Compelled to Witness
Scripture Text: Acts 8:1-5
ILLUSTRATION: T.H. Huxley, a well-known agnostic, was with a group of men at a weekend house party. On Sunday morning, while most of them were preparing to go to church, he approached a man known for his Christian character and said, "Suppose you stay at home and tell my why you are a Christian." The man, knowing he couldn’t match wits with Huxley, hesitated. But the agnostic said gently, "I don’t want to argue with you. I just want you to tell me simply what this Christ means to you." The man did, and when he finished, there were tears in Huxley’s eyes as he said, "I would give my right hand if only I could believe that! (Our Daily Bread, January 24, 1993)”
Introduction: What is it in life that prevents your witness? Is it some spiritual weakness? Is it the kind of people that you would have to talk to? Is it the idea that you would have to associate with or spend time with people that you just do not like? Maybe you are just afraid? What would the person think of me if I bring up the name of Jesus? Will I look ignorant, un-schooled, un-intelligent? Is it some physical weakness that prevents your witness? Maybe you just do not get around like you used to anymore?
Propositional Statement: Just because we have difficulty in life does not mean that we cannot be witnesses to the message of Jesus. “D.L. Moody and once spoke with a woman who didn’t like his method of evangelism. "I don’t really like mine all that much either. What’s yours?" She replied that she didn’t have one. Moody said, "Then I like mine better than yours." (Timothy K. Jones.)
1. SCATTERED, BUT NOT LOST (v.4)
A. Scattered by the persecution that followed the stoning of Stephen.
One of their own had just been run out of the city and stoned. As much as Stephen had identified with his countrymen; they still hated him for the message that he was proclaiming. In fact in Acts 7:2; he addresses them as “brethren and fathers.” But when he finished talking about the history of how the Messiah was to come, they responded terribly. In Acts 7:54, it says when they heard this; “they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.”
Stephen knew something that Jesus had said, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you (Jn. 15:18). In John 16:2, it is affirmed that some would even kill in the name of God. “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.” You see, Jesus was speaking of His death! When his disciples had seen the horror of their loving friend crucified….what would they do….?? Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.”
ILLUSTRATION: A young man enlisted, and was sent to his regiment. The first night he was in the barracks with about fifteen other young men, who passed the time playing cards and gambling. Before retiring, he fell on his knees and prayed, and they began to curse him and jeer at him and throw boots at him. So it went on the next night and the next, and finally the young man went and told the chaplain what had taken place, and asked what he should do.
"Well," said the chaplain, "you are not at home now, and the other men have just as much right to the barracks as you have. It makes them mad to hear you pray, and the Lord will hear you just as well if you say your prayers in bed and don’t provoke them."
For weeks after the chaplain did not see the young man again, but one day he met him, and asked -- "By the way, did you take my advice?"
"I did, for two or three nights."
"How did it work?"
"Well," said the young man, "I felt like a whipped hound and the third night I got out of bed, knelt down and prayed."
"Well," asked the chaplain, "How did that work?"
The young soldier answered: "We have a prayer meeting there now every night, and three have been converted, and we are praying for the rest."
Oh, friends, I am so tired of weak Christianity. Let us be out and out for Christ; let us give no uncertain sound. If the world wants to call us fools, let them to it. It is only a little while; the crowning day is coming. Thank God for the privilege we have of confessing Christ. (Moody’s Anecdotes, Page 73-74.)
So, how did Christians respond to not only the death of Jesus, but the death of another close friend Stephen? How did they respond to the high priests being in agreement against them? How did they respond “on that day” when a great persecution began against the church?
B. They went about preaching the Word? When you are in trouble ….don’t you shut up? Do you know what Peter and John said to the rulers, elders, and scribes..the High Council..the religious experts of the day when threatened not to “speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus”?
They said this…. “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard (Acts 4:19-20).
(You tell me…let me give you the choice…do I listen to you….or do I listen to God?)
They were witnesses to what they had seen and heard…they could not do any other thing than what they believed. Paul said, “For I know whom I have believed and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” (2 Tim. 1:12). Until the day of judgment, until the end of time, Paul was willing to say; “I am so convinced of this message about Jesus.”
The question is: “Are you convinced?” Are you so convinced that you have to say, “I am so sorry…but whatever you do to me…it doesn’t matter because I stand for you Jesus!” What is it that makes you shut up?
Many Christians today say, “Well, isn’t it true that you can witness with your life?” Sure it’s true, …. but you also must witness with your mouth. What does the word say in Acts? “It says, “they went about preaching the word.” I have already demonstrated that it was not the demonstration of Stephen’s life that got him killed; but the words that came from his mouth. Witnessing means a proclamation of the message, as well as the witness of godly character.
ILLUSTRATION: I read about a court case that was lost because of the silence of an attorney. The distinguished lawyer Samuel Hoar (1778-1856) was representing the defendant. When it was time to present his case, he told the jurors that the facts favoring his client were so evident that he would not insult their intelligence by arguing them. The jury retired to deliberate and returned in a few minutes with a verdict of guilty. Samuel Hoar was astonished!
"How," he asked, "could you have reached such a verdict?"
The foreman replied, "We all agreed that if anything could be said for a case, you would say it. But since you didn’t present any evidence, we decided to rule against you." Silence had lost the case.
How often the opportunity to speak a word of testimony for Christ is lost because we remain silent. Those who need to hear the gospel may conclude that salvation is not important enough to talk about. (Source Unknown.)
Transition: Well, in moving on… “Not only were these followers of Christ scattered and yet proclaiming the message; but they dared travel to Samaria in doing so.”
2.PREACHING IN A SAMARIAN CITY (v.5)
You may ask…. “Who are the Samaritans?” In 2 Kings, we are told that the King of Assyria having conquered the N. Kingdom of Israel brought men in from Babylon and other places to Samaria, in the place of Israel. It was after living with the Israelites for hundreds of years that these people became Samaritans.
Tyndale’s Bible Dictionary says: “The Samaritans offer a vastly different interpretation of their origin. They claim descent from the Jewish tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh and hold that the exile of Israelites in 722 BC by Assyria was neither full- scale nor permanent. To account for the mutual hostility that developed between their group and the Jews, the Samaritan version holds that the Jews were guilty of apostasy, setting up heretical sanctuaries during the time of Eli, rather than staying with the only holy place on Mt Gerizim. The Samaritans therefore considered themselves true Israelites in descent and worship. …. The ancient tension between the northern and southern kingdoms was revived with the return of exiles to Jerusalem under the Persian ruler Cyrus’s edict (538 BC).” When the exiles wanted to help rebuild the temple, they were denied because of their pagan practices. In Ezra 4:2-3 they approached Zerubbabel and said, “Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here. But, Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, ‘You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God;’….” The Israelites wanted no relation to the Samaritans. 2 Kings 17 tells us that all of Israel sinned against God and the people who were imported into the N. Kingdom did not know the customs of the Jews. Verse 27-29 says that the King of Assyria commanded, “Take there one of the priests whom you carried away into exile and let him go and live there; and let him teach them the custom of the god of the land. So one of the priests whom they carried away into exile from Samaria came and lived at Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord. But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.” Verse 41 kind of sums up the chapter: “So while these nations feared the Lord, they also served their idols; their children likewise and their grandchildren , as their fathers did, so they do to this day.” And so they do to this day!
A. So, “Why would Philip go to Samaria?” In fact, when Jesus first gave instructions to his disciples, he said, “do not enter any city of the Samaritans” (Matt. 10:5). To the Jews, a Samaritan was no better than an Edomite or a Philistine. The Samaritans supposedly failed to help resist Antiochus during his campaign against the Jews and failed to help during the Maccabean revolt. They also promoted Hellenistic worship, which the Jews were against. Relations really climaxed when one of the Jewish rulers marched against the Samaritan temple on Mt. Gerizim. Tyndale’s Bible Dictionary also mentions, “a group of Samaritans desecrated the Jerusalem temple in approximately AD 6 by spreading human bones within the temple porches and sanctuary during Passover. Hostility toward Galilean Jews traveling through Samaria on the way to Jerusalem for various feasts was also not uncommon (Lk 9:51–53).” The Pharisees’ hated Jesus so much that they asked this question: “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jn. 8:48
ILLUSTRATION: How many Christian friends do you think Howard Hughes had? “It is reported that Howard Hughes, when worth approximately 4 billion dollars, said, “I’d give it all for one good friend.” (The Hidden Value of a Man, Smalley, Trent, pp. 133ff).
Let me tell you why Philip went to Samaria! How bout’ ….because Jesus went to Samaria! Philip, here in this account in Acts may have went to Shechem or even Sychar. Sychar is where Jesus encountered a women at a well. (John 4)
The women at the well was even surprised that Jesus would speak to her. Beginning in verse 9 she says, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan women?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you…”
What was Jesus concerned with? Was it what part of the country the women was from? Was it whether a Samaritan was a friend of His ethnic background? Was it whether she honored God in her life until then? I mean, Jesus knew her sin and yet chose to speak to her! Was it that she was not only a Samaritan, but a women?
No, none of those! First, he mentions knowing ‘the gift of God;’ In Acts 2:38, it says that they would receive the ‘gift of the Holy Spirit;’ which certainly may be a part of what Jesus means here because he is also speaking of ‘living water.’ But, Romans 6:23 tells us that the ‘gift of God’ is “eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” When we have the gift of God, we also have the gift of the promised Holy Spirit. Secondly, Jesus mentions to the women “who it is who says to you….” You see, salvation is not about what you have, or your success in life; it is about “WHO” you know. There is “salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
ILLUSTRATION: When he was the pastor of the Methodist church in Scarborough, William Sangster had an eccentric member who tried to be a zealous Christian. Unfortunately, the man was mentally deficient and usually did the wrong thing. While working as a barber the man lathered up a customer for a shave, came at him with the poised razor, and asked, "Are you prepared to meet your God?" The frightened man fled with the lather on his face! (W. Wiersbe, Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, p. 215)
What are we more concerned with when it comes to witnessing? Are we all caught up like the women at the well with all of her concerns? Or are we proclaiming who we know and the gift that He gives?
We don’t have to feel bad because even the disciples didn’t have a clue! In John 4; they came back from the city with some food and they were trying to get Jesus to eat (4:32-33). But instead he has a lesson for them in mind (4:34-41).
And the result…even Samaritans are convinced that Jesus is the Savior of the World (verse 42).
And so, the message proclaimed to the Jews also goes to the Samaritans. In fact, Acts 1:8 says, “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 (WHERE?) even to the remotest part of the earth.”
B. Philip preached the Christ (or Messiah). To place that more into context we have to look at verse 12. “But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.” There still, at this point had to be a picture of the Spirit’s work here because if you read further in this chapter you will see that some of those who had believed had not yet received the Spirit of God. It’s interesting that while some are baptized as a symbol of what has already happened in their lives; some were baptized here in Acts as a symbol of what was about to come into their lives. Verses 16-17 confirm this: (Read). Romans 6:3 so beautifully gives the picture: “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we become united with him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,….”
Transition: Why did Jesus commend to us peace in a troubled world. Why is it possible to overcome trouble and difficulty? Jesus did not want to leave you alone! All of the work that Philip did in Acts 8 was completed in the Spirit of God; without such nothing could be done. Jesus promised a helper in John 14:16-17; “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (John 4:23- “an hour is coming and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshippers.”)
We need to be prepared for that witness to others. Jesus told them in John 14:29; “I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.” When trouble comes, when the pagan says, “God is dead!” What will be your preparation? Jesus assures you, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
• Conclusion: What do I want you to understand today? First, don’t allow the spiritual and physical troubles of the world to affect your witness for and in Christ Jesus! The message of Jesus was testified to by those who seen and heard. They were convinced in their hearts and minds that Jesus is the Savior of the World. No persecution could avert the witness of these men as it was witnessed not only by their lives; but with their mouths. Further, do not let the troubles of the world hamper where you take your witness. Be consistent, courageous, and bold, as the Spirit of God leads your witness. Secondly, don’t let physical ailments hamper your ability to witness where you are at. We see in Acts 8; the ability of God to heal both spiritual and physical ailments. In verse, 7; of chapter 8; it says, “For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.” If God is capable of healing your physical bodies then he is certainly capable through His Spirit to enable your witness wherever you find yourself.
