When God s GPS Re-Routes You Sermon Series: WOVEN Sunday, March 2, 2014 Dr. Victor D. Pentz Senior Pastor Scripture Lesson: Acts 8:26-40 May I ask how many of you use a GPS? I have two one on my cell phone and one that came in my car. The one in my car needs up-dating from time to time, so sometimes it sends me places that don't even exist, and the GPS on my phone sometimes can't get a signal so even with two GPSes, I still get lost. (Thanks to Carolyn Gordon for the GPS idea.) What really makes things crazy is when Becky gets in the car with the GPS on her phone, an app that she pays for monthly and that she thinks is the GPS of all GPSes. In the old days we'd just argue. Now it's his and hers Star Wars. In fact, a week ago Friday I said, "Honey, I've got a craving for Mexican. I want us to be the only gringos in the place and that can t happen in Buckhead. That means Buford Highway. One of our maintenance guys, Cesar Velez, gave me an address and said, "You'll be the only gringos in this place. I punched the address into my car s GPS, and, yes, Becky punched it in her fancydancy i-phone app. The male voice on her phone said, Go left. The female voice in my car said, "Go right." Becky's takes traffic into account and said, Go surface streets. My cheapo version said, Jump on I-75 south, then north on I-85. I was driving. We went my way and, yes, there was some stop-and-go traffic. But what made us crazy was the whole time Becky's male GPS voice was yelling "Take the next off-ramp." We'd pass it and he'd yell, Recalculating, recalculating. My girl was saying, "Continue on I-85 north." Being led by God can feel a lot like that. Often I have my guidance system on at the same time God has his guidance system on. So I'm often missing turns and looking back and getting off and circling around, somehow trying to find my true destination. Imagine what it would be like to turn off your own guidance system and simply listen to God's Spirit. This morning we're going to meet 1
a man to whom God spoke at the level of a GPS. "Turn right. Turn left. Go down that road. Talk to that person. Because he heard God s voice, today's world is a far better place. His name was Philip and we meet him in Acts chapter 8, verses 26-39.Let's look together: 26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip (that divine GPS voice said), "Go south to the road the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." 27 So Philip started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip [his next instruction], Go to that chariot and stay near it." 30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. 31 How can I, he said, unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? (Notice a eunuch would be drawn to someone who could have no descendants.) For his life was taken from the earth." 34 The eunuch asked Philip, Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. God s Jumper Cable What a strange story this is! In the Bible God often guides people in a macro sense: "Abram, go to the land that I will show you." "Moses, go tell Pharaoh to let my people go." But this is different. God comes down like a GPS: "Philip, turn right. Turn left. Go south." Philip, don't think. Don't ask questions. Just do as you are told. As I read this passage it reminded me of that game where you open an envelope and it says, Go look under a park bench by the playground at Chastain Park, and you go and you find a piece of paper that says, Go talk to the manager at McDonald's to get your next clue. You go and she hands you a paper that says, In the parking lot you'll find a green Toyota. Go over to the Toyota," only in Philip's case it's a chariot. So what is this? Why? What is God up to here? First the angel says, "Philip go south." That's always good advice. Just ask the Pentz family. I should have one of those bumper stickers, "I wasn't born here, but I got here as fast as I could." God's GPS has told many of us in this room, Go south, as he told Philip, Go south. Then the Spirit says, "Go to that chariot and stay near it." So Philip ran up to the chariot. Now why does Philip have to run to stay near the chariot? Anyone? Because the chariot is moving. Now picture how weird this is. This man is in a moving chariot and the Spirit tells another man, "Go run alongside the man in the chariot and get into a conversation." So here is this Jewish guy in a long robe wearing sandals running next to this 2
black African high official in his chariot. The Jewish guy is saying, "Hi, what's up? (pant, pant) I see you're reading. Do you understand what it says?" The African says, "No, not really." "Want some help?" You can't make this stuff up. This had to have happened. Here are two different people of two different cultures and two different races and two different religions who are headed in two different directions until God micromanages the twists and turns of their lives into this encounter a divine appointment on the road that day. But why? At that moment God's purposes were being thwarted. The mission of God was at a dead end. The disciples just did not get it. Over and over Jesus had told them that his message was for the whole world. Open your arms to all people and all nations and all races and all cultures. Fan out in concentric circles," he said. From Jerusalem, go to all of Judea and to Samaria, to the ends of the earth." Or as we say in the South, Git! Instead what did the disciples do? They sat in Jerusalem, like sometimes we Christians cocoon in our comfort. They felt no urgent need to go to the ends of the earth. Now enter Philip, God's jumper cable to get the church back out on the road. Putting God in Charge It would be a mistake though to think of Philip as a brilliant mission strategist. In fact, this isn't even Philip the Apostle. This is Philip the deacon who was elected in Acts chapter 6 to wait on tables. Philip just showed up and did what he was told. You say this morning, "I don't have any idea how to save the world. Neither did Philip. You say, When it comes to the complexities of race and culture and globalization and world hunger and poverty I'm as dumb as dirt. So was Philip. All Philip did was turn off his own GPS. The rest was God saying, "Turn right. Turn left. Go south." And with God in charge the mission began progressing like Jesus said it would. It began in Jerusalem where Philip had been a deacon, then moved to Judea, then in Acts 8 verse 4 we find Philip preaching in Samaria, and now this Ethiopian symbolizes the gospel extending to the ends of the earth. To say Ethiopia to the early Christians was like one of us saying, "All the way to Timbuktu." You couldn't get any further away. To Philip this Ethiopian was strange and exotic and fascinating literally as different as black from white. And what did the Spirit say? Philip, don't walk run to cross those barriers of race and culture and nationality. On this Global Ministry Sunday isn't it great to know we are involved in God's pet project for the world? And isn't it good to know that if you showed up this morning with no strategy, you are being truly strategic? What is it they say? 90% of life is just showing up. The rest is listening to God s Spirit: Turn right; turn left. This morning I want you to meet a modern day Philip here at Peachtree. His name is Charlie Heard. One day he was flying back from a posh resort vacation in Costa Rica in his case the chariot was a 737. I want you to watch this video: 3
VIDEO You could feel the love couldn't you? On a plane coming back from a fun vacation Charlie met a guy on a mission. Charlie said, I'm not into mission but I'll introduce you to the mission folks at my church. Charlie tagged along to the meeting where the Spirit in the form of me said, Charlie, you're in charge of this mission. Go south, Charlie, and Charlie and his wife Carla have been racking up frequent flyer miles, and using their frequent flyer miles God bless you, Delta; don t change and they've been making a huge difference in this poor village of Friejanes, to which some of your giving this morning will go. Charlie and Roy are like this, and it all began when Charlie came with no agenda and said, Lord, I ll go where you want me to go. Holding the Reins God gave Philip his agenda: Follow that chariot. Then God said, "Philip, get up in that chariot." Let s get practical. Philip had no idea what kind of chariot driver that Ethiopian was. I've been in some very scary chariots when I've gone in mission. There was rush hour in Cairo. I was once in a fender-bender in Jerusalem. You should see the drivers go at each other. Once some of us from Peachtree were being driven through some tribal areas of Pakistan in a van that had letters this high on the side that said Forman Christian College. To me it was like saying, "Aim the missile here." When you go in mission your chariot may not have seatbelts. The Ethiopian held the reins. Philip was along for the ride. That's hard for us wealthy Western Christians who are so used to being in charge. Often we see ourselves as the wise, strong protectors of those in other countries who are weak and vulnerable. We don t realize how much we have to learn from them. That was me twenty years ago. To me mission was basically sending great gobs of money from the West to the rest. But then one summer I spent an extended time of study at St George's College in East Jerusalem. We studied Biblical archeology with pastors from all around the world. Knowing I'd be meeting pastors from poor countries I did something before I left. I converted around $15,000 into travelers checks to take with me. I'll confess that, secretly, I felt pretty important coming from my wealthy church here in the U.S. I had bucks. I could make a difference for some of these other pastors. I was drawn to a bright, young Malaysian pastor named Paul whose church was being assaulted and he was often abused on the street. One night at prayer time Paul shared his dream of starting a school in his church. Afterwards I said, Paul, I want to help you accomplish your dream. I want to send $10,000 home with you to Malaysia." Imagine my surprise when he said, "I really appreciate the offer, Vic; I really do, but if I get caught at the airport having that kind of money on me as a Christian pastor, they'll take it away and probably throw me in jail." He was obviously trying not to hurt my feelings. He said, "Vic, I can't take your money, but there is something you can do. Would you pray with me every day while we're still here? Pray for my church and I'll pray for your church. Paul and I began a prayer fellowship where I found myself sitting under the spiritual authority of my Malaysian friend. Frankly I think he saw right through my act as a traveling Santa Claus. I grew so much through my friendship with him. More than a year later after we'd gone home we found a way to get those much appreciated resources into the hands of Paul and his church. My new mantra today is. When you go 4
from the West to the rest you're a guest." The Ethiopian holds the reigns. Philip is along for the ride. Welcome to the Family "Do you understand what you're reading?" Philip asked. "No, not really," said the Ethiopian. It's no wonder the man was confused. He was reading one of the most complex Scriptures in all the Bible, Isaiah 53, known as the suffering servant passage. This Ethiopian was wrestling with the question: Why does God allow suffering? In global partnerships your heart is going to ache as you witness the suffering and injustices in the lives of people around the globe. Now think about this. This Ethiopian man was a eunuch. Doesn't it make sense that he would be drawn to this passage about a man who was despised and humiliated and rejected? He was a eunuch in a day when making a eunuch of your enemy and your enemy's son was seen to be the height of domination and degradation of your enemy. He was a eunuch, which was probably why he was trusted to work in close quarters with Queen Candace of the Ethiopians and other female royalty. He was the CFO of his nation, in charge of the treasury. Notice that he was reading in a day when very few people knew how to read. Why, he even owned a scroll of Isaiah, which in that day would have cost a small fortune. This man was wealthy, sophisticated and elite. But still he had a hole in his soul. Otherwise, why would he have come all this way to worship at the temple of the God of Israel? Sadly, from Deuteronomy 23, we know what greeted him there. The sign at the temple said, "No Eunuchs Allowed." "No eunuch shall enter the assembly of the Lord" says Deuteronomy 23:1. On his way back home this man was feeling more alone than he'd ever felt in his life unclean, a freak, a foreigner, a nobody without a family. But he was reading Isaiah. Commentators agree he must have come across these astonishing, jaw-dropping words in Isaiah 56 verse 3: "And let no eunuch complain, I am only a dry tree. 4 For this is what the Lord says: To the eunuchs who keep my... covenant 5 to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever." Our scripture says when Philip hopped in the eunuch was reading Isaiah 53, about another man who was cut off and rejected: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer, he was silent. In his humiliation, he was deprived of justice, and who can speak of his descendants?" The Ethiopian's head was spinning. He said, "Wait a minute. You mean to tell me there was someone who was humiliated in my place? There was somebody mutilated for me? Someone who gave up his family so I can have a family? Tell me, is the author speaking of himself or someone else? Our scripture says, beginning with that verse, Philip told him the good news about Jesus: "Yes, he was despised, humiliated, and rejected, but he started a family. You, sir, are welcome in that family." A little later the Ethiopian had one of the great one liners of the Bible. He said, "What is to prevent me from being baptized into that family?" So God's GPS said, "Take the next off ramp." They found a 5
spring of water out in the desert. The Ethiopian returned home and there he started a family not a biological one, but a spiritual family, the Christian church of Ethiopia, which grew and grew and grew and in the fourth century became the official faith of the Ethiopian nation. So it remained as Ethiopia became the longest continuously Christian nation in the history of the world until 1974 with the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie. Today African Christianity is the fastest growing branch of the Christian church, all because of a conversation one day between two men in the middle of the desert. When you follow your divine GPS, there are no ordinary days, no ordinary conversations, no ordinary people. It was no ordinary day not long ago for our mission in Africa. I want to tell you about a 12-year-old girl named Miriam in Malawi. Miriam began school last year but was sent home before her final exams because her school fees had not been paid. I've mentioned before that in Malawi the children of women with a secondary education are 50% more likely to survive. Education is a matter of life and death. But Miriam's mother can't afford $120 per year. So Miriam had to leave. Miriam and her mom into our path and Fidelis had his God GPS activated. Even though we are 8000 miles away our stories are woven together. Somewhere along the way God rerouted you and me to be here this morning to hear about Philip and the eunuch and Charlie and Roy and Miriam. He wants you to hear that just $120 can help turn a frightened girl into a strong mother someday. Isn't it staggering to think how many Miriams we can send to school? Let me leave you with this thought. The most dangerous prayer you can pray is, "Lord, use me," because he will and by the time he's finished you'll be a different person. Won t you turn off your GPS and listen to God s voice today? I hope you get up in the chariot. Miriam walked home, 28 miles. When the next term began her mother walked with her back to school and begged the principal to let her begin the term again, hoping that school fees could be found somewhere. Because of their tears and determination, he said yes, she could start school again, but that the fees would have to be paid. So Miriam s mother gave the school all of the money that she had, less than $1, and walked 28 miles back home. It turns out Fidelis, our Peachtree person on the ground, the man who runs our sponsorship program over there, was at the school that day and heard the story. God's GPS rerouted 6
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