Today we celebrate Palm Sunday. It is the remembrance of that day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and people laid palm branches in the road to honor him. John12 gives a powerful recitation of this Palm Sunday story and there are parallels between that passage and Acts 8:1-25.
We see that although there were those who opposed him, Jesus did not shrink from the cross, he fought his way to it. Also, the people who honored him and followed him, because they had seen him raise Lazarus from the dead, among many other things. They understood that he was the true king. As a result, these followers of Jesus spread the word about him everywhere.
Are you looking for something powerful enough to transform your life and something worthy to give your life to? There is only one source powerful enough.
My friend, Dr. Wesley Ulrich, is a pulmonologist and leads a TB clinic in Mafraq, Jordan. Over several decades of work, Dr. Ulrich has treated hundreds of sick bodies and led scores of souls to Christ. He says half-jokingly to his patients, “If you are going to cough your germs on me I am going to cough the germ of my faith in Jesus Christ on you!” As a result, that marvelously contagious Good News has spread to many people who were not only hopeless in their poverty but frightened in their Islamic faith.
Only something as powerful as the Word of God could spread in a dead-end Bedouin community in the middle of the desert and in the heart of a Muslim land. And that Word has spread so impressively it has reached the King’s palace. News of Dr. Ulrich’s work and the changes it brings in people’s physical and spiritual lives has gained the favorable attention of the Crown of Jordan. Members of the royal household visit from time to time and they provide protection from persecutors. They recognize that these Christians possess a power to change lives which they do not have.
The Word of God spreads powerfully where “it’s not supposed to.” To unleash the word of God anywhere is to unleash Jesus. In Jerusalem on Palm Sunday the word of God rode in in bodily form. The power of the word of God is in Christ and the whole Bible talks about it. The application is ultimately about a saving Christ. Only Christ’s word is powerful enough to transform systems, cities, cultures, and people. This word unleashes Jesus in every situation. It’s more powerful than persecution, unbelief, or power.
1. Despite Persecution (Acts 8:1-4)
A. Man’s Worst (vv. 1-3)
Luke, the author of Acts, very seldomly uses the word persecution in Acts, although there are many places where we might expect him to. However, on this occasion, he calls this a great persecution. The great persecution he is referencing is the religious authorities’ hostile efforts to extinguish the spread of the message of Christ. Saul, in particular, is bent on stopping the spread of Christianity. It was similar to the Holocaust. He was dragging people out of their homes and into prison or execution.
However, what we see in this passage is that not even this great persecution could stamp out the power of the good news of the word of Christ: “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ” (4). In fact, Jesus had told them this would be the case in Acts 1: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (8). The spread of the gospel has already made its way to Samaria!
B. God’s Strength (v. 4)
I read some years ago about a horrific debt payment that the communist leaders of Vietnam and the Philippines (at the time) paid back to those who had funded the war. They had to repay their war debt, but they didn’t have the cash to do it. Instead, they sent people, who were to be slaves to those in power in China and eastern Europe. As it turns out, most of those sent away to these other countries were Christians. It was likely the Vietnamese way of both paying off debt and getting rid of Christians in their country. One would think that this would surely extinguish their faith, but it didn’t. When they landed in their new countries, they began spreading the message of Christ! Satan must have thought that he had accomplished a great victory by spreading these Christians out and persecuting them. However, they subverted his purposes from the inside out. God uses what is intended for persecution and instead uses it to spread his word!
II. Over Unbelief (Acts 8:5-8, 14-19)
A. Unbelieving Labels (vv. 5-6, 14-19)
There is a unique significance to Samaria being mentioned as a particular place of interest for the gospel to be spread. It takes a quick look at the history of the nation of Israel to understand it. In 923BC, the nation of Israel was split into northern and southern kingdoms. In 721BC Assyria came down to the northern tribes and took them into captivity. However, they left some Jews in Samaria. These Jews intermarried with Assyrians and were eventually called Samaritans. The southern kingdom, Judah, never forgave them for it. Because of it, they called them “Half-breeds” and “dogs.”
However, Jesus loved them and took his word to them. He healed the Samaritan woman and held up the “Good Samaritan” as an example of neighborly love. That is what makes the gospel going to Samaria so significant. No one’s label is valid. These despised Samaritans received the exact same gospel the Jews did. We must reject the labels put on us by others as well as the labels we put on ourselves. Jesus sets us free from these labels.
B. Unbelieving Spirits (vv. 7-8)
Luke, the author of Acts, was a physician. As such, he carefully points out the different ailments of those who were coming to the Apostles to be healed. For some, it was a physical ailment due to the brokenness of our bodies. For others, it was real oppression brought on by demonic forces. Whatever the case may be, we must realize two things. First, no matter the source of our ailment, be it spiritual, or physical, we must take it to the Lord in prayer. Secondly, we must realize that the Devil is happy about all our suffering, because it is suffering inflicted on an image-bearer of Jesus. He is seeking to destroy us with it.
Jesus cares for us body and soul. He wants to set us free. We have no need to diagnose before bringing it to God. He desires to set us free.
III. In Contrast to “Power” (Acts 8:9-13, 18-25)
We have no reason to think that Simon wasn’t actually converted in this passage. However, we do know that sanctification takes time, so we could see why he would have fallen into the lie that he could buy this power that the Apostles had to heal people. With his offer to pay for it, comes a sharp rebuke from the Apostles: “may your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!” (20). The word of God is not a power to be bought. It is the word about the gift of God, Jesus Christ.
IV. To Bring Joy (Acts 8:8)
So, what was the result of the power of the word of God despite persecution and unbelief? Joy: “So there was much joy in that city.” Romans 14:17 says that the kingdom of God is “not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” [emphasis mine]. Jesus has come in the power of the word to bring you joy. You can confess any sin or brokenness and the answer will be Jesus heals. There is joy to be had in King Jesus. Come to him with every suffering, sin, persecution, ailment, label, and unbelief, and he will bring you into a state of joy.
A number of years ago, a man came to me after the service and he said, "I've been coming here for a while, and I love this church but I don't think that you can handle somebody like me. I'm not sure I belong. I look around this room and everyone has it all together. I've just been released out of drug treatment and I've done some really bad things in my life. Maybe you could recommend another church where I would fit in a little better?"
I did something that I don't often make a practice of. I said, "come over here by this coat closet, so we can hide a little bit." There was a big gathering area, and I said, "I'm going to confess the sins of some of the people in this room who have given me permission to do so and then the others, I'll just point out generically..."
"Over on that side of the room is an elder who is a recovering alcoholic. On the other side of the room is an elder whose wife had an abortion years ago. Over there is a materialist; he worships his house and his car. There's a drug addict out there and a man who is a practicing homosexual. And there's another who has abused children in the past."
Before I could go on, he said, "I think I can find a home here." It's true of every church.
Due to modern technology, we can now trace when a full moon occurred in any year. This happens to be how we calculate the Passover. Passover always occurred on the 15th of the Jewish month of Nissan. On the 10th of Nissan, all of the lambs were driven into Jerusalem to be in place to be slaughtered as a sacrifice for the pilgrims coming to celebrate the Passover.
Josephus estimates that there were around 260,000 lambs being driven into Jerusalem. We can now calculate that on the day that all of those lambs were being driven into Jerusalem was the same day that Jesus himself rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Do you see the image?
Hundreds of thousands were being driven into Jerusalem that could never take away sin and never cleanse from the conscience. However, standing out among that drove of lambs was the last lamb. The word of God riding in triumph to the cross to save you from every sin and all the brokenness of the world and bring you into a kingdom of joy. Believe it. Give your life to it. Trust it. It transforms.