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.