Dine with Sinners: Disciple

Introduction

Before he died, Shobone told me his testimony. He said that one day when he was younger a preacher came into town for a tent revival. The preacher was known to be a powerful preacher, and everyone in town was excited to go and hear him. Each night, the revival grew until the shops in the small village town began closing up so that they could go and listen. And, Shobone knew that was his opportunity. He and his friends decided that while everyone was at the tent revival that they would go and rob the untended stores. So, they decided they needed to make sure they were safe first, and they went to the revival that night just to make sure that a particular store owner was there, and then they were to leave quickly to rob him while he was there. But, Shobone said that while he was there looking for the man that he planned to rob, he began to listen to the man that was preaching, and immediately, he knew that it was the truth. And, he said that before he realized it, he had sat down through the entire sermon. His friends were frustrated that they had missed their opportunity to rob the man, and they all decided they would try the same plan the following night. But, when that night rolled around, the same exact thing took place again. And, at the end of that second night, Shobone gave his life to the Lord. In an instant, God transformed a robber into a preacher that would go on the plant seven churches.

But, can I tell you something? That sounds nothing like how I came to faith in Jesus. I praise God that around the world today there are testimonies of people coming to faith in an instant of hearing the gospel, a testimony many of you likely have, but that is not my story. For me, it took a while. I had sat in church virtually my entire life, and it never sounded like more than fairy tales to me. Next month, I will have been a Christian for 17 years, but it was a 20 year process, because it took me three years to ever get there. It took somebody answering my innumerable questions and going to the Bible week in and week out, and living the things he taught and not losing patience with me. It took me wrestling with whether or not God was real. It took me wrestling with whether or not Jesus was God. It took three years of patient, steadfast, unspectacular teaching before the dam of grace broke in my life. And, I’ll bet that’s more normal than not. And so, I’m going to propose to you this morning that our primary means of evangelism needs to focus on the most common way people are saved. We need to disciple people, train people, teach people, instruct people, lead people to Jesus.

God’s Word

Read

“And the Spirit said to Phillip”

“an angel of the Lord said to to Phillip” We really come to a remarkable moment in Scripture. The Spirit of God has come upon the early Church and with great force. And, with the Spirit, they have been given a great charge to be witnesses of Christ through the power of Christ to the ends of the earth. That’s what we’re witnessing here in . This morning, I want us to key in on four key phrases that we find in our text.

We come to a man named Phillip. This is not Phillip the disciple, but Phillip the deacon. He’s one of the seven men that have been set apart by the church to serve the church and tend to the needs of the church in . And, he is obeying as literally as possible when find him in . In the first half, he is preaching Christ to great effect in Samaria to those viewed by the Jews as half-breeds, and then in the second half we see him evangelizing an Ethiopian. Both Romans and Greeks believed Ethiopia to be ‘the ends of the earth,’ so we literally see Phillip being a witness from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

Phillip was Sent

But, what I want you to see first, and the reason that I highlighted this phrase, is that I want you to notice that Phillip didn’t just go; he was sent. It starts off by telling us that an angel of the Lord came to him and told him that he needs to go to Gaza. He is not told why he is to go, only that he must. So, Phillip goes to Gaza for no reason that he knows of. He just goes. But, once there, the Spirit makes it clear to him what he must do. He sees an important Ethiopian, a man we are told is the Secretary of the Treasury, for the queen of Ethiopia, who is riding in his chariot. The Spirit prompts Phillip that this is the reason that he has come all this way down the desert road. This was a supernatural encounter between two ordinary men. That is, it's a divine appointment.

Here’s what I want you recognize: The Spirit is calling Phillip to go somewhere that He has already prepared. He couldn’t see it in the moment, and he couldn’t have fully realized all that God was up to, but the Spirit was telling him to go where He was already at work. You see, it was the Spirit of God who the wrote the word of God that the Eunuch was reading well hundreds of years before eunuch was born. It was the Spirit of that sent the Angel to Phillip before the Ethiopian was even in town. It was the Spirit that had arranged that by the time their paths crossed, the Eunuch would be 53 chapters into 66 chapter book, ensuring that he was reading the clearest prophetic words of the crucifixion of Jesus in the entire OT. None of this was chance. All of this was providence. But, Phillip didn’t know all of that. He only knew he was supposed to go. The Spirit had assumed the lead. And so, in faith, Phillip ran! Phillip chased down the rolling chariot in obedience to the Spirit.

Obey the Spirit

APPLICATION: Brothers and sisters, do you want to be used greatly by God? Do you want to experience God’s power in your life in ways that are totally inexplicable apart from Him? Do you want to see your family changed and your friends changed by the power of God working through you? In other words, do you want to live a Spirit-filled, Christ-exalting life? Then, obey the Spirit. We want the Spirit to speak to us and God to be close to us, yet most of us reject the simplest of promptings and grieve the Spirit in the most basic of situations. We want to walk in the Spirit’s power even though we don’t walk in Spirit-filled obedience. The Spirit prompts us to pray, and we turn up the radio. The Spirit prompts us to encourage our friend, and we procrastinate until we forget. The Spirit prompts us to teach children or to be a part of a d group, but we don't want to tie ourselves up. The Spirit prompts us to read our Bibles, but we hit next on our Netflix veg out. Brothers and sisters, if we are unwilling to obey the Spirit in his most basic promptings, is there any doubt as to why most of us do not have great stories of the outpouring of God's power in our lives? The promptings of the Spirit are not chores; they are invitations out of slavery. The Spirit isn't calling us to oppression but to liberty. The Spirit's promptings are invitations to a joyful experience of God's power and provision. Obey the Spirit, Church, and God will use you.

How many more people would hear about Jesus if you obeyed the Spirit? How many more people would know the gospel if you just told them when the Spirit prompted you? How much more often would you share the gospel if you read the stories of Jesus and Peter and Stephen and Phillip when the Spirit prompted you? How many more people would hear if you’d just go where the Spirit is sending you? The Spirit will not send you to a place that He has not prepared for you. He will send you to places where your joy can go deeper and where your faith can be stretched and where the Gospel can be advanced. Obey the Spirit, brothers and sisters. Obey the Spirit.

“How can I, unless someone guides me?”

“So Phillip ran to him” So, I want you to get this picture. Phillip has been told by the Spirit that he is to go and join this chariot that’s already in motion. The man on the chariot is of higher social standing than Phillip. So, the Spirit says to go, but Phillip can’t join this man unless he’s invited. So, Phillip runs to him. He’s running up to this chariot, and over his hard breathing, he hears the African reading out loud the scroll of Isaiah, specifically from chapter 53. While he’s running behind or beside the slower moving chariot, he shouts out to the guy, “Do you have any idea what you’re reading?” So, I kind of imagine this out-of-breath Phillip having the conversation with a super-chill African, who answers back, “Now, how can anyone understand this without some help?” Note: ‘guide’ is the same word used in by Jesus to speak of the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He’s still working.

You see, the eunuch had the Bible, but he didn’t have the gospel. It’s totally possible, and in our community prevalent, to have the Bible without ever grasping the gospel. Understanding the truth about Jesus doesn’t come naturally to us; it’s can only come supernaturally. says that the natural man is blind to the truth in the Scriptures because these are things that are spiritually discerned. He may read them, but he can’t truly understand them and love them and apply them. They seem foolish or distant or imaginary to him. You see, most often, God works through the teaching of his word, through guys like me in a pulpit and folks like you full of the Holy Spirit, to explain the Bible and teach the Bible in a way that the Spirit uses to open their eyes to the gospel. Our job isn’t so much to teach the Bible. Pagans do that all the time in secular universities with no power or effect. Our job is to teach the gospel so that someone can see that there is more here than literature and history. There is power here. There is hope here. There is good news here.

Disciples of Jesus disciple people to Jesus.

“does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” You see, this eunuch had big questions about what he was reading. And, having the right answers to those questions were the difference between life and death. When he asked who this was talking about, he had no idea the glory that laid behind the meaning. Before you can become a Christian, there are some things that you must know. Unbelievers need more than stories and feelings; they need truth too. Discipleship begins before salvation. Discipleship begins with ‘hello.’ We don’t just disciple people after they come to Jesus; we disciple people TO Jesus. Is this not what Jesus did with his disciples? I ask you: When did the disciples of Jesus come to faith? Was it when they followed him, even though they thought he was just a political leader? Was it when Peter announced him as the Christ, the Son of God, even though he still didn’t believe that Christ was to suffer? Or, was it after the resurrection after they more fully understood what Christ was saying? You see, Jesus invested three years in his disciples to prepare them for a life of following him. It took time for them. And, most likely it took time for you, too.

Evangelism Erosion

We like to think of evangelism as an explosion. There even used to be an evangelism program called Evangelism Explosion, which I think it mostly good. We like to think that we’re going to go in and drop this quick gospel bomb, and then, boom! InstaChristian. And, praise God, sometimes it works like that! Praise God that there are stories all around that way. But, that’s not my story. And, it’s quite likely that it isn’t yours. Most often, evangelism is less explosion and more erosion. It took three years of somebody teaching me week-in and week-out, wearing away at my skepticism and wearing away at my moralism and wearing away at my ego. For me, it wasn’t like when dynamite blows down a mountain; it was like when the Colorado river carves out the Grand Canyon. It was one drop of rain after another, one day after another, until finally I saw and finally I surrendered.

You see, we like to cut the ribbon, not to build the building. Opening the building is fun, but building it is hard work. We want a version of evangelism that doesn't require a long-term commitment from us. This is why we're all more drawn to event-driven, marketing evangelism. I can give my time and then be finished. "I'll put up chairs, I'll give up a night of the week, I'll be a counselor, I'll be cook food, as long as I can be finished without any obligation when it's over." We want no-obligation, money back guarantee Christianity, and such a thing does not exist in the Bible. And, it certainly doesn't exist in evangelism.

APPLICATION: Church family, disciples of Jesus disciple people to Jesus. And, they disciple people to Jesus by teaching the gospel as often as it takes for as long as it takes. Maybe, in a divine appointment, you will meet someone like this eunuch who is ready, or maybe it will take three years like it did for me, or maybe it will take the rest of your life for them to be saved at the end of theirs. Brothers and sisters, disciples of Jesus, are you willing no matter what it takes? Are you willing no matter how many questions there are? Are you willing to obligate yourself to years of hard labor even if someone else gets to see the fruit?

“Then Phillip opened his mouth”

“beginning with the Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus” Now, I want you think about what it means that Phillip ‘opened his mouth.’ I know this seems so fundamental, but it’s too easily missed today. We live in a day in which Christians want find any way possible that they can share the gospel without having to open their mouths. It’s politically incorrect and unprofessional and intolerant to open your mouth about Jesus, but Phillip did, and if we want to win anyone to Christ, we must also.

But, for Phillip to win this Eunuch to the Lord, he had to be ready, didn’t he? So, he had to know what Isaiah was saying there. He had to know how that related to the gospel. He had to obey the Spirit to have the opportunity, and finally he had to have the guts to actually share it. Phillip had to be biblically and spiritually prepared in advance of this day so that he could seize this day! The Spirit would do all of the work, but He was going to do it through Phillip, and so Phillip had responsibility to be prepared.

You have every resource

And so, you think, I'd never be able to do that. Except that you can. Every resource that was at Phillip's disposal is at yours. Phillip had the Holy Spirit of God. And, you have the Holy Spirit of God. This is the Spirit that Jesus promised would be with us and bring to our remembrance the word of God at the proper time so that we could defend the faith and share the faith and live the faith. And so, Phillip has the Spirit of God, and you have the Spirit of God. And, Phillip has the word of God. And, you have the word of God.

Be a Disciple to Make Disciples

APPLICATION: The disciples that disciple people to Jesus are the ones who are always being discipled nearer to Jesus themselves. There's a time in a Christian's life where they only have their testimony and . And man, that's beautiful. But brothers and sisters, Jesus is far to glorious and God is far too good and the Spirit is far too active for us to be content with that throughout our Christian lives. If that’s all you know right now, that’s okay, but don’t stay there! Take a new step today. Go deeper with Christ. Jesus is better than you think He is. God is more sovereign that you realize He is. Your salvation is more amazing than you know it is. God's power is more willing. God's love is more satisfying. God's glory is more glorious. Be a disciple who makes disciples, but don’t ever stop being a disciple. Keep going deeper. Keep preparing your heart. Keep learning more, and the Spirit will use it for the advancement of the Kingdom!

And, Phillip wasn’t just sent; he was sent with power.

“What prevents me from being baptized?”

“he baptized him” So, Phillip tells this eunuch the good news about Jesus. All of it. And, how does he respond? “I want to obey right now. I want to honor Jesus right now.” It’s so cool to realize that Phillip has been teaching him so much when you realize that nowhere in Isaiah, the scroll he was reading, does it mention baptism. But, Phillip had taught him and Phillip had discipled him, and he wanted to be obedient to the words of Christ.

Jesus Changes Lives

Disciples of Jesus disciple people in the fullness of the Gospel, landing on obedience. You see, Jesus had changed this man’s life through Phillip. A new disciple had been made. Do you understand what you're doing when you disciple people to Jesus? Discipling them out of despair and into hope. Discipling them out of destruction and into glory. Discipling them out of fear and into passion. Discipling them out of slavery and into freedom. Discipling them out of confusion and into truth. Entire families. Entire Communities. Entire villages.

Landing

Church family, in front of us is nothing less than the opportunity to change a generation. It’s going to require us to get tired. It’s going to require us to commit to eroding away the strongholds in our community. It’s going to require us obligating ourselves to other people. It’s going to require us to obey the Spirit and to go deep in Christ and to love our Bibles. But, by God’s grace and the Spirit’s power, we can. And, we should not rest for anything less. Let’s do it together.