Sermons:
What Love Looks Like 1 John 4:7-21,
by Rev. Randy Quinn
Spiritual Guides Acts 8:26-40,
by Rev.
Randy L Quinn
Evidence that Demands a Verdict,
1 John 4:7-21,
by Rev. Thomas Hall
And Now . . . a Word from Our Sponsor,
John 15:1-8, by Rev. Tom Hall
Mother's Day Sermons:
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A Convenient Story
based on Acts 8:26-40
Rev. Karen A. Goltz
A few
weeks ago at the pastors’ text study that I attend, one of my colleagues made
the comment that he thought the book of Acts was written by a PR guy for the
church. I kind of agree with him. Everything happens a little too perfectly
in Acts. By the beginning of the fourth chapter, Peter has preached two
sermons, and a total of eight thousand devout Jews abandon their heritage and
religion, get baptized, and become followers of the way of Jesus. Peter gets
arrested, preaches another sermon, and is let go. He and the other apostles
continue preaching, and the church grows at an insane rate, with all believers
living in perfect harmony with one another, unencumbered by greed, mistrust,
ego, differences of opinion on how things should be done, or any of the other
human failings that have plagued every other institution I’ve ever heard of,
religious or otherwise.
The church is growing so quickly that they
have to form a social ministry team, which consists of Stephen, Philip, and
some others. This impresses the people of Jerusalem so much that now even
some of the priests begin to follow the way of Jesus.
Now the religious authorities are getting
really peeved, and they arrest Stephen on false charges. At his trial,
Stephen preaches a sermon, which really ticks them off, and they take him out
of the city, have a young guy named Saul watch their coats, and then throw
rocks at Stephen until he dies. First real negative thing to happen to the
church, but Stephen faces it with grace and courage, the model for all martyrs
to come, and doesn’t seem to mind dying at all. He even pulls a Jesus, and
prays that God will forgive his murderers even as they’re in the very act of
murdering him.
Now this young guy Saul who watched
everyone’s coats while they were stoning Stephen decides he hates the church,
and engages in a serious persecution of the church in Jerusalem. (You might
recall that this same guy will later have an amazing conversion experience on
his way to Damascus, change his name to Paul, and become the greatest
missionary of all time.) But before this happens he persecutes the believers
in Jerusalem, and this persecution has the unintended consequence of
scattering the believers all over the countryside and the surrounding cities,
where they can now preach about Jesus to whole new groups of people who
haven’t heard it before. Even the longtime nemesis of righteous Jews, the
people of Samaria, become followers of Jesus.
Then we get to today’s reading. An angel of
the Lord speaks to Philip and tells him where to go. Don’t you just hate it
when that happens? And when he goes, he meets an Ethiopian eunuch who’s
reading the Hebrew Scriptures. And not just any part of the Hebrew
Scriptures, but the part of Isaiah that just happens to be talking about the
suffering servant, probably the easiest passage in the entire Hebrew bible to
interpret in regards to Jesus. Which of course Philip does, and then of
course the Ethiopian eunuch is baptized, and Philip is snatched away by the
Spirit of the Lord (again, something that I’m sure happens to all of you on a
regular basis) and is deposited to another place, where without missing a beat
he continues to proclaim the good news.
The whole book of Acts continues like that,
with everything getting set up just perfectly for the optimum effect of
growing the church. It all seems so convenient, and maybe a little
contrived. I mean, of all the passages of the Hebrew Scriptures to be
reading, the Ethiopian eunuch just happens to be reading that one from Isaiah?
[continue]
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