Lessons with Philip - Acts 8

As we look through the book of Acts, several individuals stand out for their boldness, their miracles, and the mighty works that God does through them for His (God’s) kingdom.

Peter has received the majority of the attention, along with John, and we just finished a three-part look at Stephen’s life.

We ended that look at Stephen’s life with a terrible persecution that broke out on the church. It was so severe that the church had to scatter into Judea and Samaria. The church was growing though facing persecution.

The apostles, those men who had powerfully and wonderfully served the LORD, were still at Jerusalem. Our natural question is, “How did the church grow, then?”

God uses others, many others, and many unnamed others, to build His church. I am sure that one of the wonders of heaven will be learning about a widow who faithfully prayed to the Lord for people to be saved and God’s answers to those prayers brought about the salvation of many people.

We have in the book of Acts many individuals, some like Philip who receive direct attention for their own endeavors, and others, like Lydia, who only appears in connection to Paul’s work in Acts 17:11-15. Our goal is not to develop a name for ourselves, but to display the glory of God’s good news (John 3:30). What lesson can we learn from Philip’s life?

Like Philip, we must be willing to serve the Lord whenever and wherever He leads us.

We must serve the Lord in good times and bad- 8:1-3, 26-40

One lesson, and a hard lesson, that Philip teaches us is that we must serve the Lord in the good times and bad times. We have been blessed, extremely blessed, to live in the US. We enjoy religious liberty. We can hold church services and evangelism without fear of punitive results.

Yet, for much of the 2,000 years of church history, the church has endured persecution of some form or another. This is, as we understand from Scripture, completely normal and expected (see 1 John 3:13).

Our objective, though, does not change. We are to be witnesses when persecution hits and when peace reigns. Philip preaches to the Samarians (which deserves its own treatment) immediately after the persecution starts.

With Philip’s interactions with the Ethiopian eunuch we have a peaceful experience.

We must be ready to serve God, regardless of the personal experiences we are currently enduring. I would venture that the majority of our experiences will be more like Philip’s with the Ethiopian eunuch. Our children, I imagine, will face persecution more like what Philip encountered at the beginning of the chapter.

We must serve the Lord to groups of people or individuals- 8:4-8, 26-40

We saw this in passing as we covered this section before, but it is important that we draw out the implications for our lives today.

Philip sought to serve the Lord regardless of peace or persecution. But he also took advantage of ministering to groups of people and individuals. In Samaria he preached the Gospel to a large group ( “crowds”).

Now, as with persecution, this will not likely be a common experience. It is rare for us to have opportunities to address more than a couple of people at a time. However, we must be ready to take advantage of those opportunities when they come.

Likewise, we must take advantage of serving the Lord with individuals. God was using Philip for a great work in Samaria, but the Holy Spirit brought Philip to one individual: the Ethiopian eunuch. Philip was led by the Spirit to witness to the man.

The Lord blessed, both in Samaria and in this individual’s life. We must do the same! We must be ready, and it will be more common, to serve the Lord with individuals. It could be in this congregation that you have opportunities to minister. Or, like Philip, you could have opportunities to witness to a lost person that needs to hear the Gospel. Either way, be prepared to serve the Lord to individuals or groups, as He leads and guides you.

We must serve the Lord for His glory, not ours- 8:9-25

Now we come to an interesting interchange with this man called Simon. It appears that Simon becomes a believer in the one, true God. He believes and is baptized.

Yet, through the course of events, Simon is eager to have the same power as the apostles, Peter and John. This man was described as the “man is the power of God that is called great.” Everyone listened to him, he had power and position and authority.

Now, it is not clear whether or not this man was truly born again. The text says he believed, but he could have believed in a mental fashion and not been truly converted. Or, to use John’s language, he could went out with them, but he would was of them (cf. 1 John 2:19). There are certainly examples of this in Scripture.

However, there are also examples where individuals who would appear lost were saved. Lot, in my opinion, is a perfect example of this. However, for the sake of time we return to our lesson: we must serve God for His glory, not ours. And this is hard for pride-filled beings such as ourselves.

We give, or we pray, or we serve so that others will recognize us, not God. We are to bring glory to God, though, not ourselves. We will discuss how we can do this in more detail at the end.

We must serve the Lord in spite of false teachers (or disappointing people)- 8:9-25

This last lesson is an important one, and one that we must hold to heart as we grow closer to the end times. Paul warns us that there will be an increase in false teachers the closer we get to the end (see 2 Tim. 3:1-9).

False teachers will abound. With the internet and the rise and popularity of “digital church,” we have witnessed an increase in false teachers’ reaches. We must serve the Lord in spite of these people.

But there will also be people who disappoint us. Simon was a disappointment, no doubt, to Philip. Philip preached, baptized, and taught this man. Seeing his response to the gift of the Holy Spirit must have been disappointing. Paul experienced a similar situation with Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Tim. 1:20, cf. 2 Tim. 4:14).

We face similar discouragements. We spend time discipling people, watching them come to church for years only to leave for a silly reason or simply “fall off” the rolls. There will be times of disappointments, plenty of them, but we must serve the Lord regardless. By the way, Jesus experienced this with Judah.

Like Philip, we must be willing to serve the Lord whenever and wherever He leads us. The question is, how do we achieve this willingness to serve the Lord whenever and wherever He leads? Again, Philip teaches us.

Philip’s Examples for Us to Serve

Acts 2:42- Be a devoted follower of Jesus Christ

Acts 6:3- Be a person with a good reputation, filled (i.e., controlled) by the Holy Spirit, and full of wisdom

Acts 8:5, 26, 29- Be sensitive and obedient to the Lord