Acts 8:1-8 | Advanced Through Affliction

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FROM GREAT PERSECUTION TO GREAT JOY

10,000 Sermon Illustrations The Optimist

The famous preacher D.L. Moody told about a Christian woman who was always bright, cheerful, and optimistic, even though she was confined to her room because of illness. She lived in an attic apartment on the fifth floor of an old, rundown building. A friend decided to visit her one day and brought along another woman—a person of great wealth. Since there was no elevator, the two ladies began the long climb upward.

When they reached the second floor, the well-to-do woman commented, “What a dark and filthy place!” Her friend replied, “It’s better higher up.” When they arrived at the third landing, the remark was made, “Things look even worse here.” Again the reply, “It’s better higher up.”

The two women finally reached the attic level, where they found the bedridden saint of God. A smile on her face radiated the joy that filled her heart. Although the room was clean and flowers were on the window sill, the wealthy visitor could not get over the stark surroundings in which this woman lived.

She blurted out, “It must be very difficult for you to be here like this!” Without a moment’s hesitation the shut-in responded, “It’s better higher up.”

She was not looking at temporal things. With the eye of faith fixed on the eternal, she had found the secret of true satisfaction and contentme

Who here likes to have and experience joy? How about giving it?

Joy is experienced in different ways. Today, we see the church take a difficult path to experiencing and sharing great joy.

Great Persecution—>Great Lamentation—>Great Scattering—>Great Preaching—>Great Love—>Great Joy

Psalm 80:13; Acts 9:5; 22:4-5; 26:9-11

How did the church make its way through this process? Did they do it all on their own?

They actually just began obeying more of Jesus’ commission in Acts 1:8—but not on their own.

Jesus worked through anticipated persecution to move the church further into its mission.

Before we get into that, let me introduce you to the characters in this narrative.

Saul—beast

Scattered Christians—seed

Philip—preacher

Samaritan Converts—harvest

Apostles—church foundations

Now, to the persecution . . . or affliction . . . or “havock.”

GREAT PERSECUTION (vs. 1a & 3)

Acts 8:1 KJV

1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.

Acts 8:3 KJV

3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.

Paul “made havoc of the church,” and the verb here describes a wild animal mangling its prey.

This Greek word is not used anywhere else in the NT. We do see it used however in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew OT that Jesus used) in Psalm 80.

Psalm 80:13 KJV

13 The boar out of the wood doth waste it, And the wild beast of the field doth devour it.

See how Jesus compared Saul to a beast when confronting him!

Acts 9:5 KJV

5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Saul was ferocious in his persecution—of men and women (very untypical). Paul tried to devastate it, destroy it, ruin it, wipe it out!

Acts 22:4–5 KJV

4 And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. 5 As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.

Acts 26:9–11 KJV

9 I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. 11 And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.

The persecution was launched quickly, on the very day of Stephen’s death. The words “at that time” (en ekeinei tei hemerai) mean on that very same day.

GREAT PERSECUTION (vs. 1a & 3)

GREAT LAMENTATION (vs. 2)

Acts 8:2 KJV

2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.

The “devout men” were either or a combination of God-fearing Jews who loved Stephen or Jewish Christians who remained in Jerusalem.

This description is used for either category by Luke. Simeon in Luke, and the centurion in Acts.

It seems to me that the devout men would have included both Christians and loved ones who were not Christians.

Either way, these devout men lamented and mourned both out of grief and defiance to the Rabbinic law, which prohibited public mourning for someone who had been stoned.

This havoc on the church did bring lament.

GREAT PERSECUTION (vs. 1a & 3)

GREAT LAMENTATION (vs. 2)

GREAT SCATTERING (vs. 1b & 4)

Acts 8:1 KJV

1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.

Acts 8:4 KJV

4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.

Acts 1:8; Matthew 13:37-38; 16:18; 1 Corinthians 3:11;

The word translated “scattered” (diaspeiro, Acts 8:1, 4) means “to scatter seed.”

The believers in Jerusalem were God’s seed and the persecution was used of God to plant them in new soil so they could bear fruit.

Matthew 13:37–38 KJV

37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

This was a vital progression of Christ’s work in His church—spreading the church into Samaria and other places.

It furnished the bridge between Jerusalem and the world” [Baumgarten]

Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 181). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Now, you may notice the apostles remained in Jerusalem. There is not condemning of this, so this seems to be a brave act for sake of keeping together the only organized church of this time with those who remained and who will return.

Nonetheless, much of the church was scattered providentially by God. This is not to say they had not already begun to reach other areas—they had. But, they had not crossed ethic barriers (besides Grecians).

GREAT PERSECUTION (vs. 1a & 3)

GREAT LAMENTATION (vs. 2)

GREAT SCATTERING (vs. 1b & 4)

GREAT PREACHING (vs. 4-5)

The word for preaching in Acts 8:4 means “to preach the Gospel, to evangelize”; while the word in Acts 8:5 means “to announce as a herald.”

Lay members evangelized

Philip preached, or heralded, the Gospel to groups in the city of Samaria.

God directed him to evangelize in Samaria, an area that had been prohibited to the Apostles (Matt. 10:5–6).

Matthew 10:5–6 KJV

5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Both John the Baptist and Jesus had ministered there (John 3:23; 4:3-4)

John 3:23 KJV

And John also was baptizing in Ænon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.

John 4:3–4 KJV

3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. 4 And he must needs go through Samaria.

So Philip enters into their labors.

John 4:36–38 KJV

36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. 38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

John 4:36-38

GREAT PERSECUTION (vs. 1a & 3)

GREAT LAMENTATION (vs. 2)

GREAT SCATTERING (vs. 1b & 4)

GREAT PREACHING (vs. 4-5)

GREAT LOVE (vs. 6-7)

Acts 8:6–7 KJV

6 And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.

With one accord they listened to Philip’s message of the Messiah—for which the Samaritans held a hope.

But this sort of reception and love would not be expected. In God’s wisdom, it may have helped that Philip was Grecian.

Animosity between Judeans and Samaritans stemmed from very early times and fed on a number of incidents in their respective histories.

The conflicts began in the tenth century b.c. with the separation of the Ten Tribes from Jerusalem, Judah, and Benjamin in the disruption of the Hebrew monarchy after Solomon’s death.

It became racially fixed with Sargon’s destruction of the city of Samaria in 722 b.c. and the Assyrians’ policy of deportation and mixing of populations. Samaritans were a result of poor, remaining Jews marrying with relocated captives of Assyria.

The conflict was intensified in Judean eyes by:

The Samaritans opposition to the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple and wall in the fifth century in Nehemiah’s day

By their erection of a schismatic temple on Mount Gerizim sometime around the time of Alexander the Great

And by their identification of themselves as Sidonians and joining with the Seleucids against the Jews in the conflict of 167–164 b.c.

t was sealed for the Samaritans by John Hyrcanus’s destruction in 127 b.c. of the Gerizim temple and the city of Samaria.

The intensity of Samaritan feelings against Jerusalem is shown by the Samaritans’ refusal of Herod’s offer of 25 b.c. to rebuild their temple on Mount Gerizim when it was known that he also proposed to rebuild the Jerusalem temple—a rebuilding begun about 20–19 b.c.

Longenecker, R. N. (1981). The Acts of the Apostles. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: John and Acts (Vol. 9, pp. 356–357). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

All that to say, the animosity between the Jews and Samaritans went way back and was real deep!

Jesus had told the disciples they would make disciples with Samaritans, and Jesus had already sown seed there.

Now it was time for Jesus to move the disciples into HIs harvest field to reap harvest!

GREAT PERSECUTION (vs. 1a & 3)

GREAT LAMENTATION (vs. 2)

GREAT SCATTERING (vs. 1b & 4)

GREAT PREACHING (vs. 4-5)

GREAT LOVE (vs. 6-7)

GREAT JOY (vs. 8, 14-17, 25)

Acts 8:8 KJV

8 And there was great joy in that city.

People converted to Christ in Samaria! And there was great joy in the city.

It was reported to the apostles, and they sent Peter and John.

It seems this entire moment we read was a leading of the Spirit to unify the Samaritan believers with the Jewish believers and church—as will happen again with Gentile believers when we get there.

Acts 8:14–17 KJV

14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: 15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: 16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

Acts 8:25 KJV

25 And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

Notice the joy of Peter and John, who were going through much hardship!

They were so full of joy about the Samaritan conversions that they preached the gospel in many villages of Samaria before returning to Jerusalem!

We have amazing potential to bering great joy to others and ourselves with the Gospel.

Romans 1:16

Romans 1:16 KJV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

The Gospel is the power of God, the work of the Godhead, that makes possible to salvation of lost sinners. It brings great joy—even to the afflicted.

FROM ACTS TO ME

Anti-Christ opposition is no excuse for faithless disobedience.

Anti-Christ opposition is an optimal environment for church mission and advancement.

Anti-Christ opposition has anti-Christ people to be saved.

Anti-Christ opposition can reveal to us enemies to be loved.

We live in a great time and place for church mission!

1) Trust Jesus is advancing His church.

Respond correctly to affliction.

Pray for leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Know our persecution now is light.

2) Determine you will advance within His church.

Make evangelism a way of life.

Step into ministry opportunities.

Broaden your love.

3) Obey Christ where He has you and where He directs you.

As a church member

As a church leader

As a missionary

4) Like the Samaritan converts, repent and believe on Christ today if you do not yet know the joy of being a Christian.

CONCLUSION

1) Trust Jesus is advancing His church.

2) Determine you will advance within His church.

3) Obey Christ where He has you and where He directs you.

4) Repent and believe on Christ.

Great Persecution—>Great Lamentation—>Great Scattering—>Great Preaching—>Great Love—>Great Joy

Let’s remember the words of the sweet bed-ridden saint with which we began: “It’s better higher up!”

If we fix our eyes on Jesus and His mission in the church, we can find joy as He advances us through affliction.

The church is bound to experience opposition in some ways. Let us not despair or be surprised.

Be encouraged that Jesus advances His church through affliction. Opposition will not stop the church . . . quite the contrary.

How will Jesus advance His church through you?