Philip And The Ethiopian Eunuch – Excluded? Series

Scripture: Acts 8:26-40

Since Easter, we have been covering the times Jesus appeared in person to continue to turn the world upside down.

To put this passage in context, we need to start with where it is in the account of the early church. It began with everyone hanging out together, all of the current believers, and went on to where there were differences, until the leaders ended up stoning Stephen, which began a huge persecution of the church.

So, instead of hanging out together – they finally started doing what Jesus had told them to do – not hanging out and remembering him, but going out and telling others what he had taught them. Churches never do good when they are comfortable, they do much better under persecution or under stress.

Phillip, who was one of those who helped make sure that everyone was treated fairly at the meals was more of a natural at this, he was compassionate as well as versed in scripture.

So, running away from the center of persecution, Philip ends up in Samaria. Others might be reaching out to those of their own kind, but not Philip. You remember the story of the good Samaritan, told by Jesus because they were the most hated people the local Jews could think of? That is where Philip went. Gotta love Philip, he really did get what Jesus had told him. Peter, by the way, not so much, something we will talk about next week.

Besides doing miracles in the name of Jesus, Philip was obviously listening to God, since God told him where to go in this particular passage.

The important thing to understand is that we don’t have to have an official title or role for God to use us. Philip was in charge of the food, and now God was using him for something else. No one in the church has a single role – we are all called by God to do what God calls us to do.

So, Philip headed out to Samaria – a missionary to those who weren’t Jewish. In a way, most of you are able to be missionaries to the unchurched better than I am.

You, like Philip, are in touch with those who don’t come into church, you know them from work, they are your neighbors, they go to the social events you go to, and they surround you every day. Every Sunday when you go out through the doors, you go into the world for Jesus, just like Philip.

Now, when God sent Philip, this very ordinary individual, he sent him to the road to Gaza. As we consider the news of the world today, the very word speaks volumes to us. Now, I want you to understand something very important. The story today, and the story next week speaks to the fact that God does not discriminate in who he loves and calls his own.

So, we find Philip facing, not an Israelite, but rather a stranger. He was, according to today’s Scripture, several things. First of all, his skin was black – in the days when Acts was written, the definition of Ethiopian was someone with dark skin. He was the quintessence of stranger – he didn’t look like Philip.

We also know he was very intelligent and powerful. He was reading the scroll while he went along the road, so obviously he had someone driving the chariot, and it says he was an important person in the queen’s court. He was also the treasurer for her. So he was not only intelligent and powerful, he was trustworthy – you only put someone you trust in charge of your money.

So that finally we also discover he is a Eunuch of the queen. Most of you know exactly what that word means. For Philip, and the man himself, it meant something even deeper. You see, the Jews of that day had a firm policy – they followed the dictates of Deuteronomy 23:1 which says: [23 “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall come into the assembly of the LORD.] (We did not read this scripture aloud because of the age of children - but invited the congregation to look it up)

If this gentleman had gone to Jerusalem to study, as it says he did, he would have been stopped at the doors of the temple and would not have been let in. The color of his skin would have told them that he was a stranger, but the fact of his condition would have locked him out. He would be forever rejected.

Here is the problem with taking a single verse out of the Bible and trying to apply it, which is called proof texting. The purpose of the Deuteronomy law was two-fold. First, at that time a majority of Eunuchs were priests in temples which promoted temple prostitutes. God did not want the Israelites emasculating the priests when they were called. But secondly, the only way a male could become a Jew, by definition, was circumcision, which could not be performed on a Eunuch.