A Simple Question
Notes
Transcript
Today we continue in Acts 8:26-40. I encourage you to open your bibles with me to that passage.
The themes we have been seeing as we go through Acts is that
Mission: You will be my witnesses
Mission: You will be my witnesses
Methods: Prayer and Proclamation
Methods: Prayer and Proclamation
Means: Holy Spirit
Means: Holy Spirit
This is not just for the apostles. As we have been seeing over the past few weeks, God was not just using the apostles. He used ordinary people. Yes, even the apostles were ordinary people. But we still tend to exalt them and lift them up. So, God, knowing our hearts, showed us that he uses people, not just a select few to carry out the mission.
We first saw that with Stephen. Then, we saw it with Philip.
When people will carry out God’s mission, using His methods and relying on His means, God works!
And so, as God declared, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, that was happening. And not just through the Acts of the Apostles. It was through ordinary people like Stephen and Philip.
It was because of Philip, that the Samaritans heard the gospel and the church there was born!
That is where we pick up the historical account of the church today. We will read what happened next in Acts 8.26-40.
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”
So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship,
and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.
The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”
The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”
Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?”
And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.
Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Mission: Go
Mission: Go
This may seem odd. Philip was having great success in Samaria. There were a number of people being saved. There was a lot happening as people were being saved, and receiving the Spirit. The Spirit was using Philip in great ways, healing many. But in the middle of this great success, the angel of the Lord says, “Go to the desert.”
Go away from all these people to the desert.
Means: Spirit
Means: Spirit
So, Philip goes, and sees this one man on the road, an Ethiopian of all people. And a eunuch at that.
And the Spirit then tells Philip to go near.
What does this tell us about God?
What does this tell us about God?
God cares about the one
God cares about the one
This shouldn’t surprise us, should it? Jesus Himself told the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15:1-7.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.
But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Then Jesus told them this parable:
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
God cares about the one
God cares about the one
It is interesting that this man was coming from Jerusalem and reading Isaiah.
This man obviously wanted to worship the Lord. We do not know how God worked in his heart to get his to this point. But we know God was at work. He had travelled to Jerusalem. And how he was reading Isaiah. Why Isaiah?
Well, as a eunuch he would have been excluded from worshipping in the temple. Even if he tried to convert to Judaism, he would have been excluded because he was a eunuch. Deut. 23.1 indicates that men like him were not allowed in the temple. This was a part of the law that showed the people that to approach God one had to be perfect. Again, the Law was given to show us our need for the savior. This man saw his need for the savior. He needed the One who could bring him near to the Holy God because he was not able to come himself!
And that is part of the hope we see in Isaiah:
Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.” And let no eunuch complain, “I am only a dry tree.”
For this is what the Lord says: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant—
to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever.
And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—
these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
God cares for the excluded
God cares for the excluded
He promised a day when the eunuchs, and the foreigners would be allowed to approach Him freely! They would be given salvation, an everlasting name!
And so, this eunuch was seeking in Isaiah, hoping to find out more about this hope of salvation from the Lord!
God communicates with us
God communicates with us
The Lord told Philip where to go. He told him when to go. He directed him exactly where he needed to be when he needed to be there.
Does God still do that today? Why doesn’t He communicate with me?
I believe he does. A.W. Tozer wrote a book called, God tells the Man who Cares. I think there is a lot of truth in that title. God does communicate with us, with those who care about what He cares about, with those who are being obedient.
Philip was described as being full of the Spirit and wisdom. As we saw in previous weeks, that means that:
Philip learned to walk in the Spirit, being obedient to God
Philip cared about people the way God cares about people: he was impartial, sincere
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
“Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
If we are like Philip, walking in obedience to the Lord, and caring for people, the Lord will guide us just like He guided Philip.
Philip learned to walk in the Spirit. and the Spirit directed him to his divine appointment.
so, we pick up the story...
Method: Proclamation
Method: Proclamation
Philip was near the chariot and heard the man reading from Isaiah. That gave Philip an opportunity to to proclaim Christ. How?
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
A simple question
A simple question
Explaining from the Scriptures
Explaining from the Scriptures
This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”
Baptism
Baptism
Likely that as he explained the gospel, he would have gotten to the command of Jesus, the Mission:
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Baptism - an identification, a symbol of rebirth, the new name* (Isaiah 56.5), the new identity
And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
What about me?
What about me?
God cares, do I?
God cares, do I?
In this day, it seems as though we should want to have the big church, the big crowds, the big responses. There is nothing wrong per se, with having a large response and many people. However, it isn’t about the numbers. It is about the ministry God has for us. God cares about the individuals. He wants us to care about the individuals, and not just the crowds and numbers.
God communicates, am I ready to hear?
God communicates, am I ready to hear?
Method: Proclamation; am I prepared?
Method: Proclamation; am I prepared?