Called to Break Down Barriers

Called to Break Down Barriers

August 13, 2017

Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Acts 8:26-39

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. 27 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 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 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.

33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.

Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.”

34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 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?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 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.

PRAYER

Dear God, by Your grace You have brought us together for fellowship and study. Grant us Your wisdom to recognize Your voice and understand Your Word. Teach us Your ways and empower us with Your Spirit. Help us to open our hearts to Your love, mercy, and grace, and give us the compassion to share these gifts with others; in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

Let me state at the outset that I hope you have read today’s lesson, a very interesting and informative one, but I’m not going to delve much into the lesson itself, because the lesson lends itself to a much wider discussion.

Now, one of the most difficult things for you and I to do is often to step outside our safety zone. We prefer – that is, we feel at ease – when we are interacting with people who look like us, talk like us, and think like us.

Anything else and we’re just not all that comfortable. Our subject today, Philip found himself in that situation, led there by God.

Philip was one of the seven Greek-speaking deacons selected by the church in Jerusalem about 35 AD. And he is led to strike out on a deserted desert road on the way to Samaria. On that lonely journey he meets an Ethiopian official reading scripture and needing someone to interpret it for him so he can understand.

In explaining it to him, Philip marks a major turning point in the history of the church of Jesus Christ. For this marks the unhindered spread of the gospel throughout the world.

Back in Jerusalem the Chief Priests and Roman officials are desperately attempting to throttle any attempt to spread the gospel. But it has never mattered what men intended, outside of the plans of God, nothing is going to stop what God has ordained to happen. So we see new Christian Deacon Philip, and a Christian Ethiopian eunuch, on their way to building a Christian church here in Hermitage, Tennessee; just part of the worldwide spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It took them a while to get here, but time means nothing to God.

A. W. Tozer, in one of my favorite quotes, pointed out, “For those outside of Christ, time is a ravenous beast. But for the sons of the new creation, time crouches and purrs and licks their hands.”

Notice Philip found this fellow on a desert, wilderness road. Philip probably would not have been out there except that an angel directed him out there.

Ever found yourself in a kind of wilderness situation? Somewhere you didn’t really want to be? Wondering why you were there? We just need to remember, if God sent you into it, He will bring you out of it.

In Saturday’s The Tennessean newspaper, in the first section on page 17A, there was an article written by a young man pursuing a B.S. degree in business administration and minor in philosophy at UT. The headline read: “We must have honest religion.” The young man’s name is Hancen A. Sale, a staff columnist at The Daily Beacon, which is the university’s editorial independent newspaper.

In part, he wrote, “Often when someone divorces themselves from a way of life, it is the start of a critical and reflective journey.

“I had meddled in the study of theology for a couple of years until it became very apparent to me no theology could corroborate my human experience. Thus, I left my church, my faith and my ideological safety net.”

“Religion was a dying breed in my mind, yet there still seemed to be much reverence surrounding it: religion has undoubtedly driven so many people to do so many things.”

He went on to talk about how much violence had been created in the world by religion; the Crusades, the twin towers during 911, the Jewish genocide, etc. Yet even though such tremendous evil lives on, religion persists, he wrote. He noted that “religion drove Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to proclaim his dream from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial; that religion inspired Mahatma Gandhi to lead the greatest human rights campaign; and that religious foundations continue to do so much good.”

He asks, “is ardently engaging and defending such a doctrine – within any religion – worth our time? For all the good religion has provoked, it has produced equal parts bad – perhaps, more.”

“Did the early pages of the Torah not demonstrate the dangers of violence? Did a Jewish prophet – Jesus – not proclaim from the Mount that the earth belongs to the meek? Did the Noble Eightfold path not command work for the good of others and opposition to evil? It is certainly evident: religion is the single greatest indication of how division and violence remain the most potent danger humanity will ever face.”

“Thus,” the writer says, “from the religious world to the secular world, we must all ask the question: is our participation – or non-participation – in religion contributing to the violence and division which currently plagues our world.”

“We must divorce ourselves – from our religion, our lifestyle, or our way of life – just long enough to face that question with a profound, resounding honesty.

“Hopefully, that candor will behold a light strong enough to bind all of humanity.” That’s the end of his article.

Now, before I open it up for discussion, I would make several points.

First, it is evident from his passages that like so many this young man knows of Jesus who is the Christ, but he has no relationship with Jesus.

Second, his understanding of history is incomplete. Referring to the Crusades – they were Christian crusades – ignores the 300 years of Muslim ravages across parts of Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The Crusades were called for by the Catholic Popes, who depended upon the European kings for the money and manpower to rescue sacred Christian lands, and free people from brutal and vicious Islamic rule.

And third, he speaks solely about religion, almost as if it were a force of nature. You might say, but God invented religion. Sorry, but God invented mankind, mankind invented religion.

• Before I continue, any thoughts or comments on this article?

Nowhere in the Bible can you find a relationship with God through religion. Religion is a works theology, man thinking he can please God with his works; “if I can do enough, say enough, pray enough, give enough, sacrifice enough perhaps God will show me favor”. Religion is a roadblock to a relationship with God. The writer’s entire approach is based on false assumptions and a misunderstanding of what God wants from us.

In Isaiah 1, Amos 5 and Micah 6, again and again God has told His people what He didn’t want from them in the way of worship, and we have ignored Him. And He doesn’t make it that difficult. In Micah 6:8 we find the words, “…what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Where is the division and violence in that?

The stated purpose of this lesson is, quote, to grasp the importance of and commit to ministering to the marginalized.

This writer is part of that marginalized. Many of the people around you in your daily life are the marginalized. They don’t have to be poor, or homeless or disabled, they simply have to be outside of God, maybe even strapped down with false religion. You can be that bright and shining light of God to them, allowing Jesus Christ to work through you with a kind word, a smile, a refusal to condemn them.

Personally, I’ve often found many people are not outside of God because they want to be, they simply don’t understand. God doesn’t hate them. God isn’t against them. Listen to these words from God in Isaiah 54 to those who had turned their backs on Him, but now come out of Babylonian slavery:

“For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD, your Redeemer.

For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but My steadfast love shall not depart from you, and My covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the LORD, who has compassion on you.”

Perhaps the problem for most of us is, how do we tell them that God has not forgotten them without offending them? Sometimes you have to just follow God’s leading.

In recruit training our Marine Corps drill instructors would shout at us: “Do something even if it’s wrong!” They would later explain that they could fix mistakes, but they could not fix it if we were not willing to at least risk a mistake.

Now, understanding that “wrong” here does not mean “sinful,” do you agree there are times when you need to “do something, even if it’s wrong”?

Have there been situations in your life when this was true? How often as parents do we have to apply doing something, even if it’s wrong? What do you think?

# # #

In 1920, Robert Frost published his wonderful poem, “The Road Not Taken,” which ends:

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence;

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

What about you? Have you ever come to an important fork in the road where you had a great deal of difficulty deciding which road to take or you had trouble getting up the courage to take the right road? How did you decide? How did you find the courage for your decision? What do you think?

Perhaps you recall from a previous lesson that Philip was among those selected as a deacon to parcel out available resources and ensure the widows were treated fairly. It seems by this time Philip no longer needed to fulfill that role, but he seemed ready and willing to take that desert road less traveled by. Any thoughts on why he was so willing to do that?

[He had a great deal of faith in God. Philip trusted God to take care of him as long as he faithfully did what God asked him to do. Moreover, each time he was obedient, he found that God faithfully kept His promises, which increased his faith even more.]

• The Ethiopian seemed to have no problem asking Philip for help, and Philip had no problem responding. But might there not have been social barriers between these two?

• Has anyone here worked with people of different cultural backgrounds, with social barriers? How did you overcome them, and how did that experience enrich you?

• Are there any barriers that exist between us in this church and those in our community, those we would lie to reach for Christ?

[Racial, cultural, economic, educational, generational barriers?]

• If so, how do we go about breaking down these barriers?

[Personal relationships.]

• Are there actions we can take to make strangers feel more welcome when they visit our church, or even our class?

[Freshly microwaved banana bread, at one church.]

[Experience at Presbyterian Church after one visit, and a follow-up visit; during illness, brought dinner.]

[Other experiences?]

Are there any other comments or questions about today’s lesson?

If not, let us close with prayer.

Gracious God, make us sensitive to those around us who may feel as though they cannot approach You. Give us the right words to say so that they understand all You have done for them through Jesus Christ to build a bridge to You. Use us to overcome barriers so that the message of Jesus Christ reaches everyone; in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen