An Acts 8 Outlook

In the 8th chapter of Acts we read this encouraging word: "Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ." (Acts 8:5). Oh, good for you, Philip! You go! Great job!

Whatever you do, don't look backward from that passage. You see, the farther back you step, the worse it gets.

First, we find out why Philip went down to the city of Samaria in the ominous previous verse.

Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. (Acts 8:4)

"Wait ... that's good, right? They went everywhere preaching the word. That's a good thing." Yes, it is, but note the origin--"they that were scattered." Oh, now, that's a bit disconcerting. What does he mean "scattered"? Well, step back to the previous passage.

Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. (Acts 8:3)

"Oh, my! Now that is a problem. That's not good, right?" Well, no, but... You see, there's a link between verses 3 and 4. That link is "therefore". See, Paul is "ravaging the church", so believers are "scattered". And that sentence there alone cannot sound good. That's why the original idea--Philip went to Samaria and proclaimed Christ to them--is so important.

You see, when they executed Stephen (Acts 7:57-60), "there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." (Acts 8:1). "A great persecution", it says. So great that just about everyone (and, remember, there are multiple mentions of thousands of converts in previous chapters) scattered. Persecution hits ("Ooo, that's bad.") and people scatter. People scatter, and so does the preaching of the word ("Ooo, that's good.")

We face persecution today. Oh, sure, in America it's "persecution lite". It's mostly just reviling and uttering "all kinds of evil against you falsely"--that kind of thing--which Jesus classified as "persecuted for righteousness' sake" (Matt 5:10-11). I know. You want to go to court and defend your rights. But, wait. This is a light persecution. Consider, then, the rest of Christendom. In the 20th century more people in the world were executed for their faith in Christ than in the previous 19 centuries combined. And in other places it goes on, people dying for Christ's sake. They are still losing their property, their freedom, their rights, their lives. The fact that some today in America are losing rights or property is just the beginning. And what can be done? You can try the courts if you like, but I think they're already demonstrating an opposition to Christian values and those who hold them. So ... what?

So remember Acts 8. Stephen did the right thing and died for it. Doing the right thing spawned persecution. Persecution scattered the Christians. As a result of persecution, then, they "went everywhere preaching the word", and "Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ." That's a good thing. That is, confidence in a Sovereign God to take the evil intentions of rebels around you to use their evils for your good and His glory is a good thing. A really good thing.