(Rewritten notes from Church at the Beach message on May 29. And those of you who were at the beach ... did you share the Gospel and give that tract away?)
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 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, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?”
So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
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.In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.Who can speak of his descendants?For his life was taken from the earth.”
The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
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?” [Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” *verse 37 in NKJV/NASB] And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 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. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
TEACHING POINT NO. 1
Phillip. One of the seven appointed to help oversee the day-to-day workings of the church in Jerusalem – the daily ministry of assistance to the impoverished widows of the Christian community . After a rather successful time in Samaria preaching the Gospel (see Acts 8:4-7), the Holy Spirt – GOD – said to get on the road, the DESERT road from Jerusalem to Gaza. Phillip went (see Matthew 28:18-20/Acts 1:8). Further, the Holy Spirit pointed out to Phillip someone who was seeking God, yet had questions about Him (verse 29).
APPLICATION OF TEACHING POINT NO. 1
- Are you listening when the Holy Spirit says “go” even when it might seem absurd to you, even if it gets you out of what you are familiar with?
- And are you going out on what appears to be a desert road?
TEACHING POINT NO. 2
The Ethiopian eunuch/treasurer. He was a seeker, one who went to Jerusalem to worship, yet because he was a eunuch, according to Deuteronomy 23:1, he could not participate in the community worship, nor could he even hope to become a proselyte Jew. But still he sought to know the Lord (Ps 91:14-16, Jer. 29:13), because he likely had a longing in his heart and a innate knowledge that there was someone bigger than him, and that someone could restore or renew or make him brand new.
And think of your own life before you came to know the Lord. Wasn't it something like this?
When Phillip came to him, he was reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Note: This probably was not a random scroll the Ethiopian picked up: see Isaiah 56:3-8. And think again: the Ethiopian had a some notion that he could be renewed or made new. It can't be an accident that when Phillip came along side, the Ethiopian was reading one of the Messianic prophesies in Isaiah (ch. 53).
APPLICATION OF TEACHING POINT NO. 2
- Once out on the desert road, are you paying attention to the people around you – especially to someone who might be bit lost in seeking God?
TEACHING POINT NO. 3
Phillip listened to the Ethiopian to figure out where he was spiritually. Notice that Phillip did not launch into sharing the Gospel (– the Gospel (verses 30-31, 34). He listened to the Ethiopian reading Scripture, then asked the question to find out the depth of the Ethiopian’s understanding. In other words, he waited for the invitation to share what God had given him – the Gospel – to share.
APPLICATION OF TEACHING POINT NO. 3
- Do you wait until invited to share the Gospel, or do you just launch into it without understanding where the other person is at spiritually?
TEACHING POINT NO. 4
Phillip knew and used God’s Word to share the Gospel . The Ethiopian read to Phillip the passage he could not understand. And Phillip knew to begin where the Ethiopian was and use that as a way to tell the WHOLE GOSPEL and told him about Jesus (verse 35) … and the Ethiopian believed and was baptized.
APPLICATION OF TEACHING POINT NO. 4
- How much do you know of God’s Word to share?
- Are you reading it for yourself?
- Are you attending your D-group Bible study regularly?
- Are you in church regularly to listen to the Word preached?
- Are you attending the Sunday school sessions on the Bible basics of our shared faith?
We do have the tools, and you have every opportunity to obtain those tools AND to learn how to use them. The rest is up to you to be obedient to the Lord.
(*Note on verse 37, from the New American Commentary: Acts
Verse 37 is omitted from the NIV text of Acts, and for good reasons. It is not found in the early manuscripts of Acts and seems to be a later scribal addition. It is given in a footnote of the NIV and consists of a profession of faith on the part of the eunuch. Evidently a scribe felt this was lacking and so provided the missing confession of faith. He did not need to do so. Luke had summarized Philip’s sharing the gospel with the eunuch in v. 35, and one can assume it included an appeal for the eunuch to respond. The eunuch’s desire for baptism would indicate a favorable response to Philip’s appeal. The added verse, however, has considerable value. It seems to embody a very early Christian baptismal confession where the one baptizing asked the candidate if he believed in Christ with all his heart, to which the candidate would respond by confessing Jesus Christ as the Son of God. This old confession is of real significance to the history of early Christian confessions and would be appropriate to the baptismal ceremony today. To that extent we can be grateful to the pious scribe who ascribed to the eunuch the baptismal confession of his own day.
Additional thought: Don't get caught up with the verse number and think it was omitted ... remember that when the original was written, none/zero/nada of the Bible's writers had entered chapter and verse numbers in their writing. Also, note that its omission from the NIV does not contradict anything written before or after, nor does its addition or omission change anything about the basics of Christian faith. -- Alan)
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