Sermon – 05/02/21 Text – Acts 8:26-40 Theme – “Go Where God Sends” In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. There are two interesting men in our sermon text today: Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Of one, Philip, the Bible gives us a fair amount of information and background. Of the other, though – the eunuch – we know practically nothing. Yet God throws these two men together in a strange, out-of-the- way place. And He does so in a strange, miraculous way. But, like all that He does, God has a definite purpose in mind. A saving purpose. (pause) We first meet Philip a few chapters earlier in the Book of Acts. The setting there is not a good one. The Church has been growing by leaps and bounds – the apostles have been preaching in Jerusalem and the Temple about Jesus and, by the power of God, thousands have been converted. Instead of screaming “Crucify Him” they are now confessing Jesus’ name as the only name by which men may be saved. Now, you would think that such rapid growth, such amazing additions to the family of believers, would be an unmixed blessing. You would think that all would be sunshine and roses for the Church. After all, after being crucified for our sins, Jesus has risen from the dead. He has ascended into heaven, to rule all things for the good of His Bride, the Church. Sadly, though, these men and women and children were still sinners (just as are all of us Christians today). And so Satan was able in sneak into the little paradise that God had given His Church, and he was able to sow seeds of discontent and trouble. Just one such example that helps explain today’s lesson: the apostles eventually received a 1 complaint that the widows and orphans and needy among the Greek-speaking believers in Jerusalem were being short-changed in the daily distribution of food. Instead, the Hebrew and Aramaic-speaking poor were getting a little extra, while the Greek-speaking needy were treated like second-class citizens or poor relations. That is not right! When the apostles hear of this concern, they immediately act. They confer with one another, seeking a God-pleasing answer to this problem. And the Lord provides the solution: seven men will be chosen to administer the Church’s charity. Seven men who are known for their honesty and love. Seven men who can be trusted to be fair and impartial. Seven men who are filled with the Holy Spirit and who will assist the apostles, freeing the Twelve up to devote their time and energy to preaching and teaching the Gospel. And one of these men is our friend Philip. He is one of those seven original deacons (from the Greek word that means “servant” or “helper”). As a deacon, it was his job to see to the physical welfare of his brothers and sisters in the faith. This was a vital thing for the Church, for it proved their words of love. Then as now, works of charity and compassion are essential to the Church’s witness. For how can we claim to truly love, if we do not act? As we heard last week from St. John, we are to love in deed and action, not just in words. But these deacons (including Philip) also assisted the apostles in teaching the Gospel. Another of those deacons – Stephen – was stoned to death for his proclaiming of Christ. That sparked the first open persecution of the Church, one that was so fierce that most of the believers fled Jerusalem. But while Satan intended that persecution to stamp out the faith, to destroy believers, to prevent the spread of the Gospel, God uses it for precisely the opposite. That is, God (as is His custom) takes evil and He makes good come out of it. And so it is that we find Philip, one of these deacons, away from Jerusalem in our reading today. When he could not serve God and the Church there due to the persecution, Philip went to Samaria where he performed miracles and preached the Gospel. And, we are told, multitudes believed. 2 believed. Take that, devil! Not only did the persecution NOT destroy the Jerusalem church, but in fact it helped spread the faith to a wider group. How many Samaritans are now in heaven because of the work that Philip did in their midst? If he wasn’t the devil, you could almost feel sorry for Satan – everything he does blows up in his face and ends up furthering God’s cause. (pause) So, anyway, soon after he begins his service as missionary to the Samaritans, Philip is visited by an angel who tells him to go south, to the road between Jerusalem and Gaza. What an odd directive, Philip must have thought. Here he is, in Samaria, preaching the Gospel with great success among a sizable population, and now God wants him to get up and leave? To go to the road leading to Gaza (a road that goes through nothing but desert, as we are told; a road where there will be no people)? Why would God want him to do that? But Philip does not question his orders. He just goes where he is sent. And he waits. Soon, though, the reason for all this becomes clear. A chariot approaches. In the seat behind the driver is a man, our second character in this story, an Ethiopian eunuch. (pause) Now, in many ways, this fellow is even more interesting and compelling than Philip. Let’s start off with his being a eunuch. Without going into the unpleasant details, let it suffice to say that such mutilation was rather common in the ancient world among slaves. The idea being that such men could not have a wife or family, and so would be devoted to their master and his household. That was their family. And oddly enough, that IS often the way it worked out: eunuchs usually did have tremendous loyalty, they channeled all their energy into the service of their masters. And so they were frequently given positions of great power and influence. Such was the case with this man. We are told that he was the treasurer of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. That land was south of Egypt, outside of the Roman Empire. But it was an old land, a land that possessed valuable natural 3 resources (such as gold), a land that benefited from the trade that it facilitated between the Roman Empire and the rest of the African continent further south. So this eunuch was a great and important and powerful man, despite his physical condition. But even more surprising than all this is the fact of his being there, on this road from Jerusalem to Gaza. Somehow or other, this man from Ethiopia had come to know the true God. He had been in Jerusalem worshipping the Lord. Clearly his queen had great trust in him: first of all, in making him her treasurer; but also in letting him go all the way to Jerusalem (hundreds of miles away) to worship. He was her slave, remember. Yet she allows him weeks of freedom in order to go worship his God (not her god!) all the way up in Jerusalem. And now this man is heading home again, riding in a chariot, reading. And it is at that precise moment that God puts Philip in front of this man. Philip jogs alongside the chariot and asks the man if he understands what he has read. It is a passage from the prophet Isaiah. In fact, it is chapter 53, the great “Suffering Servant” section where God foretells the death of the Savior, as He carries our sins for us. “No, I don’t understand,” the man says, “Is Isaiah talking about himself, or someone else?” So, using that opening, Philip proceeds to explain Isaiah’s meaning to the Ethiopian, explaining to him how it all points to Jesus Christ and His sacrifice of the cross. As they ride along, Philip expands and explains. He opens up the whole Old Testament and how it all leads to Jesus. He teaches and preaches. As they near a pool of water, the eunuch asks if he can be baptized. More than likely he asks this question with some hesitation, some worry, some doubt. Not about the Gospel that Philip has been proclaiming to him. But doubt about whether or not God would want him. Does God really want someone like me? A slave? An emasculated, castrated, mutilated man? An Ethiopian, not a Jew? One who is so new to the faith? You can probably relate to such questions. We have them too. Is the Gospel really for me? Am 4 I too wicked, too stubborn, too sinful for God? Could God really love someone like me? I am full of problems. I have nothing to offer Him. I am not good enough. I do not know as much as I should about the Bible. Why would God do all this for me? So, how does Philip respond to those questions and doubts? Immediately he has the chariot stop, and he goes down to the water with the eunuch and baptizes him. Yes, the Gospel IS for his man – despite all his limitations and failings and problems. Just like the Gospel is for you too, with all your weaknesses and sins and doubts. And for me, with my myriad of flaws and faults and iniquities.