Ravaging the Church
Acts 8:1-8
June 24, 2012
Last week when we met we witnessed the death of Stephen.
It was an event that was most precious in the sight of God.
So precious in fact that God showed Stephen His glory
And Jesus gave Stephen a standing ovation cheering him on
From the finish line that Stephen might finish the race strong.
It was a horrific event and yet it was a glorious event.
Stephen victoriously overcame the enemy.
Romans 8:35-37 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”
But at the same time that we witnessed the death of Stephen
We also were introduced to one of the darkest villains of the N.T.
Acts 7:58 “When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.”
Up until now we have witnessed villains and enemies
Like Annas or Caiaphas or Pilate or even Judas,
But none could hold a candle to this new super-enemy of the church.
None of those men went to the extremes that Saul would go to
In order to stop the church.
• The previous enemies threatened the leaders…
• The previous enemies even flogged and imprisoned the leaders…
• The previous enemies killed some of the leaders…
But Saul exceeded them all.
Saul didn’t just stop with the leaders, Saul attacked the church members.
See Saul was an ambitious man!
Galatians 1:14 “and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions.”
Philippians 3:5-6 “circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.”
Saul was ambitious
And we have recently learned where ambition comes from.
James 3:14-16 “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.”
It is no surprise then that Saul was controlled by demonic influence
And was so dedicated to climb the ladder
That he took opposition to the church to a whole new level.
Acts 22:4 “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons,”
Acts 26:11 “And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.”
The church had yet to meet an enemy like Saul.
• This man was driven…
• This man was ambitious…
And this man had no reservations whatsoever
About arresting and killing Christians.
He was a walking fulfillment of what Jesus said was coming.
John 16:1-2 “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.”
That was Saul.
He was dangerous because not only did he do what he thought would gain him advancement, but he had spiritually justified it.
In his mind God was on his side.
• He thought he was wielding the sword of the Lord.
• He thought he was a modern day Joshua cleaning the Promised Land.
• He thought he was like Jehu getting rid of all the heretics.
And so Saul was a force to be reckoned with.
The church had yet to come across an adversary like him.
Saul is literally Satan’s newest general.
And he has set his sights on destroying the church.
So let’s examine our text this evening.
Two main points, but we’ll break each down a little further.
#1 THE ATTACK OF SATAN
Acts 8:1-3
When you just read those three verses you can literally feel
The weight of oppression that just fell upon the early church.
I know we often read about the promises of persecution, BUT reading about it and experiencing it are obviously two different things.
This must have hit the church like a brick.
Earlier when Peter and John were arrested and warned, they went back and told the church and the church responded well.
Acts 4:29-30 “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.”
They handled the threats well, but now, thanks to Saul
The threats have become reality.
Let’s just look at what this early church is experiencing.
1) SCATTERED BELIEVERS (1)
It really is eerie what we read here.
“Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.”
Saul didn’t reluctantly agree…
Saul wasn’t sad but willing…
Saul was blood thirsty
You can almost see that sinister look and hear the rejoicing of his heart
With every stone that bounced off the body of Stephen.
And what is worse, it is obvious that
Saul saw this stoning as an opportunity.
He knew if he could seize the momentum and ride the wave of anger
That began here with Stephen’s stoning,
He could use this to catapult his career to new heights.
He loved this and he pushed for it.
And so after Stephen’s death Saul went on the war path.
“And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem”
This was no longer focused on silencing the apostles…
This was no longer focused on pushing Peter into hiding…
This attack was not intended to let the church exist at all.
This attack was meant to rip the church apart and stop her forever.
Earlier, Saul’s teacher had warned:
Acts 5:34-39 “But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. “For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. “After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him; he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. “So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.”
The men on that day took Gamaliel’s advice, Saul was here rejecting it.
Saul was not about to wait for the church to die a natural death,
Saul was determined to strike the death blow.
He wanted to see all Christians die a cruel death like Stephen.
And so he attacked the church at Jerusalem.
And the result was “they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.”
This is what is referred to as “The Dispersion”
Peter wrote his first epistle to this group.
1 Peter 1:1-2 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”
They were “The Rejected Selected”
Scattered by the world, but chosen by God.
And it was a very hard thing they were enduring.
It may not seem like much that this church was scattered,
But we can’t forget exactly how close this church was.
Remember Pentecost?
Acts 2:44-47 “And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
This church was tight and now they are being ripped apart.
I couldn’t help but think of the heartache between David and Jonathon
When they were forced to go their separate ways.
1 Samuel 20:41-42 “When the lad was gone, David rose from the south side and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed three times. And they kissed each other and wept together, but David wept the more. Jonathan said to David, “Go in safety, inasmuch as we have sworn to each other in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD will be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants forever.'” Then he rose and departed, while Jonathan went into the city.”
Or I thought about the heartache of the Ephesian elders
When they learned they would never see Paul again.
Acts 20:36-38 “When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship.”
When you see that this church was scattered make sure you also see
All the painful and tearful good-bye’s that went with it.
We see Scattered Believers
2) A BURIED SAINT (2)
And again we are tempted to read this with closed eyes and a closed heart,
Not pondering the heartache attached to such an event.
Here we have “devout men”
And they “buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him.”
That is, they wept loudly.
And this is impressive, for the Mishna forbid weeping over a condemned criminal, but these men did it anyway.
They would miss Stephen.
I know when a believer dies we are not to let our hearts be troubled…
I know that we are to grieve, but not without hope…
I understand all that.
But does anyone else remember the pain of having to say good-bye?
Here in just the last few years we’ve said good-bye to:
• Ken Gilcrease
• Max Alldredge
• Mutt Hagins
• Ruth Caplinger
And I know there is hope in the midst of the sorrow,
But that still doesn’t make it fun.
And that is what this early church is enduring.
Only in this case, one of their own didn’t die from natural causes,
He was brutally killed.
What this church is walking through is harsh.
Scattered Believers; A Buried Saint
3) A RAVAGED CHURCH (3)
And this is so harsh it is really hard to fathom.
“Saul began ravaging the church”
The Greek word here for “ravaging” is only used here in the NT,
But in Greek literature it is the word used
For when a wild animal completely mauls someone.
Saul was a wild animal literally ravaging the church.
Oh, he wasn’t just stopping the meetings.
Saul had a personal attack on the members.
“entering house after house, dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.”
Separating husbands from wives and wives from husbands.
Separating children from parents and parents from children.
Saul is doing everything he can
To rip the church apart and destroy it forever.
Last week we talked about Psalms 44
About the believers who felt God was selling them cheaply.
Let me read more of that Psalm to you here.
Psalms 44:17-26 “All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You, And we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, And our steps have not deviated from Your way, Yet You have crushed us in a place of jackals And covered us with the shadow of death. If we had forgotten the name of our God Or extended our hands to a strange god, Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. But for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not reject us forever. Why do You hide Your face And forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul has sunk down into the dust; Our body cleaves to the earth. Rise up, be our help, And redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.”
That must have been how the early church felt.
These were dark days, and Satan was at his cruelest.
We know in Scripture Satan is called
• A wolf that seeks to destroy sheep
• A lion that prowls around seeking to devour
• A serpent that is crafty and deceptive
And he is certainly all of those here.
THE CHURCH HERE IS BEING DESTROYED.
Or is it?
When you see it from the outer perspective it looks like this is the end.
• Stephen’s death looks like he died in vain.
• The church looks like it is unraveling.
• All the progress that was gained after Pentecost looks like an afterthought.
But that is only if you look at it through the world’s lens.
Luke makes sure you don’t.
After showing you what Satan is doing,
Now Luke shows you how God responded.
The Attack of Satan
#2 THE WORK OF GOD
Acts 8:4-8
Those first three verses were admittedly dark,
But look at how God responded.
We saw:
• Scattered Believers
• A Buried Saint
• A Ravaged Church
Let me show you what God saw.
1) TRAVELING PREACHERS (4-5)
“Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them.”
The church was scattered, but God used that to spread the gospel.
Remember the final words of Jesus?
Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
Jesus was fulfilling that here.
Judea and Samaria had thus far been un-reached, but not now.
Thanks to Saul the church just volunteered for its first mission trip.
And Philip was its lead missionary.
He was scattered, but he went about “preaching the word”
Saul didn’t stop the church, he spread the church.
It’s like mowing over goatheads.
Before the church was contained in Jerusalem
And everyone was coming there.
Remember?
Acts 5:16 “Also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.”
Now Saul just spread his problem out,
Now he would have to chase them down and travel to stop the church.
He didn’t stop the church, he spread the church.
All the way to Samaria.
Traveling Preachers
2) SPIRITUAL OPPORTUNITIES (6)
I know it doesn’t necessarily indicate any salvations taking place here.
We will find later in the chapter that people were in fact being saved.
But even apart from evident salvations,
What is clear is that people who did not previously
Have an opportunity to be saved, now did.
Romans 10:14 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”
Romans teaches you can’t be saved apart from the gospel.
Well now, thanks to Saul, Samaria was getting the gospel.
Isaiah 52:7-10 “How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, They shout joyfully together; For they will see with their own eyes When the LORD restores Zion. Break forth, shout joyfully together, You waste places of Jerusalem; For the LORD has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has bared His holy arm In the sight of all the nations, That all the ends of the earth may see The salvation of our God.”
Traveling Preachers, Spiritual Opportunities
3) DELIVERED CAPTIVES (7)
Here people were being delivered from their evil spirits.
People were being healed of their sicknesses.
(8) “So there was much rejoicing in that city.”
Some would indicate that this means people were getting saved,
I’m not sure about that, but they were at least being physically delivered.
Salvation is coming if it is not already here.
Isaiah 61:1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
It really all must have caused Saul to stop and scratch his head.
There is no way this was working according to plan.
See, Jesus had made a promise.
Matthew 16:18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”
Jesus already said that death wouldn’t stop His church.
And it didn’t.
His church thrived when faced with persecution.
It also brings to mind another promise of God in Scripture.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
And I would say that was obvious.
Do we remember Joseph being sold by his brothers?
Genesis 50:20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”
Do we remember Mordecai being threatened by Haman?
Esther 9:24-25 “For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to destroy them and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to disturb them and destroy them. But when it came to the king’s attention, he commanded by letter that his wicked scheme which he had devised against the Jews, should return on his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.”
Do we remember Jesus being crucified by the enemy?
1 Peter 3:17-22 “For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you — not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience — through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.”
The point is God always wins.
Nothing topples His church.
Now, are there some things which are hard to bear?
Yes
Are there some things which cause us to shed tears?
Yes
But do those things stop the work of God or prevent Him from accomplishing His purposes?
No
And they don’t even come close to stopping God.
Last Sunday morning we read from this Psalm.
Psalms 2:1-4 “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.”
But that is not the only place it is mentioned.
Psalms 37:12-15 “The wicked plots against the righteous And gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, For He sees his day is coming. The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow To cast down the afflicted and the needy, To slay those who are upright in conduct. Their sword will enter their own heart, And their bows will be broken.”
Psalms 59:1-8 “Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; Set me securely on high away from those who rise up against me. Deliver me from those who do iniquity And save me from men of bloodshed. For behold, they have set an ambush for my life; Fierce men launch an attack against me, Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O LORD, For no guilt of mine, they run and set themselves against me. Arouse Yourself to help me, and see! You, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, Awake to punish all the nations; Do not be gracious to any who are treacherous in iniquity. They return at evening, they howl like a dog, And go around the city. Behold, they belch forth with their mouth; Swords are in their lips, For, they say, “Who hears?” But You, O LORD, laugh at them; You scoff at all the nations.”
The attempts of Saul were pitifully futile here.
He did all sorts of vile things,
But he didn’t even come close to stopping the church.
Yes the church was persecuted,
But the church was never in danger of extinction.
God would not allow it.
I encourage you to learn that in your life.
There are difficult things to swallow in this life,
And things that cause much pain and confusion.
But never be confused about the fact that those difficult things
Will never thwart the plan of God.
God has such power that He has the ability
To take the best schemes of Satan and turn them over on their head.
God took the worst enemy the church had ever had
And used him to start the church’s first missionary movement.
(Later God will enlist him as the greatest missionary)
• Persecution led to preaching
• Ravaging led to rejoicing
• An execution led to evangelism
Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”
“And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us
The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him
His rage we can endure
For lo, his doom is sure
One little word shall fell him
That word above all earthly powers
No thanks to them abideth,
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through Him who with us sideth
Let goods and kindred go
This mortal life also
The body they may kill
God’s truth abideth still
His kingdom is forever”
Faced with threats and persecutions and oppositions and executions,
The church in Martin Luther’s day was under attack.
It was during this time that Martin Luther penned that famous hymn
“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”
And it is truth that was seen in the early church,
And truth that endures today.
Do not fear when hardship arises,
And do not suppose that the enemy is winning.
“God causes all things to work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
