Will You Tell the Story? (Philip)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[READING] Acts 8:1-4…
1 Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison. 4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.
[PRAYER]
[CONTEXT] The church was born on the day of Pentecost as the Holy Spirit empowered the Apostles to preach the Good News of God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ. Three thousand came to believe that Jesus died to save them and rose to make them right with God on that first birthday of the church.
From there the church continued to grow but experienced persecution along the way.
Peter and John were arrested and threatened.
All of the Apostles were jailed and delivered.
But all of the Apostles were also flogged, given the honor of suffering for the Name of Jesus.
But with the murder of Stephen, a Christian brother who served widows and preached Jesus as the Christ, persecution against the followers of Jesus exploded.
[CIT] Acts 8 begins to tell that story of persecution, but it quickly becomes a story of evangelism—a story of the church moving out from Jerusalem throughout the surrounding areas of Judea and Samaria, telling the good news of Jesus as they go.
[PROP] Every Christian is commanded to tell others about Jesus as they go. We are commanded to tell others about Jesus as we go.
Jesus said that we are to make disciples of all nations, baptizing in His Name, teaching others everything that He commanded us.
How could we possibly do any of that unless we first told them about Jesus and what He did for us in His death and resurrection?
[INTER] Throughout our study of Acts 8, we will ask ourselves, “Will I tell the story of Jesus as I go? What will it take to get me to tell others about Jesus as I go?”
[TS] This morning we will focus on these first four verses, looking at The Persecution, The Dispersion, and The Proclamation.
Let’s look first at The Persecution…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
#1: The Persecution (Acts 8:1a, 3)
#1: The Persecution (Acts 8:1a, 3)
1 Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
[EXP] As Stephen was put to death for preaching Jesus as the presence and righteousness of God, Saul was there watching over the coats of those who murdered Stephen with stones. Verse 1 says that Saul—later more commonly known to us as Paul—was in hearty agreement with Stephen’s execution, and verse 3 says that Stephen was just the beginning.
3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.
Some translations say that Paul began to destroy the church. The KJV says that he made havoc of the church. The Greek verb is only used here in Scripture, and one commentator said that it refers to “a brutal and sadistic cruelty.”
This was an invasive cruelty because Paul would enter house after house looking for followers of Jesus like Stephen.
People weren’t even safe in their own homes.
This was an equal-opportunity cruelty because Paul would drag off men and women who followed Jesus.
There was no deference for being a woman.
This was a deadly cruelty because it didn’t stop with prison.
Because of the way v. 3 ends, we might mistakenly get the impression that all Paul did was put people in prison. A little later in Acts 9:1, where it says Paul was still breathing out murderous threats against followers of Jesus, we might mistakenly get the impression that all Paul did was threaten. But Paul later confesses…
4 “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons,
10 “And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them.
Like Jesus’ sham of a trial and like Stephen’s too, these believers were persecuted, imprisoned, falsely convicted, and sentenced to death—and Saul-Paul heartily agreed with it all.
[ILLUS] Christians are not the only persecuted religious group in the world. For example, Muslims have been targeted in various countries, including China, India, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. Members of other minority religious groups, such as Yazidis, Baha'is, and Hindus, have also faced persecution in different regions.
However, according to the 2021 Annual Report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and the World Watch List 2021 by Open Doors USA, Christians are among the most persecuted in the world.
The USCIRF report identified several countries where Christians face severe persecution, including China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam. Open Doors USA's World Watch List 2021 similarly ranked North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, and Pakistan as the top five countries where Christians face the most severe persecution.
[APP] Jesus said to us…
19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.
He also said to us…
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Persecution has been and continues to be a part of the experience of following Jesus. We should not be surprised when persecution comes but surprised that it doesn’t come more often.
These early believers in Jerusalem were persecuted.
Stephen was persecuted.
The Apostles were persecuted.
Jesus was persecuted, and He prepared us for persecution, saying to us, “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecuted you,” (John 15:20).
Will you tell the story of Jesus when you are persecuted?
I guarantee you that persecuted believers in places like North Korea and Afghanistan are telling the story.
[TS]…
#2: The Dispersion (Acts 8:1b-2)
#2: The Dispersion (Acts 8:1b-2)
1 Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him.
[EXP] It took courage to publically bury and mourn for Stephen in Jerusalem where the Jewish religious leaders had just executed him, but some brave brothers had the courage to do just that even though persecution was now breaking out against all believers.
Even the Apostles were in danger, but they decided to stay in Jerusalem, which was the birthplace and then the headquarters of the church.
Others, however, were scattered. They were dispersed throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria just as Jesus said they would be.
8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
Persecution was the painful catalyst, but the church of Jesus was on the move; it was headed out into the wider world.
Believers end up in places like Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch (Acts 11:19). Peter begins his first letter in the NT with the words…
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
The word “dispersion” was typically used in the OT to describe God’s people scattered throughout the world after the exile, but Peter uses it to describe God’s true people, all those Jews and Gentiles who trust in Jesus for salvation—all those followers of Jesus who have been scattered throughout the world to scatter the light of Jesus in this dark world.
[ILLUS] The Gospel has been compared to a precious diamond because, like a diamond, it has many different facets that reflect and refract the light of God’s grace in unique and beautiful ways. However, the church could also be compared to a precious diamond.
A diamond is made up of millions of tiny facets, each of which is angled to reflect and refract light in a specific way. A diamond that refracts the most light is an ideal cut diamond with a high refractive index. The higher the refractive index, the more the light is bent by the diamond, and the more it sparkles—i.e., the most it scatters light.
[APP] Until we are in the New Jerusalem with the Lord Jesus, we are dispersed; we are scattered; and we are scattered in this dark world to scatter the light of Christ.
This is what Jesus told us in Matthew 5:14-16…
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Will you scatter His light?
Will you tell the story of Jesus in your dispersion?
[TS]…
#3: The Proclamation (Acts 8:4)
#3: The Proclamation (Acts 8:4)
4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.
[EXP] The NASB says that those scattered preached the word. What is the word they preached? That word is the Gospel, and we might think of a passage like 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 as a summary of that Gospel...
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
But of course the facts of Jesus death, burial, and resurrection are just facts. What are those facts important? What does it mean that Jesus died on a cross, was buried in a tomb, and rose from the dead?
Simply put, it means that sinners can be saved from God’s wrath on account of their sins.
God exists, and He is holy, and the price for sin, which is the breaking God’s law, is death.
People trapped in darkness claim that God doesn’t exist, but that doesn’t stop God from existing.
People trapped in darkness say relabel sin as enlightenment or evolution, but that doesn’t stop it from being sin.
People trapped in darkness live as if sin doesn’t have consequences, but that won’t stop unrepentant sinners from a experiencing a harsh encounter with the holiness of God when they step into eternity.
The price for sin is death, but that death is an eternal, conscious torment in hell.
All who refuse to repent and trust in Jesus, will spend forever in that place.
But God has made a way of salvation! In His grace, He sent His Son Jesus to live a sinless life and give Himself on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for our sin!
In order to live forever in God’s presence, we must be holy as He is holy, and we haven’t been holy like that since Adam and Eve first sinned against God. Every person has been born in sin and has committed sins throughout their lives, but Jesus willingly came to be our righteousness, to be the sacrifice for our sin, to be our justification before God the Father.
Three days after His death, God raised Jesus from the dead as proof that His sacrifice for our sin had been accepted, as proof that those who trust Him have been made right with God.
If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved from the wrath to come.
This is the word that the scattered in Acts 8 went about preaching.
Don’t let that word preaching throw you off. Most every English translation uses it, but it doesn’t mean that we all must become preachers at least in the sense that I am preacher. One English version uses the word “proclaiming,” but maybe we think of a proclaimer as essentially a preacher by another name.
The idea is one who delivers or shares a message. That message might be delivered to a lot of people at once or to individuals one-on-one. Some have even said that as these believers in Acts 8 were scattered, they gossiped the Good News as they went.
We can imagine a conversation as those from Jerusalem entered other towns in droves.
“Where are you folks coming from?”
“Jerusalem.”
“All of you?”
“All of us.”
“What sent you this way?”
“Have you heard about what they’re doing to the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem?”
“Jesus? The one they crucified? What are they doing?”
The conversation may have started in this way, but those dispersed certainly shared the message of Jesus wherever they went.
[ILLUS] John Stott said about these first four verses in Acts 8, “What is plain is that the devil (who lurks behind all persecution of the church) overreached himself. His attack had the opposite effect to what he intended. Instead of smothering the gospel, persecution succeeded only in spreading it.”
In 1949, the National Government of China was defeated by the Communists.
Six hundred and thirty-seven China Inland Mission missionaries were strongly encouraged to leave. It seemed that persecution had stopped the spread of the Gospel in China.
But believers in China began to multiply and today there are exponentially more believers in China than there were when missionaries could operate openly.
Perhaps you’ve seen a video of someone trying to put out a grease fire with water, or perhaps you’ve made that mistake yourself.
Water thrown on a grease fire only expands the flame.
Persecution of Christians only spreads the Gospel.
[APP] Brothers and sisters, we are not persecuted like some of our brothers and sisters around the world. Perhaps that persecution will come our way soon or perhaps it will come to our children or grandchildren.
But here’s the question for us all whether we live in persecution or in comfort, will you tell the story?
Will you tell the story of Jesus and His love?
Will you tell the story to your children?
Will you tell the story to your unbelieving parents?
Will you tell the story to your lost neighbors as the Lord gives you opportunity?
Will you ask them, “Have you heard about Jesus,” and then share with them the Good News?
This is what we are all commanded to do as Christians.
Will you tell the story?
[TS]…
Conclusion
Conclusion
[PRAYER]