Acts 8:26-40 & Luke 8:1-15

#doyouknowhimtelford – Jesus the Choice

So, it has been quite a journey over the last few months as we have travelled with Jesus and asked ourselves, “Do You Know Him?” So far we’ve looked at nine different aspects of Jesus’ character and identity, each of which gives us a new perspective on who Jesus is. We started off thinking about Jesus as human and divine, the Creator who became, and still is, part of creation, who came to be with us, and abides with us now by the Holy Spirit. We saw him as the Son of God who submitted to Crucifixion and was then raised to life and ascended to glory. Through the weeks we thought about what it means for Jesus to be Shepherd, King, Provider, and Revolutionary. If you happen to have missed any of these, or want to explore them further the sermons from here and All Saints are on Facebook and Youtube.

But now we are coming to the end of this series, and we are faced with choices. This is the final aspect of who Jesus is that we are going to explore together. The sermon series might be over, but our walk with Jesus isn’t, and that walk involves decisions and choices. So, today, we’re exploring what it means to say that Jesus is a choice.

To help us with this exploration, we’re going to look at the episode that Kim read for us, and think about the choices that the characters in this account made, and how those choices might help us to understand the choices that we face in our journey with Jesus.

So, firstly, a little bit of background. We’re in the first part of Acts, which is the historian Luke’s second book. In his first book he shared his research on the life of Jesus, and in his second he is sharing his research on the life of the early church, starting with Jesus’ return to heaven and the coming of the Holy Spirit. One of the things that happened in those first days of the church was that lots of people became Christians. Very quickly they set up a system of mutual support, but there were some teething problems, with some people getting missed in the distribution of food. To solve this problem, seven people were chosen to lead up the administration of the food relief programme. One of these people was Philip.

The rapid growth of the church confounded the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, who had expected the Jesus movement to disappear after they’d managed to have Jesus killed. Before very long they were coordinating a persecution of the church, and many Christians had to flee from Jerusalem. At the beginning of Acts 8, we read that “all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.” But this scattering didn’t stop them talking about Jesus, in fact, exactly the opposite. It says, “Those who had been scattered preached the word where ever they went.”
Chapter 8 continues with accounts of Philip’s preaching in Samaria, and we pick up the story with an angel telling Philip to move on and go somewhere else.

And here we find the first choice.

Philip had to make a choice as to whether he was going to do what the messenger from God had told him to do. It doesn’t sound like Philip got a long explanation of why he was to go to this road, or what would happen when he got there. He was just told to set out on the journey. He’d only just landed in Samaria, and had had a pretty fruitful ministry there, and now he was being told to set out on a journey, with no particular destination. He had a choice to make, and he chose to do what he was instructed to do.

Having set out on his journey, Philip meets this Ethiopian eunuch, a government official, a foreigner who had been to Jerusalem to worship and is on his way home. But it wasn’t a natural meeting. Philip was on foot. The Ethiopian was bowling along in his chariot. This time it’s not an angel, it’s the Holy Spirit directly speaking to Philip, “Go to the chariot and stay near it”

Here we find the second choice.

Again, it’s to do with Philip’s obedience to an instruction from God, but this time it’s focussed on a person, and a slightly odd activity. To be honest, the journey was fairly low risk for Philip. If nothing had happened, he could have gone on to the next place, no one would have known any different. But now, the instruction is to go and stay near a chariot – so he had to run over, and probably jog along side. Again, no master plan was shared, no direction as to what to do when he got there, just – go and stay near that chariot. Which he did.

And as he’s jogging alongside, Philip overhears what the Ethiopian is reading, a passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah.

And now, Philip faces his third choice.

There is no direct instruction this time. No angel, or the Holy Spirit, just the standing orders that Jesus gave to all his followers – go into all nations making disciples. But still this is a choice. Philip could have listened, and thought “that’s interesting, but I don’t want to interrupt, I don’t want to intrude, this is obviously an important person – I’ll just jog alongside for a while and I’m here if he wants to talk” But no – he chooses to take the initiative. And he does so with grace. He doesn’t pile in, assuming ignorance, he asks an open question, “Do you understand what you are reading?” What a great question – it opens a conversation that has such possibilities.

The Ethiopian welcomes the opportunity to discuss what he’s reading, and invites Philip up into the chariot and asks Philip to explain the passage he’s been reading, and Philip does so, starting from where the Ethiopian is, Philip told him the good news about Jesus.

And now the Ethiopian has a choice.

He’s heard the good news about Jesus. What is he going to do? He could have decided to go on with his life as it was before. He was a powerful and important figure in the Ethiopian court, what might have been the implications of him choosing to follow a new, foreign, faith? He might not have believed that what Philip was telling was true or compelling. He might have thought that it was all right for Philip, but not for him. He might have thought that it was probably true, but he’d leave making a decision for a while, there’s stuff he wasn’t ready to change in his life. But no. He made the choice to follow Jesus. He didn’t want to wait, he saw water, and said, “what can stand in the way of my being baptised”

They got down from the chariot, Philip baptised him, was whisked off by the Holy Spirit to his next assignment and the Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing. We don’t hear of him again in the Bible, but we do know that the church in Ethiopia is one of the oldest in the world, and traces its heritage back to this encounter. The Ethiopian faced Jesus, the choice, chose to follow him, and that choice led him to rejoice and to fruitfulness and generations of spiritual descendants beyond what was humanly possible for a childless, castrated, man.

This is the most important choice any of us can make in life. More important than who we marry, where we work, whether or not we have children, where we live, who we vote for. Because this is the choice between life and death. What we decide about Jesus is the most important choice we will ever make. Will we recognise and own our own failures and sinfulness, turn away from them, and to Jesus? Will we receive the rescue he offers us, and submit to him as Lord? Will we choose life? Will we choose Jesus?

If you are listening to this today, and you have never chosen Jesus, then I encourage you to do that now. Don’t delay, there will never be a better time. We’re going to take a moment, and if you want to choose Jesus for the first time today, pray these words with me.

Father God, thank you for Jesus. I am sorry for the things I have done wrong. I turn away from them, and receive your forgiveness, won by Jesus on the cross and by his resurrection. Thank you that I am no longer guilty. I submit to Jesus as my Lord, and commit myself to follow him. I welcome the Holy Spirit’s presence in my life. Amen.
If you have prayed this for the first time today, then please do get in touch with me, so that we can support you in the next stages of your journey with Jesus.

As we continue following Jesus, we will face more choices, like the ones Philip faced. Will we be willing to set out when we’re not sure of the destination? Will we put ourselves in possibly awkward or slightly embarrassing situations so that we can come alongside folk? Will we be willing to take the opportunities to share the good news of Jesus when they arise, even if it means us taking the initiative? Let’s remind ourselves, Philip wasn’t one of the apostles – he originally signed up to help with the meals on wheels. But, he was open to the Holy Spirit and obedient to what he was called to do, took the opportunities in front of him, and had the great joy and privilege of seeing people come to faith. Will we do the same?

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