The disciples of Jesus?

[Acts 8:26-40]

The self-portrait of American pastors today, what is it? The Barna Group, an organization focused on church, ministry, and faith-related research, conducted a telephone survey of 627 pastors nationwide on their self-perception. The survey results summarized the pastors' self-perception on various aspects, including their ministry and interpersonal relationships, into seven categories. Among them, the second category is most relevant to today's passage: As educators, disciple trainers, and leaders, they showed high self-confidence. 98% of pastors responded 'I am a competent Bible teacher.' 9 out of 10 responded 'I am a competent leader,' saying they have a clear vision. 8 out of 10 responded 'I am a competent disciple trainer.' 7 out of 10 responded positively to 'I am closely involved in the local community.' Indeed, are our pastors as competent Bible teachers, leaders, and disciple trainers as American pastors stated in this survey? If that is the case... If the self-perception of our pastors or immigrant pastors in Korean churches aligns with what American pastors believe - that they are truly competent Bible teachers, leaders, and disciple trainers - then it raises the question: where are our disciples? It could be one of two things: (1) The pastors' self-perception is a misconception, or (2) The members, while refusing to receive proper biblical education and guidance from pastors, may not be living as disciples even though they receive disciple training. David Kinnaman, the director of this survey, said, ‘While most pastors responded that they have a clear vision, very few pastors articulate the specific vision facing their own churches. Additionally, pastors who claim to be closely involved in local churches often focus on church-centered programs that do not extend beyond the church walls. Many pastors responded that their churches are theologically conservative and have competent disciple trainers, but only a few are developing a biblical worldview among the members’ (Internet).

What about our church? What is the self-perception of our ministers? Do we truly consider ourselves as competent ministers? Do we perhaps think of ourselves as competent disciple trainers? What about the members? How many of them are striving and putting effort into living the life of a true disciple? Under the title “The disciples of Jesus?” based on today's passage Acts 8:26-40, I will reflect on whether we are all truly living as disciples of Jesus through the example of Philip the evangelist, who was a disciple of Jesus, and receive guidance.

First, a disciple of Jesus obeys the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to obey the Holy Spirit? To obey the Holy Spirit means that, as we remain faithful to the teachings of the Bible, we make a decision to obey when the Holy Spirit helps us understand God's will within those teachings. The Holy Spirit governs and guides us through the teachings of the Bible. Therefore, we should meditate on the word of God (day and night) and receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit through it. Obedience to His guidance is the life of a disciple of Jesus. How then should we obey the Holy Spirit?

We need to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

We must receive His guidance. Look at Acts 8:26, 29, which we read today. We see Philip the evangelist, who listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit. In other words, we can see Philip, who receives the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Look at Acts 8:2, 29: "Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' This is a desert place" (v. 26), "And the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go over and join this chariot'" (v. 29).

We must have an attitude of willingness to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit, regardless of whether His guidance seems favorable or not.

Look at Jeremiah 42:6 - "Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God..." In Acts 8:26-27, we see that Philip obeyed the voice of the Lord, even though from a human perspective, there were probably one or two issues that made it seem unfavorable:

The first issue is that the road the Holy Spirit commanded Philip to take, "the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza," was a desert road.

In other words, it was a dangerous path, yet Philip the evangelist obeyed the command of the Lord. The road he was instructed to take was through a desolate and perilous desert.

The second issue was that the Ethiopian eunuch had dark skin and, from the perspective of the Jews, was considered a physically impure individual due to his emasculation (Park).

Such individuals were seen as unclean and impure by the Jews (Yoo). Nevertheless, Philip obeyed the voice of the Holy Spirit. In a way, Philip the evangelist had no preconceived notions. He went to the Samaritans, who were despised by the Jews, to preach the gospel, and in today's passage, he approached the Ethiopian eunuch, who was considered impure and unclean.

We must believe that listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit brings blessings to us.

Look at Jeremiah 42:6b - "...if we obey the voice of the LORD our God, it will be well with us." The Bible clearly states that obeying God's word brings blessings, while disobedience brings curses. What did Philip do when he heard the voice of the Holy Spirit? When the Holy Spirit commanded, "Rise and go" (Acts 8:26), Philip the evangelist "rose and went" (v. 27). Interestingly, when the Holy Spirit commanded, "Go over and join this chariot" (v. 29), Philip the evangelist immediately 'ran' to the chariot that the Ethiopian eunuch was riding (v. 30) (Park). Philip the evangelist was agile and prompt in listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit and obeying it. How about us? Are we agile and prompt in obeying God's word?

We must abandon bad habits to succeed: It is said that there are three common bad habits that should always be avoided in sales, referred to as the "3 Ps": Perfection, Procrastination, and Paralysis (internet):

Perfection:

Some people live in fear of failure in anything they do and expect everything to be 'perfect' in every aspect. They believe that they should never make a mistake, never show flaws to others, and never receive criticism. They think that they must do things perfectly without a single mistake. Such people can never become proactive. To succeed, one must not fear temporary mistakes, not be discouraged by failures, and strive steadily.

Procrastination:

These are people who never do things right away, always saying, 'I'll do it later. I'll do it later.' They never have a sense of urgency to get things done promptly. There is a humorous story of a timid friend who, upon seeing a thief crossing the fence, said, 'This darn thief, just watch him come into the yard,' and as the thief entered the yard, said, 'This darn thief, just watch him come up to the porch,' then as the thief came up to the porch, said, 'This darn thief, just watch him come into the room,' and in the end, the thief stole everything and escaped, and the friend said, 'This darn thief, just wait until he tries to come back' (Internet). Those who keep postponing things end up becoming unproductive and stagnant.

Paralysis:

These individuals lack enthusiasm in everything they do. They don't even attempt to try anything and just sit down, saying, 'It's not my thing, it's beyond my capabilities.'

Among these three bad habits, when we consider them in relation to today's passage, the bad habit we must be especially cautious of is "procrastination" - delaying, postponing, and hesitating. Even though we know that when the Holy Spirit gives us insight through God's word and speaks to us, we should immediately obey, like Philip the evangelist, we often hesitate and delay in our obedience. We can see an example of the Israelites in Elijah's time who hesitated. Look at 1 Kings 18:21 - "And Elijah came near to all the people and said, 'How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.' And the people did not answer him a word." Hesitation, silence, and being unable to be immediate and alert in obedience are factors that hinder prompt and obedient action.

Like Philip the evangelist in today's passage, we must be agile and immediately obedient to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As disciples of Jesus, we should be prompt and obedient just like Philip.

Second and last, Jesus' disciples proclaim the gospel.

By observing Philip the evangelist's prompt and immediate obedience to the voice of the Holy Spirit and his dialogue with the Ethiopian eunuch, we can reflect on and find lessons about how to spread the gospel:

In order to proclaim the gospel, we must immediately obey the voice of the Holy Spirit when He says, "Rise and go."

We must not sit and delay when the voice of the Holy Spirit commands us to go. Especially, as this year's slogan states, we should strive to be winners of souls (Prov. 11:30). In order to win souls, when the Holy Spirit works in our hearts through His word and commands us to rise and go to the souls (people) whom God loves, we must say "yes" and obey.

When the Holy Spirit says, "Rise and go," we must obey His word and proceed with the heart of God.

For this, we must pray. Why did God suddenly send Philip the evangelist to an Ethiopian eunuch, a Gentile considered physically impure and unclean, after using him to perform miracles and preach the gospel to many in Samaria? In her commentary, Dr. Yoon-seon Park pointed out three things: (1) We can see God's zeal for the salvation of Gentiles, (2) We can understand how great God's faithfulness is even to preach to just one person, (3) When the eunuch happened to be reading from Isaiah, God led Philip to him, showing that God more earnestly commends believers to share the gospel when they seek His grace more diligently (Park).

We must keep in mind that the Holy Spirit commanded, "Go near."

When we see that the Holy Spirit commanded Philip the evangelist to go near the chariot that the Ethiopian eunuch was riding, we realize that we need caution and wisdom when approaching those we encounter in our lives. While there are times, like Philip in Samaria, when we boldly proclaim the gospel to a group of people in a public setting, when approaching an individual soul, it is also wise to come near and linger rather than just approaching them abruptly. Ultimately, when Philip the evangelist went near the chariot where the Ethiopian eunuch was riding, he saw the eunuch inviting him onto the chariot, saying, "Please come up and sit with me" (v. 31).

It is good to initiate a conversation from the perspective of the other person's situation.

Initiating a conversation from the other person's situation means that when Philip the evangelist went near the chariot where the Ethiopian eunuch was riding, he heard the eunuch reading from the prophet Isaiah and asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" The fact that it is mentioned twice in verses 28 and 30 that the Ethiopian eunuch was reading from the book of Isaiah indicates that he was seriously pondering and trying to understand Isaiah's words, especially Isaiah 53:7-8 (Yoo). Therefore, the first question Philip the evangelist asked in their conversation was related to the book of Isaiah, which the Ethiopian eunuch was clearly contemplating. When we share the gospel, we need to be sensitive to the other person. We should promptly listen to their concerns. It's not just about speaking our own words. Proverbs 18:2 warns, "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion." How does Proverbs 20:5 describe a wise person? "The purposes of a person's heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out."

We must teach about Jesus and proclaim the gospel.

Look at Acts 8:35 - "Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus." When the Ethiopian eunuch realized that Philip was referring to the passage he was reading (v. 30) and explained that he couldn't understand it without someone to guide him (v. 31), he invited Philip onto his chariot and asked him about the identity of the servant mentioned in Isaiah 53:7-8 (v. 34). In response, Philip opened his mouth, starting from Isaiah 53:7-8, and preached Jesus to the Ethiopian eunuch. Professor Sang-seop Yoo explains: ‘At that time, scholars unanimously understood the content of Isaiah 53 as a prophecy about the suffering servant of the Lord, namely the suffering Messiah, just as Jesus taught his disciples. At that time, scholars either interpreted this passage as referring to the prophet Isaiah's own suffering or as the suffering of the entire nation of Israel. Furthermore, the concept of the suffering of the Messiah did not exist in their thinking at all. Therefore, at that time, people never dreamed that the suffering servant mentioned in the book of Isaiah would be the Messiah, a descendant of David’ (Yoo). Therefore, when the Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip who the passage was referring to, saying, "Is the prophet speaking of himself or of someone else?" (Acts 8:34), Philip preached Jesus, starting from Isaiah 53:7-8, presenting Jesus as the Good News.

We must administer baptism.

In Acts 8:38, when they came to a body of water, the eunuch asked, "Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?" (v. 36). Both of them went down into the water, and Philip baptized the Ethiopian eunuch. This aligns with the obedience of Philip the evangelist to the command in Matthew 28:19: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Applying this command to ourselves, we are to go and proclaim the gospel, make disciples, lead them into the church, and, through the pastor, administer baptism.

We are disciples of Jesus. As disciples of Jesus, we must be obedient to the Holy Spirit. In our obedience, we must heed the voice of the Holy Spirit, regardless of whether it seems favorable or unfavorable. The voice that the Holy Spirit imparts to us is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must listen to this voice and be obedient. We must go to the heart of Christ and share the gospel with souls dying in sin. I hope and pray that we may live as disciples of Jesus, empowered by His grace.

By the grace of God, ordained as a disciple of Jesus,

James Kim

(Praying for sensitivity to the voice of the Holy Spirit and obedience)