CONVERSION?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that He may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

Acts 8:18-25

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Philip’s words had been inspiring to many who listened as he spoke words of the Gospel and proclaimed the Messiah to the people there. The scriptures tell us the people were also captivated by the works Philip had performed in their midst, healing the lame and driving out demons from the possessed. Such was the impact of his work that Philip baptized many prospective Christians who believed in the “good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ”. Counted in the number of the baptized was a man named Simon who had been practicing sorcery with quite a following in the city until Philip came on the scene.

Yes, Philip had made a significant difference through his ministry work but as we read in Acts, chapter 8, there was just one thing missing. For the scriptures tell us that Philip was not privileged to impart the Holy Spirit on others. So all the baptized believers were in need of this important final step, one that we saw in yesterday’s message would serve to seal salvation in a Christian and guarantee their inheritance in the kingdom of God.

Enter Peter and John, two apostles dispatched from Jerusalem, to bring the Holy Spirit to all newly minted Christian believers in the city. With the new believers assembled, we read where the two apostles prayed with them before laying hands on them and providing the Holy Spirit.

As we turn to our passage for today, we find that at least one new believer missed out on the transference of the Holy Spirit. We know this because we find Simon, the former sorcerer, approaching Peter and John with an offer. He was willing to pay for the same power they had. He wasn’t just interested in receiving the Holy Spirit. He was asking for the authority and power to transmit the Holy Spirit to others, just by laying his hands on them.

Now remember that Simon had said he believed before and was baptized. All indications were that he had heard the Gospel and wanted to surrender himself to Jesus’ will and way, the way that typical conversion experiences went. But Simon’s words showed his conversion was a ruse. He claimed to believe and went through the motions of baptism but it’s obvious that Simon was more interested in what was in this Christian thing for him, not what he could give to Jesus, serving in His name.

Well, Peter and John had to first be in a state of disbelief and then anger as they processed what Simon had just said. Peter, in particular, expressed his displeasure with Simon, rebuking him by saying:

“May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that He may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

You know, I’m afraid there are more than a few Simons in the world today, people who come into their belief in Jesus wanting things to be given to them while unwilling to sacrifice anything themselves. Simon wasn’t interested in sacrificially serving as Jesus did. Rather, he was looking to but the Holy Spirit with the thought of getting a return on his investment. One could only imagine what was going through his mind as he envisioned laying his hands on people and giving them the Holy Spirit for a price. Such thoughts were nothing short of disrespectful toward God the Father and His Son Jesus. They were also grounded in sin and wickedness.

This is what drove Peter’s pointed orders toward Simon, telling him to repent because his heart was not right with God. Simon needed to turn from his transgressions, confess his wickedness and hope that the Lord would find it in His heart to forgive him.

We get a sense that Simon was cut to the core for he doesn’t get into a verbal spar with Peter who exposed his conversion deception. Rather, he simply asks Peter to:

“Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

The fear of the Lord is present in Simon’s words and we get a sense that perhaps he finally did understand what it would take to be a Christ follower but unfortunately, we never read about him again in the scriptures. Perhaps this is because Simon serves as an example of how not to approach being a Christian, choosing to believe but not really interested in converting yourself and surrendering your will for the will of the Lord. You proclaim belief in Jesus because you think you can get something without giving anything in return, not yourself or anything else for that matter.

Jesus sacrificed everything for the cause of others. In return, God the Father brought Him to glory forever. As we come to Jesus and accept His invitation to receive salvation, we need to remember that He calls us to be fishers of people just like His earliest disciples. We are to be willing to take up our cross and follow Him, placing our own desires aside so His desires can reign supreme.

Indeed, the work disciples are to put in for Jesus never stops until the Lord says it does on that day He calls us to His side. After conversion, a Christian will always be full time employed with lots of overtime but I can say with full confidence that our labors carry with it the best retirement plan ever, a retirement where we’ll relocate from this world and enter into the mansion Jesus has prepared for us.

I don’t know about you but it’s something I look forward to more every day. Until then, it’s time to get to work as the harvest is still plenty but the workers are few.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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