140622 Into All the Earth

 Acts 8:26-38 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. ²⁷ And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸ and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” ³⁰ So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. ³³   In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”

³⁴ And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶ And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” ³⁸ And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. ³⁹ And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Jesus’ last command to his disciples was to go to all the world with the gospel. I usually think of the beginning of “going to all the world” as the first missionary journey by Paul and Barnabas. However, it really began on the day of Pentecost when visitors from all over the Roman world first heard the gospel and later took it home with them. The next step was taken by Philip when he took the gospel to Samaria. Now, we see Philip being placed in a strategic position to make contact, at just the right time, with an official of the Ethiopian government. The Spirit of God began right away to move in the church to get the gospel out of the confines of Jerusalem.

Under normal circumstances it would have been many years before a missionary went to Ethiopia with the gospel. Here we have an Ethiopian government official whose heart is open to know the Lord. When God moves in a person’s life to bring them to salvation he will bring them into contact with someone who can tell them about Jesus. He doesn’t send an angel instead he sends one of his people. There’s a lot of things going on in this story. Let’s begin with Philip’s…

Unquestioning obedience. Philip may have been present when Jesus ascended into heaven. He may have heard the Great Commission as recorded in Matthew. It is not impossible that he was with the group when Jesus gave them the words recorded in Acts 1:8. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

If Philip did not hear the words when they were first spoken he surely had heard them in the discussions the disciples had about Jesus. The point that I want to make is this, Philip understood that the gospel was to go to the end of the earth. I do not believe that God sends angels to bring people to Jesus but I do believe that he sends angels for many reasons. In this case he sent an angel to give specific directions to Philip. There are at least two reasons why Philip needed directions. Number one, the place he was instructed to go to was desert. Second, he was busy obeying the Lord! He had taken the gospel to Samaria and that was a place where the average Jew wouldn’t go and when he told them about Jesus they listened. He had a very successful ministry there.

When everything is going great we don’t normally become restless and want to move on. It may be that Philip had had some sense of need to move on but he was successfully preaching the gospel among a people who were listening to him. In order to make things specifically clear an angel was sent to be his GPS. I am not sure Philip would have decided on his own, or even when impressed in his mind, to go to the south into the desert. So far as Philip knew, no one was there! He did not realize that this was…

A strategic location. That spot in the desert was a lot like Jesus’ encounter at the well of Sychar. It was the right place at the right time even though no one, humanly thinking, would think so. Listen while I read John 4:5-10. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. ⁷ A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

Jesus was in the right spot to meet with a needy woman. There is an old song, part of it goes like this:

There was a thirsty woman, Who was drawing from a well;
Her life was ruined and wasted, Her soul it was bound for Hell.
But then she met the Master, Who told of her great sin;
He said if you'll drink this water, You will never thirst again.
Yes, there is a river that flows from God above,
There is a fountain that’s filled with His great love;
Come to the water, there is a vast supply;

There is a river that never shall run dry.
Yes, Jesus was in the right place for an outcast woman to come to faith! In the same manner Philip was placed, by the instructions of an angel, at just the right spot to intercept a man whose heart was ready. Philip was not just at the right spot he was there for…

A timely contact. Philip arrived beside the road just as the government official was reading Isaiah 53:7-8. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. ⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

I think Philip began to understand what he was there for when he saw a chariot coming down the road. The Spirit of God took over where the angel left off. As Philip saw the chariot approaching the Spirit said, “Go over and join this chariot.” Philip had to run to catch up because he had to be there at the right time! Hearing the man reading from the scroll of Isaiah Philip knew why he was, where he was, when he was! Philip asked the obvious question, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The government official said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” The Lord had opened the door for Philip to do what he was there for. It was time now for Philip to be about…

Telling the good news. On the day of Pentecost, while Peter was preaching, many of the people began to ask, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Listen while I read the answer from Acts 2:38-41. And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” ⁴⁰ And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” ⁴¹ So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

We are not told exactly what Philip said to the Ethiopian. We’re left with some room for the imagination by the words, “he told him the good news about Jesus.” On the day of Pentecost Peter had said that they should “Repent and be baptised ”. You see, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The consequence of our sin is very serious because the wages of sin is death! Realizing that we have sinned and are condemned to eternal separation from God we need to repent. Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology textbook gives this as the definition of repentance: “Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ.”

We are not told the exact words used by Peter but we do know that on the day of Pentecost many in the crowd became convicted of their sin, many of them chose to repent. Because of the forgiveness of their sins they were instructed to be baptized and on that day about three thousand were obedient and were baptized.

Peter was preaching to the thousands on Pentecost. Philip was teaching one man on the road to Gaza. In both cases, the Spirit of God rewarded the preachers with a wonderful harvest. As Philip was telling the good news, he obviously had told the true meaning of baptism, the Ethiopian man said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” You will find in the KJV that there is a verse added to the text that includes a statement of faith by the government official. It goes like this, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.” It is believed by many Bible scholars that these words were inserted by a person who was making a copy of the Bible. It was simply a matter of clarifying what needed to be believed in order to be baptized. Those extra few words conformed the text to the practice of the church in the first century.

Philip and the Ethiopian went down into the water together and Philip baptized him because of his…

Obedient belief. Philip would have known about the words found in Matthew 28:18-20. Let me read them. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This passage is called, The Great Commission. It summarizes the process that men and women have been going through for the past two thousand years.

Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. He is the one mediator between man and God. He himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Since Jesus has all authority he says that we can go because of that and make disciples of all nations. Then he outlines the process by which we do this. First, we are to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Then, we are to teach them to observe all that he had taught his disciples. Then Jesus promises to always be with us to the very end of the age.

Today many people are taught a great deal before they are baptized rather than afterward. In fact, many of the missionary agencies make it a policy not to baptize a person who accepts Christ as Lord and Savior for several months. This is done to give them an opportunity to prove that they are genuinely Christian. That is a little bit like the practice of marriage in the 21^st century. First you live together until you know that you can make it and then you are married, or not.

Second, the majority of denominations teach that infant christening is baptizing. Sprinkling water on a baby does not make them a Christian and it is certainly not baptizing.

If christening produced Christians the Mafia would not exist! I think I’m safe in saying that the vast majority of the Mafia grew up in Roman Catholic homes and were christened as infants. The infant had no choice in the matter and, most of the time, protested pretty loudly.

Sometimes, people who grew up in churches that practiced infant christening come to me to ask me to “baptize” their baby. I don’t want rebuke them so I try to gently explain that our church doesn’t practice christening. And then I refer them to the other churches in town that do. I explain the biblical basis for baptism and tell them that if they have committed their life to Christ then we would be glad to “dedicate” their family to bring up the child in the knowledge of the Lord. Usually they politely thank me and go on their way.

I have said that infant christening is not baptism. Let me explain, in Romans chapter six Paul explains that all of us who’ve been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. He then explains that we were buried with him by baptism into death. And we are raised up again to walk in newness of life. Baptism symbolizes spiritual burial and resurrection. Sprinkling water on the baby certainly doesn’t symbolize spiritual burial and resurrection.

The practice of baptism in the New Testament was carried out in one way: the person being baptized was immersed or put completely under the water and then brought back up again. The Greek word for baptize means to plunge, dip, or immerse something in the water. In the Gospels we are told that people were baptized by John “in the River Jordan” in, and not beside, or by, or near the river. When Jesus was baptized “he came up out of the water”. It does not say that he came away from the river. The words “he came up out of the water” strongly implies that he had been immersed in it.

Baptism pictures, or symbolizes, our union with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. Aside from Romans six we have Paul’s letter to the Colossians where he says “You were buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead”. There is a clear emphasis in both these passages on dying and rising up with Christ.

A person is saved by grace through faith. We are not saved by any works of righteousness that we have done. Therefore, baptism does not save us. It symbolizes our salvation. On the day of Pentecost three thousand people pictured their death, burial, and resurrection with Christ by going down into the water, being buried with him, and raised up to walk a new life. On the road to Gaza Philip and the Ethiopian went down into the water where the Ethiopian was buried with Christ and raised up to walk a new life.

I often compare baptism with a wedding. The marriage ceremony is a very important event! But it doesn’t cause a person to love another person. Sometimes I think that that is what some people expected and it didn’t work. The marriage ceremony publicly proclaims to the world, “We love one another and commit our lives to each other.” This is done publicly for all the world to see.

In the same way, the ceremony of baptism doesn’t cause a person to be a Christian. What it does do is publicly proclaim to all the world, “I am a Christian.” It’s a present symbol of a past experience. If love is not present the marriage ceremony means nothing! If faith is not present the ceremony of baptism means nothing! Therefore, biblical baptism involves a person who has made a confession of their faith in Christ Jesus and has begun to live it out in the world. The picture is only perfect when a person -- man, woman, or child, has come to believe in Jesus and wants the world to know about it.

If faith is not present the only thing that happens in baptism is the person gets wet all over! On the other hand, if that person has come to believe that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and He is now their Lord and Savior then baptism symbolizes that fact.

Philip was a man who was full of faith and the Holy Spirit. He had been chosen by the congregation of believers to help solve the problem of caring for the needy. He was probably one of the men who took care of Stephen’s body after he was martyred. Philip was one of those who scattered upon the persecution of the church after Stephen’s death. He didn’t just run away he listened to the Spirit of God and went without question. God made sure he was in the right place at the right time to give the gospel to a hungry heart. There is no question in my mind that this was the beginning of the Ethiopian church. This beginning rested on an obedient messenger, a clear message and a receptive heart. This witness resulted in believer’s baptism and a new missionary.

Have you been obedient to the Lord in baptism? Have you received the Lord Jesus? Baptism is part of confessing him before men in the same way that the wedding ceremony is a public confession of love for one another.

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

As… Even So!

John 20:19-23 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, ‍the doors being locked where the disciples were ‍for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‍“Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, ‍he showed them his hands and his side. Then ‍the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As ‍the Father has sent me, ‍even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he ‍breathed on them and said to them, ‍“Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 ‍If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Jesus came and stood among them! The door was locked and yet he entered! It little matters how this happened. The door may have miraculously opened as a prison cell would later open for Peter. Or, Jesus may have just appeared in the room. After all, he is now in his glorified body. What matters is the fact that he was there at all! After all, they had seen him die! It had been reported by others that Jesus had been raised from the dead but the disciples don't seem to have believed that. Now Jesus appears to them. Only John gives us this account. Luke records a similar instance but he wasn't an eyewitness. John was there and even though he wrote many years later this event was burned into his memory. "Peace be with you" Jesus told them. Then he repeated those words and added, "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."

Jesus, the sent One!
Jesus was sent from heaven with a particular plan in mind. This was not a last resort it was a first choice. He had always known that man, in his own strength,would fail to live up to the glory of God. We need to remember that God operates on an entirely different level from us. The plan of the ages was simply that God himself would come into the world to bear the sins of mankind. The cross was never a surprise to God. A part of the process leading to the cross was the work that Jesus did on Earth.

Jesus was sent to do the Father's will. John 5:30 records the words of Jesus when he said, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and ‍my judgment is just, because ‍I seek not my own will ‍but the will of him who sent me,” This is a remarkable statement! To hear the creator the universe say, “I can do nothing on my own.” is absolutely amazing! In order to set a pattern for our lives he lived a life that was entirely human yet without sin. The temptations of Satan in the wilderness were attempts to get Jesus to act like God. “Turn the stones to bread” the devil said. “If you’re the Son of God”, “All these I will give you, if you fall down and worship me.” Jesus was not truly tempted in the way we might have been. He came from the Father to do the Father’s will.

Jesus was sent to reveal the Father's will. John 6:38-40 tells us “For ‍I have come down from heaven, not to do ‍my own will but ‍the will of him ‍who sent me. 39 And ‍this is the will of him who sent me, ‍that I should lose nothing of ‍all that he has given me, but ‍raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who ‍looks on the Son and ‍believes in him ‍should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” I love it when the Bible points me to the answer of a question in my life. “This is the will of him who sent me”, Jesus said. Wow, the Father’s will in Jesus’ life was, wondrously, that nothing given to him would be lost! The will of the Father is that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life! This is not a Calvinist or an Armenian doctrine, these are the words of Jesus himself. “Everyone who looks and believes will be saved!” Why would one look, except the Father reveals the Son? How can one believe except the Father enables faith? Jesus came from the Father to reveal the Father’s will.

Jesus was sent so that we could know the Father. Jesus said in John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, ‍that they know you ‍the only ‍true God, and ‍Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Many years ago a friend of mine asked me, “what is eternal life?”. I began a rather complicated answer beginning with the Father, continuing on forever, etc. and he simply asked, “What does the Bible say?” I said, “Show me” and he opened to this passage of Scripture and read it to me! Eternal life is knowing the Father, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he sent. It’s that simple and that complicated all at once! Once we know him and receive the Son — believing on him — we have eternal life! Jesus came so that we could know the Father.

Jesus becomes the sender.
Jesus, who was sent from the Father, became the sender. He did this by a process that was predetermined before the world began. Jesus did not come into the world to study man and plot a course for correcting the problem. He already knew what to do when he came. Central to all of Jesus’ life was the process of setting an example.

Setting an example. In John 13 Jesus shows us how to minister. He had come to the end of his human life. He loved his disciples even though one of them would betray him. They came into the room where no servant was present and reclined at table without washing their feet. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, took the basin and towel and began the process of washing the feet of his disciples. This would’ve been the job of the lowest servant in the household. The disciples must’ve been embarrassed that their Master would kneal at their feet and begin to bathe off the dust. He had set an example for us to follow. No one in the kingdom is above, or too good for, the lowest job.

In a recent Undercover Boss TV show, Harlan Kent, President and CEO of Yankee Candle, went undercover and soon found himself cleaning up and even scrubbing the toilets. He did not hesitate nor did he grumble. He was there to do whatever needed doing and that is a good example of a leader. I am sure he gained respect in his company because he was willing to do the down and dirty jobs.

Jesus trained his disciples. In Matthew 10:24-25 he gave specific instructions. “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant‍ above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.…” Jesus had taught by example and then he gave specific instructions. I’m afraid that many who claim to be disciples of Jesus today would turn away rather than be as he was. When I see some Christian leaders’ lifestyles I cringe at the thought that this is what people think Christian ministry is really about. Throughout history there have been many godly men who have lived the example of Jesus. One that often comes to my mind is J. Hudson Taylor. Taylor was the founder the China Inland Mission in 1865 when he was in his 20s. He began the mission at a time when there were only about a hundred Western missionaries in China. He had no large financial backers but relied entirely upon God. He dressed in Chinese clothing and plaited his hair into a pigtail like the Chinese scholars did. He moved away from the coastal cities where the wealthy Westerners lived. He called for other to come and help and live like a servant to the Chinese. During his lifetime he saw hundreds of missionaries come to China in complete dependence upon God. He also saw thousands of Chinese come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus not only set an example for his disciples and trained his disciples the also empowered his disciples. As John told the story found in John 20:22 Jesus breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Luke tells us in Acts 1:8, “…But you will receive ‍power ‍when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and ‍you will be ‍my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and ‍Samaria, and ‍to the end of the earth.” Remember, the work that must be done in the kingdom to win the world to Christ cannot be done in human strength. The work that needs to be done can only be done by the power of God. Any time we are called to a special ministry we are also empowered to do it. The gifts of the Spirit are given to enable the world to receive the witness we give. Spiritual gifts are not designed to glorify the person who receives the gift, or exercises it. Spiritual gifts are given to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ!

Now we are sent as he was! When Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, even so I’m sending you.” He wasn’t just talking about the twelve. He was speaking of all the believers throughout all of history. His closest disciples laid down their lives so that the gospel could go into all the world.

We too are to carry the gospel into all the world. Acts 1:8 actually lays out a process. “…you will receive ‍power ‍when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and ‍you will be ‍my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and ‍Samaria, and ‍to the end of the earth.” Jerusalem corresponds to our local community. By every means possible we are to take the gospel to our neighbors, friends and even our family. Judea and Samaria represent the region we live in and the area just beyond us. We cannot be content with just telling those in our village about Jesus. When his disciples came to him and told him that everyone was seeking for him. Jesus said, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for ‍that is why I came out.” (Mark 1:38) Jesus had a missions mentality. Not content with attracting crowds he wanted to go on to the next villages. J. T. Davis, the former director missions for Central Association, used to say, “We came here as pioneers but now we have become settlers.” There are dozens of villages around us that need an ongoing witness in the form of a church or Bible study. But it’s not enough to reach our village and our region. We are under orders to go to all the world.

We are to go for the specific purpose of making disciples of all nations. Matthew 28:18-20 is called “The Great Commission”. Here we find the last words of Jesus as recorded by Matthew, ‍“…All authority ‍in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 ‍Go therefore and ‍make disciples of ‍all nations, ‍baptizing them ‍in‍ ‍the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them ‍to observe all that ‍I have commanded you. And behold, ‍I am with you always, to ‍the end of the age.” Too often we are content with “making decisions” rather than making disciples. The central focus of this passage is the imperative, “make disciples”. The process is shown in the words: “go”, “baptizing” and “teaching”. Most of us “go” every day. We go to work, we go shopping, we go to visit a friend, etc. In today’s world we “go” even when we stay home. At least many of us do. We “go” by mail (writing a letter or card), by telephone or on the Internet. All of those are excellent ways of “going”. Jesus is very specific, as we go we should disciple others. And when they receive him as Lord and Master we are to baptize them and teach them what he taught us.

We are also to multiply witnesses. Paul wrote to Timothy and gave him specific instruction about discipleship in 2 Timothy 2:1-2 he wrote, “You then, ‍my child, ‍be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and ‍what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses ‍entrust to faithful men ‍who will be able to teach others also.” There are generations of witnesses here. Paul, of course, is the first who witnessed to Timothy. The second is Timothy entrusting the message to faithful men. The third-generation is those men who also teach others. If everyone would share their faith with someone else each year the world we live in would be radically changed. We need to plant, water and let God bring the increase.

Jesus promised that those who believe in him will do the work that he did! You find that promise in the Gospel of John chapter 14, verse twelve. We cannot do that in our own strength but we will try! The flesh always tries to assert itself. We can only do the works that he did by doing them the same way he did. As we have seen, Jesus himself said, "I can do nothing on my own." He could do, on Earth, only what the Father did. Even Jesus, in his work on earth, had to have clear direction from the Father just as we have to have clear direction today. What ever God calls us to do He empowers us to do. He never calls us to anything that he doesn't equip us for! Have you been called by him? Then he is in the process of equipping you to do what he has called you to do. Put your trust in Christ and follow him!