Scattered

Welcome

Well, good morning everyone! If we haven’t met yet, my name is Dan and I serve as one of the pastors here at Lifepoint Worthington.

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Series Setup

Every year, we take a few weeks to refocus our church on the work we believe God has called us to locally, nationally, and globally through a series called Wide Open World.

And this series is both a reminder AND an invitation.

It’s a reminder to us that the purpose of the church is not simply to exist but make Jesus famous among the nations - to multiply follows of Jesus - we say it this way at Lifepoint, we exist to Draw Life from God and point others to Him.

But more importantly, the Wide Open World series is an invitation.

It’s an invitation to each one of us to join a mission that is about far more than just a starting another church service in Worthington…an invitation to step into a new way of life, with a recalibrated purpose and goal…to join in on what you were created to be apart of…join the larger story of what God is doing in Columbus, our Nation, and across the world. If you have a bible with you, open up to Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8.

Introduction

If you had talked to Courtney and I 8 years ago, and asked us what we we’d be doing now, we would have said, without missing a beat, ‘we will be in Russia’.

Training

Time

Conviction

Confirmation

And all of a sudden, nothing.

We had a road map, we had a plan, we had a vision, we had the details and we’re ready to go.

And we had to wrestle with the reality that God was not bound to our timeline, he is not confined to our five year plan, and He is not obligated to work through the situation according to what made the most sense from our vantage point.

And while our story certainly will not match the details of yours, I think when we look back through our own lives…all of us find a very similar theme unfold...of being hit with the ‘unexpected’…the unpredictable…experiencing something we did not see coming. And it brings us into seasons filled with confusion, frustration, fear, and pain...

And in the story we’re looking at today, one that follows this unexpected path, we will see the earliest Christians go through what can only be described as trauma. For their faith in Christ, they will be beaten, jailed, removed from their families…uprooted from their lives and forced to flee in an attempt by the religious leaders to eradicate the Christian faith. And yet, we will also see how God is working through this pain to bring about good…and uses the unexpected to accomplish his good purposes in the world.

And I think this is an important story for us because of how different it is from what we normally think of as “The Christian Life”.

For so many of us, we have an encounter with Christianity that, if we’re honest, fits in a box - we have our rhythms, Sunday morning, maybe a Lifegroup, and if we’re in getting that it, we’re good…but the problem with this is it doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for the unexpected…[EXPAND]

So if you’re not there yet, open with me to Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8 and we’ll start in v. 1.

Let me read the passage, pray, and then we’ll get started.

Acts 8:1–4 ESV

1 And Saul approved of his execution. 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. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. 4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

PRAY

Recap

If you were here last week, you’ll remember we said that the book of Acts is the historical record of the earliest followers of Jesus, written by a man named Luke. This is the same Luke who wrote the Gospel of Luke - you can think of it as actually like “volume 2”

What we need to know for this as we get in to Acts 8 today is that right around Acts 5, we start to get the first stories of physical harm coming to followers of Jesus because of their faith in Jesus. Chapter 7 is the story of a man named Stephen, one of the early leaders, who preaches a sermon that so enrages the religious leaders that they stone him on the spot.

Like they literally picked up rocks [Pick up the rock] and kill him by pelting him with enough of them.

The Unexpected

Now, let’s look at chapter 8. Look at v. 1 (Acts 8:1-2).

Acts 8:1–2 (ESV)

1 And Saul approved of his execution.

Pause for a moment.

Saul is a rising star among the religious leaders - and we won’t get into his story in this series, but later on he becomes a follower of Jesus - changes his name to Paul - and writes about half of the New Testament!

But in Chapter 8, he’s standing there at the execution—perfectly happy with how this is all playing out.

In his mind this is good and right. Stephen is an example of what should be happening to followers of Jesus.

Keep reading v. 1 (Acts 8:1-3

Acts 8:1–3 (ESV)

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. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

And this actually tells us a lot about the experience of the Christians in Jerusalem at the time; like I said earlier, it’s an experience that is traumatic.

Look at that word ravaged…or your bible might have the word ‘destroy’…right at the beginning of v. 3 (Acts 8:3). It’s a word in the original language that means something much more like ‘torture’, or ‘devastate’…outside of the New Testament, it’s a word that usually describes the effect an invading army would have on a city.

Saul’s plan is to, as best he can, eradicate the Christian community.

He’s moving from house to house, trying to find where Followers of Jesus are gathering in their homes, sends them to prison…both the men and the women…which is this extra detail Luke includes that let’s us know that Saul is taking this to a level beyond what was normal in society at the time…typically it was just the men who would been subjected to prison like this, especially under Roman practice, which they are living under in Jerusalem. But Saul views the Christian movement as so repugnant that he is determined to leave no stone unturned; men and women will suffer the same fate.

And in response to this, Luke says in v. 1 (Acts 8:1) that these Christians were all scattered into different regions. They are forced to flee their homes, leaving everything behind them, not sure what life they could return to if they ever return at all.

The Current Persecuted Church

And I think we have to acknowledge for a minute, that we have the ability to just read this story.

Christians in the western world have rarely, if ever, experienced this kind of systematic persecution. We experience a great freedom to be able to gather on Sundays in this building and in our homes during week for Bible Studies and Small Groups. So Acts chapter 8 doesn’t feel real…for many of us it’s just not part of our experience.

AND YET

This is not the experience for millions of Christians World Wide.

Open Doors USA is an organization that focuses on the telling the stories of the persecuted church world wide—and they publish the ‘World Watch List’, which is based on comprehensive and investigative research in 150 Countries where Christians are persecuted for their faith—and on this list, they determine the top 50 Countries where it is most difficult to follow Jesus.

In the last report from 2019, they indicated around 365 Million Christians experience high levels of either state sponsored or societal persecution.

In 2023 alone, well over 4,000 followers of Jesus were killed because of their faith. That’s 13 each day.

That in the same time period, over thousands christians were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced and imprisoned around the world.

And I share this, not because I’m trying to say, ‘Look it could be worse here...’ but because I think it’s absolutely vital to understand that the book of Acts is not simply describing something that happened one time 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem…the same kind of persecution exists and happens now across the world.

And one of the dangers for Christians in the West is that for long stretches of time we are able to live pretty comfortable lives…so much so that we tend to be surprised by hardship. And yet, I think what we see in the NT and in many other parts of the world is that the normal Christian life is well acquainted with pain. There is no promise in the bible that, as a christian, we will be spared from hardship…there is no promise we will be removed from suffering. In fact, the global story of Christianity has been and still is one that is filled pain, suffering and affliction. If nothing else, Acts chapter 8 clearly demonstrates this for us.

PAUSE

Now, here, that suffering will look different. But no less real.

Some of us have very specific experiences that we’ve gone through that come to mind…things that have left their mark on us…

Courtney and I have come from a very painful season - Add, we were absolutely ready to walk away from pastoring and maybe the church all together. [EXPAND]

And there is something inside of us that will always seek to make sense of it…there is a part of us that will always want to hold up our experience ask, ‘God, why did you let this happen?’ ‘God, I don’t understand.’ ‘God, this doesn’t feel right.’

The scene in Acts 8:3, is worlds away from us right now, and yet the experience itself will be strangely familiar.

We cannot miss this in the story…this is trauma. Acts chapter 8 is painful and it’s real.

But the story takes a very interesting turn as we get to the next section. Look with me at v. 4 (Acts 8:4).

Acts 8:4 ESV

4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

Look at that word scattered.

It’s a chaotic word, isn’t? I think it fits the setting of the persecution and suffering. It’s the word you use to describe the random pattern of broken glass on the floor after you drop a cup…it’s how you describe a handful of seeds that you pick up and throw into the wind…or just a bunch of legos all over the floor that you step on.

Luke says, the believers are scattered…And there is a lot going on here that we need to pay attention to...

Notice this is passive—they were scattered…that is to say they did not simply scatter themselves. Yes it was a response to the intense suffering they are experiencing in Jerusalem at the time, but Luke is hinting that this is ultimately God’s doing—that he was involved in the scattering of the church.

Keep reading v. 5 (Acts 8:5).

Acts 8:5 ESV

5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.

Philip was one of the leaders in the church who had been ‘scattered’.. He fled Jerusalem…to be anywhere else. But Luke tells us very specifically he went to Samaria.

And this is interesting…because if you’re familiar with the book of Acts, you’ll remember, Samaria was the very region that Jesus himself had commissioned his followers to go! Back in Acts 1:8.

Jesus told them:

Acts 1:8 ESV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

In other words, what I think we need to see here is that the Apostles were told by Jesus that there was going to be this expansion of the Kingdom of God…that it would go from Jerusalem as the epicenter and expand out from there…from the City, to the Region, To other Countries, all the way to the end of the earth.

And if you think about that for a moment, it would have been very easy for the the first Christians, having this promise from Jesus that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit and then they were going to be Jesus’ Witnesses to the ends of the earth…it would have been very easy for them to have this triumphaistic vision of how this was going to take place! With a rapid expansion…the explosion of the church…as they complete the task in Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria, and then the end of the earth.

And yet the picture in Acts 8 is remarkably different from the clear expectations they would have had! Because here is Philip…now in Samaria…preaching and sharing the message of Jesus…and if you keep reading, there are many people in the city who put their faith in Christ and become Followers of Jesus.

But here’s the point...is this the triumphalistic expansion of the Gospel they expected…no!

God is fulfilling the promise he made to them through a very unexpected path…one that they did not see coming…one that the leaders of the church would not have anticipated…they are in Samaria because they were scattered there during persecution.

SLOWLY

God is fulfilling his promise and mission through their experiences of suffering as they are being ravaged, jailed, and persecuted. Do you see that?

That what for many of these people would have easily been some of the worst moments in their lives…things that they would have wrestled to makes sense of…and reconcile…it is through these events that God is fulfilling His good promise and good purpose, propelling his mission.

It is through what only would have been seen as a crushing defeat in Jerusalem by Saul and his companions, that God is bringing about exactly what he said he would with the Apostles in Acts 1:8.

They would be his witnesses in all these places, but not at all in the way they would have expected.

PAUSE

Human Condition

You know, what I think is challenging about a passage like this is that it really doesn’t seem to match the world we like to believe we live in.

See, we like to believe we live in a predictable world...where we have a set of expectations for how the day, week, and year, or an entire season of our lives will play out. It’s comforting to us…predictability makes sense…we can follow the pattern and ultimately act on what makes the most sense. That’s why we will often justify some of the biggest life decisions we make by saying, “It just makes sense for me…our for our family...” And if you’re a Christian, you’ll probably cover your bases by adding something along the lines of ‘God is calling me to...’ fill in the blank. AND it just makes sense…”

And this leads us to function as if we are actually in control of what happens next. So that if we chart out the right path at work, that will lead to our promotion…that will then mean we have upped our options for where we live next…buying a different house in a new neighborhood or new state entirely…which opens the schooling options for our kids, who then have a better chance of themselves getting into a better college, with a better career…and continue the same upward cycle for their futures and families going forward.

And none of these of things are in conflict with the Christian life…it’s not wrong to have a good job and send your kids to good school…of course it’s not.

The question is, what happens when we are inevitably confronted with the unpredictability of life; when something happens that rocks the trajectory of the predictable plan we thought we were on?

What happens when instead of the promotion, you loose your job?

What happens when your ‘big move’ has not played out in the way you thought it would?

What happens when you are on the receiving end of a diagnosis that you did not see coming?

What happens when the markets take a turn and you see your retirement fund draining?

What happens when...

Your church experience is not living up to your expectations?

THE SEASON OF PLANTING IS HARD. THERE IS A GRIND. AND I KNOW SOME OF YOU ARE REALLY FEELING THE WEIGHT RIGHT NOW.

What are we doing here?

What is God doing here?

Am I spinning my wheels? Are we?

Friends, the reality is, the undeniability of unpredictability often leads to despair as we try and makes sense of what God is doing in all of this…of why he is allowing this to happen to you…or to your family. It’s despair as we face things for which we don’t have any good answers too…unpredictability ultimately reminds us that our sense of ‘control’ is much more of an illusion.

Do you know that feeling…do you know that frustration that can linger deep within us as you desperately try and make senes of why something is happening?

PAUSE

And yet while Acts chapter 8 brings up a lot of these questions for us…far from leaving us where our own thoughts often do, this story pushes us to a far more hopeful resolution…one that, in the long run, develops deep and meaningful hope in the face of whatever kind of unexpected, unpredictable suffering, hardship, or persecution we may face.

No, I am not in control. You are not in control…and yet that does not leave us at the mercy of fate…but it points us to the God who is.

It points us to the God who takes what is unpredictable…uses the unexpected…for our good.

Is not this what the entire Christian story is about? That God first takes the unexpected path for us? That while we had all failed to the way way we’ve been created to live...having busied ourselves with the pursuit of predictability and control…the unexpected path is that while we were still in our sin, Jesus died for us…in our place, for our sin! And yet, he rose again from the dead with the promise and hope than anyone who would trust in Him and his work would have new and everlasting life! The unexpected path of the Christian life is that we lose our lives, only to find them! That we spend ourselves, only to be filled! And in giving our lives away for the sake of others, we find life to the full! At every point, the Christian story is filled with the unexpected, the unpredictable…and all of it is to lead to the resounding truth that we are not in control…but we know the one who IS!

And it does not end here, but the way God continues to work in the world is through the unexpected!

He lays low the powerful, but exalts the humble.

He fills the empty.

He uses the foolish things to shame what is wise.

And as the Apostle Paul says in Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

This is exactly what we see play out in Acts chapter 8…God taking the unexpected…the unpredictable of the suffering, pain and persecution, and using that to bring about his purposes for the Gospel expanding to the rest of the world! He is able to work out the suffering and pain of his people to bring about good…to bring about his promise to his people.

The disciples were persecuted. They were scattered. And in this were fulfilling the very thing God had promised to do In a very unexpected way.

And friends, the reason this should give us great hope is because the unexpected pain…the unpredictable hardship that you will experience is not evidence of God’s abandonment, but quite the opposite…the entire story of the bible and lived experience in the Global church would show it is the evidence of His hand in your life.

And the same God who was able to bring about good from the suffering, persecution, and scattering of the the Jerusalem church, is the God who is at work in your life today. Scattering us with his for our good and His glory! This is the story of our church - and this is the story of every church committed to the Gospel!

SO WHAT

SEND Network

You may not know this, at Lifepoint, we are connected to a larger Network committed the work of the making disciples - the SEND Network. Thousands of churches across North America that have as their driving, over arching desire, to make disciples of Jesus in their neighborhoods and cities! And many of them look just like this…getting off the ground, in the grind to make things work, filled with people who do not always get it right, and just as broken as the rest of us!

But, little by little, through the unexpected God lays out before us, through hardship and scattering, seeing God’s mission of scattering to the Nations lived out!

And we are not only apart of this, but we get to play a part in supporting other churches in this same work.

Vertical Church, Cleveland.

Would you pray with me?