THE WAY OF A WITNESS
Acts 8:26-40
Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell
First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI
October 16, 2005
Witnessing, faith-sharing, evangelism – otherwise known as the “e-word” - even the thought of this makes some people very uneasy. For many, this discomfort has nothing to do with the reality of their relationship with Jesus Christ. The relationship is there. It’s the way of a witness that is the real problem. They need some practical guidance in how to go about being a faithful witness for the Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe our passage for this morning provides us with needed guidance in a very tangible, helpful and practical way. As we look at Philip sharing his faith with a court official from Ethiopia, we can see that the sharing of our faith is not as difficult or complex after all. So let’s follow what happened in the situation before us and glean the lessons that are here for us in “the way of a witness.”
I
WE NEED TO LISTEN TO THE LORD
AS TO WHOM HE WANTS US TO SPEAK.
As we look at the beginning of all that happened, note that first an angel of the Lord gave directions to Philip. He was to go and take the desert road to Gaza. Philip obeyed and once he got there, “The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.’”
Now, a quick look at Scripture reveals that God can speak to us in several ways. He can certainly speak to us through Scripture, which is uniquely the written Word of God. But He can also speak directly to us through angels, dreams, visions, a distinctly audible voice, or a “still small voice.” God can also direct us through other believers or in God-ordained and God-arranged circumstances.
The Lord can use any of these particular means to guide us to the person with whom we are to share our faith, providing we listen carefully for His guidance and direction. As we take the time to listen and follow His lead, we can then also trust that He is preparing another’s heart for our witness, just as He was preparing the heart of the Ethiopian official.
Back in the month of May, Pat and I went to Arkansas to our son’s wedding. On Thursday night, the night before we were to leave, we learned that our flight was cancelled. But the airline set us up with another airline and a new flight the next day.
The next morning, when we got to the airport, we discovered that the plane had mechanical problems. It would be late in leaving and consequently we would miss our connecting flight in Chicago. So we were then moved to yet another flight and a third airline - one that Pat and I once said we would never use again!
Well, it was on that flight that I was seated next to a man who was a Christian businessman. For the next hour and a half, we were in constant conversation, a conversation I think I will never forget. He shared some wonderful Christian testimony with me and I shared some with him. At the same time, however, there were no less than three men and one woman seated next to us and around us who were all leaning forward practically the whole time, so that they could catch every word. They were very attentive to what was being said by the two of us!
Dear friends, there is no such thing as mere coincidence when God is on the throne. A flight was cancelled, another flight delayed, and a third flight was taken - on an airline I said I would never fly again – so that the Good News could be spoken and touch several lives!
Yes, we need to be attentive as to where and how the Lord is guiding us to places and people where we can speak His Word and lead others to Him.
II
ONCE IN CONVERSATION,
WE NEED TO FIND OUT WHERE THE PERSON IS SPIRITUALLY.
Philip listened to the angel and to the Holy Spirit and he obeyed, eventually meeting up with an Ethiopian court official. Now, Philip didn’t then butt right into the man’s life and begin telling him the “Four Spiritual Laws” or the “Roman Road” or some other means of bringing the knowledge of the Good News of Christ. As a matter of fact, he didn’t start out speaking to the Ethiopian at all.
We are told, “Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet.” Philip observed and listened to the man reading out loud. He then inquired where the man was spiritually by asking relevant questions such as, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
Have you ever met someone who has something urgent to say to you? Whatever it may be that you have to say can surely wait. This person cannot wait for you to be quiet in order that the urgent matter can be expressed. This person may even interrupt you or ask you to be quiet so that the really important matter can be shared.
But while what this person has to say to us may well be important, we often end up feeling that we are not all that important, or at least of some value and worth. This may or may not actually be true, but the feeling is there nonetheless.
Well, some people are like that when it comes to sharing their faith with others. They are so grateful for God’s grace, love and mercy that they simply cannot wait to rush in and “deliver the goods,” without ever taking into account who this person really is, or where this person actually is in relationship to Christ.
This is what turns many off to the Christian faith, quite frankly. They want Christians who truly care about them as a person. They want Christians who are interested enough in them to make some personal investment in that relationship. And that is just the kind of Christians we ought to seek to be!
III
WE NEED NOT BE INTRUSIVE,
BUT GO AS FAR AS WE ARE INVITED TO GO.
When Philip asked the official if he understood the passage from Isaiah 53, the response was what we might call a “green light”: “’How can I,’ he said, ‘unless someone explains it to me?’ So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.” Philip proceeded only when the invitation to do so was given.
Similarly, in the midst of the conversations we have, we need to be sensitive to the issue of God’s timing in people’s lives. In some cases, a person with whom we desire to share our faith may not be fully ready to listen. To proceed anyway in the sharing of our faith would be an act of unkindness and disrespect, as well as of unfaithfulness. When a “red light” is there, we ought to respect it as much as any red light found on our streets. We should respect both the person and the critical importance of God’s timing.
However, if we are encouraged by the person to proceed, then by all means, that is what we should do. God may well have already prepared that heart and given the desire to hear more from us.
IV
WE NEED TO POINT PEOPLE TO JESUS CHRIST,
AND NOT TO OURSELVES.
As the conversation continued, “The eunuch asked Philip, ‘Tell me please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?’ Then Philip began with that very passage and told him the good news about Jesus.”
Now, Philip could have spent a lot of time on the passage of Isaiah 53. He could perhaps have impressed the eunuch with his knowledge of the Bible or with his skill in biblical interpretation. He could even have related that passage to his own life and only on what Christ had done in his life. Instead, we are told that Philip focused upon Jesus and the good news that all may find in Him. And that is what we are to do also. In whatever we say, the focus is not so much to be upon us, as it is to be upon Him.
In England during the 19th century, there was a Christian woman by the name of Katherine Hankey. During a recovery period from a very serious illness, she wrote a poem of one hundred verses, divided then into two sections entitled “The Story Wanted” and “The Story Told.“ Both of these became familiar hymns, the last being the hymn, “I Love to Tell the Story.”
One of the verses in this cherished hymn is the following:
I love to tell the story – more wonderful it seems
than all the golden fancies of all our golden dreams;
I love to tell the story – it did so much for me,
and that is just the reason I tell it now to thee.
Katherine Hankey reminds us here that faith-sharing is never to be a matter of mere duty, but rather of deep devotion. We love to tell the story “of Jesus and His love” and point people to Him, when we ourselves have experienced the truth that life with Him truly surpasses “all the golden fancies of all our golden dreams.” We love to tell the story because of what He means to us, and because of what He can also mean to them.
V
WHAT THEN WILLTHE CONCLUSION BE FOR US
WHEN PEOPLE COME TO CHRIST?
WE WILL REJOICE!
The Ethiopian came to saving faith in Christ and was baptized in a nearby brook, wadi or spring. We are told that the “Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away,” and the two never saw each other again, which sometimes happens. But, the Ethiopian official “went on his way rejoicing,” and we may be fully assured that Philip “went on his way rejoicing”, too!
Granted, there is much in this life to weep over, and there certainly is much in this life to rejoice over. But there can be no greater joy in heaven and on earth than when a person who once was lost is now found, was blind but now sees.
You will recall that Jesus speaks of this in the way of telling three parables, the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost (or prodigal) son.[i] Though a shepherd has a hundred sheep and loses only one of them, he goes off into the open country until at last he finds it. Finding it, “he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’”
The shepherd rejoices and wants others to do the same. In this, I wonder if you can see that this is a picture of God, who seeks us out and finds us, and brings us safely into His fold. And that, in this there is a cause and call for rejoicing?
The same is true for the woman who had ten coins, but loses one. Upon lighting a lamp, sweeping the whole house and searching ever so carefully, she finds it at last. “And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’”
Here again is a picture of God, seeking us out and bringing us into His full possession. Again, there is cause for celebration: “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
The same is true for the father who received back his younger son from a living death. We are told that on that occasion, all in the household but one, the older brother, “began to celebrate.” Painfully aware of the older son’s reluctance and refusal to celebrate, the father then said to him: “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
Of course, there are many lessons for us in these treasured parables. But one of them most surely this: we are never so like our heavenly Father, as when we rejoice and celebrate over one prodigal coming home!
*
Thank you, Philip. Thank you for showing us the way of a witness. Now, may we show others, even as they look to us!