the evangelist, the charlatan, and the convert (1)

Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in 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 8:4-8

God can bring good things out of bad.

That’s a great truth that many generations of Christians have proved in their own experience: sickness, unemployment, persecution, poverty, failure, bereavement, you name them – however distressing and painful they may be at the time, God can and does bring great good out of them.

The tragic death of Stephen (Acts 7) is a good example. Probably still a relatively young man, no doubt with a wife and children, he is stoned to death for a message he preached to the Jewish council shortly after the day of Pentecost. Luke tells us that “godly men buried him and mourned deeply for him” (Acts 8:2). They were unashamed of their grief.

To make matters worse, fear that the same thing might happen to them drove many of the early Jesus-followers to flee Jerusalem and look for safety elsewhere. With the result… well, look at the verses above. A Pentecost-like revival broke out in Samaria and “there was great joy in that city”.

At the heart of the spiritual revival in Samaria was Philip. This wasn’t the Philip who was one of Jesus’ original twelve. No: he was one of the seven men (Stephen was another) chosen by the church to serve as “deacons” (that’s the title they have often been given in church history) according to Act 6:1-7. We don’t read anything more about him in the New Testament, though he pops up again in Acts 21:8 as “Philip the evangelist”.

Philip is the central actor in the drama of Acts 8, and he is well worth focussing on. The other main characters are Simon Magus (verses 9-24) – a “sorcerer” or magician; we might call him a charlatan – and the Ethiopian eunuch (verses 26-40). I want to devote the next three blogs to each of these men in turn, under the general heading “The evangelist, the charlatan and the convert”.

But first, today, a comment on the main theme of chapter 8: that is, evangelism.

Evangelism, of course, basically means bringing people to faith in Christ. It’s what Jesus told his disciples to do after he ascended into heaven: “Go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:16-20). What is particularly interesting about Acts 8 is that it shows us two completely different types of evangelism.

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Verses 4-25 are all about what today might be called “mass evangelism”, the preaching of the gospel to crowds of people. Looking back over church history perhaps the most famous examples are John Wesley and George Whitfield in the eighteenth century, and Billy Graham in the twentieth.

This type of evangelism goes right back to John the Baptist and Jesus, of course. The Gospels make it clear that often when Jesus preached in even quite remote places, enormous numbers of people flocked to hear him. With him it was all unplanned and spontaneous, whereas today, in the western world at least, it is far more likely to be well-organised.

But whatever, the basic intention is that many people should hear the gospel at the same time, and the aim and expectation is that some at least will become followers of Jesus.

That certainly happened in Samaria! “When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs that he did, they all paid close attention to him” (verse 6). As in the ministry of Jesus, remarkable miracles accompanied the preaching of God’s word.

This is not something we often see in the western world today; but there are reports of it from Africa, Latin America and elsewhere. It is open to criticism sometimes for being over-emotional and even manipulative of impressionable people. And yes, no doubt there are times when criticism is due – especially when the evangelists involved seem overly concerned with getting people to part with their money.

But we shouldn’t be too cynical or sceptical. Personally, I would welcome a modern-day Philip, wouldn’t you? Why not? – as long as the people involved were humble, truly called, and gifted by God, and everything was soaked in the Holy Spirit.

Is this something we should be more keen to pray for?

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But this must never displace the second type of evangelism we find in Acts 8: personal evangelism. Here, again, Philip is the person to focus on.

We can picture him revelling in the success of his ministry in Samaria; every new day must have brought new challenges and excitement. And then, remarkably, this: “An angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Go south to the road – the desert road – that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza’. So he started out…” (verses 26-27).

What strange things God sometimes does! Why pluck Philip out of his breath-taking ministry and send him into the desert! Answer, because he wanted him to meet just one single individual.

But we’ll come back to that next time…

For now, let’s simply mull over the question: Evangelism, of whatever kind… do I take it seriously?

Lord Jesus, you are the greatest good news this world has ever received. Please help me not to keep you to myself! Help me to be an evangelist! Amen.