At the Ignite Conference I got to teach on Acts 8 Philip and the Eunuch. The purpose of this teaching is to help students learn how to have deeper and more impactful spiritual conversations. Now a days, it’s very easy for people to have the desire to start spiritual conversations but get batted down by the perceived tension or awkwardness that is soon to follow. How often do we have conversations that go:
“What’s your spiritual background?”
“None, I think the church is hypocritical and I could never see myself becoming Christian.”
*Silence*
How do you respond to that? What am I supposed to say? Better yet, what is appropriate with that kind of response? Do I ask questions? Am I being a wuss?
Some of us can torment ourselves with these thoughts and then after the moment passes we say, “Shoot! Did I disobey God? Should I have said something?” And we can even be prone to feel guilty in those times.
It’s very important that we can distinguish the difference between what it means to be ‘bold’ and what it means to be ‘pushy’. These two things will help us recognize when we can have peace and letting a conversation go or when we might need to obey and press through an awkward moment. Take Philip and the Eunuch for example.
Philip and the Ethiopian (Acts 8:26-40)
26 Now an angel(A) of the Lord said to Philip,(B) “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian[a](C) eunuch,(D) an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship,(E) 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told(F) Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”[b](G)
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began(H) with that very passage of Scripture(I) and told him the good news(J) about Jesus.
36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?”(K) [37] [c] 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away,(L) and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns(M) until he reached Caesarea.(N)
There are a couple of important observations to make in this text:
1) The Spirit gave Philip 2 specific commands
2) Philip was obedient in those two commands
3) Philip asked the Eunuch a question and he responded positively
4) Philip contextualized the way he talked to the Eunuch and did not have a hidden agenda to have a spiritual conversation.
The funny thing about this text is that Philip is told to go ‘South’, so he heads South. Where? He has no idea. The spirit then tells him to go stand by a moving chariot. Think about how awkward that would be! imagine the Spirit told you to go to a parking lot and as you’re there, he tells you to go stand or follow a car that is backing out and trying to leave. WEIRD! But Philip is completely obedient. Where many people would say, “Uhh… No. I don’t think that’s from God. I’m okay. Next time.” Philip is able to say yes and seize the opportunity in speaking to the Ethiopian.
He asks the Ethiopian a question on the scripture he is reading and the other important part of the text is that the Eunuch invited him into the chariot. Here he was able to use the Prophet is Isaiah as a segway to share the Gospel, in which the Ethiopian immediately says yes to!
This is an important distinction to make between being bold and being pushy. If the Ethiopian said, “Get away from my Chariot–What are you doing! NO I don’t want you to ask me a question!” And Philip persisted… then yes. Pushy. Not bold. Annoying. But the fact that Philip dared to go to an uncomfortable place and throw out a question to a man on a moving chariot that he was following is not ignorance, annoying or pushy. It’s bold and obedient. Big difference.
So that begs the question: What if Philip said no to following the chariot? What if he said no to even heading South?
There is so much glory that would have been missed! It makes me think about church multiplication as well. With how radically the Ethiopian said yes to accepting Jesus and yes to being baptized with his governing power as a Eunuch–can you imagine how many people he would potentially lead to Christ?
If we say No to the little inclinations the Lord gives us, we could be missing out on HUGE Kingdom opportunities!
Have you ever had an itch that said, “Hey, talk to that person,” and we’ve said no thinking about all of the awkward, tense barriers or situations that could arise? Who knows, there’s a good chance this could be the Lord inviting you to witness His glory in some very unfamiliar ways.
Next time you feel God asking you to do something, say yes immediately and don’t even give yourself a chance to think about what the repercussions could be. (Assuming that you are filtering and hearing from God that he is asking you to do something Godly.)
KwokTok 