God Moves Mysteriously: Lament, Persecution & Promise

Jason Plumer

First Baptist Church Litchfield

Acts • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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God Moves in A Mysterious Way

William Cowper (1731-1800) was a Christian who wrote hymns for the church in the mid to late 1700’s. John Newton, the author of Amazing grace, was a close friend and his pastor. God gifted Cowper as a word smith. He had remarkable ability to capture your heart and imagination with jut a few words.

He wrote a hymn called, “God Moves in Mysterious Way.” I want to read to you the words to this hymn:

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform: He plants His footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill, He treasures up His bright designs, And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour: The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan His work in vain; God is His own Interpreter, And He will make it plain.

Cowper captures the lens by Which we must read Acts 8:1-8, with this hymn, especially the second stanza: “Deep in unfathomable mines of never-failing skill, he treasures up His bright designs, and works His sovereign will.” Reading Act 1-7, you see there is opposition to the church. As a matter of fact, you can come to the conclusion pretty quickly that persecution is going to come hard and fast against God’s people. The apostles have already ben beaten and imprisoned. We end chapter seven with Stephen’s death. But what we don’t expect is to see God’s never-ending skill and bright designs for advancing His kingdom to include lamenting and persecution. This is a mysterious way for God to move in our eyes.

God advances His kingdom in the mysterious way of lament, persecution, and promise.

God Moves Mysteriously Through Lament.

Look at verse 2. We could easily skim over this verse and miss a really neat truth here. In between Saul agreeing with Stephen's murder and then his pursuit of ravaging the church, you have Stephen’s funeral. It is set up to be a contrast in the text. You have Saul who hates the church with Stephen who died defending the church.

Who are these devout me who came to get Stephen?

Devout men in the New Testament usually refers to Jews who carefully obeyed the Law of Moses. This would be interesting if that is who they are because you would have devout Jews who condemned the killing of Stephen. Its possible. There were some Jews who did not agree with the murder of Jesus. I believe these were Jewish Christians. The reason I believe this is because of the way they lament for him.

Their Lament testifies of God’s Righteousness

It says, “They made a loud lamentation over him.” This kind of mourning included beating your chest and wailing loudly. They were making a statement about Stephen’s death. First, a righteous man was killed in a lynch mob fashion. He was killed worse than a convicted criminal. At least the criminal had his day in court. So they were telling the Jews in the temple, you got this one wrong, just like you got Jesus wrong.

This took a great deal of courage because it was against Jewish law to publically mourn the death of a condemned criminal. To publically lament a condemned criminal was to say that he was an innocent man and that their high court was unjust in their decision. These devout God fearing Christ loving men testified through their lamentation that Stephen was an innocent man and that his stoning was an injustice to God and their community. It was a protest of you will against the Pharisees and the Scribes.

Lamenting, in the bible, is an expression of faith that recognizes that things go wrong on earth, but that God is sovereign and that he cares about how we feel about it. Lamenting expresses faith and worship in God over a broken world broken world. Its our expression of pain to God whom we trust can do something about it.

This is why the church cannot be silent when we see injustice. Our lament has a voice. We must publicly beat our chest and wail when we see injustice. We must beat our chest and wail, through tears and heart ache, at the killing of over 50 million babies through abortion since 1973. We must lament, beating our chest and wailing, when we see our black, Asian, Hispanic, brothers and sisters suffer from any from of racism. We must beat our chest and wail when we see countless numbers of homeless families and starving children in the richest nation in the world.

I saw a statistic that said 1 in 5 children go hungry in America. That to me is absurd. How in the world can any of America’s children go hungry with the amount of resources we have at our disposal. And is not just our children, but its children all over the world who are suffering hunger.

God moves mysteriously through our lamenting to call out injustice in the world, and to move his people to do something about it.

The Devout men who lamented over Stephen called out the injustice of the Pharisees and Scribes. Their public lament set right the wrongful death of an innocent man. God uses the wailing of His people to advance His kingdom.

God Moves Mysteriously Through Persecution (Acts 8:1-3)

Acts 8:1–3 HCSB

Saul agreed with putting him to death. On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria. Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him. Saul, however, was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison.

In verses 8:1&3, we are introduced to Saul. As we already know, in the sovereignty of God, Saul is going to become Paul in chapter 9. In these two verses, however, we get a look into young Saul's heart and it is ugly toward God and His people, which is ironic. Saul was passionate for God and His holy temple, but he was blind like the rest of the Pharisees and Scribes.

In verse 1, Saul is seen agreeing with the death of Stephen. The Greek literally says, “And Saul was agreeing with the death of him.” The NASB translate’s “Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.” Saul saw the killing of Stephen as preferable and good. In Saul’s mind, it was right in the eyes of God to kill Stephen for testifying that Jesus is the Messiah. And he was so convinced that Stephen’s death was justified in the eyes of God, that he begins a systematic persecution of the church.

The noun “persecution” denotes the idea of a systematic, organized program to oppress and harass people. Its an intentional program design to oppress someone. And you see that in verse 3, where Paul is “ravaging the church, entering house after house after house, dragging off anyone who would profess Jesus as Lord to jail. He didn’ do it alone. He grabbed able men, Jews and Temple soldiers, anyone like minded, to systematically attack the church.

The word “ravage” is a great word to describe Saul’s actions. It means to destroy with violence and destruction. Our brothers and sisters in Jerusalem were violently attacked by Saul and his army. They had their property destroyed. Their loved ones thrown into prison. They were beaten, men, women, and children. None one was spared.

I remember reading a story in Voice of the Martyrs Magazine of a little boy in Sudan who was five years old. Radical Muslims attacked his village because they were Christian. His older brothers were able to hide in the bush a few yards away from their hut. A mob of men gathered around the boy. They ordered him to renounce his faith in Jesus. He refused. They told him if he did not renounce Jesus they would kill him. He still refused, and they followed through with their warning. The boys brothers watched their little brother die for Jesus. Satan has no compassion on children, especially those who love Jesus.

Saul was no different than these radical Muslims. Same kind of heart. Same kind of zeal for God. Saul, who becomes Paul, later tells the Galatian church, “I intensely persecuted God’s church and tried to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors (Galatian 1:13-14). Later in Acts 22, he says he persecuted this “Way” to the death from his zeal. There is a reason why Paul calls himself the “worst of all sinners” in his letter to Timothy (1 Timothy 1:16). He ravaged the church with violence and death and destruction. This is the scene in Acts 8:1-3.

As a result of the severe persecution that broke out against the church, the church scatters from Jerusalem. The cognate of the noun dispora ( we get the word disperse) is the word used to describe the Jews who were dispersed world wide among the Gentiles. Here another kind of dispersion is happening with God’s people. Persecution is driving God’s people out of Jerusalem and into Judea and Samaria, just as Jesus promised in Acts 1:8.

The question I have, ‘Is God reacting the persecution, or is persecution part of his “never-failing skill an bright design for the church? I contend it is part of his design for the church.

Persecution is suffering for Jesus’s name sake. God ordained that Jesus would be a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). From the beginning, Jesus was to suffer for the sake of God’s kingdom. It was part of the design to redeem God’s people. The cross was always in the picture of everything jesus did on earth. Jesus told his disciples, a disciple is not above his teacher If they persecuted me they will persecute you. he also said “just as the Father sent me, so I ma sending you.” Peter also says,

1 Peter 4:1–2 HCSB

Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, equip yourselves also with the same resolve —because the one who suffered in the flesh has finished with sin — in order to live the remaining time in the flesh, no longer for human desires, but for God’s will.

Just as Christ was called to suffer, we are called to suffer. God will advance His kingdom through the suffering of the saints, just like he did with the suffering of His Son. Saul was an instrument in the hands of God. Think about this.

Galatians 1:14–16 HCSB

I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. But when God, who from my birth set me apart and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me, so that I could preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.

God set Saul apart from literally “His mothers womb” for His kingdom. God did not approve of Paul’s hatred of the church, just like God did not approve of Josephs’s brothers hating Joseph. But what they meant for evil, God meant their evil for good. What Paul meant for evil, God meant it for good. God used Saul’s persecution of the church to scatter his word out from Jerusalem and into Judea and Samaria just as he promised. Persecution is a mysterious way God advances His kingdom.

Understanding this is so helpful to my soul. Sometimes in the fight of good verse evil, we mistakenly think that God ad Satan are on equal terms. Satan rages against the church with systematic hatred that can bring us to despair. It hurts. We can be duped into thinking that Satan is getting the best of God. But in fact, that could not be furthest from the truth. Job shows us, the cross and the resurrection shows us, that Satan is on a leash that will only go as far of God permits it.

Then, consider God’s mysterious ways of deliverance from persecution. The church had no idea how Saul was going to be stopped. He looked indestructible, unstoppable. Did they ever in their right mind see Acts 9 coming? Mind blown!

What was the only force able to stop Saul dead in His tracks from destroying the church?

It was the gospel. I was Jesus, not destroying Him, but converting Him. What! Mind Blown 2x! That is the power of persecution in God’s hands. he uses it to bring peace, to make sons and daughters in the kingdom. Jesus said pray for your persecutors. Love your persecutors. If they are thirsty, give them somersetting to drink. If they are hungry, feed them. In doing this you will kill their hatred with His love, and turn them toward peacemaking. Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.

Look at what happens when the church is scattered.

Acts 8:4 HCSB

So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the message of good news.

Here is how God uses persecution to scatter the word. Persecution does not intimate believers but emboldens believers to preach the word. To preach the word is to evangelize. The very gospel they were persecuted for, is the same gospel they are proclaiming to those outside of Jerusalem. And people were getting saved. Its a mystery. How in the world can someone be hated for the name of Jesus still passionately preach Jesus, and furthermore, see people come to Jesus in the midst of persecution. It doesn t make sense. You would think people would run far away from Christ when they suffer. And that would be true if i were solely up to us. But we know that it is the Spirit of God drawing people to the Son to be saved.

No one wold tell you to utilize a strategy of being persecuted or wailing and beating your chest as campaign to get your start-up organization off the ground. We are talking out the early church, maybe 7-8 years old. It is an infant in comparison of Judaism as far as religions go. You don't want to be the hated kid on the block if your trying to get this thing off the ground. And yet, God does this precise thing.

He uses devout men to courageously publicly lament the injustice of Stephen's death. A lament that tells the church the righteous will suffer at the hands of injustice, but tells the world the church will stand up for righteousness.

God also uses Saul’s hatred of Jesus, which is representative of the Jews hating Jesus, to afflict His church in order to fulfill His promsie in Acts 1:8, to testify in Judea and Samaria. Persecution in the hands of God brings life to the nations. And the mystery is that its not God persecuting the wicked, but allowing the wicked to persecute His church for the sake of making much for the nations.

God moves mysteriously Through His Promise (Acts 8:4-8)

The promise was given in

Acts 1:8 HCSB

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The gospel will move out of Jerusalem and into Judea and Samaria. Luke highlights Samaria in our text. He says,

Acts 8:5–6 HCSB

Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them. The crowds paid attention with one mind to what Philip said, as they heard and saw the signs he was performing.

Philip was one the men chosen to be a deacon with Stephen. H was a faithful Christian man who left Jerusalem to go to Samaria. Samaria was not a place a jew wanted to go. It is said that Jews who were trying to get to Jerusalem from the north would walk all the way around Samaria in order to avoid the people. Samaritans were a mixed race of Assyrians and Jew from the Northern Kingdom who assimilated in 722 B.C, when the Assyrians took the country captive. Pure blooded Jews hated Samaritans and considered them unclean and impure. This is why Jesus used a Samaritan in his parable about loving our neighbor. He knew the two people hated each other. No body saw this coming. God would reach out even to the Samaritans? God is going to save Gentiles, even the lowest of Gentiles? There’s the mystery. The gospel is a message of salvation for the human race, that includes all people made in God’s image.

The Holy Spirit empowered Philip to go to Samaria to “preach the word.” To preach the word, as we already said, was to win people to Jesus. He was evangelizing the Samaritans. He was telling the people that they were sinners who had fallen short of the glory of God, and that their sin earned them God’s wrath in Hell. But God gave the world a gift, His Son as a ransom for their sin. God demonstrated his love for us that while we were sinners Christ died for us. And that if you repent of your sin, confess it with your mouth, and believe in your heart that God raised His Son from the dead, you will be saved from His wrath and given eternal life with Him. This is the good news Philip shared with the Samaritans, and its the good news I’m sharing with you. have you asked jesus for forgiveness of your sins? Are you trusting in His death on the cross for your sin and his righteousness for you salvation? If you were to die tonight, and you faced God, what would he say to you? You will face him. it is appointed for everyone to die once and then face His judgment. When you see him, he will either see the righteousness of His Son applied to you by your faith, and let you in his kingdom, or he will say depart from me; for I never knew you.

For the Samaritans, the gospel brought joy to the city. Philip proclaimed the Messiah to them (8:5). The crowds paid attention with one mind to what Philip said. They were intently listening to the gospel message. Their hearts were open and ready to receive it. Philip did many signs and wonders to validate the good news, just like Jesus and the apostles. These signs including setting the captives free from unclean spirits, healing the sick, and making the lame walk again. Philip brought the kingdom of God to Samaria and it brought joy to the people.

That is the promise of the Great Commission being fulfilled. God wants His kingdom to bring joy to all peoples and all nations. Christianity is not just about gaining a number of converts to have bragging rights or political power. Christianity is about bringing God’ joy to every tribe and nation, even the Samaritans. Philip brought joy too Samaria when he preached the truth about Jesus, when he shared the gospel without fear to all who would listen.

That is what we are to be doing, brothers and sisters. We are to bring joy to this city. We must share Jesus with our neighbors. We must warn them that death comes to all men. God is waiting on the other side. The gift of salvation is for today, not after you perish. We must minister to this city. We must show the community that Jesus deeply cares about their depression, drug addition, and desperation. We must bring Jesus to the darkest ares of our community to relieve the suffering. God moves in mysterious ways when we stay focused on fulfilling His Great Commission in Litchfield.

Conclusion

William Cowper suffered from terrible bouts of manic depression. H tried to end his own life three times, and failed. It was hard for him to experience joy. And yet, he had the spiritual insight to see the mystery of God’s movement in the midst of suffering. He knew deep in his heart that God was sovereign and good, and committed to joyfully advancing his kingdom. Even through lament and persecution, God is testifying of His salvation. Through keeping His promise to bring the gospel to all people, God is testifying of His faithfulness. His Son on the cross and risen from the grave is testimony enough for us.

Never loose sight of this church. When suffering come for following Jesus, and your soul laments, remember God is moving, and testifying of His saving power. When the church is persecuted for the name of Jesus, we do not have to respond with anger or hate or violence. God is moving and testifying of his saving grace. When we see people responding to the Gospel, people whom we thought would not ever come to Christ, but are because we are being faithful tot eh Great Commission. Remember, God is moving and testifying that His is alive and well and winning the fight.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour: The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.

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