“From Out of Persecution – Faith”

Scripture text: Acts 8:26 – 40

You’ll remember from 2 weeks ago that Stephen had recently been stoned, which, in turn, lead to a great uprising against the church. The faithful had fled from Jerusalem, and to the casual observer, it might have appeared that the sect known as The Way was finished. But the truth is that it had just received the impetus to begin spreading the word of Jesus Christ beyond the borders of Judah.
Our lesson from last week focused on Philip, and where that flight from death took him. And his witness in Samaria was typical of how the message would begin to take hold in other areas of the world. But just because he had begun a great revival in Samaria, it didn’t mean that he had accomplished all that God required of him – as a matter of fact, it was just beginning.

Read Acts 8:26-29

First, the half blood nation of Samaria, and now an African from Ethiopia? Where would it all end? The authorities in Jerusalem didn’t really care, as long as it was happening outside of Judah and had ended within! But then, that was God’s plan – to evangelize the world, not just one small nation. The Lord’s plans are not miniscule - they’re grand! And to think that this migration of faith all began with hatefulness and rejection by the very people who should have embraced this new word.

Tertullian was a late second century Christian writer, who is still widely read and studied, even today. In the late 190’s, he wrote “The blood of Christians is seed. [It is] the bait that wins men to our school. We multiply whenever we are mown down by you.”

Persecution of the church had been nearly constant for 200 years, and the church continued to grow and spread to other nations. Of course, people didn’t flock to Christianity because of martyrdom. They came in spite of the persecution that the world threw at the faithful. Until Jesus came, the nations pretty much tolerated the beliefs of others – “You worship yours and I’ll worship mine” seemed to be the generally accepted mantra. But the Christian Church took a different tact – it became a contrast between Truth and lies, right and wrong, good and evil. “Tolerance” took on a new mantle – it became an embrace of people instead of their beliefs.
How else could Philip and Peter and John have witnessed to the glory of Jesus Christ to a nation of people who they were supposed to hate? It’s because they embraced the people of Samaria, not their failure so many years before to obey the commandment not to intermarry with people from other beliefs.

And now, Philip meets a man who is in service to the Ethiopian royal court. And here is an example of tolerance for other faiths – the eunuch had been in Jerusalem to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! This wasn’t his God, but he was interested in knowing more about him. But Philip wasn’t called to his side to affirm his interest – Philip was there to teach him the “truths” of God, to lead him beyond interest and into understanding.

Read Acts 8:30-34

Years later, the apostle Paul would write similar thoughts in his letter to the Romans (Read Romans 10:12-15). Word recognition is fairly easy and with some effort, we can learn a new language by ourselves. But when we are attempting to understand the context and concepts that words are telling us, our own ability is nearly always inadequate. We need the assistance of others – whether it is a teacher in school, or the group in a Bible study, we need the guidance of others in our efforts to learn.
The Ethiopian needed Philip with his understanding of the fulfilling of the prophesy surrounding Christ. Think about it. If you had read this passage, without knowing anything about Jesus and His sacrifice, would you have understood it? Of course not! He needed a wisdom other than what he had if he was to put these words into the proper context.

Philip had been forced out of Jerusalem and into Samaria, once again, in fear for his life, so that he could share his understanding of the Christ with those people, and then was lead in the opposite direction, without gaining any personal glory in Samaria or even seeing the final outcome, so he could share Christ with this man.

Think for just a moment, about how and where God is leading you. Have you ever wondered why you feel the need to spend time with that certain person who makes you so uncomfortable? Or why you just took a turn off the highway that you hadn’t planned to take? Or why that stranger just sat down next to you in the diner when there were lots of other empty seats?

Philip didn’t have a clue either as to why he was heading for Samaria – he just knew that he had to head out in that direction, and that when he got there that he was to share the good news of Jesus Christ with anyone who would take a minute to listen! He didn’t have a clue as to why he was to walk many miles to the south while Peter and John finished up the work he had begun in Samaria. And why was he supposed to walk near the chariot that was obviously owned by a very wealthy man from Africa? And even after all was said and done, he still only had some of the answers!

And what does God expect to accomplish if, by some remote chance, I do follow His lead? What does the hatred and meanness of others have to do with it? Why can’t they be nice to me? Why do I have to stop in the middle of the job, and why are others coming along to see it through to completion? Why can’t I finish it? Why can’t God just let me work in a comfortable place? Why must I go to Haiti or Guatemala or Libya or India, or that prison in Pennsylvania? Don’t I get a say in any of this?

These are all good questions, and there is only one good answer for all of them – It’s God’s plan, his way, his message, and his need. It has nothing to do with us, other than it is our response to His great gifts to us.

Don’t we trust him? Don’t we believe in His message? Don’t we want to be an intimate part of His ministry? What great blessing might be waiting for our faithful obedience, only to be missed because of our reluctance, our fear, to follow!

U.S.News & World Report published an article on why the ongoing repression of Christians worldwide receives scant notice. Why the indifference of Christians to Christian persecution? Nina Shea, of Freedom House, says it's secular myopia. Dorian Friedman says, There's a view that someone who stands before Army tanks in Tiananmen is a hero, while someone willing to lay down his life for his religious faith must be a zealot.
-- Sharing the Lessons, U.S.News & World Report, March 31, 1997, 15.

Are we letting the world dictate our response to Christ?

Read Acts 8:35-40

If Philip had doubted, if he had hesitated, if he had questioned the Lord’s call, could these 6 verses have ever been written? Hesitation could have put them well beyond the water before the Ethiopian understood, and he might never have asked to be baptized. If he had missed out on his baptism, the unbridled joy that came into his life would have been missed. If Philip had failed in his obedience, what would have happened to the continued ministry that was to come his way?

Once again, what great blessing might be waiting for our faithful obedience? Will it be missed because of our reluctance, our fear, our failure to follow?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be that fearful servant who buried his talent instead of using it to glorify the Master! We are never given a task, that with the help of the Lord Jesus Christ, can’t be completed! It is only in our own limited view of life that we are limited, never in the vision of God.

My friends, let him take you to heights greater than any you have ever known. Claim him totally as Lord, give him you trust and praise, give him your life to use as he knows best, and give up on any hope or reward that this life may offer you - it’s nothing when compared to that which awaits those who wait and serve upon the Lord!

Will we hear the word of God as recorded in Psalm 19:4 - “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”, or will Isaiah 65:2 ring out as our condemnation - “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

Persecution isn’t a pleasant experience, I’ll admit. But in Christ, the evil that is brought against us can be turned into glory – not by our will, but by the Lord’s. And in our fight against submitting to the hatred of others, we just might discover a greater faith in Christ. Philip discovered that truth, and so can we. Choose well the course that you take.