Sermon: Check Your Faith

Acts 8:9-24

Let me give a short Greek grammar lesson for verse 13: "Simon himself believed". Now the Greek word autos corresponds with the English word "himself". This is a pronoun that is used to intensify the subject. In other words, autos intensifies "Simon", most likely to emphasize him or refer explicitly to him. Note also that the verb used for "believed" is the Greek word episteusen, which is in the Aorist Active Indicative. Briefly, this just means that the verb for "belief", or "faith", does not convey a definite sense of time or duration. In fact, the phrase autos episteusen is unique in the New Testament because of this combination of words and word meanings (with the exception of John 4:53, which uses the same words but in different order: episteusen autos).

Now, there is no observation of the language that reveals explicitly why these words and word order are used. Rather, we start with the fact that the language that Luke, the writer of Acts, uses is unique in describing Simon's belief. If the context of the story is such that Simon's "belief" is atypical, and the verb is vague, and the pronoun intensifies the subject, then I personally understand this to mean that Simon did not have faith in Christ.

Simon did not believe in God, he believed in himself.

What if I told you that "I, myself, lift", or "I, myself, drive". Is my language telling you that the verbs "lift" or "drive" are central to the story or proposition? Or is the "I, myself" trying to show you that I am the center?

Simon, as I will show, wanted to be the center of attention. Perhaps the ESV, English Standard Version, is the best translation for verse 9: "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". Notice the corresponding pronouns in verses 9 and 13? Here, Simon, before his supposed conversion, wanted to be "great". This lust for greatness was evident also in verse 18-19, when he asked for the "power" of Holy Spirit.

Friends, it's not about "I, myself, believe", but faith as a gift from God (Hebrews 11:6; Hebrews 12:2; Ephesians 2:8; Mark 9:24).

So what do we do in response to Simon's story? We check our faith.

1. Check your mind. What are your motivations? Are you meeting people or going to church for your consumption and your enjoyment? Or is your mind on Jesus, and on how to glorify Him by testifying Him to your friends about Him? What are your real intentions?

2. Check your heart. Is your heart hard? Cold? Barren? Dead? J.C. Ryle explains this best in: http://www.biblebb.com/files/ryle/is_thy_heart_right.htm

3. Check through prayer.

4. Check with the bible.

Lastly, I would encourage everyone to repent and make Jesus the center of their lives as the Spirit leads.