We must abandon the habit of trying to replicate our denomination in a different culture. We should strive to recapture the spirit of the early church, by identifying solely with Jesus.
Photo: [link]Parsing Eye [/link], Unsplash, CC0.
This is the second part of seven articles centered on key passages from the New Testament, which for me have provided a profound insight into the emphasis on missions as portrayed in Scripture. You can read the first part here.
It is based on a chapter from my book entitled Reassembling the Mission with Jesus although some modifications have been made. The book is available here .
This is the first instance where the Holy Spirit speaks audibly: “And the Spirit said to Philip, Go over and join this chariot” (8:29). Throughout the eight chapters of the book which many scholars argue could be aptly titled The Acts of the Holy Spirit, the central figure, the Holy Spirit, remains silent.
So, what prompted the Spirit to break that silence here? Until chapter 8, there hadn’t been another word from the Holy Spirit ever since Jesus initially instructed His followers through the Spirit (1:2).
When it comes to Philip, the Spirit first sends one of His usual messengers: “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 road'" (8:26).
However, as Philip encounters a traveler on this road, the Spirit intervenes directly, as if saying, “Go, don't let him get away" (8:29). Rather than instructing the angel to repeat the message, the Spirit takes matters into His own hands. It's as if
He's applying Napoleon's maxim: “If you want something done well, do it yourself." What is so crucial that the Spirit doesn't delegate it to His subordinates, the angels?
In the global task, significant elements often get overlooked or unnoticed. Let's explore how the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-35) reveals key aspects of proclaiming the Gospel to the nations.
Although to most readers it might seem like a mere anecdote without a clear purpose, the passage is both well-known and yet unfamiliar.
In this passage, we find the following:
The initial instance of the Spirit speaking.
The initial instance of a Gentile conversion.
The initial instance of the Gospel being taken to another continent.
On top of these basic elements, there is much more to be gleaned from this passage.
The Holy Spirit did not deem it necessary to manifest vocally during the revival characterized by mass conversions among the Samaritans, who occupied a cultural and religious position between Jews and Gentiles and who, as adherents of the Torah, were well-acquainted with it.
The Spirit chose not to make His presence audible to Philip amidst the crowds, but rather exhibited a distinct interest in this solitary traveler on his return to his homeland.
In Samaria, in order to ratify the divine quality of what happened standard institutional procedures sufficed: the Apostles traveled from Jerusalem to endorse and confirm the work accomplished there, as documented in Acts 8:14.
This was not the case with the eunuch. For the Holy Spirit, a single individual seeking the path to their heavenly home holds greater significance than any multitude or even a mega-church; which is a sentiment corroborated by Scripture itself.
The eunuch was diligently seeking the Lord. Despite his status as a high-ranking official, his 2,000-kilometer journey north to Jerusalem was not for diplomatic reasons but rather to worship (Acts 8:27).
He had some knowledge of the one true God and expressed love for this God, though he did not yet know Him fully. Furthermore, in Jerusalem, he procured a portion of the Scriptures; specifically, a scroll of the book of Isaiah.
Where might the eunuch first have encountered teachings from the Scriptures and what sparked his interest in these texts? Could the influence of the Queen of Sheba’s visit to King Solomon in all his splendor still have lingered in the region?
Alternatively, perhaps the eunuch had visited one of the numerous synagogues dispersed throughout various parts of the world, possibly even in Ethiopia. If so, his experience at that synagogue might have been quite disheartening.
The eunuch knocks on the synagogue door; the Jewish attendant opens it, to find himself face to face with a eunuch. What would one say in this situation as the Jew? If one was a strict observer of the Law, the right answer would be to send him away immediately.
The Pentateuch clearly states that “No one who has been castrated or has had their male organ cut off may enter the assembly of the LORD" (Deuteronomy 23:1). What is a eunuch if not “someone castrated"? How dare this unclean person desecrate the Lord's house? Yet, the eunuch persisted!
This is similar to what happens when individuals from unfamiliar cultures approach our churches; they are often seen as outcasts and not given priority, contrary to what James encourages us to do (see James 2). Would someone who has been treated this way ever return to church if they were not a genuine seeker?
Believe it or not, spiritual deserts are populated by these kind of seekers. If the Holy Spirit has not yet prompted us to go to those deserts, perhaps it is because we are not sufficiently attuned to hear His voice.
It's no coincidence that the first time the Spirit breaks the silence, the first word uttered is "Go" (Acts 8:29). What had Jesus proclaimed prior to his departure from this world? "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth" (John 16:12-13). Note that Jesus’ final instruction was, “Go” (Matthew 28:19) and the Spirit echoes this directive in His inaugural audible message, “Go” (Acts 8:29), thus emphasizing the priority of the mission.
Remember, the inaugural and concluding pronouncements in biblical texts establish key directives. What Jesus initiated at the macro scale with “Go," the Spirit reiterates at the individual level. Can we identify another theme that serves as both an initial and final command?
This framework reinvigorates the Great Commission. If the Commission speaks broadly to the church, suggesting a division between those who go and those who remain, the Spirit's primary message underscores individual responsibility with the same imperative: “Go."
The Spirit gives you two choices: Either you might be one of those who go, with all of the consequences that that entails, or you might be one of those who send - with all of the consequences that entails!
In the same way, the last Word that the Spirit speaks in the Scriptures is “Come” (Rev. 22:17). This appeal is extended in unison to all the church (the “bride"), signifying a collective obligation to proclaim “come" universally, embracing both global engagement and individual accountability.
Several years ago, a young man whose name means “Celestial" in Turkish arrived at our church in Istanbul. With great respect and manners, he informed me that he had not wished to come “unprepared," so he had read the Bible cover to cover three times before his visit, and had three questions.
Although I only recall one of them, each was exceedingly detailed. Without opening the Scriptures, he posed a query: “In Psalm 15, it asks, ‘Who may dwell on your holy hill?’ and in verse 5 it responds, ‘He who does not lend his money at interest.’ However, in the Parable of the Talents, Jesus criticizes the one who fails to deposit his capital with bankers for earning interest. Why is this so?”
He truly had read the text thoroughly! (And to those willing to get involved in missionary work: if you are intrigued and yet don't know the answer, you are welcome to write to me).
There are many more stories to share about Celestial, but this is not the appropriate moment. Suffice it to say, had he lived in Ethiopia at that time, he is the kind of individual whom the queen might have placed over all her treasures, much like the eunuch in Acts 8:27. Today, Celestial is pastoring one of our churches in Turkey.
How would Celestial have been able to connect with those who could answer his questions if a pioneering church hadn't reached these uncharted territories with the Gospel?
And how would this church have existed if messengers hadn't first arrived with such a mission? How would these emissaries have made it there if they hadn't taken the call and challenge to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth seriously?
What inspired them to undertake such efforts when they read the same Bible as other believers—believers who don't think to involve themselves in missions? Is there a different message in their Bibles?
The crucial question isn't any of the ones listed above, but rather this: Why didn't the Spirit guide Philip to the temple two days earlier, instead of sending him to the desert in Gaza two days later?
The Gaza Strip, unfortunately, still makes headlines today. It was a famously dangerous place in Jesus’ time as well, akin to the setting of the Good Samaritan parable, filled with thieves and hazards.
Was the Spirit suggesting that we are meant to venture into perilous places? Wouldn't it have been more pleasant—and certainly safer—for Philip if the Holy Spirit had guided him to meet the eunuch at the temple two days earlier? Probably so.
Moreover, to travel from Samaria to the Gaza Strip, Philip had to pass through Judea, meaning through Jerusalem, a journey that would take him several days. It's even likely that Philip and the eunuch were in Jerusalem around the same time.
Had they not been, it would have been nearly impossible for Philip to catch up with the eunuch, as they were both traveling south. Why would the Holy Spirit make events so complicated unless there was a very specific purpose in mind?
The divine strategy in the Old Testament for bringing the good news to the Gentiles was centered on drawing them to the temple. In contrast, the approach in the New Testament involves believers, as the new “temple," actively reaching out to the Gentiles.
Previously, with the brick-and-mortar temple, it was necessary for people to travel to it. However, now God has replaced this with a temple of “living stones" (1 Peter 2:5), enabling believers to extend their reach globally.
In this way, the Old Testament strategy was centripetal, while the New Testament employs a centrifugal method. He desires all believers to spread across the four corners of the earth, akin to a sprinkler irrigating the fields of the world.
This is why the Spirit waited for two days, avoiding any misinterpretation or disregard of His instructions, and then breaking His silence at precisely that moment. Through Philip, He demonstrates to the church how to reach the earth's extremities via His emissaries.
This is the distinctive character He envisions for His people today. Consequently, this passage imparts essential elements of evangelizing nations:
The seekers isolated in the deserts are more valuable than the 99 in the secure flock.
Every church should have its own Philips, ready to venture into the deserts of new nations.
The Holy Spirit persistently urges us all to go forth and meet these seekers.
However, there is still additional information we need to consider in this passage.
One key here is that the Holy Spirit doesn't do anything by chance (at least that's what I believe). Let's consider this: The eunuch was reading a copy of Isaiah and was at the well-known Chapter 53.
After Philip explains the passage to him the eunuch converts, gets baptized, and goes on his way; and it seems like that's the end of the story. However, as the eunuch progressed in his reading, he would soon arrive at Chapter 56.
And there, he would suddenly be astounded upon reading:
3 Let not the foreigner who joins himself to the LORD say, ‘Surely the LORD will separate me from his people’; nor let the eunuch say, ‘Behold, I am a withered tree.’
4 For thus says the LORD: To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant,
5 I will give them a place in my house and within my walls and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.
6 And as for the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD to serve him and to love the name of the LORD and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without profaning it and hold fast to my covenant,
7 I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them rejoice in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
The outcast who felt worthless in a society where lineage is everything suddenly realizes he is no longer a withered tree. Now he can have spiritual sons and daughters.
That eunuch, once humiliated in the synagogue, discovers that God has granted him a place in His house and work. The eunuch can serve by reaching a nation for His glory.
The isolated seeker, who has missed out all his life out on revivals and crowds, finds now that he holds more dignity and a better name than those warmly welcomed as sons and daughters.
To God, eunuchs are more significant than the ninety-nine or even ninety-nine thousand. Truly, the isolated eunuchs waiting for us in spiritual deserts hold more value than any megachurch.
Why is the Holy Spirit so interested in the eunuch? Why approach him in the desert instead of at the temple? Why lead him to purchase a copy of Isaiah?
It's for the same reasons Isaiah tells us, for the same message Jesus conveyed when He drove out the money changers, and for the same truth He wants to reveal to us now: that the church truly becomes His house when it is a “house... of prayer for all nations”.
Notice that the passage insinuates that church exists for "welcome" all nations and not only for “praying about" all nations. This means that churches shouldn't just pray for all nations but must also reach out, invite, and become a refuge for people from all nations.
That's why a church should extend itself to all peoples, like Philip did. It should embrace everyone, like it embraced the eunuch, and reach out even to the deserts. How about us?
There remains one more thing for us to examine within the passage.
Scholars of the Word assert that with Peter's sermon to Cornelius, the Gospel was officially extended to the Gentiles. It was to Peter that the “keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 16:19) were entrusted, allowing him to “open" the kingdom's door to the multitude in Jerusalem through his sermon at Pentecost.
With Cornelius and Peter, the Gospel's message is expanded once more, this time to include the nations. However, this narrative is not entirely accurate.
What about the eunuch, often forgotten in such discussions? Was he not also a Gentile, hailing from a distant nation? Did he not convert before Cornelius and pave the way for the Gospel's journey to a new continent, Africa?
Even though souls in spiritual deserts often remain neglected by the “house" of the Lord, they are highly esteemed by the Lord Himself. By centering all of our attention on Peter, we overlook that the Lord is a God who defies conventions, including His own.
Does He not welcome eunuchs into His temple in Isaiah, notwithstanding their previous exclusion in Deuteronomy?
This serves as a cautionary message to any church that becomes complacent and institutionalized. Institutionalization risks neglecting what is most essential: That God desires the crossing of boundaries and limits.
Furthermore, it is through Philip that God accomplishes this remarkable work, which signifies a milestone on both heaven and earth.
Interestingly, Philip lacks formal rabbinic or apostolic authority to undertake such a significant responsibility; he is primarily known as a table server.
This scenario resonates with many of us in the Latino community, akin to what Americans refer to as a practitioner, someone without doctorates, and yet who is rich in practical experience.
We ought to commend this practical approach! In contemporary times, countless individuals theorize from their desks about what mission work should entail, yet only a few engage directly in its implementation, actively participating in the field.
Being a practitioner is far more valuable in genuinely reaching individuals like the eunuch, rather than being a theorist with numerous degrees who remains inactive.
It is imperative that the absence of academic credentials not be used as an excuse to refrain from engaging in mission work; nor the lack of academic qualifications should be used as an excuse for haphazard or irresponsible improvisation.
In the revival at Samaria, the Spirit didn't arrive until Peter and John came to lay hands and affirm the work with their apostolic authority (Acts 8:14-15).
In modern terms, they came to “plant the flag" of the Jerusalem Church and the Apostolic denomination. However, in the case of the eunuch, they were nowhere to be seen.
No one could plant their flag in that situation, since there was no time to do so. This is how the Lord wants us to act in spiritual deserts.
We must abandon the habit of trying to replicate our denomination in different cultures, regardless of what they may be. This doesn't mean abandoning any biblical principles.
Instead, we should strive to recapture the spirit of the early church, not by replicating its outdated forms, but by identifying solely with Jesus and no other name.
As I wrap things up, there’s one more thing to consider.
Philip was whisked away from the scene so quickly that he didn’t even have the chance to take a photo with the eunuch, nor ask his name, as recounted in Acts 8:39-40. He couldn’t include it in his prayer letter, which ensured that all glory would go not to Philip, the Apostles, or the angels, but rather solely to the Lord.
Nowadays, individuals like Philip or eunuchs, and the spiritually desolate places they inhabit, are often overlooked by both God's people as well as the "first world" at large.
Many seek only stories of triumph and success. In this context, who is willing to venture into the forgotten corners of the world and remain unseen by others? Who is ready to dedicate their life so completely that, after years of effort, they may have lead only one person to faith?
And who will provide them with support in an evangelical culture that often measures success by numbers of converts, questioning investments that don’t seem to yield quantifiable returns?
Yet those who are willing to go into these deserts and nurture a solitary soul are the real heroes in God’s eyes, giving Him the greatest glory.
Allow me to explain it with an analogy. Who would be surprised to find a daisy in a botanical garden in a tropical country? Yet finding it in the middle of the Sahara Desert would be baffling.
Where did the seed come from, how did it find water, where has it taken root if there is only sand, and how does it resist the scorching rays of the sun? This truly is a miracle; it can only be the work of God!
What glorifies him more: thousands of daisies in botanical gardens, or that one daisy barely surviving alone in the desert? Barely surviving but standing erect. The triumphalist mentality seeks the botanical garden, and the glory mentality, the desert. 1
In God's heart, those who are least valued by people hold the greatest importance for Him; they are His chosen ones.
These individuals bring Him the most glory precisely because they seem the most impossible. In this way, He shines as the God of the impossible. Are our priorities aligned with His heart? 2
Therefore:
The church must serve as a house of prayer, praying alongside all nations' peoples! To accomplish this...
The foremost priority should be to seek out areas where Christ has yet to be preached. Furthermore...
Missionary work should not aim for personal glory but rather for the glory of the One "who dwells in secret."
In light of the prohibitions against eunuchs in Leviticus and the proclamation of Isaiah, what lesson are we to learn from the fact that the Holy Spirit takes a special interest in a eunuch? What do these related passages teach us?
In practice, how should the evangelical movement be affected by the fact that the New Testament strategy for the church is centrifugal, mobile, pilgrim, without earthly roots, unseeking of wealth, comfort, or self-promotion?
How much preparation do we need to go out on missions? Obviously, no amount of preparation is enough, but could it be that we use this as an excuse because the challenge scares both those of us who are going out and those who are sending us?
For further information regarding missions, you can go here
1.Carlos Madrigal, Reassembling the Mission with Jesus
2. God has allowed us to see much more than what we could’ve even imagined, from obtaining official recognition of not just a few churches to testifying to millions through national TV channels, so I do not make these reflections to excuse any lack of results but rather to emphasize his glory, solely and exclusively, in the advancement of the work.
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