FROM THE DUST TO THE DESPERATE: A MAN APART

#212a            FROM THE DUST TO THE DESPERATE:  A MAN APART

Scripture  Acts 9:1-20, NIV                                                                                   Orig. 1/21/1962

                                                                                                                               Rewr. 5/23/1979

Passage: Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.  “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”  7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.  9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered. 11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” 17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.

Purpose:  To call attention to the clear declaration of Scripture of the process of conversion and commitment and setting apart of the believer that is contained in the gospel message.

Keywords:      Christ              Commitment             Conversion

Timeline/Series:         Acts

Introduction

            Several years ago a Broadway play appeared on the scene called Merrily We Roll Along.  It was written by a playwright by the name of Richard Miles.  While the author had become successful in terms of his profession, his ideals had suffered greatly, and his life-style had become shameful and degrading.

            The play depicted Miles’ life in reverse.  Each successive scene showed the actors getting younger.  The role representing the playwright became more and more idealistic.  The action of this drama travelled back into the past, until finally, the characters in the play were sharing Miles’ college commencement.  Richard Miles was the class valedictorian.  As the final curtain went down, Miles was saying, “Lastly, this I have learned:  I have learned to value ideals above all else.  Let them be our heritage, our guiding force.”

            The essence of the play declared that the man looked back with regret to the losing of his ideals.  They could not be sustained against the temptations to achieve personal success.  This was a burden under which Saul was living.  He was determined to be a success.  The idealistic upbringing and training of a young rabbi had by now been so compromised, that he yielded unthinkingly to the dictates of those he wished to impress.

            Meanwhile Saul was still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the High Priest and applied for letters to the synagogues at Damascus authorizing him to arrest anyone he found, men or women, who followed the new way, and bring them to Jerusalem, NEB.

            Saul’s thinking was not far removed from that of George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright.  The agnostic Shaw wrote: I am by nature and destiny a preacher. . . .  But I have no Bible, no creed; the war has shot both out of my hands.  The war has been a fiery forcing house in which we’ve grown with a rush like flowers in a late spring following a terrible winter.  And with what result?  This:  That we have outgrown our religion, outgrown our political system, outgrown our strength of mind and character.  The fatal word “not” has been inscribed into all our creeds. . . .  But, what next?  Is “no” enough?  Is “no” enough?  For a boy, yes; for a man, never. . . .  I must  have affirmations to preach. . . .  The preacher must preach the way of life—Oh, if I could only find it!

            It’s too bad about George Bernard Shaw.  He never found it.  But out on this Damascus road this day, Saul will discover.  He will discover what ideals are all about.  He will discover what it takes to turn his ideals into reality.  He will discover the “way of life” and that “way” will become what the preacher in him must preach.

I.          First of All, a Claim is Extended.  V6, And he, trembling and astonished said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”  And the Lord said unto him, “Arise, and go into the city, and it will be told thee what thou must do.”  In blindness we grope.  Make no mistake about it, here is a genuine encounter with the Lord of life.  It is a matter for marveling to discover how adequate to the here and now God’s working always is. 

            When I share an extensive coverage of my own testimony, it is blocked out in segments of time roughly paralleling my pastorates.  In the first, I had to come to terms with what I would preach. “We would see Jesus.”  In this one I have had to learn to trust God to work through problems  of church leaders who are not church lovers.

            No matter how distasteful the experience is, the end-result is one of growth and spiritual nurture.  The Christian life is not unlike those early, formative days in a baby’s life when he has wearied of wallowing and begins to walk.  He grows.  He is nurtured.  A step is taken.  A fall. A word of comfort and affirmation.  He is encouraged to try again.  A step.  Then two.  With many falls and several hurts, and sufficient affirmation he is on his way.

            There then begins to develop a life of form and substance.  Go into the city, and it will be told thee what thou must do.  There is this initial act of faith unto obedience.  John 14:22, One of the disciples, Judas, not Iscariot, asked Jesus how he would make himself known to his followers and not to the world in general. V23, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and he will come unto him and make our abode with him. 

            From this initial act of faith there springs the circumstance out of which we grow as Christians.  In the city he encountered that  which affirmed him in his initial act of faith.  It became increasingly more to his advantage to seek and follow the course of God’s will.  It is important that we affirm each other.  The more settled we are in faith, the more determined to be faithful to our Lord, and supportive of others who are still in discovery.  It is essential that we accept the Word of God as the basis of our authority.  This means that confrontation is sometimes the appropriate means of affirmation.  We are responsible for our advice.  It better be thought through very carefully when you speak or act against those whom God has called to give spiritual affirmation.

II.         Secondly, a Change is Essential.  V8, And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes opened he saw no man: But they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus.  The change was rather a dramatic one.  He, at first, was on his way to Damascus to discomfit any who had become followers of Christ.  He experiences the presence of the Living Christ.  Now, he is on his way to Damascus for others of these followers of Jesus to affirm him in the faith.  That doesn’t mean to lay their hands on him, or to ordain him to the ministry, or vote him into the church.  You see, God laid his hands on Saul, and that is all that any of us need, or have any right to expect.

            The change came about by virtue of Saul suspending his own will in the will of God.  Galatians 1:13f, For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church . . . beyond measure, and tried to destroy it. . . .  15, But when he who had set me apart, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me. . . .  23, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith  which he once tried to destroy.” 

            You see, the only  miracle that had taken place was that a man had lifted his vision from himself and his own ego needs, to the vision of his loving, merciful heavenly Father.  This would be a good place to stop and insert what God has done for you this week.

III.       Lastly, Then, a Commitment is Inevitable.  V20, And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God.  With Saul it was unquestionably a commitment to Christ.  V5, “Who art thou, Lord?”  How often Paul identifies himself as the servant.  Romans 1:1 and others: δοῦλος, “doulos.”

            He uniquely feels forgiveness.  Christ will mean little to  you if you do not experience His forgiveness for your sin.  The greater the sense of forgiveness, the deeper the impact of Christ upon the life.  Remember the sinful woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee, Luke 7:47, For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven  little, loves little.

Acts 1:8           Witness unto me

Acts 2:36         God hath made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ

Acts 3:26         God having raised up His Son Jesus

Acts 4:30         Signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus

Acts 5:30-32    Raised up Jesus, exalted Him to be prince

            James Stewart, in his book, A Man in Christ1, writes, “Everyone who has experienced a great forgiveness, everyone to whom the love of Christ has meant all the difference between victory and defeat, between radiant happiness and despair, will understand the spirit in which Paul spoke of himself as Christ’s ‘slave.’  The ransomed soul was bound to its Ransomer.  No demand that Jesus could make would be too great.  Life’s crowning joy would be to toil unceasingly for the One who had saved him from death and from something worse than death.  With glad  heart Paul acknowledged himself a bondman to the greatest of all masters.  He was slave: Jesus was the Lord.”

            But don’t make the mistake of presuming that the commitment is easily made, or for that matter  is always made for Christ as Lord.  There have been many who refused to turn from their vaunted “Damascus Roads” even at the intercession of Jesus.  Judas lived and studied and even prayed with Jesus for three years, but his own will in the end destroyed him.  He refused to accede to the will of God.  And I remind you, God did not have to reach out in anger and strike Judas. His discordant heart destroyed [him].  And today, even though the evidences of Jesus’ integrity are clearer than ever, people in huge numbers are refusing to believe, to accede to God’s will. 

Links and references 

Man in Christ (https://pmoser.sites.luc.edu/jsstewartarchive/Stewart%20ManInChrist%201935.pdf), P. 302.

 1 Stewart, J. (1935).  A Man in Christ:  The Vital Elements of St. Paul's Religion.  Regent College Publishing.

THE COURSE OF SELECTIVE GRACE

#781/027                       THE COURSE OF SELECTIVE GRACE

Scripture  Acts 9:1-9, 17-18, NIV                                                                            Orig. 3/4/1962

                                                                                                                               Rewr. 8/25/1977

Passage: 1Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

Vv 17-18

17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized,

Purpose: To define the careful selectivity of God’s grace coursing through the lives of people who are open to Him.

Keywords:      Conviction                 Gospel            Grace              Revival           Saul/Paul: Biography

Introduction

            Human discretion takes a strange course sometimes.  Our minds, even redeemed minds, can play tricks on us.  We can conceive of something in a totally different light than it actually is.

            I remember a story told by Paul Harvey on one of his programs some years ago.  It seems that this man was awakened in the dark hours of the night when something hairy crawled onto his skin.  I suspect many of us have been through that experience and we probably remember causing quite a commotion.  This man will never forget the night he made the Paul Harvey program.  He jumped  out of bed with a start, half yelled, and half shoved his wife off the bed on the other side, and then went to work.  He grabbed up the bed covers with the thing inside, and headed for the front door.  On the way he spied his son’s baseball bat and grabbed it up.  Reaching the front lawn he threw the bed covers to the ground and began flailing away at the thing.

            After several minutes of this commotion, with neighbors attracted by it, he ceased his death dealing blows.  Satisfied that his mission had been accomplished, he carefully turned back the covers until he found  “it.”  As it turned out, “it” was one badly mangled hair curler.  He went back to bed, having given his family and friends the best laugh they had had in some time.

            Human discretion often takes strange courses.  God’s discretion takes carefully plotted courses.  His purpose is to see  His grace establish itself in our lives with transforming effect.  The simple illustration from our text is taken out of the life of a man called Saul  of Tarsus.  The effect of grace on his life was that he became the apostle Paul.

I.          Grace Brings Conviction. Acts 9:1, And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.  You will note first of all that the initial activity is God’s activity.  How often this is confirmed in the scripture.  Acts 9:15, He is a chosen vessel to me.  John 15:16, Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.  Matthew 25:34, Come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

            But Paul’s initial reaction was to get busy with things with which he was secure.  You see, Paul found in life, much as we do, that it is easier to be religious than it is to be godly.  No matter how busy he may get, sooner or later he is going to have to deal with the hard issues of repentance, and faith.

            Illustration: Saul is following in the footsteps of Moses and many  others in learning the course of selective grace.  After Israel’s sin with the calf, God isolated Moses.  God’s men go through those experiences  of isolation.  When He spoke to Moses He said (Exodus 33:19), “I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim  the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”  What Moses had to  learn of the “goodness” of God, and his surrender to that “goodness,” Saul would also have to learn.  That’s where repentance and faith storm the gates of our souls.

            It is often in that area of our lives that we know best that God chooses to manifest His grace.  See Moses with a “shepherd’s staff” in his hand, and watch as that staff becomes an instrument.  See David with a crown on his  head, and watch as that crown crumbles to insignificance before the Lord of glory.  See Isaiah with contempt for the nations, until Uzziah, and behold Isaiah seeing “the Lord” and saying “here am I, send me.”

II.         Grace Brings Compulsion.  V6, And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, What will thou have me to do?  It is God’s compulsion to a full and happy life for the one chosen.  There are two warnings to consider:  a) not to grow prideful in the fact of our choice; b) not to become arrogant at the thought that some are not chosen.  It is God’s will in both.  Illustration:  “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious; I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”  It  is one thing to believe that this is what God wants and intends for His children.  Philippians 4:19, My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ.

            Illustration:  I heard (see also #195) the story of an  old farmer who only had a mule and an ox, and for ground-breaking often had to plow them together.  The ox decided he was working too hard and determined to play sick.  The mule would not agree and had to plow alone.  The farmer brought hay, feed, and water to the sick ox.  “What did Farmer Brown say?” “Nothing.” Second day.  “How’d it go?”  “Not too good.  We’re worn out.”  Third day.  “What happened today? Did the  old man say anything about me?”  “I didn’t hear him say anything, but he did stop and have a long talk with Butcher Jones.”

            Illustration:  In the gospel account, Jesus went to the fig tree and found it barren.  He then placed a curse on it.  You remember, however, that this was not an expression of anger on the part of Jesus, but contempt.  It was contempt for what had ceased to perform its natural purpose.  The same kind of contempt was placed upon Adam in the form of the curse.  He would now work for what he could have owned by faith before.

            It  is in this compulsion for a full and happy life that we are set apart to serve.  Illustration:  Saul, without this setting apart, was a dedicated religious fanatic.  Nothing more.  Aside from this, however, this setting apart likewise is God’s means of making His grace operable in the world.  Through this,  others are selected as recipients of this grace.  Illustration:  The same salt that seasons our food, and freezes our ice cream, preserves flesh from decay.  And the “salt of the earth” is meant to preserve a society dying in sin.  Christ came into our tightly organized, dying culture to save us, to preserve us from the wrong choices, from the decay of carnality.

III.       Selective Grace Brings Constraint.  Vs. 17-18, And Ananias went his way . . . and putting his hands on him . . . immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received his sight forthwith. . . .  It is important that we understand the major factors called truth.  Saul had spent the first thirty years of his life in the courtyard of truth.  He knew the all-encompassing issues of the life-giving Jehovah God.  He knew also, from personal experience, the death-dealing temptations of sin.

            But Saul, as a religious Jew, was lost.  Philippians 3:5f, . . . of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 

            There is a major factor called truth that permeates this sensual century.  That truth still  proclaims Jesus, Lord.  Truth as a philosophical discussion is without redeeming value.  One and one is two.  Hydrogen and oxygen in proper mixture do form water.  Jimmy Carter is President of the United States.  Evangelical churches have stood through the long years on the principle of the authority of the scripture.

            But the constraint of the gospel message is to the individual to share and to receive.  Ananias was under constraint to share:  He was the Lord’s vessel.  Saul was under constraint to receive the message:  To believe.  To repent.  To become what only he could become—Paul, prince of the apostles of the first century congregation of believers.

GOSPEL VOICES: OUTBURST OF WONDER

#780                         GOSPEL VOICES: OUTBURST OF WONDER

Scripture  Acts 8:14-40, NIV                                                                                 Orig. 3/23/1980

Passage: 14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.  18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”  20 Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 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. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”  24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

25 After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

Philip and the Ethiopian

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian[a] eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”  30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.  31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
    and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
    Who can speak of his descendants?
    For his life was taken from the earth.”[b]

34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.  36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” [37] [c] 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

Purpose:          To continue the series from the Book of Acts, calling attention to the various voices giving direction in the lives of the early believers to determine the availability of these voices for us today.

Keywords:      Baptism          Biography, Phillip     Christ, Son of God                Communication

                        Holy Spirit     Bible Study, Acts

Timeline/Series:         Acts

Introduction

            It would make an interesting series from God’s Word for any of us.  Take a day by day look and note those occasions that refer to the “ears” of God’s people.  There are the common Old Testament expressions of “give ear to” and “incline thine ear.”  In the New Testament, a common expression of Jesus was “they that have ears to hear, let them hear.”  It was with a magnificent voice that God spoke in creation, and in the “thunder” at Mt. Sinai, and in Christ at Golgotha.  On such occasions, a tiny ear may hear sufficiently.  But what about those times when God speaks as He did to Elijah, “with a still, small voice”?  The “ear” must then have greater receptivity.

            Perhaps we  have a noise problem today because people are much more interested in talking than they are in listening.  It may be that we do not want to listen, not only to others, but to ourselves as well.  Niebuhr refers to the “Internal Dialogue of Self.”  Listening to the voices of self is the way we discover “who” and “what” we are.

            The Bible has a continuing  them that men must listen if they are to know God.  The “apex” of God’s revelation to the Hebrew was summed up in the “Shema.”  Jesus called this “the first and the greatest” commandment.  Deuteronomy 6:4, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, . . . soul, . . . might.  Paul reminded the Romans, 10:17, Faith comes by hearing.

            When Glenn Clark interviewed George Washington Carver, the noted black scientist, he asked how he had come to discover so many of the hidden secrets of nature.  Dr. Carver answered, “All my life I have risen at four a.m. and have gone into the woods to talk with God.  There He gives me my orders for the day. . . .  When people are asleep I hear God best and learn my plan.”  The Samaritans cause us to consider “Gospel Voices:  Outbursts of Wonder.”

I.          We Have First Called to Our Attention what the Apostles Heard.  And in Jerusalem, the apostles heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, v14.  Note please that they did not jump to pretentious conclusions.  The apostles were managing to continue their work though persecution raged around.  They were concerned about those who had gone out with the gospel and kept in touch.  We don’t know the precise means of communication, but only that they heard Phillip’s work went well, people were responding, they were being baptized, but they lacked the signal gift such as seen at Pentecost.

            Peter and John were appointed to go into Samaria and give attention to helping Phillip.  The scripture speaks of their having been baptized with water, in the name of Jesus, but that they have not received the Holy Spirit (v16).

            The apostles had a separate experience.  John had baptized with water.  The Essene community at Qumran.  Spirit baptism awaited Pentecost.  Was this separate experience to be standard.  Peter clearly taught at Pentecost that the manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s  presence and His gifts awaited repentance and baptism, not some unexplainable condition, Acts 2:38.  Note Acts 8:20.

            The Holy Spirit had a vital lesson for the church to learn, and with the outreach into Samaria the time had come.  The best way for the church to know that God had accepted the Samaritans was for them to experience their own Pentecost.  We know the price of divisiveness.  The Samaritans must not become a “breed” of Christianity unto themselves.  It was likewise the best way for the Samaritans to know.  The Holy Spirit was withheld deliberately  in the sovereignty of God, awaiting the arrival  of the apostles.

            Unquestionably, the Holy Spirit was already at work.  The power of Phillip’s preaching (v6).  The signs and wonders accomplished (v13).  The joy that spread through the city/cities (v8).

            What’s missing here is undoubtedly the Gift of Tongues.  They do not seem to be seeking.  May not know.  This is the means through which they are brought  into the fuller family  of faith, through which they will know a “voice within.”

II.         We Must Also Give Attention to what Simon Heard.  V18, And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power.  Dare we conclude that this man was a believer?  Dare we not?  Simon believed, he was baptized, he became friendly with Phillip (v13).  He seemed to have regretted what he did, v24.

            We must conclude from this that the Holy Spirit has the major role in keeping our eyes on Jesus, and our ears open to truth.  John 14:26, The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, . . . shall teach you all things.  John 16:13, When he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth.

            Without this purifying element of the Holy Spirit, Simon heard with ears of sensationalism and power.  Those who invade the parameters of religion for the glorification of self.  Remember that that is where he had been.  V9, Simon . . . used sorcery . . . giving out that he was some great one.  He could almost see where such power could be used.  Simony—attempt to buy ecclesiastical office.  Tradition holds that Simon became an archenemy.

            It is worthy of note, that the Apostles, who came down to  observe and advise, went back to Jerusalem preaching. See v25.

III.       Next, We Must Consider what Phillip Heard.  V26, But an angel of the Lord spoke to Phillip saying, Rise up and go along south . . . .  V29, And said the Spirit to Phillip:  Approach and keep company with this chariot.  Have you considered yet that “ear” becomes “hear”?  But there are some things that don’t have to “oral” to be heard.  Could it have been a dream?  Perhaps an awesome awareness of “presence”?  But remember that the word ἄγγελος (aggelos)—messenger.  Phillip knew only that he was to go south.  Jerusalem to Gaza is considerably south of Samaria.  As Phillip responds to what he knows he is to do, the next page will be made known.  The eunuch was a black man of ancient Ethiopia.  In Egypt, eunuchs were often called so only.  He was a Gentile who became a Jew (?) who became a Christian.  Phillip’s faithfulness to the revealed word resulted in another “people” hearing the gospel.

            Phillip also heard the Holy Spirit.  We often limit the Holy Spirit to the printed Word.  Phillip had no such luxury.

            The message that stands out clearly here is that this capacity to understand spirit language is developed.  Phillip may have been one of the language groups mentioned at Pentecost.  With Stephen and the others (Acts 6) it was said “a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost.”  It begins at the discretion of God.  Acts 8:15-17.  It is noteworthy that on this busy road many people were passing, but Phillip was led only to one.

IV.       Note in Conclusion what the Eunuch Heard.  V35, Then Phillip began with that very passage of scripture and told him about Jesus.  First of all, let’s back up to Acts 2:14-40, Peter’s Pentecostal Apology, the first Christian address.  Announcement of the day of the Lord.  Affirmation of the basic facts about Jesus’ life. Attests the superiority of Christ over the Law.  Called his hearers to decision.

            There seems to be little if any variance from that plan.  Phillip clearly attests the early church view on Christ as the suffering servant/Messiah.  The 37th verse does not appear in early documents.  And Phillip sayeth, If thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest. And I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.  It sounds too formal for a new convert.  It shows clearly the attitude of the church.  It correctly relates faith to baptism.  Faith in Jesus as God’s  Son and Saviour. Baptism reflecting repentance and death.

            These two men were so full of the Spirit that they parted company hardly aware of their parting.  When Phillip came to himself he was in Azotus (Ashdod), on his way back to Samaria.  The eunuch went the way of him rejoicing, v39.

            Add that “h” to “ear” and you get “hear.”  Go a step further and add “t” to “hear” and you get “heart.”  The “Outbursts of Wonder” were those who heard not just with their ears, but with their hearts.  It is still the same today.

THE FULFILLMENT OF THE GREAT COMMISSION

#779b                THE FULFILLMENT OF THE GREAT COMMISSION

Scripture  Acts 8:1-13, NIV                                                                                   Orig. 3/16/1980

Passage: 1 And Saul approved of their killing him.

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. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

Philip in Samaria  4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city. 

Simon the Sorcerer  9 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, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 12 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. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

Purpose: To continue the series from the Book of Acts, calling attention to the fulfillment of the command of Christ to go into all the world.  That commission is put into effect when the believers left Jerusalem for Judea and Samaria

Keywords:      Church Mission        Missions         Biography of Phillip              Evangelism

Timeline/Series:         Acts                 Bible Study

Introduction

            It was probably three years after the ascension of Christ when the scattering of the believers came to crisis proportions.  Remember that the church  in Jerusalem was almost entirely Jewish.  On the day  of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit accomplished the conversion of 3,000 souls through Peter’s preaching.  They were all Jews, in Jerusalem for the feast.  But they were Jews from outside Judea and Galilee.  They were Mesopotamian, Asian, Egyptian, Cretan, Arabian, and others; all were Jews and proselytes, with a vested interest in Jerusalem.  Undoubtedly they went back to their homes with this new found faith, some perhaps even organizing churches in those places.

            They soon came to understand a need for a ministry beyond preaching and prayer, and in Jerusalem this resulted in the singling out of certain people to perform particular ministries.  The first bud of missions on the tree of Christianity exposed itself over this problem in the church.  The native Jews were being served.  The Hellenistic Jews, the ones who had lived outside of Judea, and who had been conditioned somewhat by the Hellenist ideas of the Greeks, were not being served.  Out of murmuring of discontent came the selection of seven men of Hellenist background to minister to non-native persons.

            One of these so selected was Stephen.  They killed him because, in effect, he said, “God is not limited to  you, or your Temple, or this land:  Others are  his people also.”  This was a vital and necessary concept before the church could expand to the far places of the earth. It is almost as if the death of Stephen was also the sounding of the “death-knell” of a purely Jewish church.  The Jewish leaders are committed to a program of containment.  The believers, if they are going to be free to  practice their faith, will  have to do so elsewhere.

            Chapter eight is the story of Christians forced out of Jerusalem by the purge following Stephen’s death.  More particularly, it is the story of one believer, Phillip, one of the chosen seven, who in Samaria preaches to the people and leads in organizing a church amongst these half breed Jews.

            The last recorded words of Jesus, other than His contact with Saul of Tarsus, are these:  Acts 1:8, “You shall receive power with the Holy Spirit coming  upon you and you will be my witnesses, in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”

I.          Fulfilling Christ’s Commission Means People that are at the Disposal of God.  1f, . . . and at that time there a great persecution against the church that was at Jerusalem: . . . they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.  This is precisely the cost of the covenant proclaimed in the Old Testament.

·         Psalm 33:12, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

·         Isaiah 6:8, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?

·         Psalm 23:4, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me, thy rod and staff comfort me.

·         Galatians 1:13, For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it.

·         I Corinthians 13:9, For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

·         Philippians 3:6, Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

·         I Timothy 1:13, Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

            It was under this mandate that Jesus chose to live His life.  Jesus taught His disciples to pray—Matthew 6:10, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”  In His own agonizing hour of aloneness He prayed—Matthew 26:39, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”

            This, clearly, was the only message that would see the church on fire for God.  As Jesus was at the disposal of God, we must be those who would be followers of Him.  As Jesus was willing to face the most dispelling of circumstances, so must we be who would be followers of Christ.

            By the way, nothing has changed:  Our call is to be at the disposal of God.  It means He has a vested interest in us.

II.         Fulfilling Christ’s Commission Means that there are People who have not Heard, who Need to Hear.  V5, Phillip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed Christ there.

            First, who was Phillip?  It was clearly not the apostle Phillip.  Synoptics’ only name.  John identifies Nathaniel/Greeks/“Show us the Father.”  He was a man named Phillip of Hellenist background or learning, who was chosen to serve the non-native Jews.  Stephen is mentioned first.  Phillip second.  He responds to the persecution in Jerusalem by looking for a place to freely serve and proclaim Jesus Lord.

            Phillip chose to go into the area of Samaria.  He chose a specific place:  The city of Samaria,  KJ and Greek; a city in Samaria, newer translations.  Why the choice of Samaria was significant:  Jesus shared His feelings about Samaria and its people.  He told of “the good Samaritan,” and the “10th leper,” and the “woman at the well.”  He was called “a Samaritan and a devil” (8:48).  The devil part he denied.

            In John 4 of the Woman at the  Well, the woman said to Him, “for the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.”

            Here was a people who had earned the hatred of the Jews.  In the 8th Century BC, the northern kingdom, with Samaria as its capital, was captured by the Assyrians.  The leaders of the people were taken captive.  Their disposition is one of history’s mysteries.  Captives from other places brought to Samaria.  In the 6th Century, the Jews from the southern kingdom were allowed to return.  Ezra—offered to help rebuild.  Help refused—reason?  Determined resistance.  536 Return/516 Temple/444 wall. 

            No more important step would ever be taken by followers of Jesus than to move into Samaria.  The sovereign will of God included people of every racial and cultural distinction.  Hosea 2:23, And I will say to them which art not my people, Thou art my people, and they shall say, Thou art my God.  Jesus gave His life to the end that people of every race and clime would own His Father as the eternal God, the Almighty.

Baptist Hymnal #176/148

Word of God across the ages, Comes thy message to our life,

Source of hope, forever present, In our toils and fears and strife;

Constant witness to God’s mercy, Still our grace what e’er befall;

Guide unfailing, strength eternal, Offered freely for us all.

In the tongues of all the peoples May the message bless and heal

As devout and patient scholars More and more its depths reveal.

Bless, O God, to wise and simple, All Thy truth of ageless worth

Till all hands receive the witness, And Thy knowledge fills the earth.

To be a follower of Jesus, and to keep company of those who walk with the Lord, is to be one who reaches out to the “Samarias” around us:  by personal witness, by cooperative sharing, whether near or far.

III.       There Are Other Things that Testify that this was a Wondrous Event in the Life of the Church.  It was a people to people movement.  We must not ever  lose this.  V4, The ones being scattered passed through preaching the word.  V1, And all were scattered throughout the countries of Judea and Samaria, except to stay behind.

            Why were they allowed to stay behind?  Because of respect from the people.  Hellenistic Jews may have born the brunt of the attack.  Some say that they were the least ready for the faith to be separated from its roots.  Many things will keep Jerusalem central. But Christian outlook is outward, to the world.  8:25, Paul and John “returning to Jerusalem they preached the word in many villages of the Samaritans.”

            It was a message and ministry movement.  Nothing will ever take the place of the preaching of the word.  Whether one person to another on a bus.  Or, one person to 100,000 in a great stadium.  The great TV spectacles have their place but are not primary because they are first of all entertaining.  Romans 10:14, How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?  But equally as important is our understanding of ministry.  We dare not presume that the simple proclamation of a liturgy twice on Sunday is the extent of faith.  James 1:21f, . . . receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save  your souls.  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only. . . .

            What happened in Samaria as a result:  It brought the story of Jesus, v4; it brought healing, v7; it brought joy, v8.

Closing

            #308, People to People

How do you share the love of Jesus with a lonely man?

How do you tell a hungry man about the bread of life?

How do you tell a thirsty man about the living water of the Lord?

How do you tell him of His word?

People who know go to people who need to know Jesus.

People who love go to people alone without Jesus.

For there are people who need to see,
People who need to love,
People who need to know God's redeeming love.

SCATTERED, THEY WENT PREACHING

#779a                          SCATTERED, THEY WENT PREACHING

                            (A BUMP ON THE GREAT COMMISSION ROAD)

Scripture  Acts 8:1-13, NIV                                                                                   Orig. 3/16/1980

                                                                                                                               Rewr. 5/12/1988

Passage: 1 And Saul approved of their killing him.

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. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

Philip in Samaria  4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city. 

Simon the Sorcerer  9 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, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 12 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. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

Purpose: Using a mission message to acknowledge the occasion of the 100th anniversary of a most significant WMU emphasis

Keywords:      Church Mission        Christ, Orders            Evangelism                 Missions

Timeline/Series:         Acts                 Bible Study

Introduction

            It never ceases to leave me incredulously wondering when I hear the story of the organization of Women’s Missionary Union.  It happened, as surely you are aware, exactly 100 years ago.  May 14th was a Monday in the year 1888, and the Southern Baptist Convention was in session in Richmond, Virginia.  The men, mostly pastors, were meeting in First Baptist Church.  The women were a few blocks away down Broad Street at Broad Street Methodist Church.  Actually,  they had been denied permission to hold an organizational meeting for the purpose of women’s work at First Baptist Church.

            This 100th anniversary year may be unique in yet another way.  It is possible that when the proceeds of this present year’s Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is counted, mission gifts through that annual fund raising will climb to a grand total of $1 billion dollars.  For an organization having such difficulty in the outset, they  have done rather well.

            You may be interested in knowing that enrollment is well over a million (1,947,479).  In some churches, it is actually on the increase, though shamefully, not in ours.  I am happy to report however, that response to our mission offering goals has been excellent.

            Also, our national organization, auxiliary to the SBC, has a current budget of 10.8 million, none of which comes from mission offerings.  The major portion is generated by the WMU through the publication and sale of eleven magazines prepared to facilitate church mission organizations.

I.          “Scattered, They Went Preaching,” Means People Who Are at the Disposal of God.  V1f, “. . . And at that time there was a great persecution against the church that was at Jerusalem: . . . They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.”

            I’m not suggesting to you that our great grandmothers in Richmond were persecuted.  I’ve no doubt they were respected.  Men tipped their hats, opened doors, gave up seats.  But to many such a woman’s organization was “playing” church.  But I say unequivocally that those ladies prayed harder and worked more tirelessly because of this lack  of adequacy. 

            It could well be what we most need today.  I am not eager for persecution.  I do suspect that if we had less material advocacy, our prayer and our work would be different.  And we would reexamine our faithfulness.  Where were you last Sunday night?  Where will you be tonight?  Ladies, what excuse did you use to give up on WMU?

            In our day of extremes, even the extremes of faith, our principal function is the spread of the word.  It was so with the Hebrew covenant.  Isaiah 6:8, “I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’”  Psalm 33:12, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”  It was under which commitment that Christ lived His life.  He taught the disciples to pray Matthew 6:10, “Thy kingdom, thy will be done.”  On the cross, He, Himself prayed.  Matthew 26:39, “Not as I will but as thou.”

            If we are not at the disposal of God in this late 20th century, we have reason to question if we are Christian at all.

II.         “Scattered, They Went Preaching,” Means that People Needed to Hear the Word.  V5, “Phillip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed Christ there.”  It is of only passing interest who this Phillip was.  Not the apostle of that name. John 1:43f.   The one called “deacon,” Acts 6:5:  A Jew of Hellenist background; chose to serve non-native Jews; responds to persecution by seeking a place elsewhere to serve.  Article in NSW (5-12) about school club being shut down by ACLU.  “We knew we would have to stop if anyone complained.”

            The place he chose to go to serve was Samaria.  “The city of Samaria,” KJV and Greek; “a city in Samaria,” NIV and others.  Its significance is that here was a people who still carried the stigma of Jewish hatred.  It’s a long story.  Ezra tells part of it in effort to interfere with rebuilding.  John 4 tells of Jesus encountering the culture of prejudice with the “woman at the well.”

            Phillip will go in response to his Lord even where others would not go.  The church at this juncture is only Jewish.  The commission’s command was to “all the world,” Matthew 28:19-20.  The step is taken here that brings half-breed Jews into the kingdom.  The open door to Gentiles is now a step closer.  The prophecy is being fulfilled.  Hosea 2:23, “And I will say to them which art not my people, ‘Thou art my people’, and they shall say, ‘Thou art my God.’”

Baptist Hymnal #176/148

Word of God across the ages, Comes thy message to our life,

Source of hope, forever present, In our toils and fears and strife;

Constant witness to God’s mercy, Still our grace what e’er befall;

Guide unfailing, strength eternal, Offered freely for us all.

In the tongues of all the peoples May the message bless and heal

As devout and patient scholars More and more its depths reveal.

Bless, O God, to wise and simple, All Thy truth of ageless worth

Till all hands receive the witness, And Thy knowledge fills the earth.

It brought truth (v4),  healing (v7), and joy (v8).

III.       “Scattered, They Went Preaching,” Defines a Wondrous Event in the Life of the Church.  V6, “And the people with one accord gave heed . . . .”  V8, “And there was great joy in (the) city.”  It was a people to people movement.  V4, “The ones being scattered passed through preaching the word,” LSV.

            It is interesting that the apostles were allowed to remain in Jerusalem.  Clearly, they had the respect of the people.  It may be that the non-native Jews were the ones who bore the brunt of this religious persecution.  Some suggest that the apostles were the least ready for their faith to be separated from its homeland, and its Hebrew culture. 

            There were Christians who wanted only to be a Hebrew sub-culture.  Many things will  keep Jerusalem central.  But the gospel outlook is beyond Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the world.  V14, Peter and John sent to Samaria; v17, the Samaritan Pentecost; v25, “. . . Returning to Jerusalem, (they) preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.”  It would be interesting to know how many cities of the earth have had the gospel preached to them because some Baptist women went to Richmond 100 years ago and organized a venture that would bring their sons and daughters a mission consciousness unequal in the world.

            As it was people to people, it was also geared to message and ministry.  Nothing will ever take the place of the preaching of the word.  Whether one person to another over a telephone, or in a letter, or on a bus.  Or, whether it is one person to 100,000 persons in a great sports complex.  When you support tv ministries, you support what is first entertainment.  When you support your church, you are supporting what is “gospel proclamation.”

            Romans 10:14, “How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher?”

STEPHEN: THE MAN, THE MARTYR

#777                               STEPHEN: THE MAN, THE MARTYR

Scripture Acts 6:9 – 7:59, NIV                                                                                Orig. 3/2/1980

                                                                                                                             Rewr. 10/28/1987

Passage:  9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.  11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”   12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”  15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin

7 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”  2 To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’[a]  4 “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’[b] 8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.

11 “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. 12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.  17 “As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. 18 Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’[c] 19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.  20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child.[d] For three months he was cared for by his family. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.  23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’  27 “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’[e] 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.  30 “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’[f] Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.

33 “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’[g]  35 “This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.  37 “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’[h] 38 He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.

39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’[i] 41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made. 42 But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
    forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
43 You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the idols you made to worship.
Therefore I will send you into exile’[j] beyond Babylon.

44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45 After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46 who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.[k] 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him.  48 “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:

49 “‘Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
    Or where will my resting place be?
50 Has not my hand made all these things?’[l]

51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

The Stoning of Stephen

54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”  57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Purpose: An in-depth look at a major passage from Acts with a specific purpose of isolating a man, his message, and martyrdom.

Keywords:                  Bible Study                 Word of God             Christ as Saviour                  

                                    Surrender                   Commitment             Truth

Timeline/Series:                     Acts

Introduction

            We are aware that the Jewish people have paid a particularly high price over the centuries to maintain their national entity.  The Bible gives permanent record to some of these exceedingly unpleasant experiences.  Any competent history of Palestine will tell the rest of the story.

            Just since the time of Christ, we know of the grim four-year war between Jews and Romans about 70A.D.  Half-century later, the Bar Kokhba revolt with a 3 year independence.  There were battles with the Persians in the 7th Century, and with the Muslims, soon after.  (614, 638)  In the 10th/11th Centuries the Crusaders entered the Holy Land in an effort to restore the land of Christ to the followers of Christ.  Christians, Jews, and Muslims were dying by the thousands in these confrontations.  Time hardly permits discussion of more current expulsions that reveal persecutions from Spain to Russia, and even of death camps in Germany and Poland.  The word “ghetto” comes from a district in Venice where Jews were forced to live under stringent privation.

            Christians have also suffered, but for different reasons.  Over the centuries, the single most constant threat against believers was their attachment to Christ.  They have been imprisoned, scourged, impaled upon crosses.  They have been denied right to property, redress of grievances, for no other reason than their faith in Christ.

            The history of Christendom over the first three centuries was written in the blood of the martyrs.  In Rome you can still visit the Colosseum where so many died, and walk through the catacombs where they hid from their tormentors.  Leonard Griffith wrote, “Every dictatorship of the past nineteen centuries, including totalitarian regimes in part of the world today, has singled  out the church as the number one enemy to be crushed and exterminated.”

            No doubt, it started with Christ  himself, but Stephen was the first human fodder that fed these flames of extermination.  Thus, we review, “Stephen: the Man, the Martyr.”

I.          The Man.  6:8, “Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.”  Back up briefly to the prior verse.  The word increasing. Disciples multiplying.  Suddenly, there is confrontation.  See v9.  May be weeks/months between v7 and v8 [chapter 6]. 

            Stephen was a natural leader, made moreso by his allegiance to Christ.  6:8 indicates he was chosen deacon (?) not in the text 6:1 service 6:2 serve.  That he was a man “full of faith, Holy Ghost.”  He, with six others chosen for tasks, not for honor;  singled out to serve not to be served.  As Amos Wells says (B32p267) “when the deacons  had more to do than pass the contribution box on Sunday.”  The ministry to be sustained was the benevolent care of those without support, mainly older women without children.

            Not  only was  he a natural leader, he was a man of charity.  Actually, 6:5 pisteos is different from 6:8 charitos, “grace.”  The word is “unmerited favor.”  He was given to helping those who couldn’t repay favors.  How many people have we helped who can never return the favor?  The danger of the deacon-business is in coming to think this is their bailiwick.  He wanted to help, and he wanted no plaudits or praise.  He added to his monumental duties, the care of the Hellenist Jewish so that the apostles were free to preach.

            After chapter 7, mentioned only three times:  8:2  his burial; 11:19 persecution; 22:20 Paul’s testimony.

II.         The Man and His Message.  7:1, “The High Priest asked him, ‘Are these charges true?’ To this he replied, ‘Brothers and fathers, listen to me.’”  Fifty-nine verses go on to declare what he believed.  He does not directly answer the High Priest.  False witnesses were claiming that he was preaching Christ would destroy the temple:  The charge brought against Jesus; Mark 14:57f, “I will destroy temple.”  Perhaps they heard him quote Jesus and interpreted Him loosely.  We do that.

            He answers with a discourse on history.  There was the call of God to Abram 2-7.  Without either Temple or Law, off the sacred soil of Palestine.  The true Israel not bound to a scheme or a place.  Then he reminds them of Patriarch and of covenant 8-12.  Calling attention to the covenant with Abraham he noted that they had then moved against one of their own (Joseph), but God’s sovereignty dispelled faithfulness.  With this he turns to Joseph, 13-19.  Their history is of God’s providence.  It is a history cheapened by their outrageous rejection of deliverers whom God had sent (Redeemer/Messiah).  Breach of covenant resulted all of their struggles to survive, even in Egypt, and through to Assyria/Babylon.  There is disparity in numbers.  Genesis 46:26 (66), 27 (70 + Jacob/Joseph/2 sons), Exodus 1:5 (70), Acts 7:14 (75). 

            Next comes a  lengthy treatment of Moses.  A deliverer chosen, rejected,  (40y).  In Midian, chosen, returned, Exodus, rejected in wilderness, become idolaters.  V40, “Make us gods to go before.”  V37, Reminding them of Messianic promise “prophet like unto me.”  Above from Deuteronomy 18:15, 18.  Then, Stephen delivers a stunning blow of the inadequacy of the temple, vv.44-50.  Jews believed SHEKINAH glory there.  They worshipped place rather than the God of the place.  He delivers a scathing denouncement: “resist the Holy Ghost” (v51), “persecuted prophets, . . . murdered Jesus” (v52); he is persistent in their guilt, but distressed over their unbelief.

III.       The Martyrdom  of the Man but not the Message.  V58, “They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.”  He has moved deliberately through discourse.  An eternal truth about abode of God: V48, “The Most High does not live in houses made by men.”  I Kings 8:27, “Will God indeed dwell on the earth?  Behold, the heaven, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house that I have built?”  Jeremiah 23:23, “I am a God at hand, saith the Lord.”  Perhaps, between 50 and 51 hecklers.

            Sensing the mood, he perhaps knows his time is short.  This crowd won’t be back next week.  Their history is one of resistance.  The Law has not failed, they have failed to do it justice.  V53, You have “received the law . . . and have not kept it.”  Next, the Holy Spirit gives Stephen a vision of the heavenly court, and Jesus.  Not seated as if at rest, [but] “standing” at God’s hand suggesting intercession.  Deuteronomy 13:6f was their proof text.  Convinced he enticed them from Jehovah, they took final action.  Perhaps even to Golgotha.  Without consent of Roman officials.  To what purpose did he die?  8:1, “And Saul was consenting unto his death.”

Conclusion

            Is there anybody in your life that you just can not forget?  Parent, family member, teacher, whose influence remains?  Has there been a thing done in the name of Jesus that just does not pass beyond recall?  Stephen’s death was that and more to Saul of Tarsus.  Stephen: the Man, the Martyr.

LINKS/REFERENCES

Griffith:          https://www.yorkminsterpark.com/blog/rev-dr-a-leonard-griffith-1920-2019/

A NEW DAY FOR THE CHURCH

#776                                   A NEW DAY FOR THE CHURCH

Scripture  Acts 6:1-7, NIV                                                                                     Orig. 2/24/1980

                                                                                                                             Rewr. 11/21/1987

Passage: In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews[a] among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Purpose: Using this study from Acts to give impetus to the church at a time when consideration is being given to the selection of deacons.

Keywords:      Bible Study                 Holy Spirit                 Priorities                    Deaconship

                        Vision

Introduction

            A day of grave concern has come over the followers of Christ.  As a church, they have faced external crises before.  Now, they are faced by concerns that are internal.  Things are happening that are stimulated by the people themselves.

            They had been forewarned that Satan was their enemy.  That he would seek to unsettle their fellowship.  Satan, of course, thought that  those external rumblings would be sufficient.  Now he understands that new forces must be called forth if he is to succeed and the church is to fail.  So, the next line of attack will be from within the family of faith.

            One of the truly  insightful authors of contemporary Christian books is C.S. Lewis.  It was he who wrote The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  One that hasn’t made it to television was a book [(The Screwtape Letters)] which came out as a series of articles written for Saturday Evening Post.  Mr. Lewis was commissioned to write a series of so-called letters from the devil.  Satan, called “Screwtape,” is writing one of his henchmen, here called “Wormwood.”

            I quote, “My dear Wormwood, I note with grave displeasure that your patient has become a Christian. . . .   We must make the best of the situation.  There is no need to despair; hundreds of these adult converts have been reclaimed after a brief sojourn in the enemy’s camp and are now with us.  All the habits of the patient, both mental and bodily, are still in our favor.  One of our great allies at present is the church itself.”

            He goes on to explain this in acceptable terminology.  People often fail to live their faith clearly.

I.          The New Day Was a Day of Vision.  Acts 6:1, “There arose a murmuring on the part of the non-local Jews (Hellenists) because some of their widows were being neglected.”

            It was visionary because it brought insight concerning one of their problems.  Ephesians 5:13, “But everything exposed by the light becomes visible.”  It is important for Christians of any era to be open, honest, forthright.  Too much sensitivity, and directives, needed for growth, go lacking.  Pride causes too many, rather than being honest, [to show] artificiality about our faith.

            The text speaks of “murmurings.”  There are two kinds.  There is the murmuring of the malcontent.  There is the murmuring of concern:  The Greek here seems to suggest a very private outcry, rather than a public one; it is directed toward the apostles; it seems that they were doing everything needful.

            Vision has its inception when we see a need and seek to meet it.  Every significant mission project begins thusly.  Church in Slidell beginning preaching point in truck stop.

            Churches must reckon with their communities and reach out in Christ’s name.  The apostles were being leaned on heavily.  Limits had been reached.  What other people were uniquely fitted to serve these needs?  Not a separation of clergy/laity.  Jesus taught them a prayer lesson.  They were to commit themselves and pray. 

            Every believer has a place of service.  Find it.  Engage it loyally.

            Vision brought the local congregation to the place of expansion.  It is expansion for service.  It is acknowledgment of faithfulness.

II.         This New Day Was Also a Day of Visitation.  Acts 6:3f, “Brothers, choose seven men from among you who have proven themselves to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom; we will turn this responsibility over to them, and give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” 

            To these early believers, the leadership of God came in a spectacular way.  A problem arose.  They faced it honestly and forthrightly.  God used the inner, spiritual resources of the people themselves to solve the problem.  What it boiled down to, was a variance in the church among those who were natives, and those who were not.  The homefolks continued to expect ministry from the primary leaders.  Others, who had moved in from Roman towns, though they were Jews, were not being ministered to at all.  The leaders could not get to it all.  Some thought these not entitled to this ministry.  Sounds familiar.

            It was divine intervention calling believers to ministry, to a place of service.  Many churches face perplexing internal rifts.  Fortunate is the church that is able to settle the problems honorably.  They can disagree without being disagreeable.  Their murmurings are the murmurings of concern.  Words spoken about the church are spoken in love.  When limitations are recognized, how important it is to be a part of the cure rather than the problem. Offer help to those who are overextended.  Faithfully pray for staff, and offer sincere assistance.  “All his money is tied up  in mops.”

            God’s most significant work with His people is with the whole of the people.  Second year in wilderness: Numbers 2:17.  Left Sinai: “Every man in his place by their standards.”  They didn’t stay.  Centuries passed.  Hebrews have returned from captivity.  The Samaritans had controlled their homeland for half-century.  Tough times ahead: Nehemiah 4:6, “the people had a mind to work.”  “We made our prayer to God and set a watch against them.”  V16, “Half the people wrought in the work; others held spears, bows, etc.”

            We see here in Jerusalem an endeavor of cooperative faith.

III.       As it Was a Day of Vision and Visitation, it Was also a Day of Victory.  V7, “And the word of God grew, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly, and a great crowd of priests obeyed the faith.”

            The Bible didn’t get thicker; the people were now better able to deliver its message.  The seven chosen were men best able to serve the needs of Hellenist Jews.  Others were serving Palestinians.  These all had Greek names, and thus shared a cultural purpose.  It is reasonable that other needs would be met by other selected people.  They were not chosen primarily as proclaimers, but as practitioners. Simeone: “An idea is not yours until it comes out of your fingertips.” 

            What were the qualifications? (a)Men; (b)reputable; (c)believers; (d)spiritual; (e)wise.  How often are we guilty of selecting people on basis of popularity rather than proven service?  How important that people not withhold themselves from opportunities of service.

            Note please that the Word had to begin to grow in effectiveness before other good things could happen.  Deuteronomy 8:3, “Man does not live by bread alone . . . but by every word of God.”  Psalm 119:130, “The entrance of thy words giveth light.”  Ephesians 6:17, The battle “gear” for the believer is topped off with the “sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.”

Conclusion

            Back in the seventies, some people were spotlighted who were unwilling to take up arms to defend the homeland.  Some even burned their draft cards.  It is not unlike the case of believers who for all practical purposes have burned their “commitment” cards.

OPENED DOORS AND CLOSED MINDS

#775                            OPENED DOORS AND CLOSED MINDS

Scripture  Acts 5:17-42, NIV                                                                                 Orig. 2/17/1980

Passage: 17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”

21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.

When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. 22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23 “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” 24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to.

25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” 26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.

27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

33 When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35 Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

40 His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.  41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

Purpose: To teach the message of the Book of Acts, that we as God’s own people are to be faithful to Him above all of the other events of our lives.

Keywords:                  Bible Study, Acts       Testimony                  Faithfulness                Trust

Timeline/Series:         Acts

Introduction

            One  of the interesting early stories out of the Olympic Games was that of the Taiwanese.  You will recall that it had its inception years ago, when a small colony of Chinese took up their  positions on  the island fortress of Formosa, and with America’s firm resolve, dared the red Chinese military machine to do anything about it.  They referred to themselves as the true republic of China, and flew the flag of their homeland.

            But in more recent days, the doors of communication and commerce have opened between China and America.  In an effort to keep that door open, earth-shaking decisions had to be made about that national entity and flag that have sent Taiwanese/American relations reeling.

            The Taiwanese try to enter the ’76 Olympics under the name and flag of their heritage.  They were denied.  They tried again at Lake Placid, and for these simple, sincere people, the lake wasn’t very placid.  They wanted to enter as the appropriately recognized people of the Republic of China.  That distinction had been given to the athletes of mainland China.  Their pleas were rejected by the Olympic committees, and even by the Supreme Court of the State of New York.  The Committee, in an effort to placate,  offer to enter them under a neutral flag bearing the Olympic symbol.  They refused.  The members of the American team offered to give them quarter under the American flag as brothers and sisters in sport.  Again they refused.  If they could not participate as the national entity to which they felt they were entitled, they would not participate at all.

            How strongly do we wear the badges which identify us?  To what degree would we go to let the world know how deeply we are moved by love for our country?  More important!  How faithful to the task of being believers in an unbelieving world are we?  What price are we willing to pay so that all may know that we are followers of the “King of Kings”?  Tonight we examine the faithfulness of the early church to stand for the things that matter.

I.          Setting the Tone.  V12, The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. . . . More and more men and women believed in the Lord. . . .  Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem.

            Note the commonality of consequence with what has happened in Acts 4:1-31.  After a busy day, apostles are arrested: 

·         Peter and John [and other] apostles (Mark 13:9);

·         A night spent in jail;

·         A warning from the religious leaders (Acts 4;19, Judge what you would do—we obey God, and Acts 5:29, We choose to obey God rather than you).  Recall the similar circumstances of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego:  “Even if our God does not deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, be it known that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image”;

·         Their release—natural, supernatural;

·         An enlarged enthusiasm for the believers.

            Note also, the reasons for the religious leaders’ concern.  Note first, what they are.  They are the priests and the Sadducees, the  people of wealth and power who have the most to lose in an upsurgence.  They are the security people who have a job to do, no matter that some heads get broken.  They are the Pharisees who are the “separatists.”  They keep the law, and they don’t care what happens to those who don’t.  Note, additionally, what the believers were.  They were a people in whose lives  miracles were working.  Can’t argue with a miracle.  They were a people in total unanimity, v12.  Growing numbers were being added to the faith.

II.         Squelching the Testimony of the Saints.  Acts 4:18, commanded . . . not to speak or teach at all;  5:18, arrested and put in a public jail; 5:40, They called the apostles in and had them flogged.  Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus.

            There is a developing pattern of sameness that not only frustrates but frightens the religious leaders.  The believers are not intimidated. They are  not afraid—frankly, they are acting a little too much like Jesus acted, and they could see themselves losing.  It almost seems that these people are enjoying this; joy is the quality of the Christian life that Satan can’t handle.

            Then, the worst conceivable thing happens, and they are inexplicably linked to Christ and His death.  These Jewish leaders went through the farce of a trial, the agony of a crucifixion, and there was Jesus.  They have threatened these men, they have put them in jail—coerced and intimidated and hated.  You will indeed drink of my cup and be baptized with my baptism, Matthew 10:39.  Now, like Jesus, they are out there walking around, teaching.  V19, someone (angel, messenger) who knew his way around this prison, and the will of God, led them out and sent them on their way to speak “in the temple.”  Can you imagine the rage of these men when they were informed?  “They are not there.  They have been spirited away.”  The doors were closed.  The guards were on duty.  Sounds almost like a repeat scene from the “garden tomb.”

III.       Sounding their Trust.  V29, . . . “We must obey God rather than men.”  The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead. . . .  We are witnesses of these things.

            This harassment had not intimidated their faith.  Undauntedly, at dawn’s early light, they move back to the scene of prior victory.  Acts 2:46, 3:11, 5:12.  V20, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people . . . all the words of this life.  Life: not just a new gloss to an old law; not different answers to the same tired rhetoric; not a bandaged up hope to replace the fragmented one; a new life.  They moved back to that place to proclaim the message that had brought healing and freedom.  Remember, Acts 2:22, identified Peter as the first Christian apologist, and identified his message.  “Jesus, who was one of you, proved his credentials, but you, by wicked hands, crucified and killed, whom God raised up.”

            The siege guns of legalism are being brought into place but the believers continue to show the way to those who will follow.  They still care even about these persecutors.  V28, You have filled Jerusalem with this teaching and now try to bring this man’s blood on us.  Blood on the Jew, Matthew 27:25.

            #157, Alas, and did my Saviour bleed, And did my Sovereign die. #158, What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.  #159, Would you be free from the burden of sin? There’s power in the blood.  #162, Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?  #164, Dark is the stain  that we cannot hide.  What can avail to wash it away?  Look there is flowing a crimson tide; whiter than snow you may be today.

            They know that only this message will bring peace with God.  V30f, The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.  Him God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of Sins.

IV.       Stating the Terms of the Confrontation.  V38f, . . . . Work be of madmen, it will come to naught: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.

            Position, power, and wealth have said we will broach no quarter with these teachings.  The most difficult responsibility the Christian gospel has today is to make inroads in a self-centered, sadistic, sophisticated society.

            The theologically learned say that they will broach no quarter with these new teachings.  Jewish history tells us about Gamaliel, a Pharisee (separatist), perhaps one of the most highly respected of all teachers.  Chances are it will fail—Theudas, Judas/Galilee; outside chance it is of God; I wonder if we have ever been kept from doing something foolish because one man kept his senses about him.

            The followers of Jesus say, “We’ll go on our way preaching the Word, rejoicing in any wounds that come in his name.”  They were a people with singleness of purpose, to obey the commission of their Lord.  It has been clearly fixed in their minds that there are limits on the Christian’s duty to the State, but none on their duty to Jesus.  Aware of the Rightness of their position simply because God’s Holy Spirit affirms by His presence.  V32, We are witnesses of these things; and so also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.  

            They have already discovered that there are going to be some problems in their midst that the best technique for remedy is to let God handle it.  Because, Brother, you may be wrong.

            They have also discovered that joy in suffering is a unique New Testament experience.  Punished like Jesus, Luke 22:63, to take skin off.  I Peter 4:13, But rejoice inasmuch as ye are part in Christ’s sufferings.  Philippians 1:29, For unto you it is given, . . . not only to believe . . . but also to suffer for him.

DRIVEN TO DISCOVERY

#770a                                        DRIVEN TO DISCOVERY

Scripture  Acts 4:23-37, NIV                                                                                 Orig. 1/27/1980

                                                                                                                             Rewr. 10/19/1989

Passage: 23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

“‘Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth rise up
    and the rulers band together
against the Lord
    and against his anointed one.[a]’[b]

27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”  31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

The Believers Share Their Possessions

32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.  36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Purpose: To remind my people that it is often out of some prescribed opposition that we are driven to the greatest discoveries about ourselves and our capabilities.

Keywords:                  Faith               Opposition                 Prayer                         Resources

Timeline/Series:         Acts

Introduction

            On the football field, encroachment is nothing more than over-eagerness on the part of an occasional defensive player.  For people living in the third world nations where there are desert lands it is a life-and-death situation.  What little arable land there is, is being lost to encroachment by the desert sands.

            Ancient people also had to learn to live with the desert.  Their lands also were bordered by it.  Their fertile fields were encroached upon.  We can remember that the desert marched right up to the gates of Jerusalem itself.  The desert was a breeding ground for fierce, nomadic tribes.

            Even before, the desert became  training ground for the people God.  Upon their failure to move steadily into the promised land, it was necessary for them to endure forty years training in the desert.  From slaves of Egypt’s passions, they had to be disciplined to become a nation of God’s people.

            Great  men of God had flowered in the womb of the desert.  Not only Moses, but Elijah, Amos, and Jeremiah also. John the Baptist, reared as he surely was by the Essenes, came out of a community of believers who lived with the desert.  It was there that the Essenes established their ethic, and left evidence in the form of the “Dead Sea Scrolls.”

            The desert also saw the fledgling ministry of Jesus amidst wild animals and ministering angels.  To the desert, Saul of Tarsus would be consigned to ready him for his tasks.  One is more apt to recognize and appreciate blessings when they are seen objectively.

I.          First, We See God’s People Driven to Their Knees. V23, “And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24. . . They lifted up their voice to God with one accord.”

            We need, of course, to be reminded that it was partly their success to blame.  They had forthrightly spoken the word, and people had responded.  It was their success that had disquieted their enemies.  From 120 they ministered and 3,000 (2:4) are saved.  Shortly after, 5,000 (4:4).  The religious bureaucrats were angry.  The priests were becoming sensitive to acceptance of the gospel by Jews.  The temple police were more interested in their authority than they were in religious freedom.  The Sadducees had some vested interests to protect.

            Thus, this success-generated opposition puts them on their knees in alarm and concern.  They are convinced that God will honor His word to them.  They remembered David. Psalm 2:1, “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” 1:2, “In his law doth he meditate day and night.”  IMAGINE/MEDITATE hagah (Hebrew, Strong’s, 1897).  The word for “rage” suggests the excitement of show animals.  Why should we imagine in vain things when we can meditate in God’s word.  They stand in marked allegiance to Jesus.  V24, “Lord, thou art God . . . (creation).”  Word chosen is despota.  Despot, sovereign master.  Other kings (Herod, Pilate) railed against Him.

            In success or in failure, the Christian’s posture is kneeling.  Again and again we have witnessed it.  1:14 UR/1:24 LOT/2:42 PENTECOST/2:47 Daily.  Before Pentecost, such as happens here would have done them in.  The living Lord is with them.  They know that God can turn this opposition to bless them.  They pray, not for protection, but for boldness, v29, parrésia—freedom.  Acts 28:31, “boldness, unhinderedly.”

II.         Next, We Glimpse God’s People Demonstrating Their Faith.  V29, “And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word.”

            We might expect them to be on the raw edge of despair.  They are misunderstood, abused, accused.  Their most noble efforts go lacking.  Such voices can be found.  “He trusted in God that He would deliver him.”  “We trusted that it would be He who delivered Israel.”

            In  the place of despair there is discovery and distinction. 

I prayed to see the face of God,

Illumined by the central suns.

Turning in their central track;

But what I saw was not His face at all.

I saw His bent figure on a windy hill,

Carrying a double load upon His back.

                                                                                                                                                J.R. Perkins

We hear them pray, and their prayer is as those who are slaves to God’s purpose.  To be a slave is to delight when chosen to serve the honored guest.  He will delight also when chosen to pluck foulness from the barnyard nest. 

            So, it was not deliverance they sought, but boldness.  We find no pretense of strength here.  They offer only empty vessels, to be filled by Him who has no lack.  Ephesians 4:10, “The One who descended to the deepest level of man’s emptiness, reacted also to the supreme heights of God’s fulness, that he might be the supplier of every need.” 

            They learned, what we have been taught, but fail to claim.  It is better in the darkest pit with Jesus, than anywhere without Him. 

For all your days prepare,

And meet them ever alike;

When you are the anvil, bear . . .

When you are the hammer strike.

                                                                                                                                    Edwin Markham

III.       Finally, It is Herein that God’s People Discover Our Resources.  V31, “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness.”

            Their need, then as now, is in what God would supply for them.  God does not give of His Spirit randomly.  John 3:34, “For God giveth not the Spirit by measure.”  Because of leaky vessels we need constancy in renewing.  Matthew 26:41, “The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  I Thessalonians 5:19, “Quench not the Spirit.”  Galatians 5:16, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.”

            There is also the resource of the people of God gathered together.  They are drawn away from the majestic to the practical.  Prayer, if it is, takes wings to lift up hands of help.  Northern California needs Red Cross/Salvation Army; we can help through hunger relief.  They share a concern for each other.  Deeper understanding of stewardship.  There is a new spontaneity in sharing.  Communism:  Not new (Essenes)/doesn’t abolish private property. Not required, they gave voluntarily/consequence of inner working of Holy Spirit, to meet needs.  Works in conjunction with end-time, or unlimited capital.

Conclusion

            From this, five important lessons are to be learned: 1-We are to be convinced of God’s power to redeem His Word; 2-We are to recognize the futility of man’s rebellion; 3-We must establish a relationship of remembrance of Jesus; 4-We are to pray; 5-We are to be open to Holy Spirit.

Links/references

Perkins:           https://www.poetryexplorer.net/poem.php?id=10114763

Markham:       https://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=3149

THEY HAD BEEN WITH JESUS

#770                                     THEY HAD BEEN WITH JESUS

Scripture Acts 4:1-22, NIV                                                                                      Orig. 1/6/1979

Passage: The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.  5 The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is

“‘the stone you builders rejected,
    which has become the cornerstone.’[a]

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”  13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 15 So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16 “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. 17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”  18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”  21 After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

Purpose: To continue our study of the Book of Acts calling attention to the boldness, and the Christ-centered message of the early church.

Keywords:                  Bible study                 Healing          

Timeline/Series:         Acts

Introduction

            There are all kinds of changes that can take place in the lives of people.  We regularly hear of the effect of physical changes that enable people to live different lives.  There are kidney transplants that effectively remove people from the prison of dialysis.  We hear of corneal transplants that enable people to see again, after they have lost perhaps our second most significant physical attribute.  We hear of heart transplants which become extensions of life to some recipients.  One  of our own men has this week had the implantation of a pacemaker, which will extend and give to  him a more normal life.

            On the negative side of the summary sheet, we hear of the highly  problematic sex-change procedure.  It is hard for us to grasp what is happening in that person’s life as they deliberately attempt what is beyond the comprehension of most of us.  We cannot help but wonder if the person so miserable in his birth gender, is going to be any less  miserable in a cosmetic gender.

            We also know about those attempted changes in personality adjustment.  Some of these are good.  They are deliberate efforts on the part of people to compensate for some of their own recognized weaknesses.  Others, however, are efforts to control people under the strong influence of other people.

            But the changes that take place in the lives of these disciples are overwhelming.  The same men, who had been victimized and intimidated by their religious overlords, are suddenly men of strength and vision and fearlessness.

If Christ is Man and only Man,

I say, I shall follow Him,

Shall follow Him always.

If Christ be God and the only God,

I swear, I shall follow Him through

The earth, the sea, the air.                                                                                Author unknown      

            In essence, this is what has happened.  Christ has become, in them, in the disciples, all that He claimed that He would.  The claim continues apace for your life and mine.  Observe what happens in the lives of these people who “have been with Jesus.”  Changes that are significant for us today as well.

I.          There is an Attempt at Intimidation.  V1f, And as they spake unto the people, the priests and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, Being grieved that they taught the people, . . . And . . . laid hands on them, and put them in hold. . . .

            First, we must go back and see what was happening in the lives of the disciples.  Occasionally they were in and about the temple.  A need arises in relation to an infirm man, and the disciples become instruments of God.  There is the initial healing.  As a crowd gathered in excited curiosity, Simon Peter spoke to them explaining their faith in Jesus as the Messiah/Lord.  They were here in the very  place that Jesus had spoken to the people of Himself, and of their doubt.  The people were made to face the stark reality of the crucifixion.  They are called upon to give renewed consideration to the resurrection.  3:13, . . . the God of our Fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus, . . . . V16, And his name, through faith in his name hath made this man strong, . . . hath given him this perfect soundness.

            We must just as well remember that it has been only a few weeks at most since Jesus was crucified.  The disciples have not greatly changed, except in their own inner being.  They were instructed (Acts 1:4) that they “should wait for the promise of the Father.” Started with 120, Acts 1:15.  Added 3,000, Acts 2:41.  Another 5,000 resulted from the healing, Acts 4:4.  From here it will become increasingly difficult.  The officials quickly gathering here are the same ones who brought sentence upon Jesus.  They intended to deal with Jesus in  gory enough a fashion that it would intimidate His followers.  Suddenly, they are forced to consider these followers of the hated Nazarene (2:22, 3:6, 4:10).  Priests—the religious power structure; temple captain—high  priest’s chief of staff; Sadducees—wealthy aristocrats who didn’t believe in resurrection; not upset vested interests.

II.         There is an Actualized Opportunity.  V4, Howbeit, many of them which heard the word believed, and the number of men was about 5,000.  V13, Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, . . . they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

            It has always been so that when we are faithful to proclaim, God is faithful to bless.  Acts 6:4, We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to  the ministry of the word.  Colossians 5:19, God . . . hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.  II Timothy 4:2, Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season.

            We immediately take note that God sustains His Word.  In  this simple proclamation of the Word, 5,000 men had become believers.  Women who became believers are not numbered.  They may not have been present.  You can be sure that these 5,000 men went home to wives and children who became believers.

            But what about God’s promise to the  proclaimer of the Word?  These men wound up in jail.  But this confinement was itself a blessing and a promise.  Two men, Peter, who had spoken out of turn a few times to Jesus, and later regretted it, who had also been intimidated to the point of fear and betrayal by these very men who have arrested him.  And John.  The  one who loved people so deeply.  The one, who, on the spur of the moment may not be able to speak an admonishing word.  But that night,  in a cell, they experience their Lord’s presence with power.  Simon is to be the spokesman and he is to repeat the message that he spoke at Pentecost and in the Temple.  He is to talk about the One whom God sent.  Localize him.  15 or more times in John, Jesus speaks of God as “the one who sent” him (apostelló).  That the Jewish fathers crucified the Lord, and that he arose from the dead. That this deed resolves sin by faith.

            It must immediately and forever be noted that what the world waits to see is the presence of Christ in you and me. 

“Be like Jesus, this my song;

In the home and in the throng.

Be like Jesus, all day long,

I would be like Jesus.”  James Rowe, 1911

            Some say, “They took note” as the IRS notes.

            The Word says, “They marveled at these ignorant, unlearned men, [and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.]”

III.       There is an Eloquent Impediment.  V18f, And being commanded not to speak or to teach in the name of Jesus, Peter and John answered, . . . “we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

            The impediment, of course, is the determination of the word that such a message as this will be silenced. 

·         The commercial world says, “Let’s talk about Santa Claus rather than Jesus.”

·         The political world says, “It’s against the law to discuss anything that the State cannot bring under its control.”

·         ACLU says, “We’ll get people the right to smoke pot or jeopardize industry, but you can’t talk about Jesus.”

·         Madalyn Murray O’Hair says, “I want to be free to teach people to worship humanity, but I don’t want anyone to teach others to worship God.”

·         The religious world says, “Let’s define a religious system that should be acceptable to all, and then outlaw everything else.”

            The eloquence is that they may stop the music, but they never have been able to stop the song.

 Links/References

“Be Like Jesus,” https://hymnary.org/text/earthly_pleasures_vainly_call_me_i_would

Rowe:  https://hymnary.org/person/Rowe_James