One of the most striking and attractive things about the early church was its diversity.
It's one of the reasons why it had such a massive impact on the Roman Empire for some
couple of centuries of its existence.
Because for the first time in history, you have a community that was made up of people
that historically have been divided, uneducated people right alongside high-level Jewish people,
slaves right alongside their former masters, Jews right alongside Gentiles, wealthy right
alongside the poor.
And what makes me the more amazing is that this was happening long before diversity was
something people cared about or valued or pursued.
And in fact, I think you could make a strong case that the reason people care about it
so much today is a direct result of the impact of the Christian church on the Roman civilization.
The diversity was not a value in the first century.
In fact, the earliest Christians, if they had been left on their own devices, if they had
their way, Christianity arguably would have remained a small, mostly Jewish sect.
So there is this historic question that presents itself to us.
What happened?
What happened to catalyze what has become a global movement?
And the short answer to that question is the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit happened.
And then all of the early Christians had to scramble to catch up with what God was doing.
The resurrected Jesus, as we heard in John's Gospel reading just a moment ago, promised
that before he departed he would send another helper, the Spirit of Truth, who would be with his disciples, and be with and empower the church in its mission.
And that's exactly what happened.
But it went way beyond what they could have even imagined.
Willie James James, in his commentary on the book of Acts, says that the clearest evidence of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts is, quote,
that the disciples of Jesus rarely, if ever, go where they want to go or to whom they would want to go.
The Holy Spirit compelled them to go to the very people that they would least like to go to, people they would never have gone to on their own.
And Jennings says, quote, that drive to cross boundaries and borders is what marks the presence of the Spirit of God.
So we think about a Spirit-filled church.
And I don't know what you think about when you hear that phrase, a Spirit-filled church.
Maybe you think about people speaking prophecy or speaking in tongues or being slain in the Spirit or being healed by the Spirit.
Fair enough.
But according to the book of Acts, a Spirit-filled church is one in which people are compelled to cross boundaries and borders
and go after those who would be considered in that society to be the other, the unreachable, the unclean, the untouchable.
And so the book of Acts is full of unexpected Holy Spirit-driven encounters.
And we're going to look at one this morning in Acts chapter 8.
This encounter that A.J. read about just a moment ago between a traditional Jewish man.
He was a colonized, he was probably spoken Greek, he was a Greek name, but he's a traditional Jewish man.
And a gender-nonconforming black African.
So we're going to look at this encounter and then we're going to look at some of the implications for us.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you for your word and we thank you for your spirit.
And we know that we need to be careful what we pray for you.
Because if we pray that you could show up, you might actually show up.
And if we pray that you would speak to us, you might actually speak to us.
And if you speak to us, we might actually have to respond.
And if that happens, then Lord, it clearly means that we're not in control.
So with fear and trembling, we ask that you would speak to us this way.
That you would manifest yourself.
That we would joyfully who would push control to you.
We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
So let's look first at this encounter in Acts chapter 8.
This passage opens with Philip.
Philip is one of the deacons.
First appointed to care for the poor in the church in Jerusalem.
One of the original deacons.
And he's also clearly a very gifted evangelist.
And so God sends him to the road that connects Jerusalem to Gaza.
And a version of that road exists today.
And he sits in there because he wants him to meet a man who is coming.
He's returning to Ethiopia from Jerusalem.
Now we don't know this Ethiopian person's name.
But we do know that he was very successful in his career.
He's a highly ranking official in the court of Candace.
The queen of Ethiopia.
The fact that he has a chair atonym finans is probably very
high status.
But we're told in pretty very important detail that this man is a unit.
That was the price of his success. If you were a male commoner, the only way that you could serve in such a high level job would be to allow yourself to be castrated. That would mean that the royal men of the court would know that you wouldn't be a threat to the royal women of the court.
So it was the price of admission to those higher status positions. But these days, we would probably refer to someone like this as gender non-conforming. This is a person who had sacrificed everything for his career. He had given up the possibility of a family, he had given up the possibility of children, and yet despite all of his success and status, when we meet him, he's still very much unfulfilled.
He's unfulfilled. And you know, you see this a lot of people, once they have attained success in their lives. I've read so many interviews over the years. People, everyone from Tom York, the front man of the band Radiohead, one of my favorite bands, to Kevin Durant, the NBA star, right?
You, again and again and again, across various fields of confessions, you see people saying verses of the same thing. Now, I was struck because these two men in their interviews said almost were made of the same thing.
Basically, I thought when I got to where I wanted to be, I thought when I attained success, everything would be different. I thought it would finally fill the void. But now that I'm successful, I realize the void is still there.
Judd Apatow, the successful film director says in his interview, there's a great distraction in thinking, when I get to the top of that hill, it's all going to be awesome.
And then when you get to the top of the hill, you're like, oh, well, I guess now I really have to deal with my problems, because that didn't work at all.
People think that when they attain that successful life and they reach that plateau, everything's going to be different, and they realize it's not. And that brings a lot of exclusion.
And so this Ethiopian official is in a stage of his life where he is beginning to realize that no amount of success is going to fill the void, and so he's starting to wonder about God.
Now, in his own country, the people worship his son. But somewhere along the way, he has heard about the God who made his son, and that's the God he wants to know.
He knows enough to know that the God of the Bible isn't like any of the other gods in Ethiopia or any other nation for that matter.
He had started to want to know more, so he had gone to great lengths to obtain a written copy of the book of Isaiah, which would have been a scroll at that time.
No verse or chapter reference. It just would have been a long, written scroll, very rare, very valuable, but somehow he had gotten his hands on a copy.
It had actually gotten the point in his life and in his seat where he had decided to risk it all to know this God.
And so he had decided to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which is about a 500-mile journey.
This would have been incredibly expensive. This would have been incredibly dangerous.
There's a good chance that you wouldn't survive a journey like this.
He would have had to probably leave his job, his entire community, for several months, risking never seeing him again.
And you can imagine the people in his home country, when he told them, his family, when he told them that this was his plan,
they probably thought he was out of his mind.
You know, the ultimate midlife crisis for this man.
And yet he barks at this time.
Because he's really going to risk it all for the chance to finally meet this God.
And so imagine he travels that 500 miles and he makes it.
He finally gets to the gates of the temple and he can't wait to finally come in.
And they arrive at the temple and all their hopes that the fulfillment he's seeking is finally going to be found.
But of course we know what would have happened.
Because we know what Deuteronomy chapter 23 verse 1 says.
That no eunuchs are allowed in the temple.
So 500 miles on the road, he would have pulled up to the temple and he would have been told,
no uncertain terms, your kind isn't welcome.
Now I don't think any of us in this room can really imagine what that would have felt like.
But it's a kind of rejection on such a deep and such a personal level.
It's a kind of rejection that could potentially destroy a person.
We can't imagine.
We can only ponder what this man might have felt.
Because this man couldn't change who he was.
He couldn't change the decisions that he had made.
And it very much seems as though this man is doomed to remain an outsider rejected by God forever.
So I believe, this is why this man is reading Isaiah.
Because I think he is looking for anything that might offer hope or might offer some answer.
And if he's reading in Isaiah, and he's reading, he's scrolling for Isaiah,
he would have come across Isaiah chapter 56, which would have grabbed his attention.
Because that is where it says this,
Let not the eunuchs say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
For thus says the Lord,
To the eunuchs who hold fast my covenant,
I will give in my house and begin my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters.
I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
Can you imagine what he would have felt as he's riding back,
still reeling from the rejection,
and he's reading these scriptures,
and he comes across those words.
This man had gone to the temple,
he had the door slammed in his face,
but here God is saying,
One day,
eunuchs,
outcasts,
people like him,
are not only going to be welcomed into God's family,
but once they're joined to God,
they will never be cut off.
It's going to be an eternal union.
And in that relationship,
they're going to be given something better than sons and daughters.
They're going to be given eternal inclusion in the house of God.
An eternal family.
And so you can imagine his next day.
And he's thinking,
How?
How is this possible?
How could the temple say no?
How could the law of 1b3 say no?
And yet this scroll is saying,
At some point the answer will be,
it resounding in eternal yes.
So he would have rolled back and scrambled,
right?
Again,
no chapter or verse references.
He would have been rolling back,
trying to figure out,
how,
when does this happen?
What makes this possible?
And so he would have gone back,
just a few,
what we consider to be chapters.
He would have gone a few back,
and he would have come across Isaiah chapter 53.
And this is the passage that he happens to be reading,
he happens to be reading,
when Philip comes upon him.
This is the passage that explains how a dog can make such a promise.
And here's what this passage says.
Surely he has worn our griefs,
and carried our scars.
He was wounded for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our indignities.
Upon him was the punishment that brought us peace,
and by his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep on a string,
have turned everyone to his own way.
And the Lord has laid upon him
the iniquity of us all.
Somehow,
this person
is going to take on
all of the iniquity of the world.
He's going to make it possible
for people to come to know
God personally.
And so,
this man would have said,
who in the world is this?
Who would voluntarily take on
the grief of the world?
Who would become an addict?
Who would become like a unit?
Who would become like a leper?
Who would become like a criminal?
Who would become like someone who is unclean
in order to allow a person like me in?
Who would quietly and obediently
trade places with outcasts?
Who would do that willingly?
So that the outcasts
could be invited into the house of God
for eternity
while he is slaughtered.
And he's waiting,
and he's like,
who in the world can this be?
And that is precisely
when Philip comes alongside him.
See, in those days,
whenever he's not read aloud,
it's normal to read aloud
when you're reading.
So this official would have been
riding a dog,
reading aloud,
and Philip literally comes alongside him
as the Spirit commanded him to do.
And I almost believe
as chariots come along,
and Philip comes running up beside him,
and he hears him reading,
and he goes,
do you need help understanding that?
Do you know what you're reading?
It's kind of a funny scene.
But you can imagine
that the chariot's stopping
and then fighting full of love,
and the words almost tumbling
out of this Ethiopian man's mouth.
He can't even get the words out fast enough.
You know,
who is this?
Who is this person?
Is it Isaiah?
Is it somebody else?
Who is it?
And you can imagine Philip
catching his breath.
I can tell.
His name is Jesus.
And he loves you more
than you can possibly imagine.
And this man here,
at the door,
slammed in his face
by the law in Jerusalem.
In that moment,
finds another door opened
in the person of Jesus Christ.
Philip would have shared
the gospel with him
his invitation to become
a member of the household
of God.
By faith,
all you have to do
is put your faith in Jesus.
Allow his forgiveness
and righteousness
to become your forgiveness
and righteousness.
And so this Ethiopian man
comes to faith in Jesus.
And the transformation
is so immediate
and so radical
as they go along the road
that he looks
and he sees some water
on the side of the road.
And he immediately says,
well,
if all of this is true
and if I've come to faith,
why can't I be baptized
right now?
Why would I care
so much about that?
Well, that's what baptism is.
See, baptism is the symbol
that marks you
as a member
of the household of God
forever.
It's a symbol
of this promise.
And he says,
I want that mark on me.
I want that symbol on me.
I want the whole world
and I want to know
that now I have
this room.
Now I have
a community.
Now I belong.
And so
they stop the chariot
and they go down
and they water both of them
and they baptize them
right in there
right on the side of the road.
And it's,
you know,
Christian tradition
actually says
that this Ethiopian eunuch
is the one
who then brought
the gospel to Ethiopia
and he shared it
with the queen
and with the court
and that they began
to come to faith
and tradition says
that through him
and in the court of campus
the rest of the,
the,
the seeds
of the Christian gospel
were planted there
in Ethiopia.
It's an amazing story.
What does it have
to teach us?
I think there are
implications here
first for
those of us here
who are Christians
who desire to share
our faith
or maybe
who think we should
desire to share
our faith.
It gives us
a completely different way
to think about
sharing our faith.
I think most people,
certainly most Christians,
are very popular
with the idea
of evangelism.
A lot of people
don't even like
the word evangelism.
in our culture
I think religion
is seen as very much
a private thing.
Something that you're
very much expected
to keep to yourself
and trying to foist
your beliefs
on other people
is seen as to be
very rude
or unacceptable behavior.
I want to make you
clear that's not
what we see happening
here.
This Ethiopian official
is already
spiritually open.
He is already
searching for something
more.
and Philip
doesn't foist
the gospel
on him.
Philip gives him
the gospel
the way you might
give water
to someone
who's dying
of thirst.
He offers him
the gospel
the way you might
offer food
to someone
who's dying
of starvation.
And I would suggest
that that is always
how the gospel
has been to be.
the gospel
is always
good.
See, sharing
our faith
isn't about
techniques.
It's not about
getting the right
arguments.
Good arguments
help.
It's not about
manipulating you.
Sharing our faith
is primarily
about paying
attention
to what the
Holy Spirit
has already
done.
The Holy Spirit
is the evangelist.
And evangelism,
sharing our faith
is about paying
attention to what
the Holy Spirit
is already doing
in the lives
of the people
right around us.
And as I think
about some of
the most gifted
evangelists I know
and some of you
were in this church,
they are,
without exception,
people who seem
to have a heightened
sensitivity to what
the Holy Spirit
is doing in people's lives.
And they're willing
to respond to that.
See, if someone
is not open
to the gospel,
there's nothing
that you or I
can do to change that.
But when the Holy Spirit
is working
in someone's life,
often, often,
it doesn't immediately
look like that.
Often it presents
itself as disillusioned
or unfulfilled
longings
or times of grief
or times of struggle.
In some way
or another,
that person
is coming to realize
that the things
that they have
built their life
from,
the places
they have put
their house,
that that's
working anymore.
It's not working
the way they thought
it would.
Right?
They've realized
that success,
as we said,
didn't fill the void.
Now, as Joe
D'Apatole says,
now I have to figure
out how to solve
my problems
another way.
Or they've realized
that marriage
didn't solve
their problems.
Or they've realized
that politics
can't solve
the hardest problems.
Or they've realized
that science
can't answer
our deepest questions.
Or they've realized
that they're not
the good,
upstanding
considering the person
that they thought
they were.
Maybe they've had
a major moral failing
that cracked
into the truth
just enough
for them to take
one hallmark
glance
at the person
they were playing.
Right?
The Bible's
comment,
he writes,
says that there
are certain features
of human life,
certain things
that matter
to people
everywhere,
in every culture.
Things like justice
and beauty
and freedom
and truth
and relationships
and Wright
calls these
broken signposts
because he says
that every society
and every individual
cares about these things.
We all know
these things matter
and the reason
is because that's
how God made us.
They're part of
the human vocation
and yet in each case
no matter how hard
we try
we can never
attain these things.
and he says
how can we explain
that for all
of human history
we care about
these things
and yet we've
never been able
to attain them.
And he says
the reason is
because apart from God
they are not attainable
and so their
broken signposts,
the longing
for these things
is meant to point us
to the God
who makes them
ultimately possible.
And so understanding
this helps us
understand that evangelism
sharing our faith
is really just about
learning how to listen.
It's about learning
how to discover
where those
qualities are
in the lives
of people around us.
So a conversation
about the gospel
might start out
as a conversation
about injustices
or about music
or a great film
or a really hard
to do
or the loss of a job.
And we have to be able
to listen very carefully
when we are in conversation
with people
to be genuinely
interested,
genuinely curious
while at the same time
listening to the Holy Spirit.
Because the Holy Spirit
is the one
who can help us discern
how and when
it's appropriate
to begin to tell people
about Jesus
the way Philip does.
How and when
we need to have
the courage
to take that next step.
And it does take
the courage.
It takes listening
to the Holy Spirit
and it takes courage.
We're not told
what Philip is thinking
but he very well may be
thinking something like
if I tell this guy
about Jesus
is he going to laugh
me all the way
or is he going to
kick me out of his chair?
He doesn't know
how this guy
is going to respond.
He's just responding
to what the Holy Spirit
is prompting him
and he's leaving
the outcome
in God's hands.
So that's the first
self-implication
is just how we think
about sharing
our faith.
If we put ourselves
at the center of it
we've already lost
our way
but if we understand
that the Holy Spirit
is at the center of it
and that our job
is to listen to
and respond to the work
of the Spirit
it totally changes
how we think about it.
The other implication
is this
it's an implication
for our community.
You know I don't think
we can overlook
the fact that
this Ethiopian man
is someone
who we would consider
today to be
gender non-conforming.
You know honestly
if he lived today
in a place like D.C.
he would probably
include himself
in the LGBT community
because he would believe
that would be a place
where he could find belonging.
And
this may not seem
like the central
point of the passage
but I actually believe
that Luke intentionally
includes this story
in Acts
to illustrate
how the gospel
was going to the ends
of the earth
to the least likely people
because in the first century
Jewish imagination
right
the Ethiopian community
was about as ends
of the earth
as you can imagine.
And I think that Luke
includes this
because he's
he's wanting us
to understand
that when Jesus
sends his followers
to the ends of the earth
to bring the gospel
to the earth
to bring the gospel
to the earth
and if that actually happens
it means the church
is about to become
a whole more diverse.
So here's the question
for us to wonder.
There's clearly a place
for this Ethiopian man
and people like him
in God's family
and people like him
to come to church
and he's like
to be a place
in our church.
Right?
A lot of people assume
that the only way
LGBT people
will ever go to church
is if the church
completely revises
its theology.
but that's not
in fact true.
The biggest study
done
was the largest
study ever
on the religious
backgrounds
of people
in the LGBT community
who have left
the church
found a very surprising
statistic
that among
gay-lisping people
who left the church
only 15% left
for theological reasons
which means
85% left
for other reasons.
many of them
felt there was
no place for them.
Many of them
felt that they would
never be able
to really belong.
And if one of them
is somebody
who's got a really
good work on this,
Mark Yarhouse
has done an enormous
amount of work on this.
His research was published
in a book
called Costly Obedience.
And he cites a study
that found that
LGBT people of faith
are two and a half times
more likely
to attend a church
with a traditional
sexual order.
And we've actually
seen that
in some instances
in our own church.
Right?
And I'm so thankful
for those of you
who have come to call
Advent.
Right?
And so Mark Yarhouse
has some accepted people
who have made that decision
and some of them
are in heterosexual marriages
and some of them
and many of them
are sacral and celibate.
And he's done all kinds
of measures
of their well-being
and he's found
across the board
they tend to be
more spiritually engaged
more matured
in their faith
more committed
to the church
than the kind
of average person.
He says across
most measures
of well-being
they're doing fine
except the biggest
threat
the biggest challenge
that is faced
by someone
who makes that decision
is the struggle
to belong.
It's the ability
to develop deep
and meaningful friendships.
It's the,
it's coming to a place
where you really feel
like you're part
of the community
and not always
on the outside
looking at you.
And so that leads
to increased anxiety
in relationships,
increased fear
of abandonment,
depression,
loneliness.
I believe that part
of what it means
to be a spiritual
community
is that no one
feels like an inside
regardless of their
sexuality,
their age,
their life stage,
their marital status,
their class,
their race.
I would love for our
church to be known
throughout the city
as a place where
we're just as committed
to hospitality
and ensuring
that people belong
as we are
to biblical ethics.
As a place where
if you're serious
about following Jesus
you will never have
to do that alone.
You'll never have
to worry about
gunning it out
by yourself.
But for this kind
of thing to be true,
not only do we have
to pray for the Holy
Spirit to lead us
the way He has been
leading His church,
since He came
2,000 years ago.
But for this to be true
you have to be willing
to follow the Holy
Spirit,
wherever the Spirit
leads us,
regardless of the
borders or boundaries
that we may have
to cross together.
Let's pray.
Lord, we recognize
that a religion
that we control
is in many ways
a lot more appealing
because we get
to determine
exactly who we want
to.
And we know
that is something
that is in us
as human beings,
a desire for comfort
that has gone back
to the beginning
of our origins.
that is in us.
We want to be in control.
And we know
that your Holy Spirit
is here to remind us
continually,
among other things,
because this is your
church,
it's not our church,
and that you are the
one who is desiring
in the world now
to call all people
to yourself.
Lord,
and that you're able
to reach people
in ways that no one
is ready to be
and found.
And that right now,
we're at work
in the hearts
and lives
of people
all around this city.
And those people
need to know the gospel
and they need
a church home.
And Lord,
we pray
that your Holy Spirit
would disturb
and challenge
and disrupt
those of us
who need it,
who are clinging
to our comfort,
who are clinging
to our desire
and convenience
and predictability.
Lord,
that you can catalyze
in our community
a movement
of the gospel
out of the way.
Lord,
I pray that that
would be a movement
of your Holy Spirit
and we can't
engineer that.
It's something
that you have to do
again through us.
And I pray
that you're blessed
to those here
who do feel
like they are
on the outside of the way.
And I pray
that in whatever ways
we have eradicated
those walls
that you tear
those walls down.
Lord,
I pray that you
repent
if and if that
is necessary
to make it so.
We pray this
in Jesus' name.
Amen.