Let’s turn together to Acts 8. Last week’s passage was a tragedy. It’s probably the lowest point in  the book of Acts. The saintly Stephen has just been stoned to death. Afterwards Saul goes on a church persecuting rampage. And Jewish Christians who believe in Messiah Jesus are being forced out of  Jerusalem. It’s a sad state of affairs for the church. And nobody’s raising Stephen from the dead either.  Instead they just buried him with mourning and lamentation. And then Saul goes crazy against the  church. What happens next in this narrative?

Several years ago I read about something similar in what’s called the Boxer Rebellion in China.  During that time, at the turn of the twentieth century, many Christian missionaries were killed or forced  to leave China. And the missionaries were fearful because they left these fledgling Christian churches  with thousands of Chinese Christians behind. And they fretted over them and what was going to happen  to them. How were they going to survive without a Western missionary presence? 

But when missionaries were let back into the country several years later, to their great surprise  those churches of thousands in China had turned into churches of millions. And God did a mighty work  in China in the midst of that affliction without the leadership of those missionaries.

Similarly, you should know about the Tiananmen Square Massacre that took place almost 36  years ago and caused the death of hundreds, possibly even thousands of freedom-loving Chinese people.  The Chinese government won’t talk about it or acknowledge it. But God used that massacre to bring  about great revival in China. People in China started turning away from their repressive government and  turning to Christ as a result of that great tragedy. Praise the Lord! Nobody could have seen that 36 years  ago. But God did! 

Now what’s going to happen in Acts after the tragedy of Stephen’s death?  Well, what transpires  in the church in the following verses can be divided into two categories: 1) Opportunities and 2) Threats.  We’ll see both in this passage today. We’ll see…  

Opportunities and Threats to the Church’s Mission. 

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Write this down as a first opportunity and a first threat.  

1) The opportunity is evangelism and the threat is stagnation (8:4–8) 

Just by way of review, here’s what was happening just before Stephen died. The church was growing. People were getting saved in Jerusalem. Faith in Christ was exploding in Jerusalem. A conservative estimate for  the population of Jerusalem was something like 100,000 people at this time. And Luke tells us that 5,000 men  alone had gotten saved in Jerusalem (Acts 4:4). That’s 5% of the population right there, and that doesn’t even  include women and children who had gotten saved. Who knows at this point how many people in Jerusalem have gotten saved. But we do know that it was enough to make the religious leaders very nervous. 

Here’s the thing, though. The church had only scratched the surface of completing the mission that Jesus  had given them. They hadn’t even broken through the environs of Jerusalem, let alone the larger areas of Judea,  Samaria, and the ends of the earth.

So what does God do? Well God uses a tragic event in the life of the church, the martyrdom of Stephen,  to propel the church to accomplish its mission. God used the death of this good man, Stephen, to ignite a  revival that swept beyond the gates of Jerusalem. 

We touched on this a little bit last week. Look at verse 1. 

1 And Saul approved of [Stephen’s] 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. 

So now, look at verse 4. 

4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. 

Look at that. That’s awesome! The Greek word for “preaching” here is εὐαγγελίζω (euangelizō).  Our  English words “evangelism” and “evangelize” are derived from this word. The death of Stephen didn’t stagnate  or slow down the church in any way. It actually accelerated its growth through evangelism. 

They didn’t lie low until the heat died down. They didn’t let the persecution of the church or the death of  Stephen goad them into silence. No! As they were scattered, they preached. As they left Jerusalem, they spread  the word, the gospel. Stephen didn’t die in vain. His death was used by God to detonate a revival among those  who were scattered.  

Here’s the thing. God used the pain and suffering of his people to advance his greater purposes.  Does God do that? Has God done that in your life? How many of you can say that God used pain and  suffering in your life to bring about something great?  

And here’s my point in that. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. What’s good for  the goose is good for the geese. God also uses pain and suffering in the life of the collective church to  advance his purposes and get the message out.  

God used the death of Stephen and that great tragedy to push the early church out of their comfort zone  (i.e., Jerusalem). God used this persecution in Jerusalem to get the gospel out to Judea and Samaria, in order to  advance Christ’s mission. Let me put this way—God does not want the individual or the church to stagnate.  And he allows suffering in the life of his people, those whom he loves and cherishes as the apple of his eye, to  grow them and mature them and make them obedient to his purposes.  

Now watch this. Look at verse 5. 

4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them  the Christ. 

Two questions for verse 5: who’s Philip and where’s Samaria? Samaria was a region north of Jerusalem.  The city of Samaria was probably the ancient city of Shechem. It was roughly 30 miles north of Jerusalem. Now 30 miles is nothing for us in our day. That’s a trip across town. But in the first-century world, this  was a significant distance from Jerusalem. 

The Jerusalem Church Scatters

Samaria was a region that encapsulated a lot of villages. Jesus visited one of those villages in John 4,  when he encountered the Samaritan woman. But as you can see, Samaria had a very strategic location between  Galilee, where Jesus grew up, and Jerusalem. So there was a lot of movement in this area among the Jews.  Christ said he wanted his gospel spread to Jerusalem Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). And  you can see on this map, that Jesus was thinking in concentric circles growing from Jerusalem to the broader  region of Judea to the northern region of Samaria and then worldwide. 

Now as for Philip, this guy who went to Samaria, he was one of “the seven” in Acts 6, who, like  Stephen, was appointed by the apostles for distributing benevolence among the widows.  According to Acts  6:3, he was a man “full of the Holy Spirit.” So Philip is no slouch. He’s full of “Holy Spirit power” in his life.  

One of the things that you should have noticed already from our study of Acts is the need to be  “full of the Holy Spirit.” If you don’t have the Holy Spirit’s power coursing through your veins and  overflowing in your life, you are not going to serve the Lord powerfully. God doesn’t want his work done  in the flesh. He wants his work done in his power, as we labor full of the Holy Spirit. 

Now Stephen was a man full of the Holy Spirit. And they killed him. And you’d think that that  would be a devastating thing for the church. But God is like, “next man up!” “Stephen, you’re out. Come  home to me. Your work is done. Philip, you’re in. Go get it done.” 

Here’s something you need to know—no servant of God is indispensable. No preacher, no apostle,  no pastor, no elder is indispensable for God’s work. It’s next man up until Christ returns. The Holy  Spirit is the only one who’s indispensable for the work of the church. If you don’t have him, you’ve got  nothing, no matter what you have. If you have him you have everything, regardless of what you lack. 

And so Philip, “full of the Spirit” comes to town, in Samaria, to preach the gospel. Look at verse 6. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were  healed.

Philip was able to do the kinds of miracles that the apostles were doing in Jerusalem. Once again God  has endowed Philip with the unique ability to heal and exorcise demons in order to authenticate the message and  spread the gospel more quickly.15 Does God always do this? No! But he does it here. 

Other than Christ’s encounter with the Samaritan women in John 4, there was little gospel witness in  this community. And God wanted to spread this message quickly. And so he gave Philip unusually powerful,  supernatural, spiritual gifts.

Now here’s the thing about the Samaritans. You need to know this. The Samaritans hated the Jews. And the feeling was mutual. The Samaritans were historically part of the northern kingdom of Israel. But  after the Assyrian invasion in 722 BC, King Sargon II sent non-Jewish people to settle in Samaria and intermarry with the Jews (see 2 Kings 17:24–40). So Samaritans weren’t full-blooded Jews. They were  viewed by the Jews as half-breeds.  It was said in this day that to eat with a Samaritan was like eating  pork, a detestable thing in the mind of a Jew. 

Additionally over time the Samaritans developed their own religious system apart from the Jews. They  erected their own temple, which the Jews destroyed. They had their own traditions that differed from the Jews. They worshipped on different mountains, which was confusing for the Samaritan woman in John 4.

In the Gospel of Luke, Luke records this amazing exchange between Jesus and his apostles. Luke 9:51– 55 states, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent  messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But  the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and  John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he  turned and rebuked them.’” 

The Jews and the Samaritans hated each other. And so this picture of Philip, in Acts 8, when he comes  waltzing into Samaria and starts preaching Christ and doing miracles is, quite frankly, remarkable. And these  Samaritans get saved. Christ’s mission is getting accomplished.

By the way, Philip and the rest of the church had plenty of reasons to hunker down and keep quiet with  their message. Here’s what human wisdom would say, “Hey Philip, Philip buddy, don’t make waves right  now. Just lie low for a while and let the heat die down a bit. Let’s just consolidate our gains. Let’s bask in  our successes for a while. And let’s hold off on any new gospel ventures.”  

I can see even well-meaning people in Jerusalem saying, “Stephen went too far. He said too much. He  was too bold. And now we’re getting persecuted. And now we’ve got to leave Jerusalem and live like  exiles in places we hate, like Samaria. If only he would have said a little less. If only he would’ve been less  aggressive.” That’s not God’s interpretation of the story. That’s not how God judges Stephen’s actions. 

The truth is, after Stephen’s death, Philip and the rest of the early church had plenty of reasons, humanly  speaking, to forgo Christ’s mission and lie low for a while. Also they had social reasons to ignore the spiritual  needs of their hated neighbors, the Samaritans.  

But instead of stagnation, what we have here is proliferation. Instead of cold, stale, weak, ineffectual  Christianity, we have vibrant, joyous, obedient, Spirit-filled, Christ-exalting Christianity. And here’s the end  product. Here’s what happens in Samaria thanks to Philip’s witness. Look at verse 8.  8 So there was much joy in that city. 

Do you remember when you first came to Christ? Was that a joyful experience for you? Do you  remember when you first heard and received the good news? What about when you first heard that “God  demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8)? Was that  a wonderful moment in your life? Was there jubilation when you first believed? The only thing that  compares with the deep joy that we experience in our own salvation is when God uses us to bring those  things about in another person’s life. I love those experiences.

When the church gets attacked by Satan and his minions, there are opportunities and there are  threats. The threat is stagnation. The opportunity is evangelism.  

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Here’s a second opportunity and a second threat to the church’s mission. Write this down as #2.  2) The opportunity is new life and the threat is old habits (8:9–13) 

Have you ever heard this expression? Finish this if you know it—“Old habits die … hard!” Is that  a true statement? Yes it is, and we’ll see evidence of that in the text. 

Look at verse 9. 

9 But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying  that he himself was somebody great. 

10 They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.”

 Now let me let you in on a little secret. When people don’t know Jesus, they look for weak  substitutes. When people don’t know the power of God, they call “Great,” that which is not so great. And  that’s what’s happening here. Look at verse 11. 

11 And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. 

Now “magic” is a broad term in Greek. It’s broader than the way we would use it in English. The  magi, for example, in the Gospel of Matthew were “magicians” of a sort (i.e., “the wise men” who came to see  Jesus in Matt 2:1–12). And the term “magic” was used for “scholarly men” like them, as well as for what we  would call magic in our own day—the hocus pocus kind of stuff. Some of the magic in the first-century world  was parlor tricks and “sleight of hand.” And some of it was downright demonic. All of that was put under the  umbrella of what people in Luke’s day called “magic.” 

Now I don’t know what Simon’s “magic” was. Was Simon a spiritist? Or was he Harry Houdini? I’m inclined to think he was just an illusionist with some clever parlor tricks. I think “sorcerer” is probably too  strong a description of him. Maybe he was accessing demonic power with his “magic.” Maybe he wasn’t. But  there’s obviously something demonic going on with Simon because he was going around saying, “I am great. I  am great.” He let people say that he had the power of God, which we know, he didn’t. 

But watch this. Something fantastic happens here. Simon, this huckster… this person people called  “great” who in my mind is just a trickster, wanabee sorcerer … gets saved! Along with a group of Samaritans,  Philip preaches him and shazam! … something really powerful happens. 

Look at verse 12.  

12 But when [the Samaritans] believed Philip as he preached good news  

This is the real power of God! This is the real power in this world!  

12 But when [the Samaritans] believed Philip as he preached good news [εὐαγγελίζω] about the kingdom of God and the name of  Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 

13 Even Simon himself believed, 

Do magicians get saved? Do prideful people come to faith in Christ? Do enemies of Christ become his  friends? Absolutely! This is great.  

The gospel was preached. The name of Jesus was believed. Philip was doing his evangelistic best, and  people got saved. And then people got baptized. It’s like Pentecost all over again. 

And you might think that Simon, after Philip starts encroaching on his turf in Samaria, would oppose  Philip. “Vile fiend. How dare you come to my territory! This is my land. These are my subjects. Take  your gospel back to Jerusalem where you belong! You and your Jewish gospel. We don’t want you here.” Wouldn’t you expect that from Simon? 

That’s not what happens. This shows how the power of God on display in Samaria.  

13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip.  

He’s part of Philip’s entourage now. He’s a disciple. 

And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed. 

We’ve seen already the threat of “old habits” that die hard, and we’re going to see in just a minute  how those old habits can still surface even after a person gets saved. But notwithstanding the threat of  “old habits,” there is a wonderful opportunity available to the church among the unchurched people of  this world and it’s this: new life. You preach the gospel. People get saved. New life! 

Sometimes you preach the gospel and people get radically saved like at Pentecost. That’s what we  see here with these Samaritans. And sometimes you preach the gospel like Stephen did to the religious  leaders and they reject you and hate you for it. The salvation of a person’s soul is ultimately outside of  our hands. Our job is not to save people. Our job is to preach good news.  

I’ve said this before, but let me say it again. If a church doesn’t evangelize, it’ll fossilize. If a  church doesn’t get excited about new life and fresh salvations in the body of Christ it’ll die a slow death. You can always tell when a church is dead spiritually. It’s when someone gets saved and everyone in the  church acts like, “Whoop–de–do! Who cares?” Now they might not say that exactly, but you can feel that  in a church that’s dead. 

But we all know that there is this great joy that comes from new life in Christ. A healthy church is  going to have new babies in the nursery and baby believers in the fellowship. That’s the opportunity  before us if we’re willing to take advantage of it. 

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Here’s a third opportunity and a third threat to the church’s mission. Write this down as #3.  3) The opportunity is spiritual instruction and the threat is sinful ignorance (8:14–25) Now watch what happens next. Whenever you have new life in the church, you typically have bad habits that carry over into that church from those new believers. Nobody gets saved and then automatically turns into a  super Christian. That just doesn’t happen. Salvation is the start of the sanctification process that God wants to  do in the life of a believer. And we’re going to see that here with Simon, this baby-Christian, who still has some  bad habits.  

Look at verse 14. 

14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John,

 By the way, this is the last time that the Apostle John is mentioned as a character in the book of Acts. So prepare to say goodbye to John. He shows up again in the NT in 1–3 John and Revelation. Luke says that Peter and John… 

 … came down and prayed for [the Samaritans] that they might receive the Holy Spirit,   for [the Holy Spirit] had not yet fallen on  any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 

17 Then [Peter and John] laid their hands on [the Samaritans] and [the Samaritans] received the Holy Spirit.

 Now this is a highly debated passage in Christendom today. So let me just take a moment, before we  deal with Simon, to explain what I think is going on here. I don’t want the main points of this passage to get  sidetracked with this, but this is such an important issue that I think it deserves our attention. The issue here is this receiving of the Holy Spirit. Why didn’t the Samaritans receive the Holy Spirit  when they got saved? Does the indwelling of the Holy Spirit occur at a time other than salvation?  

Here’s how I make sense of this issue. There are instances in the Bible where the indwelling of the Holy  Spirit is concurrent, meaning it happens simultaneously, with salvation. When a person is born again, they are  indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This is what we call regeneration. And regeneration is indistinguishable from  justification. In other words, justification, salvation, regeneration, born again, indwelt with the Spirit… these  terms are interchangeable and coextensive in the life of a believer.  

The best text for this understanding is Ephesians 1:13–14. Paul says there, “In him you also, when you  heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy  Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory”  (1:13–14). Paul would also tell the church in Rome in Romans 8:9, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in  the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not  belong to him.” So at least by the time that Paul would write Romans, he believed that belief in Christ and the  indwelling of the Holy Spirit were coextensive. You couldn’t have one without the other. 

Now historically we have three instances where belief in Christ preceded a separate and later receiving of the Holy Spirit. The first instance of this is Pentecost in Acts 2. And that’s easy to explain because the Holy  Spirit was initially poured out at Pentecost. He indwelt believers for the first time. A second example is here in  Acts 8 with these Samaritans. And then the third occurrence is with Cornelius and his Gentile family in Acts  10. 

So the question is this. We have Biblical examples of the Holy Spirit indwelling a believer at salvation—Ephesians 1:13; Romans 8:9; see also 1 Corinthians 12:13 and even other places in Acts where  they seem to take place at the same time. And we have these other examples where faith in Christ is followed  later by the receiving of the Holy Spirit—Acts 2, Acts 8, and Acts 10. Which is normative in our day when we  come to Christ? Which is descriptive of something that happened uniquely, and which is prescriptive for us? I  believe that the norm for us in our day is concurrent salvation and receiving of the Holy Spirit. In other words, I  think this passage, Acts 8, is the exception, not the norm. 

If that’s the case, then the question is why did God make this exception in the case of the Samaritans in  Acts 8? What’s he doing here? Here’s what I would suggest. I think God did this unique thing in Samaria in  order to authenticate this new move of the Holy Spirit outside of the Jewish world and into the non-Jewish  world. I think Peter and John needed to see with their own eyes and affirm as apostles what God had done in  saving these non-Jewish people. And so God waited until the apostles came to deliver this guarantee of the Holy  Spirit to the Samaritans.  

And in doing that, God created a new unity in the church between Jews and Samaritans. Remember  these two groups hated each other. And this move of God was authenticated. God was in this, and there was  no denying that. Nobody can say, “O those Samaritans think they believe in Jesus, but they don’t have the  Holy Spirit.” They do. And there’s no denying it. They are part of the “capital-C Church” now. 

It’s not really about Jews and Samaritans and Gentiles anymore. In Christ, there is no such thing as a  half-breed! The ground is level at the feet of the cross. It’s not about male and female or rich and poor or slave  and free. It’s about saved and unsaved. It’s about whether or not the Holy Spirit lives inside of a person! That’s  the way that God is dividing the world from this point forward. 

So why is this significant for us? Why have I taken the time to unpack this difficult issue in this  difficult passage? Because we are one in Christ. We have the same Holy Spirit, regardless of our age,  gender, race, demographic or denominational affiliation. That’s something to celebrate. That’s something  to praise God for. 

And also let me say this. You don’t have to beg God to give you the Holy Spirit. And you don’t  need an apostle in our day to come to you and implant the Holy Spirit inside of you. In this post-apostolic  era, God gives the Spirit to you as a free gift when you give your life to Christ. When you get saved, not  only do you get salvation from your sins and an everlasting inheritance, but you also get the greatest  force on planet earth deposited inside of you to help you become more like Christ. The Holy Spirit lives  inside of you, if you are a believer. 

The Holy Spirit is a gift. You can’t work for that gift. You can’t manufacture that gift. You can’t  fake it either. And you certainly can’t pay for the Holy Spirit, as we’ll see in just a minute. So, back to the narrative. Here’s what Luke records next in verse 18. Watch what happens with this  “baby-Christian” Simon. He hasn’t parted yet with some of his bad habits. The threat with new believers who  are still a little rough around the edges is sinful ignorance. We’re going to see that now. Look at verse 18. 

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.” 

Now this is a scary moment right here. We just saw a few chapters before this the story of Ananias and  Saphira (Acts 5:1–11). They also had a twisted view of money and the power of God. So you can imagine that  this is not going to go over well with the Apostle Peter. Peter’s liable to blow a gasket right now because of  this. 

And think about this for a moment. Have you ever seen a baby-Christian do something that made  you cringe? That’s how I feel about this situation. I just want to say, “Simon, what are you doing? Haven’t  you heard about Ananias and Sapphira? Peter’s about to lose it with you.” This is a “bless your heart,  this guy doesn’t know what he’s doing” moment in the life of this new believer Simon. And Simon Peter is  about to lose it with him.  

Look at verse 20.  

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.” 

What’s the threat with a new believer like Simon? The threat is sinful ignorance. The threat is bad  habits. And bad habits die hard. Simon’s been a believer for about ten minutes, and he is already being  threatened by Peter with excommunication. 

11 

But what’s the opportunity here? The opportunity is spiritual instruction. Simon’s about to grow. He’s  about to learn a valuable lesson, if he’s teachable. And who better than Simon Peter to teach him? Now some people have surmised from these verses that Simon wasn’t actually saved at this time. How  could he be saved and think that he could buy these apostolic gifts? And I know good people and good pastors  who conclude from this that Simon wasn’t saved. They assume that he was a false convert. I understand where  they’re coming from, but I respectfully disagree.  

I think that Simon’s salvation in verse 13 is legit. By inference also, he was filled with the Spirit when  Peter and John laid hands on the Samaritans in verse 17. I know that sometimes people feign true conversion  and even get baptized. I know that. I’ve seen that! But I don’t see that here. I think Luke would have clued us  into that more clearly if that was the case.  

What I see here is a baby-Christian doing something stupid. Do baby-Christians do stupid things  sometimes? Do mature Christians do stupid things sometimes too? Absolutely! 

Some people assume that because Peter told Simon to repent in verse 22 that this is an indication that  Simon wasn’t truly saved. But I think that’s a false view of repentance. Do saved people not need to repent?  They do! I have to do that often. There’s power that comes from open-hearted confession of sin and repentance  from it.  

I don’t repent from sin now as a Christian because I need to get saved. And I don’t repent in order  to be saved. That ship has sailed. That salvation has been secured for me on the day of my salvation… on  the day that I received Christ as my Savior. I repent now because that’s what saved people do. I do it for  sanctification not salvation. And as the Holy Spirit, living inside of us, pricks our consciences and  convicts us of sin, we repent and draw close to the Lord. 1 John 1:8 says, “If we confess our sins, he is  faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 

Now for the record, I do believe that there are false converts in the church. I believe that there are weeds  among the wheat (see Jesus’s parable in Matt 13:24–30). There is such a thing as apostasy too. John said,  “They went out from us, but they were not of us” (1 John 2:17). But that’s not what I see here with Simon.  

Because look at verse 24. 

24 And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.” 

I don’t look on Simon’s words here with suspicion. I think he was sincere. I think he recognized his  error and humbled himself and sought the intercession of these apostles.  

Sometimes, as we see wonderfully illustrated for us here, God uses another believer—maybe a teacher  or a mature disciple—to help us see our own sin when we are blind to it. And I’ve come to see that as a gift  from God. That’s one of the many blessings of being in a church community.  

I love two things about what happens between these two Simons here. First of all, I love that Simon  Peter didn’t hold back with Simon. He didn’t pussyfoot around with him. He didn’t pull him aside and say softly, “O Simon, bless your heart!” The depth of Simon’s sin and his enslavement to these bad habits  required a direct, bold, aggressive confrontation. Peter let him have it. The health of the church was at stake  here.  

And here’s another thing that I love about this passage. Simon received this correction. He was  teachable. He repented. Simon “the Great” wasn’t so great. He copped to his sin and humbled himself. And the  church was protected from this great error and the perpetuation of old sin habits. With every threat in the  church, there’s an opportunity. Where sinful ignorance is present here, God has appointed leaders in the  church to give spiritual instruction. 

By the way, Jesus didn’t send the apostles out to just make converts. The Great Commission is more  than just conversion. We’re not called to just make converts. Jesus told us to make disciples. We don’t just  get people saved and then “next, you’re done” … move on to the next person. Jesus told us to go into all  the nations baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all  that I have commanded you. 

Simon, as a new believer, could have screwed up this new Samaritan church in a hurry if he wasn’t  confronted! Simon was a danger to himself and others. The same is true in our own day when baby-Christians,  who haven’t dealt with their sin, try to lead the church, or they refuse to be taught and instructed by church  leaders. 

Or—this is the greater threat, I think—when leaders in the church refuse to confront the baby-Christians  and the sins that they are enslaved to, that could jeopardize the health of the church also. That’s a real threat in  today’s churches. Many Christian leaders today lack the courage to stand up to sin and confront it when it  jeopardizes the health of the church. 

As a conclusion to our text, look at verse 25. 

25 Now when they [that’s Peter and John] had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the  gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. 

So there’s an example of the apostles laboring themselves to fulfill Christ’s mission. They didn’t just  delegate that to the likes of Philip and the Apostle Paul. They were preaching the gospel in other Samaritan  villages, not just the city where Simon was located. 

I think it’s wonderful here how John especially was preaching to the Samaritans. John wanted Jesus to  call down fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritan villages. Remember that? That’s how much he hated them. Now he’s going about these Samaritans villages and preaching the gospel and giving them an opportunity for  saving faith. “Come join my family. Come be my brother or sister in Christ.” That’s amazing! What a  wonderful transformation God has brought about in Peter and John’s life as well as Simon and these Samaritans.  

God’s changing their lives too, even as apostles! God’s sanctifying them. The work of discipleship  doesn’t stop just because you become a spiritual leader in the church.  

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I’ll close with this. I don’t have any great illustration to close with. I don’t have a great quote that  really summarizes what I’m trying to drive home here. I wish I did.  

Instead of closing with something like that, let me close this way. Let me close with a question. What opportunities are there for us right now as a church? What are our threats and what are our  opportunities? And are you taking advantage of those opportunities?  

Without judging you in any way, let me just ask that question again: Are you taking advantage of  the opportunities that God is giving the church? Are you serving Christ? Are you evangelizing for  Christ? Are you committed to kingdom work and the proliferation of the gospel?  

Let me just make this plea on behalf of Christ and his church. There are thousands of people in  San Antonio, Texas, right now, who will spend eternity separated from Almighty God. What are we  going to do about that? I believe that what Jesus said in his days is true in our day, “The fields are white  unto harvest” (John 4:35).  

The opportunities are there for us as a church to fulfill Christ’s mission. Here’s my suggestion— spend yourself on those things. Spend yourself on the joy that comes when a person gives themself to  Christ for the first time. Spend yourself on evangelism that leads to new life in Christ. Spend yourself on  spiritual instruction and discipleship.  

I’m not saying quit your job and hit the streets preaching the gospel. God might be calling some of  us to that. I’m saying go to work tomorrow with a “mission mentality.” Give yourself to these things:  evangelism, discipling, new life, new birth, salvation, sanctification, spiritual instruction, etc. O what  amazing opportunities are out there for us!  

Spend yourself on those things. The opportunity is there for us to take advantage of. Let’s not  waste that opportunity. Let’s pray for that right now.