What does it look like to proclaim Christ? - Acts 8:25-40 Sermon | Prescott Anglican Church

How do we proclaim Christ?

Text: Acts 8:25-40

After an incredible evangelistic moment, God calls Philip to go to a desert road. This is a surprising move, but Philip is obedient. On that road, Philip meets an Ethiopian Eunuch, a man who ran the royal treasury. This is a fascinating moment in the history of the church. What is most notable is that, despite being an outsider, the man also seemed to be a devoted believer.

As we see how God works through Philip, it is clear that God is the one who calls, redeems, and makes new the new believer. Philip is simply being obedient to God in this. This is incredibly encouraging for us.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that we would know that your spirit goes before us to prepare thehearts and minds of those whom we interact with. We pray that it is with confidence in this that we wouldjoyfully share the good news of your son Jesus Christ. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation ofour hearts be always acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, our strength and our redeemer.

Someone once told me it takes about a year to make friends if you move somewhere without knowing. Mostof the places I moved, I've known some people before I moved, but before I was here, I I lived in westernNorth Carolina. And that's roughly what I found. I I was there for just about a year. And as I was endingmy time there, I finally had people in my life and thought, “I found my people. This is really exciting.”And that that was part of the context of coming here. I there were reasons that I was asked to come andinterview and so I came out and I interviewed and I told some of you the whole story. I'm not going to,you know, burden you with the whole story this time, but I left and I was like, "Oh, no. I'm not goingthere." Oh, apparently I haven't told you all that story. If you're curious, ask me sometime when wehave time for a five minute or so long story. But part of the reason why I was so reticent to come isbecause I had made friends. I was excited about those friends. I was really intrigued with what theLord might do where I was. And as I was leaving, I I took the shuttle down and and this overwhelmingsense that I needed to pray about whether or not to come here came over me. So I didwhen I got home and I spent a good deal of time praying. And by the time I was done praying, I was like,I'm going there. I'm assuming they're going to call me and I'm going to go.

And the reason I tell this story is is because we have to know what just happened to Philip. And it'sreally easy. It's really easy to forget, right? Because this this story about Simon kind of overshadows theother incredible thing that just happened, right? Philip goes down to Samaria and has what everypreacher wants to happen to him happen. He preaches the gospel and hundreds or thousands of people cameto believe in Jesus Christ. I mean, every now and again, a preacher goes into it for some weird reason,like they want money or something, which is a dumb reason to become a preacher, or they want power,which is a dangerous reason to become a preacher.

But I'd say the vast majority of reason why people become pastors and preachers is because they wantpeople to know Jesus. That's exactly why I became a preacher. I wanted I want you all to know Jesusand grow in him and love him and and to tell people about how amazing he is so they know him and andthey grow in him and love him, right? And that's what just happened. to Philip and then he's kind ofchilling or whatever and an angel of the Lord comes to him and says rise go towards the south to theroad that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza and and think about Philip here and I don't we don't knowwhat he did but I know what I would have done I would have been like but Lord like there's this Simonguy he's really messed up we got to work with him right and there's probably people in Samaria who stillneed to hear your gospel. And that road isn't exactly a busy road. I mean, it's it's busier than mostroads, but it's not like the I-17. Think like Highway 93 that goes up to Vegas. It's kind of desolate,right? And the angel of the Lord is like, "Go out to that road." And as far as we know, Philip's like,"All right, let's do this." And he goes, "Personally, I would have had some questions.

And as he gets there, he meets a really interesting person, right? He gets there and he sees this thisum carriage going along and in it there's this guy and and he's an Ethiopian. We don't know if you cantell that he's a eunuch, but there might be some reason that he knows off the bat, without talking tohim that he's a eunuch and that he works for a foreign government.

Right? You can tell already this guy is kind of an outsider. Even without going into what would make himan outsider, there's something strange going on with this guy, right? As an Ethiopian, he would have stoodout. He would not have looked like everybody else in the room. They would have known. They wouldn't evenhad to know that he was a eunuch. But but the eunuch part made this poor guy be an outsider, right? Thelaw itself forbade a eunuch from participating in the full life of Israel. So he went up to Jerusalemto worship and and he worships but he couldn't go into the fullness of worship because he was a eunuch.And then he worked for a foreign government. And it's not like he worked at the social security officedowntown and he was like a low-level bureaucrat. Thank God for some bureaucrats, right? This is likehe ran social security or he he ran he was like the the chief economist for Ethiopia, right? And ifthe chief economist for some other country comes into our country, you know full well people know he'shere. It's not just like some guy's gone on vacation and they don't really care. Like they know he'shere. And so he's already set up as this this outsider, but he's a really interesting person beyondjust that because a little later in Acts, we get the first convert who's a true gentile, right? Whenwe get to chapter 10, Cornelius is listed as the first gentile convert. And so he's not a full gentile.So most likely he's one of two things. He's either a proselyte—a Gentile who went through thewhole process that he could of converting or he's actually an ethnic Jew who just looks like an Ethiopian.

But regardless, he is semi part of the body. He he is clearly a devout person but who is also anoutsider. And that just makes him such an interesting person for Philip to have been sent to.

And I think as we think about this, As we think about this and who the Lord might be putting in ourlives, that the eunuch stands as a really good reminder that we have no idea. We have no idea who Godis preparing right now to pursue him, to know him. You have no idea who he is pursuing and preparingright. He could very well send somebody into your life tonight who has hair is covered with tattoosand has more piercings than you can count. That may be the person that he's calling you to share thegospel with. As I was thinking about this, I you know, one of the things that I try and remember to dois when I run across somebody that I'm like, that person is a disaster, just stop myself right there,repent, and then pray for them. Because somebody may very well here to just be so far away from the truththat they're actually ready to hear the truth. And so I stop and I pray for them. And and and I inviteyou to do the same because you have no idea. You have no idea who God is preparing to hear the gospelright now. It could very well be an Ethiopian eunuch who runs the treasury for the queen. But I kindof blazed over something very much on accident and it's this really really important point. It's reallyeasy to read this passage and be like, "Wow, Philip is amazing. I want to be like Philip." At least oneof you shook your head. Good job. [laughter] But you notice who is acting through this whole thing. Theangel of the Lord said to Philip and then we get to the next point where the spirit directs Philip. Sohe comes down and the spirit says to Philip, "Go over to that chariot." We don't know what Philip wouldhave done otherwise. He might have just kind of gone for a stroll from Jerusalem to Gaza and been like,"Well, that was nice." But the spirit directs him and says to Philip, "Go over to that chariot." So heruns over and he hears this man reading Isaiah the prophet and asks, "Do you understand what you're reading?"

And this is such a fascinating thing that happens, right? Philip doesn't just start off being like, "Oh,you're reading about Jesus." I mean, maybe that's a good tag, but he asks just a very simple leadingquestion. And and so often when we think about sharing the gospel with somebody, we think, well, I'vegot to have it all figured out. I got to have every point. I gota I got to know the Romans wrote andI got to know, you know, all of these different things and I can't remember all of that. But all thatPhilip does is says, "Do you understand? You understand what you're reading?" And the eunuch's responseis fantastic: “How can I understand unless someone guides me?” Whether he has been humbled or is simplyjust a humble person knows that there's something going on. There's something incredible going on hereand he doesn't fully understand and and Calvin picks up on this and and he he notes that so often wewe we come to the scripture thinking we understand it all, thinking that we know every little part ofit. And yet he sees this humility as a chance for us to come and humble ourselves before God and tosubmit ourselves to the teaching that's in it. And that's exactly what the eunuch does. Andthat's the posture that we're called to have as well.

And now hopefully you recognized this little chunk that the eunuch's reading. We read it either atChristmas or Easter or both. I I can't remember exactly when, but we read it throughout the year. Andand it's what's called the song of the suffering servant, right? Like a sheep was led to the slaughter,like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation, justice was deniedhim. Who can describe his generation? For his life was taken away from the earth. No, if you've neverread this, or if you've never encountered it in our Christmas or Easter liturgies, it's a really greatpassage. It starts in Isaiah 52 and runs all the way through Isaiah 53. Read it. And and as Christians,we're going to immediately pick up and be like, "This is about Jesus. How can anybody miss it?" And andif you're not like biblically literate, you don't know where it's from. You might even think it's fromthe New Testament because it just screams Christ. But it's actually written about 500 600 years beforeJesus walked on earth. It's so clearly about Jesus that the New Testament draws on it at least fourtimes if not more. Right? Many several places it's quoted in different sections.

But what's interesting is that nobody at the time was looking for a suffering Messiah. Everybody at thetime was looking for a messiah to ride in and destroy the Romans. The the the the apostles are the perfectexample of this. Until their eyes were opened, until they understood what was going on, they were totallybaffled by Jesus's crucifixion. They were totally baffled by what Jesus was saying. And then their eyeswere opened. They were given the Spirit, and they understood, because it paints a picture of a Christwho would experience humiliation, who would be deprived of justice. And that was the Christ. That is theChrist that you and I so desperately needed. But the eunuch sits there confused and baffled. He's like,"This is beautiful. I want to understand this. Is this about Isaiah? Is this about, you know, someother people believe that it was about Israel? Or is this about somebody else?" He he shares in thoseexpectations. But it also served Philip rather perfectly. It was presented to him on a platterso that he he can respond so [clears throat] that he can respond a and open his mouth and begin with theScriptures and tell the good news of Jesus. Right? He shares the gospel.And we're starting to see right about two weeks ago, we started to see the the great commission becomeunfolded. And we're seeing the different ways that God starts to do this, right? And it is our call tofulfill the great commission to go into the world and make disciples and baptize them. And so the uni,so Philip is doing this with the eunuch. He's explaining who Jesus is. He's opening the word and helpinghim to understand. And we see that the the eunuch's eyes are open.

But something else interesting happens, right? You have to go back and ground ourselves in the realitythat is the spirit that is doing this work. One thing that's always really tempting is to think like,I've got to come up with, right, I mentioned this already. I've got to come up with better arguments. Igot to do all of these things to make God known. But the reality is, if there is that blue-haired,tattooed covered, piercing covered person out there that God is about to call you to, he is alreadypreparing him or her to know the gospel. And and Paul picks up on this when he rebukes the Corinthiansin First Corinthians, right? It's so fascinating because they pick their favorite—and we love doing that,right? We love to pick our favorite. Well, I I love my pastor. I love my priest. I love this person onthe radio who I like to listen to all the time. They're really inspirational. And the the Corinthiansare doing that. And you and and Paul says this is fleshly. This is making jealousy and strife among you,right? For one says, I follow Paul and another says I follow Apollos. Apollos. Are you not being merelyhuman? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? servants through whom you believed as the Lord assigned toeach of you. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who planted nor hewho waters is anything but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters one. Eachwill receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field,God's building. And it's so easy to think, I want to be a great evangelist like Philip. Glory to God. Ihope that somebody sitting here is thinking that right now. That would be wonderful. But you have toremember that it's only because the spirit is working in Philip that he becomes this great evangelist.He's not more amazing than you and I. He just is obedient to the spirit. He's listening to what he'sbeing called to and is obedient. But it is God that that does all the work behind the scenes and makesthis person sprout into a believer. And then the Eunuch is like, "Well, can I be baptized?" And it seemslike the answer is yes, because pretty soon they see some water and the Unicor stop and they get down.They go into the water and they have the baptism and then the spirit carries Philip away and then theeunuch was a long reach when I first truly met Jesus right I I think my whole life I knew there was someguy named Jesus and he was kind of neat or told some neat stories or something there was probably a Godbut it's a very superstitious God but when I first met him for who he is in scripture and what he hasdone for me and for his church and for his people. I have joy, deep abounding joy. But it's so easy toforget that joy when we travel down this path a 100 miles or a thousand miles or a million miles becausewe become weary, we become dust covered. But that joy that what Jesus is doing is still there. He ispreparing people right now to come and know him tonight, tomorrow, this week. And that is incredible.Praise God for that. He is working in your heart because he is sanctifying you. He is being kind to you inways that you cannot even imagine. Rejoice in that. There is still joy on this journey. Even if you'retired, even if you're weary, even if you're covered in the dust and grime of this world.

Something elsereally happens interesting happens in this story and that it reflects another story that Luke told atthe end of his gospel. And that's the story of the road to Emmaus. If you can't remember it, there's acouple of disciples. They're walking down the road and they're chatting. They're kind of bummed out,right? There there's, you know, when something really bad happens and your heart just feels hot orweird. Like it's almost described like that. And this stranger walks up to him. He's like, "Hey guys,what's up?" They're like, "What? How can you be asking what's up? Don't you know what's happened? Thisguy was killed. It was terrible." Like, how how are you even asking these questions? And the strangerkind of leads them along until he starts to explain to them what actually happened. And then theireyes are open and they realize that Jesus is raised from the dead and that they're walking with Jesusfor somehow they were blinded from that and and it's this incredible moment.

And I think I'm almost positive that this reflection is intentional because it's yet another thingthat points to the reality of who is the hero of this passage and who is working because it's notPhilip. Philip is merely a representative of the one who is working rather it is Christ. It is Godwho calls, who converts, and who redeems. Right? Christ was walking with the disciples on the roadto Emmaus. And Christ is working again as he travels along with this union. Philip only needed to beobedient to that call. You only need to be obedient to the call.

And then the passage ends and and it's a wonderful wonderful ending, right? Philip found himself inAzotus and as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he reached Caesarea.And there's almost this kind of like whimsical ending except it just seems like the spirit's like,"All right, you go this way, you go that way, have a have a good trip." And what's really interestingabout Philip is doesn't come up again until chapter 21 and he has a name change. Not like Saul andPaul, but right now all we know is that Philip is still a table server, right? He's still one of theseven. Remember a long time ago, seven people were called to help out the widows and and the poor,the poor folk. Philip was one of those people. He's still a table servant. He's still a protodeaconor a deacon. But when we get to chapter 21, Philip is called something different. He's now Philipthe Evangelist. He's now had another calling where apparently he is really good at talking to peopleand telling them about Jesus. And praise God for those kind of people. I have I have friends that areso much better at talking to people than I am. I'm always in awe of him. But he goes and that's therole he's taken. And he stays in Caesarea until chapter 21.

I was working through this intentionally alittle shorter than normal because there was this point where I went to a church and I heard a sermonon evangelism and I really pray and I prayed this week. This is not what I did today but it was likeyou need to go be better evangelists. These are the things that you need to do. You need to do thisand this and this and this and this. And it was this point in my life where I just felt the weight andexhaustion and weariness of my own sin and others. And what I needed to hear that day was that Jesushad saved me and is saving people. And yet I never heard it. And I left with this crushing weight.But that's not what we see with Philip, is it? Right. Philip leaves with joy and the eunuch leaves withjoy. It's this incredible moment. It's filled with joy. [clears throat] And that's what we're invitedinto when we're invited into evangelism. It's not this route duty, but it's what Paul describes when hewrites to the Corinthians. It's participating with God with what he is already doing. And so I jotteddown a few notes of of things that we can do to be obedient to this. And if you haven't figured out,if you haven't put two and two together yet, it's why I put that little card in your in your bulletin,the little blue card. I meant to have one so I could show you the little blue card, but I am neitherthat organized nor that. But I wanted to invite you to just jot down people in your your life that youknow are either nominally Christian or don't know Jesus at all and pray for them. Just pray that theLord would be working in their lives. That you would know what the Lord is doing in your lives thatlife, and that you would be invited into it. And if you're sitting there thinking, “I don't know five peoplewho don't know Jesus,” congratulations. Pray to know five people who don't know Jesus—or pray to know oneperson that doesn't know Jesus and ask that the Lord would bring them into your life and make you awareof those people in your lives that are hurting, that are sorrowful, that need the hope that you have,that you rejoice in every single week. Pray.

I think that's where this all starts is prayer and then creating a culture of hospitality. It's assimple as just inviting people to meal or a hike or or anything along those ways. And then pray for theconversations that you share. Sharing what God has done in your life, sharing even just the beginningof the gospel according to St. John. Just share what Jesus has done. And then if you decide to invitethem to church, don't invite them to church. Invite them to come and sit with you. Invite them to comeand worship with you. Invite them so it's a warm place. And here's the bad news. You're going to do itreally badly. You're going to mess up and you're going to feel sad. But it's okay because remember whoconverted this Ethiopian eunuch? It wasn't Philip. Philip didn't have the perfect argument. God basicallyset him up like T-ball, right? So often we think of evangelism like the evangelists must be like the majorleague baseball players. They're ready to hit that 98 mph fastball. But what he just did for Philipis that he set it up for T-ball. Lucy could hit that ball. Sam could hit that ball, and it would go a goodenough distance. I could hit that ball and it would go a good enough distance. Right? It's God that isworking in these lives. It's God that is preparing that blue-haired person with tattoos and piercingsthat you're like, there's no way I'm ever talking to that person. He's working in those lives today.

And God is the one who has driven this story. God prepared. God sent, God explained, and God and God alonein Christ saved the eunuch. Philip's job was just to be there and be obedient. Evangelism isn't thisroutine. Is not this thing that we have to put on our shoulders like this heavy yoke. It's a light andit's an easy yoke. It's a joy-filled deal because we get to just share what Jesus is doing in our lives.And I guarantee you, if you take five minutes this morning and think about all that Jesus just did thisweek, you're going to leave here with joy. And then you get to share that joy, that joy-filled callingthat God has prepared for you already. In the name of the Father and the Son of Holy Ghost.