OPEN: On our vacation last month we went to Philadelphia. We took the guided tour of the city in a double-decker bus and saw various statues and parks, Betsy Ross’s home, as well as Benjamin Franklin’s grave. Our guide told us that people throw approximately $3000 in pennies on Franklin’s grave every year. Does anybody know why that is? It’s because he once said “A penny saved is a penny earned.” The guide told us Franklin has made more money in death than he ever did while living.
We also visited the Independence Hall (where the Declaration of Independence was signed), as well as the first building where the Supreme Court met, and - of course – the building where the Liberty Bell is housed.
While we were viewing the Bell, I overheard a tour guide telling about its history. The Liberty Bell was made in England and, after being shipped to Philadelphia, cracked the very first time it was used. The Bell was recast - adding some extra copper for strength - but many complained that it no longer had a pleasant sound when it was rung. Again it was recast with more copper, but the resulting sound when it was ringing wasn’t much better.
The guide gave many other interesting facts about the Bell and when she finished her spiel, I asked her if she knew that the Liberty Bell had once nearly been bartered away as scrap metal. She looked at me oddly and wasn’t sure I was knew what I was talking about. But it was true.
Back in 1828, the city fathers had decided to give the bell to a bell-maker named John Wilbank in exchange for a replacement. Wilbank agreed to knock $400 off his bill in exchange for the 2000-pound relic. But, when Wilbank went to collect the bell he decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. The city sued him… because they really didn’t want it either. It’s only value to them was the $400 Wilbank had offered in exchange.
Finally, Wilbank relented… bought the bell and then turned around and donated it back to the city.
Wilbank didn’t believe the bell was worth the trouble of hauling away. And frankly he was right. The metal was substandard. It was so damaged from structural weakness that it was rung only rarely. It’s only been rung a couple of times in the past 150 years or so because of the fear that ringing it would result in its being totally destroyed.
APPLY: There was a time when no one wanted the Liberty Bell. It was cracked and useless and good for nothing. And yet, today - in order to get into the building where that Bell is housed - you literally need to go through a metal detector flanked by armed guards who are there to make sure that no one attempts to damage this now valuable relic.
The Liberty Bell is valuable - NOT because of its inherent value as a bell - but because it had once been rung when the Declaration of Independence was signed.
It is now PRICELESS because it had ONCE been used to declare freedom
I. Throughout New Testament, we’re told stories of people who – for us – have become household names because they were once used by God to declare freedom. They have become AS priceless to us as the Liberty Bell has become to our country.
People like Peter, James, John, Mary and Martha.
They are examples of the changes that we ourselves can bring to people’s lives IF we allow ourselves to be used by God.
One of those examples was a man named Philip.
Now Philip is only mentioned 3 times in the Bible. When we’re first introduced to him he’s being nominated by the church to be a deacon to help take of some of the distribution of food to widows in the congregation. It’s not really a high profile job, but Acts 6 tells us that he (and the other 6 men who helped in this ministry) were required to be men “…known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom….” (Acts 6:3)
Not too long after Philip was given this responsibility, King Herod began to persecute the church in Jerusalem - executing the Apostle James and imprisoning Peter. Many Christians - including Philip - fled for their lives to other cities and regions. Philip went north about 35 miles to the region of Samaria and promptly began to share his faith with the people in a city there. We’re not told how big this city was, but as soon as he arrived he began preaching about Jesus and converted nearly the entire city to Christ.
Now, today, if you want to be a preacher, most churches require that you be “ordained”. That is, a group of church leaders must vouch for your knowledge of Scripture and your love of Jesus. And that group of church leaders would have laid hands on you, ordaining you to the preaching ministry.
Most churches would require a preacher to have a Bible College education, and many even require Seminary training.
But, as far as we know, no mortal man had ORDAINED Philip to become a preacher. He hadn’t gone to Bible College or Seminary. He hadn’t supply preached at church on Sunday morning and he may not even have taught a Sunday School class.
So why was Philip preaching?
Because he was open to being used by God. And as a result, this DEACON of the church changed the lives of dozens (perhaps 100s) of people.
In addition, because he was open to allowing God to use him in that city, God gave him another special assignment. Philip was sent to preach to a high official from the court of the queen of Ethiopia.
(pause…)
Now, I got to thinking… why did God send Philip to perform this important task?
The Ethiopian Eunuch was an important personage. You’d think that God at least would have sent Peter, or John or Andrew, or one of the other Apostles to speak with him.
But He didn’t.
II. Why not?
Why not send in the important church leaders – the BIG guns - to preach to this treasurer from Ethiopia? Why send Philip? He’s not nearly as important as those other guys.
ILLUS: And then I realized – this wasn’t the only time God had done this.
Remember the story of Paul’s conversion to Christ? Paul is on the road to Damascus. Jesus confronts him, blinds him and then sends him on to Damascus to wait for someone to come talk to him.
And who does God send? Who does God select to give this special message to Paul - this man who would become such a powerful leader in the early church? This man who would plant so many new churches and who would write nearly half of our New Testament? Who does God send?
Does God send a delegation from an important church in the area?
Does He send one of the half-brothers of Jesus - like Jude or James?
Does God send some of the Apostles?
Noooo – He sends somebody named Ananias.
Does anybody know how many times Ananias is mentioned in Scripture? ONCE. That’s it. And even then we know virtually nothing about him. We don’t know if he was a leader in his local congregation, whether he’d ever been given any special responsibilities before. For all intents and purposes… Ananias is a minor player on the Biblical stage. A Godly man (no doubt) but seemingly not one of the powerful leaders in the church of his day.
Why would God do it that way?
Why would God send in the 2nd string players when converting people of importance?
I believe God did it that way so that we’d understand that He doesn’t need the “IMPORTANT” Christians to share our faith with others. He wants ALL Christians to share their faith. This special privilege (of talking to other people about Jesus) is NOT the domain of the “super” Christians. Bringing people to Christ is what ALL believers ought to strive for.
ILLUS: One man observed that Scripture compares us to sheep.
Psalms 100:3 says: “Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the SHEEP of his pasture.”
And then he asked: “Besides wool - what do Sheep produce? (sheep) That’s right. Sheep produce sheep. That’s what sheep do. The flock of Christ will increase in direct proportion to how well we sheep do what sheep do.
ILLUS: We believe in this concept so much that about twice a year we have a special day we call “FRIEND DAY” (we dispersed the Friend Day invitation cards to the congregation at this point).
III. Remember, one of the things we (as sheep) should be doing for Jesus is producing other sheep. So – how can we prepare ourselves to produce these other sheep?
1st - Be eager
You CAN NOT win people to Christ if they can’t see any excitement for Jesus in your life.
We’re told that when “the Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.’ … Philip RAN up to the chariot” (Acts 8:29-30)
Philip was excited about telling this man about Jesus. He desired it so much that he ran to the Ethiopian’s chariot. He didn’t want to miss the opportunity to share his faith. Philip realized that sharing his faith with others was important to God - and that there was virtually NOTHING else in the world that was nearly as significant.
There was an eagerness in his approach…a fire in his heart.
As Spurgeon declared: “A burning heart will find a flaming tongue”
Our excitement for Jesus should be a little like the excitement of a little boy I read about:
It was the true story by a mom who wrote that she her husband had spent the day moving from their farmhouse into their new house in town. Early the next morning, their 3 1/2-year old ran into their bedroom to wake them up. “I dressed him and told him to play in the yard and to quit bothering us.”
About 20 minutes later, he came running back into the house all excited: “Mommy, Mommy,” he cried, “everybody has doorbells and they all work.”
That’s the kind of excitement we need in our faith. It may make us a little annoying… but there will be no mistaking how much we love Jesus.
So - 1st Be Excited
2nd - Be available:
Philip talked about Jesus to whoever would listen.
Many people don’t share their faith because in their hearts, they compare themselves to others in the congregation and say:
I don’t know as much as they do
I don’t have the training they do.
I don’t have the ability to talk like they do.
In short…what they’re REALLY saying is “I’m inferior to others in MY ability to share Jesus.” They see themselves in much the same way the people back in the 1800’s saw the Liberty Bell. They believe their Christianity is made of inferior material. They see at least ONE BIG crack in their lives that they believe disqualifies them to proclaim God’s grace and love to others.
But in the eyes of God, our value as witnesses does not depend on our ABILITY
Our value depends on our AVAILABILITY. (repeat)
When the Liberty Bell was made there were other bells that were better made, that had a more pleasant ring, that had NO imperfections. AND YET none of those bells have nearly the value of the Liberty Bell because they didn’t proclaim our nation’s freedom to the world. The Liberty Bell has value because it was available. It was there when the need arose.
ILLUS: Does anyone know who Jerry Rice is? Jerry Rice, has been a longtime star for the San Francisco 49ers football team (among others), and he’s considered one of the greatest receivers in the history of football. In fact, his talent was obvious even when he was in High School – drawing many big league colleges to approach him with scholarships.
Once Black Entertainment Television asked Rice, “Why did you attend a small, obscure university like Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Benna, Mississippi?”
Rice responded, “Out of all the big-time schools (such as UCLA) to recruit me, MVSU was the only school to come to my house and give me a personal visit.”
Jerry Rice was won to a small college, because that college was THERE when he was looking. That college’s people made themselves available to give him attention.
1st – Be excited
2nd – Be available
3rd – Be Prepared
When Philip witnessed to the Ethiopian Eunuch, he knew exactly what the prophecy meant that Ethiopian was reading and was able to lead him from there to the point where the Eunuch excitedly pointed to a pond by the side of the rode and literally begged to be baptized into Christ.
Knowing the Bible is why we stress Sunday School so strongly. It’s why I use so much Scripture when I’m preaching. The more you are in Bible studies, Sunday School and Church – the more of God’s Word you’ll understand and the more you’ll be able to use it with confidence.
But, even if you should encounter someone who asks you about a Scripture you don’t understand… you could always say “Hey, I don’t know… but give me a couple of days and I’ll get back with you.”
So, it is important for us to be prepared to use God’s Word to witness to our friends… because Philip was. But I believe Philip was prepared in an even more basic way. In Acts 8:26 we’re told
“Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Go south to the road— the desert road— that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’”…
And how does Philip respond? Acts 8:27 says: “…he arose and went” (KJV)
He didn’t ask questions.
He didn’t say “sorry, I’ve got something else to do right now.”
He just gets up and he goes.
He is prepared to be used by God
He’s looking for God to give him opportunities to talk to others about Christ.
And every once in a while – God will give us the same kind of opportunities.
ILLUS: Back when I was serving in Hamilton, Indiana, there was a trailer park just across the road from the city beach. In the 3 or 4 years I had been there, I had yet to meet anyone from that trailer park. One day, I was driving past the beach and looked over at the trailer park and – on a lark – asked God to allow me to talk to someone from that park. A couple days later I got a call… from someone who lived in that trailer park who wanted to talk to me!
CLOSE: One of my favorite stories was the story Paul Thigpen shared several years ago. (Evangelism by the Ounce in The Christian Reader July/ Aug. 98 p. 70). He wrote:
In my freshman year of college, I had 2 Jewish roommates who knew I was a Christian. One day, I found them sitting dejectedly beside an open window in our dormitory. I asked them what was wrong.
“We want to play basketball,” said one. “We’ve looked and looked for a ball and can’t find one.”
“Hey Paul,” said the other, with a mischievous look in his eye. “Do you think Jesus has a basketball we could play with?”
“Well, maybe He does!” I replied with a big grin. “I’ll pray that Jesus will send you a basketball right now. But if He does, I expect you to thank Him for it.”
“Okay!” they said. So I bowed my head right then and there and prayed aloud to Jesus for a basketball.
Within 5 seconds after my “Amen,” a basketball fell through the open window into the lap of my roommate, as if it had fallen straight from heaven.
His jaw dropped. Then a 3rd friend shouted from the courtyard, “I found a ball for us. Let’s go!”
They claimed it was a coincidence. I responded: “You know whom to thank.”
OTHER SERMONS IN THIS SERIES
Cool Runnings - Isaiah 40:1-40:31
The Race Toward Evil - Isaiah 59:1-59:21
A Prize Every Time - 1 Corinthians 9:19-9:27
Getting Your 2nd Wind - Mark 5:1-5:20
Running For Freedom - Acts 8:26-8:40
The Runaway Lad and The Waiting Dad - Luke 15:11-15:24
