In Acts 8:1-3, we have the the newly-formed Church scattered from Jerusalem by a great persecution in connection with the stoning of Stephen. He was the first martyr of Christ’s Church. In Acts 7 we have a great sermon of Stephen in which he recounts God’s faithful dealings with His people under the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants.

In his sermon, Stephen focuses in on the lives of Joseph, Jacob’s second youngest son by his wife Rachel, and on Moses. The reason why he focuses on these two Israelites is to show how these two were either betrayed or rejected by God’s people at first, only to be vindicated later by God. In the same way, Jesus was rejected by the majority of the Jews, only to be vindicated by God when He raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. The true servants of God always experience suffering in this world at the hands of the majority.

Like Wind-blown Seeds

In the persecution that followed Stephen’s stoning, the young Church is scattered like wind-blown seeds to the outskirts of Judea, to Samaria and to the ends of the Roman civilized world. Philip, the Spirit-filled deacon, ended up fleeing to a city in Samaria, and then preaching Jesus as the crucified and risen Christ/Messiah (Acts 8:4-13). God accompanied Philip’s preaching with miraculous signs. Many Samaritans became followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philip was then directed by God’s Spirit to meet an Ethiopian eunuch, the Treasurer of Queen Candace’s government, as he was going back to Ethiopia, after worshiping in Jerusalem (Acts 8:26-40). When Philip met him, the Ethiopian just happened to be reading Isaiah 53, which prophesied about the sufferings of the Servant of the Lord. Philip explained to the eunuch that those Scriptures point to the crucified and risen Jesus. The Ethiopian placed his faith in Jesus, and was baptized by Philip. It’s no accident that Ethiopia was one of the first African nations to have a Christian church. It started right here in Acts 8.

The Gospel is spreading beyond Jerusalem and Judea, just like Jesus predicted in Acts 1:8. In Acts 10, we see the Roman centurion, Cornelius, and his household, come to faith in Jesus. In order for the Gospel to reach these Gentiles, God appeared in a vision to Cornelius and to Peter, and the Holy Spirit is prominently mentioned in speaking to and leading Peter to cross the Jew-Gentile barrier. It is a God-thing from beginning to end as the Gospel breaks new ground for the glory of God.

Great Barriers To Cross

These barriers between the Jews and the Gentiles were real stubborn challenges for the Christian community to overcome. Peter had to explain his actions for entering the home of Cornelius, a Gentile, once he arrived back to Jerusalem (Acts 11:1-18). Some Jewish Christians, described as circumcised believers, were upset at Peter for entering a Gentile house and eating with ritually unclean Gentiles (Acts 11:3).

These Jewish Christians needed to learn that physical circumcision and eating kosher food were no longer going to be the primary identity markers of God’s people, under the New Covenant. This issue will be revisited in Acts 15 and is addressed in many of the Apostle Paul’s Letters.

It’s interesting that many Jewish Christians today still circumcise their male babies, eat kosher food, and celebrate Saturday as the Sabbath. But they don’t expect Gentile Christians to do the same. They practice circumcision and eat kosher food as part of their Jewish identity. They know that it doesn’t make them more acceptable to God, so they don’t insist Gentile Christians to do the same. We are accepted fully into God’s family by grace through faith in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus, the long-expected Jewish Messiah. In this way, Jewish Christians are fully consistent with Paul’s teaching in Romans 14:1-18. And so are Gentile Christians when they don’t look down on Jewish Christians for eating kosher food and circumcising their male babies.

Let us give glory to God for how the Gospel has spread throughout the world. We can have confidence that Jesus will build His Church and the gates of hell will not prevail (Mathew 16:18). The LORD will accomplish His great work despite having to work with less than perfect people, to say the least.

QOTD: Are you a maturing Christian who is able to discern between the essentials of the Christian faith and the non-essentials? Are you able to live in unity and peace with Christians who have different cultural practices?