Phillip in Samaria

Today is not just any Sunday, it is May the 4th, which for those who celebrate like myself is Star Wars day. For that reason it just feels right to come here and sing some songs, say some prayers, listen to someone talk. Then go home, kick your feet up, make some popcorn, grab a Pepsi and watch the best Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back. Then tomorrow I will wake up for work, go work all day, come home and kick your feet up and do nothing. Tuesday you get up again, go to work, come home and do a little bit of work around the house. Then you get up Wednesday morning, go to work, you know you have a small group but it was a hard day so you stay home instead. This trend continues each and every day. It gets to a point where you don’t even want to show up for Church on Sunday morning. You get so complacent in your faith, you just fall right out of it. When the only time we take steps in our faith is Sunday morning, it leads nowhere. This complacency stems from us thinking that we deserve something. We feel like we deserve praise for what we do. We’ve done this or done therefore I can just chill. But that is pride showing up in our complacency and leads us to nothing. What we are going to see today, is that the early church was not complacent, they did the uncomfortable things when they got uncomfortable. They had no pride in themselves, only pride was in Jesus. Let’s pick up here in Acts 8.

Acts 8:1–3 “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.”

We see that Saul is trying to destroy the church. It seems to be working. Jerusalem is the central hub of everything, this is the main location where Christianity is at. The people are running away because of fear that will be thrown in prison or killed. If we were to stop right here it seems that this persecution has succeeded and this movement for Jesus has been stopped. Yet this movement continues on.

Acts 8:4–8 “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down 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, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city.” 

Look at that, the people that ran away, they preach the Gospel wherever they went. This persecution did not stop the movement at all. Instead it caused the movement to grow faster than anyone could have anticipated. True faith produces when it is challenged and opposed. Now we come to this guy Phillip. From this persecution he gets out of Jerusalem and goes to Samaria. Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”” Jesus says that after Jerusalem and Judea they will go to Samaria. The thing with Samaria that is interesting though is that the Jews and Samaritans historically did not get along. The Samaritans are half-Jewish, half-gentile and for that reason the Jews viewed them as inferior. Yet the message of Jesus Christ is not for one group of people but it is for all humanity so Phillip goes to this new place and starts to preach the Gospel of Jesus. While he was preaching the Gospel he also was performing miraculous signs. Now this is the second person we see perform miracles outside of Jesus and the Apostles. The first was Stephen who we talked about last week. So this raises a question for us to answer, 

How can Phillip perform miracles? 

Phillip can perform miracles because he was one of the seven. If we go back to Acts 6:5–6 “This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.” Phillip and Stephen are both a part of these seven that are chosen and the apostles lay hands on them. It appears from this that someone gets the miraculous gifts from the apostles laying hands on them. We will see later on in this passage that only the apostles can pass this on, Phillip does not have the ability to pass on these gifts. But this means once the apostles are gone there is no one who can pass on these gifts. That leads to another question, 

Why were these miraculous gifts used? 

These gifts show authority. They show that someone actually has a message from God. This is something that is seen all throughout the Bible. All the way back in Exodus God uses Moses to help deliver a message to Pharaoh, in that God does some miraculous things to convince Pharaoh this message is from God. We see this with Jesus and the apostles, they use these miracles to show they have a message from God. So why is that not the case today? It would be great if I could just heal someone and then everyone will know I have a message from God. Yet there is one key thing that we have today that none of these people would have had. The Bible. We have the Word of God written down for us to read to people. Back then anyone could say anything and try and claim it is from God. So people needed to perform this signs to show they were actually from God. Once the Apostles and the people they laid hands on passed away, the scriptures were written down. You no longer needed people to perform miracles to show they had a message from God. Instead you had that message written down so you could read it and proclaim it to people. These miraculous gifts are used to show that someone has a message from God. Now we have that message written down for us to share so those gifts are no longer needed. Now let's see how the people responded to this message.

Acts 8:9–13 “Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.” 

We are introduced to this sorcerer named Simon. I have some things I wonder about Simon. Was he doing real magic or was it just a lot of deception that impressed the people. Was he just a stage magician doing card tricks that anyone could learn? Or was it real magic like an Emperor Palpatine type of guy. What he was doing, isn’t the main point. The thing is that this guy had a ton of influence and the people in that city followed him. That is until Phillip came into town. The people are amazed at Phillip and they believe the message of Jesus and are baptized. Even Simon gets baptized and follows Phillip around. The power of the Gospel is seen. These people who are not the biggest fans of Jewish people are responsive to the Gospel. The message of Jesus is not just for one group of people, it is for the entire world. It is a message that transcends any cultural barrier, it is a message of salvation for all of mankind, and these Samaritans and Simon believe it and respond. Let’s continue, 

Acts 8:14–18 “When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there 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. When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money” 

This is common throughout Acts that when the Gospel gets spread to a new place, people from the home church of Jerusalem are sent to check it out. Peter and John are sent to come and see what all is happening in Samaria. Now this gets a little confusing. These people were baptized but they did not receive the Holy Spirit. We are going to spend some time diving into that. The first thing we need to do is recognize that the Bible cannot contradict itself. So we need to let scripture interpret scripture. 

Acts 2:38 “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” 

So the promise of baptism is the forgiveness of sins and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. That means these Samaritans responded in faith and were baptized into Jesus, therefore according to Acts 2:38 they receive the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. What these people would not have gotten at baptism is the miraculous gifts. From earlier we know that those are only passed down from the laying of hands by the apostles, so Phillip cannot give that to them. So why does it say “Holy Spirit” and not miraculous gifts? I do not know but we can look at another passage later on that says the same thing. 

Acts 19:5–7 “On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.” 

So here we see that Paul lays hands on them and the Holy Spirit comes on them and they do miraculous things. We actually have a clue here that when Peter and John lay hands it is something visible. Acts 8:18 “When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands”

Simon could see this happening. We do not see the indwelling of the Spirit yet miraculous gifts are something that is seen. Therefore when it says the “Holy Spirit” it is referring to the miraculous gifts of the Spirit. What happens is that the Samaritans receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at their baptism and some got to receive the miraculous gifts of the Spirit at the laying of hands by Peter and John. Let’s see how Simon responds to all of this.

Acts 8:18–25 “When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.”

That is a strong rebuke by Peter. He calls Simon out right then and there for his faulty motives. Simon tries to buy this power. It seems that Simon is trying to pay his way into a position of authority. He wants the ability to pass on these miraculous gifts, he wants this power over people. Which totally makes sense, I mean Simon has spent who knows how long being the guy for this city. Acts 8:11 “They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.” These people followed him, that is something that does not just go away overnight. There is a stand-up act that I heard one time from a guy who used to write for Saturday Night Live. One of his roles was meeting with the person coming in to host the show and go over jokes. One of those guys was Mick Jagger, the lead singer for the Rolling Stones. In his bit he makes jokes about how rude of a person Mick Jagger is. Yet he explains how there is good reason for the rudeness of a guy like that. He says how Mick Jagger has been performing in front of crowds of 20,000 people for 50 years. That changes the way someone views themself. I think Simon is suffering from something similar to that. He has so much pride because he has been cheered on and followed by all these people for so long. I also think that we find ourselves in that same boat. We love the approval of people. We want to say all the right things and do all the right things so we can get that promotion we want, that we can find ourselves in the social circles we want to be in. The crazy thing is that is not something that just the world does. The world is very arrogant and prideful. There are many people like Simon in the world. Yet sometimes we find ourselves like that in the church as well. The thing is, Simon says this after he is baptized. Simon started following Phillip, now we do not know if any real change took place but Simon from an exterior view seems like a new genuine convert. Yet still has this pride lingering in his life. What are our motives for the things that we do? Do we come to church because we want to impress people? Are we a part of a small group because we want to be seen there? Do we serve so that we can tell people we serve in a certain area? All of those things are good things but are we doing them for the approval of people or are we doing them to glorify God. Simon wanted this power so that he could continue to build himself up. Peter and John had this power because they wanted to glorify God and build His Kingdom. So often as Christians we will glorify God as long as we get glory as well. Thinking about Simon really hit me. I see myself so much in Simon, what are my motives for doing things. If no one told me good job, would I keep doing the right thing? This pride is so deeply rooted in us.

How many of you guys have ever heard of William Wilberforce? William was a British politician in the late 1700s-early 1800s. When he was at the peak of his political career, he used it to help end the slave trade and slavery in Britain. This was no easy task. He faced severe opposition and the temptation of personal fame. Yet, he sacrificed his comfort and reputation, driven by a higher calling from God. His legacy shines brightly, demonstrating that sacrificing our own glory can lead to transformative change, reflecting God's glory in the world. William recognized that he was the creation made to glorify God not the creator who is to be glorified.

That is what we do as Christians, when we do the right thing so we can get the praise, we take that praise away from God. The purpose of our Christian life is to glorify God in all that we do. We are not the creator that is to be glorified, we are the creation that is made to glorify. Jesus tells us that we must deny to ourselves.

Matthew 16:24–26 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” 

The Christian life is one full of humility, being willing to glorify God no matter what you get from it. That is what the Apostles did, as almost all of them were killed for their faith. That is what Stephen did in his martyrdom. That is what Phillip does by sharing the Gospel in every place he finds himself. We are to glorify God at the expense of our own glory.

I recently read this book called “The Pursuit of God” by A.W. Tozer. The writing of this book has some interesting things, Tozer was in his early 50s and had been a Christian most of his life. While he was on a train from Chicago to Texas he wrote the entire rough draft of this book. In this Tozer talks about a few different things of the Christian life, the main focus being that we can never fully understand God yet we must continue to seek Him. In this there is one quote that I think summarizes the entire book. Tozer says, “Let the seeking man reach a place where life and lips join to say continually, Be Thou Exalted, and a thousand minor problems will be solved at once.” That is what the Christian life is all about. Simon was wanting to exalt himself. We find ourselves wanting to exalt ourselves as well. But our focus must be on exalting the one who deserves it. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not the creator that is to be glorified, we are the creation that is made to glorify. The church does not have power because of what the people do, the church has power because of what Jesus has done. We have this message of salvation, why sit around on it. The early Christians shared it wherever they went, we should be doing the same. We must set aside our pride, our tendencies that make us act like Simon. We need to put those aside and focus on glorifying the one who made us new and makes others new as well. We are not the creator that is to be glorified, we are the creation that is created to glorify. Let’s pray. 

“Dear heavenly father we come before you thankful for a new day, thankful for your son Jesus and what He did for us through the cross and resurrection. Lord let this be our prayer this week, Christ with us, Christ before us, Christ behind us, Christ in us, Christ beneath us, Christ above us, Christ on our right, Christ on our left, Christ when we lie down, Christ when we sit down, Christ when we arise. Lord let Christ be on every mind that thinks of us, Christ on every mouth that speaks of us, Christ in every eye that sees us and Christ on every ear that hears us. Lord remove our pride and allow us to glorify you in all we do. Let our names die Lord, so that people do not remember us but instead remember your son Jesus, we pray in His nam, amen.”