Acts 8:26-40: God is Actively Working

Acts 8:26-40: God Is Actively Working

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of Acts, and today the next passage we come to is Acts 8:26-40 as the passage upon which today’s message will be based. It says,

26 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. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

We’ve been going through the book of Acts passage by passage, and this morning we find ourselves in Acts 8:26-40—a passage I’m very excited about digging into. But before we do that, let’s pray. [Prayer]

Deism is the belief that God created the universe but then took a step back and no longer has any involvement with what he created. The god of deism is often compared to a watchmaker who makes a watch but then doesn’t really need to do anything else in order for that watch to function properly. The watchmaker’s able to leave the watch alone, and it works just fine. Likewise, deists believe, God created the universe but then was able to take his hands off of it and essentially let the universe run itself. God no longer has any involvement whatsoever with the world or with us. 

And even though I imagine most of us in this room probably wouldn’t consider ourselves to be deists, perhaps we’re often more deistic than we often imagine. You see, it’s so easy for us to fall into the mentality—almost without even realizing it—that God’s not really doing much of anything in the places where we go or the people we encounter. After all, we usually don’t see many obvious signs that he’s working, so we often assume he’s not. 

And it’s almost impossible to overstate the effect that this deistic mentality has on our evangelistic efforts. As Christians, most of us are aware that God’s called us to evangelize—to share with others the gospel message of Jesus. But, going along with this deistic mentality, we often suppose that we’re the ones who have to take the initiative and “get the ball rolling” so to speak—that it’s on us to make things happen evangelistically. It’s like we imagine that God’s basically turned us loose to spread the gospel and been like, “Alright, guys, good luck with that—go make it happen.” Now, when I say it out loud, most of us probably recognize that that’s not an accurate view of God. But if we’re honest, isn’t that the view of God in which we often function? Are we not, in certain ways and at certain times, functional deists? 

And here’s how I believe this is especially relevant. I’m convinced this mentality of functional deism is one of the key reasons why so many of us are so intimated by the idea of sharing the gospel with others and why, if statistics are accurate, a majority of people in this room probably haven’t shared the gospel with anyone in the past year. 

But this passage here in Acts 8 gives us a much different view of things. It shows us that God is actively working all around us—specifically to draw people to himself. And that’s the main idea of the passage: God is actively working to draw people to himself. God is actively working to draw people to himself. 

Read with me in Acts 8:26-40: 26 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. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. 

So just notice all of the ways in which we see God actively at work in this passage. First, verse 26 tells us that an “angel of the Lord” instructs Philip to go to a certain place in the desert. Then, when Philip arrives at his destination, the Spirit tells him in verse 29 to go up to the chariot of this high-ranking Ethiopian official who just happens to be passing by. This man, by the way, was very high ranking. Today, he’d be like the equivalent of the Secretary of the Treasury for our nation. Then in verses 30-34, this Ethiopian official just happens to need help interpreting the clearest prophecy about Jesus in the entire Old Testament. Then in verse 36, the official’s chariot just happens to come to a stream or pool of water—not exactly the most common thing out there in the desert. Then, in verse 39, it says that the Spirit “carried Philip away”—which is one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard. There is teleportation in the Bible. So it’s quite clear that God’s behind pretty much everything that happens in this passage. His sovereign hand is orchestrating it all. Nothing that happens here is accidental or a mere coincidence. 

And that’s especially evident in how God prepared the heart of this Ethiopian official for Philip’s arrival. I mean, how perfect is it that this official just happens to be reading Isaiah 53 as Philip approaches his chariot? Like, are you kidding me? Listen to what Isaiah 53 says. Of course, we already read the portion that the Ethiopian official quotes—verses 7-8 of Isaiah 53. But listen to some of the verses that come right before that, Isaiah 53:4-6: 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. This is the passage that the Ethiopian official is reading. And he asks Philip who this passage is referring to. Talk about putting the ball on the tee, right? It doesn’t get much easier than this to tell someone about Jesus. 

And that’s exactly what Philip proceeds to do. Verse 35 of our main passage states, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.” This “good news” is that Jesus suffered the punishment for our sin. Just as Isaiah prophesied hundreds of years earlier, Jesus was “pierced for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities.” Even though we should have suffered for our sins forever in hell, Jesus suffered the punishment we deserved when he died on the cross. And he let that happen—he didn’t even protest. As we already heard about Jesus from the lips of the Ethiopian official himself, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” Jesus voluntarily went to the cross to pay for our sins. Yet, that isn’t the end of the story. Three days later, he triumphantly resurrected from the dead to show that the Father had indeed accepted his sacrifice, and he now stands ready to save all who will put their trust in him. That involves renouncing our trust in all of our attempts to earn God’s favor through our own efforts and instead putting our trust in Jesus alone to give us eternal life as a free gift. That’s the “good news” Philip shared with the Ethiopian official. It’s the best news in the whole world. 

And the emphasis of this passage in Acts 8 is on how God prepared this royal official to hear the news that Philip shared. The setup was perfect. God was actively working in this official even prior to Philip’s arrival in order to prepare the official’s heart and draw this official to himself.

Now, here’s the key connection to our lives: Do you believe that God’s actively at work in people and situations today as well? And not just in people and situations in general but in many of the very people and situations you encounter in your day-to-day life? Like, when you look around you, what do you see? Do you see people and situations who are there randomly—as if by chance—or do you see people and situations who have come into your life by the sovereign hand of God because there’s a really good chance he’s working in those people and through those situations to accomplish his purposes—chiefly to draw people to himself? Do you believe that second scenario? And do you believe God’s actively working to draw people to himself even if you’re not able to see any obvious signs of that at first? 

Now, someone might object that Acts 8 is a narrative text and that it’s just telling us what happened at one time but isn’t necessarily saying that this kind of thing happens all the time or even frequently. And that’s a fair point. But I believe all the things I’ve been saying are still justified because they’re ultimately an outgrowth of the doctrine of election. Simply stated, the doctrine of election is the truth taught throughout the New Testament that God’s chosen certain people to be saved. Even though there is such a thing as human agency and it is necessary for people to voluntarily choose to put their trust in Jesus in order to be saved, God’s the one who’s ultimately responsible for choosing certain people for salvation and then drawing those people to himself. If you want more information about that, feel free to reference John 6:44, John 13:18, John 15:16, John 17:2, Acts 13:48, Romans 8:28-30, Romans 9:11-23, Romans 11:1-24, 1 Corinthians 1:21-24, Ephesians 1:3-11, and 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5, just to name a few verses. These verses all teach that God has chosen certain people for salvation. And if you think about it, that’s an enormous encouragement for evangelism—because it means that we should expect people to be saved.

For example, in Acts 18, when the Apostle Paul was in Corinth and was having a tough time and was apparently discouraged and tempted to be fearful of his adversaries, listen to what Jesus said to him. Acts 18:9-10: 9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” Did you catch that? “I have many in this city who are my people.” Jesus used the doctrine of election to encourage Paul to continue his missionary efforts there in Corinth. He reminded Paul that there are still people chosen for salvation who haven’t yet come to faith but who will come to faith—presumably through Paul’s witness. As a result, Paul should stay in Corinth and expect God to be actively at work all around him. And I believe the doctrine of election should give us that very same expectation as well—the expectation for God to be actively at work in the people and situations we encounter. 

Also, consider what Jesus said to his disciples shortly before his crucifixion in John 12:32. He told them, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” That phrase “lifted up” refers to him being “lifted up” on the cross. So, in other words, Jesus is saying, “After I’m crucified, I’m going to work all over the world to draw people to myself.” Of course, he would do that through the Holy Spirit. 

So, again, are you expecting Jesus to be doing that in the people and through the circumstances you encounter in your day-to-day life? And as we see back in our main passage of Acts 8 with Philip and this Ethiopian official, are you expecting Jesus to be doing that—drawing people to himself—even before you open your mouth to say anything? You see, personal evangelism isn’t about us going out and making something happen. It’s about us joining God in the work he’s already doing all around us. He’s already gone out before us in order to get things ready. We just have to join him. 

Think of the Holy Spirit as a farmer going out ahead of us and preparing the soil. As you’re probably aware even if you have no experience with agriculture, you have to prepare the soil prior to scattering seed. You have to plow the soil and cultivate it so that it’s loose enough for the seed to get down in there and begin to take root. And that’s what the Spirit does prior to us scattering the seed in our gospel witness. Obviously, he doesn’t do that in everyone—since there are plenty of people who reject the gospel—but he does do it in many people. 

And I would think he’d do it more in the people he puts in our proximity. Personally, I just generally assume that the closer in proximity someone is to me, the more likely it is that God’s chosen them for salvation and is already cultivating the soil of their hearts even prior to me saying anything. And that mentality goes back to two things. There are two reasons why I believe we should expect God’s work in this world of drawing people to himself to be focused especially on the people who are in our proximity. 

First, the biblical teaching that God’s chosen to use people—his people, Christians—to do his work of advancing the gospel. Just think about how he used Philip here. Notice how all of this got started. Verse 26 records how God sent an angel to tell Philip to go to the desert. Now, don’t you think it would have been a lot more efficient for God to just send the angel to the Ethiopian official directly? Couldn’t he have just had the angel share the gospel with the Ethiopian official? Of course, the answer’s yes, but that’s not the way God’s chosen to work. Instead, he’s graciously chosen to draw people to faith through our witness—that is, through the witness of his people. That’s why God went out of his way to include Philip and why we should expect God to include us as well. And, by the way, what a privilege that is. Imagine that the President of the United States—and, for the moment, let’s just say that the President was someone you deeply respected—imagine that the President personally appointed you to do something in service to our country. Out of all the people he could have asked, he asked you to do this act of service. What an honor and privilege that would be, right? So how much greater of a privilege is it for God to give us a part in his work in this world? What an incredible thing! And what a good reason for us to expect God to focus his work in this world on the people in our proximity.

Also, another reason for expecting God to focus his work in that way is the understanding that God sovereignly places his people exactly where he wants them to be—and he does that for a reason. Now, sometimes, that reason isn’t entirely clear to us. I’m sure, when God had the angel tell Philip to go out to the desert, that must have been kind of confusing for Philip. I mean, Philip already had an incredibly fruitful ministry in Samaria. People were coming to faith left and right. Philip was riding the wave an enormous spiritual awakening. And now, God wants him to go to the desert? And likewise, we may not always understand why God’s brought us to the place where we are. But, as we see in this passage, there’s a reason for God placing us where he does. 

God sent Philip to the desert because the Ethiopian official was there. And tradition has it that, after this official was converted through Philip’s witness, he went back to Ethiopia as a missionary and was used by God to bring many other Ethiopians to faith as well. How amazing is that! And just as God was sovereign in where he placed Philip, he’s sovereign in where he places you. Now, of course, God could be planning on sending you somewhere else at some point in the future, but for now, he’s got you right here where you are. None of it is accidental or random or a mere coincidence. God’s placed you where you are—in your family, in your workplace, in your neighborhood, among your friends and acquaintances—for a reason. He’s brought those people into your life—and you into their lives—because there are things he desires to accomplish. So, as the saying goes, bloom where you’re planted. God could always move you somewhere else, but until he makes that clear, bloom where you’re planted. And expect God to be at work all around you. 

So, to sort of bring all of this together, we should expect God to be actively at work all around us drawing people to himself because, first of all, we know he’s chosen certain people for salvation—just like the Ethiopian official. And, not only that, we should expect God’s work in drawing people to himself to be focused especially on the people in our proximity—because we know (1) that God uses his people to do his work—just as he chose to use Philip rather than the angel—and we know (2) that God sovereignly places his people exactly where he wants them to be for a reason—just as he directed Philip to that particular location. So expect God to be actively at work in people in general, and expect God’s work to be focused specifically on the people he places around you. Going back to the agricultural illustration, expect fertile soil. Expect God to already be at work ahead of you, prior to you even saying anything, in order to prepare people’s hearts and make them fertile soil for the seed of the word that you share. 

You know, when Becky and I were in the process of moving to Pittsburgh in order to start this church, we prayed that God would be at work ahead of us. We even prayed that God would direct us to the neighborhood where he wanted us to be and to the very house he wanted us to live in. We then purchased our house and moved into it and tried to be faithful in our witness for Jesus. Little did we know that our next-door neighbors had also been praying. One of them had prayed that if God wanted something from him, that God would give him a sign. And lo and behold, a pastor moves in next door. You’ve really got to be careful what you pray for. 

And over the course of the next year or year and a half, my wife Becky and I were gradually able to share with this man and his girlfriend—who’s now his wife—what the Bible teaches about Jesus. We eventually got to know them well enough that we invited them over for something that we now call an Evangelistic Bible Study. Of course, we didn’t have any fancy name for it at the time—we just did what seemed most natural and to make the most sense, which was to invite them over to our house for a series of three or four studies in which we gave them an overview of the gospel. It wasn’t anything fancy—it was just us being real with them and sharing with them about Jesus and what he came to this earth to accomplish and the difference he had made in our own lives. And finally, after about a year, the wife came to faith in Christ. Her name is Heather Lowe. Then, about six months later, the husband also came to faith in Christ. His name is Brian Lowe. And Brian and Heather were two of the original fourteen people who came together to start this church. And they’re still members of the church today and are some of our closest friends and are now seeking to reach out to people that they know with the message of Jesus. 

So understand that God’s placed you where you are for a reason—that he has a purpose for placing you around the people he’s placed you around. And that should lead you to expect him to be at work in those people. Expect open doors. Expect fertile soil. Don’t let yourself fall into that mentality of functional deism. Instead, view all of the people and circumstances in your life through a lens of expectancy—expecting God to be at work. You don’t have to go out and make things happen. You just have to join God in the work he’s already doing in the people around you—and expect him to bless your efforts. 

In John 4:35-38, Jesus says to his disciples, 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” Notice the inherent optimism bound up in this metaphor of a harvest. I don’t know of any more optimistic or encouraging or hopeful metaphor Jesus could have used. There’s an expectation there of fruitful ministry. The metaphor of a harvest leads us to expect fruitful ministry. 

And this is just a theory here, but I can’t help but wonder whether, a lot of the time, when we don’t have fruitful ministry, one of the reasons for that is because we’re not expecting it. In other words, I wonder whether our low expectations, in some cases, become self-fulfilling prophecies. I’m reminded of the encounter the great preacher Charles Spurgeon had with a Christian man who came to him depressed because he hadn’t seen a single person come to faith through his efforts in a long time. So, Spurgeon asked him, “Do you expect the Lord to save souls every time you open your mouth?” The man was a bit embarrassed and answered “Oh, no, sir!” “Then,” Spurgeon replied, “that is just the reason why you have not had conversions: ‘According to your faith be it unto you.’”

So, as we think about all these things—and especially about the way God orchestrated Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8—I hope it leads us to live with that lens of expectancy in our lives—where we’re viewing the people and situations around us with great expectation for God to be at work. And hopefully, that will make us less hesitant and more bold in our gospel witness. Just like verse 35 states that Philip “opened his mouth” to share the gospel, hopefully we can muster up the courage to open our mouths on a more consistent basis as well as we seek to turn conversations toward the gospel.  And I know it can sometimes be intimidating. I’m sure it was a bit intimidating for Philip to approach the chariot of such a high-ranking official. But hopefully the expectation of God being at work ahead of us, preparing the way for our gospel witness, will help us to overcome whatever fear we might be experiencing and boldly open our mouths to share the gospel. Don’t be a functional deist. Expect God to be at work. In fact, you might even want to make it a fixture of your daily prayer time to ask God to help you view the people and situations you encounter through that lens of expectancy. 

And speaking of prayer, that’s another central application of this passage. If God’s work really is as necessary and even central in our evangelistic endeavors as this passage makes it out to be, then I can’t think of anything more important than prayer. So pray for a greater awareness and sensitivity to what God’s already doing in the people around you. Pray for greater faith that God is indeed at work in many of those people even if you can’t perceive it. Pray for divine appointments—where God sovereignly brings about encounters and situations where you get to share the gospel with the people in whom he’s working. And pray ultimately that God would use you to bring people to faith in Jesus. We have no right to expect God to do any of the things we’ve talked about this morning apart from our prayers.