ACTS: Empowered Living Week 5: Simon the Sorcerer // Acts 8:9-25 Pastor Dwayne Smith I. The ground was fertile. a. Samaria was ready to receive because Jesus and John the Baptist had laid the groundwork. This was the area rejected by the Jews, but accepted by Jesus (Samaritan woman). Both Jesus and John the Baptist had ministered here. i. Samaria was rejected by the Jews because it was filled with religious compromise. ii. Jesus and John the Baptist went there and worked the garden – they removed the weeds that were tangling and destroying lives. (See the Parable of the Sower: Mark 4:1-20) iii. This is a lesson for us – don’t run from the weeds. PULL THEM OUT!!! b. Fertile ground is going to grow something. i. They “joyfully” received Phillip’s message of Christ (Acts 8:8). ii. They were in one accord. There is power in unity. Unity is one of the marks of a church that is full of Christ. Jesus said, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:20-21) II. Fertile ground attracts phonies: Watch out! a. There was a spiritual hunger in Samaria. i. We are made to be spiritually hungry because “we are a soul.” ii. Phillip was behaving like Jesus – sharing the gospel and healing (Acts 8:7). b. Hunger attracts opportunists. i. Hunger is not bad; we were born hungry. The problem is when you fill it with something that was not meant for you. ii. When we are hungry, we are vulnerable. c. The first heretic is revealed – Simon the Sorcerer. i. Simon Magus 1. Practitioner of sorcery and quackery. 2. Early church fathers recognized Simon as Gnosticism’s founder. a. Gnosticism was one of the most dangerous heresies of the early church.1 1 F. F. Bruce, The Book of the Acts, pg. 166 b. Greek gnosis, “knowledge,” a second-century heresy that challenged and sought to subvert the early church.2 c. Saved through “revealed” knowledge.3 d. Gnosticism was developed through the interweaving of Christian experience and thought with Greek philosophy.4 e. Danger of an “experiential faith.” Jesus attached little value to faith that rested on miracles (John 2:23-24). ii. Traits of phonies: 1. Proclaim themselves to be great. (Acts 8:9) 2. Receive the credit that only God should receive. (Acts 8:10) 3. Motivated to keep up appearances. (Acts 8:19) 4. Envious and held captive to sin: “For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” (Acts 8:23). III. Phonies must be identified. (Acts 8:20-25) a. Deal with the phony! i. Seems harsh – isn’t this a new Christian? 1. God cannot be bought! If we can buy Him, it means that we are in control. 2. There is a greater danger in allowing someone to go down a dangerous path – for the person and for others led astray. ii. Guard the truth. iii. The best lie has “some truth” in it. b. Truth is our only hope. (v. 24) c. Know the truth. It sets us free! (John 8:32) i. The best way to identify a phony is to know the real deal. ii. Psalm 119:9-16 For Reflection: • How is your ground? Is it fertile and ready for growth? What does it need? • Are there parts of the Bible/Jesus/Gospel that you are struggling with? What does God’s Word say about those areas? • Are there phonies in your life? What is your responsibility? • Are you guilty of being a phony? 2 Cairns, A. (2002). In Dictionary of Theological Terms (p. 196). 3 Cairns, A. (2002). In Dictionary of Theological Terms (p. 196). 4 Borchert, G. L. (1988). Gnosticism. In Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 1, p. 873). .