The Power of Baptism

April 21, 2018 Fourth Sunday of Easter Year B Acts 8:26-40 The Power of Baptism Children’s time: the children will welcome a new child for baptism. Acts 8:26-40 Common English Bible (CEB) Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch 26 An angel from the Lord spoke to Philip, “At noon, take[a] the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) 27 So he did. Meanwhile, an Ethiopian man was on his way home from Jerusalem, where he had come to worship. He was a eunuch and an official responsible for the entire treasury of Candace. (Candace is the title given to the Ethiopian queen.) 28 He was reading the prophet Isaiah while sitting in his carriage. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Approach this carriage and stay with it.” 30 Running up to the carriage, Philip heard the man reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you really understand what you are reading?” 31 The man replied, “Without someone to guide me, how could I?” Then he invited Philip to climb up and sit with him. 32 This was the passage of scripture he was reading: Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent so he didn’t open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was taken away from him. Who can tell the story of his descendants because his life was taken from the earth?[b] 34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, about whom does the prophet say this? Is he talking about himself or someone else?” 35 Starting with that passage, Philip proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him. 36 As they went down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look! Water! What would keep me from being baptized?”[c] 38 He ordered that the carriage halt. Both Philip and the eunuch went down to the water, where Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Lord’s Spirit suddenly took Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip found himself in Azotus. He traveled through that area, preaching the good news in all the cities until he reached Caesarea. Footnotes: a. Acts 8:26 Or travel south along b. Acts 8:33 Isa 53:7-8 c. Acts 8:36 Critical editions of the Gk New Testament do not include 8:37 Philip said to him, “If you believe with all your heart, you can be.” The eunuch answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is God’s Son.” Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible They say that there is a reason that God gives us two ears and only one mouth. It is twice as important to use our ears to hear, than it is to use our mouth to speak. In order to have a relationship with anyone, we have to be able to listen to them. Our relationship with God starts with God listening to us. When we pray, we are asking God to listen to us. We become a Christian when we realize that God cares about us. Before we can care for God, God tells us the God cares about us. When we are finally able to listen to God, we are called to help others to listen also. We get them to listen, by informing them of God’s love. Our lives depend on it. That is what evangelism is all about – spreading the good news of God’s love for us. It is interesting that for most people in the pews today, evangelism is a bad word. None of us want to go up the strangers and start talking about God. None of us want to tell others about our faith. Telling others about Jesus Christ is just something that you do in this day and age. What if I told you that spreading the good news of Jesus Christ is not so much about what you say, as it is your ability to listen. Remember you only have one mouth, but you have two ears for a reason. I am excited as I read this story of Philip in the book of Acts – because it is a story of Philip learning to listen. It was in his ability to listen, that he learned to respond to the situation. Remember the book of Acts is the story of how the holy spirit started the church. And the main character in this story is the holy Spirit. The spirit told Philip to travel down this road, and the spirit told him to minister to whomever he met. Philip listens to the Ethiopian official before saying anything. He hears that the man is trying to understand the book of Isaiah. Philip never really leads the conversation, he answers the mans questions. Being that the man feels that he is heard, and that God cares, he is willing to become a believer himself. The spirit tells Philip that his work is done and he can move on. To listen to the lives of others. Our lesson is that when we are trying to bring others to Christ, all we have to do is listen to their story, and then to be willing to tell them our story. When we are able to listen the Holy Spirit is willing to speak and show others God’s love. Listening to others is not just the secret to bringing others to Christ. It is the secret to all of our relationships. A woman went to see a divorce lawyer. Frantically she told him, "I must have a divorce from my husband immediately!" The lawyer asked, "Do you have any grounds?" "Yes, about five acres." "I mean, do you have a grudge?" the lawyer questioned. "No, just a carport." Then the lawyer asked, "Does he beat you up?" "No," the woman replied, "I get up before he does." Exasperated, the attorney demanded, "Madam, why do you want a divorce from your husband?" "Because it is impossible to communicate with that man!" Question: How well do we hear God's voice? If we want someone to respond to us, we have to do that by learning to listen, then the words that need to be said will all fall into place. A boy with a record of juvenile delinquency spelled out clearly what he really needed in a letter, just before he ran away from home. Dear Folks, You asked me why I did those things and why I gave you so much trouble, and the answer is easy for me to give you, but I wonder if you will understand. Remember when I was about six or seven and I used to want you to just listen to me? I remember all the nice things you gave me for Christmas and my birthday. I was really happy with the things — for about a week — at the time I got those things, but the rest of the time during the year I really didn't want presents. I just wanted for you to listen to me like I was a somebody who felt things, too, because even when I was young I felt things. But you said you were busy. Mom, you are a wonderful cook, and you had everything so clean and you were tired so much from doing all those things that made you so busy, but, you know something, Mom? I would have liked crackers and peanut butter just as well if you had only sat down with me a while during the day and said to me: "Tell me all about it so I can maybe help you understand." If Donna ever has children, I hope you will tell her to just pay some attention to the one who doesn't smile very much because that one will really be crying inside. And when she's about to bake six dozen cookies, tell her to make sure first that the kids don't want to tell her about a dream or a hope or something. Thoughts are important to small kids, even though they don't have so many words to use when they tell about what they have inside them. I think that all the kids who are doing so many things that grown-ups are tearing out their hair worrying about are really looking for somebody who really and truly will treat them as they would a grown-up who might be useful to them, you know — polite-like. If you folks had ever said to me: "Pardon me" when you interrupted me, I'd have dropped dead! Your son Someone with time, someone who will listen and hear — that's what young people want today. That's what all of us want. Jesus heard the cries of the weary. He calls us to do the same. He wants us to hear what he says and what people are really saying. That's why he died on the cross — to open our ears and our minds to what is really happening instead of what seems to be happening. Philip was able to listen to the Ethiopian Official in a way that actually changed his life for the better and made a difference. As I was preparing for today – I realized some interesting lessons in this story. We don’t know why the Ethiopian was in Jerusalem. Or even what drew him to even have an interest in the Jewish faith. He had been castrated, probably at an early age. Deuteronomy 23 specifically says that a castrated male cannot be a part of the faith. But for some reason, something spoke to him about this faith. He wanted to know more, in the midst of all of the human exclusion, he heard that God loved him. God sent someone to teach him and to baptize him. That is the good news of the faith -we are able to give love, because God loves us first. God has a plan for us that goes all the way back to before we were born. God watches that plan unfold in our lives, and God is leading us, God is speaking to us, God sends people into our lives to show us even more love. Even though he was excluded from joining the church, somehow he knew that God’s grace was working in his life. That is what baptism is all about, us experiencing the grace of God that has been there even before we were born. God’s grace comes upon us before we are born. If our parents recognize God’s grace, we are baptized. Baptism brings more grace into our lives. And as we live, and God sends people into our lives, that grace grows until we are able to speak for ourselves. Once we can speak, and we can think that grace continues to grow, it gives us a better life, and it empowers us to give that better life to others. And when we finally stand before God, it is that grace that unites us with God. The story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch reveals what true evangelism is about and how it's carried out. It's one of the best resources for unpacking what Florence Nightingale meant when she said that all of Christianity could be expressed in 8 one-syllable words, four of which are spoken by God, and four spoken by us: "Lo, it is I" (God's initiative) and "Here I am, Lord" (our response). It's God's work to ready the heart. It's God's work to set the stage. It's God's work to let the Spirit blow where it may. It's our work to help people hear God speaking in their lives, "Lo, it is I." And it is our work to help people speak to God in reply, "Here I am, Lord." Baptism is God’s way of saying – I am listening to you. I care about you. And I am sending my grace to you life, so that you can know that you are never alone. Whenever your heart speaks – I care. Some Christians believe that baptism is something one agrees to when one becomes a believer. Other Christians believe that baptism is a sacrament, that it bestows faith. It doesn't matter. Baptism is a sign of one's faith. The eunuch went back to Ethiopia, cleaned by baptism, in union with Christ, and ready to start a new life. The existence of the Ethiopian Orthodox church today might be a witness to the eunuch's powerful witness. Who knows? The point is this: The Ethiopian eunuch found identity in Christ and probably shared the hope of a meaningful new identity with others. What identifies us is our unity in and with Christ. He called us; we answered; we have returned to him. We are his. What does it mean to belong to him? I think that as we welcome Henry into the Christian family it is important to remember that helping him to understand what it means to be a Christian is not so much about teaching him as it is about listening to him. It is not in telling him who to be, but in listening to who he is. He is a child of God, loved by God, God has a plan for his life, and we get to be a part of that plan. Our confirmand have also started their journey this week – our young people need to know that they are valued and that they have something to contribute. And that God speaks to all of us on the journey- so we all have something to contribute to the faith. Faith is remembering that it is twice as important to listen as it is to speak. It is knowing that God is listening, and God sends people in our lives to remind us that God cares. A teenage virtuoso pianist played his heart out to a large audience. At the end, as he walked off the stage, the audience stood and applauded. The man behind the curtain told the boy to go out and take a bow. "No," the boy replied, "I can't." "Why not?" asked the man. "They are all standing and applauding." "Not all of them," the young pianist replied. "The man in the back row in the balcony is still sitting." "That's only one," the man said. "What's so important about him?" "He's my teacher," the boy meekly replied as he watched from behind the curtain. "I was playing for him." Just then the man in the back row stood up and joined in the standing ovation. Isn't that what life is all about? Not pleasing everyone, but keeping our eyes on the one we call our Lord, our leader, our teacher? Think of the end of your life and imagine the Lord giving you a standing ovation and saying, "Enter into the joy of your master." Isn't that the most important thing of all? May God bless our children. May they go through life knowing that there is always someone listening to them, supporting them, guiding them. That is the secret to bringing more people in from the outside. God has heard your cry – will you hear the cry of others. Listening is what gives us life. Let us pray……. Additional illustrations… When we see what our leader and teacher has done for us, we want to serve him. We want to be like him. We can ignore the cheers or boos of the crowd and seek only to please Jesus, the servant leader. Back in the '60s, a real "hip" kid attended the morning service of worship at an upper-class church. The pastor greeted him at the door. The groovy kid grabbed the minister's hand and said, "Dad, I really dug that sermon!" The staid pastor was taken by surprise and said, "Young man, I don't understand." The beatnik answered, "Dad, I really ‘went' for that sermon; it really came down the middle, man, loud and cool; it was like, gone, man." The minister's dignity was rattled and he decided to confront the young man with some propriety. He said, "Son, I just don't understand what you are trying to say; perhaps you could use some appropriate English." The loose-shirted, blue-jeaned, and sandaled lad tried again. "Dad, what I really mean is, I really went for what you had to say, so much so that I put 100 smackeroos in the collection plate." Suddenly the cast of enlightenment crossed the face of the minister and he said, "Crazy, man, crazy!" Some years ago, in the '80s, a tour director led some of the older ladies in his group after the evening meal down Kurfuerstendam, the main street of Berlin. The streets were crowded by punkers, one outfit more outrageous than the other. As the leader approached one particular punker, she noticed something furry on his shoulder chained by a pin to his ear. She was startled to discover that it was a rat. A bit of a mean streak seized her and she quickly stepped aside in order to observe the reaction of the lady next in line. The punker also attracted the interest of the tourist. The woman approached him with curiosity, closing in order to figure out what he had on his shoulder. When she realized that she was almost within kissing distance of a live rat, she yelled and jumped backward a considerable distance. The punker, of course, loved it. He delighted in shocking the people walking along Kurfuerstendam. He had found identity and he wanted to flaunt it. In a city that, before the reunification of Germany, was a symbol of lost hopes and futility, the punker found "success" with purple hair, with an outrageous costume, and with a rat pinned to his ear. All Philip asked was what God gave him, "Do you understand what you are reading?" I can guarantee that people are more ready to talk about spiritual things than we are ready to initiate it. Dr. Waylon Moore encourages us in witnessing "never to presuppose a negative response" in speaking to people about Jesus! 3. Listen to them and then answer them with Jesus: You don't have to have all the answers. Just listen and then tell them about what the Bible says about Jesus. "Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus." Philip hadn't had years of training or school; Christianity had just begun. But he knew and had experienced Jesus. So he listened and then testified. The eunuch knew God, but now he knew Jesus! 4. Don't make it harder than it is: Obviously Philip told him more specifics than we have recorded because the hungry eunuch knew enough to ask to be baptized. But he had faith and he wanted to fulfill God's wishes for him, so he asked to be baptized. "Why shouldn't I be baptized?" Yes, why not? God had done his job in giving faith. Let's not add any more than Scripture does to give people assurance of faith! 5. Keep at it: Philip had the privilege of baptizing a new Christian, but he didn't get to see the eunuch grow up spiritually. That's okay, Philip just kept on doing what God was calling him to do: "preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea." Don't give up. Every day ask God to help you find a eunuch! Each morning as you put in your spiritual hearing aids, be sure you turn them loud enough to hear God say to you what he said to his Son at his baptism: "You are my beloved child. I love you and I am well pleased with you!" Ooh, I like that. Now I can take on the world for Jesus! "