Character Studies #15 - Philip

“Philip – The Evangelist”

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—Philip—

Acts 8

INTRODUCTION:

·       Jesus gave us an example to follow, that we should follow in His steps. In John 13:15 Jesus said, “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.”

·       Peter urged leaders to set an example for others to follow. “…not lording it over those allotted to your charge but proving to be examples to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:3)

·       Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” To Timothy he said, “Be an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12)

·       The New Testament gives us many examples of people, good and bad, to help guide us. One of those is the man we meet today – Philip, the Evangelist.

TRANSITION:

Acts 6 Scenario:

·       There was a growing crisis in the expanding Jerusalem church. There were hard feelings between the widows with some thinking they were being shorted in the daily food distribution due to imagined or real cultural bias. This was a clash between Israeli Jews and Hellenistic (i.e., Greek speaking) Jews.

·       The Twelve, learning of the problem, called for a congregational meeting to discuss the issues and find a solution, saying that it was not good for them to abandon the teaching of the Word to wait tables. (N.B. This was not a slur against the job of serving.)

·       The Apostles established this 7-fold criteria for choosing the men needed for this job:

1.    “Select from among you” in other words, don’t hire outsiders.

2.    “Seven” – Determined not as a magic number but based on the size of the job.

3.    “Men” – Not women. God has placed the onus for church leadership on the shoulders of men, despite cultures to the contrary.

4.    “Of good reputation” – Well-spoken of both in the church, and in the community; no moral or ethical stains, nothing sketchy about them.

5.    “Full of the Spirit” – Guided and directed by God’s Spirit rather than by human emotions and human reasoning.

6.    “Full of wisdom” – Wise, not merely knowledgeable; Solomonic-type men with good judgement.

7.    “Whom we may put in charge.” That is, men possessing management skills. There are many fine, lovely Christian people that you do not want to put in charge of anything because they never get anything done for one reason or another.

·       The congregation chose 7 good men, among them Stephen, and Philip. By the way, the other 5 fellows are never heard from again in Scripture or in history. Notice that the church elected them, then the Apostles ordained them to the task, all after much prayer. This is the biblical pattern we should still follow in choosing leaders for the local church.

·       The result of this wise handling of the situation is in verse 7, namely, the food distribution problem was solved, the Word kept spreading, and the number of conversions continued to grow in Jerusalem, including a “great number” of priests who believed and were added to their fellowship. 

NOTES on the Text:

So, to recap what we know about Philip’s character so far:

1.    He was chosen by the group based on his godly character and proven leadership ability.

2.    He was a man of sterling reputation.

3.    He was full of the Holy Spirit and guided by Him.

4.    He was full of godly wisdom.

5.    He was a man who could be trusted to be put in charge of difficult tasks.

6.    He had a servant attitude and a heart-concern for the well-being of people.

7.    He was a layman, not an Apostle.

8.    He lived in Jerusalem, although he later moved to Caesarea.

9.    He was probably single at this point, although he later married and had four daughters. 

Acts 8 Overview:

The chapter begins with the death of Stephen and the beginning of serious persecution that ensued.

·       Verse 2 – To avoid persecution the Christians scattered into Judea and Samaria.

·       Verse 4 – Those who left continued to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel. They did not let their fears shut them down. Rather, the persecution emboldened them to speak out even more.

·       Verse 5 – Philip also left Jerusalem and traveled north into Samaria, to the old capital city of Samaria, later renamed Sebaste (or Neapolis), modern Nablus. He began “proclaiming” (i.e., heralding) Christ to them.

·       Verse 6 – Philip drew “crowds” of listeners, probably preaching in courtyards and wide streets in the old city. They paid attention because of the content of his preaching and the miraculous “signs” that accompanied the preaching.

·       Verse 7 – Luke here describes these “signs” as (1) exorcisms, and (2) healing of the sick, lame, and paralyzed citizens.

·       Verse 8 – Luke tells us that there was “much rejoicing” in the city due to spiritual conversions and physical healings. It was a great evangelistic crusade with Philip at its center being used by God in a wonderful way. By the way, there is always great rejoicing when people hear the Good News, and put their trust in Christ, and get saved.

·       Verses 9-11 – These verses are about the conversion of Simon (Magus), the sorcerer. We will skip these for now as they are not relevant to Philip’s story.

·       Verse 12 – Philip was preaching the Good News about the Kingdom of God and about Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Those who believed gave public testimony of their new faith by being baptized (including Simon).

Parenthesis to explain verses 13-24: (N.B. This is not really part of Philip’s story.)

Although the Holy Spirit came upon the believers in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost there were pockets of places where the Holy Spirit had not been manifested. This was one of those cases. Two of the Apostles, Peter and John, came from Jerusalem and began laying hands on these new Samaritan converts and then they too received the Spirit, thus leaving no question that they were genuinely converted and part of the infant yet growing Church.

·       Verse 25 – “So, when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem and were preaching the Gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.” After a rich time of fellowship and witnessing the awesome power of God in Samaria, Peter and John headed back to Jerusalem, preaching along the way to the Samaritans they met. This is interesting because some of those hated Samaritans were among the Church’s first converts.

·       Verse 26 – “But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.)” At this point in the story God sent an angelic messenger to give Philip his next ministry assignment, and this amid a thriving, successful evangelistic campaign. I find this especially fascinating. Through somewhat nebulous, non-specific orders, the angel told Philip to head down to the old desert road that connects Jerusalem to Gaza but did not give him more information.

·       Verse 27 – “So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship.” Notice Philip’s immediate unquestioning obedience. 

Now we need to pause for a moment and look at Philip’s target audience, the Ethiopian.

·       A “eunuch,” possibly to be understood literally, but probably not in this case. The term was often applied to high-ranking civil servants whether castrated or not.

·       A “court official… in charge of all of Candace’s treasury.” In those days, the North African nation of Ethiopia (also called Cush or Abyssinia) was one of the most powerful kingdoms on earth. This man was the Treasury Secretary serving one of the world’s most powerful monarchs. Therefore, he was a very powerful man, probably rich, and he had the ear of the Queen of Ethiopia, known at the Candace. That was not her name, but her title, like King, or Emperor, or Caesar.

·       He “had come to Jerusalem to worship.” Therefore, he was almost certainly a Gentile “God-fearer,” convinced that the God of the Jews was the true God, but he had not yet gone all the way to become a Jewish proselyte by submitting to circumcision. He had come to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple and was now headed back home, having not found what he was searching for, leaving frustrated, disappointed, and angry. 

Background information: Religious art invariably depicts this scene incorrectly. Paintings always show the eunuch in a Roman-style 2-wheeled war chariot. That is preposterous if you know anything about war chariots or high-paid officials of that period. Powerful national leaders always traveled in comfort and luxury with servants, cooks, guards, and soldiers, etc. Moreover, they traveled in well-protected caravans with 4-wheeled courtly wagons pulled by matched teams of splendid horses, handled by expert drivers. Verse 28 says, “…and he was returning and sitting in his chariot and was reading the prophet Isaiah.” Notice that he was “sitting in his carriage” probably with the scroll open on his lap. And he was reading aloud, as was the custom of that period. Silent reading is a much more modern practice. 

·       Verse 29 – Now the camera turns back to Philip. “Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” Up until now he had probably been sitting on a hillside where he could easily watch everyone coming along the road, wondering exactly what he was doing there. Suddenly, “the Spirit” spoke to him again saying, “Go up and join this carriage.”

·       Verse 30 – “Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” So, Philip jumped up and “ran” to catch up with the carriage, which tells me that the caravan was probably moving along at a pretty good clip. As he got close Philip could hear exactly what the man was reading. The fellow was probably surprised at Philip’s sudden appearance at the side of his carriage, but Philip wasted no time. He asked the man, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

·       Verse 31 – “And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.” The man’s frustration is evident in the clipped, curt way he responded to Philip’s question. He was confused. He understood the words but not the meaning. He was reading from Isaiah 53:7-8, which refers to the Suffering Messiah, whom we know to be Jesus himself. The man, in exasperation confessed his confusion and invited Philip to join him in the carriage. Read verses 31-33: “How can I [understand],” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So, he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. ³³ In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For His life was taken from the earth.”

·       Verse 34 – The eunuch then opened the door wide for Philip to witness to him by asking: “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?”

·       Verse 35 – This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible about evangelism: “Then Philip opened his mouth (that is the first hurdle) and beginning from this Scripture he preached JESUS to him.” We do not know how many hours this conversation lasted, but probably several. But at some point, the man’s heart and mind were opened to the Gospel and he put his faith and trust in Jesus to be his Savior and Lord. He was born anew. He passed from death to life. The scales fell from his eyes and became a new creation in Christ. And immediately he became Philip’s new brother in the faith.

·       Verse 36 – As they went along, they came to some water; possibly a brook in the Valley of Elah, or the Wadi el-Hasi just north of Gaza, or one of the various ponds in that area. The man cried out. “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?”

·       Verse 37 – Philip’s immediate answer to him was: “IF you believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch gave a clear testimony saying, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God!”

·       Verse 38 – The eunuch ordered the driver to stop the carriage. By the way, this fact shows that he was not driving it! Picture with me the scene: when the boss’s carriage stopped everyone stopped. Servants probably started to gather to see what was going on. The guards stood in amazement seeing their master and this Israelite get down from the carriage and make their way down to the water. They must have heard his words and pondered their meaning. They watched as Philip baptized the eunuch and they saw the glow on his face as he joyfully came up out of the water. They must have marveled at all of this.

·       Verse 39 – As they made their way back up the hill toward the waiting caravan, suddenly Philip just disappeared! Scholars have pondered this verse for centuries, but I believe that we have here yet another genuine miracle! The text says, “…the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away and the eunuch no longer saw him.” You can make of it what you will, but I believe that God “beamed him up” and set him back down miles away.

·       Verse 40 – “But Philip found himself at Azotus” (i.e., the Old Testament city of Ashdod). That was 19 miles away! At any rate, the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing.” Legend tells us that it was this man who carried the Gospel back to his own people, resulting in the conversion of thousands in that N. African kingdom. 

By the way, the text says, “…the man went on his way rejoicing.” There is always great joy associated with genuine salvation. Look back at verse 8: “So there was much rejoicing in that city” (i.e., Samaria) because people were being healed, getting saved, being baptized, and starting a new life with Christ.

·       Verse 40 – “But Philip found himself at Azotus and as he passed through, he kept preaching the Gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.” This was the city of Caesarea Maritima, a major Roman seaport on the coast of Israel. At this point we lose track of Philip. He is not mentioned again until Acts 21:8-10 where Luke records that he, Luke, and Paul plus 7 other disciples stayed for “some days” at the home of Philip and his family in Caesarea. This was 20+ years after we last saw him in Acts 8. Now he is married with 4 wonderful Christian daughters who were unmarried, still living at home and all four had the gift of prophecy. The thing I want to point out is that Luke refers to him in 21:8 as, “Philip, the Evangelist, who was one of the Seven.” Philip is the only person in the New Testament who is given this specific title, but it was fitting because it described his gifting and his passion for soul winning. 

CONCLUSION:

But exactly how did Philip win people to faith in Christ? What made him a good evangelist? This is where I want us to focus our thinking today. Let’s look again at Acts 8 to examine Philip’s method of sharing the Gospel.

1.    Philip witnessed as he went (cf. 8:4, 40). Today we call this “lifestyle evangelism.” He made use of every opportunity.

2.    Philip kept his message simple.

§  “Preaching the Word” verse 4.

§  “Proclaiming Christ to them” verse 5.

§  “Preaching the Good News about the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” verse 12.

3.    Philip was willing to risk criticism to win people to Christ (verse 5).

§  Samaritans were Gentiles in the eyes of the Jews.

§  How about gang members? prostitutes? street preaching?

4.    Philip did not have prejudge against his audiences.

§  He did not say, “They won’t listen. They aren’t interested.”

§  He assumed that people wanted and needed the Gospel.

5.    Philip took no credit for himself. That shows his humility. Even when he saw great crowds responding to his preaching, he did not get a big head.

6.    Philip was attentive and open to the Lord’s direction and leading (cf. 8:26, 29).

7.    Philip was obedient, unquestioningly, and instantly (cf. 8:27, 30).

8.    Philip followed a simple formula in his personal evangelism:

a.    He focused his attention on those with hungry hearts.

b.    He sat with him.

c.     He asked probing questions.

d.    He listened attentively to the person.

e.    He used the Scriptures to address their point of need.

f.      He focused on Jesus.

9.    Some extra advice about witnessing gleaned from my personal experience:

a.    Avoid tangents and rabbit trails. Stay on point.

b.    Use your own testimony. It is powerful!

c.     Use simple words. Avoid “Christianese.” You are not there to impress.

d.    Look the person in the eye.

e.    Keep focusing on Jesus!

f.      Practice sharing the Good News every chance you get. Witnessing is like riding a bicycle. You will fall off a few times at first, but it will get easier until it eventually feels totally normal. (See 1 Peter 3:15)

P.S.

It is amazing to me that God pulled Philip away from a large evangelistic crusade in Samaria to go and take the Gospel to one man down in the Gaza desert. WHY? Because God is concerned not only for the masses, but also for a single hungry heart.