaim the gospel to people who haven't yet heard
it. So what?
We learn from this unique moment in church history and there's a
lot for us to see in this chapter.
First of all, I think we learn this.
We learn that every believer is a witness for Jesus.
Every believer is a witness for Jesus.
It's a real, real moment in the book of Acts because up to this
point, up to the end of Chapter 7, the apostles have taken the
lead on Jesus mission. They've been the ones preaching
and teaching. They've been the ones leading
the way. But now Luke tells us the
apostles are still in Jerusalem. The apostles are staying behind
is the other ordinary believers who've been scattered across
Judea and Samaria. And Luke tells us those who had
been scattered preach the word wherever they went.
And then what does that mean? Preach the words?
I don't think it means that every ordinary believer was sort
of standing up, like maybe I am now and gathering a grip and
then then monologuing for 20 minutes.
I'm not sure that is what it means actually.
The word here, the Greek word that Luke uses is the same word
often translated as evangelize, to share good news, to bring
good news. The picture Luke is painting
here is of ordinary followers of Jesus sharing the good news of
Jesus in informal, ordinary conversations and the impact
it's having on the people they meet.
Again, some some church leaders call this maybe gossiping the
gospel and it's actually something Chrissy that every
single believer can do. It's not restricted to apostles
or prophets or church leaders. That is the picture that Luke
paints of every ordinary believer can do this.
We can evangelize. We can share the gospel
informally, person to person and that is what these early
believers were doing. Now it's clear that the apostles
still have a vital part to play. We're going to meet Peter and
John in a little moment. We've got Philip, one of the
seven, still leading the way. But it's as if Luke is
challenging his readers here. What about you?
Will you play your part in Jesus mission wherever he has
scattered you in your life? And Jesus knew what he was doing
when he put these believers in the places he put them in.
Actually, one commentator suggests that the very fact that
they're in Judea and Samaria is itself a witness to Jesus.
People would say, well, well, hang on, you're from Jerusalem.
What are you doing out here? What are you doing in Judea?
What are you doing in Samaria? And they would say, well,
actually, I'm, I'm a follower of Jesus.
And we were driven from our homes.
We had to come here. I said, who's Jesus?
What does it mean to follow him? And then they can talk, and they
can share who Jesus is. They can talk about all they
have seen of him, who he is, and what he has done for us.
We can share Jesus in whatever place God has put us as ordinary
believers. It's not just the apostles and
prophets. It's all of us.
That's worth saying. We we aren't all evangelists
like Philip or the apostles, but we can all evangelize like the
early believers did through word and deed, through loving the
people around us, through praying for the people around
us, through provoking questions and then making the most of
opportunities when those questions get asked.
The apostle Peter puts it like this, writing to a group of
believers scattered across Asia. He says in one Peter 315 to 16
In your hearts Revere Christ as Lord, to live with Jesus as
Lord. And always be prepared to give
an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the
hope you have. Do this with gentleness and
respect, keeping a clear conscience, so those who speak
maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be
ashamed of their slander. This is what ordinary Christians
are called to do. We're not called to be like
Philip necessarily, and to break new grind and to proclaim to a
city in Samaria the good news. But we can in our lives Revere
Christ as Lord, pray for questions to be asked of us, and
then answer those questions in the power of the Spirit that is
ordinary Christian witness. Luke says it's sort of almost
begins in verse 4 with this scattering out of Jerusalem.
We each have a part to play on mission with Jesus.
But again, gloriously, Luke also says there are certain people in
the church with particular rules.
And he introduces us to this man called Philip.
And Philip, he's, he's one of the seven.
I was appointed by the early church back in Acts 6 to
distribute food to the widows there.
He's described as a man full of the spirit and wisdom.
And later in Acts, Luke refers to him as Philip the evangelist.
That's Acts 21, verse 8. Philip's actually the only named
evangelist in the New Testament. And here in Acts chapter 8, we
sort of see Philip in action. Philip breaks new ground for
Jesus. That's what an evangelist does.
They break new ground for the gospel.
They're particularly gifted by God for like first contact
evangelism. And then they help other
believers make the most of opportunities to speak of Jesus.
Evangelists like Philip are a gift from Jesus to the wider
church. And to begin to understand just
how significant it is that what Philip is doing in Samaria, we
need to remember, maybe learn for the first time, just how
deeply Jewish people and Samaritan people hated each
other in the 1st century. There were centuries of division
and hatred, and suddenly those centuries are being overturned
by Jesus. The history is that the
Samaritans and Jews, they were once simply Israelites, part of
the nation of Israel. 92 BC the Kingdom is divided.
Israel to the north, that's 10 tribes, it's capital is Samaria,
that's where the word Samaritan comes from.
Judah to the South, 2 tribes, it's capital is Jerusalem.
So they're divided. 722 BC, better history for you.
The northern kingdoms conquered, carried off into exile by the
Assyrians. And when those exiles from the
north continue return, sorry, they intermarry with the nations
around them. And that means the Jewish people
in the South go, well those guys, they're not really
Israelites anymore. They've intermarry, they don't
trust in God anymore and they began to despise them by the
time of Jesus. Jews and Samarans are deeply
divided. Samarans worship God on Mount
Gerizim. Jews worship God the temple in
Jerusalem. With wonderful understatement,
the writer of John's gospel, John says Jews do not associate
with Samarans. That's really putting it mildly.
But yet in the Gospels, Jesus himself reaches out to a
Samaritan woman at a well and her whole time in John four with
many coming to faith and Acts one verse 8 we saw a moment ago,
Jesus calls his disciples to be his witnesses in Samaria.
And the great thing here is that Jesus is leading his people on
mission even to places they don't want to go.
The risen Jesus wants Samaritan people in his church and he
sends Philip to them to proclaim the gospel to them.
So Philip arrives verse 5 in either a city in Samaria, that's
how the NIV translates it, or some transition to V city in
Samaria, maybe a reference to that capital city Samaria from
the Old Testament. And what is Philip's message of
I? Simply?
Philip's message is Jesus. He just talks about Jesus a lot
in the power of the Spirit. Again, the Samaritans were were
close enough links to the Jewish people that they too were
waiting for God to send a rescuer to put things right.
Now the Jewish people wanted that rescuer to be a king, a
descendant of David. The Samaritans are waiting for
someone they referred to as Taheb, literally the restorer, a
prophet like Moses Phillips message to the Samaritans is the
same message he would have given to Jewish people.
Jesus is the one we've been waiting for, the one you've been
longing for God to send. His name is Jesus.
He is God's prophet, God's restorer, God's rescuer.
And little later in verse 12, Lew records another aspect of of
Philip's message. He proclaimed the good news of
the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus.
Basically, God's king has come to put things right and his name
is Jesus. Philip's message is all about
Jesus. He doesn't start with the
religious divisions and debates between Jews and Samaritans.
He doesn't just give them good spiritual advice to live a good
life. No, he talks about Jesus, who he
is and all that he has done. It is good news about Jesus
because it's not like something we do.
It's about what Jesus has done for us.
And again, amazingly, Luke tells us that Philip was empowered by
God verses 6:00 and 7:00 to perform great signs and
miracles. And those signs pointed clearly
to the person and power of Jesus.
We're told that the Philip was able to drive impure spirits out
of many. That shows Jesus authority over
evil. Philip is able to heal those who
are paralyzed or lame. That shows Jesus power to
restore what is broken. Those signs, like they are all
the way through the New Testament, are signs of God's
Kingdom breaking into the present.
God's Kingdom that will come finally when Jesus returns to
bring a glorious new creation with him.
And there are moments in history, like Acts 8, where that
Kingdom breaks in and points powerfully to Jesus.
They are signs, says Luke. A sign isn't meant to take all
our attention onto it. The sign points us to something
or to someone. And these signs pointed the
Samaritans to Jesus. And this was a unique moment in
salvation history. Fast forward to today, and
sometimes, gloriously, signs and miracles still happen.
They happen in God's church around the world.
They happen in God's church even here in this country.
We can and should pray for healing when we know people
struggling. We should thank God when He does
heal, as He has done in recent times in our church family.
And above all, we should pray that those signs and miracles
will achieve their purpose, not for us to be obsessed with them,
but for them to point us to Jesus, who he is and all he has
done for everyone who trusts in Him and that great new creation
he's going to bring one day, where sin and death and
suffering will be no more. Philip is breaking new grind for
Jesus here. It's a unique moment in
salvation history. And then there's this weird
moment in verses 14 to 17 where there's a delay in the Holy
Spirit coming on the Samaritans. I want to say that what what
Luke's trying to show us here is it's the same Jesus at work in
the lives of Samaritans as he was at working Jewish people.
It's the same gospel at work in Samaria as was at work in
Jerusalem. And the Samaritans are welcome
into the same church that those Jewish believers were in, the
church loved by Jesus and bought by him.
If you like verses 14 to 17 or the description, you could call
it the Samaritan Pentecost. Verse 14, we learned of the
apostles in Jerusalem hear about what's happening in Samaria, and
they send two of their leaders, Peter and John, to come and see
what the Word of God has been doing just on the screen there.
When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that
they might receive the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit
had not yet come on any of them. They had simply been baptized in
the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their
hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
And what's going on here? Why was there this delay in the
Samaritan believers receiving the Holy Spirit?
And this past has been interpreted many ways by
different church traditions in different ways.
So according to some Roman Catholic teaching, actually, it
teaches that that believers need church leaders to come and place
their hands on new believers after baptism to confirm they
truly are believers, and only then do they receive the Holy
Spirit. That's one line of Catholic
understanding of this passage. According to some Pentecostal
and charismatic teaching, actually, it teaches that
conversion is always a two stage process.
The first step, you believe and are baptized.
The second step, you receive the Holy Spirit.
That's what some Pentecostal and charismatic traditions
understand. It's not what this passage is
teaching here. Again, I find it really helpful
always to see where different church traditions get some of
their theology and practice from.
But I don't believe Luke is presenting Axiate as the normal
shape of the Christian life and of Christian conversion.
Again, we need to remember this is a unique moments in the
history of the church, and every time the gospel breaks new grind
in Acts, there is a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit to
prove that God himself draws near to everyone who puts their
faith in Jesus, even people we might imagine would never be
welcomed by God. That happens on the day of
Pentecost when this ramshackle group of Jews are in Jerusalem
and the Holy Spirit comes on Pentecost.
It happens in Acts 10. We're going to see in a few
months time when the Roman centurion Cornelius and his
household put their faith in Jesus.
And it happens here when despised Samaritans are welcomed
into the church through their faith in Jesus.
So there's not a delay because some of the Samaritans are
second class Christians or because they need to wait for a
second blessing of the Samaritan.
Christians needed to be welcomed into the people of God by the
apostles with the full blessing of the apostles.
So be clear to everyone at that point that Jew and Samaritan are
equal members of the Church of Jesus because of their simple
faith in Jesus. The Samaritan Pentecost is about
the unity of the Church. The Holy Spirit now lives in
every Samaritan who puts their faith in Jesus.
People who once were enemies are now united in the church simply
through their faith in Jesus. And the Spirit is the sign of
that unity. And the Spirit lives in every
man, woman and child today who puts their faith in Jesus.
There's no need for a delay now. The Spirit comes when we claim
Jesus as Lord, we repent of our sins, we ask him into our lives.
We say, I will follow you, Jesus.
And the Spirit comes and lives in US, empowering us to be
witnesses for Jesus. OK, it's a big moment, actually,
that Jesus is building his church in the face of
persecution, in the face of believers being scattered, in
the face of huge cultural barriers that have existed for
centuries. But again, look, it's so
realistic because we might think again, well, Jesus building his
church, it's going to be just a non-stop victory train, a
victory lap of joy. But actually it's always messier
than that. Luke tells us it's never
straightforward. Whenever and wherever Jesus is
at work saving people and building his church, there are
not only genuine responses to the gospel, there also are often
false responses to the gospel. And we see this in our last
little section with this man called Simon the sorcerer.
Feel like he is a cautionary tale here.
And there's so much we can say about Sam.
We don't have much time. He's a sorcerer looks as without
particular surprise. This is the first encounter,
actually, between Christianity and magic in the book of Acts.
It won't be the last. There are several moments where
the church grows in a context where people are fascinated by
magic and the dark arts. What does Luke tell us about
Simon? He practised sorcery in the city
and he had a large following of Samaritan people as a result.
Simon, he was a pretty big deal. In Samaria verse 10, all the
people both high and low gave Simon their attention and
exclaimed, This man is rightly called the great power of God.
Now Noah, does Luke suggest Simon's a fraudster or he's he's
faking it? Simon genuinely practice magic.
He trusted in spiritual forces other than the living God and he
was hugely popular as a result. It's fascinating for us today in
a more rational age. The Bible doesn't dismiss magic
as just something superstitious, doesn't just say we should be
more rational than that. The message actually of axiate
with this inter encounter with Simon is that after the coming
of Jesus, his life, death and resurrection, we no longer have
to fear spiritual forces opposed to God in the name of Jesus.
Christians have authority over evil because we share in Jesus
victory over sin, death and the devil.
Luke wants to see Simon as this powerful guy but actually in the
face of the gospel message about Jesus, Simon couldn't compete
and it just turns Simon's world upside down.
Verse 10. Before Philip came, people gave
Simon their attention. Verse 10, after Philip came
proclaiming Jesus and word, indeed, verse 6, they all paid
close attention to what Philip said.
Simon's time of fame and popularity is at an end.
And so we might say, well, how is Simon going to respond to
this, to the coming of the Gospel in Samaria?
Well, that gives us an amazing answer.
In verse 13, he says Simon himself believed and was
baptized. It's an amazing moment.
Simon himself is gripped by this message of who Jesus is.
He doesn't try and beat Philip and the other believers.
Instead he joins them. Simon the sorcerer puts his
faith in Jesus and is baptized. It's a real surprising moment.
And yet I've called Simon a cautionary tale here because
very quickly it seems there's something not quite right with
Simon's profession of faith in Jesus.
And it comes to a head when Peter and John come to visit.
So Peter and John arrive in Samaria.
They pray for the Samaritan believers.
They place their hands on them. The Samaritan believers receive
the Holy Spirit. And Simon's response is an ugly
one. Verse 18 Simon offered Peter and
John money and said, give me also this ability, so that
everyone whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.
Simon tries to buy the Holy Spirit.
He wants to buy God and God's power.
It seems that old habits die hard for Simon.
He's still thinking like a sorcerer.
He still thinks he can control what God is doing and make
himself great in the process. And Peter denounces Simon in the
strongest possible terms. Verse 20, May your money perish
with you because you thought you could buy the gift of God with
money. And Peter calls Simon to
repentance. Repent of this wickedness and
pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for
having such a thought in your heart.
And that's where Luke leaves Simon.
Was Simon a genuine believer? It's hard to say.
Luke describes Simon as he does the other Samaritans.
Verse 13, He believed and was baptized.
And yet there are worrying signs here.
Right from the beginning, Luke down at verse 13.
Again we learned that Simon followed Philip everywhere.
He was more interested in Philip and following him than maybe he
was in following Jesus. Simon was astonished by the
great signs and miracles he saw. Again, he seemed more interested
in the signs Philip performed than he was in the message
Philip proclaimed. Basically reading this this
week, I think Luke just doesn't tell us whether Simon did repent
in the end, whether he confessed his sin was forgiven by God,
continue to follow Jesus. We just don't know.
Early church tradition records Simon becoming a false teacher,
drawing people away from the gospel for money, twisting the
message of Jesus. But in the end, we just don't
know how Simon's story ended. But it acts like a cautionary
tale, a warning sign to us. Not everyone who professes faith
in Jesus turns out to be a genuine believer.
And the only way to know if someone's faith is genuine, What
do they keep following Jesus? Do they confess their sin and
ask Jesus to forgive them? Do they follow Jesus as Lord of
their lives? Do they love God above all else
and follow him in the community of His church?
Only time will tell. For any of us, mission can be
messy. Lucas telling us that Jesus is
at work. That's the message of acting.
Jesus is building his church in this world and nothing and
nobody can stop him. He's building his church even
three times of loss and hardship.
Stephen was a huge loss to the church, and they're scattered,
they're persecuted, they're driven away from their homes.
But Jesus is at work through that.
And it's the same today across the world.
Christians are persecuted for their faith in places like
Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, China, Iran.
And yet the churches in those countries are often seeing
remarkable growth in people coming to faith in Jesus.
Whereas maybe more settled, peaceful countries like in the
West see less of that. Jesus builds his church even
three times of persecution and difficulty, and Jesus builds
this church through the witness of ordinary believers like us.
I think verse 4 is just remarkable.
In this passage, again, the apostles are back in Jerusalem,
but those who've been scattered preach the word wherever they
went. Ordinary believers built Jesus
church through their witness to him.
Again, if you think of maybe individuals, if you're a
Christian here today who shared the gospel with you, maybe they
were really ordinary fallen people.
Maybe they weren't great at everything.
Maybe they're a bit unimpressive.
But Jesus builds his church through weak, unimpressive
people like us, like the early believers.
And verse 4, we might not all be Philips, we might all be gifted
evangelists, but we each can play our part on mission with
Jesus. We can love our neighbors, we
can pray for them, we can pray for each other, pray for
opportunities to speak of Jesus and be ready to give an answer
when those questions come. We each have a part to play in
Jesus mission. And finally, the risen Jesus
building his church by calling unlikely people to trust in him.
Again. We don't get it when we read
this, but you couldn't get more unlikely than the Samaritans.
Despised, hated by the Jewish people and yet they are now
welcomed into the church through simple faith in Jesus the
rescuer. They were waiting for the King
come to put things right then it wasn't without its challenges
and it's bumps and it's Mass. The the story of Simon is a
cautionary tale, but actually we want to call people to follow
Jesus. We want to call unlikely people
to trust in him because we are all pretty unlikely Christians.
If you've lost sight of that, if you think, well, of course I
follow Jesus. I'm a good guy.
I'm I'm a spiritual person. Well, you've lost sight of just
how unlikely it is that you get to call the Son of God, Lord and
the God he made the universe Father.
And you get to have God, the Holy Spirit live in you,
empowering you in this world to live as a witness for Jesus.
Jesus delights to call unlikely people to trust in him.
Samaritans, Irish people, British people, insert the name.
The reason Jesus is building his church through the witness of
his scattered people. So I want to say I'd say it for
all it's drama and it's challenge, this is a passage to
help us just take heart. We give out batches of Flyers a
few minutes ago. It's our Carol service season.
It is Christmas coming as we give out invitations to our
Carol services, whether that's in person to someone.
There's a big sash on the table. Well, that's through a
letterbox. Someone you may never meet, you
hear their dog barking and that's it.
Actually, we can pray that actually God will use our
witness. The risen Jesus will work
through the witness of his people to build his church in
this city at this point in history.
And he will do that through the witness of ordinary, flawed,
weak people like us. Jesus says I will build my
church and the gates of hell will not overcome it.
Well, we play our part in what Jesus wants to do in this world.