Sermon – 5th Sunday of Easter – "The Ethiopian Inquirer" – Acts 8:26-40 – 5/14/06
May 14th, 2006Click play to listen to the audio version of this sermon.
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I’d like to begin by briefly introducing the two men who appear in our text today – Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch.
First, Philip, since we have a bit more of his biography than of the Ethiopian. First of all, this is not the Philip who was the disciple of Jesus. We don’t meet this Philip until the book of Acts. Philip was certainly a Christian. We know that he heard the gospel – the word of God – because that’s the only way anyone comes to faith and confesses Christ to be Lord. No one says Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit works through the means of grace – word preached, sacraments administered. But we’re not told how, when or where this happened. He may have been one of those 3,000 who were baptized in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit blew into town and the Apostles spoke their multilingual witness to Jesus. Or, he may have been one of those 5,000 men who came to faith during the dramatic cure that Peter and John laid on the lame beggar at the temple. Or he may have come to faith through the witness of one of the 3,000 or 5,000. Who knows. His name first appears on the scene in Acts 6 where he is appointed, along with a man named Stephen and five others to be deacons and oversee the daily distribution of food to the widows.
By Acts, chapter 8, a full-fledged persecution has broken out against the Christians. And the Church that was just beginning to get it legs under it was suddenly forced to run for it. And every where the Christians ran, the gospel of Jesus was spoken and seeds were sown and new Christians sprang up and Churches were growing all over the world. Philip was one of those shot out from the explosion in Jerusalem. “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did.” (Acts 8:4-7).
The last word we have about Philip is from Acts 21:8 were we read that he’s living in the city of Caesarea with his four daughters. An evangelist traveling to Jerusalem with his companion stops at Philip’s house for the night. He ends up spending “many days” at Philip’s home. The man’s name is Paul who is traveling with his companion named Luke.
Of the other man in our text we know much less. We don’t even know his name. Only that he is from Ethiopia and that he is a court official in the service of the Queen of Ethiopia. He was in charge of her treasury. The one other detail we know about his man is that he has been castrated. One of those “oaths of office” that has thankfully fallen out of practice.
Much more to the point is the fact that this man had come all the way from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to worship the God of the Israelites who was located at the temple. We read, “he had gone to Jerusalem to worship.”
One of the ways that God had prepared the world for the coming of Christ was by the spread of Judaism though out the world. The message of Christ falls on fertile soil when it is heard by someone who is looking for a Messiah long promised by God and foretold in the Old Testament. The Ethiopian was on his way home and he was reading the Old Testament as he traveled along. Here is just the sort of man whom Jesus had in mind when He said that the harvest is ripe. “Pray earnestly to the Lord of harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2).
So these two men meet one another along the road that runs south from Jerusalem to Gaza. Luke tells us “It’s a deserted road.” All the church growth books ever written would agree, this is not the place to do mission work. The demographics are not at all promising. It’s not worth the time and expense involved. But “an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘rise and go…’” And we read, “and he rose and went…”
Philip spots the target moving down the road in his ox drawn chariot, going about the same speed as you could walk. Once again, the Spirit speaks to Philip, “go over and join this chariot.” And once again we read, “so Philip ran to him…” He hears the Ethiopian reading. He was reading to himself, out loud, which was the common practice until much later in history when reading silently becomes the norm. Philip engages the man in conversation, “do you know what you are reading?” And the man replies quite humbly, “how can I, unless someone guides me?” And with that, he invites Philip to ride along with him.
Now the passage of Scripture he was reading was this, “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its sheerer is silent so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” He’s reading from Isaiah, chapter 53. This is verses 7-8.
He asks Philip, “about whom does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”
It is right at this point in the sermon preparation that the preacher must decide which direction to take the message.
Shall we focus upon Philip the Evangelist and hold him up to be the example that we should follow? If so, the direction from here on out would be to encourage you to be an evangelist – engage people in conversation – many are ripe for the harvest – tell them about Jesus. If I were as supportive of the Synod’s Ablaze Movement as I should be, I would call this a “critical event” and suggest that Philip would have surely logged it onto the Synod’s web-site and counted it as one towards the goal of 100 million by October 30, 2017. “Now get out there and start racking up some ‘critical events’ toward the goal.”
Of course, we should bear witness to Jesus to those who do not know Him and trust in Him for their salvation. And of course, we should be “always prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you…” (1 Peter 3:15). And of course we should be very supportive of our Synod’s work in encouraging us to be evangelists.
I would rather however have us find ourselves this morning in the Ethiopian man. Here is an “inquirer.” He wants to understand and he has an open mind that’s ready and eager to listen and learn. And the more he reads the Scriptures the more he wants to read them and the more he understands the more he’s convinced he doesn’t understand. He has questions and is searching for answers. He is humble and there is no sign of pride that stands in the way of his asking for help and guidance. From this point forward, lets call him “the Ethiopian Inquirer.”
Here is an example that we could all benefit by imitating more closely. The Inquirers Class is my favorite class to teach and even though I’ve taught it at least 20 times over the last 13 years, I never get tired of it and I’m always anxious for the next group to be formed and begin. What is more refreshing than people who are anxious to understand the Scriptures and the basis for their faith.
How sad it is that so many lose all fascination with the Scriptures and have no desire to inquirer into them; no questions that they need to have answered; no mystery that they need to explore deeper; perfectly satisfied to have stopped growing in the knowledge of the faith that was given.
What good would it do to urge evangelism to others where there is no evangelism within? But if we were more like this Ethiopian Inquirer, evangelism would happen automatically without any programs or nagging from the pulpit.
So let’s find ourselves this morning in this Ethiopian Inquirer. And with an open and inquiring mind, listen to Philip. “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.”
“You ask, who is the prophet talking about? Himself or another? I will tell you. You are just returning home from the temple are you not? In your worship there, you surely witnessed the sacrifice of many sheep and lambs and maybe even offered the same for yourself. Those lambs and sheep were being offered as substitutes. They were offered for the sins of the one who offered them. Those animals were guiltless. They committed no sin. But they were sacrificed in the stead of a sinner. And this by the command of God for God loves the sinner and would not have the sinner die for his sins. He would prefer that an innocent lamb be sacrificed that the guilty sinner would live.”
“The prophet is not talking about himself since he himself is a sinner and it would do nobody else any good were he to be sacrificed. The prophets blood would not even atone for his own sin since it is guilty blood. No, Isaiah was not talking about himself when he wrote this. Nor were any of the prophets talking about themselves when they wrote what they wrote. They were all talking about another. An innocent lamb that would be sacrificed for the sin of the world. – and not just for one sinner but for all sinners.”
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its sheerer is silent, so he opens not his mouth.”
“My Ethiopian friend, God has sent this lamb down from heaven. His name is Jesus. He was led to the slaughter like a sheep. God Himself presented Him to be the sacrifice for sin. God has no sin that needs atoning for and His Lamb was perfectly innocent. He wasn’t sacrificed for Himself. God presented Him Lamb as a sacrifice of atonement for our sins, and not only ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (Romans 3:25; 1 Jn.2:2)
This Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world is the One whose name is Jesus. He was crucified just outside Jerusalem, just as the prophets said He would be. And He opened not his mouth to complain or object – for to this very purpose He came down from heaven. By His blood, all of our sins are blotted out, once for all. And by His substitutionary death in our place we have peace with God.”
“And what’s more, we have assurance that all of this is true. For on the 3rd day, God raised this Jesus from the dead – just as He promised beforehand. And many eyewitnesses saw Him ascend into heaven. And He has sent the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit led me to you that you too may find all the answers to all your searching in Jesus.”
And surely this Ethiopian Inquirer would have asked Philip, “and what must I do to be saved?” And Philip would have responded as he had responded so many times before, “my friend, that’s just the thing. There is nothing you can do. God gives this life and salvation to you freely, through baptism.”
“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?’ And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.”
And with that, Philip is carried away by the Holy Spirit and this Ethiopian Inquirer “went on his way rejoicing.” And I doubt that he needed to be reminded to share the good news.
Related Entries:
» Worship Schedule» Sermon Index – Lutheran – LCMS
» Sermon – 2nd Easter – "Rise Up And Walk" – Acts 3:1-26 – 4/23/06
» Sermon – Easter 6 – "The Gospel Is For All Nations" – Acts 10:34-48
» Sermon – Easter 3 – "Worthy To Open The Scroll" – Revelation 5:1-14 – 4/18/10
» Sermon – 4th Sunday of Easter – "Who's In Control?" – Acts 4:23-33 – 5/7/06
