Sermons
A Treasurer Finds True Treasure
Series: The Way Of SalvationA TREASURER FINDS TRUE TREASURE
Sermon By Terry Siverd
Cortland Church of Christ / August 25, 2019
Yesterday Nic Wildman led us in our first session of a one-hour weekly exercise gathering (every Saturday @8AM).
We had over a dozen and a variety of ages represented for the debut of this new ministry to be called, Fit 2 Serve.
Next Sunday we will have our first-of-the-fall, covered-dish luncheon.
If the weather permits, we will load up our plates in the foyer (as usual) and then dine outdoors in the pavilion.
It would be wonderful to have a robust gathering on this occasion. I hope you can join us!
Over many years of preaching I have come to have a deep appreciation for Acts chapter 8.
I think if I had to list several of my favorite chapters in the Bible it would be in the top ten.
Please open your New Testaments to Acts chapter 8.
I want to begin this morning with a brief overview of the first half of chapter 8.
And then we will focus today's sermon on the story of the conversion of the Ethiopian Treasurer (Acts 8:26-40).
Acts chapter eight opens with an ominous cloud.
Stephen has been stoned to death … and Saul of Tarsus is on the rampage,
ravaging the church (vs.3) - - seeking out Christians so as to have them imprisoned.
But despite this reign of terror, a silver lining appears in the midst of the clouds.
Vs. 4 notes: therefore, those who have scattered went about preaching the word.
And then Philip enters the picture.
He's a humble servant that we first encounter in Acts 6:1-6, when he's appointed to wait on tables as one of the
seven “deacons” appointed by the Jerusalem church to minister to the Grecian widows, who have been neglected.
Acts 8:5 records that Philip went down to Samaria (which is actually north of Jerusalem)
and there Philip began proclaiming Christ to them. Of all the places he could have targeted,
most would have cautioned him that the city SAMARIA was not likely to be a favorable prospect.
Lk.9:52-54 tells how the Samaritans had previously refused to receive Jesus.
This stirred up the sons of thunder (James & John = boanerges/Mk.3:17) who wanted in incinerate them.
But, contrary to what might have been expected, Philip discovers Samaria to be “good soil” (Lk.8:15).
Acts 8:6 highlights that the multitudes with once accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip...
Serendipitously, Luke adds in Act 8:12 - - when the believed the good news about the kingdom
of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.
When the Jerusalem church heard about this turn of events they sent Peter and John to check things out.
John must have been surprised at this demonstrative change of heart. Vs.25 concludes saying that
Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.
Among the many lessons we can learn from this first half of Acts 8, two stand out clearly:
First, with God supporting us, even bad (terrifying) circumstances can work out for the good.
Secondly, we must be careful not to be so quick to write people off. The Word of God is powerful.
Now we will turn our attention to the last half of Acts chapter 8.
This conversion account is in itself an delineation of “the greatest story ever told”.
An angel of the Lord directs Philip to now go south towards the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.
In vs.26b, Luke parenthetically notes that this was a desert road (i.e., a wilderness area and mostly uninhabited).
Vs.27 states, (Philip) arose and went; and behold, there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace,
queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship.
From this verse we learn several things:
This Ethiopian was an honorable and reputable man, entrusted with significant responsibilities.
He was a eunuch, which tells of his dedication to his and queen.
The Ethiopia of that day referred to a region near the Nile in Egypt.
He was likely a dark-skinned man, not that that matters.
And he was probably a Jewish proselyte - - the reason why he went to Jerusalem to worship.
He, himself, may also have been a somewhat wealthy officer.
Specifically because he had purchased a copy of the scroll of Isaiah.
Most importantly, he was an eager and serious student - - he was reading in his chariot on his return home.
He is also a humble man - - when Philip met up with him he heard him reading aloud and asked him,
'Do you understand what you are reading?' (vs.30). To which the Treasurer responded (vs.31),
'How could I, unless someone guides me?' And he invited Philip to come up and sit up him.
Luke reveals that the text which he was reading from was from the prophet Isaiah.
Isa.53 perplexed most all students of the Old Testament - - trying to grasp the identity of this “suffering servant”.
The treasurer asked Philip (vs.34) - - Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or someone else?
And then we read vs.35, which is a beacon for all of us preachers:
And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.
This provides the template for all of us homileticians - - our task is to PREACH JESUS!!
What is truly noteworthy here is the statement found in vs.36 - -
As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said,
'Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?'
To all of my preaching colleges (and, really to any and all that want to be keen students of the Word),
we need to carefully ponder a very important but over overlooked question:
Who brought up the subject of baptism?
They were reading from Isa.53 - - some might say, “there is nothing in that text about baptism”.
But Luke clearly notes that Philip was preaching Jesus.
One is driven to conclude that telling the story of Jesus (as The Suffering Servant) must have demanded
that Philip tell this treasurer how he could come to find grace and mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus.
We can rightly ascertain that it was Philip who, in preaching Jesus, spoke of THE NEED FOR BAPTISM.
If we only had this singular passage in the book of Acts (actually we have many, many others), we ought
to be able to comprehend the connection (and importance) between preaching the gospel and baptism.
Philip did not just tell the Treasurer about Jesus (he didn't just give him a history lesson),
he called upon the eunuch to imitate Jesus by dying with Christ by means of a watery grave called baptism.
No other interpretation of this text makes any sense.
So when our friends (even fellow believers) contend that baptism is not all that important.
Or if, peradventure, they would be so bold as to argue that baptism is certainly not essential,
let us kindly but firmly ask them to read with us the text of Acts chapter 8.
After the treasurer asked, “What prevents me from being baptized?”
The story concludes with vss.37-38 - -
(And Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.'
And he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.')
And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water,
Philip as well as the eunuch; and he baptized him.
This baptism was not a sprinkling.
No one in their right mind travels to Jerusalem and back (a 500 mile trip) in a coach without jugs of water.
This baptism required more than a jug of water - - it demanded a watery grave.
It required an immersion that symbolizes a burial.
The text states plainly, “They both went down into the water...”
In closing, this treasurer went on a journey to Jerusalem to worship God.
On his way home, in the most unexpected of places, he discovered the greatest treasure know to man:
SALVATION IN CHRIST JESUS.
I have often wonder about what became of this man.
Did he return to Ethiopia and go about his business as usual?
He may have stayed on as the queen's treasurer, but his life was forever changed.
Who knows but that the queen herself came to hear and receive the gospel.
It might have been that the queen sent him on a quest to find out about Jesus.
cf. Theophilus in Lk.1:1-4.
In the late second century (180 A.D.) Irenaeus writes about how this queen's treasurer
engaged in traveling throughout the region of Ethiopia telling all about the
God of the Bible and how God's Son Jesus had died on behalf of their sins.
