I was wrestling with the passage of scripture from Acts 8:14-17. Why did the Holy Spirit not come on the new believing Samaritan Christians when Philip baptized them? As I sat long enough with it the simplicity of the answer was whispered to me by the Spirit humbling me in gratefulness that my wisdom is shadowed by God's.
Simply said, because the world doesn't need Philip or Phillip (me). It needs the church, the body of Christ. The only single man that ever walked the planet the World needed was Jesus. He was also the only man that had all the gifts of the spirit. Philip was an excellent evangelist. The power of Christ was all over him. The miracles he performed had people leaving the magician in Simon, and now following Christ. Simon the magician contended that the source of his power was himself. Philip made not such claim. The source of the power he wielded was Christ's. This is why the scripture say's that Philip baptized the Samaritans in the "name of Christ."
But these were a fleeting people. Like the crowd that followed Christ around the lake for another meal for their stomach, these Samaritans would have been distracted by the next best thing. You ever been that way?
The call on Philips life was evangelism. He had an amazing gift for calling peoples attention away from the things they followed hard after and looking toward Christ. He, however, did not have all the gifts of the spirit nor was called to try to function out of gifts he did not have. The blessing to Philip and the Samaritans was the apostles in Jerusalem. They knew Philip. They knew his gifts. They knew what his gifts were not. So when hearing how the "Samaritans had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria."
Peter and Johns gifts came along side the gifts of Philip and a movement began that swept through Samaria and beyond as the power of the spirit was released into peoples lives.
You are not God's gift to this world. I am not God's gift to this world. Jesus was God's gift to this world and so was his bride the church. Together, the power of the spirit is released into peoples lives as we live out the mission of Christ, "To go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the son, and the holy spirit. And teaching them to obey all I have commanded." Matthew 28: 19-20
