The Gospel and Personal Evangelism

Acts 8:25-40

Introduction

In an amazing turn of events, this year the Detroit Lions have been doing well. But that is explainable, I think. I think a large part of their success is due to their new quarterback, Jon Kitna, who of course came from Cincinnati.

But what you might not have heard is that Kitna is a committed Christian. In fact, he used to go to my parents’ church when he played for the Bengals. And Kitna is not one of these guys who simply puts his finger in the air when a play goes well.

In fact, if you read ESPN magazine you will know that since Kitna came to the team last year, 20 of the Detroit Lions have been saved.

While that is something we should rejoice over, it is not something we should be surprised by. What is shows is that Jon Kitna is simply doing what all Christians should be doing – sharing their faith.

This morning, as we continue our series in the book of Acts and finish looking at what God did through Philip, we want to see his experience of personal evangelism and draw some application for our lives in the 21st century as we seek to share Christ as well.

Acts 8:25-40

Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. [26] 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. [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.

1. Obey the Call to Evangelize (8:25-27a, 29)

One very popular book that has come out in the last 15 years or so, says this is the paradigm for knowing God’s will – look where God is working and go join in. Unfortunately, that thesis fails on a couple of levels.

First, how do you know God is working? There are large churches that do not preach the gospel and do not hold to Christian theology yet continue to grow large. Clearly God is not at work there, but to some it may appear that he is.

Second, that means that it is never appropriate to seek to revive a work that had previous been active. Every church that’s in decline should be scrubbed and a new one begun? That’s doesn’t sound right, does it?

The final and most important problem is this – God doesn’t always work that way.

Remember the setting we have just come out of earlier in the chapter. Philip had been engaged in what we might call ‘mass evangelism.’ He was preaching to the crowds and many were being saved. Then look at what happens –

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. [27] And he rose and went. . . . [29] And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” [30] So Philip ran to him,

Most of us – if we were mature – would have wanted to stay and continue to minister. People are getting saved, so let’s keep preaching. But God calls Philip away. In fact, he calls him away from the crowds to go out to the middle of nowhere – the desert.

And how does he respond? With immediate obedience. Philip knows this is God’s will and he obeys. Not because he better than us, but because he has come to grips with glory of God and wonder of salvation – both his own, and that of others which comes through the preaching of the gospel.

Thus, Philip embodies Jesus’ teaching in that he was willing to leave the 99 sheep to rescue the one that was lost.

The truth is, though we do not need a supernatural call to ministry. We don’t need God to send an angel or guide us by an extraordinary move of his Spirit. Each and every one of us has basic marching orders that need to be obeyed –

Peter said, “but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;” (1 Peter 3:15).

I said it time and time again, and we have seen it over and over again in our study of Acts – every Christian is called by Christ to be evangelists.

We are take every opportunity to called to share the gospel in order that God may call those in spiritual darkness into his glorious light, redeeming their lives sin and bringing them into fellowship with himself.

One of the things that will give us confidence to do this, will be recognizing that before we share the gospel, God prepares the person’s heart.

This is our second point of application this morning – we are to,

2. Recognize God’s Preparation of the Heart (8:27b-28)

Luke says that after Philip obeys God’s call and heads south towards Gaza, 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.

These are some of those verses that we are tempted to pass over quickly, thinking perhaps that Luke has simply put them there to give us some context, or some historical background, all the while failing to see their importance.

What we have here is nothing is certainly all of those things, but so much more. Stop and think about what Luke is telling us. It’s an amazing series of providential workings in a man’s life that ultimately bring him to faith in the gospel. God is preparing the man’s heart to hear of Christ.

So who is this man? What exactly has God done in his life? Luke says he is a eunuch – someone physically dedicated to the service of his king. In this case, the man was in service to the regent of Ethiopia.

If you remember, about a thousand years before this, the Queen of Sheba – from that same region – had visited Solomon. The result was surely an exchange of ideas. Most likely a copy of the Law had gone to Ethiopia.

But more than that, Luke goes to great lengths to tell us that Cornelius – whom we will meet in chapter 10 – is the first Gentile convert. Thus, most likely through the exile of Israelites centuries before, this man’s lineage is such that he is part Jewish and part Ethiopian. Even today, there are many black African Jews like this man.

What’s more though, is that he is not just ethnically Jewish. This eunuch was also spiritually inclined towards his Jewish roots to pursue understanding and worship of the Hebrew God. Furthermore, whether before this trip to Jerusalem or as a result, he has obtained a copy of the entire Old Testament.

And in a final act of sweet providence, we find him reading of the Old Testament passages that most clearly point to work of Christ. After all of this, then, God commands Philip to go to him and share Christ.

When you see all that God has done – all of the preparation he has done – to bring this man to Christ, it’s amazing isn’t it?

What we sometimes forget is that God does the same thing today. No one wakes one day, or hears the gospel for the first time and say, ‘yeah, okay, I’m ready to become a Christian.’

No, God does a supernatural work in their hearts to prepare them to hear and give them the ability to believe. But more than that, God often works in the circumstances of their lives to prepare them to hear the gospel.

Do not think the salvation of others all depends on you. Do not think it will be so difficult to share Christ. Brother and sisters – God is at work; often behind the scenes and in unexpected ways.

Sometimes, when you share Christ you are preparation so that months or years later the next person who says gets to reap the harvest.

Let that encourage you to share Christ unashamedly and boldly, knowing that God has prepared the hearts of those who will believe.

This will also make it easier for you to,

3. Communicate Across Cultural Barriers (8:27-28 )

This is our third point of application – when you share Christ, be prepared to communicate across cultural barriers.

Think for a moment of all the things that socially and culturally separated Philip from this eunuch –

· First, they were from very different parts of the world. Philip was from Jerusalem, and the eunuch from Ethiopia (then, a large region of Africa south of the Egypt).

· Philip was a deacon, but that didn’t give him any kind of social status, especially in the world. On the other hand, the Eunuch was a court official. He was the royal purser, in charge of the Queen’s treasury.

· Simply by observing that the Eunuch is being driven in a chariot while Philip is walking, eating his dust as it were, we see their difference.

But did that stop Philip from obeying God’s call? No.

Many Christians are put off by cultural or social differences. We think don’t know how to act, or what to say, and so we begin to make excuses and rationalize why we shouldn’t share Christ with them.

We meet someone of higher social standing and think things like, ‘Why would they listen to me? They have so much more money than me, they’ll just ignore me.’

And so though we have a chance to speak a word for Christ, we walk away from it.

Or we meet someone that is very different from us in how they their live their life. We may think, ‘I just don’t understand them. Why do they do that? I just don’t get it, and I’m sure they don’t get me – they’ll never listen if I try to share Jesus with them.’

If you think that way, you’re forgetting what we have already said about God’s preparation of the heart, and the power of the gospel.

The message of the gospel transcends culture, it transcends any differences we might have – because its message is rooted in a universal need. The need to have forgiveness for our sins and experience salvation from God.

We’ve talked about trying to understand the culture and present the gospel in such a way that it is clearly heard. And that’s a good thing.

But if you find yourself having a hard with it, or not really even understanding what I mean when I say things like that, don’t let that stop you from sharing Christ.

Don’t get hung up on cultural difference, remember and feel the weight of the person’s need for salvation and just preach the gospel.

This bring us to our next piece of application –

4. Teach the Bible with a Christ-centered Focus (8:29-35)

Luke says, 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.

Philip runs up alongside the chariot and is walking quickly enough to stay with it. And close enough to hear what the man is reading. (Everyone read out aloud in those days). I can only imagine the grin that swept across his face as he heard these words from Isaiah 53 being read.

‘And he asks the man – do you understand what you’re reading?’ Surely what Philip means is, do you know this is talking about Jesus Christ?

For when the eunuch asks for his help, Luke says – and I love the way this is worded – Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

I think that to ‘teach the Bible with a Christ-centered focus’ means at least two things for us.

First, we have to know our Bibles. Though it can be taken a little too sentimentally, I basically think it’s okay to call the Bible ‘God’s love-letter to his people.’

It not only describes for us who God is, but what he has done in his grace and mercy to overcome our sin and bring us to himself.

About 9 or 10 years ago, I was on spring break my junior year in college and I proposed to Melinda. Thankfully, she happily said yes. But then I was gone the entire summer. I spent 3 weeks in Peru on a mission trip and the almost 10 weeks away for a pastoral internship.

Before I left, Melinda bought like three boxes of cards or something, and wrote me up a card for every week that I was gone. Sometimes, I had two or three per week.

And some she had scented with her perfume, all of them had words of love and encouragement. She had them all dated and sometimes I couldn’t wait to open them.

Now, can you imagine if after that summer when I got back, she asked me if I liked the cards, and I said, ‘oh the cards, yeah, I didn’t get to read most of them – I was just too busy.’

Can you imagine? I probably would have gotten my ring back along with a black eye and a bill for postage or something. It’s just unthinkable.

How much more so with God? How horrible to not read the Bible – to not cherish every word, over and over again, year after year as a reflection of how much you cherish the One who wrote it.

You are essentially spurning the love God has demonstrated for you.

If you don’t know the word, you will never be able to reach Christ from the word. But then secondly, it’s not enough to know the word well. Many will try to get you caught up in debates about homosexuality, or apparent contradictions – all kinds of things.

Sometimes these need to be addressed, but for the most part we just need to teach about Christ. From the Old or the New Testament – just tell them about Jesus.

That’s what Philip did. It would not have really mattered where the man was reading from, Luke says Philip began at that passage and told him the good news of Jesus.

We have to be familiar with God’s word, so that when we encounter a lost person who might be reading the Bible, or have a question about it, we have start with where they are at and quickly move to the gospel.

Our goal should always be to get to Jesus when talking with a lost person. To tell them of his work on the cross.

To explain how though all of us are separated from God by our sin and deserve death and hell, God has sent Christ to suffer our punishment for us so that we can be made right with him.

That’s the message of salvation – that’s the gospel of Christ that we must preach.

And when we do, when we share about Jesus’ atoning work on the cross, then we must,

5. Expect a Response of Sincere Belief (8:36-40)

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.

Philip tells the Eunuch about Christ. And through his sharing of the gospel, God brought man to faith. If we are faithful to share the gospel, we should expect to see people come to faith in Christ. Though, it may not be every time.

I was reading about one man being converted. After a young man had shared the gospel with him, and he believed, the young man became very excited. The older man who had just been saved said, ‘Don’t think too much of yourself, young man – you’re number 25.’

The young man asked what he meant, and man said, ‘you’re the 25th person to share the gospel with me.’

We never actually see the person we share the gospel with receive Christ and experience salvation. But if God has determined to save that person, he will save through the message of the gospel.

On the other hand, lost people will never experience salvation if someone does not tell them about Christ.

If the gospel message is not heard, their hearts will not be regenerated by God’s Spirit, and faith will not be imparted so that they can believe.

Instead, they will stay in their sins and they will eventually die and experience a just punishment of eternal torment for their rebellion against God.

How incredible a privilege it is, to be called by God to be his messengers. God has entrusted to us – weak, imperfect, lazy, sinful people – his glorious message of salvation by faith alone in the work of Christ alone.

When we consider the glory of God’s work in Christ, the mercy and grace which he shown not only in our lives, but in the lives of all those who ever or will ever believe –

how can we not work at taking the gospel from our neighbor’s door to the ends of the earth?