Look, here is water

Acts 8:26-39 (TNIV)

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “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, “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 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its 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?
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.
3637 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being 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.

My thoughts -

I don't know much about this eunuch. Apparently he was a pretty important person. And for some reason we went to Jerusalem to worship. I don't know how much of an impression that left on him, but it must have left some kind of an impression because we find him here, in this passage, reading scripture in the desert.

Philip is lead by the Spirit to this man and finds him unable to understand what he's reading. So Philip talks with him about the passage and he tells him about Jesus. And clearly this leaves one heck of an impression because the eunuch has an immediate response. “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?"

As a firm believer in relational ministry this passage challenges me. I don't like think it's possible to really minister to those whom you don't have a relationship with. When we lead hard and heavy with the witness it's rude, off putting, and generally ineffective. Except when it isn't.

Philip had never seen this man before that we know about. He would never see him again that I'm aware of. That's what verse 39 seems to indicate. He shows up for a brief moment in his life, shares the Gospel, and vanishes. There's no relationship there. It's just a brief witness and then moving right along. But Philip doesn't need my approval. He was led to this place by God. If I don't care for his method what's that to Philip?

So what's my take home, here? There are many ways to reach people. I don't like to do what some people have been taught and lead with some kind of heavy hitting message convicting strangers of perceived sin and telling them the only way out of hell is to start being more like me. That's what I think of when I think of witnessing without relationships. But that's not the only way it's done, clearly. That's not what Philip did here. I need to get that bad model out of my head.

I think it's best to build relationships. I don't think people can trust that you have their best interest at heart until you show them that you do. But sometimes the best way to reach people can be to do what God is telling you to do when God tells you to do it. After all, ultimately conversion happens between that person and God. It's not about us. We just try to help make the introduction.

And sometimes when we do that we find water in the desert and someone who wants to stop their chariot and be baptized RIGHT NOW, whether they have a relationship with us or not.