Acts 8, "Power, According to Jesus"

Ken MacLeod

Community on Mission • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

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What are some examples of power and how it is used in society? Pay attention in this passage to who has power, how they use it, and the results. We will see that power, according to Jesus, does not come from men, their money or their applause. Power in the kingdom of God is given to the least among us to teach us

Saul’s Power

Saul is using his power as an influential Pharisee to persecute the church. He has overseen the stoning death of Stephen. Now he begins imprisoning as many Christians as he can. The community on mission with Jesus must be stamped out. Man-made religions use power to persecute, destroy, and imprison, and results in lamentation.

But the power of God can’t be stamped out. Stamping on it will only spread it. The Christians scatter and bring the gospel with them.

The Power of the Gospel

8:4-8 - Philip, another deacon like Stephen, goes to Samaria and "proclaimed the Christ”. He is preaching that the Christ, the Messiah, has come and everyone is “paying attention”. They are drawn to this message. And Philip’s message is accompanied by signs like casting out demons and healings.

In verse 8, we see that the power of the gospel produces joy.

Then Luke gives us a little back story. In the same city in which everyone all together are giving their attention to Philip, there was another guy that had previously had all their attention (8:10, 11). Simon the Magician called himself somebody great (8:9), and he backed it up with some amazing magic.

Acts 8:10 (ESV)

They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.”

Acts 8:11 (ESV)

And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.

Acts 8:12 (ESV)

But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

Acts 8:13 (ESV)

Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

This is the power of the gospel. For years, everyone paid attention to Simon. They had been amazed, thinking the power of God was magic tricks. But then the true power of God arrives. And it doesn’t come with tricks or a smoke and light show. It is a simple man, fleeing a killer, sharing a message. The good news that God is establishing His kingdom in Jesus’ name, the name that saves sinners and gives us hope of resurrection from death is so amazing, that the man who was amazing crowds with what everyone thought was supernatural power, himself is amazed at the power he is witnessing in the gospel to transform the lives of believers.

The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Does the gospel still amaze you?...

The Power of the Apostles

When the apostles hear of what is happening in Samaria, they send Peter and John to pray for the new believers. These people had been baptized into Jesus, but the Holy Spirit had “not yet fallen on any of them.” What does this mean? Romans 8:14-17 tells us that we receive the Holy Spirit when we are adopted as God’s children, which happens the moment we believe in Christ. So, in this case, we need to use the context. First, the word used here,

Acts 8:16 (ESV)

for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

“fallen” is used in the context of the Holy Spirit coming upon someone with a visible result. The person is given a special gift to be used in service to God. So, these believers were indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but the apostles were praying that this would become manifest in an outward sign in their lives that could continue the spread of the gospel.

They are imparting the gifts of the Holy Spirit by laying hands on them (see 2 Timothy 1:6). This is a great power. This is the context that’s really important here. Because this passage is all about power and how it’s used.

Acts 8:18 (ESV)

Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,

Acts 8:19–20 (ESV)

saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!

He says, “Your heart is not right before God.

Acts 8:22–24 (ESV)

Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.

For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.”

And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

The apostles used their power to empower others with the Holy Spirit. This is so upside down from the way the rest of the world uses their power, Simon can’t get it. He thinks Peter and John are like everyone else. Everyone has their price. Everyone wants more power for themselves. The apostles will understand.

But they understand something Simon doesn’t. In God’s kingdom, power is not given for selfish gain. Power is given by God to those you wouldn’t expect, so that they can serve and praise Him and expand the kingdom of God to every nation.

The Power of the Holy Spirit

To demonstrate this, the Holy Spirit does some surprising things. An angel is sent to direct to leave town. Philip is at the height of his effectiveness and God is sending him to the desert. Luke really wants you to catch that point, in verse 26. “This is a desert place.” But God knows what He’s doing, and doesn’t ask Philip for input or permission. He places him on a road exactly where and when Philip will intersect with a Gentile who is seeking God. And the Holy Spirit shows up at the right moment to direct him. And Philip teaches him the gospel of Jesus from the “Old Testament”. The man is convinced, converted, baptized and sent home to plant one of the longest lasting churches in the world.

This is the community on mission with Jesus. He is working through the Spirit everywhere, and if we are open, He may direct us to uncertain paths. And it may take us obediently going down those paths before the Holy Spirit makes clear what He wants us to do. Will we obey before we have all the details? Are we so in tune with the voice of God that if He told us to move on from some effective ministry and go to some desert place that needs a seed planted for the gospel, we would be ready? And by the end of the passage, the Spirit of the Lord just carries Philip off to another place entirely.

But let’s look at the Bible passage these two men discuss to help us understand the connection with everything that comes before.

Acts 8:32–33 (ESV)

Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter

and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,

so he opens not his mouth.

In his humiliation justice was denied him.

Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.”

As the community on mission with Jesus, reads this passage, we are brought back to Luke’s theme in this chapter. Who has the power, and what are they doing with it? Jesus, our Messiah, with all the power that created the universe at His disposal, did not use His power to control, dominate, conquer, humiliate, or coerce. He embraced humiliation and injustice and gave His life for the salvation of sinners and the healing of the broken.

For example, today is Palm Sunday. We commemorate Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem as a King the week of His crucifixion. Let’s look at how King Jesus handles power. First of all, He chooses to ride a donkey.

Matthew 21:4–5 (ESV)

This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

“Say to the daughter of Zion,

‘Behold, your king is coming to you,

humble, and mounted on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”

Next, what is His first act as king?

Matthew 21:12–13 (ESV)

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer, [for the nations]’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

Matthew 21:14–16 (ESV)

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.

The Pharisees surrounded themselves with powerful lawyers. The Sadducees surrounded themselves with priests and politicians. Everywhere He goes, even at the height of His popularity and power, Jesus surrounds Himself with the blind, the lame, and He uses His power to create a space in the house of God for those who have been kept out by the religious people.

One more demonstration from that passage in Matthew 21.

But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,

“ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”

Jesus quotes Psalm 8, and He interprets one word in a special way.

Psalm 8:2 (ESV)

Out of the mouth of babies and infants,

you have established strength because of your foes,

to still the enemy and the avenger.

The strength of children is their shameless praise for true greatness. They might know how to pretend and play magic. But they are also amazed when a truly great person demonstrates their power to them. And their praise of that powerful person overcomes the naysayers, the haters.

We spend so much time trying to be grown ups. Look how much time and energy we spend trying to get people to pay attention to us, trying to be smart, relevant, powerful. We think we will be accepted by showing how gifted we are. But those aren’t the kind of people God uses. Those aren’t the kind of people to whom God gives His power to serve Him. He uses the persecuted, the afflicted, foreigners, the blind, the lame, and children. He gives them power to praise Him as the perfect King, filled with grace and mercy. And this praise overcomes the enemy. Satan and this world would try to imprison us in striving for achievement in man-made religion. That striving ends in destruction and lament. The power of the gospel ends in joy and praise to God for His greatness and power. Where is the gospel of God’s grace and mercy in Jesus Christ working in you right now? How is God demonstrating His transforming power to make you more like Christ? Where are the places He has granted you some power, some gift, some advantage, that you can use to bring into the kingdom of Jesus Christ someone who has been kept out by religious people?

Questions for Discussion

What are some examples of power in our world and society? How do we see people use their power for good and for bad?

What do we learn about God in this passage?

What do we learn about people, including ourselves, in this passage?

We see Simon, a new believer who lacks understanding seeking power the wrong way from the Apostles. What are some ways believers in Jesus in our time have misunderstood or misused power that might require repentance and forgiveness?

Are there any ways the gospel is having power to transform our lives that you could share with the group?

We see the Holy Spirit work in powerful and surprising ways in Acts in the lives of the early Christians. What are some ways He may be working in and around us right now?

Why is knowledge of our suffering Messiah helpful to a church that is suffering persecution? Why is it helpful for an evangelist like Philip or the Ethiopian Eunuch? Why is it helpful to us?

What are some ways we could commemorate Palm Sunday in ways that would increase God’s praise?