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Good News Everywhere | Acts 8:1-25

Good News Everywhere | Acts 8:1-25

Good News Everywhere | Acts 8:1-25

July 31, 2013

Book: Acts

Rev. Shine Thomas

Rev. Shine Thomas

INTRODUCTION

  • It took persecution to get the church to begin to do what Jesus had commanded then back in Acts 1:8.
  • Ironically, Saul spreads the church before conversion by persecuting believers.
  • Those who suffer for Christ are people who count the cost and are more radical. Generally, those who suffer for Christ are the ones who are more committed (Not a norm though). Philadelphia and Smyrna in Revelation.

Acts 8:1-4

The Church Persecuted and Scattered

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. 4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

Acts 8:2 Stephen’s Burial

    • Dying unburied was a great dishonour
    • Risking one’s life to bury was considered honourable and heroic
    • Adult sons or those closest to deceased normally would bury them.
    • Public mourning for condemned criminals were prohibited.
    • Stephen’s pious friends ignore the illegal ruling and they mourn for him.
  • Acts 8:3. Saul’s zeal: Detaining women as well as men.
  • Acts 8:4. As the church is scattered most believers take the message with them wherever they God. Most ancient religions were spread by travellers.
    • The focus in the book of Acts is on the apostles, but other believers also did evangelize, Acts 11:19-20.

Philip

  • Acts 6:5 introduced Stephen and then Philip
  • Acts 7 addresses Stephen and lays the groundwork for mission beyond Jerusalem.
  • Acts 8 we find Philip.

Acts 8:5-13

5Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8So there was great joy in that city.

Simon the Sorcerer

 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 12But 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. 13Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

Philip is the first one to carry the mission beyond Jerusalem and Judea. He is one of he seven leaders selected in Acts 6.

Acts 8:5-13 The Conversion Of Samaria

  • Acts 8:5. Probably refers to the main Samaritan city, Neapolis, on the site of ancient Shechem (Acts 7:15-16)
  • Acts 8:9. Many people come to faith. One of the persons he comes into is Simon the sorcerer.
    • Gentiles used magic a lot.
    • Love magic: They try to seduce people to like you, magic was used to burn with passion for you.
    • Sports Magic: When you would use magic to kill your opponents, make their chariots crash, magic for your team to win.
    • Magic worked by invoking a higher spirit to deal with the lower spirit.

Magic was very widely used in Egypt. But Jewish practitioners were considered some of the best in magic, despite the fact that some teachers said that magic is very bad. Rabbis condemned magic. Jewish people liked magic because magic worked by invoking a higher spirit to deal with the lower spirit. Jewish people were known to know the secret name of their deity. YAHWEH was considered the secret name and in magic sometime people will try every possible permutation of how to pronounce that divine name, over some of the things that people thought was dis-permutations of the divine name. The vowels were also used for magic. In any case, Jewish practitioners of magic were highly reputed.

You see a Jewish magician, Jewish false prophet in Acts 13, you see the seven sons of Sceva.

Acts 19:13-16

13Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

17When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

In any case, Simon in Samaria had gained a lot of notoriety from the practice of magic.

Nearby city to Samaria was Sebaste: Greeks had one universal male deity, and one female one.

Justin Martyr (2nd Century) from Minneapolis or the Samaritan area said that the tradition there was that Simon was portrayed as the incarnation of male deity. His counterpart, Helena was portrayed as the incarnation of the female deity.

Acts 8:10-11

He boasted that he was someone great, 10and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.

  • Acts 8:10 Simon claimed to be the Great Power of God.

Now remember that there are people in Acts who claimed to be somebody.

  • Gamaliel said in Acts 5:36 that Theudas claimed to be somebody. In Acts 12:21-23
  • Herod Agrippa I wanted to receive worship as a deity.
  • By contrast Peter rejected veneration/reverence. Acts 3:12.
  • In Acts 14:11-13 Paul and Barnabas rejects veneration.

Here is Simon who wants to be exalted. What did Jesus say in Luke 14:11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Acts 8:12-13

12But 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. 13Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

  • Acts 8:12
  • Samaritans are baptized by Philip. Already circumcised Samaritans would have converted to Judaism by baptism alone.
  • But a Samaritan’s conversion to Judaism viewed as tantamount (the same as) to denying their identity as a Samaritan. It was viewed as a traitor to one’s people.
  • For a Jew to invite Samaritans to follow the Messiah was views as betrayal to Judaism.
  • This follows the theological program of decentralized witness that was argued in Acts 7 and promoted by Jesus in Acts 1:8.

Acts 8:13

Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

  • Acts 8:13
  • Here we see a Power Encounter: Pagan sorcerers sometimes could duplicate some of God’s signs.

Exodus 7:8-12

8The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.” 10So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. 11Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: 12Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

Exodus 7:11

Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts:

Exodus 7:22

But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

Exodus 8:7

But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

But there is a limit to that. Pharaoh’s magicians could not duplicate to the scale on which God was working. God owns the universe. God works with nature. No one can ever duplicate anything on the level that God can do. Pharaoh’s magicians could not do the things that Moses was doing. They recognize this is the finger of God.

Exodus 8:18-19

18But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, 19the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.

Exodus 9:11

The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians.

Luke 11:20

But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

  • Many places in the world today: Sorcerers converted because they see that God’s power is really greater.
  • We are not to consult occult. Like witchcraft, numerology, astrology, spiritism, mysticism, mediums, palmistry.

Acts 8:14-17

14When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

LIFE APPLICATION

1. When Faith Is Pressed, Mission Proceeds (8:1–4)

We are called to witness even under pressure.

Persecution scatters; preaching multiplies; God’s providence overrules malice.

2. Joy in a Hard Place; 8:5–8

Christ is proclaimed; bondage is broken; a city rejoices.

3. Jesus is the Name above All Names; 8:9–13

We are called to exalt Christ and enounce counterfeits.

Counterfeit Greatness vs. the Name Above All Names

Simon exalts himself; the gospel exalts Christ.

Power encounter: God’s kingdom surpasses occult imitations; reject the occult; embrace the King.

4. One Spirit, One Church; 8:14–17

We are called to pursue unity across historic divides.

Apostolic laying on of hands signals Jew–Samaritan unity.

The “delay” serves unity, not hierarchy; the Spirit’s arrival magnifies Jesus.

5. Gospel Momentum Is the Point; 8:4, 5, 25, 40

We are called to proclaim the gospel at all times and all places.

The refrain of “good news” frames the chapter; the mission keeps moving.