I’m reading the book of Acts again. It’s definitely one of my top five most exciting and inspiring portions of the Bible. I don’t read every Bible book every year, but I never miss Acts, for several reasons.
- Acts renews my faith when I witness the boldness of the first Christians, the Holy Spirit’s active participation, and the miraculous signs that accompanied the early disciples’ proclamations of Jesus the Messiah. It inspires me to endeavor to be more like them.
- Acts teaches us the supremacy of the name of Christ. The early Christians demonstrated the humble practice of keeping Jesus Christ first, bringing glory to him rather than to themselves. This is a relevant issue to address in our self-obsessed culture, and these people and their stories are worth emulating.
One of the most dramatic illustrations of these facts and principles occurs in Acts 8. It centers on the character of Philip, followed by a contrasting story about Simon the Sorcerer.
We don’t know a lot about Philip. In Acts 6, we learn that he was one of the seven men chosen to minister to the material needs of the Gentile Christians. The qualifications to serve on this team were: holding a good reputation in the community and being filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom. By this standard, Philip was well known among them as a Spirit-filled, wise man of God.
When persecution arose in Jerusalem, most of the disciples were scattered to other locations. Saul (later converted and called Paul the Apostle) was wreaking havoc, chasing after Christians to stop the spread of the gospel. Philip went to Samaria,
and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So, there was great joy in that city. (Acts 8:5-8).
Can you imagine it? The story doesn’t mention any traveling companions, so it appears that Philip made this tremendous impact singlehandedly.
Notice that his first act was proclamation of the gospel, the good news that Messiah had come. Accompanying the message were supernatural signs—demons fleeing hysterically, and crippled people healed. Mark’s gospel foreshadows scenarios like this:
Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. (Mark 16:20).
Philip’s words were confirmed by works of power, and the outcome was the abundant fruit of joy!
Now we turn to Simon, a famous magician in Samaria, who
for some time…had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people…He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. (Acts 8:9-11).
Simon had become what we might now call an “influencer.”
Simon understandably became concerned when Philip came to town and performed miraculous signs through the power of the Holy Spirit. Competition!
But the word and works of Philip were compelling, the Spirit broke through, and Simon himself believed and was baptized. The one who had amazed the public through demonic tricks was now overcome by the power of the true God.
Unfortunately, Simon’s conversion (like most of ours if we’re honest) didn’t instantly correct all of his character defects and pre-existing mindsets. He quickly twisted his blessing into a curse. This manifest in the next part of the story.
The narrator reports that Peter and John, still in Jerusalem, heard about the revival that had come to Samaria, and decided to come and lay hands on the new converts and impart the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Simon witnessed people being awakened to the Holy Spirit, and got it in his head that he’d like to purchase this impartation ministry with money and operate it for himself. Like a Holy Spirit franchise for Samaria, perhaps. Peter discerned Simon’s wicked heart and motives and admonished him,
“Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” (Acts 8:22-23).
Simon received Peter’s chastisement and seemed genuinely frightened and repentant. The story doesn’t tell us more about happened next in Simon’s life. I’d like to assume that he found some humility that day.
We do learn of Philip’s next assignment. The Spirit picks him up and plops him down on a desert road, where he just happens to meet an Ethiopian eunuch and leads him to the Lord. This was not a small event. This man served the powerful queen of Ethiopia. Could it be that he returned to Ethiopia and influenced others—perhaps the queen herself—to put their faith in Jesus Christ?
After baptizing the man, Philip is picked up again, supernaturally, and plopped down in yet another place, while the eunuch goes on his way with great joy.
I love Philip. He knew who he was. He had an excellent character. He walked humbly and joyfully as an obedient servant of the Lord. He knew that his life was not his own, so he fully surrendered his will to God.
My point here in spelling out the contrast between these two individuals is to encourage us to surrender as Phillip did, and to watch our step to avoid the pride of Simon.
In our ministries and spheres of influence, whether large or small, pride can easily creep in, and we can begin to think of ourselves as something great. This is the beginning of a downfall.
No one is great but one. According to Jesus, no one is even good but one. And we know who that is. It is him.
Lord, help us to learn from Philip and Simon…about the dangers of spiritual pride and the joys of humble obedience.
