Acts 8:26-40: The Ethiopian Eunuch

Watch this lesson on YouTube, or listen to it here.     

1)     This is a neat story because until this point we have only seen mass preaching and conversions. This section is different though because we’re going to have a conversion between two people.

A)   Most of us will not stand before crowds of people, or hostile inquisition mobs and have the chance to proclaim Jesus to the masses.

B)    Most of us WILL have a chance to talk to the people in our lives about spiritual things though, and this story is a great example of what that might look like.

2)     First, there is such a thing as a receptive heart vs. not.

A)   There are just some people who are not interested in the Gospel, and we need to be realistic about this.

1)     Matt. 7 – The context is important for this passage.

(a)   vv. 1-2 – Judge not

(b)   vv. 3-5 – Get the log out of your own eye first

(c)   *v. 6 – Even so, you still need to be mindful and discerning, and there is such a thing as wasting our time.

(d)   ESVSB – “Believers are to be merciful, forgiving, and slow to judge (7:1–5), yet they should wisely discern the true character of people and not indefinitely continue proclaiming the gospel to those who adamantly reject it, so that they can move on and proclaim the gospel to others.”

2)     Matt. 10:14 / Mk. 6:11 / Lk. 9:5 – Jesus to his disciples when he sent them out to preach: “If anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.”

3)     Matt. 13 – The parable of the sower. Some hearts will receive the word and produce fruit, and some (most?) will not. The way is narrow.

4)     Acts 13:46 – The Gospel was for the Jews first, and Paul especially always made it a habit to go to the synagogue first; but when it became apparent that the Jewish people were not interested in the Gospel he moved on the Gentiles.

5)     Reality

(a)   I say things all the time like this, and I really believe it’s true, “As long as there is breath in a person’s lungs there is a chance for them to respond to the Gospel and be saved.

(b)   Our job is to plant seeds, and sometimes it takes years and decades for those seeds to grow in people’s hearts. Both are true.

(c)   But listen – There are some people who are just not interested in the Gospel or spiritual things at all; and no matter how much we may love them and want them to respond to the Gospel, there’s not a person alive who can make another person care about the spiritual things.

(d)   I’ve had several conversations with a lot of you lately about people in your lives asking questions or what do we say when our friends write things on the internet. Jesus called us to be a shrewd as serpents, and we need to discern whether or not a person is being adversarial and difficult and disruptive, or if they’re searching for the truth because these two things are different.

B)    What does a person who is receptive to the Gospel look like? This is just one example.

1)     Acts 8:26-28

2)     This is not modern Ethiopia, but somewhere in central Sudan.

(a)   It was about a 1500-mile trip and would have taken about 5 months to go one way (St. Louis to NY City, San Diego, CA)

3)     v. 27b – He went to Jerusalem to worship

(a)   We don’t know if he was Jewish, or a Jewish convert, BUT because he was a eunuch, he would not be allowed to worship with the rest of God’s people (Deut. 23:1).

4)     v. 28 – He was reading the Bible and obviously trying to understand it.

5)     Matt. 7:7-8. Jesus made a promise. If a person is looking for him, then he will allow himself to be found. In this case, God sent Philip to the Ethiopian.

6)     vv. 29-31

(a)   I’m not telling you that every single person is the exact same in every way.

(b)   But this is what an open-minded person looks like.

3)     vv. 32-35 – Preaching the Gospel

A)   The passage he was reading was Is. 53:7-8.

1)     Context: Is. 53:2-12

B)    Ethiopian: Who is this who was despised and rejected, but he was pierced for our transgressions?

C)    Philip: Let me tell you about Jesus!

D)   v. 35 – “and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.”

1)     Philip started right where this man was at that moment.

(a)   I wonder if Philip turned a couple pages over and read Is. 56:3-8.

2)     Peter is going to start at a different place with Cornelius.

3)     Paul is going to start in a different place with idol worshipers in Acts 17.

4)     Lesson: We meet people right where they are, AND WE TEACH ABOUT JESUS FROM THERE.

4)     vv. 36-38 – The Ethiopian’s response

A)   I don’t know exactly what Philip’s conversation looked like, but teaching people about Jesus is not complete until we talk about the next step:

1)     This is the good news of Jesus Christ,

2)     And this is what you need to do about that next. The Gospel demands action.

B)    Baptism

1)     Acts 2:37 – What do we do? V. 38 – Repent and be baptized.

2)     Acts 8:12 – When the Samaritans believed they were baptized.

A)   Bock – “…even a brief encounter in the midst of travel can allow the gospel to spread.”

C)    vv. 38-39 – Baptism is immersion.

1)     He was travelling a long way through the desert. Surely he had water on board. If baptism was a matter of pouring or sprinkling, then he could have just done that.

5)     vv. 39-40 – Keep on working

A)   Philip – back to work. There are more people who need the Gospel.

1)     v. 39 is strange, but also encouraging.

2)     cf. vv. 26, 30. The Spirit saw that the Eunuch needed the Gospel, so he sent Philip to him.

3)     We don’t know who it is that needs the Gospel now, but the Spirit is making sure that Philip gets to that person to.

B)    Lesson: No matter whapt you may have done in the past, there’s still work to do today, so let’s get busy.