Not Sheltered, but Scattered

“Not Sheltered, but Scattered”

(Acts 8:1-8)

Series: Back to the Basics (Acts 1-9)

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson

Take your Bibles and join me in Acts, chapter 8.

While you’re finding that let me thank you for your faithfulness during our 52 Days of Prayer. So many of you read the Prayer Guide each day and prayed. Many of you wrote devotions for the Prayer Guide and I thank you for your involvement. Continue praying as you consider whom to nominate to serve on the Pastor Search Committee. Ballots have been mailed and you should have gotten yours or will get it tomorrow. Prayerfully consider whom to nominate for the Committee.

Thanks also to the Kenny and Kathy Noblett for opening their home during the 52 Days of Prayer on Thursdays. Michele and I were blessed to pray every week with the Nobletts and others. We missed when we were out of town, but there for the rest and thoroughly enjoyed praying with our church family. And Barb Howell hosting a Friday time of prayer, too. Thanks so much to all of you for praying during this transition.

My last Sunday will be the 24th of this month. Remember we’re not having a reception that day or anything mushy like that. Instead, Michele and I are opening our home the week preceding the 24th. We’re having an Open House for anyone who would like to stop by the week of the 18th. Monday through Saturday of that week our home will be open to anyone who would like to drop in and we’ll have snacks and such. We’ll have a schedule printed for you next week in the First Facts in case this interests you.

Okay, we’re in Acts 8. We’re in a short series called “Back to the Basics,” taking a look at the first church, the early church, learning from them during our transition here, making sure we are keeping the main things the main things.

Last Sunday we looked at the opening verses of Chapter 6 and we read how the church went from murmuring to multiplying. The folks selected the first deacons, among whom were two guys named Stephen and Philip. They’re the only deacons ever mentioned again and both of them were soul-winners. So what happens is Deacon Stephen preaches a message that exalts Jesus Christ as Savior. And you can read that sermon later at your leisure—It’s essentially Chapter 7 from verse 1 all the way to the end of the chapter—a compendium of Old Testament history that explains how Jesus Christ is Savior. And Stephen’s hearers don’t believe Christ and they don’t like being reminded that they are guilty of His death. So this leads to a horrible stoning of Stephen. He dies as they hurl stones at him. And the last two verses of Chapter 7 are worth reviewing before we dive into our text, last two verses of Chapter 7, verses 59 and 60:

59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

The question is what happens next? Let’s find out.

Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

1 Now Saul was consenting to his death (A guy named Saul standing there). At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.

3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.

4 Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.

5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.

6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

7 For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.

8 And there was great joy in that city.

Let’s pray. “Father, with the help of the Holy Spirit we ask You to speak to us through Your Word. What we know not, teach us. What are have not, give us. What we are not, make us—through Christ Jesus our Lord, amen.”

Jesus once taught the disciples that the Kingdom of God was as if a man scattered seed on the ground. The man sleeps at night and gets up the next morning and the seed is sprouting and growing (Mark 4:26-27). It’s a simple parable illustrating that God is the One who grows the Kingdom. God is the One who sees that the seed grows. Paul taught a similar truth in 1 Corinthians 3 where he said that one plants, another waters, but God gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6-9).

This week I watched a video that showed how seeds from the violet flower are dispersed to grow new flowers. Violet flower seeds are nestled close together inside the shelter of a pod. But over time, the sheltering pod dries out and pressure builds up on the inside. Under pressure, the seeds are squeezed until they eventually burst out of the sheltering pod, scattering in every direction, bringing new life into new areas.

And if there’s one thing we learn from the Book of Acts it is that God’s people are no longer nestled together inside the shelter of the city of Jerusalem but, under the pressure of persecution, are so squeezed together until they burst out of the city, scattering in every direction bringing new life into new areas. Hence, the title of our message: “Not Sheltered, but Scattered.”

We all know what it’s like to enjoy the comforts of shelter, safe and secure on the inside and protected from the harsh realities of the outside. We speak of people who lived a “sheltered life” as those who are largely unfamiliar with the realities of life outside the security and protection of house and home. Christians enjoy a measure of safety and security. We even refer to this gathering room as the “sanctuary,” a word that conveys a place of refuge, peace, comfort; shelter. And of course God does not want us merely to sit in our sanctuary and enjoy all the comforts! We speak knowingly of the importance of getting out of our “comfort zone,” taking the gospel to our community and to the continents.

Well that’s precisely what’s going on now in our passage this morning. God is the Supernatural Scatterer, scattering the seed of the gospel into new areas through His people. The stoning of Stephen sparked a widespread persecution forcing the church to scatter outside Jerusalem and into Judea and Samaria. This is providential; recall our Lord’s commission in Acts 1:8. Jesus says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

As I studied the passage this week it occurred to me that it teaches quite clearly what Christians may expect when they choose to follow Christ. I’ve arranged the passage under that thought:

**What To Know About Following Christ…

There are four truths here. With open Bibles let’s take a closer look at the passage and note these four facts. Number one, following Christ is not always easy and peaceful. Following Christ may be a frightful experience.

Following Christ is Frightful (1)

1 Now Saul was consenting to his death.

This is the first mention of Saul who becomes—who?—Paul. We’ll study his conversion from persecutor to preacher in a couple weeks, Lord willing. This is pre-conversion. Luke, the author of Acts, tells us in verse 1 that Saul was standing there while Stephen was being stoned to death. And he was consenting to Stephen’s death. He gave silent assent to Stephen’s execution. He approved of the actions of those who killed Stephen.

At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all (what?) scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

So here is God working behind the scenes, the hidden hand of God, allowing persecution to take place so that His people burst out of Jerusalem and take the gospel to Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth. This persecution has a missional impulse.

In fact, if all we had in the New Testament were the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the letters of Paul beginning with Romans, we may wonder how in the world the gospel got out of Jerusalem and all the way to Rome. How did the Gospel get from the community to the continents? The answer begins right here in Acts Chapter 8. God’s people are being scattered out of the comfort zone of an upper room in Jerusalem and out of the comfort and shelter of homes throughout the city, scattered beyond into new areas.

And this begins as a result of the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, dying for the cause of Christ. Some of you may have heard the popular adage: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” When Christians die for their faith, the church grows stronger and stronger still. That’s precisely what happens not only in the Book of Acts, but throughout history. Anytime the enemy tries to tamp down Christianity or stop it from growing by persecuting Christians, quite the opposite occurs. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. The church just gets even bigger still! No surprise, really. We recall our Lord’s saying about the church: “the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”

But the reality is that following Christ invites persecution. And persecution can be a very frightful experience. Jesus had said His followers would be persecuted. In Matthew 5:11, “Blessed are you when men persecute you and say all manner of evil against you.” He also said in John 15:20, “If they have persecuted Me they will persecute you.”

The reality is that following Christ invites persecution and persecution can be a harrowing and frightful experience. Admittedly, we don’t experience the same kind of persecution as do our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world. It takes different forms in different places. But the greater point this morning is that it does indeed happen and we should not be surprised by it. To say that following Christ means we’ll never have any problems again or if we follow Christ we’ll have lots of wealth, prosperity, and happiness—this is a lie. The Bible teaches no such thing. Every good and perfect gift is from above and God promises to care for His children—but following Christ is not always easy. It can be frightful. And if that were not enough, the second truth is much like the first. Not only is following Christ frightful,

Following Christ is Sorrowful (2-3)

Verse 2 underscores the sorrow that bothers and sisters in Christ often experience when a loved one dies. Look at it again, verse 2:

2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.

I picture these Christian brothers mourning, weeping, and even wailing—crying out—as the Bible says they made “great lamentation” over Stephen. He was a brother. A Christian family member. They loved him deeply and now he was gone. Of course the Apostle Paul reminds us later in 1 Thessalonians 4 that while believers grieve, they do not grieve like everyone else, they do not grieve as “they who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).” When a Christian loved one dies, his or her immediately goes into the presence of the Lord Jesus. Praise God!

A Christian friend who lost his wife told me he was learning that grief was largely selfish. He said, “She’s in heaven. I can rejoice in that. But I focus on my self and on my loss.” It’s a reality of living in a fallen world awaiting the fuller redemption that comes at the end of time when Christ returns and there is no longer death and dying.

In the meantime, following Christ is often frightful and sorrowful. Look at verse 3:

3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.

To “make havoc” connotes an attempt to destroy.

I recall when Kambiz was with us last year at this time for our Fall Missional Conference. Kambiz, our Middle Eastern friend who also helps our Central Asia Partnership. You’ll remember he shared that when he was in his native country that authorities had entered into his worship gathering and dragged him off, committing him to prison—just like these disciples were persecuted by Saul.

Little did those authorities know that Kambiz would not only survive their persecution, but he would eventually lead the first Master of Divinity program for Persian Peoples here in America.

By the way, I’ve been invited to lead an expository preaching conference in Central Asia in January. I’ll be teaching Persian refugee pastors the fundamentals of expository preaching. Praise God. That’s all I’ve got lined up after I leave here—one week of teaching! But that’s a start. Like I’ve said, I’m not retiring, just stepping aside from pastoring.

Well, following Christ can be Frightful. Following Christ can be Sorrowful. All this because—thirdly:

Following Christ is Missional (4-7)

To take the gospel out of the shelter of a sanctuary is to enter the mission field. Look at verse 4:

4 Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.

Rather than pulling back, rather than cowering in fear, rather than remaining silent, they “went everywhere preaching the word.” Everywhere. Missional work is a work to be done—where?—everywhere. Here, there, everywhere.

See this “preaching the word” is not preaching in the sense of a guy getting into a pulpit like I am preaching to you right now. The original word is better translated evangelizing or better still, “gospelizing” the word, just talking to other people and telling them the truth about Jesus Christ. Every follower of Christ is a gospelizer, wherever we go, talking about Jesus and telling others the truth about Jesus.

When Jesus gave the Great Commission in Matthew 28 He was not talking merely to the disciples of 2,000 years ago. He was also talking to disciples today. He said, “I will be with you to the end of the age.” Well the “end of the age” has not yet come so the work is not yet done. We are to busy ourselves with the important business of taking the gospel from the community to the continents until “the end of the age” arrives—talking about Jesus, gospelizing, sharing the good news wherever we go. This is what the choir sang this morning:

And I will go where there are no easy roads

Leave the comforts that I know

I will go Lord where Your glory is unknown

I will go because my life is not my own

Where did Deacon Philip go? Verse 5:

5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.

Were we to go back and study Deacon Stephen’s sermon in Chapter 7, we would note that one of the points he makes in his sermon is that God is not bound to one people or one place. In teaching this Stephen makes clear the worldwide mission of the church. God wants to save people of every tribe, tongue, and nation. So now we read for the first time about the conversion of non-Jews, verse 5:

So Philip “went down to the city of Samaria.” This is cross-cultural evangelism. Many of you know that the Samaritans were a racially mixed group, partly Jewish, partly Gentile. The Samaritans were fiercely hated by the racist Jews. You have examples of this in the New Testament. Remember that time, for example, when Jesus sent messengers ahead to go into a Samaritan village and get things ready for him? But the people didn’t receive Him? And James and John learn this and they call for a “scorched-earth response.” Remember? “Hey, Jesus. Want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?!” The Bible says Jesus turns around, looks at James and John, and rebukes both of them (Luke 9:51-55).

God’s people had become a racially divisive people, not willing even to be in the presence of the Samaritans. The gospel conquers racism. Puts an end to it! All people are made in God’s image. God loves all people and wants to get the gospel to all people regardless of location, race, ethnicity, color of skin. Someone says, “Brother Todd, I’m glad I’m not racist.” I hope you’re not.

Have you thought at all about the ethnicity of your next pastor? I would hope our church would be open to considering all candidates no matter their race, ethnicity, or color of skin. How tragic to learn this week that a potential pastor at First Baptist Church in Naples Florida may have been voted against because a contingent in the congregation did not want a black pastor. Search your hearts, church, and talk to God about this.

Well Deacon Philip went down to Samaria with great fruitfulness, verse 6:

6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

The verb tense suggests the multitudes were spellbound, hanging on Philip’s every word. Verse 7:

7 For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.

This is the power of God working through the people of God! Healings and miracles authenticating the gospel message, confirming the truth of what Philip shared.

Following Christ is Frightful, Sorrowful, Missional. Is it worth it? You’d better believe it. Why? Because no matter how frightful and sorrowful, no matter how great the persecution and tribulation:

Following Christ is Joyful (8)

Verse 8 captures the greatest truth about following Jesus. Look at it and underscore it twice!

8 And there was great joy in that city.

Whatever else following Christ entails, no matter how great the danger, persecution, sorrow, or tribulation, nothing can eclipse the utter joy of knowing and following Him! Nothing.

And there was great joy in that city. Following Jesus means a life of joy in spite of the difficulties. Joy in spite of the trouble. Joy regardless of defeats, disease, divorce, despair. Joy! Great joy.

How is that possible?! When you know you are a sinner, a great sinner, and you know that your sin separates you from God. And when you know that God in His impenetrable holiness is separated from you. And when you know that there is no hope for you so long as God sees you only in your sin—then you know true hopelessness. You know that if you die you remain separated from God because of your sin. Deserving hell forever. You know that.

And then one day, someone comes along, “gospelizing” the good news. A common co-worker, a friend, a guy at school, a girl while walking, a grandparent, a nephew, a neighbor, a pastor. Someone gospelizes the good news to you. You hear that God will accept you if you are “in Christ.” You learn that Jesus lived for you a life you could never live: a life of perfect obedience to God’s commands and that you can get credit for that if you believe in Him, that God will regard you as though you had kept those commands yourself! And you learn that Jesus died for you a death you could never die, a death to perfectly atone for all of your sins. And because He rose from the dead in a demonstration of His power and eternal life—you learn that you too can have life—eternal life—if you believe in Him.

So you believe in Him! And you are saved from the wrath to come, saved from sin, death, hell, and the grave! Great joy. Great joy.

And while you labor on in this sin-cursed, fallen world, you know that this world is not all there is. As the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 13:14, “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one to come.” We live not for this world, but we look ahead by faith and we see an eternal city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10).

And so, even when faced with the fiercest persecution and tribulation, as our Lord Jesus says: “Look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near (Luke 21:28)!” That’s why I have great joy!

How about you? Do you know Him—really know Him? Have you been saved? How do you know? You’re not saved by being good. You’re not saved by joining a church. You’re not saved by any work of any kind, including baptism. Some of you need to be saved this morning. I’m inviting you today to follow Jesus. God’s got ahold of your heart. You give it to Him. In full surrender, repent from your sin, and turn to Him, receive Him as Lord and say, “I have decided to follow Jesus.” Right after the service I invite you to step into the Response Room, right over here and look for the sign. There are volunteers this morning to pray with you. Give you material to take home and sign you up for baptism. Baptism is the first step of Christian obedience.

Some of us know we’re saved, but it’s been a long time since we “gospelized” the good news. To fail to tell others about Jesus is to disobey His Word. I invite you this morning to repent. Turn back to God and experience His closeness through Christ Jesus and talk to others about Jesus this week. Continue praying for “your one.” Don’t stop. Talk to others about Jesus. There’s someone at work or at your school who needs the great joy that Jesus brings. Tell them about Him.

Let’s pray and then we’ll sing our hymn of response. “Dear God, we know Your Word now. We know You did not intend for us to live a sheltered Christian life. We know that You do not intend for us merely to sit in a sanctuary and enjoy good music and listen to preaching. We know You did not intend that we merely sit in a small group Sunday school class and enjoy the warmth of fellowship, teaching, and food. We know You have called us to ‘gospelize’ the good news, like seed bursting forth from a pod, bringing life in our community and into the continents. Show us how we can be truly missional through our overseas missional partnerships in the coming year. Show us how we can be truly missional through our partnerships closer to home such as with our Brother Grant Hasty in Whitley City. Break down any barriers to cross-cultural seed scattering. We confess and repent of any racism, any sense of superiority we may feel. God, forgive us. Give us a growing desire to gospelize the good news across the streets this week, telling our neighbors about Jesus, serving through our local partnerships at the jail, at the Answer Center, taking the gospel to our “ones.” All this for Jesus’ sake we pray, amen.”

Now stand and let’s sing our hymn of Response. As we sing, respond however you need to respond. I have decided…

I have decided to follow Jesus;

No turning back, no turning back

Though none go with me, I still will follow;

No turning back, no turning back

My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus;

No turning back, no turning back

The world behind me, the cross before me;

No turning back, no turning back

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