Acts chapter 8, that is page 916, as it says there in the bulletin in the Pew Bible, if
you want to turn along there.
Let me encourage you to do that as we look into God's Word together this morning.
And as you're turning there, I wonder if you've ever sort of paused to reflect on the question
of just what it is that gets you up in the morning.
What is it that motivates you or drives you, or maybe another way of putting it, what is
it that sort of puts wind into your sails?
This morning we're starting a new series in the book of Acts.
And Acts, I don't know about you, but Acts is probably one of the most exciting books
in the whole Bible.
It's this explosive history of the first three decades of the church, taking us from the ascension
of Jesus and the ascending of the Spirit in the 30s all the way up to Paul's arrival in
Rome, sort of the center city of the world at that time in the 60s.
One author wrote a book on Acts and titled it, 30 Years That Changed the World.
That's a pretty bombastic title.
I mean, 30 years that changed the world.
And yet, you know, unlike so many book titles, I think that one actually is not an exaggeration.
So why study the book of Acts now?
Well, you know, one of the interesting things as we're going to study this book of Acts is
you see that, you know, the early church, it was not just a sort of smooth highway to
the finish line.
That there were challenges, there were struggles, there were heartaches.
We'll see this morning in our text there were persecutions.
And yet, and yet, we see again and again and again that the power of God's Word produces
such a joy in His people that they are able not merely to endure these things, but to even
flourish in the face of them.
And that God's kingdom goes forth in unbelievable ways, even in the face of those things.
You know, as a church, we're seeking to be a community that's gathered, transformed, sent
forth by the gospel.
And Acts is a book that's going to give us the right kind of motivation for doing so.
You know, Acts doesn't just teach us how to do church or how to do mission together, how
to sort of do these things.
But it actually, when we listen to it, when we enter into it, it actually stirs our hearts
for doing so.
Because as we've said, it points us again and again to the power of the gospel of Jesus
Christ and the joy that erupts when the gospel does its work.
Now, a few years ago, you'll remember, some of you will remember anyway, that we studied
chapters 1 through 7 in Acts.
Who was actually here when we studied Acts 1 through 7?
Like three of you, right?
Because it was three years ago, and that means Trinity is a totally different place.
That was the sheepest hand raised I've ever seen.
It's like, I don't want to admit that I was here that long ago.
So, if you want to listen to Acts 1 through 7, you can jump on the website and you can listen
to those old sermons.
But we're going to pick up this winter and into the spring, we're going to pick up with
chapter 8.
And chapter 8's a good place to begin because it begins really a new section of the book.
It's one of really the major turning points in the story.
And quite frankly, it's one of the major turning points in the history of redemption.
The gospel in chapter 8 begins to break new ground.
And in that sort of newness is where we're going to pick up.
So, if you've turned to Acts chapter 8, let me read starting from the second half of verse 1.
Let me read this for us.
Luke writes,
Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.
Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them Christ.
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.
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.
So there was much joy in that city.
But there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people
of Samaria saying that he himself was somebody great.
They all paid attention to him from the least to the greatest saying,
This man is the power of God that is called great.
And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.
But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ,
they were baptized, both men and women.
Even Simon himself believed.
And after being baptized, he continued with Philip.
And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.
Now when the apostles of Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God,
they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them,
that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
For he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands,
he offered them money, saying,
Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.
But Peter said to him,
May your silver perish with you,
because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money.
You have neither part nor lot in this matter,
for your heart is not right before God.
Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours,
and pray to the Lord that, if possible,
the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.
For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness
and in the bond of iniquity.
And Simon answered,
Pray for me to the Lord,
that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.
Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord,
they returned to Jerusalem,
preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.
You know, sometimes God does things in ways that we don't expect.
In chapter 1 of Acts,
before ascending to heaven,
Jesus told his disciples that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the end of the earth.
So, you have to expect that at some point,
as Acts unfolds,
the gospel is going to advance to those regions.
And yet here in chapter 8,
as we see the gospel going forth to Samaria,
and the church being established there,
in fulfillment of Jesus' very promise,
it all seems to be happening in ways
that no one would have expected.
It's not the neat and tidy,
or predictable,
or safe,
or comfortable way
that we think it all would happen.
And in each of these unexpected twists and turns of the story,
there lies a valuable lesson for us today.
And there are four I want to point out
as we walk through this text this morning.
And the first is this.
We see here that the gospel advances
by an unexpected circumstance.
This is verses 1 through 4.
Scan down over those verses again.
And as you do so,
I wonder if you've ever felt defeated,
or discouraged,
or ready to give up.
Our passage opens with this
massively disheartening scene.
The church seems headed for defeat.
Stephen has just been martyred.
A great persecution breaks out.
Believers are scattered.
Churches are ravaged.
Men and women in prison.
These first three verses are a discouraging picture indeed.
Some in the church may have even been thinking
whether or not God was really caring for them at all.
How could he allow this to happen?
But in verse 4,
Luke points us to this great lesson.
You see, God
is turning
this seeming defeat
into a triumph.
Persecution ends up
scattering the believers,
but the scattered believers
end up
sharing the gospel wherever they go.
It's as if this attempt
to stamp out
the fire of Christ.
Have you ever done that
when you're camping?
It's not a very
wise thing to do.
You sort of
stamp out the fire.
What happens?
The sparks start flying everywhere.
And that's exactly
what's happening to the church.
The sparks start flying
in all new directions
and they start lighting
fires of their own.
And one of those new fires
was in Samaria.
that God uses this instance
to initiate
a great new phase
of gospel growth.
The time for the gospel
to advance beyond
the walls of Jerusalem.
You see, God took
the seeming defeat
of Stephen's death
and the ensuing persecution
on an attempt really
to bring an end
to the movement of Christ.
But God takes that attempt
to bring the church
to an end
and does the exact opposite.
that instead of ending
the church,
the church begins
a whole new phase
of growth.
And of course,
as we study church history,
we see that God
has done this again
and again and again.
John Stott
in his commentary
on Acts
mentions the example
of China
as one of these.
In 1949,
after the Communist Party
took power,
all the Christian missionaries
in China
were forced to leave
the country.
And it seemed like
a disaster
for the cause of Christ.
But the reality
of what happened
as a result
was that many
of the expelled missionaries
went to other parts of Asia
and so spread the faith
in unreached places.
And in China itself,
Chinese lay leaders
ended up taking
the lead of the church
and the church
exploded in size
and in vitality.
It's been estimated
that the church
is some 30 to 40,
probably more times
larger than it was
today than when
the missionaries left.
You see,
the flame just simply grew.
But it's not just
church history
that teaches us
this lesson, right?
Don't we see it
in our own
personal stories?
That times of challenge,
times of persecution,
times of suffering,
these are often
the times
when the gospel
takes its deepest root.
That those are often
the times
when the gospel
ends up bearing
the sweetest fruit
in our lives.
So friends,
we need not despair
when hard times come.
We need not
lose hope.
Even as we grieve
this season of the church
that we're entering
into with news
that we've just
received today,
friends,
even this
is not cause
for despair
to lose hope.
It's a time to grieve.
It's a time to continue
to bear each other's burdens.
It's a time to continue
to pray fervently.
Ah, but friends,
it's not a time
to despair
to lose hope.
You know,
many students of Acts
have speculated
that perhaps
the early church
needed something
that was sort of
as massive
as a great persecution
that would dislodge them
from their comfort zone
in Jerusalem
and send them out
into the world.
And you know,
we can't really say for sure.
That's kind of speculating.
But you know,
we can know that
no matter what comes,
even if it be
great persecution
like here in Acts 8,
God will always
have a way in the end
of using it
for the advance
of his kingdom
and for our ultimate joy.
Which isn't that
a great comfort
that Stephen's death
wasn't in vain,
that the great persecution
wasn't lost
in God's plan.
That should give us
great confidence
and comfort
as we look ahead
as a church.
That this is the great God
that we serve.
What happens in Acts 8
is that this scattering
leads to a great advance
of God's redemptive plan
to call all peoples
to himself.
And that brings us
to our second point.
We see that the gospel
advances,
not just through
an unexpected circumstance,
but through unexpected people.
In verse 4,
we see that the apostles
who are sort of
leading the church
up to this point
in the book of Acts
aren't the ones now
who are on the forefront
of gospel mission.
Who is it?
The apostles
stay behind in Jerusalem,
probably to continue
their sort of
pastoral care
and presence in the city.
But it's not the apostles
who are on the forefront.
It's those
who are scattered abroad.
It's these
everyday Christians
who had jobs to do,
who had families
to take care of,
who had clothes to wash,
who had meals to cook.
These so-called
ordinary Christians
are the pioneers
of this great
redemptive movement
of God.
Isn't that a wonderful
surprise?
That in God's economy,
each one of us
has a part to play.
That each one of us
has a role
to take up
in the cause of God.
The early church
is this great example
that for the first
300 years
of the church's growth,
the gospel spread
to all corners
of the world
through people
just like you and me
who had tasted
the joy of the gospel
and couldn't help
but share it.
And then Luke
focuses in
in verses 5 through 13
on a ministry
of Philip.
And again,
you know,
he's maybe not the one
we'd expect
to be doing
this groundbreaking,
bold mission
to Samaria.
He's not an apostle.
He's one of the seven
that was named
in Acts 6
to sort of help
with food distribution
in the Jerusalem church.
He's a mature believer,
companion of Stephen,
but you know,
not sort of,
not an apostle.
But he's the one
that God uses.
And we'll later learn
in Acts chapter 21
that Philip comes
to be called
the evangelist.
Isn't that great?
That this unlikely guy
ends up being known
as the one
who really broke ground
for the gospel.
And Luke's actually
going to spend time
with him,
the author of Acts,
actually,
as a companion of Paul.
He's actually going
to spend time
with Philip
in Acts 21,
we learn.
And that's probably
when Luke learned
or at least verified
these accounts
that we have written
for us in chapter 8.
Luke's writing for us
firsthand accounts
from Philip himself
of what happened
when God did
this great work.
Now,
as we focus in
on Philip's work here,
consider how radical
Philip's mission
to Samaria is,
after all.
I mean,
verse 5 just sort of
almost feels like
a throwaway verse to us,
but it's wild.
Think of it this way.
Many days,
when I get home
from work,
my three-and-a-half-year-old
son, Jack,
often has one thing
on his mind
as I step in the door.
He comes running
down the hall,
meets me at the door,
and says,
Dad,
let's wrestle.
And of course,
if you're wrestling,
you have to come up
with awesome wrestling names,
right?
So, you know,
sometimes we go
for our traditional superheroes,
Spider-Man,
Superman,
Batman,
whatever man.
Sometimes we'll sort of
make up wrestling names
of our own creation.
Some of my favorite
that Jack has come up with
are Thunder Cruncher.
It's a good one.
Lightning Jammer.
But sometimes,
Jack will look at me
and say,
Dad,
let's be bad guys.
Now,
I'm not sure where
he sort of learned
the concept of bad guy.
It was probably
one of those corruptions
induced by an older cousin
during a family visit.
One of those
sort of things.
But you know,
once Jack got the idea
of bad guy
in his head,
he's never forgotten it.
And he's kind of
fascinated by it.
And of course,
it seems like
every good story
has a bad guy,
right?
An arch nemesis
that never seems
to go away.
Always the sort of thorn
in the hero's side.
And the best bad guys,
when you look at
all the stories,
always have some
sort of connection
or similarity
to the good guys,
right?
You know,
Darth Vader
is actually Luke Skywalker's
father.
Or Gollum actually
used to be a hobbit.
So there's this weird
sort of connection
that the good guy
and the bad guy has
that makes it all
the more poignant.
Well, you know,
if you would have asked
most Jews
in the first century
who their arch nemesis was,
who was the thorn
in their side,
they probably would have said
the Samaritans.
What existed between Jews
and Samaritans
was bitter ethnic rivalry.
Sort of like we see
in many parts of the world
still today.
Because the Samaritans
were actually sort of
distant relatives
of the Jews.
When the ancient
northern kingdom of Israel
was sort of conquered
by the Assyrians
in the 8th century BC,
what happened was
the Assyrians deported
large numbers of people
and then imported
a bunch of foreigners
and the Jews who were left
in the northern kingdom
sort of intermarried
with the Jews who were left.
So what happened was
is that, you know,
the Samaritans,
the people who still live
in that old northern kingdom,
ended up being seen
by most Jews in the south
as sort of half-breeds.
And to make matters worse,
most Samaritans claimed,
and they all did really,
to serve the same God
as the Jews,
but they rejected
large portions
of the sort of
Hebrew scriptures.
They even built
their own temple,
you know.
So they weren't just
sort of, you know,
weird ethnically.
But they were also heretics.
You know,
this sort of
age-old dispute
between Jews
and Samaritans
just went for
hundreds of years.
And they basically
treated each other
with ongoing suspicion
and hostility
and sometimes even violence.
Now, consider,
if that's the case,
how radical it was
for Philip,
having been driven
from Jerusalem
because of persecution,
where does he go?
He makes a beeline
for Samaria.
That is strange.
I mean, as a Jew,
these were people
he had been brought up
to despise.
And as soon as he
sort of steps out,
that's the first place
he's headed.
he goes to one of their
most prominent cities.
Luke actually doesn't
mention which one.
He says,
the city of Samaria.
He goes to one of their
prominent cities
and starts loving them
and sharing the good news
about Jesus,
the kingdom of God
and the name of Christ.
I mean,
think of what that would
look like today.
Think of a place
in the world
where there's been
long-standing religious
and ethnic strife.
Belfast
in the 70s and 80s,
the Balkans
in the 90s,
Rwanda
in the 90s,
Israel and Palestine
today where people
hate each other.
what power
could so transform
a young person's
heart
who's been born
into that kind
of intense strife
and hastery
such that
he or she
no longer
views the other
as an enemy
to be hated
but a neighbor
to be loved.
What
must have done
a thing like that?
Friends,
you see,
Philip had learned
the deep
and essential
truth
of the good news
of grace
which is this,
that on the one hand
what the gospel
tells us
that regardless
of your background
or culture,
regardless of your
religion
or your moral performance,
even everyone
is hopelessly
sinful
and selfish
and in need
of rescue.
But on the other hand,
no one
is beyond
the reach
of God's
free mercy
and grace
in Christ.
That what
God did
through Jesus'
life,
death,
resurrection
and ascension
is for all
who believe.
The whole concept,
in other words,
of bad guy,
had been
utterly
deconstructed
and demolished
for Philip.
There no longer
were good guys
and bad guys
in his moral world.
He began
to see the truth
that everyone
is a sinner
in need of grace.
That he couldn't
look at other
people anymore
and say,
you're out.
That he couldn't
look at people
anymore and say,
there's no way
you could be in.
Friends,
and if you let
the gospel
sink in like that,
it will
revolutionize
your life.
When Philip
takes the risk
and goes to Samaria
and starts telling
them about the
good news
of the kingdom
of God
and the name
of Jesus,
what happens?
Lo and behold,
the fact that
they're Samaritans
doesn't stop
God from working.
In verses 6
through 8,
the message
rings out
and God
confirms
Philip's preaching
with powerful signs
as a demonstration
that this is
his truth.
Come to redeem.
And even in
verses 9
through 13,
we see that
even though
this particular
city had been
bound in
sort of
deception
and lies
by a local
sort of
charlatan
magic worker,
that even though
they had been
sort of clouded
in spiritual
deception,
not even that
stopped God
from breaking
through and
opening up
life and joy
in Christ for them.
right before
Philip's eyes,
he gets to see
that God
is making
the Samaritans
full members
of his family
on the basis
of faith alone
and nothing's
stopping it.
Something totally
new is underway.
You know,
one way of looking
at this whole
sort of portion
of the book of Acts
from chapter 8
to chapter 12
where the gospel
goes to all Judea
and Samaria,
it's almost as if
it's this great
transitional period
it's as if
a great door
is sort of
turning on its
hinge,
opening up
more and more
and more
until by the time
we reach chapter 13
the Gentile mission
is exploding out
in full force.
And you see
what's happening
here friends
is that God
is fulfilling
all of his
ancient promises.
God is fulfilling
his promises
to gather
the lost sheep
of Israel
and not just
those but to
gather all nations
to himself
that God's
keeping his
long promises
in his son.
So we see
that the gospel
advances through
unexpected circumstances
and through
unexpected people
and then third
the gospel
advances through
this unexpected
initiation.
What happens
in verses 14
through 17
of our text
this morning
is something
of an exegetical
sort of quandary.
A lot of ink
has been spilled
over it.
But as we
take a step
back
what God's
doing in these
verses is making
it unmistakably
clear both
to the Samaritans
and to the
apostles and
through them
to the church
in Jerusalem
that they
are members
of one
and the same
family.
One
and the same
body.
One
and the same
church.
That's what
God's doing
here.
And God
demonstrates
this fact
by doing
something
very
odd.
What's
odd?
Well
when the
apostles
come down
from Jerusalem
it becomes
evident to
them
that the
Samaritan
converts
they had
certainly
believed
they had
definitely
been baptized
that they
hadn't
received
the full
indwelling
presence of
the Holy
Spirit.
Now
that would
have struck
them all
as unexpected
and even
strange.
And even
the language
of verse
16 which
is sort
of oddly
kind of
constructed
in our
English
translations
it sort
of suggests
that something
weird is
happening.
Do you
remember back
in Acts 2
how Peter
made very
clear in his
first sermon
after Pentecost
that believing
in Jesus
getting baptized
receiving the
Spirit all
go together.
And the
rest of Acts
and the rest
of the New
Testament bears
this out.
What's
belief?
Belief is
personally trusting
the good news
of what Jesus
has done
and relying
on him.
And the
Holy Spirit
is the gift
of the
Father for
all who
believe.
Filling
believers with
joy and
power for
ministry.
And baptism
is the outward
expression of
all of this
symbolizing
cleansing from
sin and
the beginning
of one's
new life
in the
family of
God.
And they
all go
together as
one thing.
But it
was evident
to Philip
and to Peter
and John
when they
showed up
strangely
that the
Samaritans
hadn't received
this promised
new covenant
and dwelling
of the
Holy Spirit
even though
they believed
and been
baptized.
In some
sense they
were sort
of like the
original
disciples in
Acts 1
before
Pentecost.
They believed
in Jesus
they'd been
baptized but
the full-on
New Testament
ministry of the
Spirit hadn't
yet begun in
their lives.
It hadn't
yet started
for them.
And the
million dollar
question is
why the
delay?
Why hadn't
they received
the Spirit?
Well as I
mentioned this
passage has
been read and
interpreted in
a number of
ways.
Some will
point to
this text and
say that it
teaches a sort
of pattern to
be imitated
today.
That every
Christian sort
of needs some
sort of post
conversion,
post baptism
kind of experience
or imparting of
the Holy Spirit.
For Roman
Catholics and
for some high
church Anglicans
that's really
what the
rite of
confirmation is
all about.
That after
your baptism
that's when
you sort
of get the
fullness of
the Holy
Spirit.
For various
sort of other
Pentecostal or
maybe even
charismatic streams
of the church
that's what being
baptized in the
Spirit is all
about.
You're converted
and then at a
later point you
get sort of the
full sort of
experience and
presence of the
Spirit.
Both
traditions as
different as
they are want
to sort of
read Acts 8
this sort of
moment as a
sort of normative
and normal
Christian experience
that after
conversion you need
this sort of
second stage or
this second
experience.
But friends I
think it's pretty
clear that that's
not what this
passage in Acts
8 means.
On the one
hand you have
to think that
every narrative
in the Bible
isn't necessarily
there to give
us a pattern
for how to
act now.
Everything in
the Bible is
there for our
edification and
for our instruction
and for our
learning and for
our growth but
sometimes narratives
in the Bible
describe unique
events from
which we have
something to
learn yes but
not necessarily
something to
imitate.
And I think
that's what's
going on in
Samaria.
God is doing
something historically
unique in this
moment.
He's doing
something historically
unique to make
an incredibly
clear once for
all point to
the church.
that God
delays the
pouring out of
the spirit and
fullness until
the apostles show
up in order to
demonstrate loud
and clear that
there's one
gospel, one
spirit, and
one church.
Think of how
easy it would
have been for
the all-Jewish
church in
Jerusalem to
remain skeptical
and suspicious of
Samaritan converts.
It would have been
very easy, wouldn't
it have been?
On the flip side,
think of how easy
it would have been
for the Samaritan
converts to sort
of drift away from
their brothers and
sisters in Jerusalem,
maybe always thinking
of themselves as
second-class citizens,
perhaps drifting away
theologically because
they had no
connection and
mooring to the
teaching of the
apostles.
But instead of
that, instead of
these divisions sort
of dividing up the
church right from
the start, God has
the apostles show up
and see with their
own eyes the
spirit fall on
them.
That they get to
be the authoritative
witnesses of what
Jesus Christ does in
Samaria.
And he does it
through means of
their own prayers,
which is very
interesting, as if
to say, you're one
family, you're
together in this.
Now, of course,
Luke doesn't say how
they knew the spirit
came upon them at
last.
Maybe it was
speaking in tongues,
miraculous signs.
Maybe, honestly,
maybe it was just a
deep and pervasive
sense of joy, of
joy and gladness that
just filled them when
the spirit came.
But whatever it was,
you have to see that
God is forging a
single body that
spans our ancient
divisions of
ethnicity and
nationality and
language and
culture.
God is saying that
the church is going
to be the one
place where the
animosities that
divide us are at
last healed through
the balm of the
gospel.
That's the lesson
from this unexpected
initiation.
That's the point that's
being driven home.
one last episode that
Luke includes as he
wraps up his account of
how the gospel came to
Samaria.
Fourth, we see that the
gospel advances through an
unexpected rebuke.
You know, if the lesson of
verses 14 through 17 and the
lay of the spirit is sort of
an outward corporate lesson
about the unity of the body,
then what happens in verses
18 through 24 is more of an
inward and individual lesson
about the state of our
hearts.
Peter rebukes Simon and
even exposes him as a
counterfeit who's in grave
spiritual danger.
Now, of course, the surface
lesson here is that trying
to buy spiritual power and
position is wrong.
In fact, that practice came to
be known as Simon-y, named
after you got it, Simon.
How's about that for a
namesake?
But there's a deeper lesson.
Twice in his rebuke, what
does Peter mention?
The heart.
Simon, he says, your heart's
not right.
Pray that God will mend the
intentions of your heart.
Peter could see that Simon's
heart was still riddled with
all the same motivations that
he had before his supposed
conversion.
Peter sort of, with spiritual
insight, sees that there's
been no sort of fundamental
change.
No real new birth.
Even though Simon had
professed.
Even though Simon had
believed.
Even though it seemed like he
was making a good start.
This instance exposes that
maybe it wasn't a real start
after all.
You see, Simon, what did he
want?
He still wanted to have
power over people.
He still wanted to control
them.
He still wanted people to look
at him and think that he was
someone great.
Wasn't that the difference
between Simon and Philip when
the gospel came to Samaria?
Simon had been there preaching
himself.
I'm somebody great.
Philip came preaching Jesus,
the one who's truly great.
And people saw finally the one
who was their redeemer and
their savior.
Christianity, it seems for
Simon, was just merely a means
to sort of getting his old
desires for pleasing and
serving himself.
He saw Christianity in his
heart just as a new method to
make himself great.
And Peter calls him to
repent.
Which is pretty impressive,
that rebuke in itself, when
you think about it.
I mean, Simon, after all, was
sort of the celebrity convert
in the church, right?
He was the magician-turned
Christian that everybody was
talking about.
It would be sort of like the
notorious atheist professor
suddenly getting baptized and
calling himself a Christian.
He'd end up on all the
Christian magazines.
He'd probably write a book.
He'd start a speaking tour.
Veritas Forum would be
calling him up.
But Peter doesn't get caught
up in all that.
He sees Simon's heart and does
the most gracious thing
imaginable and says, repent,
Simon.
And Luke leaves it open-ended.
He doesn't tell us whether
Simon actually repents or not.
Later church tradition will
suggest that Simon didn't.
And that he became sort of a
grand heretic in the early
church.
Perhaps that's the case.
We don't know for sure.
You know, Simon, after all,
interestingly, in verse 23, 24,
he doesn't pray for forgiveness,
does he?
He just prays that the
consequences won't come upon him.
But you know, the real point for us
isn't to speculate about Simon.
But the point for us is to examine
our own hearts.
And friends, that's why we come to
the Lord's Supper.
On the one hand, this is the table
where all who trust in Christ are
welcome.
And we've seen in our passage that
God does something out of the
ordinary to drive home the unity that
we have in Christ.
Jew, Samaritan, Gentile, rich, poor,
male, female.
We're one in him.
And that's part of what's being said
here at the table.
That through faith alone in Christ,
our sins are forgiven.
And we take this bread and cup
together as a sign of what he's
done for us and as a sign of our
unity.
But this table is also a time where
we need to examine our hearts.
And seek God's freely offered
forgiveness.
And to receive his freely extended
fellowship.
To look down in.
And to be turning away from those
ways in which God shows us we're
still being selfish and still being
self-motivated.
The table is a place where we lay our
old motivations before God in prayer.
And ask him again to forgive us for
Christ's sake.
And to change us by his spirit.
And to be confident that he's
promised to do so for all who
believe.
So friends, as we wrap up and come to
the table.
Span this whole sort of section.
We see that God will often advance the
gospel in unexpected ways.
But in the end, as we sort of take
stock of this passage and read the
summary in verse 25.
Don't we see that one thing has been
constant?
Amidst all the unexpected events,
there's been one utterly expected.
But utterly wonderful thing running
through the whole passage.
And it's the word, as verse 25 puts it.
The gospel of Jesus Christ, the word of
the Lord, creates the church.
Amidst all the changes, all the
circumstances, that will remain the
same exciting, powerful, thrilling reality.
So friends, as we launch out on this new
study of Acts, let's expect God to do
things perhaps we didn't anticipate.
Let's expect God to move in ways that are
maybe a bit unexpected.
But let's also look forward to the ways in
which his powerful word will do what it's
always done.
Let's pray.
Bring joy to all people and bring life to his
church.
Let's pray.
Lord, as we come to your table now, we pray that
through faith you would feed our hearts.
Jesus, as we remember your cross and what you've
done for us, Lord, would we be strengthened once
more as we partake in this act, proclaiming your
death until you come.
Amen.
Well, friends, I wonder if those who are serving this
morning would come up.
If you're here this morning and you're a Christian, if
you've turned from sin and placed your trust in Jesus
Christ as your Savior and as your Lord, then you're
welcome, friends, to partake in these elements with us.
The way we sort of practice this here at Trinity is
that we'll pass around the bread first, pray, and
then we'll eat it together as a sign of that unity, and
then we'll do the same thing with the cup.
If you're here this morning and you're just spiritually
searching, if you're not sure where you are with
Christianity, we're glad you're here.
You're always welcome to join us.
But as the elements sort of come around, just pass them
by.
This is the sort of thing that Christians do to express
outwardly their inward faith.
So simply pass it by and instead use this time for
spiritual reflection.
Instead of taking the elements of the bread and the
cup, instead consider taking Christ himself.
He's the one that these elements point to.
Well, with those thoughts, friends, let me read some of
Paul's words from 1 Corinthians 11.
He says,
I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you,
that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed,
took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and
said, this is my body, which is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
Craig, would you pray for the bread for us?
Let's pray together.
Amen.
Thank you.