This morning as I was opening my Bible, I was reminded of my last two reflections, one about the Stoning of Stephen (Acts 7) and the other about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Gentiles during Peter's visit to them (Acts 11). I was reminded of a couple of verses in chapter 11 that referenced back to the stoning of Stephen and the result o of the persecution that broke out after it. Here are the verses - Acts 11:19-21 NIV:
[19] "Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. [20] Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. [21] The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord."
And here is a description of the persecution breaking out from the earlier account, with verses immediately following his death - Acts 8:1-8 NIV:
[1] "And Saul approved of their killing him."
"On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. [2] Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. [3] But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison."
[4] "Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. [5] Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. [6] When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. [7] For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. [8] So there was great joy in that city."
My reflection this morning was how God used a terrible situation and turned it into the spreading of the Gospel worldwide, for clearly before the stoning of Stephen the growth of the church was almost all Jerusalem centric, and focused solely on the Jews. There was a great effort underway by satan to try and destroy the church, and I am sure the thought was to kill the leaders, and squash this budding movement.
From the perspective of the believers, they were very afraid and they scattered immediately. Logistically this meant that thousands of believers scattered into the surrounding area of Judea and Samaria and even as far as Phonecia, Cyprus and Antioch, all of which had strong populations of Jews. If we just think about this from a mathematic perspective, according to Luke, the church went from being primarily Apostle lead, and spread to being almost 100% missionary!
We know from Acts 2 that there were about 120 followers in the upper room, and for this equation we can consider them Apostolic - by Acts 4 there were 5000 believers. So if we count the 120 as leaders and 5000 believers, the church was 2.4% leaders and 97.6% followers/believers. Once the persecution hit, those numbers immediately flipped and now the majority of believers were now preaching "the word wherever they went" and we see a completely different model for the spread of Christianity!
I am certainly not advocating persecution or disaster for the church, but what I am seeing is how impossible it is to stop the Holy Spirit! He will lead and guide and direct, and turn the worst situation into explosive growth and blessing! He is unaffected by the plans and efforts of man!
I am not overlooking the difficulty and struggle those that fled likely went through, for they were uprooting families and moving great distances in some cases. They were afraid and were being hunted by Saul and his colleagues. They were hard-pressed, but in the midst of all that, they saw God's plan and the Body of Christ expand and prosper. It was clearly not the plan of any man or leader, and yet the Holy Spirit stepped right in and took over! On top of that, He wouldn't settle for a spreading of the Good News among just the Jews, but directed them significantly to open the Gospel to the Gentiles!
The Holy Spirit was about something far greater than anyone likely understood for several years. It was in looking back upon the effects of the persecution that Luke was able to see the hand of God moving. Jesus had spoken prophetically about this and even given the Apostles the charge to go to all the world (Matt 28) but I am sure not a single one of them imagined the persecution following the killing of Stephen would be the enabling event. I am sure they likely had some plans for outreach and mission trips, and had some comfortable time-frames and plans, and instead we have persecution and scattering of the whole church!
So my encouragement this morning is to not worry about difficult situations or trouble caused by the plans of man! There is a path forward in the Holy Spirit that will take those difficult situations and circumstances and turn them into massive blessing and growth! I am also encouraged in my personal life to not worry so much, but to rather entrust myself to the Holy Spirit's guidance, direction and care! It might be difficult for a season, but God will be glorified and I will be blessed to see Him move in and through my life. So when things go bad, let us look to the Lord, believe in His ability to save and transform! Let us help one another and speak encouragement based on the history of God's faithfulness! Let us remember His promise that He will never leave or forsake us (Deut. 31:6)!
Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment