Tag: Philip

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Resurrection Life – Philip and the Eunuch – Acts 8:26-40

This is a story of God pulling Philip out of his standard routine. Philip has been preaching in Samaria and has just had his ministry blessed by Peter and John. But now God calls him away to a completely different place, the road from Jerusalem out to Gaza, where he meets an Ethiopian official.

The official had been castrated as many were in order to keep their full attention. He also must have been either a convert to Judaism or someone curious about it because he was reading Isaiah, specifically chapter 53, the “suffering servant” passage that is one of the clearest prophecies of Christ.

The passage may have had special resonance for him, especially the line “In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants?” As someone bodily humiliated, someone who would have no descendants, he wants to know more about who is being discussed here.

Given this perfect setup, Philip spikes the ball and walks the Ethiopian through the story of Christ, and he immediately jumps to wanting to be baptized in a pool they just happen to be passing.

For some additional context, this comes shortly after some trouble in Jerusalem where the Greek-speaking widows were being overlooked by the Aramaic-speaking church leadership who then put in place Greek-speaking deacons, of whom Philip was one. The apostles were “oo busy teaching and preaching to” wait tables” so they put in place these deacons to work out the logistics. But then the next two chapters are all about two of these deacons teaching and preaching! Stephen becomes the first martyr and Philip gets teleports all over.

This is a story of the Holy Spirit pushing on our human boundaries. God wants us to move beyond our central comfort zone, to leave our holy huddle and get out on the road to Gaza.

We are called to live a Spirit-Led Life. The Holy Spirit continues to work powerfully today, but at do need to work the muscles that He wants us to use.

But beware, the spirit filled life can take you off track, disrupting your plans and putting you in an entirely different place and directions.

This may happen through timely and crucial interactions. Philip never saw the Ethiopian again, but tradition holds he went on to found the Ethiopian church, among the oldest in the world.

This happens because God has been working ahead of time, moving eunuchs to investigate the Jewish religion and page through Isaiah.

The Holy Spirit will prompt you to push to the margins and boundaries, which means we must practice listening and trying.

God is calling people from the ends of the earth and we all have roles to play in that great work.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, April 28, 2024

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Get Up and Go – Acts 8:26-40

The story here is a story of two people in the the margins of empire, outsiders like immigrants and minorities today. One of these is Philip, one of the seven deacons set up to manage the food ministry for widows and orphans. When his fellow deacon and marginalized person, Stephen, moves from managing the ministry to teaching, he was killed, which scattered the church, including Philip.

Philip went up to Samaria, where he had incredible success in ministry. But God sent an angel who instructed him to get up, leave all the success that he had been having, and head out on a road into the wilderness.

That’s where we meet our second character, the Ethiopian eunuch. Like describes him in remarkable detail compared to most biblical characters, which must be for a reason. This person is about as different as it is possible to be from Philip. He’s from outside the empire, he’s dark-skinned, he’s a sexual/gender minority – but he is also a very powerful person in an important nation, wealthy enough to be driven in a chariot and read his own personal scroll of scripture. Despite all this, he is coming from worship in a place that he cannot even fully engage in because he is both a gentile and a eunuch.

Phillip’s last job was running a soup kitchen – again, these people are about as different as it is possible to be. But God tells him to go and “glue himself” to the chariot, where he finds a wide opening for the gospel. “What is this scripture about?”

And Philip takes that opportunity, and the eunuch in turn takes the opportunity to be baptized immediately – after which God transports Philip elsewhere, his job accomplished.

God is still calling us to participate in these sorts of activities, but there are reasons we resist. We like to be competent and do things in areas we understand. But Philip glued himself to the chariot of a foreign eunuch-treasurer just like Jesus glued himself to the flesh of humanity. Philip got up and went, heading into the wilderness, just as Jesus came to earth.

Where and to whom is God sending you?

— Sermon Notes, Tim Hseih, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, June 4, 2023