Acts 8:1 And there arose on that day a great persecution
against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout
the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Saul (Later, Paul) was heading a great persecution in
Jerusalem and the death of Stephen sparkled energy to the authorities and they
wanted to persecute everybody. But God’s wisdom is larger than their plans. Till
this persecution started, the church was in Jerusalem with about 8000+ members.
But when persecution started, it became 12 with people who knew and were chosen
by Jesus. Verse 3 in many translations say Paul was destroying the Church and
God did not come to defense immediately. The size of persecution could be
understood with the reference in Acts 11:19. The reason is that till
this time, the Church has constrained itself inside Jerusalem and had not moved
outside. God allows His own body to be persecuted for its own growth. This is
necessary.
We are going to study the three first fruits of this persecution
mentioned in Chapter 8. We can categorize ourselves in any of these types.
1. Phillip:
Till this time, Phillip was in the Church doing
administration. But when Stephen, his fellow worker in the Church was killed,
there was no fear in Him. Samaria was around 70 miles away from Jerusalem and
he was there preaching. The verse says that he was preaching Christ. This type
of gospel preaching is so effective that immediately, there was healing,
acceptance, concentration and results. A similar phrase can be read in Romans
16:25 where this preaching strengthens and brings glory to God the Father
through Jesus Christ. The methods on how this preaching was done can be found
in verse 12, where Phillip exalts the name of Jesus Christ and introduces the
kingdom of God to them. This is much more effective than preaching about
other’s mistakes and using other lies to bring people to Christ.
Philip was a humble person as he had performed many miracles
in a city and had brought great joy to a whole city and when if the Holy Spirit
was not given to them after his ministry, he did not complain but sent word for
the apostles to lay hands. This method is not a standard, but needed for the
situation for the acceptance of Samarians who were rejected by the Jews. When
God gives or does not give something, it is required of us to receive what is
given.
Philip was the first person to be carried away by the Holy
Spirit. In all other cases including Jesus in Mathew 4, the Spirit instructed
men but here, the Holy Spirit for the first time had carried him away for
ministry. We need to understand the involvement and excitement of God when
Phillip was producing really well.
2. Simon:
This person can be found in any church who had received the
word and had immediately accepted and baptized. But the original identity of
being a super spiritual person is not lost at all. The intentions are all the
same as before. The old person has not died and we still have all the old ambitions
and desires controlling us as in Ephesians 4:22-24. The bible does not mention
what his fate was because, repentance at this stage could have saved him. This
is a bond of iniquity where we search God for wrong intentions. This is harder
for cleansing than most other sins as it brings corruption inside. It is
required that this is ridiculed.
3. The Ethiopian Eunuch
This person’s desire made God send Philip to him. This is
the best example of thirst towards righteousness. Since he was an eunuch, he
cannot worship God in full. He is going back from the heart of the Church where
there were around 8000 believers. He has good excuses to not touch the bible
again ever as we read his frustration in verse 31. But he was patient and
hopeful on the way back. This is faith that moves mountains.
When the good news about Jesus was preached, He gave himself
for baptism and accepted this with joy. Some history says that he carried the
gospel to Ethiopia and nearby.
Let us have our desires and submission like these two men
and learn from Simon’s mistake.
Amen.
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