Beautiful Feet

Acts 8:26-40

This past Thursday we had a RIC day at the beach. We announced this in the bulletin for at least three weeks ahead of time and I mentioned this in church during announcements. We had a great time. I put up my WWI biplane kite with a long colorful tail and then flew my stunt kite with a fifty foot tail that made dives and loops.

There were six of us to enjoy it.

People were busy and had other plans. Some people were away. Some people had difficulty getting there.

If I had really wanted more people to come, what could I have done? Number one, I could have hired a bus so that those without transportation could get to the beach. I could have called up people individually and invited them to come. I could have offered to bring food for everyone who came. I could have gone to where each person lives and picked them up. I could have arranged for others to do the shopping or whatever other chores needed to be done so people would be free to come.

If I had done all this, we would have had more people at the beach.

I am not complaining, we had a good time, but I am raising the invitation to the beach trip as a way of thinking about God’s invitation to come to him.

How far is God willing to go to bring people to himself?

Did God put out an announcement that he offered salvation and then let it sit? Do we have to search throughout the world to find the invitation? Do we have to go to some obscure library to find an ancient book in which we can read that God invites us to come to him through Jesus and have eternal life?

One of the many great mysteries of Jewish and Christian faith is that God has done more than simply announce his presence. From the beginning the world has known about God because he announces his presence through his creation. (Psalm 19)

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

² Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they display knowledge.

³ There is no speech or language

where their voice is not heard.

⁴ Their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.

But God did not stop there. He revealed himself to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. He revealed himself to Moses and after delivering Israel from Egypt he gave to Moses his law. He sent the prophets, one after another.

And then he sent Jesus. We could talk about all the miraculous events of his birth, life, death and resurrection, but you know all this.

With all that God did to let us know he loves us and wants us to spend eternity with him and to make it possible for us to spend eternity with him, wasn’t that enough?

How much more does God have to do?

If I invite people to come for dinner, clean the house, arrange the table with nice silverware and glasses, flowers and candles, go buy the food, cook it and bring it to the table, do I also have to go to each person’s home and pick them up and bring them to the meal? Do I have to help them get dressed and promise to take them home afterwards?

That is what God did and more. When we read the book of Acts, we see that there is no limit to what God will do to bring people to himself. When we share with each other our stories of how we came to faith, we see that God is still in the business of doing everything possible to bring us to a relationship with himself. God uses his incredible creativity and foreknowledge to draw us to himself.

Look at today’s text as an example. The gospel of Jesus, the good news of Jesus, came to the Ethiopian eunuch. How did this happen?

Who was the Ethiopian eunuch?

Ethiopia, to Hebrew writers, was the land south of Egypt. The northern boundary of Ethiopia started where the Aswan Dam in southern Egypt is today and continued down into Khartoum in Sudan. The king of Ethiopia was venerated as the child of the sun and regarded as too sacred a person to carry out the secular functions of a king. So the queen-mother, always called Candace, was the actual ruler of the kingdom.

The Ethiopian eunuch was in charge of all the treasury of the current Candace which made him a very important official. There is speculation about whether he was Jewish or just interested in Judaism, but in any event, he made the long journey to Jerusalem to attend one of the annual festivals and was making his return to Africa.

As an important official, he traveled with a group of servants and probably some soldiers to offer him protection. He was traveling by chariot. With all the money at his disposal, this was undoubtedly the latest model of chariot with a seat so he could read as he traveled along and with enough space that he could invite Philip to come up and sit by him while they talked.

Look at this situation and see the amazing things God did to bring the gospel to this man and his country.

He was traveling away from Jerusalem on the road that led to Egypt and down to his home country. He would be unlikely to make this journey again. It might be that God had planned for him to hear the gospel of Jesus in Jerusalem but perhaps someone did not listen when God told them to go talk with him. Or perhaps because of the persecution taking place, the disciples of Jesus were keeping a low profile. Whatever happened, the Ethiopian eunuch was leaving, heading home. How could God work to bring him the good news of Jesus?

But then God remembered Philip in Samaria.

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

Philip set out walking on a southern road that intersected the road that led from Jerusalem to Gaza. The Ethiopian eunuch set out from Jerusalem on this road that would lead him to Africa. Philip would have to get to the juncture of this road before the Ethiopian eunuch got there. Because Philip was walking but the Ethiopian eunuch was in a chariot and would be moving faster, if Philip arrived after the Ethiopian eunuch he would never catch up. The timing had to be exact.

Did Philip set out the instant the angel of the Lord told him to? Or did he spend a day or two getting things ready and making arrangements with his wife for what needed to be done in his absence and then leave?

What was the Ethiopian eunuch’s timing? When did he decide he would leave?

Because he was traveling by chariot and Phillip was walking from north of Jerusalem, it seems that Philip had to leave some time before the Ethiopian eunuch left. So the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, knowing how long it would take before he actually got going on the road, how long it would take him to get to the intersection of the Jerusalem-Gaza road and knowing when the Ethiopian eunuch would set out from Jerusalem.

It is actually quite complicated, getting Phillip to leave before the Ethiopian eunuch had made up his mind when he would leave. But God sees around the bend and knows what is coming before it comes.

Remember that Philip did not know why he was walking on the road, only that he had been instructed to do so.

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

As Phillip walked along, he wondered, “Why did God send me here? What am I supposed to do?” As he passed people going north or people going south passed him, he wondered, “Am I supposed to talk with this person?” “What about that group of people?”

After a couple days or so of walking and wondering, finally the Holy Spirit told Phillip to go up to the chariot with the Ethiopian eunuch.

Just at that point, the Ethiopian eunuch was reading from the prophet Isaiah. He was reading out loud which was normal. People today who read ancient manuscripts know this. The words require being spelt out and this is best done verbally. It takes a lot of experience and sophistication to begin reading silently.

So the Ethiopian eunuch was reading out loud from his scroll.

He could have been doing a lot of things at the moment he passed Philip. He could have been thinking about what he needed to do when he got back after such a long absence. He could have been gazing out at the scenery and lost in his thoughts. He could have been thinking silently about what he had just read. But at that precise moment that he passed Philip, he was reading out loud from Isaiah.

There are 66 chapters in Isaiah. He could have been reading from any of them.

He could have been reading from Isaiah 3:6-7

A man will seize one of his brothers

at his father’s home, and say,

“You have a cloak, you be our leader;

take charge of this heap of ruins!”

⁷ But in that day he will cry out,

“I have no remedy.

I have no food or clothing in my house;

do not make me the leader of the people.”

Or Isaiah 21:3-4

At this my body is racked with pain,

pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor;

I am staggered by what I hear,

I am bewildered by what I see.

⁴ My heart falters,

fear makes me tremble;

the twilight I longed for

has become a horror to me.

But he was reading from Isaiah 53:7-8

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,

and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

³³ In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.

Who can speak of his descendants?

For his life was taken from the earth.”

The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

³⁰ Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

³¹ “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

The odds of all these details being worked out so they could meet are tremendous and yet God orchestrated it all so that this man could hear the gospel.

What was so special about this man that God wanted him to hear the gospel?

The first answer is that there was nothing special about him other than that he was a man God loves and God seeks all people he loves and since he loves all people, all people are sought.

But there was a strategic purpose as well. He was going to a place where there was no witness for Jesus. Who would tell the people of his land about Jesus if not him?

Does God care about people in a part of the world that does not have a witness for Jesus? Absolutely! And God will do everything he can to bring the good news of Jesus to those people.

There is no Christian conspiracy to take over the world for Christianity, there is only God’s compassion taking his followers out of their way to use them to bring good news to people who desperately need this good news.

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

Was what God did through Philip extraordinary? I don’t think so.

When Luke wrote this history of the church, the book of Acts, where did he get this story?

In Acts 21, Luke is traveling with Paul and so he speaks in the first person, we.

We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for a day. ⁸ Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. ⁹ He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.

Why does Luke mention stories about Philip and not the other Greek-speaking Jews appointed by the apostles? Did Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch not do anything worthy of mention in Luke’s account of the early church?

Someday we will hear the stories of Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch and we will discover just how marvelously God orchestrated events in their lives so people from all the known world could hear the good news of Jesus.

The stories of Philip will stand side-by-side with the stories of Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch and side-by-side with similarly amazing stories of people throughout the centuries just like you and like me.

There is not a person on earth in whom God is not intensely interested and desiring to bring into his kingdom. This is his work, to fight for the souls of each generation. He will not violate any person’s free will. Each person must decide for him or herself, but each person is desired by God and great measures are taken to bring the gospel to each person.

When you get to heaven, as I hope you will, what will you present to Jesus? Will you talk about your sports achievements? The good grades you received in your schooling? The company you started? Your career path? What achievement, what action will you bring to Jesus as a present?

The best present you will be able to bring is to come with beautiful feet that have brought the good news of Jesus to others.

What else will matter? God who has all power is at work. Can any other work be more significant than what God is doing? Nothing matters more than cooperating with Jesus in his work to bring men and women into relationship with himself.

Don’t delude yourself into thinking otherwise.

So how can you work with Jesus to bring good news? You may not have the gift of evangelism as Philip had, but you can still have beautiful feet, bringing good news of Jesus to others.

We can learn from Philip who had an intimate relationship with God and had learned to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in his life. We can learn from Philip who obeyed God when he received instructions and who knew the Scriptures so he was able to use them in sharing the good news of Jesus.

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

Of first and foremost importance, if you want to work with Jesus to bring good news, you need to spend time developing an intimacy with God so you can hear him speak to you.

I don’t want to say that intimacy with God is a tool to use so you can bring good news. Intimacy with God is an end in itself. To be reunited with our creator has value all in itself. But if sharing in this work with Jesus is the best present you can offer, then developing intimacy with God is of first importance.

Luke does not say what Philip was doing when the angel of the Lord spoke to him but does say what Peter was doing when God spoke to him on the rooftop to announce that the gospel was open to Gentiles.

Peter went up on the roof to pray.

Peter was not hoeing in the garden. He was not reading a mystery novel. He was not writing a letter. He was praying.

We don’t have this detail about Philip but this is the pattern in Scripture and in Christian life. It is those who take the time to be with Jesus who are led by Jesus.

If you are not in the habit of taking time to pray and read Scripture and reflect on what you have read and reflect on what comes to your mind when you pray, you will miss out on God speaking to you, you will miss out on the opportunity to have beautiful feet bringing good news to someone God loves.

We have started a marriage course and in the first talk of the course the teachers emphasized rule number one for marriage, if you want to have intimacy in marriage, you have to spend time together each week talking and deepening your relationship.

In the same way, intimacy with God will not come without taking time to be with him.

Intimacy with God is of first importance, but then you need to learn the language God uses to speak to you.

God does not speak to all of us in the same way. I have many Christian friends in Rabat who hear God speak to them, not in an audible voice, but in a thought that comes from God. They receive very clear directions from the Holy Spirit. Jack Deere talks about this in his book, Surprised by the Voice of God and John Wimber talks about this in his books as well.

But this is not the only way God leads us. It may be that you are reading the Bible and you read a verse and that verse speaks to you. I had this experience two weeks ago.

I had a conversation on Thursday with a leader of a Christian organization about some leadership struggles they are having. I felt that I should get the leaders together and warn them about the danger of their struggles.

The next morning when I opened my Bible to read, the passage I was due to read began at II Timothy 2:14

Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen.

It was clear to me as I read this verse that God was telling me to get the leaders together and speak to them.

God does not speak to all of us in the same way. The point is that you have to learn what language God uses to speak to you and then pay attention.

This takes time and practice and you need to persevere. Just as with other languages, you will get better with time as you practice.

The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip and then he obeyed.

What good does it do to hear if we do not obey?

When you know God has spoken, is there any other choice but to obey? Jonah heard and headed off in the opposite direction, but he paid a price for his disobedience.

Beautiful feet obey when God speaks.

The deeper you go with God, the more confident you will become that it is God who is speaking to you.

John Wimber wrote of an experience in healing. As he was praying for a man in front of him, the Holy Spirit told him to slap him. Wimber hesitated and the Spirit again told him to slap him. So Wimber patted him on the face. The Spirit told him to slap him and so Wimber hit him on the face and then the man was healed.

It takes a lot of experience with God to trust his voice to that extent, but Wimber reflected that Spirit asked him to slap the man simply to keep Wimber humble, to make sure he knew who was in charge.

We may not be able to take such giant steps at first, but if we practice, we will get better at hearing and identifying God’s voice.

We spend time developing our intimacy with God, we learn to hear him speak to us, we choose to obey when he speaks to us and then there is one more lesson in this story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.

Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

³¹ “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

³² The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,

and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

³³ In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.

Who can speak of his descendants?

For his life was taken from the earth.”

³⁴ The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

The Jewish scholars did not have an understanding that the Messiah would come as a suffering servant. The clear and common understanding was that the Messiah would come as the triumphant king. But after the resurrection, Jesus instructed his followers and they learned how to understand these suffering servant passages in Isaiah.

If Philip had not sat at the feet of the apostles and listened to this teaching, he would have been unable to start with this passage and tell the Ethiopian eunuch the good news about Jesus.

To work with God, you need to know the Scriptures. The Scriptures are your manual of operation. A lot of work went into bringing the Scriptures together, forty authors over fifteen hundred years. We need to study and know these Scriptures.

What do you believe and why do you believe it? Take advantage of classes to study the Bible and Christian faith. Every person should be in at least one Bible study. There are also books to read for personal study that help to understand the Bible.

What makes being a Christian exciting? It is not sitting in church or at a Bible study or prayer meeting. What makes being a Christian exciting is discovering that you can work with God and that he wants to use you to do his work.

Here is the bottom line: you can coast through your Christian life and by the grace of God still come into his kingdom. But what present will you have to bring him? Will you come with beautiful feet?

When you stand in heaven and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, who will be standing with you because you had a part in bringing them to faith?

Because God loves all men and women he is seeking all men and women to come into his kingdom. He is seeking this week. Who will you help this week to hear the good news of Jesus?

Paul wrote in Romans 10:13-15

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”