City Life Starter

I. The Word: Acts 8:26-40 (ESV)

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south[a] 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.

II. Study Questions:

1. Re-read verse 26, notice how specific the instructions from the angel are. What does this teach you about God?

2. Why do you think the Ethiopian was coming to Jerusalem to worship in the first place? What does the fact that he was coming tell you about God’s mission to all nations in the Old Testament?

3. Notice that this man’s conversion started with him reading and contemplating the scriptures…how is that similar or different from your story?

We chose this verse to meditate on today because it is the last day of the first week of Starter! We started this week with Luke 24 where Jesus shows His disciples that everything in the Hebrew Scriptures is pointing to Him. This story in Acts 8 is just one example of how His disciples took that teaching and ran with it and embraced it. All of the Bible, and therefore all of human life, is a story about Jesus. As His followers we are not at liberty to debate with His teachings but to conform to them.

Just the selection of yesterdays text in Isaiah 53 and this one today in Acts 8 should teach and reveal much to us about God and His word. I want to change it up today and instead of having one central idea to talk about I want to look at 4 things that stand out to me here in Acts 8:26-40.

All of Acts chapter 8 is about the missionary work of Philip. Before our story we read today Philip is in Samaria, with Peter and John, teaching and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus. On their way back from their short term mission trip to Samaria we read verse 26 which says, “An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip…” And again in verse 29 it says, “Then the Spirit said to Philip…” These two verses teach us something that everyone who has ever been on the mission field knows: When we go and tell, He shouts and yells! I am the most hungry for the Bible, prayer, community, and intimacy with the Lord, and I hear him most clearly, when I am uncomfortable and on mission. I sense this more in Uganda than in Houston. Why? Because at home in Houston I am thinking about a ton of things I am responsible for: bills, my kids education and growth, my marriage, my house, the health of my old truck, my parents and brother, the Yankees, double stuff Oreos, etc. In Uganda when all that is forcibly stripped away from me, and my responsibility for them takes a back seat, then all I am left to focus on is effectively sharing the hope that I have within me. And guess what, that is the time when God is the loudest! Can God, and does God, speak here in Houston? Absolutely! Philip heard God in Jerusalem as well as Samaria, but I would venture to gamble that if you were to ask Philip, or any missionary, they will tell you that there is just something inexpressibly loud when hearing God on the mission field.

“And he [the Ethiopian] said, ‘Well, how could I understand, unless someone guides me?’” Acts 8:31. The second thing that jumps out to me in this text is something I wrote about earlier in the week, the eternal value of community! I love this text! In this Ethiopian you do not see any pride, you do not see and fear of looking dumb, just a dude who wants to understand and know the Scriptures! It is amazing in my profession to watch people like this and not like this. People who care more about how stupid they look by not knowing something, than how stupid the All Knowing looked on the cross naked and rejected, always have a harder time understanding the Bible. Always. His attitude and approach to reading the Bible is almost perfect to me. He knows he is in the right place, the Bible, but he doesn’t understand what it means…so he asked! Novel idea! If you want answers you need to ask questions! If you want to try to understand and grasp the mystery of godliness you have to have community. It is a non-negotiable, stead fast, truth. No one, not even Jesus, think about that, knows what they know all because of themselves! Jesus said multiple times that He only knows, says, and does whatever the Father has told Him. Please do not be embarrassed to ask for help, be wise and ask for help. Be more concerned with finding Jesus than losing other people’s idea of how brilliant you are! Be a Quitter!

Something new that grabbed my iris as I was reading today was verse 39, “When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but he went on his way rejoicing.” I get so distracted by the whole “the Lord snatched him away” bit that I have always missed what this verse says about the Ethiopian. Notice who he was in awe with? Notice why he was rejoicing? It was not Philip, he gone! That is what I would have done. This awesome dude who pops up out of nowhere and then unties this intellectual knot I have from Isaiah 53, and then tells me about Jesus, would have made me almost worship Philip! We, well I, do this all the time. Tim Keller, Chris Pate, Andy Stanley, Francis  Chan, John Piper, Spurgeon, CS Lewis, or whomever I am listening to, when they drop some sort of truth bomb on me, I love the guy! I want to listen to more. I am almost “sad” when the sermon is over. But not this Ethiopian! He fell in love with Jesus not Philip. The message not the messenger! This is so hard in a celebrity culture like ours is it not? I thank God for all the “Philips” in my life, but I rejoice because of who they have revealed to me…Jesus! Please do not feed any pastor or teachers pride and ego and rejoice over them. Thank God for them. Be joyful that you know Jesus, not His messengers! “Is the axe to boast itself over the one who chops with it? Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it?” Isaiah 10:15a

Lastly, we have to know the rest of the Ethiopian’s story. What happened to him? Did he go home to Africa and just enjoy this Jesus whom all of Scriptures tells us of? It says in verse 39 that, “He went on his way” but what did he do on his way? We know what he did. He is the first Christian in Africa, which is pretty cool by itself, but he is also the founder of what is called the Coptic church. The Coptics may have some issues as a denomination, but don’t we all, but for the past 2,000 years they have been teaching, talking, and treasuring Jesus! That is about 3-4 centuries before Europe was doing that! This man not only enjoyed Jesus, but he enlisted in His mission. Jesus’ mission is to bring ultimate glory to the Father by fixing the four broken relationships. Jesus mission was to serve the SOHG by dying so you can live, by losing so you can win, by being rejected so you could be accepted, by being beaten so that you could be kissed! The Ethiopian seems to have enjoyed this, and enlisted in it as well!

Do you enjoy Jesus? Is what He did for and to you inexpressible and ravishing? Then like Philip, and like the Ethiopian eunuch, go and tell people all over the world about Him. All of the Bible is about Jesus. All of history is about Jesus. Is all of your life is about Jesus? Prove it.

This blog is dedicated to the Mzungus of CLC! You know who you are!