Putting feet to our faith

In the Sundays since Easter day, we have watched the spread of the Gospel from Jesus’ resurrection appearances to his disciples, to Jesus making himself known to many people before his ascension into heaven and now today, even before we have celebrated the miracle of Pentecost, the Lectionary points us to the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. It wasn’t until I went on into higher theological education that I found out that Philip wasn’t one of the 12 disciples. He was a Greek, appointed by the apostles to be one of the deacons of the early church, providing leadership, making sure the widows in the Jerusalem church got fed. So here, before Paul has his experience on the Damascus Road, here one outsider, a Greek, shares the gospel with another outsider, one who is definitely on the outside of what the Jews would have allowed as pure and undefiled.
This story from Acts highlights the explosive nature of what happens when regular people, like you and me, are on fire for the gospel, when we truly believe in the power of God to transform the world one person at a time, when we have cast fear away from us in pursuit of God’s best for the world.
Let us go back and explore who this “Philip” was. I must confess to you that up until studying for this, I had assumed that the Philip who preached the gospel to the Ethiopian was the disciple Philip. But he wasn’t. He was one of the Greeks that had been appointed to make sure the Greek widows were getting their fair share. If we go back to Acts 6, we read how after Pentecost, the church was experiencing tremendous growth. So much so that the rules, the things that had been keeping the community together needed to be revisited. The apostles couldn’t do all the work themselves and so named some helpers. Acts 6:1-6 NRS Acts 6:1 Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. 2 And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, 4 while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word." 5 What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
So Philip wasn’t necessarily even one who had seen Jesus but perhaps he had come to the faith later, after Peter had preacher his sermon when 3000 were converted.
There’s another thing about Philip that we miss. The first Greek the disciples appoint was Stephen, the first Christian martyr to die for his faith, the one who was stoned by the Jews while Saul held their cloaks. It was after Stephen’s death that the Christians began to be scattered across the known world for fear of persecution. That is what is described at the beginning of chapter 8. Here at the beginning of chapter 8 we hear about Philip again, Acts 8:5-8 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them. 6 The crowds with one accord listened eagerly to what was said by Philip, hearing and seeing the signs that he did, 7 for unclean spirits, crying with loud shrieks, came out of many who were possessed; and many others who were paralyzed or lame were cured. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
Before this conversation with the Ethiopian, while the apostles remained in Jerusalem, Philip, under the threat of the persecution that had been fatal to Stephen, goes to Samaria to tell the good news. Even Simon the magician believes and the harvest of believers is so great that Peter and John travel to Samaria so ask the Holy Spirit to come to these believers. And it is in the midst of this great missional time, when the Great Commission is literally being fulfilled that Philip finds himself alongside the chariot of the Ethiopian.
According to all the rules of that time and, in some ways, our time, Philip was not the one who was the ‘right’ choice to teach or to explain the Scripture, certainly not the intricate prophecy of Isaiah that is vague and for which the Hebrew can have many meanings. Surely, it would have been better for God to send even Nicodemus or one of the Jewish converts who were better educated about the nuances of the text, someone who could intellectually meet this rich, well-educated and curious Ethiopian on a level, intellectual playing field. But that is not who God sends, he sends one with an obedient heart instead of one with a well-tuned computer between his ears. Philip also wasn’t going to be the one to show how, in Jesus, the Jews had been justified, how the prophecies about Israel had come true. Philip wasn’t going to be the one who hammered the point home of how the Jews were God’s chosen people. Phillip was a Hellenistic Jew, that part of the gospel wasn’t the most important part to him. Again, God could have chosen from many others who would have been glad to make this point to the seeker. But Philip wasn’t the one to make that point.
But Philip was the one to make the point to one so racially, ethnically, politically, economically different that the Kingdom of God is where all people find a home, where all people find forgiveness and hope and purpose, with belief as a starting point on the journey that leads past the foot of the cross into God’s incredible future.
“New branch, new life, new hope, new responsibilities, new power. In the NT, love describes not so much what people say but what they do.” N.T. Wright

What is true about Philip and the Ethiopian that is also true of us today? Where is God wanting us to step alongside a chariot and answer the question “What does this mean?” You don’t have to have a theology degree to tell what Jesus has done in your life, you don’t have to be licensed and ordained to point out where you see God moving in the world. By virtue of your belief and baptism, God has already ordained you, set you aside for work in His Kingdom. Go back to Philip. He had already been chosen by the disciples and apostles at Jerusalem to serve in the Christian community there. Maybe his initial appointment was to make sure the Greek widows got fed. That does seem like evangelism does it? It seems more like administration, hospitality, fellowship. But here Philip is out in the desert, away from Jerusalem and God calls him up higher, to a new place of service, a new outcast to reach out to.
What’s true about Philip and his changing role is also true of us. If we have been faithful in the things God gives us, He is never content to let us stay where we are. There are always new areas to live up to and live into. Just as the seasons of our life change, so do the seasons of our service in the Kingdom of God. Often it has to do with our life season as well. When our children are small, we are involved in Vacation Bible School. As they get older, we begin to take our turn teaching Sunday School, making meals for the youth group and going on trips. As they grow up and fly to their own nests, we can get more involved in leadership, in training and supporting the next generation of young families. Our roles continue to change as our lives change.
All the while, if we are faithful, God is calling us closer and closer to Him. We are transformed slowly but surely into his likeness and we find ourselves doing things that we never would have imagined if we weren’t walking so closely with God.
What must it have been like for Philip when he found himself riding and talking out in the desert? What is it like for us when we find ourselves out of our comfort zone, doing something for God we never thought we could do. I think we experience a bunch of emotions from fear to fearlessness, all at once. But the proof of what happened that day is in Philip’s reaction as he finds himself at Azotus and travels on. The Ethiopian eunuch was not the only one whose life was changed that day: Acts 8:40 he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Once he had started proclaiming the gospel, he didn’t quit. He went right on doing what God had shown him he was empowered to do. That isn’t just a sweet Bible story. It is the truth about how God acts in our lives. Acts, we call this book, the Acts of the Apostles. Sometimes I think it is misnamed: It should be the Acts of God in the lives of the Apostles and all who love Him.
God is still acting today in those same amazing ways. Where are you finding yourself being called higher or deeper? Open your hands, open your hearts and pray that you will serve like Philip and you will go on your way rejoicing and giving God the glory for what He has done.