ENGAGE
About once a month I have lunch with a group of guys that I went to high school with. Although some of us didn’t even know each other when we were in high school and one of the guys in the group graduated quite a few years before me, we have a great time together because of the common bond we share – our faith in Jesus.
None of us were disciples of Jesus when we were in high school and each of our stories of how we came to put our faith in Jesus are completely different. But the one thing those stories have in common is that there were one or two people who God brought into our lives that were instrumental in us coming to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. And for each of us, the people who God brought into our lives weren’t pastors or ordained “clergy”, but just ordinary people who loved Jesus and who loved us enough to make sure we knew about Him. For me one of those people was the woman who has been my wife for nearly 41 years now.
TENSION
What I’ve found over the years is that is usually how God works in drawing us to faith in Jesus. Even when people seem to come to faith through some church ministry or as a result of a big evangelistic event like a Billy Graham or Greg Laurie crusade, there are still almost always some individuals that God has brought into their lives who were instrumental in convincing them to attend that kind of event in the first place.
So I think I stand on pretty firm ground this morning in assuming that all of you here this morning who have put your faith in Jesus had one or more people that God brought into your life that were instrumental in your decision to become a disciple of Jesus. But I want to turn that idea around on all of us and ask whether you have been that person in someone else’s life? And my guess is that if you’re anything like me you would probably have to answer that question “Not as much as I would like to be or should be.”
TRUTH
So this morning as we continue our study in the book of Acts, we’re going to see what we can learn about how each of us can be that person in the lives of others. Today is our 5th message in this series, which I’ve titled “Gathered to Go”. We’ve been looking at the early church and discovering how the disciples of Jesus were gathered as a body not just for their own benefit but for the purpose of going and bringing the kingdoms of Jesus near to others.
On the day of Pentecost the church went from 120 to over 3,000 people in one day as Peter, empowered by the Holy Spirit, got up and preached a powerful message from God’s Word. Perhaps that would have been something similar to our modern day crusades led by people like Billy Graham or Greg Laurie – but with one slight difference. All, or at least nearly all, of the 3,000 who became part of the church that day were genuine believers.
Billy Graham once estimated that probably only 25% of the people who came forward at his meetings actually made a genuine decision to become a disciple of Jesus. But some more recent studies indicate that perhaps he was way too optimistic. Those studies indicate that only between 3 and 6% of people who “come forward” at a crusade are any different in their beliefs or their behavior one year later. Now considering that Mr. Graham preached to more than 200 million people, even 3% would be a very significant 6 million people, so I certainly don’t want to minimize the impact of those kinds of events.
But what is interesting to me is that after the day of Pentecost, we never again see any evidence that the church continued to grow as a result of that kind of big public event. Instead we see that…
God’s kingdom is brought near to others when
each one reaches one
We’re going to see that very clearly as we look at Acts chapter 8 this morning.
After the choosing of the seven that Ryan taught about last week, the narrative in Acts focuses on one of the seven – Stephen. As he was doing great wonders among the people, some who were jealous claimed that he was speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God and they had him arrested and then brought false witnesses against him. In Acts 7 we read about how Stephen uses the Scriptures to testify that Jesus was the Messiah who they had killed. So he is stoned to death as Saul, who would have his own encounter with God shortly thereafter, looked on with approval.
As I pointed out when we began this series, chapter 8 marks a turning point in the book of Acts. Up to that time the church existed primarily in Jerusalem. But after Stephens’ death great persecution arose against the church and in Acts 8:1 we see that persecution resulted in the church being scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, just as Jesus had told His disciples right before His ascension.
Let’s pick up the account in Acts 8, verse 4:
[Read Acts 8:4-8]
Philip, who was also one of the seven chosen in Acts 6 to serve the Hellenistic widows, went to Samaria, likely to the city of Sebaste, where he preached the gospel and did signs. Keep in mind that Philip was not an apostle, he had not been to seminary or Bible school or even received any formalized religious training as far as we know. He was just an “ordinary” Christian who loved Jesus and wanted to share the love of Jesus with others.
In verses 9-25 we find the account of Simon, a man who thought that he could use his belief in Jesus for his own personal benefit. We don’t have time this morning to cover that section, but I do want you to look for a moment at verse 12 where we see that Philip apparently had a very successful ministry in which many were coming to faith in Jesus. Let’s pick up the account again in verse 26:
[Read Acts 8:26-40]
This is really an amazing passage with some very important implications for all of us. Just think, God loved this Ethiopian eunuch so much that He took Philip out of a very successful ministry there in Samaria and called him to go down to a lonely road in the desert to bring the kingdom of Jesus near to him alone. We really see the heart of God here don’t we? He is willing to go to great lengths to bring the gospel to just one person. I’m sure thankful that He loved me enough to do that for me, too.
This was not a highly desirable assignment by any means. As Luke tells us here, this road from Jerusalem to Gaza was in a desert place. [Show map]. I have to believe that road was a lot like the stretch of I-10 between Blythe and Palm Springs – minus all the wind turbines and rest stops. Samaria hadn’t exactly been a prime assignment in the first place since the Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies. But Philip was having great success there in spite of that animosity. So it sure seems that Philip had to be surprised by this new assignment. Why would God remove him from such a successful ministry to head out to the desert? And yet, there seems to be absolutely no hesitation on Philip’s part.
As he arrives at the location of his new assignment, he runs into an Ethiopian court official who was on his way back to Ethiopia after worshiping in Jerusalem. Today Ethiopia is a small country, but at that time it comprised most of Africa south and east of the Nile River. So, at a minimum this unnamed court official would have traveled 500 miles each way in a chariot to worship in Jerusalem.
I can’t imagine a more unlikely candidate to come to faith in Jesus. There were many religions in Ethiopia – they worshiped things like the sun and animals. But somehow God had intervened supernaturally to give this man a sense that there was something more than that and led him to make the long trip to Jerusalem. But even with that supernatural leading, there were a number of other factors than made him an unlikely candidate.
First of all, he was a Gentile, and up to this point, most all of those who had placed their faith in Jesus were Jews, or at least Samaritans who were half-Jewish. Second, he was from Ethiopia, from the line of Ham, who was cursed because he had looked upon the nakedness of his father, Noah, after the flood. Third, as a eunuch, he would not have been permitted to enter even the court of the Gentiles when he was in Jerusalem, so he would have made that long trip to Jerusalem only to be prevented from participating in worship when he arrived there.
As he was traveling in his chariot, this official was reading aloud from the scroll of Isaiah. More than likely, he had obtained a copy of Isaiah that was written in Greek. But keep in mind that in that day, a single scroll of Isaiah would have had to have been copied by one of the Jewish scribes by hand, a process that would have likely taken a whole year. No doubt that scroll had cost him a pretty penny, but in His sovereignty, God had provided the resources for him to be able to buy that scroll by making him the treasurer for the Queen of Ethiopia.
Philip, responding to the leading of the Holy Spirit, asked if the man knew what he was reading. The official then invited Philip up into his chariot to explain the Scriptures. Philip began with the Scriptures and explained the good news about Jesus. Although it is not explicitly stated in this passage, the Ethiopian man obviously made the decision to put his faith in Jesus and become His disciple. He then asked to be baptized and Philip baptized him.
What really stands out in this story is the fact that God loved this one man so much that He intervened supernaturally at so many points along the way to bring the kingdom of Jesus near to him. And He used a divine appointment with Philip as an integral part of that process.
After God had reached this single man through the ministry of Philip, He supernaturally transported Philip to the town of Azotus, where he continued to preach the gospel.
So the kingdom of Jesus was brought near when one man – Philip – reached one – the Ethiopian official. But the story doesn’t end there. Ethiopian church tradition, as well as the writings of early church writers, give evidence that this man went back to Ethiopia and began to share the gospel there, perhaps even planting the first church there. If that is true, it means that Philip not only took the gospel to Samaria, but as a result of his encounter with this Ethiopian official, the gospel began to expand to the “ends of the earth” well before Paul began his missionary journeys.
God’s kingdom is brought near to others when
each one reaches one
APPLICATION
If that is true, as I believe this passage clearly shows, then the question for us becomes “How can I reach my one?” Fortunately this passage reveals some simple principles that we can apply in order to do that.
HOW TO REACH MY ONE
1. Be aware of divine appointments
I won’t completely rule it out since God can work however He wants, but it’s not likely that God is going to send an angel to speak to us the way He did with Philip. But I do believe that God is still in the business of providing divine appointments for disciples of Jesus for them to bring His kingdom near to others. We just have to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit as He directs us. I can’t really give you a step by step set of instructions on how to do that, but here are a couple of suggestions that might help:
• Be aware of people that God keeps bringing into your life. That might be the barista at the coffee shop where you buy coffee every day, or a cashier at the store you go to frequently, or for me it seems that it has often been people that I see at the gym all the time.
• Pray for divine assignments each day. I find that when I pray and ask God to bring people into my life for the purpose of bringing God’s kingdom near to them, that is a prayer that God loves to answer. And I also find that when I begin my day with that prayer my spiritual antennae seem to be more sensitive to see those opportunities when they come up throughout the day.
2. Listen
Before Philip ever said a word to the Ethiopian official, he listened to him read from the scroll of Isaiah. I think there is an important lesson for us to learn here.
Most evangelism methods and programs that I’m familiar with rely on making some kind of a “canned presentation” of the gospel. Whether it’s Evangelism Explosion or the Four Spiritual Laws or the Romans Road, the goal is to get to the predetermined presentation as quickly as possible. As I’ll address shortly, it is important for us to have a good understanding of the gospel and to be able to present it in a logical, complete and organized manner, but when the presentation itself takes precedence over the person, then perhaps we’re focusing on the wrong thing.
If we want to be effective in bringing the kingdom of God near to someone else in a way that is relevant to that person, then we need to take time to listen and get to know the other person. Sometimes, like it was for Philip, that process might be very short, and in other cases we might need to listen to another person over an extended period of time in order to really get to know them and to “earn” the right to share the gospel with him or her.
Again, it’s impossible to give any kind of general guidelines here since each situation is going to be different. So we have to ask the Holy Spirit to help us discern how much listening is appropriate in each situation. This leads directly to our next principle…
3. Begin with where the other person is at
Because he listened to and observed the Ethiopian man, Philip had a pretty good idea with where he was spiritually. Perhaps as he heard this man read the Scriptures he sensed that he didn’t really understand what he was reading. So Philip asked a question to further evaluate where this man was at before he started with his gospel presentation. And when he did begin, he didn’t pull out his tract or some canned presentation, he began with the Scripture passage that this Ethiopian official was already reading.
This illustrates just how important it is to ask questions in order to assess where someone else is at spiritually. And it’s always good to use open ended questions rather than just “yes” or “no” questions. Here are a few examples of the kinds of questions that I’ve found to be effective:
• Could you tell me a little about your spiritual background?
• What do you know about Jesus?
• Why do you think that you are going to heaven some day?
4. Be familiar with all of God’s Word
You had to know that sooner or later I’d get around to this since we’ve been emphasizing it pretty much every week. But one thing that really stands out here to me is that Philip must have had a pretty good understanding of the Bible as a whole in order to be able to take the particular passage that the Ethiopian official was reading and use that passage to share the gospel. And my guess is that Philip could have done that if the man had been reading from Genesis, or Psalms, or any of the other prophets.
Obviously all of us are at different places when it comes to our understanding of the Bible. But each one of us should have a goal of getting to the place where we have a good enough feel for the Bible as a whole that we could start with just about any passage and then use that to point people to Jesus.
That is why we’ve been constantly encouraging all of us to be reading the Bible in a systematic manner that exposes us to the entire Bible. It’s also why we spent all of last year studying the Old Testament so that all of us would at least have a basic understanding of how the Old Testament points ahead to Jesus.
But as important as it is to have a good handle on the Bible, we need to remember that bringing the kingdom near to others is not so much about what we know as who we know. So the next thing we need to do is to…
5. Direct the conversation to Jesus
Notice the question that the Ethiopian official asked:
“About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”
But notice how Philip answers. He immediately directs the conversation to Jesus and uses that passage in Isaiah to point the man to the good news about Jesus. He didn’t focus on the man’s moral condition or talk about how sinful he was or invite him to church. This is a really good reminder that what changes people’s lives is an encounter with the living Jesus. So that means we need to look for ways to direct the conversation toward Him.
Again, I can’t give you a set of rules to follow here but perhaps a couple of examples will help.
• Let’s suppose someone brings up the subject of evolution. Perhaps you could say something like this: “That’s a really interesting subject and there are competent scholars on both sides of the issue. I have some pretty strong feelings on the subject and perhaps we can talk about it at length sometime. But the question that is far more important right now is ‘Who do you think Jesus is?’”
• Last week Dennis brought up a great example in the Bible Roundtable. When he and Frances went to visit the Greek Orthodox monastery near Florence, someone asked one of the monks if dogs go to heaven. And Dennis rightly observed that a great answer would have been something like “That’s the wrong question, the more important question is do you love Jesus more than your dog?”
6. Trust God for the outcome
When Philip approached that chariot, he had no idea how the Ethiopian official would respond. He was just faithful to be obedient to what God had called him to do and then trust God for the results. No doubt, Philip had previously shared the gospel when people didn’t respond by putting their faith in Jesus, but he didn’t let that become a hindrance in his ministry.
The fact that God is responsible for the results also means that we shouldn’t ever “write anyone off” and assume that God could never reach them with the gospel. I think God specifically picked such an unlikely candidate here to prove that no one is beyond the reach of God. Although Jesus sovereignly works to bring people into His kingdom, He almost always does that through His disciples who are obedient to His command to become witnesses for Him. Or as we put it earlier…
God’s kingdom is brought near to others when
each one reaches one
You will notice that this morning I have not used the word “evangelism” even once until just now. That is because I’ve discovered over the years that for some reason just the mention of that word tends to scare a lot of Christians off. So that’s why I keep intentionally talking about bringing the kingdom of Jesus near to others, since I think it more accurately describes what Jesus has commanded us to do and because it seems a bit less threatening.
I’ve also found over the years that there are two ideas that consistently come up that seem to be the biggest hurdles when it comes to being witnesses for Jesus and bringing His kingdom near to others:
1) That’s the job for the “professionals” like the Pastor and maybe the Elders. But guess what, the very first Gentile convert we see in the Bible put his faith in Jesus because Philip, a Spirit-filled “ordinary” Christian, and not one of the apostles, was willing to bring the kingdom near to him. And that is a pattern that we’ll continue to see throughout the book of Acts.
And if you think about that makes sense just from a practical standpoint. Had the growth of the church been dependent just on the twelve apostles, it could never have achieved the growth that occurred. And the same thing is true today. Every one of you here today will have opportunities to share the gospel with people that God brings into your life that I will never even have the chance to meet.
2) The second objection I hear frequently is that people think they just aren’t far enough along on their walk with Jesus to be able to be a witness for Him. We don’t know the exact time frames here, but the one thing we know for sure is that Philip hadn’t been a Christian for very long because no one had. At most, the church was only a year old or so, so in a sense every disciple was still a “baby Christian”. If you’ve been a disciple of Jesus for even a year, there is no reason you can’t do every one of the six things we’ve talked about this morning. And out of those six principles, the only one where you might be lacking at all is in having a good handle on all of the Bible. But even there, I’m convinced that every single one of us know enough of the Bible that we can be the one who reaches one.
INSPIRATION
Wouldn’t you love to see this building filled to overflowing each week with people who love Jesus and are growing in their relationship with Him? At first glance, that seems to be a daunting task, but if each one of us here this morning just reached one other person this year, we would double the number of people who are part of this body by the end of the year. When we think of it in those terms, it is certainly a very achievable goal isn’t it?
God’s kingdom is brought near to others when
each one reaches one
ACTION
Who is your one?
