At the beginning of July Thipok had the honor of getting to preach his first full-length sermon at a dear church in Colorado. You can listen to the sermon here (starting at 40:44). This shorter devotional came out of his preparation time.
“Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’ ” – Acts 8:18-19
Beloved,
A quote often attributed to Bill Gates says, “I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” But is it only lazy people who seek to accomplish tasks the easy way? Are they the only ones to prioritize efficiency?
Of course not. We all love taking shortcuts. Think of the widespread use of CliffNotes or ChatGPT. Think of all the life hacks and simplified recipes on the internet. Choosing the easiest, least-costly path seems to be a definitive value of our human lives.
But is this true for the Christian life? Does the kingdom of God operate with the same efficiency-driven strategy we often value? I’m not criticizing efficiency. Certainly, being a good steward of the limited resources the Lord has entrusted to us generally means using those resources prayerfully, wisely, strategically, and efficiently. Sometimes efficiency requires that you take shortcuts. Other times, however – especially in the Christian life – shortcuts are not a valid option.
I am not presuming on the exact motive of Simon the Sorcerer which drove him to make this outrageous request and receive a sharp rebuke by Peter in Acts 8. Perhaps he thought that he could buy his way into apostleship, or perhaps he believed he could purchase the ability to control the Spirit, or maybe he just wanted to be able to impress the crowd with the newest and coolest tricks. Regardless of his exact motive, we know that Simon operated with a false view of achievement: he thought success and greatness could be instantly achieved by a shortcut, and he was willing to pay good money to take it.
But what about all the things he was unwilling to pay? The Apostles and Philip had followed Jesus faithfully long before God accompanied their gospel proclamation with signs and wonders. They left their homes, careers, and families to follow Jesus. They were steadfast in their obedience. They were persistent in sharing the gospel, even when their lives were at stake. They loved and served one another sacrificially. In other words, they gave up everything – laying down their lives and trusting in the words of their Lord that “whoever loses his life for [Jesus’s] sake will find it” (Matt 16:25).
The tragedy of the story of Simon the Sorcerer is that money was all he was willing to give up. His own life – ambition for fame, success, greatness, and reputation – was too high of a price to pay. For Simon, submitting to Jesus’ terms wasn’t worth it because, for him, Jesus was simply a useful tool for achieving all he wanted. Of course, such a god was not worth the sacrifice of one’s life!
But Jesus, unlike idols, cannot be bought with money! He cannot be manipulated, and he does not let himself be used by you or me for personal gain. We may act like our ultimate needs are money, security, respect, reputation, or health, but Jesus knows that our greatest need is restoration of the broken relationship between humanity and God – a broken relationship brought about by our sins and rebellion. Knowing this, he came precisely to meet our greatest need, even at the cost of his own life. Pleasing his Father and rescuing his bride, to Christ, was “worth it”. And because of this, he is worthy of all of our devotion, not only as our Creator, but also our Redeemer.
What about you, brothers and sisters? Is Jesus worthy enough to offer your all to follow him? What part of your life is he calling you to lay down in order to follow him faithfully? None of us follow him perfectly. We all, like Simon the Sorcerer, can harbor hidden, impure motives. We all have things we would rather hold on to than to give up for the sake of the gospel. Perhaps we, at times – like Simon, or the rich young ruler – don’t believe that Jesus is worth it.
But he is! And we know that he is. And yet we are so prone to forget. So, brothers and sisters, how can you remind yourselves this week of the worthiness of Christ? What about our wonderful, merciful, saving Lord do you need to call to mind? How can you remind yourself that he is worthy of all of your devotion – more worthy than life itself?
May we walk worthy of the testimony of his worthiness.
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