Unlikely — Acts 8:4-25

Introduction

When COVID hit and the church didn’t meet in person, I remember it feeling like the rug was pulled out from under me. We had just begun our first real cycle of growth as a church, and I was so encouraged about everything that was happening. Then, suddenly, we weren’t even meeting. Around that time, our family had a camping trip to Cheaha, and I remember being there wondering if people would come back or if we would be able to pay our staff and how long I would be able to make it without a salary. It was an EPIC pity party.

But, when I got back to my office, a shift in my perspective took place. And, I thought, “But, where is the opportunity in this? There must be an opportunity here somewhere.” So, our staff began to use that strange time as a time for strategizing and clarifying our mission and who we are, and so, when we came out of COVID, we came out much stronger than we went in, and you all know all that God has done to build up our church. It reminds me of my favorite quote by G.K. Chesterton: (On Screen) “An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”

God’s Word

None of us would choose the plan that God has chosen for us if we were writing our own story. And, that means that none of us would choose the various ways that God uses to mold us into the people He intends for us to become to do the things that we were meant to do. God’s greatest work happens at unlikely times in unlikely ways for unlikely people, doesn’t it? We see a picture of that this morning in Acts 8. We see The Unlikely Start (headline) for his church.

The Church “grows” in an unlikely “way.”

Acts 8:4–8 “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city.”

If I were writing my own story, it wouldn’t have included surgeries, depression, or house fires. If you were writing your own, it wouldn’t have included divorce or abuse or disability. Fill in your own blanks. But, if I were writing my own story, I also wouldn’t have become the person that I am or been able to identify with people to help them or appreciate as fully what God is doing now. It’s a strange paradox, isn’t it? I have a friend who says: “It the kind of education you couldn’t pay a million dollars to obtain and that you wouldn’t give five cents to learn again.”

“Scattering” spreads the “Church.”

If you would’ve asked the early Apostles and Christians how they would’ve written the story about how the Church would spread and build, it would have been quite different from what actually happens. Verse 4 starts with: “Now those who were scattered.” The reason they were scattered was because they were being persecuted. One of the original seven deacons had just been pelted with rocks until he died. Saul, who would become Paul, was leading an effort to drag Christians out of their homes and into prison. And so, they did the proper, natural thing. Apart from the Apostles who remained in Jersualem, they “scattered.”

But, what’s vital to notice for all of us whose stories are different than we want is that this scattering wasn’t random. It was purposeful, and it was effective. I’m sure it felt random, but wherever God’s people scattered, God was already ahead of them preparing the soil. He wasn’t just scattering people; He was scattering seeds — the seeds of the Good News. Phillip, another of the original deacons, “went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And, the crowds with one accord paid attention.”

The “Church” spreads “joy.”

Can you think of a more unlikely way for the Good News to spread? The goal of the persecution was to stop the church, but trying to stop the church by scattering them through the region was like trying to stop a wildfire with a wind storm. The fire doesn’t die; it spreads. In fact, I’ve had missionaries from the underground church in China in my home and I’ve ministered to pastors in Africa who have helicopters flying over the houses to intimidate them, and they’ll all tell you the same thing: The church is on fire. She’s spreading. The opponents of God serve only to highlight how precious his people find him and how powerful his Spirit is to sustain them. It’s not how those brothers and sisters would’ve written their stories, and it’s not something we should go looking for, but it’s not without purpose. It’s the unlikely means that God used to start his church and still uses to spread his church. And, that’s how He spreads “joy,” too. Don’t miss that in verse 8. The church is spreading, and so is joy.

And so, if you ask me if I’m worried about the increasing political and cultural pressure that’s being place on the American church, I’m not. It’s never been more out of vogue in the US to believe the Bible and follow Jesus, and that’s not how I would write the story. But, the death of cultural Christianity isn’t all bad either. It’s not bad news that unbelievers no longer find it culturally advantageous to maintain appearances by attending church. And, I know that this means that there are fewer people attending church, but I don’t believe that it means that the church is actually any smaller. Only purer, and still spreading. The visible church may have shrunk, but I’m convinced the invisible Church is growing larger and stronger. Persecution backfires. Persecution purifies, and persecution spreads. And, where the church spreads, so does joy.

So, don’t resent it when your classmates tell you how backwards you are for not affirming the morality of gender dysphoria or for believing the miracles of the Bible, and don’t grow bitter when your boyfriend breaks up with you because you won’t have sex until marriage. I know you wouldn’t write your story like that, but it’s in that space that God grows you and demonstrates the power of his Spirit. Don’t grow bitter when your integrity costs you the promotion or means that your business can’t prosper like the one down the street. These are the unlikely means that God uses to teach your kids the life is about something greater. Because, you see, the culture has it wrong. Those in Christ will ultimately be on the right side of history, and these are the unlikely means He’s using in the here and now to get you there.

The Spirit “falls” in an unlikely “place.”

Acts 8:14–17 “Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 1:8 “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.””

There would have been no place more unlikely for God to do something great than Samaria. Samaria was the former capitol of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and they had been considered traitors, blasphemers, and half-breeds for a thousand years. A Jewish person considered Samaritans to be beneath the Gentiles. They wouldn’t speak to them, and they would travel the long way around to avoid even going through Samaria. Just being there made one unclean.

A “promise,” not just a “command.”

But, you see, this is the kind of environment where grace thrives. The nature of grace means that it is, by definition, an unlikely notion, an undeserved and unexpected gift of love.

We started our series in week 1 in Acts 1:8 so that you can understand the way that Luke has written his book and the way that I’ve laid out this series. When I discovered this, it changed how I read Acts forever. Acts 1:8 serves as a command to be obey, a promise to be fulfilled, and an outline to discover. We typically have heard it preached as the command of the Great Commission to spread the Gospel as his witnesses. Yes! It certainly is that. But, it’s also a promise made by God that is being fulfilled. You see, God had prophesied that the two kingdoms, the twelve tribes, would be reunited in places like Isaiah 11:13, 49:5-6, and Ezekiel 37:16-17. In other places, as we’ve established in past weeks, He had promised it would go to the ends of the earth. So, Luke takes this process, and He uses it as a vein that runs throughout his book so that you can see that God is keeping that promise through the spreading of his Church. Last week, in Acts 2, we saw the Spirit fall upon Jerusalem and Judea, and this week we’re seeing the Spirit fall upon Samaria, and next week, we’ll see the same thing as the Gospel goes to the Gentiles in the ends of the earth. I hope this fascinates you and challenges you to find these things in your Bible reading.

Understanding this fulfillment helps us to interpret what’s happening in this passage and to avoid errors. Some have seen the water baptism of the Samaritans followed by the laying on of hands to receive the Spirit by the Apostles meaning that we require two baptisms — a water baptism and a Spirit baptism. Many of you who grew up in a more pentecostal, charismatic tradition have encountered this, no doubt. But, what you will find if you do a parallel study of Acts 2, Acts 8, and Acts 11 where we will be next week is that they all follow a similar formula. What you have is not a second and third Pentecost, but what are seeing instead is a fulfillment event. Luke is giving us the privilege of witnessing the spreading and advancement of the single Pentecost event. That is, the point is that Luke is making clear how God is keeping every single syllable of the promises He’s made. And so, he’s drawing this out.

A “fountain,” not just a “cistern.”

In the Old Covenant, there was a single cistern that was given to a single nation so that everyone had to go there — Israel — for water. But, Jesus crushed that cistern on the cross so that now there is a fountain with fresh laid pipe to pour life into every nation. What we’re seeing as we progress through Acts is the faucet being turned on across the earth that every person and people might enjoy the gift of Pentecost.

Now, the fullness of God is available in the most unlikely places for the most unlikely people. It’s available to the Prodigals like those in Samaria. It’s available to the clueless like those in places who have never heard the name of Jesus. And, it’s available to you. You don’t have to live your life alone. It doesn’t matter how far you’ve fallen or how hard you’ve run or what you’ve said about Jesus in the past. God’s love for Samaria makes clear God’s offer to you. He loves to redeem the unlikely and to pour out his grace on them.

The Gospel “rejects” an unlikely “person.”

Acts 8:9–13 “But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.”

Acts 8:18–20 “Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!”

Woven throughout this passage is the story of a man named Simon. And, what we see in Simon is the difference between who our God rejects and who other gods reject. You’ll see his rejection in verse 20. The translators actually mute the impact of what Peter says a bit. Quite literally, and please excuse the strong language, Peter says: “May you and your silver go to hell!” You won’t find many rejections in the NT stronger than this one.

And, it’s incredibly unlikely if you knew the kind of men that the gods were looking for. Simon was…

A “great” man.

Can we all agree that giving yourself a nickname — I’m not talking you got older and shortened “Nathan” to “Nate”— is the worst? I’m talking you decide you want to be known as T-bone, and then insist on it. Well, Simon does that. He says that he’s “great,” and he apparently backs it up. The crowd agrees, and they begin to call him great, too.

Simon was a sorcerer, a diviner. And, if you’re asking me if I believe in that type of thing, the answer is absolutely. In the west, we’ve become too close-minded to realize that there’s a lot that happens that we can’t see and that science can’t explain. We’re far more close-minded than the Bible is. And, in other parts of the world, well-educated, intelligent people are far more sensitive to the spiritual world and will testify to them. In Swaziland, for example, in order for a person to become what we would call a witch doctor, they have to survive verifiably for seven days and seven nights under water. Buddhist monks go through a similar process alone in a cave.

And, this is what we see with Simon. He’s a great man filled with inexplicable power. He’s exactly the kind of man that gods typically wanted because he could accomplish great things for them and serve them effectively. So, it’s interesting here that God is using a regular deacon like Phillip and rejecting a “great” man like Simon. God is no respecter of persons. Not only does He reject a great man, but He chooses and empowers the most ordinary man.

But, even more surprising is that Simon Becomes a…

A “believing” man.

Years ago on a hospital visit, I asked a man what it took to be saved. He said, “Believe!” In fact, that’s the answer that many people would give. So, knowing that Simon is a man that Peter condemned in the name of Jesus, it might shock you to read verse 13. “Even Simon himself believed.” How can a man believe and still be condemned? Most of our neighbors, class mates, coworkers, and family members are convinced that it doesn’t really matter what you do or what your life looks like so long as you have, at some point, heard about Jesus and said you believed in him. They would be stunned to find out that a man like Simon, who has done just that, would be condemned.

But, James 2 tells us that the demons believe and tremble. So, what’s the difference? In our modern vocabulary, the word translated “believe” would probably be more accurately translated as “trust.” Salvation isn’t for those who mentally agree that Jesus died for our sins or even that He was raised from the dead. Saving “belief” is about something far deeper than intellectual acknowledgement. Salvation is for those who trust that Jesus is really the Lord and demonstrate their trust by living the way that He has said live, even when it contradicts what they feel or what others say is better. Their trust is evidenced by the fruit in their lives. I love how Martin Luther put it 500 years ago. “We are saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone.” There’s always fruit and evidence, and the evidence of Simon’s life was that he had not devoted his life in trust to Jesus.

But, maybe you’d be even more surprised to realize that he was…

A “baptized” man.

It says in verse 13 that Simon was “baptized” as well. This isn’t just a guy who said he believed in Jesus. This is a man who showed an immediate impulse to obey him. So, how could he be condemned? Well, verses 18-19 show that the immediate impulse to obey didn’t come from the right source. He did the baptism, and he even offered money because ultimately he wanted the Spirit to make him even greater. He wanted more power, and so he was just doing all the rituals that he believed that this God wanted so that this God would give him ultimately what he wanted. Any god on earth would kill to have a guy like him! But, not the God of heaven. Simon didn’t love Jesus; Simon loved himself. The long term pattern of his life betrayed him.

There is great concern in my heart that our community is filled with people who have done all of the right rituals and said all of the right words and prayed all of the right prayers, but they did it so that they could jump through the right hoops in order to get heaven or to diversify their portfolio as a well-rounded person. The long term pattern of their lives doesn’t show that they love Jesus. It shows instead that they love themselves. They were essentially trying to buy grace, and bought grace is a contradiction of terms.

When you think about it, these things — “he was a great man; he was a believing man; he was a baptized man” — are the exact descriptions that most Southerners want said at their funerals, and Simon teaches us that they don’t mean you’re going to heaven. And, we would say that they’d be the most unlikely person for God to condemn, and yet God is not looking for the likely; He’s looking for repentant. He’s looking for the humble. You all know that my heart is not to cause you to doubt your salvation. But, we need to examine where the Bible says examine. And, this morning, I want you to ask how why it is that you believe Jesus would receive you into his kingdom. Is it because you’re a great person? Is it because you’re a believing person? Is it because you’re a baptized person? Or, is it because you’ve repented of your sins and entrusted your life into his hands? Is it because your heart is filled with love for Jesus, a desire to honor Jesus, and longing to be with Jesus? Those are the unlikely means of salvation.