Blind Obedience

If you have your Bibles, please turn to Acts chapter 8, starting in verse 26.

Acts 8:26–40 NIV

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. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” 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. 32 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. 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. 36 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?” 37 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 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. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

As we start to dig into this a bit, I want to break out a few things that through study God really spoke to me from this passage and I believe he has a very specific message for us this morning.

Philip is not mentioned much in Scripture. We don’t know much about him. However, there are many things we do know. Philip was part of the New Testament church after Pentecost. In the first seven chapters of Acts, we see Luke telling us of the dramatic expansion of the gospel message outside of Jerusalem. In the beginning of chapter 8, he tells us of the beginning of a great persecution against the church of Jerusalem and many of the disciples and other believers are scattered outside Jerusalem. It is at this point in time that we see the gospel message really start to spread beyond Jerusalem and through Judea and Samaria. It is here where we meet Philip, most likely in still in Samaria at the beginning of this passage. Many theologians suggest that he was in Samaria caring for the many converts that were the result of Peter’s and John’s ministries there. Right after this we are told of the conversion of Saul and of Paul’s ministries.

Now that we have a bit of background, let’s shift gears. Even though we don’t know much about Philip, as I said a minute ago, we know some very important things from this account that set some high expectations for us to follow as believers in Jesus Christ. The most important of these are shown through Philip’s character and how he responds in blind obedience to the direction of the Lord.

There are four main things from this passage that I want to point out.

1. God speaks, and Philip goes

2. How Philip engages with the Eunuch

3. Response of the Eunuch

4. Philip’s continued obedience

God Speaks and Philip Goes

We see in verse 26 that God sent an angel to Philip saying, “Go south to the road – the desert road – that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” Now let’s stop here and break this down, in order to notice what is actually said and not said. The angel tells him to get up and go and then tells him which way to go. That’s it. The angel doesn’t give a when, or a what, or a how, or any other details, at least none that are recorded.

I have to believe that there would be many questions that Philip could have had. First, the road referred to was not necessarily the safest road to travel, it was extremely hot, and so on.

So with a show of hands, how many of us would be comfortable just going at this point?

I know I would have many questions, like when, how far, what for, what about what’s going on here, is that way safe, and I’m sure if we all wrote down what comes to mind there would be many more. Some examples from Scripture…..anyone remember a man named Moses? He didn’t think God was calling the right guy, but I think we know how that story ended up!

Now we move on to verse 27 and notice that it simply says, “So he started out.” That’s it. He just got up and went. The way it is written implies that he did this immediately, without regard for anything else, because God said GO.

We see Philip being willing to respond to the call of God, which means since this is after Pentecost that he must be filled with the Holy Spirit, or what we call sanctification in the Nazarene church. We see this witnessed in Acts 6:3, where Luke tells us that Philip was “full of the Spirit”. If you don’t remember the beginning of chapter 6, this is where we see the disciples choosing 7 men “filled with the Spirit” to assist in the daily distribution of food to the widows.

The angel brought the message to Philip that God was leading in a new direction, even though it is likely that there was still work to be done in his current context. However, we see Philip be obedient. If we dig back into the Greek, the verbs used here to describe Philips going are both in the aorist tense, which suggests that Philip not only was obedient, but was also prompt. Folks, if you remember nothing else from this message, remember this, it is all about prompt obedience to the will of God. This is by far the most important thing that I think the Lord is asking of us as believers today, is this type of prompt obedience, without question, just faith and trust.

There is one other thing I want to point out about Philip being called to something new. If you look through Scripture, there is no standard for how God will direct people. What that means is we can’t expect that he will direct us in the same way that he did with someone else.

How Philip engages with the Eunuch

The second thing we need to consider is how Philip reacted when he finally came to the situation to which the Lord was calling him. Philip was in tune with the Spirit to hear the Spirit speak to him in verse 29 “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”Notice again that we don’t see any specific direction as to what will happen other than to go.

When Philip approached the chariot there was an Ethiopian Eunuch who was on his way back from Jerusalem where he had gone to worship. We know that the Eunuch was from Ethiopia and that he was a high ranking official in charge of the treasury for Kandake, or the queen of the Ethiopians. He was also traveling in a chariot which would have noted his position. So clearly, this guys a big deal.

However, there are a couple of other things here that we must consider.

1. First, is that often we think of a eunuch in the traditional physical sense of one who is castrated. However, it is also used in the Greek as a term to describe high military in political officials. It is also highly unlikely that a eunuch in the traditional physical sense would have been to Jerusalem to worship due to the Jewish beliefs of the day. In Deuteronomy 23 we see eunuch forbidden from being a part of God’s kingdom, while Isaiah 53:7-8 predicted that eunuchs would one day be accepted into the kingdom.

2. The eunuch was a foreigner. We know from many other stories that foreigners were looked at very differently by Jewish leaders of the day. In fact, remember back in Acts 1:8 where it says that “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”? Ethiopia would have been considered the ends of the earth at that time. Remember this is long before the discovery of much of the worlds lands.

However, while these details provide some context for us, what is most important is that the eunuch had been on a religious pilgrimage to Jerusalem and that he was returning with the prophecy of Isaiah. It would have been very difficult for a non-Jew to obtain the prophecy of Isaiah in writing, so this is a pretty good sign that the eunuch is either a Jewish proselyte or near-proselyte.

Now here is the important thing for us to grasp here. We see Philip, even with the idea that this guy is probably a pretty big deal, being obedient and approaching the chariot, where he overhears the eunuch reading from Isaiah.

Philip uses the context of the situation to gain entry into a conversation with the Eunuch. In verse 30, we see Philip take the opportunity presented to him by asking the Eunuch, “Do you understand what you are reading”? And then in verse 34, “The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Notice that he starts by explaining what the eunuch was asking about. Philip was able to lead or guide the Eunuch in his understanding as he was himself spirit filled and able to give guidance in the Scriptures. John 16:13 tells us that “the Spirit of Truth will guide believers in all truth”

Philip then uses that opportunity to present the message of the gospel as we see in verse 35. “Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.”

There is much to learn here from Philip's example for us today. We need to be ready to engage with people where they are. Notice this encounter with the Eunuch only happened because Philip was obedient. We need to use these opportunities that God puts in front of us to make relationships with people who need to hear the gospel message, even if they are not like us.

Response of the Eunuch

There are also a few things for us to learn from the way the Eunuch responded. First, it should be noted that even though he held a very high position, he responded to Philip with both humility and docility. He could certainly have reacted very differently for someone of that position with someone randomly approaching.

Now as Philip starts to explain and then presents the gospel, let’s think about how that would have sounded in that day. First, it is likely that the doctrine of a suffering Messiah was mostly unheard of and considered unthinkable. Remember, many did not realize that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah. Secondly, the elements that make up the narrative that we know today were probably still in the process of being formed. There was no New Testament for someone to read! The fact that he was trying to understand the passage from Isaiah may have stemmed from some level of dissatisfaction with what he had probably been taught up to that point.

The response of the Eunuch was that of eagerness to receive and understand the message. We then even see the Eunuch eager to take the next step, asking to be baptized in verse 36. Luke does not tell us how they got to the point of baptism in the conversation, or whether it was brought up by Philip or the Eunuch. However, it is obvious that the Eunuch was convicted by the message of the gospel and wanted to immediately take the next step.

So here is what we need to ask ourselves, do we show the same kind of eagerness when studying Scripture ourselves? Are we that eager to take the next steps and continue to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ?

After being baptized, we also see the Eunuch respond with joy. One commentary I read said that “the touch of God produces genuine joy!” Is this the reaction that we have when we are touched by God in some way in our life? Or when we seize those opportunities that God gives us? Or when we see our faith stretched? Remember that there is nothing or no one in the world that can take away our joy if it is truly from the King of Kings!

Philip’s Continued Obedience

The last thing we need to notice from this passage is from the last two verses, 39-40.

Acts 8:39–40 NIV

39 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. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

Philip was abruptly taken after baptizing the Eunuch, however, notice what we see in verse 40. He continued to preach in all the town until he reached Caesarea. He continued to be obedient to what God was calling him. There isn’t much else recorded about Philip during this period, other than we was faithfully obedient to what God was asking him to do.

Philip was living out Acts 1:8, as he was part of spreading the gospel “to the ends of the earth. He was an important piece of the early church spreading the gospel message beyond the Jews and to the Gentiles.

God’s message to us today

This passage gives us a model to follow regarding how we are to fulfill the Great Commission to GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES. We see in this passage both an example for mass evangelism and for personal evangelism. We see Philip proclaiming the message wherever he went, preaching the word, with the motive being to help bring people to the point of salvation and sanctification, or in other words, full commitment to Jesus Christ.

However, we also see a model for personal evangelism in how Philip interacted with the Ethiopian. Philip went without question and seized the opportunity that God placed in front of him and found a way to enter a conversation and speak the truth of the gospel.

In summary, here are a few things that we need to consider:

1. How does God speak? How do we hear him?

2. Character is important. Obedience is important. We must trust God to provide everything we will need, just as he has promised in Scripture.

3. How should we respond when God reveals what he wants us to do? Obedience without questioning, Joy

4. How should we engage with others in sharing the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Relationships, meeting people where they are

Challenge for Today

1. First, we need to either choose to commit to God for the first time or recommit our lives to our walk with Jesus Christ. Many of us did that last week with Pastor Cindy using the covenant cards. If you weren’t here for last week’s service and are interested in the covenant that many of us made to God, please see Pastor Cindy.

2. Second, we need to commit to being in the Word of God and in prayer DAILY. If we aren’t in the Word and prayer, we can’t expect to hear God speaking to us.

3. We need to commit to find a place of service within the body of Christ. If you need somewhere to serve, come talk to myself or Pastor Doug or Pastor Cindy, we can help you find a place to serve. There are so many opportunities that we have to serve our community.

4. Lastly, we need to allow the Lord to lead our lives. We must be willing to put ourselves and our desires aside and commit to his leading.

So now you may say, OK Pastor Todd, I can do that. Well, my response is that’s great! But we can’t stop there. Saying we are willing to do these things and actually doing are two very different things. Here are the questions I believe that God wants all of us to consider and think about this morning.

1. First, what is God asking from you individually in 2023?Where is he leading you, or leading your family? What if that leading takes you way outside your comfort zone?

a. If God called you into ministry, what would be your response? I can tell you for me that at first it scared me to death, and often still does. I thought I was set with my engineering career, but God had other plans, maybe they will continue to co-exist, but I do know that ministry is where he wants me long-term.

b. What if God asked you to pick up and move somewhere else?

c. What if God said, hey, sell everything and move to the mission field in a third world country, or maybe even somewhere like the 10/40 window where it isn’t even safe to be a professing believer in Jesus Christ?

2. The second question we need to ask ourselves is how will we respond when God speaks. Notice I said when and not if. He is and will continue to speak to us, we must put ourselves in a mindset to hear him which can only happen through being in the Word and in prayer on a continuous basis. Will you push back and argue, or just ignore, or will you respond like Philip did in blind obedience, trusting and believing that God will provide.

I can hear some of you saying things just like I did when God’s call to ministry really started to become clear for me.

1. But God, I’m not a speaker, I don’t even like being in front of people!

2. But God, I don’t know how to do that!

3. But God, I’m afraid. How will people respond to me if I do that.

4. But God, what are the details, how will this work? Where exactly do you want me to go? What do you want me to do when I get there? When do you want me to go?

I finally had to just step back and accept that I didn’t need to know everything yet and that God was in control and all he wanted from me was a yes. And you know what? I actually found out that I enjoy preaching, and believe me that was a huge surprise to me. I still don’t know how everything’s going to look or when God might ask us to go do something different, but I know what our answer will be when that time comes.

So back to the questions we need to consider this morning:

1. First, what is God asking from you individually in 2023? Where is he leading you, or leading your family.

2. The second question we need to ask ourselves is how will we respond when God speaks.

TAKE A FEW MINUTES FOR REFLECTION AND PRAYER

Does anyone want to share what God is revealing to them?

Let’s pray.

COMMUNION

RITUAL

The Communion Supper, instituted by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is a sacrament, which proclaims His life, His sufferings, His sacrificial death, and resurrection, and the hope of His coming again. It shows forth the Lord’s death until His return.

The Supper is a means of grace in which Christ is present by the Spirit. It is to be received in reverent appreciation and gratefulness for the work of Christ.

All those who are truly repentant, forsaking their sins, and believing in Christ for salvation are invited to participate in the death and resurrection of Christ. We come to the table that we may be renewed in life and salvation and be made one by the Spirit.

In unity with the Church, we confess our faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. And so we pray:

PRAYER OF CONFESSION AND SUPPLICATION:

Holy God,

We gather at this, your table, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who by your Spirit was anointed to preach good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, set at liberty those who are oppressed. Christ healed the sick, fed the hungry, ate with sinners, and established the new covenant for forgiveness of sins. We live in the hope of His coming again.

On the night in which He was betrayed, He took bread, gave thanks, broke the bread, gave it to His disciples, and said: “This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

Likewise, when the supper was over, He took the cup, gave thanks, gave it to His disciples, and said: “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.” Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

And so, we gather as the Body of Christ to offer ourselves to you in praise and thanksgiving. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on these your gifts. Make them by the power of your Spirit to be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the Body of Christ, redeemed by His blood.

By your Spirit make us one in Christ, one with each other, and one in the ministry of Christ to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.

EXPLAIN ELEMENTS

The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, broken for you, preserve you blameless, unto everlasting life. Eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and be thankful.

The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, shed for you, preserve you blameless unto everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and be thankful.

CONCLUDING PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING AND COMMITMENT

And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, let us pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.