The Gospel Advances: Embracing the Ordinary (Acts 8:26-40)
Introduction
We can easily fall into the mindset that if something is working, then we must have figured out the system. We look at the growth of the church in Acts, the conversions in Samaria, and the gospel going forward it seems like we figured it out. We want to look at the history and then figure out the method to move forward.
But that is not how the Lord works. John 3 reminds us that the Spirit blows where the Spirit wishes. We cannot force God’s hand to work on our timing.
In Acts 8, Philip is sent away from a place where the gospel is experiencing visible success and into the middle of nowhere. He is to go on a desert road leading toward Gaza. This seems like a waste of valuable resources. Why send a man to the middle of nowhere when he is having success in his current location?
We are reminded that the Lord is not governed by our measurements of success. The Lord is sovereignly building his church, and he uses his appointed means to accomplish his purposes.
The Lord sends his servants to unlikely places
Philip had already seen remarkable things happen in Samaria. Yet the Lord sends him away from that work and down a desert road. He knows that he has to go because an angel tells him to go. This makes it pretty easy to discern the Lord’s will.
This reminds us that we are often tempted to think that God is most present where we see the most visible success. We want the large numbers, the obvious fruit, and the places where the opportunities seem plentiful. But the Lord sends Philip somewhere that appears insignificant.
Philip follows the Lord’s command. He heeds the angel’s word and travels down the road to encounter an unlikely disciple. He meets a chariot with an Ethiopian eunuch.
The Ethiopian eunuch was a prestigious official, a treasurer of the queen. This man had traveled to Jerusalem to worship the Lord. Yet he was also a foreigner, an outsider, and a man trying to understand the Scriptures. From Philip’s perspective, this encounter may have seemed completely unexpected.
Clearly, the Lord had his purpose. The Lord used Philip as his means to bring the gospel to one of the Lord’s people. Philip sees the chariot, or maybe we could say small stagecoach. The Spirit tells him to approach the stagecoach. Normally, prestigious people travel with armed bodyguards. However, Philip follows the Spirit’s command. He is invited to join the Ethiopian dignitary in the chariot.
We can sometimes long for the extraordinary. We want spectacular experiences, dramatic interventions, and obvious signs that God is at work. But Acts 8 reminds us that God's extraordinary providence often leads us to ordinary means.
The Lord’s work is ordinary
The Ethiopian eunuch is reading Isaiah 53, the passage concerning the suffering servant. He is confused by what he is reading. Who is this servant? Who is being described? Is this the prophet? Is this someone else?
Philip begins with that very passage and tells him the good news about Jesus. In other words, he preaches the text. He exposits the text’s intention about Christ and the gospel.
Philip does not need to invent a new message. He takes the Scriptures and opens them up. He shows how the suffering servant is Christ and how the death of Christ was not an accident or an unfortunate turn of events. It was the purpose of God. His opening up the text echoes Christ opening up the word and eyes of the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24.
The intention is that the messiah suffers to make the necessary payment for sin. This is the beauty of the gospel. We are the sheep who have wandered away. We are the ones who have gone astray. But our Redeemer comes as the suffering servant and lays down his life to gather his sheep.
The point of the Scriptures is not ultimately to give us better advice, better systems, or better lives. The Scriptures reveal Christ. Preachers are called to preach the Gospel. The good news of being redeemed in Christ. The good news of being new creatures in Christ who are set free to live for their Lord. The good news that they are made right before the living God in the suffering servant once and for all.
Seeing the unlikely result
After hearing the gospel, the eunuch sees some water and asks, “What prevents me from being baptized?” He understands that he wants to be identified with Christ’s people because he knows that Christ is the messiah and redeemer.
Baptism is the sign of entrance into the visible covenant community. It marks a person as belonging to the people of God. It is a sign of being united with the Lord and identified with his people. It is the sign that calls to the world’s attention and the community’s attention that the Spirit is working in the midst of God’s people.
Again, notice the pattern: the Word is preached, Christ is proclaimed, faith is worked in the heart, and the sacrament marks the person as belonging to the Lord.
The Lord uses his ordinary means to accomplish his extraordinary purposes. Philip is sent to preach the Gospel. The Lord could have had the angel do it, or the Spirit could have conferred extraordinary knowledge. The Lord sends Philip.
Philip the evangelist is to do more work for the Lord. This is why the Spirit snatches Philip away. It is also a reminder for the Ethiopian that he cannot say, “You're coming back to Ethiopia with me. I have a job for you.” The Lord is making clear that this is his church. The Lord sends his messengers with his gospel. Yes, the Lord uses his means, but the Lord works in his timing.
Conclusion
The extraordinary events of Acts eventually lead us back to something very ordinary: two men sitting together, talking about the Scriptures and the suffering servant. We can take for granted the radical call of the gospel. The suffering servant is the intended messiah. Christ’s intended mission was to suffer for his people.
We also see that in terms of the gospel ministry, the intention is for the preachers to preach the gospel. The Lord could have done it through angels, but there is an intention that the normal way for the church to go forth is for preachers to preach the Gospel from the canonical writings. This happens for the unlikely Samaritans. It also happens on an unlikely desert road. The Lord’s means will accomplish his purpose.
Let us not take the gospel for granted. Let us celebrate the normal means of Gospel advancement. Let us have the ears to hear and the hearts to be receptive to the message.