How inclusive is Jesus?

Acts chapter 8 verse 26.

Acts 8:26

And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Now the passage of scripture that he was reading was this.

Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter.

And like a lamb before its shearer is silent.

So he opens not his mouth.

In his humiliation justice was denied him.

Who can describe this generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.

And the eunuch said to Philip.

Philip, about whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this?

About himself or about someone else?

Then Philip opened his mouth.

And beginning with this scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus.

And as they were going along the road, they came to some water.

And the eunuch said, see, here is water.

What prevents me from being baptized?

And he commanded the chariot to stop.

And they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

And when they came out of the water, the spirit of the Lord carried Philip away.

And the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing.

But Philip found himself at Azotus.

And as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Well, good morning, everyone.

Will you pray with me as we come to God's word?

Father, through my planned words this morning, I know that they are weak, these plans.

And so I pray that you might use my words to help us understand your word.

And that you would speak powerfully through your word and meet each one of us here this morning.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Well, a man named Laman from Gambia, West Africa, moves to Newcastle.

And Laman, he works at Newcastle Uni, Callaghan Campus, as a professor.

He goes through the gruelling process of getting his permanent residency,

and then he becomes an Australian citizen.

He's allowed to wear his traditional African dress to work.

His colleagues smile and accept his strange-smelling lunch in the common areas.

He struggles a bit with cultural differences, like how individualistic we are here,

like how private people are.

Like he never gets invited to have a meal at someone's home.

He finds that a bit strange.

But there's something else.

The Laman's colleagues and his students keep saying,

as if it's self-evidently obvious,

that it's just subtle sometimes,

and sometimes it's just outright ridiculing.

And it makes him feel that he doesn't truly belong, and he never will.

Because people say and imply that empirical science is the only capital T truth,

that what is material is all that there is.

And it mocks.

It mocks.

It mocks his Africanness.

Because I'm basing this off a real man, not at Newcastle,

but Lamin Sana, before he died in 2019.

He's a professor at Yale University in the US.

And he says in his book, Whose Religion is Christianity?

At the heart of Africanness is to see the world as a supernatural place.

Good spirits, evil spirits.

And the problem of evil spirits is they can seduce you, they can defeat you.

So our secular society, the West, says,

come, you can live here, you can eat your food,

you can dress how you want,

but to fully belong, the message is,

you need to become an individualistic, anti-supernatural Westerner.

How often do you hear the word inclusive?

We say it so much in our society.

But imagine someone like Lamin, how he feels.

He's not seen.

He's mocked.

So how inclusive is Jesus?

What would a man like Lamin find if he rubbed shoulders with you at work?

If a lady like Lamin came to playgroup,

if they came into our church, what would they find?

Let me quote Lamin in his book.

African sense in their hearts that Jesus did not mock their respect for the sacred,

the way Western secular people do,

nor their clamour for an invincible saviour.

So they beat their sacred drums for him

until the stars skipped and danced in the skies.

And after that dance, the stars weren't so little anymore.

Christianity helped Africans become renewed Africans,

not remade Europeans.

That's how inclusive Jesus is.

He doesn't mock.

But he does renew.

Jesus is truly inclusive of all races,

but precisely because he's exclusive.

He says,

I am the way.

I am the truth.

I am the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

No one.

No one.

No Anglo-Saxon whites who have a lovely house and family

and have grown up in the church.

No one.

Comes.

Except through me.

He requires totally renewed Aussies.

He's totally inclusive precisely because he is exclusive.

I am.

So we meet another African in the story here today

and his story is so powerful,

not because it's easy to belong to God,

but precisely because it is so difficult to fully belong to God.

We've seen in the story so far this mass conversion,

this revival,

this amazing reconciliation

between north and south in Samaria.

And Luke now,

he tells us about three individuals.

So we've gone big picture.

We're introduced to three people.

We're going to meet Saul next week in chapter 9,

Saul the enemy.

Chapter 10, Cornelius the Roman.

And here,

we have a nameless African eunuch foreigner.

All three individuals show us this unstoppable Jesus

who leaves the 99 sheep to go after the one,

who breaks any ideas you and I have of who is in and who is out.

He's determined to go to the ends of the earth.

So we've met Simon,

the great one in Samaria.

He's a somebody.

He's at the top of his society,

but he has some sort of conversion.

And how genuine that is,

we're not really sure.

He gets baptised,

but it's superficial at best

because we find that his heart is not right with God.

He is still in love with his own name.

He's still in love with power and money and success.

And now we meet another great man.

He is at the top of his society.

He's at the top.

But this man is sincere in his search for God.

And so I think he presents to us as a model

of what true faith in Jesus looks like.

So what do we know about this man?

He's from Ethiopia,

which is modern day Sudan,

just below Egypt.

He's racially on the edge of the world

that Philip would have known.

Like he's,

as we talked about in our small group,

he's a Gentile Gentile.

He's out there.

He's in charge of the treasury of the kingdom.

He's this chief financial officer,

if you will.

He's got the big bucks.

He's got the power.

But he's also made a 1,000 mile journey

on horse and chariot,

which would have taken weeks,

one way,

to come to Jerusalem.

He might be risking someone back home

usurping his position.

I don't know.

Give me some poetic license here.

Maybe he's risking someone taking his top spot

while he's away.

Maybe.

Maybe.

He's definitely risking danger on the road.

We think our roads are dangerous.

It was much more dangerous to travel back then,

mainly from people trying to rob you

and hurt you.

So he's made this huge journey.

But Luke is so not PC here.

Five times he just says the eunuch.

Like, it's pretty rude.

Like, what's represented by the name David Bott?

Everything.

Sorry, not everything in the world.

That came out wrong.

All that I am is in that name.

What's in a name?

All I am.

If you just call me Shorty.

Look.

Luke.

The eunuch.

Five times.

The eunuch.

We never learn his name.

What is a eunuch?

Well, in ancient royal courts,

we find it in the book of Esther, Daniel,

when they're in exile,

successful men holding high positions

in the royal family are castrated.

So that there's no threat to the female royalty,

to the bloodline.

It's a high price to be at the top.

And what's motivated him for such a journey?

Well, we're told in verse 27,

to worship.

He's come to worship.

There's plenty of religion where he's from.

The Ethiopian king was thought to be the son.

Let me read this.

Child of the son.

There's plenty of religion.

But he wants to change his allegiance.

He's searching for the true God of Israel.

He's studying.

He's owning an expensive copy of the Bible.

Not everyone had a Bible.

Not everyone could read it.

How privileged we are today.

But he is searching.

It suggests this great and powerful man at the top.

He's got some sort of inner emptiness.

That he's motivated to come all the way to Jerusalem,

to the temple, to find God.

But he would have been turned away.

The temple doors would have been shut for him.

Like we saw earlier in Acts, in chapter 3,

the beggar sitting by the temple doors.

It would have been shut.

Because Deuteronomy 23.1 says,

no one whose male organ is cut off

shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

He can't receive the physical sign of conversion,

of circumcision.

He can't become a full member of God's people,

even if he desperately wants to.

He embodies someone under God's curse,

who's cut off.

He's nameless.

No future.

No place.

He's excluded.

So I think it's likely he'd been returning home

incredibly disillusioned

and more lost than ever before.

Now why, I think we need to pause to consider

why might God have forbidden eunuchs

from accessing him in the temple to worship.

It seems harsh, doesn't it?

Well, I think one thing to consider is

how harsh other nations were,

how brutal,

how depersonalising

that other nations would

castrate their servants.

Socially, this law was very good.

It prevented Israel from being like the nations,

treating people like that.

But more than that,

it's not just eunuchs who are excluded.

We won't go into all the laws,

but those with physical defects,

it teaches us that

God requires wholeness to be in his presence.

But the physical laws are really just representing

we need to be whole morally.

We need to be whole people spiritually

to be in God's presence.

We need to be whole people

We need to be whole people

We need the law

to show me

that someone who's broken

the Ten Commandments,

how difficult it is to belong,

that I deserve to be cut off.

I'm with the eunuch outside.

God requires,

he wants wholeness.

Now that's a good thing.

He wants wholeness.

He wants us to be whole people.

Spiritually, morally, physically.

And so his exclusion actually points,

it gives us a yearning,

a crying out,

God, remake,

remake me,

remake this world.

And that's exactly what he's promised to do.

So there's very good reasons for this law,

but the law also pushes us forward.

And this eunuch is reading Isaiah 53.

Maybe he's reading there

because he's read a few chapters later

in Isaiah 56

what God has promised.

He says in Isaiah 56,

let not the foreigner

who has joined himself to the Lord

say,

the Lord will surely separate me

from his people.

And let not the eunuch say,

behold,

I'm a dry tree.

For thus says the Lord,

to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,

who choose the things that please me

and hold fast my covenant,

I will give you in my house

and within my walls

a monument

and a name better

than sons and daughters.

I will give them an everlasting name

that shall not be cut off.

These I will bring to my holy mountain

and make them joyful

in my house of prayer.

For my house

shall be called a house of prayer

for all peoples.

The Lord God

who gathers the outcasts of Israel

declares,

I will gather yet others to him

besides those already gathered.

I wonder,

I just,

I wonder if he had read that promise

and that's why he's searching Isaiah.

Now someone in my small group this week

who shall remain nameless,

let's call him

Jamion.

Jamion rudely interrupted

my Bible study plans

and he pointed out

this story

isn't about the eunuchs

searching for the Lord.

Not primarily,

it's about the Lord

searching for

him.

That's why we're told

so much divine activity

going on here.

It's the Lord Jesus

who sends his angel

to Philip.

How Philip heard

this?

Was it in a

vision?

Was it the angel

showing up?

I don't know.

But don't get hung up

on that.

What's most important,

angels only turn up

in scripture

at very momentous

occasions.

This is a huge

occasion

and it's for this

foreigner.

This one

foreigner.

Angels are

turning up.

Philip,

leave Samaria,

this ministry

and movement

that's going

gangbusters

and I want you,

here's a plan

for evangelism,

go where you don't

expect anyone to be,

go to the desert.

Okay?

We're meant to be

seeing Jesus

driving this story.

He's the one,

he's the hero,

not Philip.

And then this

Jewish man

brought up on

purity laws,

he sees this

foreigner,

he sees this

sexually altered

man racially

from the edge

of the world

and then

Philip thinks,

wow,

what an opportunity

God,

I'll take it

from here.

No,

Philip's not the,

the spirit

has to prompt

him again,

go over

and join this

chariot.

Get close

to this man.

I'm reading

between the lines

here so

take this with

a grain of salt

but maybe

Philip needed

that push

to cross

everything

inside him

that kind

of had a

disgust

for this

man.

Spirit is

sending him.

Go join

this chariot

and if the

chariot's moving

it's kind

of a funny

image of him

just running

along.

Been reading

anything

interesting lately?

I don't know,

maybe it wasn't

moving.

I'm going,

I'm going to

get in trouble

for the poetic

license I got

in here today

but there's

no such thing

as chance

in God's

world.

What's he

reading out

loud?

Like if you

wanted to

start in the

Old Testament

there's a few

places where

you could

easily point

to Jesus.

Isaiah 53.

Wow.

This is not

a coincidence.

In that

very moment

for Philip

it's over

here.

This eunuch

thinks he's

searching for

God but

even his

failed

pilgrimage,

his struggle

to understand

the scriptures,

all of that

is really

the Lord

preparing him

to hear

his word

and the

Lord sending

his word

through his

people to

meet him

at the

exact moment

that he

had planned.

It's the

Lord searching

and sending

for him.

I find

great

encouragement

from this

in terms

of when

I just

feel like

there's an

opportunity

right now

in where

this person

is saying

something that

their heart

is yearning

and I

don't know

what to

say.

I don't

know what

to say

but the

sovereignty

of Jesus

here in

orchestrating

this moment

I find so

much encouragement

that I

don't know

what to

say but I

do know

he's so

sovereign he's

got me in

this moment.

He's been

working in

this person

long before

I got here.

He'll be

working in

them long

after I'm

gone.

It gives

us confidence

to open our

mouth I think.

We don't know

what to say

but we

know that

Jesus is

the one

who's really

searching.

I don't

know about

you if you're

a believer

but I can

look back

on my

salvation

and go

yeah it

was Jesus

finding me.

It wasn't

me finding

Jesus.

The more

we grow

in love

for Jesus

recalling

how he

found us

his

search

for the

outsider

it's

going to

become

our

search.

Well this

eunuch

he found

the full

belonging

he craved

in the

exclusive

claims of

Jesus.

he saw

the pictures

of Isaiah

53

this

servant

this

someone

sent

by God

who

entered

my

suffering

someone

who

actually

willingly

chose

to become

like me

a eunuch

because

who can

describe

his

generation

who

can

describe

his

offspring

because

he was

cut off

and he

did it

willingly

in service

of God

who is

this

figure

how is

he connected

to the

promise

a few

chapters

later

so that

me

a dry

tree

can receive

a name

better than

sons and

daughters

who is

this

who is

pierced

for my

transgressions

who is

this

who is

crushed

for our

iniquities

with his

wounds

we are

healed

we are

made

whole

and

Philip

says

well let

me tell

you about

him

brother

I've

been

wondering

what

everlasting

name

did

this

nameless

eunuch

receive

that

day

and why

don't we

get his

name

at this

point

once

he's

converted

Luke

keeps

calling

him

the

eunuch

I think

the

eunuch's

question

and then

Philip's

response

tells us

what name

he got

what

prevents

me

from

being

baptized

I don't

know about

your

baptism

if you're

a believer

but when

I got

baptized

looking back

I think I was

just thinking

about myself

really

I

thought it

I kind of

thought about

it as a

way of

declaring my

commitment

my faith

which it

is that

scripture says

it's so much

more than

that

I think I

thought of it

as like

well it's

commanded

I should

do it

which isn't

like we

should obey

God's commands

but often

God gives us

way more

motives than

that

imagine what

this man's

baptism meant

for him

try and put

yourself in

his shoes

because if we

do we will

start to

feel the

wonder of

what

baptism

means and

symbolises

because it

symbolises

or imagine

imagine if the

eunuch asked

who wanted to

be converted

to the God

of Israel

what prevents

me from being

circumcised

now I know

that's a bit

crass but

everything

prevents him

he can't

and here he's

asking

the covenant

physical symbol

of belonging

to God's

people

what prevents

me from

being

baptized

if this

suffering

servant

has taken

my place

what prevents

me

because

baptism

is a

physical

symbol

of what

the spirit

has already

done in

creating

faith in

Jesus

we know

what baptism

is from

the earlier

chapters of

Acts

it is not

just baptism

in the name

of Jesus

it's actually

into the

name

of Jesus

what's in

a name

everything

in this

case

everything

all of

Jesus

is yours

you are

baptized

into the

name

of Jesus

you belong

to him

fully

I'm not

my own

his death

is my death

his resurrection

is my

resurrected life

I'm not

my own

I now

belong to

all who

are united

to Jesus

by faith

I'm part

of the

assembly

imagine

what this

meant to

him

Philip

goes down

with this

eunuch

Luke's

language

here is

almost

confusing

but I

think he

might be

trying to

emphasize

how united

this Jewish

Philip

and this

foreign

eunuch

is now

it almost

sounds like

they're going

down into

the water

together

I'm not

sure if it

actually means

that but

it pictures

this eunuch

is fully

a brother

now

this sexually

altered

foreign

man

fully

belongs

to Jesus

and his

people

simply by

faith

so what

name did

he receive

he received

a name

that's above

every name

I think

he's

received

a risen

name

that will

never

die

so how

inclusive

is Jesus

of us

here today

when

I'm not

sure how

how much

you feel

on the

edges of

the assembly

of God's

people

I think

lots of

things

can make

us feel

on the

edge

a stained

conscience

of the

sin that

we do

this week

that we

did last

week

if people

knew

we know

God

knows

maybe

you've

got same

sex

attraction

and you're

fearing

what would

happen if

you told

someone

you love

Jesus

but

what would

happen

maybe you

know your

motives

when I

my zeal

for Jesus

and trying

to serve

him

gee

every step

I take

I know

there's so

much self

centred in

there

but here

in this

in this

story of

of the

eunuch

that we

learn there's

no levels

there's no

degrees of

belonging to

God's

people

we all

share fully

in the

one name

we're all

baptized

by the

spirit that

inner renewal

into the

one body

his body

we're the

one people

across all

races we're

the one

new people

there's no

levels

there's no

degrees

if you love

the fact that

Jesus was

cut off

to bring

you in

you're in

you can't

add to

that

and nothing

can take

away from

that

what prevents

me from

being baptized

from fully

belonging to

the Lord

and his

people

forever and

ever

nothing

nothing at

all

I think

when Jesus

returns we'll

learn this

guy's personal

name

like he's

eternal

we'll meet

him

he's going to

be a monument

he already is a

monument

he's the first

what an

honoured place

he's been given

in scripture

he had no

biological legacy

on earth

but don't

you wonder

who became a

child of God

through his

testimony when

he got home

how many

people have

been touched

by God

because of

this story

but maybe

God is speaking

to you today

through this

story

and in a way

all those

people are the

offspring of

this man

so I

want to

say a

word

for those

who

are

struggling

to feel

complete

maybe in

your

singleness

maybe you're

struggling to

have

children

don't say

I'm a

dry tree

Jesus has

searched for

you and

found you

he's given

you his

name

an everlasting

name even

better than

sons and

daughters

no

you have a

special

honoured place

in his

household

in his

kingdom

and I

think you

have a

unique

opportunity

in your

struggles

to say

Jesus is

enough

I fully

belong

he's

enough

how much

this man

fully belongs

I think

even the

ending of

this story

points to

what are we

to learn

that the

spirit

whisked

Philip away

at the

end

Emma reminded

me that

there was this

church in

Sydney

we didn't go

to this

church

that they

were teaching

the spiritual

gift of

teleportation

it's sad

that they

were actually

taking that

seriously

that is not

what we

are to

learn

here

the word

here is

just seized

so maybe

it was very

supernatural

and just

plonked

but maybe

it was just

a conscience

filled with

just spirit

go here

now

we don't

know

permit me

one more

poetic

license

after this

sweet

moment

of

baptism

I'd be

surprised

if there

wasn't

tears

this is a

sweet

moment

of full

inclusion

in God

in Jesus

with his

brother

Philip

embracing

him

this is a

sweet

moment

and then

Philip

is taken

away

I think

it almost

seems cruel

to leave

this man

on his

own

because

Luke

says

he sees

him

no

more

but it's

not cruel

the eunuch

didn't think

it was cruel

outwardly

he's alone

again

but something

has radically

changed

he goes

he goes

on his

way

rejoicing

that

whatever

prompted

him to

search

to come

to Jerusalem

something

has changed

his emptiness

has been

filled

he knows

he fully

belongs to

the assembly

of the Lord

Jesus Christ

and so he

can

he can go

on his way

rejoicing

the search

is over

he's been

found

do you

is your

search

over

do you

know you've

been found

we're going

to sing

in a moment

and it's

the act

of singing

together

is

as we

learnt

on camp

it's actually

an expression

of that

belonging

to the

assembly

of Jesus

by faith

so we're

going to

it's going

to be

a beautiful

expression

of the fact

that Jesus

has brought

us into

his family

simply because

he was cut

off to

bring us

in

but before

we sing

can I ask

the muses

just to wait

a few minutes

and then come

on up

and lead us

in song

can I just

encourage us

all to

personally reflect

on what you

think is

holding you

out of

God's people

I'm not sure

it's going to be

different for each

one of us

so which is

why I'm just

going to ask

you to reflect

for a moment

if you already

trust Jesus

reflect on how

fully you belong

to him

and if you

sense that

God is

finding you

searching you

out right

now

do some

business with

God

I suppose

so why don't

we do

spend a few

minutes just

reflecting

and then

we'll sing

oh

let's see him

again

everyone

is

going to be

love

me

so

we'll be

going

to Y

create a

show