What Is Standing in the Way?

Introduction

In Acts 8, Philip and the Ethiopian official meet on a desert road, and a searching man finds answers to his questions. Mark Fletcher shows how Jesus is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, why baptism is the decisive step of faith, and what is standing in the way for us — calling each of us to the patient work of walking alongside seekers on the margins of faith.

It is, I think, a tough time to be a young person. I think many of the things that we were able to take for granted about the future simply aren’t the case anymore. The idea that if you work hard and do your best, then the future will be better than the past — I think that’s changed.

But I have a feeling that if what that means is that young people can choose to build their lives on surer foundations than the rather flawed promises of this world, then maybe some good can come from this time. And that seems to be what is happening. There is a resurgence of church attendance, particularly amongst young people. Not everywhere, but significant and noticeable. Bible sales are at their highest level in over 30 years. And it seems that people are hungry for a deeper truth and a greater hope.

And that brings us to the next passage in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. And it’s the next story about how the gospel spread throughout the world. And this one is a wonderfully surprising one. You know, much of the book of Acts is focused to the north and to the west because Rome is in view. That’s the ultimate destination. But of course, the gospel is spreading in every direction from Jerusalem. And here we meet a remarkable African man. Verse 27: he was an important official in charge of all of the treasury of the queen of the Ethiopians. He is clearly powerful and successful and important. He also has, did you notice, a very stylish set of wheels. Did you see? He was riding in a… he was riding in a… he was riding in a chariot. It’s not every day you meet someone riding in a chariot. And my feeling is he had a sort of outfit to match that. A remarkable man. However, he is a man who has sacrificed literally everything for his career. In order to do the job that he does, he needs to sacrifice his future and any hope of family. And there are signs that he is realising that his professional success can’t offer him what he was hoping for in life. And so you’ve got this remarkable situation where he has travelled to Jerusalem. And we don’t know whether that is under the auspices of some kind of diplomatic mission. But he has actually gone because he is seeking God in the ancient and holy city of Jerusalem. And he has gone to Jerusalem full of such wonders. It has stirred hope in his heart. It has made him ask questions.

But his experience of that would have been that of an outsider. He would have experienced broadly exclusion because of who he was. He could come close, but no closer than that. He is in many ways the embodiment of what the outside world is. And that is what the apostle Paul describes in Ephesians 2. He says, at that time you were excluded from citizenship in God’s people, foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. That sort of sums up this Ethiopian man. But did you see that somewhere along the line he has picked up a Bible — a Hebrew Bible — and he has been reading it, just as so many people in the world and so many in our society are doing these days. And he has reached the wonderful final chapters of the book of Isaiah, which I don’t know if you have read. But they are filled with the most glorious hope of a better world, and of a God who comes to be with his people. And so this has sparked his imagination and lifted his heart. However, there is something in there that he cannot grasp. He can’t get his head around it. Because he seems to realise that key to all of that is this remarkable figure that we call the suffering servant, who is found in Isaiah 53. Who is this figure? This person? How can we make sense of it? And so along comes Philip.

So Philip is another of the deacons that we met in Acts chapter 6. If you remember, they were set apart to wait on tables and to look after the widows. But they all seem to have taken on these amazing preaching ministries and really important roles. And he is a young man full of the Holy Spirit. And he listens to God. And he is sent out onto the wilderness road, out into the desert. And it’s not entirely clear if he has any idea what he is supposed to do when he gets there. You can imagine him standing by the side of a very dusty road on a very hot day thinking, okay, I’m here. What next? And at some point — I don’t know how long he had to wait — he saw a little cloud of dust in the distance. And as he watches he realises it’s this astonishing Ethiopian court official in his chariot coming down the road. Philip realises this is what he is here for. And then in verse 30, Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading from Isaiah the prophet. And he listens. And then he asks a question. Do you understand what you are reading? says Philip. It is such a lovely moment. It’s such a great little story, isn’t it? And I think it’s a story about a kind of attentiveness to what God is doing in people’s lives, a willingness to listen carefully and ask good questions. And I think it speaks to all of us who find ourselves walking alongside our friends who are on the margins of faith. And to do that well requires patience, and respect, and prayerfulness, and careful listening to what people are thinking about and the questions they are asking, and looking for what God is doing in people’s lives. Because we live in a world where God is at work in people’s lives. People are exploring faith in new ways. But they need someone to walk alongside them, to help them find the places where they can find answers to their questions. And so my question for you this evening is: who are you called to be walking alongside right now? Who are you called to be Philip to? Maybe you should be asking that question. If you know who that is, just hold that person in your heart this evening. And do you see also that God is at work in your life? It’s a good question that opens the door for what comes next. Philip listens and observes, and then asks the question.

What happens next is interesting too, and I think perhaps is a challenge to us. Because did you see that what Philip’s question was, was do you understand what you’re reading? But if we were to ask that of people, then it’s kind of important that we understand what we’re reading, isn’t it? It’s not much good to ask the question, do you understand what you’re reading? and then discover that you have no clue either.

And so there is a kind of responsibility, I think, on all of us to do a better job of understanding the Bible. You don’t have to be a Bible scholar, but you do need to know your way around. You need to be growing in your understanding of the Bible. You need to know where to go to get answers to the questions that you have. You should be listening to sermons, not just because hopefully they’re vaguely entertaining, but because they’re helping you to get to know your Bible better. You should be reading the Bible day by day, in order to get to know your Bible better. This is the source of the wisdom and love and truth of God.

And if you do that, then you are in a good place to help others to do the same. And so, verse 35, Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. Because what’s wonderful, actually, is that the very heart of the Christian faith is this understanding that God has intervened in history. He has stepped into our world in love and sacrifice in the person of Jesus. It is Jesus who is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, even though that was written 600 years before Jesus lived. God has acted and he has shown his love in this world, not simply in the wonders of creation, or even in the great things that we do in our lives, or in the goodness of church communities, but first and foremost in the person of Jesus. God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

And so the Ethiopian hears and understands and believes and acts. And I’m really impressed by this. I think he’s clearly a man who is used to getting things done. You know how we all have an amazing ability to put things off — whereas he is convinced and therefore he acts. Verse 36: look, he said, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptised? And of course the answer is, nothing can stand in the way of him being baptised. And so the first African convert to Christianity is baptised. He is baptised by Philip. And he becomes part of the body of Christ. He is welcomed. He finds belonging, and an inheritance that can never perish or fade. He finds hope and he finds God. And verse 39, he went on his way rejoicing.

What about you? We have, I think, this tendency in a world full of so much information, so many opinions, that we fail to make decisions. We fail to take answers. We can hear so much that we struggle to actually define what we’re committed to. But Jesus says that the definition of foolishness is to know the truth and to fail to act on it.

And whatever it is that’s the next step in your life of faith, that’s what you’re being called to act on. Baptism is the most amazing act. It is this kind of personal, essential identification with Jesus. It says that if what God is doing is saving the world through this remarkable act of death and resurrection, then I want to be part of that. You know that’s what baptism is — it’s entering into the death and resurrection of Jesus. They say, you know, if the ship is sinking, you have to jump in the water to get on the life raft.

Baptism is saying, I am in. And if you haven’t been baptised, come and talk to me, because it’s the first step. What is standing in the way of you? Because it’s not your sin, or the questions that you have, or any doubts you have about whether you are good enough. Because Jesus is more than enough for all of those things. Are you convinced that Jesus is the long-promised Messiah? Is he the figure that stands at the centre of history, the one who makes sense of all things? If you are convinced of that, then you need to act on it. Faith is not simply believing. It is stepping out and acting on that belief.

When the foundations of the world are shaken, we need to learn to put our trust in the one who holds the future in his hands. Corrie ten Boom famously said, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” And in a world where so many are asking questions about faith, are you ready — are you able — to walk alongside them, to help them to understand, to travel through the wilderness with them, and to point them to the one who is the answer to their questions? The one who is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. The one who is the way and the truth and the life. Amen.

Amen.