Acts 8 Ethiopian

Eunuchs and Euangelos

Philip, the man who was selected by the church to help distribute food to widows, ended up being such an effective evangelist that he came to be called just that- in Acts 21 he is called “Philip the Evangelist”. We will soon be getting into Paul’s story, but the first internationally effective evangelist of the Church is actually Philip.

What role does Philip play in his evangelism efforts? In other words, what does Philip do that makes him an effective evangelist?

Is it that he heals people? No. Healing is the work of the Holy Spirit, not Philip. Philip has to be a willing vessel, willing to pray for people to be healed, but that is not the work of Philip.

I would say that there is NOTHING that Philip DOES that makes him an effective evangelist. However, he does have qualities that the Lord uses that makes him effective. Do you have these qualities? I cannot answer that. But I know this- these particular qualities are ones that any of us can have if we desire them.

There are 2, and they are related, but not the same. SLIDE

Philip is willing to die for Jesus. This is the first quality. We know this because anyone who threw in their lot with the Jesus followers in Jerusalem knowing that the Sanhedrin had already threatened once to kill Peter and John and had already imprisoned them twice and beaten them, anyone willing to publicly call themselves a follower of Jesus of Nazareth was risking death. Indeed, one of the other Deacons that was called alongside Philip had already been martyred, Stephen.

Philip is willing to die to himself. As I said, these are related qualities, but not precisely the same. They both require courage, but perhaps it is fair to say different flavors of courage.

Willingness to Die For Jesus

Both of these qualities shine forth in this narrative of Philip and the Eunuch (whom I will call Sam). The willingness to die for Jesus may not be immediately obvious in our time and in our culture, but it is here in this text and would have been more immediately obvious to those who would have read this text in ancient times, indeed, any time before modernity, really.

This Ethiopian was a man of power and authority, although also in his own way a slave, but we will get to that later. He was one of the most powerful men of the Ethiopian Empire at that time, a man in charge of the treasury. This Empire would have been referred to as the Cushite Empire and for the Jews it was the Southward extent of their knowledge of the Earth- the ends of the Earth, as it were, and it was a large and wealthy Empire (MAP). SLIDE

Now everyone would have understood at that time that the Treasurer of the Cushite Empire is not going to be travelling in the desert wilderness in a covered chariot (probably more akin to a wagon) by himself or even with a few attendants. He is going to have a contingent of soldiers with him to protect him from bandits or nomads and he will also have his attendants with him and with those he will have messengers and food preparers and slaves and advisors, and supplies, etc.

And because all these people were likely Cushite they would not only have different skin color than Philip but their dress and their language, and everything about them would look quite foreign to him.

And the Spirit tells Philip with regard to this large group of foreigners, escorted by armed guards- go and cleave to this chariot. Now I don’t know how Philip succeeded in getting close to the Treasurer’s chariot. I don’t know how he managed to get within 100 feet of this group without being challenged. Maybe the work of the Spirit, maybe Philip managed to sneak into a group of slaves- I have no idea.

But what I do know is that however he managed it, he had as much reason to think these people when they see me or figure out that I am in their midst, they are going to kill me. And when he first spoke to the Eunuch, he could have just as easily expected to be killed on the spot as be told come and speak to me. And that would not have been unusual, or even wrong on the basis of the norms of that time.

It would not have been murder or unethical for this powerful man to order the death of Philip just for getting close to him. Not that anyone would have ever known anyway. There is no interpol, no police force, no forensic detectives, and even if there had been, they would have been in agreement that this Kingdom executive was well within his rights to kill someone bold enough to approach his entourage without invitation.

And you might say well of course, Philip knew in his heart that the Lord would protect him. Did he? I doubt it. There are many ways to witness to the Risen Christ and one of them is dying for Him. His good friend Stephen had already gone on to his reward witnessing to the Risen Christ. Philip was able to approach this group not because he thought well God will never let me be killed. No, he was able to approach and speak the Gospel because to him, to die was to live, and his life was eternally and gloriously assured.

This was a quality that Philip possessed that made him an effective evangelist. And every Christian should share this flavor of courage and be willing to die, bodily, for the sake of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. Now, do we all? Probably not. I am not sure I have this quality. I hope I do. I hope that if I were called upon to risk my life to share the Gospel that I would, but you can never really know whether or not you have this quality unless you are called upon to exercise it and I never have been.

But do not be afraid of who you are. What if you are a Christian and your nerve were to fail you? What if the Spirit had led Philip to the Eunuch’s group of travelers and told him to approach and Philip was frightened and panicked and ran away instead? Would he have lost his salvation, would the pearl of unsurpassed price slipped away from him because of his momentary disobedience and thoughtless fear? No. Absolutely not. We can be certain of this because of the character of Jesus Christ that we learn in the Gospels and because of what Jesus teaches us about the Cross and the nature of our forgiveness...it is unconditional.

Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

In other words your deeds are not what is in view here when it comes to your salvation. If we had more time I would bring James and Romans 9 into the conversation but I will leave it at that.

Willingness to Die To Himself

The second quality that Philip exhibits is dying to himself. Let’s consider the juxtaposition of these 2 passages in Acts, one depicting where Philip was when he was called, and the second depicting where he was being called TO: SLIDE

Acts 8:4–8 “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city.”

Acts 8:26 “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.”

How many Christians in our culture in our times show a willingness to leave a ministry or a job or anything that is successful and going gangbusters, as they say, to go somewhere that has no opportunities, no resources, no chance for public glory, no basic services even, simply because the Lord told them to?

Who is willing to leave behind joy for a desert for the Lord your God?

You have to be willing to die to yourself to exchange joy and success for a desert road.

Please remember, Philip did not know that this journey and this exchange with the Eunuch would be written down and enshrined in Holy Scripture for all eternity. Philip did not know that he had an audience of billions. All he knew was that he was chased out of Jerusalem by the Hellenistic Jews, and then, against all odds, found unexpected and joyful success among the Samaritans and was in fact building a successful and growing church in Samaria, Peter and John had even come up and provided their blessing as well...and then, God says, hey, Philip. There is a desert road in the South of Israel. Hardly anyone lives there. Go there.

I would think that Philip would have thoughts? Can’t you send someone else who isn’t intimately engaged with a thriving ministry? What will Peter and John say when they hear that I have just left Samaria to go to, basically, nowhere? Will they accuse me of abandoning my post? What will the people I am teaching here in Samaria do for a leader? Will the people I baptized feel betrayed and maybe forsake Jesus because I left them?

Hey Seth. You have gotten very comfortable at Cornerstone. You love the people there you are earning your living there, you have an associate pastor now who is not just a helper but a friend, you have your office just the way you like it. But there’s a job opening in the Gaza Strip right now. A small group of believers looking for someone to share the Word. They can’t pay you of course. They are under threat daily from not only the Muslim population around them but also the Israeli army jets and tanks. There is almost a zero percent chance that this church will grow or be successful in any kind of numerical way and you may lose your life while ministering there. Can you leave tomorrow?

That may not be an exact representation of what Philip was feeling or thinking, but it can’t have been too far off. And he did it. Maybe he did it without hesitating for one second because he was so given to following the Spirit of God. That is possible. Maybe he wrestled with it before he followed God away from his success towards a desolate place. We can’t know his level of eagerness or his level of reluctance. What we do know is that he was obedient. Obedient without hope of glory or thought of reward. He accepted the demotion and the unknowing future and he simply said “here I am Lord” and he entered into the crucible of the desert place.

To die to one’s self means to place the Kingdom of God above your own kingdom, your own wants, desires, and even needs.

And all Christians face, at some point, this decision. Some thing in your life will cause you to have to make a decision. The Lord will present you with a desert road and you will want to stay on the road that you are on. And every part of your flesh will cry out, stay- you’ve got it good doing what you are doing- and then the decision must be made- follow the desires of the flesh, or take the desert path of obedience.

The final desert road is, of course, death itself. At some point our lives come to an end, and we can either fight that path tooth and nail or say here I am Lord, I will leave behind all the good things of this life, all that I have ever known, and take the desert path of death trusting that You will be there.

Philip arrives at the right time and the right place next to the Ethiopian chariot because he was willing to die, and he was willing to die to himself. His life was not his own, he was now the willing and joyful and wondering slave of God.

And when we become such disciples of Jesus, then does He meet us on the desert paths and remarkable and unexpected things happen.

Philip gets next to the chariot and he hears the Ethiopian official reading. This is not so unusual. In the ancient world people did not, as a rule, read quietly in their minds to themselves. They read aloud.

And the Lord has teed up this moment perfectly. These are moments that happen in the Christian life. Not every day certainly, perhaps not even every year. But if you are in service to the Living God who is sovereign over the heavens and the Earth then sometimes you will become aware that you are participating in a moment or an event that was unplanned by human agency, but perfectly timed and implemented by a God who knows all things and has put all things into motion by His will and foreknowledge. And this is just such a moment for Philip.

So it is that Philip is right next to the chariot at a moment of personal frustration for the Ethiopian. And what is his frustration? He wants to know the Lord, but has come upon something in Scripture that is confusing and difficult to interpret. He needs a rabbi, a Jewish teacher, to help him understand this Scripture. Or so he thinks. What he really needs, is a one time food distributor who was chased out of Jerusalem for being a Christian. Because while Philip is no rabbi, and does not have the breadth of learning of a Rabbi, he knows Jesus Christ, and so he has personal knowledge of whom the text is referring to.

And this is a good moment to pause and reflect on the nature of evangelism and conversion and what calls to the heart of people. There is no one right way to reach out to people with the Good News, and I do not want to be dogmatic about it. But over and over again in the Bible there are 2 elements, or witnesses, that come into play when people receive Christ. One is our personal experience. This is my personal experience of Jesus Christ, this is whom I know him to be, this is what He has done for me through all my years. But the second is the witness of the Word of God, Holy Scripture. It is the combination of God’s Story with our story that makes the full Gospel.

How do we know that Sam wants to know the Lord? Well it’s right there in the text. It says that the Ethiopian (Shall we call him Sam?) had gone to Jerusalem to worship. If you go to Jerusalem to worship, then you are going there to worship YHWH, the God of the Jewish people. He is a believer in YHWH. Somehow he has had an experience of God and has become a proselyte, a Gentile believer in the God of Abraham.

And he has paid a handsome sum of money to own a copy of the prophet Isaiah. How much exactly is hard to say, but that much writing on presumably quality parchment would have been very expensive.

And Philip asks him do you understand what you are reading? Philip shows his wisdom and humility here. This is how Christ would have us reach out to people with the Gospel, as it says in 1 Peter 3 to have answers for people yes, but to give those answers with gentleness and respect. By asking Sam if he is understanding what he is reading Philip is being gentle and respectful.

This is increasingly important in today’s world. Most people living in Champaign Urbana today do not understand the Gospel. They don’t know the contents of the Bible and what is worse they might think they have some idea of what is in the Bible because Easter and Christmas and whatever bits and pieces of Christian thought might have briefly been exposed to them at a wedding or funeral or TV show, etc.

But they do not know and it is not because they are stupid or foolish or even rejecting anything to do with God- they simply do not have the information. And so we may find ourselves in situations at a dinner or in a discussion with a friend- when the time seems right- hey, do you understand who Jesus is and what He has done?

So Philip asks him, and praise God, Sam has a teachable spirit and his heart is prepared for Philip’s teaching, for this was a Holy Spirit ordained moment. And he invites Philip to come into the chariot and join him on his journey in order to teach him about the word of God.

Now it is dangerous to turn everything in God’s Word into an allegory, into symbols. Sometimes a fact is just a fact, and there are no deeper meanings at play.

But I cannot help it in this case. I love this image. When we are called to witness to people frequently we will be called to journey with them. And often their journeys are on desert roads, with very little provision around them. And traveling by chariot on a desert road sounds hot, bumpy, uncomfortable. Sam was wealthy it is true, but no amount of wealth could purchase air conditioning at that time. And there were no gas stations with fountain drinks or hotels along the way, there were no windows to keep the flies out, and so on. And keep in mind that every second that Philip is in this carriage witnessing to Sam he gets farther and farther away from his home and he has no carriage, presumably. He has to walk back. Or so he thinks.

But he joins Sam, and Sam is reading Isaiah 53, that glorious and astounding passage in Isaiah that so clearly and unambiguously describes Jesus of Nazareth.

Acts 8:32–33 “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, indeed it is a confusing passage for those who do not know or do not believe in Jesus. That is true to this day even. The contemporary Jewish view is usually that the suffering servant is Israel and that it describes Israel as suffering for all the other nations. There are a number of problems with this interpretation, not least that it describes the suffering servant as being killed as a criminal and buried. By the way, in the daily readings in the Jewish Temples Isaiah 53 is skipped. They read Isaiah 52 and 54, but not 53. The reason for skipping this chapter is lost in antiquity but it is a fair bet that after Christianity began to grow as a faith that they found reading that chapter somewhat uncomfortable. Please hear me clearly these are not anti-Jewish comments. I love the Jewish people and in my view, Biblically they are still God’s chosen people. I do not believe that the New Covenant does away with the Abraham, Mosaic, or Davidic covenants. And in the 12th book of Revelation I believe that the woman who flees from the dragon and is saved in the end is, in fact, Israel.

But that is not here nor there. What is here in our passage today is Philip given an opportunity to explain God’s Word and how Jesus was foretold in God’s Word, and has now come, and is now present with Sam and Philip, in the Spirit in that very moment in Sam’s chariot. The text says that Philip told Sam the good news about Jesus “beginning with Scripture”. In other words he started with Isaiah 53 and maybe he talked some about Psalm 22, who knows, but naturally he also shared his own experiences of Christ in Jerusalem and Samaria. He gave his testimony, beginning with the Word of God.

It is so important that we always begin with the Word of God, because while our experiences and our testimony is important and powerful, we do not want people to believe in us, to trust us, or to hang their faith upon our faith. If they are going to become disciples of Christ they must trust God, and His Word, above all other things first. Otherwise they are likely to become discouraged and disappointed and cynical about the church, because the church is imperfect and sinful and they are trying to trust the church, rather than God.

Acts 8:36–40 “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.”

And for Philip, what is the result of his obedience? He gets to have this incredible experience where he meets this powerful foreign man, befriend him in the most unlikely of ways, and gets to see him give his heart to Christ and then baptize him. What an incredible meeting! What an unexpected blessing and honor in the life of Philip the bread distributor. And he was there because he chose to follow the Lord into the desert road, leaving behind his success and security in Samaria, and he was willing to risk his life and die to himself and he joined a stranger on a journey simply to witness to the Risen Christ.