Do you Understand What you are Reading?

Good Morning i am so glad that we can be gathered together on this fifth sunday of Easter. It is a new month and one i always look forward to because for me May brings on so many good things.

Month Of May

Think about this for a minute. May is a great month. Now of course i may be a little biased because it is the month of my birth but it is more than that. For me it feels like so much new stuff happens in the month of May. The old saying is April showers bring May flowers. May is usually a beautiful month that we get to really enjoy the spring weather. It starts getting warm but isn’t always unbearably hot. Everything starts to turn green and the world is just a wonderful place. For kids it is the final full month of school and here in our area kids are free from school before it ends. The end of the month we have the unofficial mark of the beginning of summer with Memorial day. Summer activities like swimming and amusement parks start opening up. It in general is a good month in my opinion.

For us in the church it also holds a very important sunday that we will celebrate in the coming weeks. No, i am not talking about Mother’s day though that is an important day that happens in May as well. It is Pentecost. Before we know it Pentecost will be upon us and we will celebtrate the coming of the Spirit in our lives.

All of this is important and helps remind us of the things we can look forward to in the coming weeks. This morning though i want to look at a great story fromt he Book of Acts though as we engage in the Word of God.

Acts 8:26–40 NIV

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.

Phillip’s story

I always think it is interesting when we look at the New Testament because often it seems like we only talk about a few members of the disciples or we are talking about Paul. Really think about it most of the stories we can think of off the top of our heads are about Peter, John, or Paul. Few bring in the other disciples. Weather this is because we haven’t been able to find those stories or materials or they weren’t prolific authors, or texts haven’t been verified as authoritative we don’t have a lot of these stories. I think that is one of the reasons i like this story because it brings in a member of Jesus’ crew that we don’t normally hear from.

That being said there are a couple things that should stand out to us with this story. The first is the “nationality” of the man Phillip is ministering to. Ethiopia would be a significant attention grabber for the original audience at the time.

For us today we live in a world that feels like the world has been completely explored. Right now anyone of us could pull out their phone, tablet, or computer and find images of any country, place, or people in the world that we would want to. For the readers though Ethiopia was a distant land. For some it might be thought of as the end of the earth. This helps us see the importance and connection back to the great commission.

Matthew 28:19 NIV

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

This distant land helps remind us that all nations is a broad and bigger idea than just the lands in our immediate vicinity.

Ethiopian Eunuch

This Man is an important man. Not only does he remind us of the great commission to the ends of the earth but he reminds us that the gospel is not limited to one race, nation, or physical type of person. The Gospel is open to all no matter what they may have done, been through, or going through.

A Eunuch for those who don’t know is a male that has been castrated. To be clear on what that is just in case you don’t know we are making every male in this room or hearing this message cringe and squirm in their seats because none of really want to think about the removal or those kinds of parts from our anatomy. In Ancient times there were really three types of Eunuchs. Those who were Born that way, those who were forced into it, and those who choose it.

Even Jesus acknowledged it in Matthew 19:12

These men often also held positions of authority just like this particular one did in Phillips story. It is important to note that we also can know that this man would not have been a jew or even a convert of Judaism because of his physical condition, which would have limited or made impossible his ability to convert to Judaism.

All of this is interesting because even in those times when people would encounter someone who was marked as different than them they didn’t know what to do with them. Eunuchs were often viewed as a group of “others”. They didn’t fit in categories which made it challenging for many people to engage them. Yet, here we have a story that God directs Phillip to speak to this distant traveler who is completely different than Phillip. To share with him the Gospel.

Phillip begins this conversation in a unique way.

Acts 8:30 NIV

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.

Phillip asks a Bold Question

Phillip had to be a guy who was a little bit brash. I think it is safe to say that because can you imagine walking up to someone who is reading something out loud and simply asking them.

“Do you understand what you are reading?”

That is a bold question and many might consider it to be kind of rude if you really think about it. Would you have the guts to walk up to someone and say it. I can’t say i would. It would definitely take a strong nudging of the Spirit. Yet, it is this kind of approach that God is calling us to. We have to be reminded this morning that Phillip was not afraid to follow God’s leading and he opened himself to what the Spirit had for him and openly asked this man if he really knew what he was reading. It lead to a conversation and an explanation of the Gospel.

For the last two weeks i have mentioned this idea of our actions and our words and its amazing to me here again we are visiting this very idea. We have now a passage that helps us see the importance of our words. We must read this story and be reminded that our words are important that we must be ready at any time to answer for our faith thta we must be ready to speak to the gospel. To take advantage of every moment that the Spirit opens us to to share the message of the Gospel.

This boldness leads to things like this.

Acts 8:36 NIV

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?”

As They traveled along the Road...

The man was able to be baptized into the faith. He was not limited by anything any more because he had come to an understanding of faith and the message of the Gospel. What an amazing moment to celebrate and also to realize that he wasn’t limited by who he was, or where he was from to gain access to the Family of God. That is what is so amazing. I mentioned earlier we knew he wasn’t a convert to Judaism because of the fact that he was Eunuch. Here though we see that there was no reason he couldn’t enter into our family because those barriers are gone.

It is interesting also in this verse because there is another way to understand the meaning of the line “as they traveled along the road”. This can also be seen as an reference to the Christian life. To walk along the road or journey on the road to gether in Faith that is a part of being a Christian. Yes, it can be seen as a referecne to the Physical travel that they were making but in its leading to baptism helps us to see that Phillip had the opporunity to continue to instruct this man in faith and what it meant to be a Follower of Jesus.

This story moves beyond just a simple conversion but draws us to the reality that The Christian life is meant to be something bigger and more amazing that we can begin to understand. The Christian life is intended to be shared. It is intended to be a journey together as we travel along the road.

The Biggest secret of the Church

Often in the church we see the work of evangelism or sharing the good news as the work of the Pastor. I have a secret for all of you. It is probably the biggest secret that if it gets out it might just change the world. Sharing the Good news isn’t just the job of the Pastor.

uh oh i shared it now you can’t unhear it. You are now stuck knowing the truth. The message of the Gospel is all of our responsibility to share with the world. So ask yourself right now. Who are you sharing your faith with?

Who do you feel God calling you to share your faith with?

Are you open to God showing you someone you wouldn’t expect to be the person you share your faith with? In fact let’s pray about this.

Prayer for God to show us.

Sharing our Faith

This morning we are reminded that we are all need to be a little more like Phillip and be willing to share our faith when the spirit calls. To open to be bold with the message like he was and then to walk along the journey of faith we even those we would least expect to be the people that we should share our faith with. Are you ready for that? Are you ready to take that on for God. That is the challenge i leave with you this morning.