Text: Acts 8:26-40
Date: May 2, 2021
Event: The Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B (Confirmation)
Acts 8:26–40 (EHV)
26Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is an isolated area.) 27So he got up and went. And there was a man, an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship. 28He was on his way home, sitting in his chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah.
29The Spirit told Philip, “Go over there and stay close to that chariot.” 30Philip ran up to it and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet.
Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31The man replied, “How can I unless someone explains it to me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32Now the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading was this:
He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he does not open his mouth. 33In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will talk about his generation? For his life is taken from the earth.
34The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet talking about—himself or someone else?” 35Then Philip began to speak. Starting with that very passage of Scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. 36As they were traveling along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What is there to prevent me from being baptized?”
38He ordered the chariot to stop. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 39When they stepped up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away. The eunuch did not see him anymore, but went on his way rejoicing.
40Philip, however, found himself at Azotus. And as he went from place to place, he preached the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
God Meets Us Where We Are
The Internet can be an amazing tool for learning. Should you want to learn a skill or take up a new hobby or figure out how to solve a problem in your home, very often there’s a written tutorial or a YouTube video that will show you how to do what you need to do.
But there is often a baseline level of knowledge you need. A tutorial for playing a difficult song on the guitar is probably not going to be of much use if you need to learn how to play basic chords. Complicated electrical work can’t be started until you know where the circuit breakers in your home are. The Internet is great, but often times it’s more useful to have someone in person meet us where we are to show us and teach us what we need to know.
In our First Lesson for this morning, we’re taken to one of the early evangelism efforts that the Holy Spirit sent one of his people on. This event takes place not too long after Jesus had ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to his disciples on the first Christian Pentecost day. Philip was sent to meet with a man who was a high-ranking official in the Ethiopian government. He handled the finances for his queen. We don’t really know much about him other than these verses here, but we can make some assumptions.
First, it’s likely that he was what we might call an “Old Testament believer,” that is, someone who was looking forward to the coming of the Savior that had been promised but did not yet know that he had already come and completed his work. We know this because Luke tells us that he had come to Jerusalem to worship. But he didn’t have a clear idea of the promises or certainly the fulfillment of those promises. So, God send Philip to him. “Go over there and stay close to that chariot.”
The man from Ethiopia was reading from the prophet Isaiah, familiar verses for us from chapter 53, a prediction of the Messiah’s death on the cross. But the Ethiopian had questions. He didn’t know who these verses were about or to what events they were referring. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The man replied, “How can I unless someone explains it to me?” This man needed someone to meet him where he was. And that’s what Philip did. Starting with that very passage of Scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus.
And what good news he had to share! He was able to take that passage about a silent, passive Savior and point the man to his sins and need for God to rescue him. He was able to tell how Jesus perfectly filled that role for him, died and rose from the dead to conquer his sins and bring him to eternal life. That singular passage and question about it was the gateway for Philip to expand on everything that God had promised and done. Through Philip, God met this man where he was and brought him to where he needed to be.
God does the same for you and me, he meets us where we are. What was it that you needed to hear today? Is there sin in your life you’re just trying to convince yourself is not a big deal, not a problem? God’s law in his Word and our worship service doesn’t let it happen. God points to our sin and says, “This? This is damning. You’ll be in hell forever because of this.” What was it that you needed to hear today? Does guilt over your sin overwhelm you? Do you feel powerless, desperate, as if there was no solution to that sin? Well, God brings Jesus to the forefront for you. He shows you Jesus as the one who conquered your sins completely and forever. The cross and the empty tomb are your confidence that you will not be in hell for the wrong things you’ve done; God has forgiven you and will bring you to himself.
The reality is we all probably needed to hear both of those things, likely as the Ethiopian needed as well. We need constant reminders of the seriousness of our sins and the solutions to those sins in Jesus’ perfect life lived in our place, his death that placed our punishment on him, and his glorious resurrection that assures us that because he lives we also will live.
But how many people are out there in our day like the Ethiopian who spoke with Philip? How many people need to have God’s work for them explained? How many people need God to meet them where they are and to explain these simple-yet-deep truths of God’s justice and his mercy? Here, too, God meets people where they are.
God may not tell us to go hang out by a parked carriage and eavesdrop waiting for an opportunity to speak. But he sends people into our lives with spiritual needs that must be met. He sends people in our families, in our jobs, in our neighborhoods who need to have someone explain to them what God has done. He often meets people where they are through you and me. You get to share God’s truths with those around you. And in that way God brings to them the harsh reality of the law and the predominating good news of Jesus’ forgiveness.
Do you feel wholly unqualified or unable to do that sharing work? In this God meets you where you are as well. Because you don’t need to get into long, detailed doctrinal discussions to do this work. You can share the basics of your faith in Jesus as your Savior. You can address their questions with a simple, “That’s a great question. I don’t know the answer. You should come with me to church—we can find some answers there.” Jesus’ promise to his disciples applies to you and me today as well. Jesus had said, “Do not be worried about how you will respond or what you will say, because what you say will be given to you in that hour. In fact you will not be the ones speaking, but the Spirit of your Father will be speaking through you” (Matthew 10:19-20). God will meet your needs with even the words to speak when the time comes.
We have a beautiful example of this in our service here this morning. We have our two confirmands from last spring here to confess what they’ve learned and how they’ve grown in their faith through their time of study in catechism classes. They will summarize and commit themselves to their faith in their Savior, which is our unified faith. They will show how God has met them where they were, brought them into a maturation process to be adult members of our congregation, and is setting them up to continue to meet them where they are as they continue to grow in their faith all the days of their life. God will always be with them to meet their needs as he will always be with all of us to meet our needs. The vine continues to meet the branches where they are.
So go from this place today encouraged. Not just because of the beautiful weather, the time with your brothers and sisters in the faith, and the opportunity to sing our praises to God. Go from this place today encouraged because here God met you where you are and will continue to do so. Here God encouraged and directed you to be his spokespeople and ambassadors to meet others where they are with his glorious truths. Go from this place today encouraged because, truly, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
