PHILIP THE EVANGELIST
INTRODUCTION: Just before Jesus ascended into heaven, he left his disciples with their mission statement-go into all the world and preach the good news. The new church had a new mission-go and make disciples. Here we are nearly 2000 years later and the church’s mission hasn’t changed. Unfortunately, though, according to a survey conducted by the Barna research group, only about half of born again believers feel a sense of responsibility to share their faith. That’s not good. As the old church heads into a new year it’s a good time to renew that old mission. It’s a good time to remind ourselves of what’s most important; what our priority is as a church; as a Christian. So today, we are going to look at one of the pioneers of the new church that Jesus started and see how he fulfilled the Great Commission. Let’s take a look at the ministry of Philip the Evangelist.
1) Philip the Deacon Acts 6:1-7. There was much to do in the church. The apostles were busy preaching and teaching and couldn’t be torn away from that to do some of the other important things. So, seven men were chosen to take on these ministerial tasks and Philip was one of them. He was one of the first Deacons of the church. Deacon means servant or helper. We are all called to be servants in general but to be a Deacon meant you were commissioned to serve or help in a specific and sacrificial way.
We will see later that Philip became an evangelist but it’s important to see how things started out for him. He was first chosen to be a Deacon before God called him to be an evangelist. That’s how it is; that’s how it was for me. Before I was called into ministry I was a Deacon at NSCC. We may be gifted to be an evangelist, preacher, teacher or whatever, but are we first and foremost a servant?
Philip began his powerful ministry by performing the menial task of distributing food to widows and others in need. Are we willing to do the same? Are we willing to serve regardless of the need? Are we among those who are simply happy to help? Or are we Christians who only want to be involved in the things that are more noble; the duties that would receive greater recognition?
What we need to realize is that Philip serving in this capacity no doubt laid some pretty important groundwork for what he would become. With him having a servant’s heart people would see the example of Jesus as he talked to them about Jesus. And this probably played a big role in people’s willingness to believe what he was preaching. They saw the proof of Jesus’ love through his service.
2) Philip the Evangelist Acts 8:4-13. In Acts 21 Paul was on his missionary journey heading back to Jerusalem. On his way there he stopped and stayed with Philip. Only he wasn’t a Deacon anymore. Acts 21:8, “Leaving the next day we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven.” Evangelism comes from the prefix ev meaning good and the word angel meaning messenger. So, evangelizing means sharing the good message; sharing the good news about salvation through Jesus.
Let’s take a look at how Philip went from Deacon to evangelist. [set-up] Stephen was performing miracles and some members of the synagogue didn't like that. They couldn't win their arguments against him so they hauled him in front of the Sanhedrin. When Stephen pointed out some of their wrong behaviors they were infuriated. and when Stephen looked up and said he saw Jesus at the right hand of God that was the last straw. They took him out and stoned him to death. Right after this happened there was a great persecution and the whole church (except for the Apostles) were scattered to other lands. And Saul (before he was Paul) went around trying to destroy the church by having believers put in prison (1-4). This is what caused Philip to be in Samaria.
[read 8:4-13] This showed us two things about Philip: first, he was willing to evangelize under any circumstances. For a lot of us, such a great persecution would’ve caused us to be silent about our faith. But Philip was willing to risk ending up like his friend Stephen. Philip was bold and courageous and his passion for the spread of the gospel superseded his concern for his personal well-being. What about us? We might not be facing death but we are facing persecution of some sort. Are we keeping silent because we are afraid of getting laughed at or yelled at? When persecution comes are we tempted to go into self-protective silent mode? Are we saying to God, “if this is what I have to go through when I’m doing the right thing then forget it; I’m not going to allow myself to be mistreated”? We need to be more like Philip who didn’t allow persecution to deter him from the mission.
Another thing we realize is that Philip was willing to be an evangelist anywhere. Jews did not have very favorable relations with Samaritans, to say the least. So, Philip going to and sharing the gospel in Samaria was a display of his willingness to be used anywhere for anyone. Perhaps he was aware of the various times Jesus ministered to Samaritans like Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well and the time Jesus healed the ten lepers and the only one to come back and thank him was a Samaritan. Perhaps he had heard the parable of the Good Samaritan. What about us? Do we apply Jesus’ ministry to the Samaritans to ourselves? Who are we less likely to be willing to minister to? How can we be more like Jesus in this area?
Next we see Philip was given the power to perform miracles-even to the point of Simon the sorcerer being impressed. Philip’s ability to perform miracles was no doubt necessary to establish further legitimacy of the gospel in the church’s infancy. Today we may not be performing mind-blowing miracles but we can still perform things that blow people away for the purpose of lending to the legitimacy of the gospel. How so you ask? When people see us handling situations according to the character of Christ it will get people’s attention and be convincing like Philip’s miracles were to the people he was evangelizing to. But it wasn’t just his miracles it was also his convincing words. People thought Simon was “the Great Power”; that is, until Philip came on the scene. So it is with us. Until people are convinced that Jesus is the Great Power they will think something or someone else is. We have the gospel-the power of God as Paul described it in Romans 1:16. We have the power of God in our testimony; we have the power of God in our arguments in defense of his existence and authenticity. And our words will be made even more convincing when it’s backed-up with action.
3) Philip and the Ethiopian Acts 8:26-40. Here we see that God sent an angel to instruct Philip to go back toward Jerusalem. This would seem like a strange request. He started out in Jerusalem, persecution broke out, he flees to Samaria and now he was being told to head back that way. Wasn’t that dangerous? Wouldn’t he be heading back into harm’s way? Not to mention that he was already involved in a thriving ministry and here comes this voice telling him to stop doing that and take this trip. It didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense but the main thing was Philip obeyed. Philip trusted in God’s direction even if he didn’t understand the purpose behind it. We need to be like that too. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will make strange requests of us. If we are willing to be obedient we, like Philip, can see great things happen.
Again we see Philip’s willingness to share the gospel with anyone. Just like Philip sharing Christ with the hated Samaritans, here we see him being willing to share the gospel with another foreigner; an Ethiopian.
This account also shows that Philip was willing to be uncomfortable. He is told to go up to the chariot and stay near it. Even though it says Philip ran up to the chariot, which shows his enthusiasm, I’m sure Philip was at least a little nervous going up to this foreigner who also happened to be an important official. I think it could be an awkward, intimidating scene. Here you are, just standing by this chariot trying to look unassuming as the eunuch stares at you, wondering what your deal is. Anyone here ever been in an awkward, intimidating situation? The Holy Spirit will no doubt require us to do some things that will be pretty uncomfortable. We will be nervous, perhaps even scared, but may we be obedient just the same.
As soon as Philip saw what the guy was doing he knew why he was sent. It all made sense to him now. Here we see the first thing Philip did was ask a question. He wanted to know what the Ethiopian understood. That was wisdom. Asking questions of the people we encounter is important. We need to understand where someone is coming from. We need to see what they know before we start sharing what we know.
The Ethiopian shares some scripture from Isaiah. He wants to know who the writer is talking about. Philip used this passage to point to Christ. And I’m sure part of how he used this scripture was to make a connection between what Jesus went through and what the eunuch was dealing with-rejection. The eunuch traveled from Ethiopia to Jerusalem (1,200 miles) but would’ve been denied access to the temple because he was a eunuch. He could go to the synagogue but he couldn’t offer sacrifices at the temple. He may have been feeling rejected by God. Philip could use this passage to help the eunuch. He could tell him how Jesus was rejected and help the eunuch to understand that Jesus can relate to his sufferings.
Philip could then go ahead a few chapters to Isaiah 56:3-5 and use that to help him to understand that salvation was possible even to someone like him. Isaiah 56:3-5, “Let not the foreigner who has bound himself to the Lord say, ‘the Lord will surely exclude me from his people. And let not any eunuch complain ‘I am only a dry tree’. For this is what the Lord says, ‘To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant-to them I will give them within my temple and it’s walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will given them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.”
Philip shared the gospel and he no doubt shared his own testimony as well as his experiences in Samaria. And we see that the eunuch was convinced that what Philip told him was true when he stopped the chariot so he could get baptized.
As we go through this account we see that Philip was in step with the Spirit. He moved when the Spirit prompted him and he spoke as the Spirit led him. When we are led by the Spirit and when we keep in step with the Spirit it won’t matter what we’re called to do or who we’re called to minister to, we will go. We, like Philip, have a wonderful opportunity as messengers of God’s divine grace. We are ministers of reconciliation, Christ’s ambassadors as Paul said in 2nd Cor. 5. We may not be called to share the gospel in the jungles of South America but we are called to share it in the concrete jungle of Syracuse. It’s worth the risks and personal sacrifices because the gospel is the power of God that saves and changes lives.
CONCLUSION: Jesus returned to heaven and the angels gathered in amazement. They gazed at his hands and feet and shuddered to recall his suffering. Finally Gabriel spoke up, “Master, you have suffered terribly down there. Do they know and appreciate the extent of your sacrifice?” “No”, said Jesus, “not yet. Right now only a handful of people in Palestine know.” “How will everyone else know?” “I’ve asked Peter, James John and a few others to spread the news. They will tell others, who will tell others until the message spreads to the ends of the earth.” But Gabriel, knowing the nature of human beings asked, “What is plan B?” “There is no plan B”, replied Jesus. “I’m counting on them.” Twenty centuries later and there is still no plan B. He’s counting on you and me. So let’s start the new year off by looking for new opportunities to share the timeless message of salvation.
