His Wisdom For Salvation
Notes
Transcript
The Good News About Jesus. That’s It!
You’ll love it. I promised. And I was quite sure of myself. Our family had been up to Sedona many times before, and we loved showing people around. This time, we had our eye on a new spot.
It was supposed to be a short, relatively shaded hike, according to the research I had done. But you can’t plan for everything. The day started off on the wrong foot, when we didn’t get together in Sedona as early as I had hoped. Not a big deal. Until it was. When we arrived at Soldiers Pass, the parking lot was much smaller than I realized. And it was totally full. No way we were getting two spots. So we had to figure out a second option. Our new starting spot added a mile and change to our hike. Significant, but not enough to scare us off. So we headed down the trail. Only this trail didn’t have nearly the shade the other one did. And our twice-delayed start meant that everything was much warmer than I thought it was going to be.
But we had a group of troopers and plenty of water and snacks. So we pressed on. And we made it. A little slower than I was thinking, but we wound past Devil’s Kitchen and finally arrived at Seven Sacred Pools. When we got there, the first impression was a lasting one. That’s it!!??! That’s what we went all this way for? I’ve seen bigger kiddie pools. If they were sand traps on a golf course you wouldn’t even worry about them. And there weren’t even seven. I mean, there were seven places where water could have pooled, but only like three or four of them had any water. We hiked all that way, in the heat, and talked up this place to our friends and it was utterly disappointing.
Have you ever had a moment like that? Where you get all excited for something and when the moment finally arrives, you’re just disappointed? A moment where internally, and maybe even externally, you’re screaming: That’s it!!??!
It would be hard to blame Philip or the Ethiopian for having thoughts of That’s it!!??! Though they were very different in almost every conceivable way, they had both to deal with disappointment.
We will start with the man we first meet in our text, Philip. Philip was (Acts 6:5) one of the seven deacons who helped meet the needs of the poor. But, when one of his fellow deacons, a man named Stephen, was stoned to death for preaching the Gospel a great persecution broke out. (Acts 8:1) Everyone except the Apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. But wherever God’s people went they preached the Gospel. Philip went to a city in Samaria and spoke about Jesus there. The Lord blessed his work there. (Acts 8:5-8) Crowds heard Philip preach, they saw him exorcise demons, and heal the lame and the paralyzed. Everyone paid close attention to what he said and there was great joy in that city.
Why would he want to leave that? He wouldn’t. But the Lord wanted him to, so he sent an angel to Philip with this message. (Acts 8:26) Go south to the road, the desert road, that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. Can you imagine stopping what you were doing, when you were finally getting some traction, finally making some inroads, doing the work Jesus spoke of in his Great Commission, to make a 90 mile trek down a deserted road? Gaza didn’t even exist anymore! Nobody who knew where they were going would take that road!?! Couldn’t the Lord have called one of the Apostles who were still in Jerusalem to do this work? Though Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, doesn’t mention Philip’s frustration or disappointment, it would be challenging for anyone to not feel that way, right?
On his way, he met another disappointed individual: (Acts 8:27) an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake. He was the financial head honcho. A man who was typically treated with great respect and honor. He was a man of influence, someone with access, the mover and shaker in his home country. But all that influence and access, power and prestige had come at a great cost. If this man were like most eunuchs, at a young age he made a choice for his future life. He chose to have his reproductive organs damaged so that he could climb the royal ranks. A man who could not have a family was more trustworthy when it came to handling important matters. So he chose tremendous physical pain so that he might receive tremendous honor, respect, and wealth--glory. It all came with a cost. But he made a choice and now he had to live with it. But it was not that choice of a career over a family, that left him disappointed.
Somehow this Ethiopian official came to know and believe in the Lord, the God of Israel. And he made the journey to Jerusalem, (Acts 8:27) to worship at the Temple. Consider what he must have seen. A Jerusalem run by the chief priests and Sadducees, men more concerned with financial and political matters than spiritual ones. A Jerusalem thick with Pharisees, men more concerned with how many steps a person took on the Sabbath day that whether a person was really (Ps. 128:1) walking in the way of heartfelt obedience to the Lord. He traveled over 1,500 miles, a difficult and dangerous journey that would have taken months, to see the very Jerusalem that caused our Lord and Savior to weep.
But that’s not the only reasons he would been disappointed. When he finally arrived at the Temple, he would have been denied access. Not because he was a black or a foreigner. But because of the choice that he had made. (Dt. 23:1) No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord. He went all that way, only to be turned away.
Can you relate to their deep disappointment? Has your plan for you life been changed abruptly, like Philip? Have you faced rejection, like the Ethiopian eunuch?
Maybe you had career aspirations that always seem to get ruined by things and people outside of your control. Maybe, like the Ethiopian, something physical is holding you back. Maybe, like him, you made a choice you now regret. Maybe you didn’t. It almost doesn’t make a difference, does it? You feel stuck now. Like that’s it!?!?!
Perhaps you’re feeling like Philip, nowadays. Headed down an old desert road to nowhere. Life was good back where you used to be, but now you’re wondering why God has taken you away from all the good things and people you loved to be surrounded by.
There are even times, as a mission-minded church, especially when we’ve typically had our bigger efforts and events, that I’ve struggled with this. Why can’t God heal this world, or at least our community, so we can get back to doing what we want to be doing for him? Why does the Lord seem to be allowing so many wrenches to get thrown into the works? Why is it that every time we get something going, someone vital to our work has to step aside or moves away?
Is there a small part of you that wonders, from time to time, if God really knows what he’s doing? If we tug on that thread, we know where it comes from, don’t we? Our own pride and arrogance disguises itself as disappointment and frustration. Sometimes it even strikes a pious-sounding pose. If I was able to do things my way, be what I want, where I want, how I want, I would be able to do more of what God wants! Perhaps a little passage from Isaiah will put us in our place: (Is. 55:8-9) “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Hearing that might be even more frustrating. But it shouldn’t be. It should be humbling. Because as good as you think your plans are, they aren’t even in God’s stratosphere. They can never be. So stop acting like they are. And start thanking God for his wisdom as he carries out his will in wonderfully gracious ways. That’s exactly what he does here, isn’t it? God’s timing & plan are impeccably gracious.
On his way back home, this Ethiopian man was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he was struggling. Not because he didn’t know what it said. He didn’t know what it meant. And at just the right time, along came this Jewish man he’d never met to tell him about the most important person in the history of the world. The one who was (Acts 8:32-33) 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 Ethiopian eunuch didn’t know who Isaiah was talking about. But Philip did, and he told him (Acts 8:35) the good news about Jesus. How Jesus made all the right choices and experienced all the wrong consequences. He had been humiliated. Not just denied access to the Temple, but (Acts 8:33) deprived of justice. Stripped and crucified outside Jerusalem. Jesus had no descendants because he made a choice. He came to give himself for us so that we could be made God’s children. His entire life he made the choice to reject sin & temptation. He did not come to climb the royal ranks, but to take on the very nature of a servant so that we might have access to heaven’s throne.
Then something wonderful happened. On this desert road, (Ac. 8:36) they came to some water. Philip baptized this man and God did something miraculous and gracious. He washed away all his sins. God made him whole and acceptable and welcomed this man into his family. And then the (Acts 8:39) Spirit of the Lord whisked Philip away. Not back to Samaria, but to Azotus. Philip then preached along the coastline all the way up to Caesarea. And the eunuch (Ac. 8:39) went on his way, rejoicing. He had traveled to Jerusalem looking for God, but God had found him on a desert road in the words of Isaiah through the work of Philip. Jesus found and saved this Ethiopian eunuch.
This story shows us something tremendous about our God. Statistically speaking, Philip was having a greater impact in Samaria. But God called him to get up and go and find one man. This is how our God saves souls even today. He positions his people, he times events according to his plan, so that you and I might have the awesome opportunity to tell just one person about Jesus. Just one. That’s it?!? That’s it. God actively works in this world, through his people, to save single sinners. Because he loves us individually. He knows us by name. He is never disappointed when one person is brought to repentance and salvation. Instead, (Lk. 15:7) the angels in heaven rejoice!
And look at how God does that! Through studying his Word. The miracle that sticks out to us is the Spirit of the Lord whisking Philip away. But look at how the Spirit worked in the heart of that Ethiopian official as Philip began with Isaiah 53:7-8 and told him (Acts 8:35) the good news about Jesus. Two men sat down in a chariot and studied God’s Word and God brought a man from death to life. God blessed a man who was once confused with deep and abiding peace and certainty. Through Philip, who was not one of the Twelve Apostles, God opened up the Scriptures for this man so that he could see wonderful things. Can God use you to do the same for someone else?
Well, you may say, I am not an evangelist like Philip. Why not? How do you think Philip became an evangelist? He studied the Word of God. He spent time soaking in the Scriptures so that he could always find his way to Jesus.
Well, you may say, I’ve never met someone who is reading the Scriptures aloud and asks me to explain what they mean. Don’t forget that Philip initiated the conversation. He asked this complete stranger, (Acts 8:30) Do you understand what you are reading?
You and I are surrounded by people who are deeply confused and distressed, right now. People who are hurting and hopeless. People who have been disappointed by organized religion, or even a Christian church. Do you understand what they need? Can you listen to their lives and point them to healing and hope they have in Jesus? Can you absorb their anger and frustration and then guide them to the God who has experienced that pain and so much more so that they might be saved from their sins? You can. And if you feel ill-equipped, right now, make a point to join us for Bible Study.
Do you have a friend or an acquaintance who is out of sorts and needs the comfort only Christ can give? Talk with them, talk with me, and all of us can start a class together. That’s it. No pressure. Just Jesus. Because these words are (Ps. 119:105) a lamp for our feet and a light for our path, and not just ours, but for all those around us.
And in our day, as on that day, God works through simple things, and simple people, and does something simply profound. That’s it.