Acts 8:26-39 And the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza… The little that is known about Philip, the deacon and evangelist, may very soon be told. His name suggests, though by no means conclusively, that he was probably one of the so-called Hellenists, or foreign-born and Greek-speaking Jews. This is made the more probable because he was one of the seven selected by the Church, and after selection appointed by the apostles to dispense relief to the poor. The purpose of the appointment being to conciliate the grumblers in the Hellenist section of the Church, the persons chosen would probably belong to it. He left Jerusalem during the persecution "that arose after the death of Stephen." As we know, he was the first preacher of the gospel in Samaria; he was next the instrument honoured to carry the Word to the first heathen ever gathered into the Church; and then, after a journey along the seacoast to Caesarea, the then seat of government, he remained in that place in obscure toil for twenty years; dropped out of the story; and we hear no more about him but for one glimpse of his home in Caesarea. I. We may gather a thought as to CHRIST'S SOVEREIGNTY IN CHOOSING HIS INSTRUMENTS. Did you ever notice that events exactly contradicted the notion of the Church, and of the apostles, in the selection of Philip and his six brethren? The apostles said, "It is not reason that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables. Pick out seven relieving-officers — men who shall do the secular work of the Church." So said man. And what did facts say? That out of these twelve, who were to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word, we never hear that by far the larger proportion of them were honoured to do anything worth mentioning for the spread of the gospel. But, on the other hand, of the men that were supposed to be fitted for secular work, two at all events had more to do in the expansion of the Church, and in the development of the universal aspects of Christ's gospel, than the whole of the original group of apostles. So Christ picks His instruments. Christ chooses His instruments where He will; and it is not the apostle's business, nor the business of an ecclesiastic of any sort, to settle his own work or anybody else's. The Commander-in-Chief keeps the choosing of the men for special service in His own hand. Christ says, "Go and join thyself to that chariot," and speak there the speech that I shall bid thee. Brethren, do you listen for that voice calling you to your tasks, and never mind what men may be saying. II. The next lesson that I would take from this story is the spontaneous speech of a believing heart. There came a persecution that scattered the Church. Men tried to fling down the lamp, and all they did was to spill the oil, and it ran flaming wherever it went. And so we read that, not by appointment, nor of set purpose, nor in consequence of any official sanction, nor in consequence of any supernatural and distinct commandment from heaven, but just because it was the natural thing to do, and they could not help it, they went everywhere, these scattered men of Cyprus and Cyrene, preaching the Word. And when this Philip, whom the officials had relegated to the secular work of distributing charity, found himself in Samaria, he did the like. So it always will be; we can all talk about what we are interested in. The full heart cannot be condemned to silence. Do you carry with you the impulse for utterance of Christ's name wherever you go? And is it so sweet in your hearts that you cannot but let its sweetness have expression by your lips? III. Another lesson that seems to me strikingly illustrated by the story with which we are concerned, is THE GUIDANCE OF A DIVINE HAND IN COMMON LIFE, AND WHEN THERE ARE NO VISIBLE NOR SUPERNATURAL SIGNS. Philip goes down to Samaria because he must, and speaks because he cannot help it, He is next bidden to take a long journey, from the centre of the land, away down to the southern desert; and at a certain point there the Spirit says to him, "Go! join thyself to this chariot." And when his work with the Ethiopian statesman is done, then he is swept away by the power of the Spirit of God, as Ezekiel had been long before by the banks of the river Chebor, and is set down, no doubt all bewildered and breathless, at Azotus — the ancient Ashdod — the Philistine city, down on the low-lying coast. Was Philip less under Christ's guidance when miracle ceased and he was left to ordinary powers? Did it seem to him as if his task in preaching the gospel in these villages through which he passed on his way to Caesarea was less distinctly obedience to the Divine command than when he heard the utterance of the Spirit, "Go down to the road which leads to Gaza, which is desert"? By no means. To this man, as to every faithful soul, the guidance that came through his own judgment and common sense, through the instincts and impulses of his sanctified nature, by the circumstances which he devoutly believed to be God's providence, was as truly direct Divine guidance as if all the angels of heaven had blown the commandment with their trumpets into his waiting and stunned ears. And so you and I have to go upon our paths without angel voices, or chariots of storm, and to be contented with Divine commandments less audible or perceptible to our senses than this man had at one point in his career. There is no gulf for the devout heart between what is called miraculous and what is called ordinary and common. Equally in both did God manifest His will to His servants, and equally in both is His presence capable of realisation. We do not need to envy Philip's brilliant beginning. Let us see that we imitate his quiet close of life. IV. The last lesson that I would draw is this. — THE NOBILITY OF PERSISTENCE IN UNNOTICED WORK. What a contrast to the triumphs in Samaria, and the other great expansion of the field for the gospel effected by the God-commanded preaching to the eunuch, is presented by the succeeding twenty years of altogether unrecorded but faithful toil! Persistence in such unnoticed work is made all the more difficult, and to any but a very true man would have been all but impossible, by reason of the contrast which such work offered to the glories of the earlier days. Philip, who began so conspicuously, and so suddenly ceased to be the special instrument in the hands of the Spirit, kept plod, plod, plodding on with no bitterness of heart. For twenty years he had no share in the development of Gentile Christianity, of which he had sowed the first seed, but had to do much less conspicuous work. He toiled away there in Caesarea patient, persevering, and contented, because he loved the work. He seemed to be passed over by his Lord in His choice of instruments. It was he who was selected to be the first man that should preach to the heathen. But did you ever notice that, although he was probably in Caesarea at the time, Cornelius was not bid to apply to Philip, who was at his elbow, but to send to Joppa for the Apostle Peter? Philip might have sulked, and said, "Why was I not chosen to do this work? I will speak no more in this Name." It did not fall to his lot to be the apostle to the Gentiles. One who came after him was preferred before him, and the Hellenist Saul was set to the task which might have seemed naturally to belong to the Hellenist Philip. He cordially welcomed Paul to his house in Caesarea twenty years afterwards, and rejoiced that one sows and another reaps; and so the division of labour is the multiplication of gladness. A beautiful superiority to all the low thoughts that are apt to mar our persistency in unobtrusive and unrecognised work is set before us in this story. Boys in the street will refuse to join in games, saying, "I shall not play unless I am captain, or have the big drum." And there are not wanting Christian men who lay down like conditions. "Play well thy part," wherever it is. Never mind the honour. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. |
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