STUDY THEME: TELLING THE LOST ABOUT JESUS 11-11-01

“GOOD NEWS FOR ALL CULTURES.” ACTS 8: 26-40

ACTS 8: 26-29, 30-35, 36-38, 39-40.

PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO ACTS 8:

Last Sunday we looked at the essentials of the Good News: That Jesus was crucified, that He was raised from the dead, and that He will forgive one’s sins and give new life when they repent and trust Him as their Savior.

We are commanded to share with the lost those essentials of the Good News about Jesus. That lesson emphasized what needs to be shared in a Gospel Witness. Today’s lesson reminds us of who needs to hear the Gospel message---everyone, including those culturally different from us. When Peter shared these essentials with the crowd in the Tempe on the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit enabled each to hear in his or her own language. As a result 3,000 believed and were baptized on that day.

The lesson last Sunday was about mass evangelism. Today’s lesson deals with personal one-on-one witnessing as Philip, one of the seven chosen to serve as deacon in Acts 6, shares with the Eunuch from Ethiopia. Thus in two weeks time we see the biblical emphasis on both mass evangelism and personal evangelism. These two kinds of evangelism are not mutually exclusive! They are complementary. They go together. A person may be gifted and more use din one kind than the other, but they are both essential for the kingdom’s work of our Lord!

Every great and effective revival that has ever been seen and experienced has both a combination of both mass and personal evangelism. Most people who make professions of faith in public revivals have been first witnessed to lovingly by some individual Christian. Even in the great evangelistic campaigns conducted by Billy Graham, most of the converts have been talked with on an individual basis by some loving, capable Christian.

Probably one of the greatest failures of the modern church and of most modern Christians is that we no longer practice individual, one-on-one person-to-person evangelism. Billy Graham said on one occasion years ago that 95% of Christians today have never led another person to faith in Christ. How tragic. And how unbiblical.

The suggested “Biblical Truth” for this lesson is that we are to tell lost people the good news about Jesus regardless of their cultural differences. The suggested “Life impact.” For this lesson is to help us to be witnessed to people who are culturally different from ourselves.

In the Secular worldview, people care for themselves, people who are closest to them, and people who are like them. Sometimes they view people from different cultures with suspicion, indifference, and disdain. Some secular-oriented people are concerned to help people who are different, but they do not believe that the good news of Jesus is what these people need.

In the biblical worldview, God is not partial to any group but loves all people and wants them to hear the good news and be saved. He calls Christians to cross barriers to share the good news with other people, regardless of cultural differences. Some Christians struggle with showing genuine love for people who are different. Often this is based on stereotyped attitudes toward various ethnic identities and people groups. Some believers have provincial attitude that does not see beyond a limited horizon, ignoring people within that horizon if they are different.

Jerry Rankin, president of the International Mission Board, said, “Missions is cross-cultural witness of sharing Jesus Christ with the lost. I would emphasize the cross-cultural aspect, as I feel this is the only thing that distinguishes missions from evangelism—leading the lost to know Jesus Christ as Savior.”

Today, many missionaries speak not so much of “nations” but people groups—those who share a common history, values, traditions, customs, and so forth. R. Alton James pointed out that in l998 there were approximately 11,874 ethno-linguistic people groups in the world. Of these, 3,915 are the least evangelized or unreached peoples.”

When a Christian from one cultural background or people group tells the good news to members of a separate people group, that Christian is acting as a missionary.

Jesus told His disciples they would be His witnesses in all parts of the world. At first, their witnessing was localized in Jerusalem. After the death of Stephen, the early Christians experienced great persecution and were scattered into regions where Jesus Christ was not yet known.

In today’s lesson Philip has been preaching in the region of Samaria, but the Holy Spirit instructed him to go to a particular road where he met an Ethiopian official returning home from worshipping in Jerusalem. Philip’s obedient witness is a model for us today to share the good news as we go into all the world.

1. PLEASE READ ACTS 8: 26-29

Philip was not the apostle Philip but one of the seven chosen by the Jerusalem church to meet the needs of the Hellenistic widows. He was a layman serving in his church as a deacon. To distinguish him for the Apostle, he often is called Philip the evangelist. When persecution broke out after the death of Stephen Philip was one of those who was scattered abroad and went everywhere preaching the word. He went to Samaria preaching the Gospel and performing miracles. Many people flocked to him because they were amazed at the wonders they saw. As they listened, many believe in Jesus and were baptized.

Samaria was not far away: it was between Judea and Galilee. Jesus had made many converts on His visit there in John 4. Yet no Jewish believer had gone to the Samaritans until Philip went. When the apostles at Jerusalem heard about what was happening in Samaria, they sent Peter and John to see what was going on. These two in acts 8:25 also ended up preaching the good news to Samaritans.

Philip was in Samaria in this successful evangelistic campaign when the angel of the Lord delivered what must have seemed a strange message to Philip. Philip could have been tempted to remain where he had experienced such great success. Yet the Holy Spirit had other plans for him. Philip showed his sensitivity by obeying. This was his next missionary assignment. Gaza was about 50 to 60 miles from Jerusalem in the desert hills of southern Judea. It was the last place with water before entering the desert route to Egypt.

What would you have wanted to ask the Lord when the angel told you to leave a successful evangelistic campaign among the Samaritans, a group who desperately needed the good news, and go to a desolate road; A road no longer traveled. Most of us would have waned to know why the Lord was leading us from a successful venture to a road in the desert. The Lord did not explain to Philip why he was to do this, and apparently Philip did not ask. He simply rose and went. He trusted that the Lord had His reasons for such a command.

Vs. 27 introduces another traveler on that road at the exact time Philip was. He was a man of Ethiopia. His country was south of Egypt between the first and sixth cataracts of the Nile. It should not be confused with modern Ethiopia, which is in the hill country to the east of the Upper Nile. This was probably the ancient kingdom of Meroe, also called the Nubian Empire and, in the O.T. the kingdom of Cush. The inhabitants were black. In fact, the Greek word from which the name Ethiopia came meant “people with a burnt face.” Ethiopia flourished between the eighth century B.C. and the fourth century A.D.

The man Philip met was a person of great authority, He served Candace queen of the Ethiopians. Candace was a title, not a person’s name. It was the title of the queen mothers who administered the kingdom for the king whom the people viewed as an incarnation of the sun god. His position as king was primarily a ceremonial role. The man whom Philip met had charge of all Candace’s treasure. We probably would call him the minister of finance. We think of a eunuch as a male who had been castrated or neutered. But in ancient society the same word was also used at times to refer to a government official.

John Polhill wrote, : “it is likely that Philip’s Ethiopian was an actual physical eunuch, however, since the terms “eunuch” and “official over the treasury” are both given.

One factor that makes the eunuch’s physical status important to this story is that the O.T. placed restrictions on physical eunuchs. They could not be priests or even belong to the congregation of Israel. Isaiah 56:3-5 predicted a time when eunuchs could belong to the people of God. Luke told us that the eunuch had come to Jerusalem for to worship.

The man in that chariot had gone to Jerusalem on a spiritual quest. He was a Gentile, an Ethiopian, not a Jew; but he had it in his heart, apparently, to know the God of Israel and had come all the way from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to worship the true God. He was probably a proselyte to Judaism. He had accepted the revelation God gave Israel, so far as he understood it; but you can imagine his heart-sickness when he came to Jerusalem and found nothing there but cold formality. If he had been asking in his heart, “How may I, a poor sinner, come into fellowship with God?” there was no answer. He was returning to his home a disappointed—and doubtless disillusioned—man; and yet he had obtained in Jerusalem one thing that was of great importance—a portion of God’s holy Word!

He believed in the God of the Jews, in the Jewish Scriptures, and he sought to worship God. His worship in Jerusalem was restricted to the court of the Gentiles, but he could worship there as best he could. When Philip saw him sitting in his chariot headed south, he was returning from Jerusalem. As the eunuch rode along he was reading from Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip to join himself to this chariot. It was an angel that told him to go. It was the Spirit who whispered in his heart “Go near and join thyself to this chariot.’ Both the Eunuch and Philip were prepared for this interview.

Let’s look at some of the cultural differences between Philip and the Ethiopian. They were from different nations, different social and economic groups, and different ethnic groups. They had in common belief in the same God , use of the same Scriptures, and knowledge of the same language. Greek was a universal language in the first century. Philip was about to cross the barriers and build on the thing they had in common. Under normal condition, a high official in the Ethiopian government would not invite a Jewish traveler to join him in his chariot. Nor would a faithful Jew have such close contacts with a Gentile. But God was bringing them together, for the sake of telling the eunuch the good news. For this to happen, both men would have to ignore barriers and build on what they had in common.

2. PLEASE READ ACTS 8: 30-35

Someone with less Christian faith and love might have failed to take advantage of this opportunity, but not Philip. When the Spirit told him to go near the chariot, he ran to do just that. No doubt he had been wondering why the Spirit had led him away from Samaria to this desert road. However, when he saw the Ethiopian and realized he was reading from the Scriptures, he was eager to take advantage of this God-given appointment. When he heard the passage being read, Philip knew this was the Lord’s doing. One who is sent by the Lord to speak to a needy soul will find that the Master has gone before.

The Eunuch probably was reading from a scroll. Philip took he initiative by asking the man, “Understandest thou what thou readest?” The Ethiopian responded, “How can I, except some man should guide me?” Something about this fellow traveler prompted the eunuch to invite Philip to come up and sit with him. He needed someone to lead the way through this Scripture so he could understand it. Not many high officials would pick up a solitary traveler from the common people. To the credit of the Ethiopian, he did not allow cultural differences to prevent him from inviting Philip to come up and sit with him. He needed someone to lead the way through the Scriptures so he could understand it. He must have sensed from Philip’s question that he could shed light on the words from Isaiah.

Philip discovered that the Ethiopian was reading in the Scripture from what we call Isaiah 53: 7-8 : the suffering servant passage that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ These verses describe someone who was led as a sheep to the slaughter: and like a lamb dumb before His shearer, so opened He not His mouth. He was in a state of humiliation in which He was deprived of justice. These words describe the silence of Jesus in the face of the cruel and unjust way He was treated. Jesus was called the Lamb of God in John 1:29.

He would leave no descendants because His life was taken from the earth. The reference to no leaving any physical descendants would be offset in Philip’s mind b y the host of spiritual descendants who had come to Christ as Lord and Savior. Also, Philip probably saw a reference to Jesus’ exaltation to God’s right hand in the reference to being taken from the earth.

The eunuch could not understand the passage. He asked Philip if Isaiah was speaking about himself or someone else. With only the O.T. Scripture in hand, the Ethiopian could not tell who the prophet was talking about. But Philip knew because Philip was a student of the Scriptures as interpreted by Jesus after His resurrection. Therefore he knew about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

Vs. 35 makes three important points: First of all, Philip had something important to say. Second, what he said was based on the Word of God. Third, what he had to say was focused on the good news of Jesus. The Greek word for preached here mans “told him the good news.” This is something Christians should be able to do—tell others about Jesus. He told him the good news about Jesus. Probably Philip told him much of what Peter said at Pentecost. Since Philip began with Isa. 53, he surely told him about the death of Jesus.

What an opportunity Philip had! The Ethiopian was a seeker of truth. The Bible was opened to Isaiah 53. The man asked Philip a question that set him up for Philip to tell him the good news about Jesus. Although there were some real cultural differences between Philip and the eunuch, Philip and he eunuch ignored them, and Philip built on their common ground.

Missionaries and all Christian witnesses are wise to look for some common ground from which to point people to Jesus. Yet even if there is nothing more than our common humanity, we can tell the good news of Jesus Christ. All who tell the good news look forward to meeting someone like the eunuch whose heart is ready for the message of Christ.

3. PLEASE READ ACTS 8: 36-38

Wouldn’t we like to know all that Philip shared with the man as they traveled along the road in the chariot! Possibly Philip shared his version of the message Peter preached on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. He could have discussed things such as repentance, faith in Jesus as Lord and Christ, and the meaning of baptism.

At some point in their discussion, he two men came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized!” If the man was a eunuch due to emasculation, he was ineligible to become a proselyte, a full member in Judaism. The Jewish law said in Deut 23:1, “No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.” The eunuch was barred from Judaism. Was he barred from Christianity? Was he qualified to be baptized and become part of the believers in Christ. Your Bible may not have Vs 37 because it is not in the earliest and most reliable manuscripts of Acts. In the King James Version it reads, And Philip said, “If thou believest with all thne heart, thou mayest.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

Philip taught the eunuch that salvation was by faith in Jesus Christ. If the eunuch believe that Jesus is the Son of God, he could confess that faith by being baptized.

Upon his confession, the eunuch gave orders to stop the chariot. He and Philip both went down into the water where Philip baptized him. The Greek word for baptized is baptizo, which means “dip repeatedly,” “immerse”, “submerge.” It portrays the picture of total submersion. The eunuch and Philip went down into the water, where Philip totally immersed him. The traditional site of that baptism is northeast of Gaza. Philip never reached Gaza.

4. PLEASE READ ACTS 8: 39-40

When Christ enters the human heart, a dramatic change occurs. No other experience can compare with the spiritual transformation made possible through Jesus. Following his conversion, this Ethiopian both felt and acted differently.

In Vs. 39, having trusted Jesus as the Son of God, and having come up out of the water, the eunuch was filled with praise to God for His grace and love. Luke recorded that the eunuch went on his way rejoicing. The Ethiopian was more than happy, he was joyous and expressed his feelings with words of rejoicing.

When one come to Christ, the difference in that life inevitable leads friends and acquaintances to recognize something has changed. When asked what has brought such joy into one’s life, the natural response is to share what Jesus had done.

Some Bible students suggest that the Ethiopian official took the gospel home to his own nation and through him the message of Christ spread into Africa. Even today, as Christians are faithful to witness all around the globe, they see people come to Christ. Then the new believers take the gospel home to neighbors, friends and families. Every college and university campus in Okla. Has a number of International students. There are over l00 countries represented by students on the OCU campus in Edmond. When we passed out Bibles to the students in Seminole State College there were 25 students there from Iran. They said oil men from Seminole, Ok. told them about the Seminole college. On the O.S.U. Campus in Stillwater I offered a Testament to a student from India. He was a Hindu. He took the Testament when I told him it was a Holy Book. St. Gregory has a number of International Students. Many from the Islands in the Caribbean

When our kids were in college at O.B.U. they brought a number of International students home and on Holidays we would have several. Last Thanksgiving we had 5 from China and one from Thailand to share the meal with us. There are many other people in this country who have come here to work. The students and workers are more open to a gospel witness when they are away from their native cultures. We need to be sensitive to opportunities to share the good news, for at this time the world has come to us. We have the mission field all around us.

Philip was not able to stay and see what would happen with the eunuch. When the two men came up out of the water the Holy Spirit caught Philip away to send him to another task and the eunuch went on his way rejoicing. Philip, led by the Holy Spirit, made his was along the coast line of Palestine, preaching in all the cities, until he came to the great Roman city of Caesarea. It was there that he made his home for some 20 years later Peter in Acts 21:8-9 visited him there and found he had four virgin daughters which did prophecy.

I believe the eunuch was he first convert of the African race. You may remember that Noah had three sons. Ham, Shem, and Japeth. All peoples on earth descended from these three men. Luke was careful to show that Christ is no respecter of persons. In Acts 8 we see a descendent of Ham converted; a eunuch. In Ch. 9 it is a descendent of Shem—Saul of Tarsus (Paul the apostle)—In Acts 10 it is the Roman Centurion, a descendent of Japeth. Thus all races of the world are represented in these three chapters.

CONCLUSION

Every Christian needs the courage of Philip—the courage to tell a fellow human being about the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

The witnessing of Philip to the eunuch is an excellent example of a man from one race witnessing to a person of a different race as well as from a different culture.

Christianity is not a religion restricted to one race or one culture; it is the revealed truth of God that transcends all cultures and all races!

How tragic and unfortunate and sinful it is when a person of one race or culture refuses to share the good news of Jesus Christ with another person because that person may be from a different race or a different culture.

Many lost people will let us tell them about Jesus if we are intelligent, tactful, and loving in our approach and methodology.

Knowing scripture and depending upon the Holy Spirit are essential for us if we want to share Christ personally with other people.

Christians should share Christ with all kinds of people—rich and poor, uneducated and educated, ordinary and extraordinary, culturally—alike and culturally—different!

NEXT SUNDAY FROM ACTS 13 & 14 WE WIL SEEK TO ANSWER THE QUESTION, “WHERE DOES GOD WANT TO USE US TO TELL OTHERS THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT JESUS.” A.V. DAUGHERTY 11-11-2001

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