Ethiopian Eunuch
Acts (To Be Continued...) • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Please turn to Acts 8:26-40, Acts 8 beginning at verse 26.
Acts 1:8, the theme verse of Acts—the words of Jesus:
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
we are seeing that gospel go out
from Jerusalem
Judea
Samaria last week when Philip shared the Gospel, and Peter and John came as well.
and now it will expand farther.
Please stand for the reading of God’s Word today:
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.
Let’s look at this from the 3 main characters and what we learn:
The Ethiopian Eunuch (vs.27-28)
what do we learn about him?
look at verse 27
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,
he is from Ethiopia—this would be southern Egypt today
he is North African
he is a high ranking official—like the VP of finance for the queen—Kandake is her name. Has a very important job
if you look at verse 28—he is wealthy
28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.
because he has access to a scroll. we take for granted that we can bring our Bibles here-on my phone alone I have like 30 translations readily accessible.
the printing press had not been invented. the written word was expensive on scrolls!!
so by all accounts—this man has a very successful career.
he is religiously devoted—He has been converted to Judaism at some level, and he is so committed that he went lots of miles away to go to Jerusalem, where the temple is to worship.
there is a lot to admire about him!
but he would have had one problem…he is a eunuch.
what is a eunuch…he would have been most likely physically castrated or emasculated if he was going to serve in the royal court like that. they did this to protect the queen and the royal blood line so that there was no chance he or any of her close officials would sleep together.
and this is a problem as a convert to Judaism.
The OT talks about how any male Jew—or any convert to Judaism must be circumcised—it was a symbol that God gave Abraham, the founding father of our faith to show that they were set apart for God. so it is very likely that he could not be circumcised.
and the Bible in the OT—it may seem weird to us, but read books like Leviticus and Deuteronomy…the OT law had very specific requirements for the Israelites if they were going to approach God and worship God—the clean and unclean laws (Like you couldn’t eat pigs—they were unclean-so no bacon). Many of these laws are not binding on us today—since Jesus came.
Deuteronomy 23:1 - “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD.” (ESV) that’s not a verse I had to memorize as a kid in Sunday school growing up)
so according to OT law—the Ethiopian was limited. he could participate in worship, but he could only go so far, and not farther.
(picture of the temple mount) - being an uncircumcised—former Gentile, yet converted to Judaism—he could only go so far and no farther..
do you ever feel like an outsider? can you relate? first of all in our relationship with God—sometimes we think… “I didn’t grow up in church, I didn’t have a stable family life, I was addicted to all sorts of things, I have done a lot of horrible things, I don’t even look like a church going person…”but here’s the good news..
the good news of this passage is that all outsiders—whether racially or ethnically, physically, spiritually—whatever it is—because of the grace of Jesus Christ—what He has done on the cross—they can become insiders. they can become full-blooded members of the kingdom of God. they can become fully forgiven and accepted b/c Jesus paid it all.
—another application… this is also a reminder to all of us here at FMC—as we think about reaching out—have you ever felt like an outsider here? maybe you still do? many people tell me how difficult it is to break into our church at times and Berne and Adams County in general—it takes a while. if our God here in this passage goes to such great lengths to save this outsider—he cares so much about them—how can we help those who feel like outsiders become insiders in our church family?
some specifics...
so we have talked about the eunuch…let’s talk about
Character #2 — Philip…what do we learn from him…he is known later in Acts 21—as Philip the Evangelist.
here in this entire chapter—he is really the model evangelist. He shows us what it is like to share the Gospel—the good news about Jesus Christ. and he goes to Samaria last week—sharing to people who were considered racial and theological outsiders.
what we learn about him—that challenges us:
We need to be open and obedient to God’s promptings. (vs. 26, 29)
look at verse 26
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.”
29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
an angel told Philip—and he was obedient
and the Spirit told Philip and he was obedient
and this was a significant distance--
(look at the map—)
and Philip was open and obedient? are we open to how God wants to use us…and when we sense the Spirit pricking us to show or tell the love of Jesus—do we?
I remember when I was in a college, I had a roommate named Jared who was fantastic at this. He would be out at Wal-Mart or the gas station, and just feel prompted to go, even to complete strangers at times, and say, “God told me to come over and offer to pray for you.” “God wants you to know that Jesus loves you.”
it doesn’t have to be complete strangers—but who are the people that in God’s plan you rub shoulders with daily—at school, on your sports team, at work, in your family, your friends—your neighbors—how might God prompt you to be open? I don’t think you have to be annoying and vomit the gospel on them…but even steps and promptings to ask:
how are you—and really listen?
steps to talk to your co-workers during a break, rather than be glued to your phone
praying for the people in your who don’t know Jesus...
being willing to get involved in other’s lives—it’s messy, complicated, and tough!
We need to use the Word of God in our witnessing. (vs. 30-33)
look at how Philip used the Word of God
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.”
this is a famous passage—remember they didn’t have the NT back then. only the OT
and it just so happens—by God’s plan—that he is reading one of the best passages in the OT that points to Jesus. Isaiah 53—which is all about the suffering servant who would come and rescue his people.
and the eunuch asks...
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”
their answer back then—they thought it might be Isaiah the prophet, or maybe Israel the nation, but no—Philip says—it’s abou tJesus.
Jesus was led like a sheep to the slaughter on the cross....
he did not speak up and defend himself when on trial...
he humbly gave up his life—he was deprived of justice—no fair trials before King Herod, or Pilate the Roman governor, or before the Jewish temple leadership....
his life was taken—
but all so we could have life. his death, though he did not deserve it—paid the penalty for our sin.
and the Ethiopian eunuch believes!
Philip used the Word of God—it’s actually very ordinary what He does—earlier it was harder to relate to Philip because he was preaching and doing miracles.
here he is doing what many of us struggle to do—but it’s relatable...
--he was obedient to the Spirit’s prompting
--and he shared the good news about Jesus
and there is POWER in that—the Spirit gets behind that!
NT Wright says, “How can you figuratively get into someone’s chariot and ride along so that you have opportunity to tell the good news of Jesus Christ?”
men…riding along…golfing, hunting, working on something a project,
before I go on...
Philip even baptizes him (which by the way—we have a baptism service coming up.) the witness in the NT is that you believe and not much time passes and you get baptized—a public declaration of dying to your sin and rising to new life—and refreshment.
some of you God may be calling to get baptized too—just like the Ethiopian eunuch.
good candidates—new Christians, maybe you have put it off for years...
maybe you walked away from God and are just now returning
maybe you were baptized as a baby/infant or kid—and it wasn’t your decision, but now as an adult you want to make it your decision.
Character #3 - God or Jesus...
God cares so much for outsiders… — Ethiopian Eunuch--
Salvation is of the Lord...
yet he still uses human beings— (2nd slide)
God arranges all of this in what theologians call his divine sovereignty—he makes it happen—yet still uses us—people like Philip—amazing!
Think about Jesus...think of our main characters and how they relate to Jesus....
in thinking of the Ethiopian Eunuch...we said God saves outsiders and makes them insiders…Jesus became the ultimate outsider…he knows what it’s like to be excluded so we could become his insider. on the cross—Jesus was excluded in so many ways, most of all from His Father, though he had never sin as he bore sin’s punishment in our place, so we could be forgiven when we believe in Jesus. everything in the OT after Adam and Eve sinned—more complicated—if you are going to come to God, you got to do it his way.... one children’s Bible said before God in the OT it felt like a big “keep away” sign. after Jesus did this… there’s a big “come near...” Jesus became the outsider so we could become insiders with God.
think of Philip—God used him—moved him—to ride along with the Ethiopian eunuch—and Jesus moved to even greater lengths…he went farther than 50 miles. He moved from heaven to earth. The eternal Son of God took on flesh—becoming like us—so he could suffer like Isaiah 53 says.
the last image—is to think of eunuch. we said he was castrated. he could not experience circumcision.
circumcision in the Bible is one of the weirdest things…it’s a physical sign that God gave Abraham, and all males born had to be circumcised on the 8th day as a physical sign showing they belonged to God. why would God do that?
well—we know it wasn’t meant to be all about the physical—it was meant to be spiritual.
look at what God says in Deuteronomy 30:6
6 The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.
so the physical was meant to point to the spiritual.
I want to watch a short video by pastor Tim Keller. Tim was a pastor in NY City, recently passed away. He talks about circumcision of the heart—and why God gave us circumcision.
Let’s watch.
Colossians 2:11-12....
Colossians 2:11–12 (NIV)
11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ,
12 having been buried with him in baptism (the new circumcision for us in the NT), in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
the Ethiopian, though he could never be circumcised—experienced the ultimate one b/c Jesus went through the ultimate circumcision for us. the ultimate cutting off.