How Are We To Fellowship With The Holy Spirit?
Good Morning Friends,
Maybe it was an angel and maybe it was a willingness to trust, for the Ethiopian eunuch knew something about the importance of trust. And maybe it took someone caring enough to guide another in understanding the Word of God. But I am not sure how to advise you here, for I am a creature who overvalues his own rational. And God knows you much better than I do. Still it is a question worth asking about our view of God and the reality that we were loved first so we might learn how to love others. So, How Are We To Fellowship With The Holy Spirit?
Scripture: Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Acts 8:26-40 (NRSV)
No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
John 6:44-51 (NRSV)
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, 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.
Isaiah 56:4-5 (NRSV)
Message: Stories about the work of the Holy Spirit fill the lectionary this season between the Passover and Passion of Christ and Pentecost. There are stories of people being called into service and into the work of the Kingdom. Perhaps God is calling you now into a fellowship even now. I hope so, for being drawn into the Spirit is for our own salvation. Jesus explains that no person can come to salvation unless the Father pulls us into this relationship. And yes, sometimes it is an effort as in the tension of a heavy net full of fish being dragged to shore or as in the drawing of a sword out of a sheaf. Picture people literally being pulled against their will. And what is clear is that this can be a one-sided arrangement. God does the fishing and we who are caught up in the Spirit can either fight it or submit to it. You see, unless God loves us into salvation we would never willingly go. Some come with submission and some Christians are more unwilling to change. There is no doubt that we respond to the Spirit differently, but there is one common theme…the initiation of the experience is all on God’s part. We can no more conjure up the Spirit than we can walk to Mars. We have cases throughout the Bible, and many in the book of Acts, that teach of people being saved. Most of them include a hearing of the word of God, believing that Jesus is the Son of God, repenting of sins, confessing Christ before others, and being baptized in the Spirit. We saw it yesterday in the work of Philip to the people of Samaria. We see this in the story of Peter’s preaching at Pentecost. We see it in the conversion of Paul and of the Philippian jailer. But the example we have from today’s text is that of Philip and a eunuch. So, let’s dive a little deeper into its understanding. The backstory on the Ethiopian eunuch is helpful. You see, what was valuable about eunuchs to the kings of the Middle East is that they were more likely to be trusted even with the kings’ wives and children. That is why they were valued. There would be no question of bad blood being introduced into the kings’ descendants if their ministers were sterile. But this convenience for the kings was a terrible injustice for the men involved. They had no progeny and would be forgotten in a culture where having no children was a great curse. Isaiah, however, in chapter 56, sees one of the fruits of the Messianic kingdom to be a heritage for eunuchs. This is important information in understanding today’s first reading. For this nameless Ethiopian official was a sympathizer with the Jews. He was educated and realized that the Jewish God is the one true deity, but the passages we call the Song of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah were a mystery to him. So, when deacon Philip encountered him, there was an openness to hearing the Gospel and a degree of trust. Here the story shows forth the connection between belief and trust and the power of the Spirit. And so, this eunuch was baptized and filled with the Spirit. And as a result, he now would have a heritage, with spiritual descendants, because he would return to Ethiopia and his testimony would be the seed that grew the Church in that part of the world. And what is interesting here is that both Philip and the eunuch were drawn into the Spirit in a way to draw others. And how this exactly happens in our lives is a bit of a mystery, but I am glad that it does.
And So, since there is one Spirit dwelling in us we are to be in unity with each other. The fellowship of Holy Spirit is to prompt us to emulate the love of Christ and in this find great satisfaction and peace. By sharing fellowship with God through the work of the Holy Spirit we are to begin to live in a new way that is less self-centered. Friends we were created to be in the image of God, who by nature is a community of love in the Trinity since the beginning. Here we are to find joy even in the suffering of life and take pains to find out what really pleases God. The gamechanger is this…Christ loved us we in the power of the Holy Spirit so we might love each other.
Pray we serve as Christ’s ambassadors. Pray for the salvation of people everywhere. Pray we are moved by the Spirit. Pray we hear the word of God. Pray we share the Word. Pray we believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Pray we repent of our sins. Pray we confess our belief in Christ. Pray we are baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit and with fire so that our conversion moves others to believe and for us to move ever closer to the Way of Christ.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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