God's Big Plan: The Scattered Church

Although the early church had faced opposition from the religious leaders in Jerusalem, the death of Stephen precipitated a new, more intense wave of persecution. But while persecution may throw the church into confusion it doesn’t throw God into confusion. As the early church scatters Luke tells us the story of the next step in the fulfilment of the command of Jesus to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

Interestingly it’s through the scattered church, not the centralised, Apostle led church of Jerusalem that this new phase comes about. There is no sense of Philip being commissioned to go to Samaria, it’s just the place where he arrives as the church scatters.

In was through those who had been scattered by the persecution that followed Stephens’ death that the gospel was preached in Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. It was from Cyprus that a group of believers travelled to Antioch and preached to the Gentiles, and it was the church in Antioch that commissioned Paul and Barnabas to set off on their first world mission trip.

Evangelism was never meant to be centred on the few who had the gift, on the few who had been with Jesus, but was always meant to involve every person.

What you need to know about persecution!

#1 It’s inevitable

Luke 21:12ff "But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life.
John 15:18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

2Tim.3:12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

#2 It can’t separate you from God’s love

Rom. 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution

#3 It’s a step towards character

Suffering produces perseverance and perseverance character (Rom.5:3)

Responding to persecution

Whatever form it takes, persecution comes to us all. Our response must be integrated into our lifestyle as followers of Jesus. Our response might be to withdraw, to consolidate what we have and to erect barriers to keep us safe from the outside world. But there’s a problem with that. The outside world is the reason we are here. Whether we face persecution or not, the mission goes on. God is building his church, Jesus is actively transforming lives and he invites, he calls, he commands us to be partners with him.

Lessons from the scattered church

Lesson #1: You can bring the gospel to a new community

As we have seen, this mission trip focused on one person, Philip. One person available to God, doing what he could do. Not an apostle, specially commissioned, just an ordinary member of the church. Yes, Philip was one of the group along with Stephen who was chosen in Acts 6, but he was chosen for his faithful life to serve food. He wasn’t set apart as an evangelist or missionary. He just ended up being one because he found himself in a place where the local didn’t know Jesus.

Lesson #2: The gospel crosses old barriers

I wonder if Philip went to Samaria because he knew no self-respecting Jewish authority would follow him there. Perhaps he felt a common bond of rejection with the Samaritans. Whatever the reason, by seeking simply to serve God, he ended up sharing Jesus across an old barrier.

Lesson #3: Evangelism isn’t the preserve of the apostles

And it’s not the preserve of the deacons either!

We’ve already talked about this a little, but the truth is that God looks for the available heart. I’m sure you know the illustration that if an evangelist preached every night and through his or her ministry 1,000 people became Christians each night, in three years a million people would become Christians.

Sounds impressive.

The population of the world is 6,000 times that.

On the other hand, if just one person reaches one other person in one year, and then those two reach two more, and those four reach four more… in a single generation the whole world can be reached.

If we always leave evangelism to those whom we think have the gift, then we’re in danger of abandoning whole generations.

Lesson #4: You can’t keep the kingdom down

The statistics keep telling us that fewer and fewer people go to church today than in previous generations. Our own experience convinces us that people are harder to reach than ever before, that they have more doubts, more questions and less interest in traditional faith values.

But the kingdom still grows.

Lesson #5: The scattered church needs to be a connected church too

Acts 7 presents all sorts of problems and challenges to the church. What actually happened when Philip preached, did the people actually get born-again, actually become fully fledged Christ-followers, or did that have to wait until the apostles came? Are there several phases to conversion, is an experience of the Holy Spirit always a separate experience?

What we must remember is that Acts is a description of what happened not a prescription for what will or should happen all the time.

Perhaps the apostles realised that if the church were to remain connected then they would need to go and be seen to be blessing this new congregation of believers. They needed to make a public statement that Paul would later articulate as there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free.

An old barrier was broken, but old prejudices would take a while to dismantle.