Faith & Scripture

"What God Does with the Things Meant to Stop Him" - A Sermon from Acts 8:1-25

Obstacles are often opportunities. God routinely uses the very things aimed at stopping His work to move it forward instead.

Text: Acts 8:1-25 (ESV)

Every parent who's ever tried to get rid of dandelions knows how this goes. You mow the lawn on a Saturday, run right over that whole yellow patch, and feel pretty good about it. A week later there are twice as many, and half of them have already gone fluffy and white. You didn't kill the dandelions. You just made your neighbors angry.

Here's why. Every one of those white puffballs is packed with seeds, and a lawn mower blade sends them flying in every direction — across the yard, over the fence, into the neighbor's flower bed. The mower was supposed to end the problem. Instead, it planted next month's crop.

That's almost exactly what happens in Acts 8. The church in Jerusalem is already growing fast, and a man named Saul takes a figurative lawn mower to it. He goes after the church with real force, meaning to flatten it for good. In the cloud of that destruction, seeds are scattering everywhere, and they're about to come up thicker than before.

At first, Saul's persecution looked like the end of the church, an insurmountable obstacle. Everyone probably thought that's what it was. However, in time, it turned out to be an opportunity.

If we're not careful, the same thing can happen to us. We can stare so hard at the obstacle in front of us — the setback, the diagnosis, the thing working against us — that we miss what's happening underneath it.

Let's see how God turns obstacles into opportunities.

God Turns Obstacles into Opportunities (8:1–4)

Let's begin by reading Acts 8:1–4:

1 And Saul approved of his 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. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. 4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

Saul is standing there approving of Stephen's murder, and within two verses he's dragging men and women off to prison. The word behind "ravaging" (lumainomai) is used for wild animals tearing at flesh. Luke's language is clear: this is a ruthlessly violent attempt to rip the church out by the roots.

But then look at the word Luke picks for what happens to the believers: they were "scattered" (diaspeirō). In the Greek, that's a farming word, the word for scattering seed. It's the same picture as that dandelion patch. Saul thought he was mowing down a threat. Luke's own vocabulary tells you he was sending seeds flying everywhere!

None of this is by accident. Jesus had told his followers they would be his witnesses "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (1:8). For seven chapters, the church has barely left Jerusalem. It takes a violent persecution to get them moving. The gospel spread because frightened people fled for their lives and kept talking about Jesus wherever they went and eventually landed.

Obstacles are often opportunities. God routinely uses the very things aimed at stopping His work to move it forward instead.

You've no doubt lived versions of this yourself. The friendship or romantic relationship that ended badly, which freed you up for the one that's actually good for you. The season of unemployment that felt like free fall and turned out to be the run-up to work you actually like. Neither one looked like an opportunity while you were in it. Each looked exactly like what it was: a setback. However, in time, you came to see that the obstacle also produced the opportunity you needed.

The same thing happens at the level of a whole church. I once heard of a family who were on their way to visit a church but were stuck in traffic due to a car accident. Interestingly, their car was right in front of another church. Too late to visit the church they planned to attend, they pulled in and worshiped with that church family instead. Years later, they were introducing and leading new ministries at the church, one family member even joining the staff in a paid position. As far as I know, they're still there. None of that gets planned in a strategy meeting. It gets forced on people by something that looked like a setback.

Acts 8 is the same pattern at a far larger scale: persecution violent enough to imprison women and kill a man like Stephen, used by God to launch a mission nobody had planned. God turns obstacles into opportunities.

God Uses Opportunities to Reveal His Glory (8:5–17)

God does something wonderful with those opportunities, too. He reveals His glory in them. Let's read Acts 8:5–17:

5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 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. 8 So there was much joy in that city.

One of those scattered refugees was a man named Philip. Along with Stephen, Philip was one of seven men originally appointed to serve tables and look after Greek-speaking widows in Jerusalem (6:5). With Stephen now gone, Philip becomes a standard bearer.

You need to feel how radical this is. Jews and Samaritans had hated each other for the better part of a thousand years. They had different temples, different Scriptures, and deep-seated, ancient contempt for each other. Philip walks into the middle of it proclaiming Christ. He doesn't get distracted by theological divisions or minutiae. He keeps the gospel – the Main Thing – the main thing. Demons come out shrieking, the paralyzed walk, and there is "much joy in that city."

The joy even seemed to extend in an even more unlikely direction. We're introduced to him in 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." 11 And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

That city already had somebody performing amazing wonders. Simon had spent years amazing everyone with magic and grand claims about himself. He wasn't shy about the title "the power of God that is called Great."

Notice the difference in messaging. Simon's whole pitch is himself: "Look how amazing I am! Look at what I can do!" Philip's pitch is the opposite: he preaches "the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ." The word used for what Simon did to the crowds in verse 11 — he "amazed" (existēmi) them — is the very word used again in verse 13, except now Simon is the one amazed. Real power entered the scene, and even the man who'd been faking it for years could tell the difference.

Soon, word of the change in Samaria hits the church back in Jerusalem:

14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

Word reaches Jerusalem, and the apostles send Peter and John to see for themselves. They find these Samaritans have believed and been baptized, but haven't yet received the Spirit (a unique delay to reinforce the inclusion of Samaritans as co-heirs with Christ). Peter and John pray, lay hands on them, and the Spirit falls, in front of witnesses. The gravity of this moment cannot be overstated. A wall a thousand years old, between Jews and Samaritans, comes down in that single moment, and God makes sure both sides watch it happen together, through the same two apostles. One church. One Spirit. One standing. No second class in either direction.

But watching that happen changes nothing in Simon. If anything, it exposes what was there all along. Persecution aimed at the church became the very thing that carried the gospel into Samaria, and once it arrived, God displays His glory. He does this in Philip's preaching, in the healed and delivered, in the Spirit falling on people the Jews had despised for a thousand years. The glory has powerful, even divisive, effects. It draws some people to Christ. It draws others to what Christ can do.

God's Glory Reveals What the Heart Truly Worships (8:18–25)

Simon shows himself a part of the latter group. Let's continue reading, beginning in 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." 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." 24 And Simon answered, "Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me." 25 Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

Simon doesn't ask for the Spirit. He asks to buy the ability to give the Spirit to other people. He's not seeking God. He's shopping for a franchise.

Peter's answer is far from gentle, and then he names the diagnosis underneath the cash offer: "your heart is not right before God." Simon's problem was not a knowledge gap; he heard the same preaching everyone else in that city heard. His heart wanted power, not Christ.

Even here, Peter doesn't slam the door: "Repent... and pray to the Lord." There's still a way back for a man this compromised by selfishness and sin. But look at Simon's answer: "Pray for me." He doesn't pray. He asks Peter to do it for him. He's asking to avoid consequences, not to be made right with God. That is not clear repentance. That's more like a man trying to dodge a lightning bolt.

Peter and John don't stop with Simon. They keep preaching in Samaritan villages on the way home, still extending the very pattern we already saw: opposition producing range, not retreat.

So What Do You Do With This

First, briefly: don't let the obstacle in front of you convince you that God's work has stalled. If persecution violent enough to kill Stephen and imprison women couldn't shut down the gospel, whatever is standing in front of you isn't outside God's reach either.

Second, and this one's harder: it's possible to be genuinely amazed by what God is doing and still not actually want God. Simon believed. Simon was baptized. By every outward measure available that day, he looked like everyone else who came to faith in that city. The only thing that separated him was what he was after underneath it all. Luke never tells us how Simon's story ends, and we're not in a position to pronounce on his soul. What we can see is what his response revealed at that time. If we're not careful, the same thing can show up in us.

Ask yourself honestly: when you're drawn to church, to Christian community, to the parts of faith that feel good, are you actually after Christ, or after what He provides? Peace of mind. The feeling that your life is finally working. A God who acts more like a life coach than a Lord, someone who can empower you to do great things. Simon's story is a cautionary tale. It shows you how subtly these can become the whole point, while the name of Jesus becomes just the vocabulary you use to ask for them. He didn't want the Giver; he just wanted the gift.

But, again, Peter didn't tell Simon he was beyond hope. He told him to repent and pray. The same grace that made Simon's money worthless would have covered every wrong reason he'd ever come looking for God, the moment he actually turned and wanted God instead of God's power. That offer didn't expire when Simon fumbled it. It's still open to you.

An Invitation

Same obstacle. Same opportunity. Two very different outcomes. What was meant to crush the church became the very thing that carried it into new territory nobody expected, and that same advance quietly exposed a man who wanted its power without wanting the person behind it.

So ask yourself, on your way out: when the gospel does something remarkable near you, what's actually drawing you? You can be baptized, show up every week, and still be Simon — amazed by the power, uninterested in the person who has it.

But if it's Christ Himself you want, nothing stands in your way. Not a status to earn. Not a price to pay. The greatest obstacle anyone ever threw at Him was a cross, and it looked, to everyone watching that Friday, like the final word. It wasn't. God turned that obstacle into the opportunity that saves you.

Sources Consulted

Barry, John D., et al. Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016.
Hughes, R. Kent. Acts: The Church Afire. Preaching the Word. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1996.
Marshall, I. Howard. Acts: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 5. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1980.
Peterson, David G. The Acts of the Apostles. Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.
Polhill, John B. Acts. Vol. 26. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992.
Stott, John R. W. The Message of Acts: The Spirit, the Church & the World. The Bible Speaks Today. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994.
"After Doubt … Assurance." Tabletalk Magazine, February 1992. Lake Mary, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 1992.

These sermon notes were prepared in my capacity at First Evangelical Free Church of White Oak and McKeesport, PA and are shared here for the devotional use of our members and friends. They are neither a transcript nor a professionally-edited document. Please don't distribute without permission.