The Word Went to Ethiopia

Introduction

The unfolding storyline of Acts - the unstoppable growth of Christ’s kingdom, through conversion, in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Tens of thousands converted in Jerusalem.

Persecution scattered the church of Jerusalem throughout Judea and Samaria.

Many more converted in Samaria, and the Holy Spirit confirms access to the promise of God by faith to those of Jewish ancestry as well as those of mixed ethnicity.

Next comes those who are of “the ends of the earth.”

3 miraculous conversions, all emphasizing in clear terms the initiative of God in salvation… It is God’s intention to glorify Himself through saving all kinds of sinners.

Today, we’re going to focus on the first of these miraculous conversions… Philip’s divine appointment with an Ethiopian official on a desert road between Jerusalem and Gaza.

Scripture Reading

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.

Main Point

God’s mission for all Christians and churches is to play their part, according to God’s instruction, in God’s own mission to glorify Himself in the salvation of all kinds of sinners.

Message Outline

The Mission of the Church

God’s Gracious Initiative

The Biblical Response to the Gospel

Message

(1) The Mission of the Church

The Church

Universal / Invisible Church

All believers from every age and every place

Example: “the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria” (Acts 9:31).

Invisible for now, but visible in glory

“a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages… they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9-14). These shall be presented “as a bride adorned for her husband… [and] the dwelling place of God [shall be] with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Rev. 21:2-3).

Local / Visible Churches

Local assemblies or congregations or churches, disciples of Jesus Christ, joined in covenant faith and fellowship, bonded by their mutual love for Christ and for one another

Visible in time and space right now, particularly when they are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ… on the Lord’s Day (1 Cor. 5:3; Rev. 1:10).

Examples:

“the church in Jerusalem” (Acts 8:1).

“the church at Antioch” (Acts 13:1),.

“the church… at Caesarea” (Acts 18:22).

“the church… at Ephesus” (Acts 20:17).

The Mission

The Great Commission: “18 And Jesus came and said to [His disciples], ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’” (Matt. 28:18–20).

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The Method is included in the Mission

“make disciples… [by] baptizing them… [and] teaching them to observe all that [Christ] commanded...” (Matt. 28:19-20).

Baptism = becoming a citizen of Christ’s kingdom (visible in the assembled members of local churches) and leaving behind citizenship to the kingdom of this world (the whole of fallen humanity).

The Apostle Paul described conversion by saying, “{God] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14).

Teaching = the means by which church members (kingdom citizens) participate and benefit from mutual edification and growth.

This is why Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, saying, “19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Eph. 2:19–22).

This is Christianity 101… but it’s also highly neglected and/or unknown among most evangelicals today.

“Christ has given us the mission, but He’s left the methods undefined.”

“The message stays the same, but the methods change with time or culture or geography...”

Friends, do you believe baptizing new converts (which implies diligent and opportunistic evangelism) and teaching Christ’s commands is the God-instructed method for church growth? For life-transformation? For revival?

There is nothing we can do to manufacture spiritual conversion or grand-scale revival… we must rely upon God to do that which only He can do! …And, marvelously, we see His heart to do exactly that in our passage today.

God’s mission for all Christians and churches is to play their part, according to God’s instruction, in God’s own mission to glorify Himself in the salvation of all kinds of sinners.

(2) God’s Gracious Initiative

Philip sent on a special errand

v25 “Now when they [Peter and John (Acts 8:14) and Philip (Acts 8:5)] had testified and spoken the word of the Lord [probably in the city Samaria], they returned to Jerusalem [about 40 miles south], preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans [Samaria was both a region and a city]” (Acts 8:25).

v26 “Now/And/But (δε) an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza [about 50 miles southwest of Jerusalem].’ [Then Luke tells us] This is a desert place” (Acts 8:26).

It was probably along the road between Jerusalem and Gaza that Philip came alongside “an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure” (Acts 8:27).

There is much we might learn about the Ethiopian man here, but I want to point out three quick things:

He’s not Jewish at all, not even a Samaritan mutt.

Though he was living like a God-fearer in many ways [“he had come to Jerusalem to worship” (v27)], he was not allowed to be a full proselyte of the Mosaic covenant because he was “a eunuch” (v27; cf. Deut. 23:1).

He was a powerful man.

God sent Philip along the road where he would meet this particular Ethiopian… but that’s not all!

The Ethiopian was reading Isaiah!

This shows God’s initiative already in the life of that Ethiopian.

He was powerful and wealthy, so he was able to acquire a copy of Isaiah.

The Ethiopian was clearly desirous of living and worshiping according to the revelation of Isaiah’s God, but it’s not clear just how he came to know about Yahweh and His Scriptures.

God’s sovereign errand for Philip put him right beside a foreigner who might have been in Jerusalem on Pentecost, and who was curiously reading from Isaiah.

Isaiah was an Old Testament prophet who wrote about the LORD’s coming “salvation” (Is. 52:7), which centers upon a God’s “servant” (Is. 52:13) who will be “smitten by God… [and] pierced for [His people’s] transgressions” (Is. 53:4-5).

Right in the middle of all this, “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” (Acts 8:32-33; cf. Is. 53:7-8).

“And [v34 says] the eunuch said to Philip, ‘About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’” (Acts 8:34).

And v35 tells us, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35).

Brothers and sisters, could you start with this passage from Isaiah and tell someone the good news about Jesus?

Doesn’t a passage like this make “unhitching” ourselves from the Old Testament sound foolish and unChristian?

How are you growing in your understanding of God’s unfolding story… His mission to glorify Himself in the complete salvation of all kinds of sinners… which didn’t only begin when Jesus was born in a manger?

What is the good news about Jesus?

God - man - Christ - response

Creation - fall - redemption - restoration

God’s mission for all Christians and churches is to play their part, according to God’s instruction, in God’s own mission to glorify Himself in the salvation of all kinds of sinners.

(3) The Biblical Response to the Gospel

Lacking details in our passage

v35 says, “he [Philip] told him [the Ethiopian] the good news about Jesus,” and in this verse is packed a whole suitcase full of details… We can know this, because the next verse tells us that the Ethiopian official wanted to be “baptized” (v37) as soon as he saw enough water for him and Philip to “go down into” (v38).

When details are lacking, we don’t assume they are radically different than other passages that are detailed… Instead, we must trust that the details are very similar (and the burden of proof is on the one who claims otherwise).

Explicit details elsewhere are implied details here

In Acts 2, Peter preached the message about Christ, and he called his hearers to “Repent and be baptized… in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 2:38)… And Peter made it clear that the promise of forgiveness and the infilling of the Holy Spirit was for “everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (v39).

And, “those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls” (v41).

Added to what?

Added to the existing number of disciples… added to the existing church in Jerusalem!

In Acts 3, Peter preached again about the “blessing” of God (v26) that had come through the person and work of “the Lord’s Christ” (v18), and Peter called his hearers to “repent” (v19).

And Luke tells us that there were many “who… heard the word [and] believed” (Acts 4:4)… and these were added to the “number” of disciples already in Jerusalem (v4).

How would anyone know the “number” of disciples?

Did they raise their hands? Put Christian fish bumper stickers on their donkeys?

It is reasonable to understand that the number is counted by the number of converts baptized in association with the “name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38)… which is the way Christians become publicly joined to Christ and to one another.

When we get to Acts 8, Philip continued the same pattern as Peter had before him.

Philip “proclaimed to [the Samaritans] the Christ” (Acts 8:5)… and many of them “paid attention to him… [and] believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God” (Acts 8:11).

Then, those who believed “were baptized… in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 8:12, 16).

And, just like in Jerusalem, these baptized converts formed a local church in the city of Samaria.

One major difference with the Ethiopian

When he was baptized, the one Christian he knew was taken away from him [“the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away” (v39)].

Therefore, the Ethiopian was not baptized into fellowship with a local church.

However,

This was during the monumental transition from the Old Covenant to the New.

The Ethiopian was ripe for the picking, and there was no social or political or financial or familial advantage to any convert to Christ.

The Ethiopian was headed toward a geographical location which had no local church to join.

The Ethiopian was essentially sent out as a missionary to his own land at the very moment he was converted to Christ.

This is what Christians call sinners to do in response to the gospel.

We call sinners to faith

Justification is by faith alone, personal trust in Christ.

We call sinners to total life transformation

Justification is only one aspect of what it means to be a Christian, and Christ commands His people to live according to what they believe… and to do this with other Christians (the local church)!

We must do what our Christian forbears have done

All Christians throughout history have called sinners to faith and obedience, in the context of local-church-disciple-making.

It’s only been since the 1800s that people started thinking more individualistically about conversion and Christian living, and Billy Graham’s city-wide “crusades” (in the 1940s onward) really amped up the individual or personal emphasis.

Adoniram Judson, an exemplary story of evangelism and conversion.

On June 6, 1819, after more than 6 years of evangelism and Bible translation, Adoniram Judson saw his first Christian convert in Rangoon, Burma.

Maung Nau came to Adoniram that Sunday evening with a letter in hand. The letter said (translated from Burmese, as recorded in "To the Golden Shore" by Courtney Anderson):

"I, Maung Nau, the constant recipient of your excellent favor, approach your feet. Whereas my lord... has come to the country of Burmah, not for the purpose of trade, but to preach the religion of Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal God, I, having heard and understood, am, with a joyful mind, filled with love.

I believe that the Divine Son, Jesus Christ, suffered death, in the place of men, to atone for their sins. Like a heavy laden man, I feel my sins are very many. The punishment of my sins I deserve to suffer. Since it is so, do you, Sir, consider that I, taking refuge in the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, and receiving baptism, in order to become his disciple, shall dwell with yourselves, a band of brothers, in the happiness of heaven, and grant me the ordinance of baptism.

It is through the grace of Christ that you, Sir, have come by ship from one country and continent to another, and that we have met together... As it is only since I have met with you, Sir, that I have known about the eternal God, I venture to pray that you will still unfold to me the religion of God, that my old disposition may be destroyed, and my new disposition improved."

Maung Nau was baptized three Sundays later in a dirty pond, just a short distance away from the small hut where the fledgling church was meeting.

And having believed the gospel, and having been baptized into public fellowship with Christ and with other Christians, the Lord’s Supper is the ongoing public sign of continuing fellowship and unity (with Christ and with one another).

God’s mission for all Christians and churches is to play their part, according to God’s instruction, in God’s own mission to glorify Himself in the salvation of all kinds of sinners.

May God help us all to trust in the Christ who lived and died and conquered death for sinners.

May God help all of us who are Christians to play our part in His mission to glorify Himself in the salvation of all kinds of sinners.

And may God save many of our friends and family and neighbors and co-workers… through our simple and everyday disciple-making efforts.

Bibliography

Calvin, John. Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles. Edited by Henry Beveridge. Translated by Christopher Fetherstone. Vol. 1. 2 vols. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010.

Peterson, David G. The Acts of the Apostles. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.

Polhill, John B. Acts. Vol. 26. The New American Commentary. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992.

Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version. 2015 Edition. Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015.