Evangelistic Teleportation

So here’s the idea. The kids will nestle into their seats and fall asleep just as the plane takes off. They will wake up after their rest at 6 am in Phili, the city of brotherly love.

That’s how it’s going to happen, right?! (pray for me).

Our other option was a two day road trip, which while it could be fun… was two days of driving. How pathetic is it that I am still annoyed that the flight is going to take so long! Uh… 3 whole hours to travel 1000 miles.

What I really want is a portal we just walk through and we are there. Or Star Trek style teleportation. Beam me up… boom we are there!

Which is why I am SO excited we are finally officially here at the end of Acts 8. This is one of my favorite stories: the time where God teleported someone. We snuck a peek at it a few weeks ago, but now we get to dive in to Acts, chapter 8, starting in verse 26.

Philip and the Ethiopian

Acts 8:26–40 ESV

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. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 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 the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 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.

Look

Teleportation

We need to deal with the teleportation here first.

From the road to Gaza to Azotus, which is on the coast, formerly a Philistine city. The Spirit “seized” or “took hold of” Philip. It is forceful direction. While it could refer to God simply directing Philip to the next location, the phrasing for that is odd paired with the eunuch “seeing him no more.”

Several ancient texts have the additional phrase that Philip was “caught up by an angel” giving a means to the travel. But Philip’s experience is that, next thing he knows, he is in Azotus.

Not, by the way, the place he thought he was traveling to but 20-50 miles up the coast from there. He was on the road down to Colorado Springs and he ended up in Vale instead!

And why not? Can God do that? Yes, absolutely he can. If he wants Philip in Azotus as the next stop on his evangelism tour, he can skip right there. It’s crazy efficient. The question is: why doesn’t God always do that?

Doesn’t he want me to be efficient for him? Think how much time is wasted on our commutes, God. You could just teleport us back and forth and we would get SO much more done for Jesus!

But having touched on that, let’s examine Philip here as a model of evangelism.

Evangelism

Philip follows the call of God however it comes.

The call comes through an angel.

Acts 8:26 ESV

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.

Angel means “messenger” so we can picture a divine-looking apparition speaking to Philip or a man just saying this to Philip and he later understood this to be a messenger from God. But it’s clear he receives this as direction from God and...

What does Philip do?

Acts 8:27 ESV

And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship

Philip doesn’t ask “why am I going to Gaza???” I have a successful ministry here in Samaria!!! I would. Philip doesn’t. Or if he did, he didn’t tell Luke that part of the story.

He goes. And “on the road” he sees this guy.

This guy could not be more “cross cultural. Not Jewish, it’s a black dude! From the edge of what a Jewish man would see as “the world”. Obviously a Gentile. Not just “circumcised”… he is castrated!

Deuteronomy 23:1 ESV

“No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

Again, Philip hears the directing of God, this time not an angel but “the Spirit said”...

Acts 8:29 ESV

And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”

How did he say it???

A gentle whisper. An inner nudging? A sudden strong conviction, a certainty that he can’t explain? A strong desire to go and talk to that man that he later recognized as the Spirit’s leading?

Acts 8:30 ESV

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

He recognizes the opportunity.

And he starts with a question.

But what an opportunity!!! The man “just happens” to being reading stunningly Messianic prophecy. A passage so good, out of Isaiah, that scholars still hold it up as a proof of Jesus’ historical fulfillment of prophecy.

Not just an opportunity: a divine appointment.

And the eunuch asks “who is this about?” You couldn’t ask for a better opportunity.

And Philip doesn’t hesitate. He is ready.

Acts 8:35 ESV

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

Philip follows the leading of the Holy Spirit, watches for the divine opportunity along the road, and is ready to open his mouth when it comes.

Philip is ready with the follow through. Ready with the testimony. Ready with the gospel. Who is that about? It’s about Jesus. Let me tell you about him.

Why can’t I be baptized now? No reason, let’s do it!

Acts 8:38 ESV

And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

Philip was ready. Prepared.

And if there was ANY doubt that this was a coincidence on the road to Gaza, God then teleports Philip to Azotus.

Acts 8:40 ESV

But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

On to the next divine appointments. We don’t hear much about Philip until far later in Acts when Luke and Paul stay with him and his four prophesying daughters.

Question: did Philip ever go to Gaza?

Azotus? Not on the way between Samaria and Gaza! Not a shortcut, a different destination.

Here’s what I think: God didn’t need Philip to go to Gaza at all, this was about meeting the eunuch from Ethiopia. And church tradition tells us that man went back and spread the gospel in North Africa, which is a bastion of Christianity to this day.

Philip follows the leading of the Holy Spirit, watches for the divine opportunity along the road, and is ready to open his mouth when it comes.

And it was all on the road. If Philip had been teleported straight to Gaza, he would have absolutely missed the divine appointment. If he had been to “destination focused” he would have missed the chance along the way.

Uber Drivers

The other day Karen and I had a double date in downtown Denver. The “punch bowl social”. And all the games were pretty much shut down or taken over by reservation. That was a bummer. But the real highlight of the evening was the Uber drivers.

On the way down, we had this guy. He had moved here, not all that long ago from Lebanon… and I kind of wanted to talk to my date… but he REALLY wanted to talk to me. I was annoyed, and then the conversation started to turn. What do you do? I’m a pastor. What’s that?

Oh, Jesus, I have heard of him. I am Muslim but I want to learn about all the faiths and I’ve read a bit about the Bible. What do you believe about Jesus?

We talked the whole way down about Jesus. I was on the lookout for a body of water to baptize him in… but I pray that seed takes root. Like the Ethiopian, I’ll probably never see him again.

Then we get picked up by another Uber on the way home. We were tired… but she wanted to talk. She hears I am a pastor and begins to share her journey of being SO hurt by the church. She opens up more and more as she drives, sharing her story, and wrestling with her desire to come back to the church community. We get to my house and stay in the car for 5 minutes to pray with her. And then she was gone.

I remember the date and our time with friends at the Punchbowl… but God’s purpose that night was all about the journey. We had divine appointments with two drivers who needed Jesus.

Roadside Evangelists

We are destination-focused people. Where do I need to be, when, and how quickly can I get there. Destination-in-life. How do I achieve my goals and drive on to win the prize.

How easy it is for me to miss everything on the way. Are my eyes open to see the Ethiopian? Am I ready in season and out of season to witness to the name and glory of Jesus?

We are witnesses on the road. We are always on our way somewhere, and it turns our intended or expected destination doesn't matter nearly as much as we think it does.

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

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. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The actual command verb here is “Make disciples” and everything else is a participle. That is, it could and often is translated

“While you are going, make disciples”.

We are witnesses on the road. We are always going to be on our way to somewhere. If God only cared about the destination he could just teleport us there. He isn’t running out of power, He knows how to do it.

So anytime God doesn’t teleport you somewhere, maybe we should be asking the question: why not? What divine appointment does He have for me on this road?

Journey before destination. Journey before destination.

And maybe that road is the annoying daily commute. Or the awful midnight red-eye to Pennsylvania.

Or heart-breaking heart-wrenching relationships.

May we be ready witnesses for Jesus "as we are going"… wherever we are going.

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