KESWICK AT PORTSTEWART
SUNDAY 6 JULY 2025 - RICK HILL
ACTS 8
It is so easy to hold a limited view of what mission is. People will see "Jesus is a nice person, he did good things and it is our job to tell others so they avoid hell." But mission is more expansive than that. Mission is found in the whole sweep of scripture. In Genesis we read of God calling a man, Abraham who would bring blessing to everyone around him. From him he would be turned into a tribe and a nation to be a light to the Gentiles, a blessing to all peoples. To be God's light and his image to those from other nations around him who don't know God or follow him. God has always been looking for people who are marked by allegiance to him. Jesus declared he was the light of the world. Similarities of what Jesus said to ancient calling to the people of God. They often failed to be the light. They lost sight of that calling. Jesus sent his son, the perfect representation. Jesus was fulfilling to Abraham his promise. He didn't just bless all kinds of people, he made his way for all kinds of people to be reconciled to the Father. One being sent to represent God the Father on earth. He crosses the ultimate boundary from heaven to earth. He opened a way for all people to know God. Jesus told his disciples who they were to be. Now you are the light of the world. He looked them in the eye and told them they could represent him to the people around them, in the world around them. An invitation, calling remains for all followers today to be the light of God to those around us. He leads the responsibility of carrying a mission in his very ordinary followers. Acts shows how it was expanded through one community to include all peoples, Gentiles. That means you tonight. He opened up the way to know the Father. Not accidental plan of God but fulfilled plan made to Abraham - God would bless him through the nations. Jesus explained how they would be witnesses not just in Jerusalem or Judea but also Samaria and then to ends of the earth. This gospel will find itself into eternity at the end of the world. He will gather his children to worship as one. Jesus did not come to make people nice and keep them out of hell. He wants to redeem the whole of creation so that one day every person would worship around the throne. As the disciples witnessed, Peter preached in their own language it all sounds so good. It sounds like it went so well. The believers are hounded by the authorities to stop speaking. Some were put in prison, one of their leaders was killed. Mission is never straightforward, not easy. It is full of disruption. Things have now reached a critical point here in Acts 8. One godly man is killed, Stephen and Saul began to destroy the church. Don't miss the seriousness of the moment. This was a huge disruption for the church. The danger the disciples were in. People flee for their lives for their faith. But the apostles were left behind. All except the apostles were scattered. They had been leading the church, teaching the believers but this persecution disrupted that. Maybe some wonder is it all over for the church. It had all gone so well but was that it? Was it time to go home and hunker down? What would our response be in those days?
The scattering of God's people is essential for the spread of his gospel
The surprising places and people who responded to the gospel
The sovereignty of God and his perfect plan. God's purposes are fulfilled even in the midst of all disruption. What appears to be loss can be turned to victory in an instant. God can and does turn events into victory. Abraham was asked to sacrifice his one and only son yet he had been told he would be the father of nations. Joseph was in a pit and a prison before he reigned in a palace. David had to fight Goliath before he became King of Israel. Jesus had to face Good Friday before he triumphed on resurrection Sunday. Have you ever considered how the early church was birthed? In time of great destruction and loss, not in perfection. Persecution scatters the church. That is the way people were in far off places. The gospel causes the believers to relocate throughout Judea and Samaria. In verse 5 we read that they preached the word wherever they went. There are 2 significant shifts - the people moved out of Jerusalem except the apostles. Many believe in the message through them, not the apostles. It was not just the apostles doing mission and preaching but amateur, unprofessional believers. They probably only came to faith on the day of Pentecost yet they are already sharing their faith. What an impossible situation. They are carrying the missional mindset, they took that message on the road with them. The best evangelists are the newest converts. Unbridled passion for the Lord. Are they so aware of what God has done? Impacting people, seeing challenge of what God has done. Geographically changing shift within a few verses. Philip is already proclaiming Christ in Samaria - verse 14. They sent Peter and John there. It only took one chapter for the story to go from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria. What was the trigger - persecution. The strategy - a scattering. God uses the persecution to be the very way Christ can fulfil his strategy. Saul is seeking to destroy Christians. The authorities tried to get rid of the church in Jerusalem. What appears to be a loss the Lord turns into victory. The one destroying the church meets Jesus on the road to Damascus and writes the rest of the New Testament. It reminds us of what Joseph said "you meant it for evil but God meant it for good." The church grows in seasons of difficulty and disruption. Perhaps you need to hear that tonight. Seasons of decline can cause us to be despondent. What if this season of the church caused us to be more dependent? If it was true for the early church it can be true for ourselves today. Not everything will go smoothly. You can trust and rest in the perfect plan of God as he guides by his sovereign hand. David Livingstone wanted to go to China but God sent him to Africa. William Carey wanted to go to Polynesia but God sent him to India. Maybe you don't plan for anything that has happened in your life but he wants to unfold his purposes in your life. You don't get off a train when it is in a tunnel, we trust the driver to get us through and stay on the train. Different circumstances actually create the conditions to depend more on God and for our faith to be strengthened.
The scattering of God's people is essential for the spread of his gospel. Their witness was to start in Jerusalem. Before they went global they had to start local, where they are. Mission starts where we are. We need to have vision to serve God in places we are already in. As much as that is true we cannot ignore the fact that while Jesus wanted them to witness in Jerusalem he called them to an expansive mission. People who were unreachable and their enemies. While they began to fulfil his command they are still in Jerusalem. Acts 7 shows that. They had to spread out. They hadn't gone out to where Jesus called them. It changes in Acts 8. Unknown believers including Philip. Verse 5 - maybe it is hard to perceive the boldness he took in proclaiming the gospel to the Samaritans. They were despised by the Jews. They were considered second rate people. Across cultural divides the gospel is spread. Many respond to the word. People from every background need to hear and many are open. It requires the scattering of God's people. Not to stay together as we do on Sunday. For the rest of the week he wants us to be scattered to the world and the communities around us. Different political persuasion, ethnicity, world view of people considered to be hard. We are not to stay safe but to be scattered and sent to places that are unreachable. What boundaries could you cross? Would you be prepared to chose a church not because it is the best around for you but for missional needs because you see a need there. Scattering is vital for the spreading of the mission. God could take you anywhere - never underestimate what God could do when your heart is surrendered to him. We need to be open to the leading of God.
The surprising places and people who responded to the gospel. In Acts 8 Philip is suddenly commanded by an angel to go South to the desert road from Gaza to Jerusalem. It is a surprising command for him to receive. He had just been preaching in Samaria and many came to faith. He had a thriving ministry. Philip has to leave the success of an exciting ministry to go to a desolate road. He could have objected to this new direction but he trusted in God's plan to go to a new place he wanted him to go to. Would we be prepared to follow God? Are we being called to serve God in the desert? Sometimes it is the mountaintop. Sometimes we see God doing all kinds of things among us. Some times it involves seasons in the desert. We might find him leading us to surprising places. And it might be surprising how he is using us in those seasons. Philip found God was already at work on the desert road. An Ethiopian eunuch had been to Jerusalem to worship and was on his way home. He is reading Isaiah the prophet. A high ranking office. Because of who he was he would not have made it past the Gentile court. Culture dictated he could not worship in Jerusalem yet God worked it so that he was reading God's word in his chariot. This is evidence of the gospel's reach. Social, ethnic and national boundaries. God has already been at work before people arrived. The Ethiopian had already begun to read the bible without Philip's help and before he got there. God goes ahead of us in surprising ways. We could not beleive the Ethiopian needed something, needed someone sent by God to come alongside and explain it. Verses 30 and 31 - he was someone already reading the bible. He was open to the story of God but he needed someone to explain it to him. We need to be prepared to being sent but prepared also to speak to people. To sit with them. We might not expect someone to read the gospel but they need someone to explain it to them. To ask someone "would you like to read the bible with me?" That is happening in all kinds of ways and through people. Romans 10 verse 14 "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" God continues to look for people who are sent to speak, to cross boundaries to bring good news of great joy to those who need to hear. God will bring good news to those who need to hear. God wants you to go to where you are needed. The believers had to leave Jerusalem to go to Judea and Samaria. Philip needed to go down the desert road for a man to understand a passage of scripture. It is even better when we scatter. Is there a place, a person that is coming to your mind, that God might want you to go? If not ask God to impress someone and somewhere on your heart tonight.
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