The Intermediate Years of the Gospel (Take 2)
The Spread of the Gospel • Sermon • Submitted
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The Book of Acts is a book of transition. As a book of transition it depicts many things which occurred for the first time, some of which are specific to that period of time.
In Acts 2 the baptism of the Holy Spirit which had been spoken of by both John the Baptist and Jesus finally occurred. Throughout the narrative of Acts we see occasions in which people who had embraced the gospel message did not receive the baptism of the Spirit until an apostle prayed over and laid hands on them. We see it with Jewish believers in Acts 2, Samaritan believers in Acts 8, Gentile believers in Acts 10, and one could argue Old Testament believers in Acts 19. In each of these incidents the baptism of the Spirit was accompanied by speaking in tongues.
To the best of my understanding, after the Acts 19 episode when Paul encountered people who had been converted as followers of an unidentified Christ by John the Baptist, believers have been baptized by the Holy Spirit from the moment of faith in the message of the gospel.
As a part of the transitional nature of this narrative penned by Luke, the reader also encounters the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, and the establishment of the local church.
In our extended passage today, Acts 8-12 we see the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ spread like wildfire. My goal is to consider various reasons for its massive spread.
The Gospel Spread Because it of God’s Intention
God always has a plan and nothing can thwart His plan
God has a mysterious way in which He orchestrates the events in this world so that His plan will be accomplished
The Gospel Spread Because of Persecution
Why did God allow persecution to come to His infant church?
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
God used the persecution that came after the death of Stephen to spread the gospel message beyond Jerusalem
And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.
But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.
The Gospel Spread Because of Obedience
Over and over again throughout this extended text we see followers of Christ obey the Great Commission — As you go, make disciples
As already mentioned the believers fleeing the persecution in Jerusalem engaged in the act of making disciples wherever they went
Philip was very active in proclaiming the gospel and fulfilling Christ’s charge to be witness in Samaria and beyond
Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.
Peter and John joined the ministry
They prayed over and laid hands on the new believers who then received the H.S.
They confronted Simon Magus for his original act of simony
Peter and John, on their return trip from Samaria went to various other Samaritan villages spreading the gospel
Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.
Philip engaged a traveling pilgrim in a gospel centered conversation Acts 8:29-33
And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”
So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
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.”
After leaving the Ethiopian Eunuch Philip continued to preach the gospel
But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Paul and Luke stayed in the home of Philip about 20 years later — this is probably where Luke, the historian learned many of the details of Philip’s adventures
These are just a few of the examples of how the disciples were obedient to the Great Commission
Before we move from the obedience being one of the reasons for the spread of the gospel, we need to see how Saul of Tarsus fit into this. Acts 9:1-6
But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.
And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”
This may fit better under the theme of persecution, but I want you to see the obedience of a fearful disciple named Ananias
The Lord directed him, in a vision, to go to where Saul was staying and heal him of his blindness
Ananias protested because of the fame of Saul and his persecution
But God insisted saying:
But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
Ananias was not the only one obedient to God — years later Saul (now known as Paul) in presenting his case before King Agrippa stated this: Acts 26.19-20
“Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.
The Gospel Spread Because of Validation
Everywhere the disciples preached the gospel they also validated their message by signs and wonders
Philip amazed the Samaritans
Peter amazed the folks in the Judean village of Lydda
Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.
There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed.
And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose.
And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
The Gospel Spread Because of Excitement
Because of the message of the gospel being validated by the healing of Aeneas, there was such excitement that a nearby town asked Peter to come and raise a well-known disciple from the dead
Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity.
In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.
Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.”
So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them.
The Reprise of Obedience
In Acts 10 we come to what I’m referring to as the reprise of obedience
A Roman centurion named Cornelius takes center stage
He was a God-fearer
He prayed to the only true God continually
An angel appeared to him informing him that his prayers had ascended as a memorial before God — what a testimony!
He was instructed to send to Joppa and ask for Peter to come to his home
The narrative returns to Peter
As he was praying he fell into a trance: Acts 10:11-13
and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth.
In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air.
And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”
Peter objected
But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
God exhorted him:
And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”
God used this recurring vision to prepare Peter to bring the message of the gospel to Gentiles
Sometimes we have to re-think everything we have always been taught — this was one such moment for Peter (though he should have already done so since the biblical witness always testified to the gospel going to the Gentiles)
After Peter arrived Cornelius explained the vision he had seen
This brought about an eye-opening acknowledgment from Peter
So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality,
but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
Peter then shared the gospel with Cornelius and those gathered in his home, and they embraced the message and were saved
While Peter was still preaching The Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word
The Jews who were with Peter were amazed by the outpouring of the Spirit on these Gentiles
The new believers began speaking in tongues
Peter then baptized them in water
In Acts 11, after returning to Jerusalem Peter was called to task for eating with Gentiles
He shared with them the vision he had about eating unclean animals
Then he reported that
As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning.
If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”
The end result is that the church in Jerusalem glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
More Fallout From the Death of Stephen
Acts 11 closes with the narrative of a newly founded church in Antioch
Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.
But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
The Jerusalem church hears about this and send their beloved Barnabas to assist this new church experiment
Like some of the church planter of this group, Barnabas was from Cyprus
Barnabas arrived and saw that this church experiment was a God-thing
He gives them some words of encouragement and then departs to find help
He travels to Tarsus and finds Saul and brings him back with him to Antioch
They minister there together for a year
The term Christian was coined in Antioch
A prophet from Jerusalem visits the church in Antioch and informs them about a coming worldwide famine
The determines to send a relief gift by the hands of Barnabas and Saul to the churches in Judea
The Reprise of Persecution
Acts 12 is the end of the narrative focused on Peter, and it is set in the context of persecution
James becomes the first of the apostles to be martyred
Peter is arrested
Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison.
And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands.
Peter thought this was a vision — not reality
When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
Peter went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark
We see in this account excitement about answered prayer which leads to the further spread of the good news
This episode did not end well for the guards on duty
Soon after this Herod came to a miserable end
Our extended passage ends with these words:
But the word of God increased and multiplied.
And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark.
There is an intriguing connection between Barnabas and Saul’s relief trip to Jerusalem and the arrest of Peter
Today we’ve looked at various reasons for the spread of the gospel. The gospel was spread because of God’s intention, persecution, obedience, validation, and excitement.
Isaiah wrote that those who share the message of the gospel with others have beautiful feet.
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
My hope and desire, regardless of the physical condition of our feet, is that from heaven’s perspective we too will have beautiful feet.
Let’s pray.
Closing Song: # 372
Our God Reigns
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.