Faith That Does Not Save

Faith That Does Not Save

06-30-13

Act 8:13-24

13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” 24 And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

Saul was instrumental in the1^st “missions thrust” of church. Acts 8:1 & 1:8

Acts 8:1 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.

Acts 1:8 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.

·      In Acts Chapter 8 we see genuine saving faith (Ethiopian eunuch) & false faith. Simon Magus

o   “magus” from Latin for “great”   Act 8:9-10

Simon was claiming/boasting deity….  he viewed himself as God incarnate and was arrogant!

·      He probably did supernatural things thru demonic powers. This still happens today.

o   Demonic activity and be very subtle, it is not always blatantly Satanic…for example "white magic."

He knew the power of God manifested thru Philip was real & was stronger than his magic.

·      To advance in profession or recapture following that was lost he knew he must get Philip’s power.

o   Had the "if you can't beat join them" attitude. Act 8:11-13

It Appeared genuine; believed, continued w/Philip who baptized him.

·      Ex: Rhinestones sparkle but upon deeper inspection are proven fake.

The word "believe” does not always refer to saving faith. Even the demons believe. Jam 2:18-19

·      He acknowledged objective truth of things Philip was preaching and was baptized. 

o   Profession of belief or religious actions (baptism) does not save.

Object of Simon's faith/passion/interest was the wanting of the power of signs & wonders. It was for personal gain not the glory of Jesus Christ/salvation. Act 8:14-19, Jn 2:23-25; Lk 8:13, Rom 8:9

·      So impressed by Peter & John @ the “Samaritan Pentecost” that he offered them money in exchange for power.

·      Surely external manifestation of the Holy Spirit @ 2^nd of 4 “pentecosts” in Acts.

o   It was crucial to give unquestionable credibility to Samaritan salvation because of centuries of hostility between Jews & Samaritans.

The focus was not on the manifestation of Holy Spirit but Simon’s attraction of power to bestow the Holy Spirit.

·      Approached Paul & John like dealers in black magic & treated the Holy Spirit like a commodity/trick to be bought & added to his repertoire.

His concept of Holy Spirit is not different from many Christians today.

·      A Christian would never consider buying the Holy Spirit because we know grace is free, but yet some think of Him as a power.

o   If you need more power in your life get more of the Holy Spirit.

§  Holy Spirit is not an “it or a force” but a Person. He is God!

·      Or some think if a person follows right formula God is obliged to act as we wish.  That was Simon’s belief.

o   In magic, God is man’s servant. In Christianity, men are God’s servants.

·      We shouldn't want more of the Holy Spirit so we can use Him, but the Holy Spirit should have more of us to use for God’s glory.

Evidence lost in words/actions & severe warning of Peter. Ac 8:20-24, 2 Cor 7:9-10

·      In Acts “repent” always used of unsaved individuals. 

·      Simon didn’t acknowledge or confess his sin.  There was no repentance.

o    “Pray for me” is a cop out…..He was saying "Do something to save my hide."

o   He was more concerned about consequences of his sin; not about his sin. 

·      Simon saw religion as way to gain in this life & avoid bad consequences rather than a life-changing relationship w/Jesus.

Entire tradition of early church: Simon heretic: He was a founder of Gnosticism

·      Gnostics believe salvation is gained by special knowledge (gnosis) about God

This account was a warning THEN to any tempted to listen/follow Simon’s teachings.

·      It is a warning now of fearful reality: some who think they are saved may be eternally lost. 2 Cor. 13:5, Jam 2:14, Rom 6:1-2

o   True salvation requires a present trust in JC, and evidence of growth in the Christian life.

§  Faith that does not transform life from love of self/sin to love of God/holiness is not saving faith.

·      Saul renounced/rejected the past & began to live in an entirely different way.

·      People do not need to experience radical change to be saved. A person can’t simply add belief in Jesus Christ to a current lifestyle of sin without repentance.

o   Jesus is not a commodity to be added to life but rather He must be the center of our life.

Empowered to Die

Empowered to Die

6/23/13

Acts 7:51-60

     Stephan was the first great Christian apologist who was about to become 1^st post resurrection martyr. He was accused of blaspheming God, Moses, law, temple, serious charges to Jew. He responded with a review of 2000 year history of Jewish worship in Gentile lands with temporary temple. Yet now they revered the contents and the building more than God whom it was constructed for!

·      Also reiterated Israel’s antagonism toward God & all His prophets.

·      Not much directly about Jesus Christ (only once), but He is seen in types/illustrations. ie. Moses, Joe, temple

   Jesus Christ perfect prophet & fulfillment of all OT prophecies.

·      The Jews, like their fathers, always resisted God. Ac 7:44, 51-54

o   Sanhedrin had the truth: rejected Jesus, the Apostles teachings, and miracles.

Here is turning point in Israel's spiritual history.

·      Now for at least 3^rd time hear and reject gospel. Act 4:8; 5:27, Heb. 3:7-12

o   Here is the final "unpardonable sin" of resisting HS.

Gospel is now moving from Jews to Gentiles.

·      Ironic: started with Stephen on trial and ended with the Sanhedrin on trial.

The Sanhedrin were angry at Stephen’s initial response but what pushed them over the edge was his vision…1^st recorded sighting of Jesus in glorified state after ascension.  Act 7:54-58, Mt 26:63-64

·      The last time Son of Man (Dan 7:13-14) used in NT & only time not spoken by Jesus.  

o   The Jews quickly saw the theological implications: Jesus the Christ is the Messiah & God.

Now the choice is to either execute Stephen too, or admit wrongly had Jesus was murdered.

·      It says they “rushed” with one accord. This shows solidarity of nation’s rejection Messiah.

o   rushed (hormaœ) used w/demon-possessed pigs & frenzied mob in Ephesus theater. Mk 5:13; Mt 8:32, Acts 19:29

·      Unbridled anger: stoned illegally & unscriptural (semblance of Law).

When confronted with their sin, the religious are enraged not receptive or repentant. Rev 11:15, 16:8-11

·      It’s hard face truth about ourselves.  Our prideful anger targets messenger or innocent… parent, spouse, friend, sibling, child. 

o   We need to ask for & receive forgiveness.

Offended or hurt person must be like Jesus and forgive & love enemies.

·      Don’t understand what they’ve done!  Understand what you did to Jesus!

o   Only way to forgive and love is to be controlled by & yielded to HS. Eph 4:32, Ac 7:59-60, Lk 23:34 & 46

·      Stephen's reaction was not a normal fleshly reaction, but godly, trusting, loving.

o   He prays for executioners just as Jesus Christ did….but  Stephan prays to Jesus.

God’s grace provides serenity/love in midst of violence/hatred.  

·      But there is no guarantee that the heart or actions of others will change….Stephen was murdered!

·      When death comes Jesus gives courage & special grace, not necessarily escape.

o   Stephan “fell asleep”. This was a reference to his body: to be absent from body is to be present with the Lord.

o   This is a lovely description of Christian death: temporary, takes from weariness, work, & consciousness of life’s problems to freshness of new day.

Grace enabled incredible things in his short earthly life. Act 8:1, 6:9, 21:39, 22:20

·      Stephen’s death was the providential means to spread Gospel.

·      God used his Spirit-filled life & death to profoundly impact Saul.

o   Scholars believe Stephan probably debated Paul in synagogue.

o   Interestingly, the things Stephan talks about Acts longest single speech and was latter developed in Paul’s epistles. 

 In one sense, Stephen, not Gamaliel was the teacher of Paul. 

·      We never know how God uses seemingly insignificant, “unsuccessful”, short lives to bring glory to Himself. (unsuccessful in the eyes of the world)

o   May God’s glory be the goal of every moment of our life, as well as the time of our death.

Chosen To Serve

Chosen to Serve

6-16-13

Acts 6:1-7 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Satan has failed to accomplish his purposes with the persecution, he has tried corruption in the church with Ananias and Sapphira and now Satan is attacking by using distraction and busyness.

We see in our text for today that there was a high value placed on caring for the widows and the poor in the early church. Let's look at James 1:27. So we know there was a high value put on the poor and the widows but what a lot of people don't understand is who the "Hellenists" were. Often times we just keep reading right over it. In order to understand what is going on here we need to know that there was an urban social problem happening and it was spilling over into the church. It was considered virtuous to be buried in Israel. The Hellenists were foreign born Jews who came to die (men usually have lower life expectancy than females) and left widows with no means of support because there was no family nearby to care for them. (Look at 1 Tim. 5:3-8) So some animosity developed between the Hebraic Jew and the Hellenists due to language barriers, cultural differences and racism. The Hellenists were looked upon as infected, they weren't true Jews because they were from outside Israel. It was racism! Also, there was scriptural barriers- the majority of the Hellenists used the Septuagint and the Hebraic Jews read the Old Testament in Hebrew. That is the social background to who the Hellenists were.

So now we come into the church where they were collecting to help the poor. On Friday morning a group of people from the church would gather food and financial donations, and then later in the day it was distributed to the poor and widows among the believers. Apparently, somehow the Hellenistic Jews were falling through the cracks. Interesting fact, the word tables (trapezais) was for serving food or financial banking. There was a misunderstanding that started to develop. It is easy to fall through the cracks. We can come to church and get involved and then something happens in our lives and we expect people to read our minds; we take an offence and stop coming to church and maybe people don't notice and then we think nobody cares. Maybe we need to ask ourselves if we are really involved or do we just show up on Sunday? We need to communicate with the leaders. The same thing happened here. The widows were not getting what they deserved. Someone came and told the Apostles. It seems it was not intentional; it was not deliberate. The leadership did not see the turmoil under the surface. So it took away from the emphasis on the gospel; it hurts the body of Christ and the message of the gospel.

It was implied in the text that it should be the Apostles that take care of this personally because they were the paid staff. The people were supporting them so they could preach the gospel. Well, meeting both physical and spiritual needs is very important. When we look at the Greek word for serve and minister it is the same word. So in other words, cleaning up after the meal is the same word as me (Dan) preaching. We separate them out, but when we are using the gifts God has given us to serve it is all the same. There is no separation of the sacred and the secular for the Holy Spirit. All we do is for the glory of God and should be used for His Honor.

There was an expectation that the Apostles were personally going to handle this issue. The Apostles said this is not going to work for us. It wasn't that they thought it was beneath them, but they felt it was unwise for them to leave the preaching of the Word to make sure the widows got what they needed. It would have been sinful for them to do that because it was not what God was calling them to do, nor did they have the time or physical energy to do both well. That was the exact same result the Sanhedrin tried to accomplish with threats. They wanted to stop/hinder the Apostles from preaching. Satan uses "good" distractions so there is not time to do what really matters. Satan still does that! He causes us to get so busy with "good stuff" and we have no time for God. Christians let the busyness of life get in the way of the things God has called us to. (Worship, reading the Word, prayer, fellowship, outreach...)

The solution to the problem was teamwork. It was a unity and harmony between the spiritual leaders and the flock. We see the plurality of leadership. The Apostles outlined 5 requirements that they have for these men and then gave the freedom to the people to figure out how and who they are going to choose for this role. There is a division of responsibility. The Apostles trusted the H.S. to lead and guide others too. Take a look at the 5 requirements in Acts 6:3-5a - Had to be a believer, seven, men, of good repute (men of integrity both in church and in community),full of the Spirit (solid spiritually), full of wisdom (ability to apply God's Word to every day situations). "...and what they said pleased the whole gathering." So all were in agreement.

Some would say that these are the first deacons. The word here is not deacons. They only took from one particular group (the Hellenists) so it was not a picture of the whole body of Christ. The best description is that this as a solution to a particular problem that the church was struggling with. This is the best interpretation of these men. Their specific ministry was distribution. These guys were to unload some of the weight for the Apostles so they could do what they needed to do. Just as the deacons and elders in our church today. The body of Christ has to step up and the deacons are one way to serve.

The whole church gathered together and picked seven men. All of them were Hellenists (look at Acts 6: 5b-6) Notice the Apostles released them to do the work, but the Apostles appointed/confirmed them. (Checks and balances) Look at Romans 12:10. The body of Christ was gathering and the Hellenistic Jews were feeling unloved and left out. They voted the minority into the group (the Hellenists) not the Hebraic Jews. The Hellenist Jews could best take care of the Hellenists and the minority saw the majority's humility and love toward them. This is God's Great wisdom. Ultimately God places people in positions.

• ·      The results of this were that God was glorified.
• ·      If there was favoritism it ended.
• ·      We don't see this coming up again anywhere in scripture, so the widows were fed.
• ·      A church split was avoided.
•     The 12 Apostles continued to preach the gospel. Satan's clever attack was thwarted!

  What lessons can we learn?

• ·      It is easy to fall through the cracks- we have to communicate.
• ·      Satan likes to get us busy with good things so we don't get to the best.
• ·      In a healthy, loving, effective, Spirit-led church everyone must serve Jesus with his or her gifts. Use your gifts...step out! (Read Luke 22:25-27; Eph. 4:11-12; 1 Cor. 12:7,14,19-20) Every Christian is a minister, not just the paid staff. Every one of you needs to use your gift. You know why? Because our body is handicapped if you don't. Your gifts need to be used in this body; if you don't serve there is something missing!  Choose to serve, not opt out... Do it for the glory of God!