Study in the Acts of the Apostles

1. Study in the Acts of the Apostles Presentation 17

2. Expansion Through Persecution Chapter 7v59-8v8 Presentation 17

3. Introduction Every church wants to grow and probably every church-member has his own idea as to how that growth should take place. Therefore, it comes as a shock to discover that God's thinking is often so different from ours. Indeed, God's methods sometimes take our breath away and often challenge our own preconceptions. This reality is unpacked in the verses before us. Presentation 17

4. God's Strange Strategy What was the great missionary commission given by the risen Jesus to the church in Acts 1.8? It was to take the gospel to ‘Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth’. This gospel was for all the world and not for a cosy group of disciples in Jerusalem! But what had happened? The Jerusalem church had lost it's spiritual inertia. It was filled with converts from every corner of the Roman Empire who didn't seem to want to go back home. They were happy with the warm Christian fellowship and with the apostles’ teaching. The church seems to have lost sight of God's plan to evangelise the world. It was in danger of remaining turned in upon itself. Presentation 17

5. God's Strange Strategy It seems as though it would take a bundle of dynamite to propel this church into the world. And that is precisely the effect that persecution had v3. God allowed the persecution of his church to be the means of enlarging it. Evil overstepped itself, as it so often does, and this persecution, instead of quenching the church’s fire, showered sparks all over the world. From those sparks new church fellowships sprang. God often uses strange methods to expand his church, methods which may make his people initially uncomfortable but which takes his kingdom across new frontiers. Presentation 17

6. God's Strange Strategy There is much here to encourage the church today for these men and women were like us. We also are often sluggish when confronted with the command to extend God’s kingdom. Look at what God can accomplish despite that sluggishness. For God won't ultimately be hindered by our weakness and lack of vision. But lest we become too complacent by that fact and try to hide behind the skirts of God's sovereignty there is one other factor to consider: God is willing to bypass those not prepared to implement his strategy for mission. DETOUR Presentation 17

7. God's Strange Strategy What do I mean? Later on in Acts we find that the focus of attention moves from Jerusalem to Antioch, which in turn becomes the base of God's missionary operation cf. 13.1ff. The Jerusalem congregation seems to have been passed by. Does that jolt us? It should, to think that God could say to our fellowship, “If you settle for armchair Christianity and do not share my concern for the lost then I will find other means of reaching those you should be reaching”. Wouldn't that be a grave indictment against us and is surely something we want to avoid? Presentation 17

8. God Uses Surprising Messengers Who were the people who carried the message of the gospel throughout the Roman Empire? Initially, they were ordinary members of the Jerusalem congregation. Christians often excuse themselves from the great commission of Acts 1.8 by saying it was given to the apostles. What do we read in ch. 8v1? The apostles remained in Jerusalem. It was the ordinary members who engaged in evangelism, and they did so with no formal training. In the light of such passages we cannot excuse ourselves from being involved in sharing our faith. This commission has been given to the whole church. Try as we might, we can't wriggle out of this responsibility. Presentation 17

9. God Uses Surprising Messengers Now of course we all have different gifts, not everyone is a preacher. It is therefore not accidental that the word which is used in v4 and translated ‘preach’ is not the usual word used in the N.T. for proclaiming the evangel? Rather it is one which means witnessing to good news. It is sometimes translated as "gossiping the gospel". Lives that had been transformed by the grace of God, and experienced forgiveness and the power of God's Spirit and known the assurance of adoption into God's family, are found witnessing. It had become the natural and spontaneous activity of their lives. Presentation 17

10. God Uses Surprising Messengers The New Testament views every believer, however young and immature, a witness and potential soul-winner . God's purpose is that every local Christian congregation should be organised for witness, as well as for worship, and that every single Christian should have a share in the work. We are not all preachers but we are all called to be witnesses. A young lawyer was once asked, what he did for a living, what his job was. He replied, "I am an attorney at law to pay expenses, but my business is to witness to the living Lord Jesus." Have we made witnessing our business? Presentation 17

11. God Uses Surprising Messengers One of the reasons that many professing Christians are quite indifferent to the whole idea of speaking to others about Jesus is that they themselves have no real personal experience of the transforming power of God in their lives. We cannot adequately tell others of a gospel, which can make a difference to their lives, if we can show no evidence that our lives have been transformed by it! Is God real to us? Presentation 17

12. God Uses Surprising Messengers These early Christians believed that the Holy Spirit could use their simple words to challenge the hearts of those outside of the kingdom. There was no need for underhand methods to trap and entice them. The winsomeness of their gospel appeal lay in the transformed life through which it was made. Do we believe that God could use ordinary people like us and do we expect him to do so or, are we content to talk to people about 1001 subjects but shy clear of talking to them about Jesus? Presentation 17

13. Unlikely Locality Notice the unlikely area where response to the Christian witness was made. We read in v4ff that Philip experienced great success in Samaria. Why was that so strange? Well we know that the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. The Samaritans were suspicious of the Jews and proud of their own religious heritage. We would not naturally expect them to respond to gospel preaching by a Jew who proclaimed that another Jew, Jesus, was truly the Eternal Son of God and the Saviour of men. Presentation 17

14. Unlikely Locality However, remember that Jesus once made a trip into Samaria, where he met the needs, first of the women at the well Jn. 4 and then of the village to which she belonged. There was therefore some previous experience of the ministry of Jesus which could be reliably built upon. Many of us are familiar with Jesus’ words, "The fields are white and ready for harvest" but were we aware that when Jesus spoke them he had Samaria in view, and it was here that unknown to his disciples, he had begun to make an impact? cf. Jn. 4v35. Presentation 17

15. Unlikely Locality And so you should not be surprised to discover, when speaking to others about your faith, that Jesus has gone ahead and prepared the soil of their hearts into which you sow gospel seed. Often the most unlikely people listen and you may wonder why they respond so warmly. Well here is the answer, God the great evangelist has gone before you to prepare their hearts and cause them to be responsive. Presentation 17

16. Unlikely Locality Surely a second reason for the success of the gospel in Samaria, was as a result of prayer. Were not the ever increasing ripples of church expansion produced as a result of the apostles’ prayer. Jesus taught, “The harvest is plentiful and the labourers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore to send out workers into the harvest field.” Matt. 9v37-38. Less than a few years had passed before Philip found himself in Samaria and experienced such a fruitful response to his preaching. Presentation 17

17. Unlikely Locality Prayer and church expansion go hand in hand. This is why the church prayer meeting is so important and why we should pray for non Christian family, neighbours and friends. You may consider your street, your place of work or your family to be an unlikely catchment area for the gospel. You may think these people will be unresponsive to your witness. But if we pray and if Jesus by his Spirit goes before us and prepares the way what might he achieve? Presentation 17

18. Conclusion God uses unlikely methods, surprising messengers and works in the unlikeliest of situations BUT he is still building his church. Where do we fit into his plan? Do we not need to ask, ‘Will God use me or bypass me?’The answer to that question surely depends upon our willingness to work with him, to be sensitive to his voice and put ourselves at his disposal. Presentation 17