The First International Missionary
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place.
And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship
and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”
So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”
And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”
Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.
And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”
And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Obedience to the Call
Obedience to the Call
The Call
Recognizing the voice
“And he rose and went”
Was not told explicitly what he was to do.
No “why” in his response.
Not only obedient at the beginning. obedience.
“And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join his chariot. So Philip ran to him.”
Philip did not just obey God. He was consistent in his obedience.
Obedience is required every step of the way.
Imagine that you are traveling somewhere you have never been before.
Nowadays, you just pull up the maps on your phone.
Before, what did you do?
Maps?
The strange middle ground between maps and GPS?
Mapquest.
Explain mapquest.
The isssues if you were to miss one turn.
You had to obey at every step.
When trying to be obedient to God, there can be friction.
Philip had to go into the desert, and then he had to run to catch the chariot!
Where there is friction, it is sometimes easy to stop.
There are multiple points of failure before being completely obedient.
Consider another example of something that has friction: going to the gym.
Getting of the couch, and getting ready.
Getting in your car.
Driving to the gym.
Walking into the gym.
Completing a workout.
Learning by way of anti-example: Jonah
We see a very similar situation in the calling of Jonah to go and proclaim a message. Jonah 1:1-3
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
While we see that Philip was faithful and “rose and went”
Subsequently when called to approach the chariot he “ran!”
Jonah on the other hand is not obedient. When called to go to Ninevah, it says that he “rose to flee”
Rather than rising to obey the Lord, he flees from Him. It says specifically that he rose to flee from the presence the lord.
We know (and Jonah likely did as well) that we cannot escape the presence of God. Psalm 139:7-8
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
However, you have heard disobedience referred to as being “far from God.”
Jonah is seeking to run from the conviction of obedience by distancing himself from the task at hand.
This is the same way that a person that may owe someone money they don’t want to pay back will seek to “flee” from that task by not answering phone calls. The reality is still there, but to them, if they refuse to acknowledge it, it goes away.
Sometimes the magnitude of what Jonah did as he fleed is lost on us. Lets look at deeper at what Jonah Did.
God called him to go to Tarshish. This would have been a long journey about 550 miles.
Instead of doing that, Jonah decided to go to Tarshish. This was 2500 miles the other direction.
So God is calling him to go from Israel to modern day Iraq. Instead he gets on a boat to head to modern day Spain.
Here is a picture that puts this in perspective for us.
God is calling him do go from the middle of North Carolina to New York. (This map shows slightly different)
Instead he heads to San Francisco.
The reason Jonah didn’t obey, was because of his hatred for the people of Ninevah.
You all know the story. A great storm comes on the boat.
Jonah says to throw him overboard, as he is the issue.
He is swallowed by a large fish.
He prays to God.
The fish vomits him onto dry land.
God tells him again to go, this time he goes.
He proclaims.
The people repent
Jonah is angry because he didn't want them to repent.
Jonah allowed his reasons for not obeying God to overshadow his understanding that he should obey God.
It is likely that Jonah was not new to walking with and following God
What does this mean for us?
We must be obedient to God.
To be obedient we must hear God.
To hear we must be near.
We must learn to recognize his voice.
To be obedient we must do what he says.
It is rather simple.
To be obedient we must continue in obedience.
It isn’t doing one part of the journey. It is going the distance.
Neglecting to obey does not mean that our responsibility goes away.
Many times we can be like Jonah. We experience conviction, but rather than seeking to obey, we run.
When we do this we put what we want over what God is calling us to do.
People leave church. They go as far as they can to run from what God is calling them to.
Obedience can be difficult, but if we want to experience the movement of God, we must be obedient in our lives.
It is when we are obedient to God’s leading that we can experience a Divine appointment.
A Divine Appointment
A Divine Appointment
Ethiopian eunuch - very powerful. In charge of all of Queen Candace’s treasure.
He had come to Jerusalem to worship.
Raises a few questions
Who was this man? It is a more significant question that one might initially think.
A Displaced Jew?
A jewish convert? (as much as he was able?)
A gentile?
I assume one of the first two. Or the fact that he was a eunuch made it a unique situation.
OR this is chronologically after Peter and Cornelius, but included here to continue Philip’s story.
OR the fact that he immediately left, made the situation not need to be addressed by the whole body of the church.
The Power of the Word of God.
Through it:
God is revealed
We see ourselves clearly
We see how God would call us to respond.
All Scripture ultimately points toward Jesus.
The passage in Isaiah that he was reading was about Jesus.
Scripture is one of the most valuable tools of evangelism.
If people value Scripture, we can point to the reality of the Gospel through Scripture.
This man valued Scripture and thus Philip immediately was able to relate what he was reading to the Gospel.
What is the Gospel? “The good new about Jesus.”
Notice it says -“Beginning with this Scripture”
This means that Philip started where the Ethiopian was
Evangelizing to people who do not value Scripture.
This man valued Scripture.
People who do not value Scripture, would value it more if they only knew what it contained.
These people still ponder and wonder about the questions of life that all people seek.
The only real answers to these are found in God, and are revealed through His word.
What does this mean for us?
We should love and value Scripture because it is the Living Word of God.
We should understand that Scripture is one of the best tools for evangelism that exists.
It should really be the primary tool.
We should understand that not all people have respect for Scripture.
This does not mean that it doesn’t matter, but it means that we have to take an approach that will lead to some common ground.
Paul does this in Acts 17.
Statue to unknown God.
Reap What You Have Sown
Reap What You Have Sown
The Ethiopian responded to the message of the Gospel.
“See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”
Hear
Respond
Act
Philip is carried away
Was he teleported?
Was he called away?
Regardless, Philip had served his purpose. God had other plans for him and called him to those things.
“as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.”
Philip continued in obedience as he went.
The Eunuch returned to his country, a saved man. A new creation.
He went on his way rejoicing.
Tradition says that this Eunuch went home and shared his faith with those around him, founding a church in Ethiopia.
This story shows us several things:
The continued expansion of the Gospel to the “unlikely”
Samaritans.
A foreign eunuch.
The natural end of the Gospel - It’s spread “into all the earth” “making disciples of all nations”
This was the plan then.
Still the plan now.
What does this mean for us?
The Gospel demands a response.
Hear
Respond
Act
The Gospel is for all people!
There is no person that Christ did not die for.
There is no nation, no group, or no individual that we should not share the Gospel with.
We learn from this story and Jonah. God is compassionate and merciful, and in his grace all who believe may be saved by the work of Christ.
Even if it may seem “unlikely” to us.
Even if we may not like it.
This is where we have to be honest with God and allow him to change our heart.
So that we are like Philip. Not like Jonah.
The Gospel is meant to be spread! We should share it with people near and far.
This is what we ought to do. As we go where we go, we must be a witness for Christ.
How is God calling you to Obey today?
Is there something is or has been calling you to that you need to “rise and do”
Are you going toward or fleeing from his call?
Are you following through?
Are you being obedient in the spread of the Gospel?
Do you have any preconceived ideas that prevent your obedience In doing so?
3 Things:
Church council meeting.
Upcoming service opportunities.
Invite.