The Chariot Stop

Text: Acts 8:26-40

Central Idea of the Text: The Eunuch’s questions and Philip’s answers lead to the response point of the Eunuch’s baptism.

Proposition: When Christ’s message finds a home in us, we must stop and obey.

Purpose: All who hear should respond the savior’s call to be obedient, even in baptism.

Being that our church hosted a funeral in this building yesterday, and I’ve been walking alongside one of our families this week in their grief of losing a family member, death and grief has been heavy on the mind. As we were at the Howe cemetery in the afternoon, I always like to walk among the tombstones for a bit, just to look at who is buried there and to reflect on their lives.

As I see those stones and dates, I am reminded of going to the funeral of a pastor friend several years ago. It was there that I first encountered a poem called “The Dash”. I won’t read the whole thing, because it’s heavily copyright protected, but the general idea is this. On a tombstone, the author sees a date of birth, followed by a date of death. In between? It’s just a dash. And the author wonders, what stories could be told about the dash? How did you use it? What did you do with it? The poem then concludes in this way: “So, when your eulogy is being read, with your life’s actions to rehash… would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent YOUR dash?”

I always find a lot to meditate on when I come across a copy of this poem. It’s a poem about how we spent our time that God has given us, and it’s also a reminder for those of us who are BUSY people. Am I interruptable? Am I course-correctable if my life is going down the wrong track? Or am I just living on a mad dash from the crib to the grave? Is my life being lived for just me? Or has it been lived for something greater like who I gave my service toward, and who I found my purpose in.

Nobody likes to be interrupted. But there are times when a God appointed interruption in our lives makes all the difference. Are you ready for it and open to it? Such was the case with the Subject of today’s text: a eunuch from Ethiopia and his encounter with Philip, a servant of Jesus Christ. Let’s crack open the book and see the interruption in the Eunuch’s dash, found in Acts 8:26-40: (Read Text)

This is the word of the Lord for us this morning.

Would you pray with me? Lord, today’s text reveals to us two people whose stories intersect with our own. Philip, because he would go and serve how you would have him, and the Ethiopian, because he was lost but was found by Jesus on that road. Lord, we pray that those lost would be found today and respond. We pray that your people would be more open to holy interruptions, and that you would help us make best use of our time to bring glory to you. We pray for salvation to be known here, for baptisms to become reality for many and for the church here and now to add to our number those who are being saved. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.

This week’s encounter follows the story of two people. One you don’t know: The Ethiopian Eunuch. Now the text says that this man was traveling from Jerusalem to Gaza, a journey of about 40 miles, headed Southwest of Jerusalem, toward the coast of the Mediterranean. This man, being Ethiopian, is from the kingdom that is just to the south of Egypt on the African continent. It is likely he is on his way home to his homeland after a visit either for himself or on behalf of his queen, Candace. Ethiopia, over the history of both testaments, has not been a stranger to Israel. They know of Israel and Israel’s God. The text calls this man a Eunuch. That is not just speaking of his title, but of his physical status as well. He is an emasculated male servant in the queen’s service. This would be common practice for male servants around female royalty to be emasculated, so that there was no funny business taking place at the palace. I guess you could say that he took his job pretty seriously. He’s a high ranking official, trustworthy and in charge of the treasury.

The other person in this story, you do know: Philip. Philip has just been spending his time in Samaria, preaching, doing miracles, growing the church into this new region with God’s blessing: Samaria. Now you would think that Philip could just settle down there, right? Just keep leading and preaching to that new Samaria church. But that is not God’s agenda. God has other plans. God interrupts Philips dash. And angel says “Go south to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza.” Now think about for a second. What is faster? Philip on foot, or the Eunuch on a chariot. Certainly the chariot, right. So that means that God is sending this angel to Philip a few days before the chariot ever leaves. God’s arranging this in his timing. But would you be willing to do what Philip does here? Would you leave and walk from Nebraska City to Falls City, or from Plattsmouth to Auburn, on foot with an opened ended mission that God gives here? But that is what Philip does. He has incredible faith.

These two men are on a collision course that has been set in motion by God. And what we are about to see in this story is the singular of what has been happening in the plural throughout the book. To this point, we have seen people respond to Jesus by the droves. 3000 on Pentecost, 2000 following that, significant numbers being added, and many of the Samaritans coming to faith. But to this point, a book that is all about the testimony of those who are responding to Jesus and becoming Christians has not told a personal, singular story of A person finding faith in Jesus. And that is that makes this story so significant. The path from Jerusalem to Gaza isn’t just going to be the road home for the Eunuch. It is going to be the path to salvation, as God is about to make a very big interruption in his dash, one that will change his eternal destiny and will set a road map for others who respond by faith to Jesus. Let’s examine the Eunuch’s story to see 3 key qualities of those who seek & find Jesus

Curious about the Word.

The first key quality about this Ethiopian that leaves open to Christ is that he has a definite desire to know God better. We know that he had been in Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice or visit the temple. Now this could have been on his behalf or on the behalf of someone else. We don’t know, but we know that he’s curious about the scriptures, because he has a copy of the scroll of Isaiah. Now this is weird. Especially that he HAS a scroll. Some of you have a bible here, many of you have a bible app you can pull up on your phone. We have free Bibles in the back. If you need one, you can take one. Bibles are not hard to come by here and now. But these are translated into English, printed on a printing press, mass produced and shipped here, digitally delivered to your phone. For this Ethiopian, he is buying a large scroll that has been hand copied, word for word. These could not be produced quickly or cheaply. He had to be rich, because he had dropped a chunk on this Elijah scroll.

But again, he’s not just taking it back as a souvenir, or some other book to sit on a shelf in a Library. No, he’s actively got it out while the driver is driving, and he is reading the thing. If you know much about reading, you know this: people read things that they want to read. The things people have to read like books for school or documents for a job, you get paid money to read. But reading for personal enrichment or leisure or curiosity, you only read things you WANT to read. And it becomes obvious as he continues to meet Philip and discuss, that he has been reading with a desire not just for answers to Bible Trivia, but with a desire for UNDERSTANDING.

We have much more to see about this Ethiopian’s story of finding Jesus, but we simply want to observe this about the scroll: the scroll and the words on it are what inspire the conversation and the response. Without God’s word speaking, how will a person who is lost come to understand who God is or how they might be saved? The correct answer is: they won’t. Every instance of Gospel movement in this book has begun with the Scriptures. It has provided the bedrock of the Gospel message. Remember Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” You see, people finding the Lord isn’t contingent first and foremost on me, my agenda, my personality. The bedrock of the Gospel is rooted in the truth of God’s word. That’s why you’ll never catch me preaching a sermon here that doesn’t begin and end with the Scriptures. That’s why your sharing of the Good News of Jesus always needs to point people back to this book, and that is why we need to know these most basic saving truths of what Jesus has done, and how to respond to the message. Many people come here to church, or are living in our community, wondering about what this book is, why it’s message is so important and if they can understand it or not. And if they cannot understand it, it should lead their responsive hearts to this second key quality. …

Open to Teaching & Guidance.

As we said about Philip, he’s left ahead of time. God’s guided these two to cross paths, and it just so happens that Philip runs down at God’s prompting and intercepts the Chariot. As he runs up, he hears the man reading aloud the words of Isaiah the prophet. Philip goes … “Hey, I know this ...” He asks a key question: “Do you understand what you are reading?” The Eunuch responds, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And then Philip receives an invitation … come on up here. Don’t you think that at this point, both of them can sense that if random dude comes running up in the desert to a highspeed chariot with the exact answers to specific questions that the Eunuch has, it’s not quite so random as you might think it is? No way it is random! God is at work and his providence. But this Eunuch won’t be brought to faith in Christ without this second key ingredient. Understanding that comes through teaching and guidance.

The invitation into the chariot is an invitation for teaching. It is the eunuch saying: I need you to guide me. I’m not getting this on my own. I’m really glad you’re here. Maybe, you can help me understand what Israel’s God is saying through the prophet Isaiah. Now it just so happens, that the Eunuch’s scroll is open to Isaiah 53:7–8, and it comes from the Septuagint copy. That means this was a Greek translation of Isaiah, which is the same language that this book of Acts is written in. (That is why, if you look up the Isaiah passage in your Bible, it will look just a little different from what’s on page here. Regardless, the meaning is the same.) Many of you should be somewhat familiar with this passage: “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.”

Now I’m going to ask a question the same one that the Eunuch asks, but I want the eager Bible answer beavers that always blurt out the answers first in Sunday School to hold off for a second. (You know who you are!) Who is this passage talking about? Do you know the answer here? Hint: It’s one of the big three answers. Yep. It’s Jesus. Now do you know why it’s Jesus. Could you explain it to your grandma, a coworker, or your 10 year old across the table from you if they were asking you about what this verse means? I think that more of you could answer this if you truly stop and think about it. Yes, you can answer this: Jesus died on the cross. He didn’t make a peep. He laid down his life willingly. It was a purposeful sacrifice. And the prophet told us 700 years beforehand that Jesus would do this. And Acts 8 tells us that Philip explained what Jesus had done starting with this scripture. In the surrounding passage, it fortells his sacrifice on the cross by piercing, his unjust trial, his burial, and his 3 days later rise from the dead. If you’ve followed Jesus for much time, you could give a rudimentary explanation, but I’m sure that Philip went even more in depth.

The point that this passage and I are making here is this: In order to come to saving faith, we need a person to help us get there. We need the scripture explained, our minds need to be enlightened, we need to see Jesus clearly in order to respond to Him! Even at basic levels, the ability and knowledge of every believer to understand the word and guide people to the basics of Jesus is a real thing. It’s why I preach. It’s why so many of you teach, or lead a Bible Study, or lead a small group, or attend a Bible Study. We want to know the word, explain the word and have the word explained to us.

And that brings us to the crossroads of the matter, the line that needs crossed and the third quality of the Eunuch that brings him to saving faith and from death to life.

Responsive to God’s Offer.

If we were looking at the line between the birth and death date, the dash, we might see an arrow, a mark or a gap. Why? Because what he encounters in the word stops him in his tracks. What does he encounter? Water. Now it’s not that his wheels get stuck in mud. Nope. This is a commanded stop. Now we are not privy to all of where the conversation went between the asking about Isaiah, and the request to stop for water but we could briefly imagine that it went this way:

This Lamb? I know his name because I met his followers! What? No way.

Yeah, his name is Jesus. He was the messiah. The promised one who died to save everyone? What? No way.

Yeah, they crucified him, and he was super dead. They dropped him in a tomb. All of his followers were supersad. What? No way.

Yeah, but 3 days later, some of the followers went, and they found his tomb empty. And then he appeared to hundreds of them alive! What? No way!

Yeah, and after that he went into heaven, and when he did, he told us to go everywhere and tell everyone about him! What? No way!

Yeah, we are supposed to baptize everyone who believes and teach them to obey his commands! What? No way!

Yeah, and we have been! We’ve already had more than 5000 people be baptized in the water and follow Jesus! What? No way!

Yeah, the church is growing by leaps and bounds. You should join us. But you have to turn from your sin and follow his command to be Baptized! What? Yes way! And whoa! Look here’s just happens to be some water! Stop that chariot! I’m getting baptized right now

Some people might ask: Where is the sinners prayer? Where is the baptism class? Where is the safeguards and the rails? This just seems way to wild west, unserious, untheological, uncautious. And isn’t this guy going to do anything to show and expression of faith? Isn’t he going to wait to be baptized until his family can be there for it? Nope. Understand what we are seeing in these short verses are the expression of the conversation that has been taking place. But also understand, this man did not have to know much to know that he needed to respond to God’s offer of salvation to him. He wanted to stop and receive it right there. And baptism is a part of the faith response of the believer. We are again seeing in the moment the singular of what is happening in the plural. And we see it all in this passage, the lay of the land as to how and why baptism is to be put into practice.

What is the mode of baptism? It is immersion. Baptism is shown to be a going down into the water, and the word baptism in Greek literally means to dip. It does not mean to coat, to sprinkle, to drizzle or some other such thing. Water as practiced here is a being put into the water, and then pulled out of the water.

Who is the candidate for baptism? It is to be the person who has heard the Good News of Jesus and desires to respond, being called from that point forward a disciple of Jesus. And the person doing the baptizing ought to be a Christian, one who is participating in the identification of the lost being found.

What is the occasion of baptism? It is when a person believes Jesus is the Christ, who died, was buried and rose for them. When they are prepared to turn from their sin, it is to be the physical declaration that they are crossing the line. There does not need to be a long pause or wait. There doesn’t need to be the right people present. It just needs to happen.

What is the purpose of baptism? It is to be buried with Christ, raised to walk in new life. It is to mark the person in a public way, you belong to Jesus. There is no hiding from your new identity. It is an occasion for the church to celebrate with you, that you have found new life in Jesus. This baptism then identifies and bestows upon you a being numbered among the followers of Christ. 3000 were baptized on Pentecost, and along this road another was added and identified with the number of those being saved.

The book of Acts highlights over and over again that baptism is the line that is crossed for the Christ follower. When we look at the lay of the land of people responding to Jesus in the whole book, what do we see? EVERY TIME. They heard the Good News. EVERY TIME. They believed the Good News. And EVERY TIME. They were baptized to identify with Christ and the church. Christ commanded it. They obeyed it. That settles it.

Summary

Friends, what we see this morning in the example of this Ethiopian Eunuch the receptive nature of those that receive and respond to the Gospel. They are curious about the Word of God, they want to hear it and know more about it. They are open to teaching and guidance … they are not too proud to think that they know it all or that mere knowledge is enough. They want to connect with those who can help explain it to them more and deepen their knowledge toward faith. And they are responsive when they hear of God’s offer of salvation to them. They don’t make excuses or hesitate. They simply obey.

Friends, can we have some real talk to these ends of this third point? I think that sometimes I am unclear, or that you are not understanding, and it’s probably some of both at points.

As a person believes Jesus died for them, and as they are prepared to leave behind a life of sin, Baptism needs to happen. I will go as far as to say that it must happen, because it is obedience to Christ.

We have a lot of theological discussions around the purpose or meaning of baptism and WHEN a person is saved. You have heard me say from this pulpit before: baptism is not THE thing that saves you. And this is true. We don’t preach baptismal regeneration, as if baptism is the be-all/end-all of salvation. Serving in a legacy church that has existed long in a community where there are many who are satisfied with getting their kids baptized and that being the extent of their idea of “membership” in a church, I have to preach that. We aren’t just here to get your kids wet, and see them walk on the rest of their lives on their merry way. We aren’t simply here to lead you or your kids thru a ceremony. We are not here to provide you with false assurances of salvation. We are here to build lifelong disciples. As part of that discipleship and guidance forward with Christ, baptism needs to happen.

Within this realm, we often make excuses, based around biblical ideas regarding baptism. We might say the baptism isn’t necessary for salvation, to excuse that I can just infinitely put off the command of Jesus. But then why is every person recorded in this book of Acts baptized in response to their faith? We might say what about the thief on the cross. He wasn’t baptized, and he was saved. Yes, we believe that, but are you the thief on the cross? Are your hands and feet currently nailed down to prevent you from following the command of Jesus? We might say, well, I’m saved by grace! And I 100% agree with that statement, but what does the grace of God free us to do? It frees us to obey Jesus. We are forgiven so that we might live differently, and one piece of living differently is being set apart in baptism, buried with Christ, raised to walk in a new life. What does Jesus say?

Christ’s central command regarding baptism is in Matthew 28:19–20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

John 14:15 ““If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

John 14:23 “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

Luke 11:28 “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!””

Luke 6:46 ““Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”

2 John 6 “And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments.”

What does all this mean? This means … Here is water, why shouldn’t you be baptized? For the Eunuch, it was in the moment that the chariot pulled up the the water that every other doubt, every other excuse or obstacle melted away. And I am making this pledge to you this summer. I am planning to fill this baptistry every week of this summer. My plan is to make conversation with you a priority. We get busy with other things sometime as a church that we put off important conversations. This is one that I do not want to put off. It’s about having conversations that may be uncomfortable. It’s about overcoming past baggage, especially when it comes to understanding and doing what the word says. It’s about laying aside our pride or our fear about being in front of anyone or getting wet. It’s about making time for conversation and in actual action of doing the thing Jesus said. Friends, let’s make this a summer of removing the obstacles, doubts and questions you may have about following Jesus. Let’s not just give lipservice to Jesus. Let’s let Jesus interrupt our lives and stories. Let’s actually obey him. Let’s be baptized in the name of Jesus.