Sermon Tone Analysis

Acts - 21

Acts 8:4-13

Introduction

Whatever you focus on, you will see.

There is an old story about a man who lived next door to a teenage boy.

The man’s shovel mysteriously went missing, and he just knew the teenager had stolen it.

So he set up cameras and started watching him out the window.

Every move the kid made reinforced the man’s theory.

The teenager just looked guilty.

He looked like a criminal.

Every move this kid made looked suspicious.

Until…the man found his shovel back behind his own shed, where he had left it the last time he had used it.

After that, the kid no longer looked guilty.

Whatever you focus on you will see.

if you focus on a personality quirk in your spouse, all you are going to do is be frustrated all the time because that’s all you’ll see.

If you focus on the failures of a coworker, you will never fully appreciate them again because all you see is how they let you down that one time.

If you focus on everything your child does that disappoints you, you will end up exasperating them with your impossible standards.

Whatever you focus on, you will see.

Whatever you give your attention to will ultimately define your life.

That is a truth put on full display in Acts 8. Let me set up the context.

In Acts 6, seven men are chosen to address the logistical issues of food distribution to widows in the church.

Stephen, the first man listed, expands his ministry to include preaching the gospel.

God empowered him to perform miracles to validate the truth of his message.

But Stephen is arrested and interrogated for his preaching about Jesus.

At the end of Acts 7, Saul oversees the execution of Stephen and then initiates an overwhelming show of force in persecuting all the Christians in Jerusalem.

The Christians are scattered out of Jerusalem, out of their homes, away from their families, for the sake of the gospel.

Now, in Acts 8, the storyline is going to focus in on Philip, one of the other men who had been chosen in Acts 6. God does the same thing with him that He did with Stephen.

Philip’s ministry expands beyond organizational leadership into gospel preaching.

In fact, Philip is the only man in the entire NT that is titled as an ‘evangelist’ (Acts 21:8).

Let’s see how his ministry begins.

Acts 8:4-13 - 4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went about, proclaiming the good news of the word.

5 Now Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching Christ to them.

6 And the crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was being said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was doing.

7 For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.

8 So there was great joy in that city.

9 Now there was a man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city and astounding the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great;

10 and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, “This man is what is called the Great Power of God.”

11 And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astounded them with his magic arts.

12 But when they believed Philip proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, both men and women.

13 Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly astounded.

Before He ascended into Heaven, the Lord Jesus had told His disciples in Acts 1:8 that they would be His witnesses, testifying about Him in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Up to this point the Church had been operating solely in Jerusalem.

And that had worked out well.

The Church is strong and unified.

But when this persecution breaks out, the Lord uses it to accomplish His mission.

The Christians see this is an opportunity, not as opposition.

God has opened a door and they are going to walk through it.

Notice v. 4 - Therefore, those who had been scattered went about, proclaiming the good news of the word.

These are not the leaders.

They aren’t the professional pastors and evangelists.

They aren’t the apostles.

These are the normal, everyday Christians that comprise the Church.

They are faithful to the Lord’s call to share the gospel with those they encounter.

They have been ‘scattered.’

There are two Greek words that can be translated as scattered.

The first one is used to refer to things like scattering ashes…it is scattered and then is gone never to return.

The other one is a farming term, like scattering seed.

It gets scattered out, only to be planted and flourish.

That is the word used here.

That is what these Christians do.

God has sent them out and they will plant themselves along the way and their faith will flourish.

TS - Now as Philip will head to Samaria, and Acts will focus on him for a little bit, let’s watch how God works through His faithful people to save people from their sins.

CONDITION (V.

5-8)

V. 5 - Now Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching Christ to them.

This is a loaded phrase that speaks to a lot of the historical background going on here.

The city of Samaria is the capital city of the region of Samaria.

Israel in the first century was divided into three regions, Judea in the south, Galilee in the north, with Samaria in between.

Jews and Samaritans had a less than ideal relationship.

In fact, good Jews would go around Samaria if they had to travel from Judea to Galilee just so they didn’t taint themselves in such a dirty place.

Why the animosity?

In the 8th century BC, the Assyrian Empire attacked and defeated the northern Kingdom of Israel.

Of the citizens who survived, most were transplanted back to Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrians.

Then the region was repopulated by Assyrians.

Over time, the Israelites who remained in the region intermarried with the new Assyrian transplants, and adopted their false pagan gods, a direct violation of God’s law.

Their offspring are the Samaritans.

But when the southern kingdom of Judah was attacked and defeated by the Babylonians in the 6th century BC, those survivors who had been transported into Babylon refused to give up their Jewish way of life and were loyal to God’s law.

So in the 5th century BC when the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the Temple, they brought back a thriving Jewish culture.

They were met in Israel by the Samaritans who offered to help them rebuild the city and the temple.

The Jews unpolitely and contemptuously refused their help because, to them, the Samaritans were racial and religious sellouts who had compromised their faith.

So in the 4th century BC the Samaritans responded by building their own temple on Mt.

Gerazim with their own ways of worship and their own version of the Old Testament.

From that point on, their relationship with the Jews was forever strained.

If you remember the conversation Jesus has with a Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, this is what they talk about.

Just as Jesus had gone straight into Samaria and offered the gospel to them, so Philip goes there too.

And just as they had responded well to Jesus, they respond well to Philip as he preaches ‘Christ’ to them.

This is significant.

The Samaritans were waiting for a Messiah-type person.

In fact in John 4 as Jesus and the Samaritan woman were talking about worship, she says in John 4:25-26 - The woman said to him, “I know Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when He comes, He will declare all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

Because the Samaritans had their own version of the OT (we will talk about that in a minute), they had focused their hope on Deuteronomy 18 that promised another prophet like Moses who would come to teach them.

They had a word for their Messiah-type person that meant ‘restorer.’

It wasn’t completely accurate like the Messiah who would come to rule, but the restorer who would restore them to their rightful place in the world.

Philip gives them a great gift.

I know the One you are searching for.

I know the One in whom you have placed your hope.

His name is Jesus.

And the crowds listen.

V. 6 - And the crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was being said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was doing.

Remember, God empowered the apostles and those on whom the apostles laid their hands, to perform miracles that served to validate the truth of the gospel message.

It showed heaven’s endorsement on their preaching.

That is why the miracles are called ‘signs,’ they point to the fact that what they are saying is true.