Acts 8:26-40
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. 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 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 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.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”
And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 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?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 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. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. During this Easter season, we continue to talk about the passages from the book of Acts as we explore the expansion of the Gospel throughout the world, beginning in Jerusalem, and then going out to all sorts of people. The reading for today from Acts Chapter Eight is a prime example of that. The Holy Spirit's takes Philip sends him out to see an Ethiopian eunuch, who was along the road reading out loud, a passage from Isaiah. And the gospel is being brought to a man that would have been considered outside normal worship life of Israel, because of his status as a unit. And this passage could be all about talking about the expansion of the gospel in Acts and in our churches. But we're not going to talk about that this week, because we've got another story about that next week, where the gospel expands even further to the Gentiles. Today, we're going to take a look at something that Philip does, because he hears the Word of God read aloud, the Ethiopian is reading Isaiah the prophet, and he says, like a sheep was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearers is silent. So he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him who can describe his generation, for his life is taken away from the Earth. This is the passage famously that we read on Good Friday, about the suffering servant, Jesus Christ, who bore our sins, so that we can be saved. But we only know that because we've been going to church for a really long time. And you've heard people tell you about that for well, a really long time. If you're like me, I have been attending Good Friday worship services for well every year since I was born. Which means that's a lot of times reading this passage and having it applied to Christ. But this Ethiopian, he goes, What in the world is this guy talking about? Makes sense, right? Because if you are reading these words, like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter like a lamb before it's yours is silent. So he opens his mouth. How in the world, would you know who that applies to? How could you possibly come up with the right interpretation? Especially if you are riding around outside of Jerusalem, only a few weeks, maybe a month after Jesus died? And rose? I think it'd be pretty tough, right? And so it's natural. When Philip runs up to the guy, he says, Do you understand what you are reading? And he says, How can I unless someone guides me? So he invited Philip to get into his chariot, and explain it. He asked Philip, about who am I ask you? Does this prophet say this about himself or someone else? Philip opened his mouth. And beginning with this scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. And what it makes me think of whatever it reminds me of the challenges that we have when we read Holy Scripture, because scripture is hard, isn't it? Like, we read it, and we go, what? Almost as often as we say, Oh, I know what that means. Some passages are really easy to understand. When Jesus says things like, I am the Way the Truth and the Life No one comes to the Father except through me. Think I got that. But there are harder passages to like the Gospel of John, when you read Jesus's discourses on the Gospel of John And he goes on for chapter after chapter talking to His disciples or praying. And there are passages in there where I go, huh? Me. I went to seminary for five years, I spent full time studying the Bible. I know Greek. I have a wall of books designed to help me understand it. And there are still times when I go. What? What in the world? Does this mean? Because scripture is hard. There are passages that are difficult to understand. There are places that you go, what, in fact, there are places where all the best and brightest minds in the whole world have no idea what they're talking about. My favorite example is from First Corinthians chapter 15, where St. Paul writes about being baptized on behalf of the dead ones. And we go, what? This is the only reference to that. And we simply just move on. And it's okay. Script scripture can just be hard. Wouldn't it be nice to be like the Ethiopian and have the Holy Spirit come down and say, Hey, you, why don't you go over there and tell that guy what it means. It doesn't happen as much as it used to be. But God has not left us alone. To read scripture, and wonder if God has given us many gifts to help us understand God's word, and apply it to ourselves so we can be saved. I think the first thing that we should understand is that even when scripture is hard, Scripture is difficult to understand. That's okay. We don't have to know every line, every word, every passage to be saved. Because we are not saved by our understanding of Scripture. We are not saved by interpretive skill. We are saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Scripture may be difficult, but salvation is rather easy. Believe in Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. In fact, we don't even need scripture to get that do we? All we need is the proclamation of the gospel. Jesus died for you. He was row rows for you. And through faith in Him, you have eternal life. If every Bible on every shelf, all of the sudden disappeared, the Christian church would not disappear with it. Because we still have the gospel. We still have Jesus Christ through the proclaimed word. Which it means that even when we have trouble understanding God's word, and even when we pour through it and read it, and we say, well, we still are saved. But that doesn't mean we give up. We still read and try to understand. God has given us many gifts to help us. The first of the gifts I want to talk about that helps us to understand scripture, when scripture is really difficult are the historic creeds, confessions and theologians of the church. Now, we all speak a creed. Every every time we gather together on Sunday, in fact, ours is coming up right after the sermon, the Apostles Creed. This is the baptismal creed of the church. When we are baptized, we speak this creed. The reason we say it every single Sunday or others do the Nicene Creed is because this helps us understand. The core and the heart of God's word is always pointing us back to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, working in creation, in redemption, and in the holy Christian church.
And so we read God's Word, and the Old Testament or X, epistle and gospel. We hear a sermon. And then we're reminded Everything points to this. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How does this help? When you read God's word, and you understand it and interpret it? You should bounce it off our Creed's. If you say, Does this fit in the creed? And if you say no, then you gotta go, Well, that means my interpretation is wrong. Right? Because the message of Jesus Christ death on the cross and resurrection for you, and how he works by the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. That is the core of the gospel. That is what the Bible is all about. And that's what our confessions, the Lutheran CONFESSIONS also teach us that as we gather together, and we hear God's word, and fashions point us to the truth of it, and help to guide us so that we don't end up going off the reservation, going crazy with our interpretations. Because there are church bodies that do that. There are groups of people that are like that. Because many people have gathered together and said, I know what we will do, we will eject all of church history. We will eject the Creed's and the theologians and we're just going to start with the Bible and go from there. And we call them Jehovah's Witnesses.
We need these people are creeds. Our confessions are great theologians like Luther and Chrysostom. And Augustine and Ambrose and Aaron ES and all the people of our past. And they don't just write in treatises or Creed's, or in dusty old Tomes. They live in hymnals to, we can sing their words to help us understand. These are not the only gifts, that historic church and the great theologians, God gives us the present church as well. That is why we gather to read God's work. We gather together as God's people. The present church is both pastors and congregations. Right? We need them both. St. Paul writes in Ephesians, chapter four. So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith, and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. What that means is, the ministry of the church is there, to build us up as we hear and read God's word, to help guide us together as we interpret it, so that we're not pulled off the path, cast about it. God gives you a gift. And that gift is pastors. Not me, in particular, I am not God's gift to the church, just the office of the ministry, wherever you go, whether it's this congregation or another, this pastor or another. God has called these people to guide and help you understand this proclamation of the gospel, that you're not pulled astray or turned away or tossed about but every wind of doctrine, but so that we can all gather together. And it's also you. You are here to help us understand God's Word. We gather together, we read it together, we discuss it together and you have great ideas. One of the things they tell me told me when I left the seminary, I graduated, and I went out into the world as they said, Pastor, you're gonna run into people who have read the Bible more times than you have. You're gonna run into people that have read it and interpreted for more years than you've been alive. Maybe you should keep that in mind. And me as a 27 year old pastor who looked like a 16 year old pastor. When I went out into my first church, I found that to be true. There were people who knew the Bible way better than me, who had been Lutherans several times longer than I had. There is part of our congregational job is to guide and help each other. We hear and understand God's word, part of your job is to help each other as we hear and understand God's word. His Holy Spirit fills you too, and has called you to help and guide and work together. And just as importantly, to keep me in line, right? Because every once in a while, I don't know if you know this every once in a while. Pastors are sinners. I mean, not this one. Other ones, right. Every once in a while pastors say crazy things. And we need to be challenged. We need to have have a conversation where you say, hey, Pastor, you said this. Can you explain that to me? Can you help me understand? Because the Holy Spirit needs you to keep me in line two, no one else is going to do it. And God has given us the church, one another, to help us understand the word. But I think the most important gift that we all get to understand God's word is the Holy Spirit himself. We who have faith in Christ are filled with the Spirit. And the Spirit testifies to us about the word. The Spirit speaks to us about the gift of God for us. There is no way to understand God's word to truly get it. Without the Holy Spirit. There are lots of people who try lots of smart people who write books about the Bible, and what it's saying. And they all get it wrong. Unless they are Christian. And Jesus says, but they advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of everything I have said to you. It's the Spirit, who is truly at work when we read and understand God's word. And the Spirit who builds our faith and guides us as we do. So. Jesus gave those disciples the spirit, so they could recall his words and write them down for us. And it's just as much a gift, the Holy Spirit helps us to understand them when we read them. This gift receives through the Word, and the sacraments is the key at the heart of all of this, for us to read and hear God's word, and truly get it. Without it, we cannot know that Christ is the center of the scriptures. And it's not just Jesus, but Jesus, for me, Jesus for you, it drives everything that is written. It's the key to understanding it all. And truly living in Christ. So, yeah, scripture, it can be difficult, and it can be really hard. And in fact, there are some places where we go, I still don't get it. But God has given us a number of ways to help guide us through this difficult time, both with the historic church and the current church, but behind it all is the power of the Holy Spirit working for you. In Jesus name, Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai