Daily Thoughts from Acts: Passion for the Gospel (Acts 8:26-40)

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 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 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 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.  In his humiliation justice was denied him.  Who can describe his generation?  For his life is taken away from the earth.”

And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.  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 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. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.  (Acts 8:26-40 ESV)

Isaiah 53 is one of the clearest passages in the Old Testament concerning the sacrificial suffering of the Messiah for our sins and for his resurrection, as well.  The eunuch’s question, is the prophet Isaiah speaking about himself or someone else, has been a key question for all in the debate about who the Messiah is.  Philip uses the passage to lead the eunuch to faith in Jesus as Messiah and immediately, as water is made available, baptizes him.

It is fascinating that the Spirit verbally directs Philip to the Ethiopian in what is normal travel, apparently, but upon completion of his task the Spirit catches Philip away supernaturally to the town of Azotus, where Philip continues his preaching of the gospel.  The Spirit will also, we may presume, take the responsibility of continuing the Ethiopian’s instruction in the faith.  Normally that is our responsibility when we lead someone to Jesus.

There are two things we see in this passage that should inform the way we conduct our lives as believers:

1. Philip listened to God and found direction from God about the missionary enterprise.  You and I have this same Lord directing us, if we will listen and not presume we know what to do next.  Every situation in our lives is a calling to live out the gospel and an opportunity to proclaim it.  But God is directing how we should do that and it only makes sense that we pay attention to Him and what He wants us to do in any given situation.  Trust Him, He will lead you.
2. Everywhere Philip went he preached the gospel.  There is no community where the gospel is not needed to be proclaimed.  Relationship with God is for everyone.  God may take us to some extraordinary places, as he did Philip, to preach to someone like the Ethiopian whom He has been at work in and is ready to bring to faith, but in the meantime, wherever we are is our mission field.  Some of us, like Philip, may be used of God to preach the gospel far and wide.  Others of us will preach it right where we are, within our circles of influence, within our community of relationships.  Because we love people we will tell them the good news we were told and that rescued our lives.

I came across a 2001 interview with then 84 year old Marie Colwill and she expressed these principles so well:

I long for other people to have what I have – Jesus in my heart. I was told about Him as a child and read the Bible growing up. Eventually I realized I needed a Savior. When I accepted Jesus into my heart I was about 18. It gave me a peace and a joy; I could sleep at night. It seemed like the grass was greener, the birds sang sweeter and the sky was bluer. I had such a deep, settled peace.

A few years ago, it seemed I started receiving more wrong number phone calls. When people would call and ask for someone, I’d say, “No, that person doesn’t live here, but did you know that God has such a love for you that He wants you in heaven with Him?” Some callers would get kind of quiet and I would say, “You know, the Bible says that we need to be born again.” And I’d quote a verse or two. And I’ve been able to lead several people to the Lord. Now when the phone rings, I walk to the phone praying, “Is this somebody that needs Jesus?” [From http://www.pe.ag.org/conversations2001/4553_colwill.cfm]