Grace Christian Fellowship: Christian Teachings from Acts

Acts 8 "Refugees or Missionaries?"

"Now Saul was consenting to his death. 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. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word."

After the stoning of Stephen, Saul went on a rampage. With authority from the council and soldiers to command, Saul conducted a house to house search for Christians, dragging off both men and women to prison and for some death. The word spread quickly and soon the Christians were fleeing Jerusalem for safer areas such as Judea and Samaria. Everyone ran away except for the apostles. I think there are two reasons that the apostles did not try to escape. One reason is that they were not afraid. Had not angels broken them out of prison before? Even death did not bother them, they had seen Stephen's death and knew that to die for Jesus was great joy. The second reason is that most of them had run away on the night that Jesus was betrayed. They had failed Jesus once before, so they were not going to fail Him again.
The other Christians who did flee from Jerusalem ended up in Judea and Samaria. Is it a coincidence that these are the exact places that Jesus commanded the apostles to be witnesses in? Remember He said "you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) And sure enough, what did they do when they reached there? They started to share the good news of Jesus Christ.
I have been watching on the news about the terrible situation in central Africa; Rwanda, Zaire, and Burundi. Tens of thousands of refugees with no place to go. In the camps they have too little food and medicine and are easy to attack. On the road, they often become seperated from their children and loved ones. Either way they cannot go home because of persecution. I received a letter in the mail telling about the story of a Christian man in Rwanda. This man was holding a Bible study in his house one evening during the time when the massacres were taking place. He and his friends were praying for others who had suffered or dissapeared, when they heard banging on the door. Soldiers came into the house and ordered everyone out into the street. As they were marched down the road, the soldiers suddenly stopped and told the man to go back to his house and wait for them there. The man took the chance to escape to his sister's house in another part of the city, and found out later the rest of his friends were all executed after he was sent back. After spending months as a refugee the man was able to escape to the U.S. and now is attending a seminary in L.A.
Saul was not just chasing the Christians out of town. They were running in fear of their lives, leaving everything behind, not knowing where to go or what to do. Like the Christian man from Rwanda, they must of wondered what God was doing, as they watched their husbands or mothers dragged away in chains and their friends killed. And yet also like the Rwandan man, these refugees had something more. They chose to be more than refugees, they chose to be missionaries of the gospel.
I do not know why you are here in Tokyo. Maybe you are just a visitor here, already planning what you will do when you get back home. Or perhaps you grew up in Tokyo. This is your home. But for some of you this is not really your home. Maybe there was no work for you back in your own country and so you decided to come work here. Or maybe you didn't really fit in there and thought you would come and live here. For you who are foreigners here in Tokyo. Let me ask you a question? Are you a refugee? Or are you a missionary?
Even if you are not a foreigner here, perhaps you still feel rejected or even persecuted. Maybe in your work place, with your family, again let me ask you? Are you a refugee? Or are you a missionary?
Let me tell you the difference from the refugee and the missionary. First, the refugee is always thinking about where they came from. They are escaping from Jerusalem. Fleeing from Rwanda. They were happy then but not happy now and if they could only have their old life back everything would be right. But the missionary is not a Jew or a Rwandan or an American, but a citizen of heaven. The missionary gets his joy not from where he is from, but where he is going. This is what happened to the Christians in Acts. After these Christians left Jerusalem they never looked back.
Second, the refugee is ruled by fear. They are afraid to go back, afraid to go forward, afraid of the future and afraid of the past. The refugee tries desperately to hold onto a small place where they can hide and try to recreate their old world in the new place. This is why we get places like "Little Italy" or "Little Tokyo" in American cities. But the missionary is ruled by the Spirit of love. They are not afraid of the new place, instead they are motivated by love to reach out to their new neighbors with the good news of Jesus. This is what happened with Philip. Listen to where Philip went,

"Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city."

Samaria and the Jews did not even talk to one another. They used to all be part of the twelve tribes of Israel, but over the years they had had a family parting of the ways. While Jerusalem had remained true to God, Samaria had mixed in with the worship of God, many local rituals and cults. They were of mixed race and mixed religion. If Philip was a refugee, he would of first looked back to Jerusalem, thinking, "I am a Jew, why should I associate with these people who are so wrong about God." Then he would of looked with fear, "I have just been chased out of Jerusalem for believing in Jesus, what will they do to me here! if I open my big mouth?" Instead Philip looked with the eyes of a missionary, saw that these people were in need of the gospel just like he was, and preached the good news. Instead of fear, love persuaded him to forget about danger and concentrate on the need before him. Hurting people who needed the power of God to heal and to save.

There will be times of adversity. It might be persecution. It could be natural disaster, losing a loved one or losing a job. When circumstances force us into new situations, we have a choice. We can choose to be refugees, wishing for the good old days, paralyzed by our fear of the future. Or we can chose to be missionaries, our eyes on the hope of God's kingdom, our motivation the love of Christ for those around us.

Now Philip was very successful in Samaria, but he also ran into some trouble. First, the power of God working in him, attracted the attention of a magician by the name of Simon. Then more fundamentally, though Philip had persuaded the Samaritans of the good news of the grace of Jesus, and the love and power of God, he had not included the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. It is here that we see the real need for the ministry of the apostles, rooting the new mission in the Word and protecting it from corruption. Every missionary, whether full-time or not, needs to be under the authority of the church. Every Philip needs a Peter and John to keep the church balanced.

"But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, "This man is the great power of God." And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done."

Philip was doing great. The Samaritans were accepting the gospel with joy. His biggest opposition, Simon the Magician, had been baptized and was now following him around. When Philip heard that Peter and John were on their way, he could of sent word, "Hey guys, don't bother, I've got it under control." But when Peter and John arrived they found that a couple of things that needed their attention.

"Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit."

The first thing that they found when they got to Samaria was that the church did not have the Holy Spirit. Now this is a very interesting passage. What do they mean that the church did not have the Holy Spirit? How did they know? What did they do about it?
How could the Christians in Samaria not have the Holy Spirit? Every Christian has the Holy Spirit. The New Covenant that we have with Christ is that God will write His law on our hearts. He does that by sending the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts. Christ has set us free from the sin nature, by making us a new creation, giving us a new Spirit. The word that is used here is that the Spirit had not "fallen upon" them. They were not experiencing the power of the Spirit. Philip obviously was, because he was healing the sick and doing signs and wonders. But the rest of the Christians were just sitting back and watching Philip. Peter and John considered it essential that the Christians in Samaria not only have the Holy Spirit dwelling in their hearts, but also working in their lives.

How could Peter and John tell that the Holy Spirit had not fallen upon them? Jesus said that the Holy Spirit is like a wind. You don't know where it comes from or where it goes, but you sure can feel its power. I cannot look at you and know right away that the Holy Spirit is working in you. But if I spend some time with you, I will start to see the evidence of the Spirit in your life. One such evidence is the working of spiritual gifts. Peter and John knew from the church in Jerusalem that Spirit-filled believers are bold to tell others about Jesus Christ. Spirit-filled believers love to pray for people to be healed by God, they love to worship and join with the Spirit in praising God. These things come very naturally to those who are filled with the Spirit. Over a longer time you also start to see the fruit of the Spirit. This is the process of sanctification, the Spirit changing us into the likeness of God.

So although the Samaritans believed in Jesus and were baptized, they still weren't living Spirit-filled lives. They had the Spirit living in them of course, they were saved, but they were not functioning as a church should. Instead they were content to kick back and watch the Spirit-filled pastor do all the work. So what could Peter and John do about it? Of course they prayed, and then layed hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. So how about now? Do we need to have a second infilling with the Holy Spirit? Do I need to have somebody lay their hands on me to be filled with the Spirit? If I am really filled with the Spirit will I speak in tongues? There are a lot of questions about this. I looked through all the times in Acts where people are filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time. And it surprised me that not two of them are exactly alike. Some receive the Holy Spirit after baptism, some before, some receive the Spirit with the laying on of hands, some with not. Some speak in tongues, some don't. Some are prayed for, some just receive. I wish that I could tell you that there is a set pattern, but there just isn't. What I can tell you, is that like salvation the Holy Spirit is a gift. Acts 2:38, Peter said "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." You do not need to do anything special to receive it. But if you look at your own life and you do not see any evidence of the Holy Spirit working in you. Then like the Samaritans maybe you need to pray for the Holy Spirit to fall upon you. If you are truly concerned about this, come and talk to me about it in private and we will pray and ask God to give you this gift. But please do not make the mistake of Simon.

"Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit." But Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right inthe sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity." Then Simon answered and said, "Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me." So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans."

Simon was thinking that "laying on hands" was it. That if they could just show him the right technique he would have the power. He wanted them to let him in on the secret. There is no technique, dear people, but the grace of God. If you want the Holy Spirit, just ask, God would love to use you.

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