The death of Stephen has a three-fold chain of cause and
effect :
(i) His
martyrdom leads to a great persecution
(ii) The great
persecution leads to a great dispersion
(iii) The great
dispersion resulted in widespread evangelism
Truly, the gates of hell shall never overcome the church,
because the foundation of the church is Jesus Christ, who has overcome the evil
one through His death on the cross! Satan is bound in this age. The Gospel must triumph.
A wonderful thing has
happened in the 20th century.
In 1949, when the Communists came into power in China, 637 China Inland
Missionaries had to leave. Contrary to
popular expectation Christianity has not
died in China, but has grown significantly
by means of local evangelists. There
are now 40 or 50 times more Christians in China under persecution, than the
time when the missionaries had left. The
exact figures are not known. Official government figures puts the number at
around 23 million Christians in 2010, but a Pew Research Center report estimates that
there may be close to 68 million Christians in China (which is 5 % of total
population). [1] Another report maintains that there may be as many as 200 million Christians[2]. The lack of credible statistics on how many
Christians there are in China today have led to estimates that vary widely.
…. Which brings us to the point!
In Chapter 8 we are introduced to the second of the major
5 characters in terms of the foundation of the mission to
the gentiles: Philip the evangelist. Philip,
like Stephen was one of the seven, who were chosen to take care of the diaconal or social responsibilities of the
church. (Acts 6)
It immediately strikes us that these men did not only engage
in diaconal work, but we note that Stephen proved to be a competent theologian
and a discerner of spiritual issues, and he showed the ruling council, the Sanhedrin up!
Philip impresses us with his bold evangelism of the
Samaritans and also the Ethiopian eunuch
on the road between Jerusalem to Gaza. All this was really remarkable and
totally uncharacteristic for a Jew, who regarded the Samaritans as untouchable (cf.
John 4 - the Samaritan woman). As for the Ethiopians, they were
gentiles too! The only
explanation for this unusual boldness is that the Holy Spirit was truly at work here.
We may divide the story of Philip into two sections:
(i) proclaiming the gospel to the Samaritans (8:5
- 25)
(ii) proclaiming the gospel to an
Ethiopian eunuch (8:26 - 40).We will consider this story next time .
1.PHILIP BRINGS THE GOSPEL TO THE SAMARITANS (8:4-8) :
Philip evangelises the city: 8:4 begins with the phrase "those who had been
scattered went about preaching
the word ( lit. evangelised i.e. announced
the good news) wherever they went." 8:5 tells us that Philip proclaimed (Gr. kerusso - to proclaim/herald) the
Christ (Messiah) in Samaria.
It is interesting to note that the Samaritans were also expecting a
Messiah (see Jn. 4:25). Remember too that in that context (Jn.
4:26) Jesus plainly claims that He is the Messiah who the Jews and they, the Samaritans are waiting for! Jesus therefore
announces Himself to be the Messiah of the Jews and the gentiles. In that context too, we take note that the
Samaritans are ready to believe in Jesus
(Jn. 4:39 - 42) and here they plainly state that they
believe that this man really is the Saviour of the world.
As Philip proclaims the Christ, and as he does miraculous
signs they paid close attention (Gr. prosecho) to what He said. Oh, what a
tremendous phrase that is. Give your
close and full and undivided attention to the gospel, and you will see greater
things than you have ever seen before! Many people are simply not bothered to
examine the gospel, and so they easily miss the narrow road that leads to life!
And so we see that the
gospel is not only confronting the dark
and unbelieving hearts of men, but it also confronts the dark forces of evil, "for unclean spirits crying
out with a loud voice came out of many who had them..." (8:7) Who can stand before this gospel? What power can stand
before God? (Rom.1:16,17)
No wonder that there was much joy in that
city! (8:8)
2. SIMON THE SORCERER PROFESSES FAITH (8:9-24)
Before Philip arrived in
the city, it had been under the spell of a very different sort of power. A man
named Simon had amazed all the people of
Samaria because of his great magic (8:11).
He was known as "the man who is the power of God that is called Great’” (8:10). But now he finds himself
challenged by Philip. This
was the authority of Christ that confronted and triumphed over the
"lesser greater powers "! What
Simon saw convinced him that he was
outclassed! The demons know that too, and they shudder! (James 2:19).
Philip's preaching concerning the good news of the kingdom of
God and the name of Jesus Christ, caused many in Samaria to believe, and like the first
converts in Acts 2, they were baptised in response to their profession of
faith.
This is great!
The gospel triumphs!
Men and women are snatched out of
the kingdom of darkness and heaven rejoices in welcoming its lost sons and
daughters.
Two tricky issues, arise from this text:
(i) Simon claims
to believe and is baptised (8:13),
but his false motives in believing are later exposed (18 - 24). So the first tricky issue is whether it is possible that
someone may profess faith, be baptised, and yet subsequently prove to be an apostate.
(ii) The second
tricky issue (which has caused division in the modern church) relates to the
happenings in 8:14 - 18. Here we see that the Samaritan believers receive the Holy Spirit after their profession of
faith, and at the laying on of hands by the apostles. What did the apostles
have which Philip did not? Is the Christian experience
of salvation a "one-stage" or "two stage" experience?
The Issues Resolved
1. Is it possible to profess faith and be baptised and yet be lost?
Yes it is! Read 8:18 &19! Simon was tempted to purchase this power. Peter immediately rebuked Simon publicly for imagining that God's gift could
be bought (8:20). Simon’s true heart was exposed in an instant. Peter rebuked him
and to told him to repent. The words in 8:23
are deeply instructive: "I see that
you are in the gall of bitterness and in
the bond of iniquity”. Simon Magus was a false professor. He was still ruled by evil.
This teaches us that
only time can tell whether a profession is sincere. Out of the overflow
of the heart the mouth eventually speaks! We
have no record here of Simon repenting!
I have met people like this, who have attempted to turn the
spiritual into the commercial, and to manipulate the things of God in order to gain prominence in the church of
God. They have no share in this ministry because their heart is not right with
God! No matter how much we profess to be
Christian and no matter whether we have been baptised in response to that profession -
by our fruit, or fruitlessness, we shall be known. The Holy Spirit will sooner
or later bring out our true nature, by taking us through the fire of
purification (see also 1 Cor. 3:12-15).
2. Should we expect a 'second blessing' subsequent to our conversion?
Does this passage
teach a two stage experience in our lives? Should we expect the Holy Spirit to be given in a spearte experience, after our conversion experience?
Those who hold to are two stage initiation come from groups at the opposite
end of the church spectrum i.e. Catholics and Anglo Catholics on the one
end and Pentecostals and some Charismatics on the other end.
Catholics and Anglo Catholics (Anglicans) teach that the first stage is baptism which is conferred upon an infant, and the
second stage is confirmation by a bishop.
Pentecostal churches and some Charismatic churches also teach
a two stage initiation, but formulate it differently. To them the first stage
consists of conversion followed by water baptism, while the second stage is a 'baptism
in or by the Holy Spirit', followed by the gift tongues which is often, but not always associated with the laying on of hands by a Pentecostal/ Charismatic leader.
And so we have this situation where the Samaritans are described as not yet having received the Spirit. They have simply
been baptised into Christ. That sounds
like a typical Old Testament style of baptism, such as John the Baptist would have practised (see
also Acts 19:2-7). There is
as yet no "fire" (i.e. Holy Spirit ) baptism, such as is associated with the the Lord Jesus Christ!
So what is happening here? Why was it necessary for an official apostolic delegation from Jerusalem to
confirm the work of Philip? For what
special reason could God have withheld the Spirit? The most logical explanation is this. This was the first occasion on which
the gospel had been proclaimed outside Judea
and in gentile territory!
It was step two in terms
of our key verse in Acts 1:8 "… You
will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria … to the ends of the earth."
The
conversion of the Samaritans was the
official first fruits of the gentile mission field. This was a
moment of significant advance in the kingdom of God! Something special needed
to happen,just as special as in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost! This public sign of the Holy Spirit’s outpouring had been first given in Jerusalem in the presence of the apostles, Christ’s appointed leaders.
This act and the following manifestation now
joined these two works! Believing Jews and believing gentiles are now God's
new people - Christians - the church of God! Baptised by one Spirit, and possessing one
faith, one Lord (Eph. 4:5). This was the sign that the Samaritans
(symbolic of the gentile harvest field) were incorporated on precisely the same
terms as the Jewish converts. There was now one body, because there was one
Spirit. The dividing wall had finally come
down. (Eph. 2:11-22).
CONCLUSION:
And so we see that the gospel spreads, just as Jesus had said , and despite the incredible odds. The power of the gospel is greater
than any demonic power. It is mightier than our sin and our fallen natures. Our Saviour is mightier
than the great powers of the Universe.
We see what God can do through one man, Philip,whose life is yielded to Jesus.
Above
all we see how the gospel of the kingdom of God finally unites the scattered people of God, Jews and Gentiles into one body!
There is something very wrong
with that 20th century phenomenon – the so called Pentecostal and Charismatic revival, because
by it the church was not gathered but scattered. The division of the modern church is truly terrible to behold. This is
so because of its insistence on
experience and not on the objective Word of God.
Hear Jesus’s words in Luke
11:23: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather
with me scatters.” That is what is
happening today. Many are scattering the church, but the testimony of the Bible shows us that the true gospel unites the people of God. Hold on to the gospel, dear ones.
Amen !
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