Opposing Forces

Acts 8:1–8

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Main Idea

What man means for evil, God uses for good.

Outline

I – Phase 2 begins (vv. 1-2)

II – Saul (v. 3)

III – Samaria (v.4)

IV – Philip (vv. 4-8)

Passage

Acts 8:1–8 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. ⁵ Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. ⁶ 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. ⁷ 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. ⁸ So there was much joy in that city.

Phase Two

At the conclusion of chapter 7, we are still in Jerusalem. Even though we have seen people from the surrounding areas of Jerusalem flock to the city to be healed by the apostles, the narrative up to this point has remained in the city itself.

Now, after Stephen’s brutal and illegal murder, we see the beginnings of the gospel expanding outside of Jerusalem. This is to fulfill what Jesus said in Acts 1:8

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.”

Jerusalem De-centered.

This transition underlines, bolds, and highlights a prominent shift in God’s redemptive plan throughout human history. We’ve already seen how the Temple is central to Jewish belief. That’s God’s house, where His presence dwells. He isn’t found anywhere else. If you want to come to God, you come to Jerusalem and the Temple. That is one of the concepts Stephen was trying to pry out of their hearts in his epic speech.

But now, after Stephen’s death, we see the first clear delineation of God’s presence, being moved away from Jerusalem to other regions. This is the official end of Jerusalem being the epicenter. The illustrations from Stephen’s history lessons that God’s presence is with his people wherever they are…  that has now been fully realized at Pentecost. Now, instead of God dwelling in a physical Temple building, every human being born again is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Gospel expansion through persecution.

This is Acts’ Great Commission, and phase one has now been completed. The gospel had been fully preached in Jerusalem, and we will see phase two begin.

Stephen’s martyrdom and Saul’s persecution of the church ushered in the gospel’s geographical expansion into Judea and Samaria. Not exactly how we would have designed it, is it?

In our modern context, we would have set up conferences or concerts, sending big-name pastors or church planters out into other communities to stimulate the growth of the gospel in new territories. That is our way. For the expansion of the early church, God had a different way… one that is difficult to understand but one that was massively effective, albeit tragic and brutal.

As one commentator put it:

Acts—The Church Afire 13: God’s Way

“Following the church through Acts is like following a wounded deer through a forest. Drops of blood mark the trail.“

As one early Church Father put it: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.“

We are now entering into Phase 2 of the Acts 1:8 strategy, and we see it initiate through these two opposing forces.

Saul

As Stephen lay there dead, Saul stood among the crowd approving this unjust, illegal execution. While devout men took Stephen’s body in great sorrow to give him a proper burial, this event seemed to be a spark in Saul’s heart that ignited a forest fire of persecution in Jerusalem. This is the first opposing force.

Who is Saul?

• We know from some of his other letters that he is:
• Born in Tarsus
• Born as a Roman citizen (Saul is his Jewish name & Paul being his Roman name)
• Trained as a Pharisee
• A Hebrew of Hebrews
• From the tribe of Benjamin
• Is the protege of Gamaliel, the beloved teacher, and member of the Sanhedrin
• Zealous for Jewish traditions

What was he doing?

Whether he was a full-blown member of the Sanhedrin or just an up-and-coming Pharisaical leader, Saul was given a significant level of authority, probably because of how zealously he persecuted the church. He was like a raging dog who had just been let off the leash. After Stephen’s death, Saul targeted Christian households. If he got a whiff of a Jesus-follower, he would follow the scent to their house, seize them, and drag them off to prison.

Remember, there is no church building. The only central gathering place is the Temple and Synagogues. The early church met in private homes for worship, sharing meals, prayer, and hearing the apostle’s teachings. Evidently, Saul got wind that this is how they operated because that is how he pursued and arrested them.

To set the proper understanding, I want to zoom in on the word ‘ravage.’

Ravage = utterly ruin, destroy

In its proper verb form  – lymainō – it means to utterly ruin, to lay waste to, outrage, to harm, and treat disgracefully.

The noun version of this word – lymeōn – means Destroyer.

One almost gets the sense that Saul was sent as a Doppelgänger Destroyer of the Christian movement like the Angel of Death was sent to kill all in Egypt who did not have the blood covering over their doorpost. While one was sent from God, the other was a tool of the enemy. Saul was sent to spearhead the charge to squash this new movement and eradicate its followers.

It is almost poetic that the Leader of this initiative that would rebel against Gamaliel’s wise counsel would be his own protege.

Paul even admits as much about himself when he wrote to the Galatians.

Galatians 1:13–14 ESV

¹³ For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴ And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.

And, to avoid his rabid bite, a large portion of the Christian community fled to the surrounding regions, namely, Judea and Samaria, which is to the north and south of Jerusalem.

Like the Patriarchs, Saul is another prime example of man’s intent on doing evil. He didn’t think he was doing evil. In his religious zeal, he thought he was God’s agent (as Jesus predicted in John 16:2). In reality, he was imprisoning and killing God’s people.

Samaria

When the gospel was pushed outside of Jerusalem and the Jewish population there, it went out to the ones whom the Jews despised. It went south to Samaria, where the Samaritans lived.

Why this is significant

The Samaritans were considered half-breeds in more ways than one.

Ethnically: They were part Jew, part pagan, and wholly rejected by the Jews. After the time of King Solomon’s reign, the nation of Israel split into two kingdoms. In 721 BC, the northern kingdom was attacked by Assyria, and many Israelites were taken away. While they remained captive in a foreign land, they intermarried with the Assyrians. This was something the Jews were strictly commanded not to do on multiple occasions. In 587 BC, the southern kingdom was overtaken by Babylon, and many were taken captive; however, unlike the people of the northern kingdom, these Israelites did not intermarry but maintained their ethnic purity. So, you can see deep-seated animosity between the two because, by the 1st Century, that discord has existed for hundreds of years.

Culturally: Because they intermingled with the nations around them, they took on different cultural aspects and strayed from orthodox practices. We have already seen this take place between the strict Jews and the Hellenistic Jews. They also had a separate place to gather and worship God, as we see in Jesus’ discussion with the woman at the well.

Religiously: Due again to intermarrying with pagan nations, they because syncretistic… meaning they didn’t hold to the pure Jewish faith. They intermingled Jewish and pagan practices. They didn’t keep to all of the Old Testament scriptures; they had their own idols. Etc.… They weren’t fully Jewish, so they were rejected and looked down upon.

Two Opposing People Groups

While we have two opposing people in the passage today – Saul and Philip – we also have two opposing people groups: The Jewish Leadership and the Samaritans. This initiates another prominent theme in the book of Acts- The gospel goes to the Jew first… is rejected… then goes to the gentiles. One had the Messiah and rejected him. The other didn’t have him, yet embraced him.

While the Jewish leadership wanted the name of Jesus silenced, the Samaritan population paid attention to Philip’s message. And it wasn’t just a pocket of people here and a group of people there. Luke makes a point to say that the crowds within earshot of Philip’s voice came together and listened in one accord.

This is the same phrase we have seen repeated 5 times already in the book of Acts up to this point:

1. The 120 gathered in the upper room before Pentecost were there in one accord devoting themselves to prayer
2. The expanded group of believers gathered together in one accord after Pentecost breaking bread together.
3. After the Sanhedrin scolded Peter and John, they returned to the other believers who lifted their voices together in one accord praising God.
4. In one accord, the crowd gathered together in Solomon’s Portico as the apostles performed many signs and wonders in Acts 5.
5. And, in a negative sense, Stephen’s accusers rushed together at him in one accord to stone him.

In each instance, there was unity in a group of people. As opposed to the message of the Christ being rejected by the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem, the preached word and proclamation of the Christ brought a rejected people group together. They listened intently to Philip’s message and witnessed the miracles he performed, which authenticated his message.

Seed scattering.

God planned to expand the gospel’s message through persecution and the scattering of faithful believers, but what man plans for evil, God plans for good. Did you know that the word ‘scatter’ also means ‘planting,’ as in a gardener scattering seeds throughout the garden? These people, Philip included, weren’t just driven out… they were divinely planted in other fertile grounds.

Take that beautiful truth and apply it to yourself. Are you faithfully proclaiming Christ wherever God has planted you? What may seem bad right now is actually a divine appointment for growth.

Philip

Fortunately, scattering to preserve one’s life doesn’t mean you go into hiding.

The very next sentence demonstrates the faithfulness of the scattered believers. Though they had to flee persecution, their boldness and faithfulness to the call of Acts 1:8 remained intact. “Those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” That’s bold! Remember, that is a core sign of being filled with the Spirit.

When the scene shifts from Saul, it transitions to Philip, which begs the question:

Who is Philip?

• Not Philip from the 12 disciples.
• A Hellenistic Jewish deacon chosen alongside Stephen and five others from Acts 6.
• Like Stephen, he boldly proclaims the gospel and works miraculous signs of healing and exorcism.
• He seems to either be among the persecuted who had fled to Samaria or perhaps had been sent to them as a Deacon in a shepherding capacity and as a preacher to those who have not yet heard the good news of Jesus.
• Throughout Acts, we will see him as a coastal preacher in Gaza, Azotus, and Caesarea. Because of his affinity for preaching, he is called Philip the Evangelist in Acts 21:8.

At this point in the narrative, we are told that Philip’s primary purpose in Samaria is to proclaim the news of the Christ, preaching the word to them.

It is no coincidence that Philip is the one whom God sent to Samaria. Given the information you just learned about the Samaritans, can you guess why?

What did we learn about the Hellenists from a few weeks ago? Weren’t they also considered half-breeds or backslidden from the pure Jewish faith? These were Jews who embraced the Greek language and culture. Instead of remaining faithful to the full command of scripture and the man-made oral law, they became more pagan-like in the eyes of the mainline Jews. This is not to say that the apostles wouldn’t have been fruitful if God had sent them to Samaria because God can do as He pleases. However, Philip is the better man to get their attention, wouldn’t you agree?

Knowing Philip was a Hellenist Jew, I think the Samaritans would have more fully embraced his message and refrained from building an emotional wall from the start.

What was he doing?

Like his master – Jesus – the Christ he proclaimed, he cast out unclean spirits and healed the paralyzed and lame by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I don’t think it is a coincidence that Luke looks to Samaria next. He is the one who details the story of the Good Samaritan and the parable of the Great Banquet:

Luke 14:16–24 ESV

¹⁶ But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. ¹⁷ And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ ¹⁸ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ ¹⁹ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ ²⁰ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ ²¹ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ ²² And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’ ”

In both stories, the Jews and Religious leaders, represented by the ‘invited guests,’ rejected the invitation and shirked their duty to care for a fallen brother. Since they have declined the king’s invitation and failed to live out the law of loving your neighbor, the invitation extends to those around them. The Samaritan man is the only one who shows compassion on the injured man, and the servants are sent to the surrounding areas to collect the poor, crippled, blind, and lame. They are the ones who are now invited to dine at the Master’s table.

Philip is one of these servants and has faithfully spread the invitation to the broken, afflicted, and lame.

Philip wasn’t an apostle. He didn’t have a fancy title. He was no one significant. He is only mentioned a few times in scripture, yet God used him in powerful ways. Our power and influence don’t come from our positions or titles. It comes from our abiding relationship with Jesus. Philip loved Jesus and spread His message wherever he went because he was compelled to out of a deep love for his Savior.

Is that how you see yourself? Do you feel insignificant because you lack an earthly position? Or do you think you can’t serve if you don’t have a place of prominence? Brothers and sisters, God doesn’t care about those things. Those are man-made things. Jesus said, ‘abide in me.’ If you abide in Him, He will abide in you, and you will bear much fruit… why? Because you are connected to the vine, and the life-giving sap flows from the vine into all the branches equally. Loving God and abiding in Him is the only requirement for fruitful service.

Conclusion

Two opposing forces put side by side demonstrate that what man intends for evil, God intends for good.

Philip demonstrates how we are to live, and after his conversion, Paul would put Philip’s actions into these beautiful words:

Romans 1:16–17 ESV

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”