Live a life of a Christian

We need to live out our faith.

There is this saying that has been around for years that says:

“Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words!”

The Christian life is a life that is consistently pointing people to Christ and sharing the Gospel with people through our actions of obedience and through us speaking it to them.

This morning we are going to be in Acts 8 and we are going to look at a person who lived the life that is worth replicating. He lived his life on a mission to share Christ with all people at all times.

The person we are reading about is Philip. There is not a ton in the Bible about this Philip except that he was a faithful servant of God. Philip was one of the Hellenistic Believers in the book of acts who dispersed from Jerusalem due persecution and wound up in Samaria faithfully proclaiming Christ to all people.

A little background on Philip is this:

Acts 6:1–3 ESV

1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.

The story of Philip is a story of a completely ordinary man being attentive to God’s calling to live their life on mission for Christ.

We have the account of Philip obeying God’s command to travel down a road and he ran into an Ethiopian Eunuch and began having a conversation with him.

This is the encounter:

Acts 8:26–40 ESV

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. 27 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 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 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. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” 34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 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?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 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. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

This is the story of one ordinary man living out the life worth replicating. He lived a life in which

He Loved God,

He Loved People,

and

He served both.

That is the call for us as Christians. That is the call for us as the Church. We need to be a group of people that faithful do all three aspects of Philips life.

If we are faithfully living our these three things in our lives we are going to be a group of people that will radically change the world.

The first aspect of the Christian life is

1. Love God

Philip Loved God because he was obedient to God’s calling in his life.

Acts 8:26–27 ESV

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. 27 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

God told Philip to go south down the road to Gaza.

That is the only command that Philip recieved and Philip followed this command due to his love for God.

God commands us to do things through the Holy Spirit living inside us. Remember last week when Pastor Tim talked about the Holy Spirit and his influence on our lives?

The Holy Spirit is what urges us to live out the life of Christ!

The Holy Spirit is what draws us to love people.

When we love God we are attentive to His Holy Spirit in our lives.

Much like how Philip demonstrated his love and faithfulness to God by going down this road. Philip did not question the reason for going or come up with excuses to avoid this journey but rather he got up and went.

So many times in our Christian lives we want everything to be mapped out for us in order for us to do what God has called us to do.

But if our entire life was mapped out for us then that would require no faith at all!

The Christian life is a life in which we daily place our faith in Christ and through that we should be obedient to his calling in our life. Which is to share Christ with all people throughout our daily lives.

But so many times we must just place our faith and love in him and trust that he is going to lead us and for us to be open to his purpose.

Philip loved God and it was evident because he unashamedly proclaimed him where ever he was when he fled from Jerusalem due to persecution he kept telling people about Christ.

Whenever we love God

We obey God.

Whenever we Obey God we Love people.

2. Love People

Acts 8:27–31 ESV

27 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 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Because Philip loved God, He also loved people and cared about their eternity.

Philip was known as a person who loved people earlier in Act Philip was one of the seven deacons that were chosen out of their love for others to serve the widows and the people of the church.

Philip’s life was characterized by his love for God and his love for others.

The Holy Spirit urged Philip to go over to the random stranger in the chariot. If Philip did not love God he would not have listened to this calling.

If God’s love for people did not overflow from him then he could have easily made an excuse as to not talk to him. He could have said that the Ethiopian does not look like me.

He does not talk like me.

He is more wealthy than I am

He is higher in society than I am.

He looks to busy to be distracted.

Philip could of made up any excuse possible in order to make himself feel better about ignoring him, but Philip was obedient to the Holy Spirit’s calling to talk to this man.

Philip loved people because he knew that People need salvation.

Who in our life is God calling us to share Christ with?

Is it your next door neighbor?

Is it the person that works down the hallway from you at work? ( I think I may need to begin having a gospel conversation with the person that works down the hallway from me!!!!!)

Is it the student that is sitting next to you in class?

We must be attentive to the Holy Spirit in our lives and trust in his directing when interacting with people.

Philip runs up to the chariot and and the person is reading from a scroll.

Philip then casually ask the man if he understand the words and he replies that unless someone explains it to him how could he understand it.

Philip goes from loving people to serving God and and the Ethiopian because he explains the scroll to him in order to lead him to salvation.

3. Serve Both

Acts 8:32–40 ESV

32 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. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” 34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 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?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 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. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Philip demonstrates his love for God through the understanding of his word and that fact that Philip was familiar with this scripture.

When we love God we grow in our knowledge of him. We grow spiritually through studying his word, praying, and learning with others.

Through the church we grow but if we are only receiving knowledge and not living out the life outside of these walls the community surround us will never be changed for the gospel.

Philip demonstrated his love for people through caring for the Ethiopian Eunuch but also caring for the other people of the church.

We love people because through an out pouring of God’s love on us. We are called to love people with the love that God has loved us.

Philip lastly demonstrates his service for others through the explanation of the scroll.

Philip served the Ethiopian Eunuch through teaching him the gospel. This is where our love for God and People takes action through leading people to Christ.

This encounter started out because of Philips obedience to God and ended with a high ranking official of a foreign country coming to know Christ.

We are called just like Philip to share the gospel with all people through out our lives. We must love people like Christ loved people! WE must look at people within the big scheme of eternity.

What is that God is calling you to do? Who is that God is calling you to pray for? Who is that God is calling you to talk to?

Who is it that God is calling to step out of their comfort zone and share with their neighbor.