Finding what you’re looking for. WBC 6 Feb 05am. Acts 8:26-40
(Baptismal service of Sarah Logan)
A man is stumbling through the woods totally drunk when he comes upon a preacher baptising people in the river.
He proceeds to walk into the water and subsequently bumps into the preacher. The preacher turns around and is almost overcome by the smell of alcohol, whereupon he asks the drunk, "Are YOU ready to find Jesus?"
The drunk answers, "Uh, what?... yeah!." So the preacher grabs him and dunks him in the water. He pulls him up and asks the drunk, "Brother have you found Jesus?" The drunk replies, "No, I haven’t found Jesus."
The preacher shocked at the answer, dunks him into the water again for a little longer this time. He again pulls him out of the water and asks again, "Have you found Jesus my brother?" The drunk again answers, "No, I haven’t found Jesus."
By this time the preacher is at his wits end and dunks the drunk in the water again---but this time holds him down for about 30 seconds and when he begins kicking his arms and legs he pulls him up. The preacher again asks the drunk, "Tell me.. tell me.. tell me- have you found Jesus!?"
The drunk wipes his eyes and catches his breath and says to the preacher, "Are you sure this is where he fell in?"
Listen- that’s fabricated… and we don’t force baptise people! But it is funny!
THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH
This man found what he was looking for
Actually- your heart really warms to him:
he was a man of great influence and power
- in charge of the treasury of the Queen of Ethiopia
- in fact: tradition has it that he “went on his way rejoicing”, (v39) all the way to the Queen who recognised his story as what SHE was looking for, too
o (Ethiopians long influenced by what came out of Jerusalem
Queen of Sheba (Ethiopia) went to hear Solomon’s wisdom, and became a monotheist)
o And as a result the Ethiopian church was founded. Became the Coptic church
- Whatever: he was one of the first followers of Jesus in Africa
Man of influence and power but
- a deeply humble man
o when someone pops up at his chariot and asks ‘do you understand what you’re reading?’, he doesn’t tell him to “bog off!”. Says “No, I don’t. I need help to understand”
- a deeply spiritual man
o Here he is, reading a bit of the Jewish Scriptures. Is 53
o Searching. “Still hasn’t found what he’s looking for”
o Has been up to Jerusalem to worship
Judaism was a magnet to those of spiritual integrity
Yet- this must have left him still searching and probably frustrated
- maybe why he was so engrossed by this passage: “Who can speak of his descendants?...”
o he could have no children. Was a Eunuch
o probably to ensure security in the Queen’s house
- but the knock on effect was could not fully convert to Judaism, become a proselyte… worship in the temple
o it’s that verse that makes you wince DT 23:1 No one who has been castrated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the LORD.
Poor bloke. Yet he is such a genuine seeker- he keeps coming back and seeking… even though he is partially rejected… because he can see there is truth in what the Jews believed
- but I bet he recognised it wasn’t the full story. And he’s searching for more
o with utter integrity
o Illustr: we need to recognise the integrity with which many search. Have genuine questions that need answering
= why Alpha is such a hit
Maybe he held onto, with hope, the passages in the OT that hinted at more… a better deal. Bits only 3 chapters on from what he was reading
ISA 56:3 Let no 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."
ISA 56:4 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--
ISA 56:5 to them I will give within my temple and its walls
a memorial and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that will not be cut off.
Whatever- that wouldn’t have been his reception in Jerusalem, then
- it’s fulfilled in what Philip tells him
Ilustr: Jonathan Kissell (Barry and Mary’s son) went into a pub in Harrow on Thurs 4 Sept. Noted a skinny bloke standing there and got talking with him. They had a good conversation; having many things in common (both had TV production in their background).
"You’re very real" the man said to Jonathan "and you’ve got something to tell me, haven’t you?" "Yes, Jesus loves you!" said Jonathan.
The man’s eyes filled up "I’ve been praying all day: ’If you’re there and you love me Jesus, send someone to tell me so, today’ "
"And there’s something else, isn’t there?" Said Jon. "You’re dying of AIDS, aren’t you?" The man grabbed Jon’s hand. "You’re home, now.... you’re home... you’re home" repeated Jonathan.
Told by Jonathan 12 Sept 97 to me at day with Barry Kissell
And truth is: to everyone who seeks with integrity, God will send a messenger. Somehow. Seek and you will find.
Charles Spurgeon:, We need our God; He is to be had for the seeking; and He will not deny Himself to any one of us if we personally seek His face.
- and Philip gets sent. He’s a bloke who distributed and served food to the widows in the church (ie early Christians)
o does some other stuff, too! Acts 8! Cripples healed… paralytics getting up! Stunning stuff in Samaria!
o God tells him: go south to the desert road. Deserted road to Gaza
“Oi! I’m in the action, here!”
but leaves his productive ministry to head for Gaza
• ‘ON THE WAY’ he meets the Eunuch
• fascinating! His eyes are on the destination- but the Lord uses him on the journey!
• (all he’s got to do is be moving and God does the rest)
Note something about Philip- he hardly ever gets to finish the job and hang around
- God calls him out of Samaria
- God teleports him out of the Gaza road! About 10 miles away
o Who needs Star Treck! (Robert’s prophet in Congo. Heavenly man.)
- Maybe we’re too fearful and protective of folks… and too doubting of God: “oh, they’ll never go on without me! Poor God!”
o But cf China. Expulsions of 40s (Gladys Aylward etc).
Now find 50M + Christians!
o I hate having to ‘leave’ Alpha folks each term: but Sarah is now helping lead the next one
God… who starts a work… carries it on to completion (where the raw material is good) Phil 1:6
THE LAMB
And the Eunuch is ‘good soil’.
He’s reading a bit from Isaiah 53.
- must read it if you haven’t!
- written 800 years BC! Shows God’s plan
It describes a Lamb… a person.. who would come and suffer
- enter into human SUFFERING (that’s a consolation to all who think God doesn’t understand Tsunamis)
- give His life as a SACRIFICE. Pay, somehow, so that people could go free and be forgiven
- … willingly. Quietly
The Eunuch would have known all about sacrificial lambs, from his interest in Judaism
- how a lamb slain meant they could escape at Passover, from Egypt
- how a lamb sacrificed in the temple reminded that a death could mean forgiveness of sin
o (of course, these things only pointed forward to the death of the true Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world)
And he knew all about the recent death that must have still been shaking Jerusalem
- and the claims that over 500 had seen Him alive again
And when Philip sits down with him the penny drops that all this is about Jesus
- (actually, doesn’t preach at him- he asks questions.)
- it’s what he’s been searching for all his life!
- It’s what his good upbringing etc had prepared him for
Illustr: Remember that with Tony at UKC. Karate man! Timidly asked him to a discussion evening. Avoided him for a couple of days. “What did you think of that?” “It’s what I have been waiting for all my life. Why did I not know or hear until now?”
- truth is he was an honest man of integrity. I thought he wasn’t interested in Christianity. In fact-he just hadn’t heard the true message about Jesus, yet.
- Up till then he had rejected the kind of Jesus I reject, too
When someone explained it to him he wanted it!
In a nutshell: God came to earth, as a man. Suffered, died for OUR sake
- rose from the dead to show victory- and that THIS is not all there is!
- And you can KNOW Him and have a relationship with Him now through Jesus
THE DUNKING
And he responds in the same way that Sarah is, has
- starts to follow Jesus and shows it by getting baptised
“What is to keep me from being baptised?” he asks
- nothing!!
- I’ve got the faith… we’ve got the water… let’s get on with it
- (sounds like a pet shop boys track!)
Oh- how I wish…pray… that more were like this!
You see- baptism is one of the things you do at the start of your Christian walk
- if you can’t do this, how are you ever going to go on?
It’s where you stand up and say
- I’m for Jesus, now! It’s Him I’m following
- The past is behind me (under the water, washed away)
o The old self is dead
- I live FOR Jesus, now. By Jesus now
o (not in some kind of fruitcake way! Jesus makes you fully what you were intended to be. You were designed for this- relationship with God)
- not that I’ve arrived… or know it all- but I KNOW who I am journeying WITH
o and He will carry it on to completion
I’ve found what I have been searching for.
- or should I say WHO I’ve been searching for
