Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends on this Friday,
Have you ever been forced to evacuate and relocate fairly quickly, even against your will? Normally that happens in the face of a natural disaster like a flood or earthquake or hurricane or sadly, war or terrorism. In fact in recent years millions of people have been displaced from their homes by terror.
As we saw yesterday, that was happening in Jerusalem about 2000 years ago, and thousands of people were fleeing for their lives. WHY?
Because an angry Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus was leading an unrestrained purging of Jerusalem. All people, who were suspected of believing in and being followers of Jesus Christ, were at risk of being hauled out of their home, arrested and perhaps even killed! (Acts 8:1,3) As we’ve seen in recent days, Acts 2-6 describe a great ‘spiritual awakening’ which was taking place and more than 5000 thousand Jews had declared Jesus to be their Messiah, Savior and Lord! (Acts 4:4)
Yesterday we saw, in Acts 7, that the growing opposition to the “Jesus movement” had turned violent and Stephen had been stoned to death, the first martyr follower of Jesus. (Acts 7:51-60) That unleashed a city-wide purging led by Saul as described in Acts 8:1-3. Today, let’s follow one of those who fled for his life, Philip.
The record tells us Philip left Jerusalem but did not go to friendly territory. Rather, Philip went north to Samaria. But do you remember there was great prejudice, even hatred between Jews and Samaritans? (John 4:9) I might compare it to what we see between Israelis and Palestinians today in the West Bank area. We have no clear explanation as to WHY Philip chose Samaria as his escape place, but we do know Philip did not hide in Samaria!
The record tells us: “Philip went to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many people and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So, there was great joy in that city.” (Acts 8:5-8) Pause. What do you imagine was happening in this Samaritan city?
We presume this Philip to be one of the seven chosen to serve the widows, not the apostle Philip, because Acts 8:1 tells us ‘…all except the apostles were scattered’ out of Jerusalem, as a result of the intense persecution. But are you amazed at the remarkable spiritual power this Philip had? HOW did Philip gain this power and WHAT was God’s purpose in guiding Philip to use this spiritual power for healing & casting out demons in a Samaritan city?
Do you remember the criteria by which Philip and the other six men were selected? The apostles had said: “Choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom…” (Acts 6:3) Do you also remember Jesus had promised “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) While we don’t know if this Philip was present when Jesus said those words, clearly Philip was living the experience! He was anointed and empowered by the Holy Spirit, and he had gone to Samaria where his speaking the truth about Jesus and his miracles, were giving powerful witness about Jesus the Messiah!
Philip’s presence and behavior was changing a city in Samaria, and great joy was sweeping through that city! It begs an important question doesn’t it, my friends? What is the impact you and I have on the place where we live, no matter how long we’ve lived there? Philip had only been in town a few days, but an entire city was being changed!
But Acts 8:9-13 introduces us to another remarkable man in that Samaritan city, named Simon. He was known to be a sorcerer and evidently over time had established quite a reputation for himself and quite a following! (Acts 8:9-11) I presume everyone in that city knew that the source of Simon’s amazing power was the dark kingdom, as it is today with those who dabble in a wide range of modern sorcery like tarot cards, or palm reading or seances or channeling or other forms of divination.
But Philip’s power was different, and rather than enslaving people Philip helped people find deliverance and freedom! Amazingly, evidently this man Simon the sorcerer joined many others in that city in believing Philip’s message about Jesus and he was even baptized! (Acts 8:13)
Word about what was happening in Samaria got back to the apostles in Jerusalem and they sent Peter and John to investigate. These words describe what they found: “When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them, they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 8:14-17) What does it mean my friends? What should we learn here and how does it apply to you and me?
May I give you three things to consider…
First... The Redemption; Justification; Adoption; Regeneration full, saving, transformational work of God in a person is NOT accomplished through water baptism.
While Acts 8:12 says: “They believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Messiah”, Acts 8:16 says “They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” That tells me these people believed the truth of Philip’s explanation that Jesus is Messiah, and whatever Philip told them about the kingdom of God, but they had evidently NOT repented of their sin, nor had they trusted God to apply the death payment of Jesus to their sin for their salvation. The Holy Spirit had not yet accomplished His full work of ‘born again’! (John 3:3-7)
Second... The apostles, like most Jews, were very resistant to believing God might actually care enough for Samaritans that He would be willing to save them in the same way God had saved thousands of Jews in Jerusalem who repented of their sin and trusted Jesus Christ to be their Savior. (Acts 2:36-41)
For the Holy Spirit to lead Jewish apostles Peter and John to pray over these Samaritans and then place their hands of blessing on them, that was a dramatic rebuke to their prejudice against Samaritans.
Third... God needed to do something to demonstrate the full legitimacy of His salvation of the Samaritans equal to His salvation of the Jews in Jerusalem.
The Holy Spirit coming upon the Samaritans, as Jewish apostles Peter and John placed their hands of blessing upon them and prayed over them, became a powerful visible symbol of the unity of Jew & Samaritan believers in Jesus, as brothers and sisters in Christ. (Acts 8:17)
Let’s pause here and reflect on this major, historical event. Salvation in Jesus Christ was coming to the Samaritans! The ‘lessons learned’ notes below will help you evaluate the legitimacy of your own salvation, and the worship song will draw your heart to Jesus, and let’s meet here again tomorrow for we need to understand what happened to Simon the sorcerer!
Today’s Scripture: Acts 8:4-17.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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