The Church Scattered - The Good and The Not So Good

Acts 8 is an account of what happened after Stephen was stoned to death. It was on that day that some of the most horrific persecution of the church begins with Saul at the helm. Many Christ followers lost their homes, fortunes, property, jobs, families, and lives during this time in the Church's history. They were taken, beaten, chained, jailed, and killed for believing that Jesus was who He said He was. However, this is not the most important part of the story in this chapter.

I firmly believe that it was God's intention to have the Church scattered away from Jerusalem. I firmly believe that God used Stephen's stoning as the flashpoint for the transmission of the message of Christ to the masses. It was through this gruesome event that He began the world-wide effort to bring all nations to Himself.

We read starting in verse 4 that Philip went to Samaria and began preaching the good news of Christ to an area that was full of gentiles. Jews and Samarians normally didn't mix, but Jesus had made it clear that His message was for the Jew AND the Gentile, and so Phillip brought that message to them.

The spread of Jesus' teachings was not limited to Judea and Samaria, however. Starting in vesre 26, we see Philip being led by an angel of the Lord to go to a certain area, where he happens to meet up with a eunuch from Ethiopia. This person was in charge of the treasury for the Queen of the Ethiopians. A very important man indeed! The eunuch is in a carriage reading the book of Isaiah, but not understanding it. God had positioned Philip in the right place at the right time to join this person of high stature and help them to understand what they were reading. In addition, Philip was able to share the good news of Christ with them, and baptize them in a pond on the roadside. The passage said that the eunuch went away rejoicing and praising God! Now we don't know for certain, as the Bible doesn't make reference to it, but it is my educated guess that the eunuch took the message of Christ back to Ethiopia, thus spreading the Gospel outside the borders of Judea/Samaria.

That's the good news. Now for the not so good news.

Many were following along in the new found freedom that the message had given them, but there were also a few that followed to see what kind of personal gain they could receive.

Simon the Sorcerer is the main character that displays this selfish intent. When Peter and John join Phillip in Samaria and the Holy Spirit starts to indwell the people of the area, Simon tries to buy his way into having the Holy Spirit.

Acts 8:18-24 - When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin." Then Simon answered, "Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me."

Simon had been doing magical things for a while in Samaria, and people followed him because of his magical powers. He even had gone so far as to call himself "The Great Power". When Philip came into town doing miracles in the name of Jesus, it seems that Simon wanted to find out just how he was doing that so that he might add it to his own repetoire. It only makes sense that, once he saw Peter and John laying hands on the recently baptized so that they would receive the Holy Spirit, he would try and buy it from them so that he might gain more notariety and fame as a giver of the Holy Spirit. Peter and John saw straight through him and recognized that he was not truly asking for the Holy Spirit because he believed, but rather, for personal gain.

It is unfortunate, but even in the beginnings of the spread of Christianity, we see counterfeits popping up and endeavoring to taint the name of Jesus with false doctrine and devious intentions in mind. If satan can create something that looks, speaks, smells, and acts like the real thing, then there's a good chance that some will follow where they lead.

We must be on guard church, for if we are not diligent, we can be come a counterfeit without even knowing it!!!

The spread of Christianity has never been halted, and it should not stop now. What God began by scattering the Church after Stephen's death we continue today as the Body of Christ. There has never been a more opportune time for Christ's message to get to the masses! Let's live our lives of Worship before the world so that they may see Christ in us.

Matthew 5:13-16 - "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither to people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

The Stoning of Stephen

I've been stewing on Acts 7 for a while now. At first glance, it's a fairly unassuming chapter due to most of it being dedicated to Stephen's speech to the Sanhedrin. However, if you look a little deeper, you see some things that may catch your heart a bit.

Now, remember back in Chapter 6 that Stephen had been falsley accused of speaking against the Law and the Temple. Verse 15 said that everyone in the room saw that Stephen's face was like the face of an angel. My best guess is that in that very moment, the Holy Spirit was filling Stephen with the strength he would need to answer the question that followed.

Acts 7:1 - Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?"

An interesting side note here is that the high priest asking the question (according to most scholars and theologians) was Caiaphas, who was the very priest that set the wheels in motion for Jesus to be betrayed and ultimately killed. How ironic that he also presides over the making of the first Christian martyr?!

At this moment, Stephen could have done what you see much of on television these days. He could have gone the tried and true "no these accusations are purely false and I will prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that they are" route, but instead, God had a different plan for him. God had Stephen give the Sanhedrin a history lesson.

Reading through Verses 2-50, you will find a cliff notes version of the happenings between God and His chosen people from the time of Abraham all the way up to Solomon. One would think that this was to remind them of the amazing things God had done for them, but if you read it carefully you notice the common theme: Rejection of God's teachings and persecution of anyone who would bring them back to the forefront. This culminates with Stephen basically going postal on the Sanhedrin in Verses 51-53:

Acts 7:51-53 - "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers; You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet that your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And how you have betrayed and murdered him - you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."

Those words cost Stephen his life at the hands of the Sanhedrin. They stoned him to death for his beliefs. They stoned him to death for being an activist for his faith. They stoned him to death for stepping on their time honored laws, traditions, doctrines, and theologies. They stoned him to death for making them look bad in public. This event began the persecution of the church that spread and scattered it througout Judea and Samaria.

Now, while we don't see people physically stoned by others for their words and deeds in the church today, we see something very similar going on spiritually, emotionally, and mentally which is almost worse in some ways.

We have become too comfortable with our surroundings, trappings, traditions, methodologies, doctrines, practices, etc... This issue is not just with one certain age group either! It comes from people of ALL ages who don't want to compromise what they want in order to possibly do kingdom work. When someone comes along and challenges our positions on things that we are comfortable with, we lash out at them verbally to their face, and behind their back. We passive-aggressively undermine their position by gossipping about them and turning small things into giant issues. We choose to say "We've NEVER done it that way before", or "We've ALWAYS done it that way" in the hopes that whatever it is will be left alone. The sad part? This is NOT what God sent Jesus here to die for.

A life of Worship is not a life based on the trappings of traditional or modern practices. It is not a life based on the age of a person or their personal doctrines and agendas. It is a life that is totally surrendered to Him all day, every day, in every way. It is a life that reflects the love of Jesus to others just as the moon reflects the sun. It is a life that causes change just by simply being ready to serve God in whatever way He calls us to each and every time.

Instead of organizing petitions to save the Communion table or the carpet, we should be organizing food and clothing drives to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

Instead of complaining to others about musical style, we should be open to the idea that what is being played and sung may bring others to Christ much in the same way that our favorite musical style did for us.

God calls us to have an authentic worship relationship with Him in order that He might use us to bring someone else into that same relationship.

We are to lovingly rebuke, forgive, and educate instead of harshly rejecting, persecuting, and driving away.

We can only do these things if we choose to surrender ourselves completely to the purpose and plan that God has for us as followers of the teachings of Jesus.

Proclaim Christ, Teach of Christ, Serve Christ. Love God, Love People. Live True. Whatever you want to call it, it's a life of Worship!