What are you like when it comes to speaking with strangers? Are you a natural extravert, so speaking to a stranger doesn’t phase you? Are you more of an introvert, and so you need a little time to warm up to speak with one? Like when you hear those words of Jesus about going and making disciples of all nations, how does that leave you feeling? Today we are asked, “When was the last time you were able to speak with someone directly about your hope in Jesus and how this person could also put their trust in him?” In Acts 8 we are addressed directly here with Philip, as he seeks to respond to a man who had a question on his lips, “How do we respond to the lost?” God’s heart is for the lost, as those who follow Christ the moment we cease to save and win the lost is the moment we cease to be Christians. The question is How do we make the love of Christ, the hope of the Good News known?
Today we come across an able evangelist, who meets a seeker who came from Ethiopia. This Ethiopian was an important official, their national treasurer no less, who made a trip to Jerusalem so he could obtain a simple scroll of the book of Isaiah. He had a thirst to know God more. This Ethiopian Eunuch went to Jerusalem knowing he would have been excluded from entry to the temple. All he understood was how he needed to know God more, and his question was how: How do you get to know God better? He thought he’d find the answers by looking into what God already had to say.
Philip is the one God sends along the Gaza road down from Jerusalem. Philip is someone who is a passionate follower of Jesus, and he went wherever God sent him. In order to help us understand what is going on here is if we were to take a satellites view a Google earth view we might seem like the intersection of two lives. On the one hand we have ne of a ready and questioning seeker, who meets a well-directed and able evangelist. As you think about this encounter are you asking yourself was this all by chance? A kind of revolving doors of possibilities at play, or was God up to something good? God making good his promise of changing lives and bringing hope and salvation with the good news all about Jesus . As we read in Acts 8:26-28
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 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, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. God is the sovereign and premier evangelist, whose heart is to seek and save the lost. He goes about that by using us ordinary people, with an extraordinary hope, that is all about repent and believe in Jesus. God has a heart for the lost, as Philip shows us what happens when we take God’s lead and just start talking about Jesus. See here how we catch Philip’s willingness. When Philip started down that road from Jerusalem towards Gaza he wasn’t sure who it was God was sending him to. He was ready to take God’s lead when it was clear. Look again at verses 27-28 27 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, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Ethiopian chief treasurer coming to Jerusalem would have been a long trip. His status is shown to us as he sits in his chariot a status symbol of power and wealth. Another hint at his wealth is that he has a copy of Isaiah. These copies were not cheap or easy to obtain. This was a hand-written scroll that would have had hundreds of hours poured into the making of it. Copies of these scrolls were not just given to anyone. Here is where life intersects between Philip & the Ethiopian Head Treasury official as Philip runs over to the chariot as it is moving down the road and overhears the Ethiopian reading Isaiah (who was obviously keen to get stuck into reading what he had traveled all that way to get). Philip is bold and comes closer and running along Philip asks a simple question in verse 30-31 30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. 31 "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. I’m pretty sure Philip is relieved when the Ethiopian asks him to stop running and join him in that chariot to explain to him what he’s reading. This Eunuch was reading a portion of Isaiah 53:7-8 in Acts 8:32-35 "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth." 34 The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. The Good News is about a person as Philip starts speaking from where this man’s at, and he points him to Jesus. Like we can be sure that he would have said some more things from this passage from Isaiah about the identity of this suffering servant. In Isaiah 53 the next verse on from where the Ethiopian Eunuch was reading we read in Isaiah 53:9-10 “9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.” The Ethiopian is introduced to the person of Jesus, the suffering servant, the chief of all sufferers. The one who took the punishment for our want and waste in life, and who bore the punishment we should have received only Jesus can take our sin away and give us new life. Philip shares the good news and the Ethiopian Treasurer turns to Christ. Jesus is the one who changes our lives. So here is the question if God’s heart is for the lost, how does that pay out in our lives? As we’ve been reading and hearing about Philip, what’s going on in us. We are given the insight into what God is doing in Philip’s leading and the Ethiopians conversion, and with what goes on with Philip & the Ethiopian are we thinking that this passage lets us off that the hook as “God is sovereign, we’ll just let him do the work of evangelism” Or on the other side when we say to ourselves “I’ll just let my life do the talking.” The Bible doesn’t know a silent Christian when it comes to sharing the good news. As Philip asked sharing our faith can begin with a simple a question as “Do you understand what you are reading?” Do you trust what God has to say? Can you get into the inner world of the person we are speaking with, by getting alongside them with love and humility. As we take this passage with us into our week, are we aware of the intersections of our lives with the lives of others around us. How will we pray, like what is the one simple question I could ask that would get into speaking about life and hope and where Jesus sits in that for us? Are we curious about what people believe and sure ourselves about what we believe in when we speak about Jesus? That Ethiopian having heard the Good News responds 36-39 As they continued down the road, they came to a stream of water. The eunuch said, “Here’s water. Why can’t I be baptized?” He ordered the chariot to stop. They both went down to the water, and Philip baptized him on the spot. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of God suddenly took Philip off, and that was the last the eunuch saw of him. But he didn’t mind. He had what he’d come for and went on down the road as happy as he could be. (Acts 8:36-39 The Message.) As we rejoice as well with the love of God
God knows where he will take the conversation. Are we ready to ask that simple question to see where God wants to take it?
Let’s pray
David Hassan @ Tamworth Community Presbyterian Church 5/3/17