We All Need a Little Help Along the Way
Posted by Randy | Labels: Acts, Ethiopian, Holy Spirit, Maturity, Mentoring, Philip | Posted On Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Our reading for today is Acts 8-9, and there's so much good stuff here that it's hard to pick one thing to write about. The story of Saul's conversion is one of the great events of the Bible, and we will see him telling it on three different occasions in Acts, with Acts 9 being the first time.
However, I felt drawn to the story of Philip and the Ethiopian for today, so that's where I'm going to camp out. Philip, like many of the disciples, left Jerusalem because of the persecution that had begun with the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7). So Philip went to Samaria, a region between Jerusalem and Galilee that had once been part of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, but was now an area that included many folks who had mixed Jewish heritage. These folks were looked down upon by the pure-blooded Jews in Jerusalem and Galilee.
After a time, though, an angel of the Lord came to Philip and sent him south (8:26 NLT). As he traveled, he encountered an Ethiopian government official traveling in a carriage. He apparently had become a Jew and had gone to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple, and was now headed home. As he traveled, he was reading aloud from the book of Isaiah when the Holy Spirit led Philip to walk over alongside the Ethiopian.
Philip asked the man, "...'Do you understand what you are reading?'" (vs. 30) "The man replied, 'How can I unless someone instructs me?'..." (vs. 31) So, Philip joined him in the carriage and proceeded to explain to the Ethiopian how the Scriptures pointed to Jesus Christ as the Good News.
As the Ethiopian learned of this Good News, he wanted to be baptized, and Philip baptized him. The Holy Spirit then sent Philip on his way farther to the north. The Ethiopian continued home, but now he was so excited because he had invited Christ into his life.
Here was this man who was seeking to know more about God and His ways, but he needed someone to help him understand. So, God sent Philip to come alongside him and help him for a time. I have discovered that God often nudges many of us to seek one-on-one help from another Christ follower in our journey, and at other times He nudges us to come alongside someone and talk with them about our faith journey and Jesus. Sometimes we hear God's nudge, but sometimes we think we don't know enough or the other person might think we're weird, etc.
But I've come to believe that all of us need someone to come alongside us from time to time in our lives and just help us talk through and walk in our faith. Sometimes a person is still checking out Christianity, and sometimes they've made a decision to trust Christ. Either way, God wants to take them further (as He does all of us), but they need some help. Reading their Bible, going to worship, even being in a small group are all great and necessary. But sometimes a person just needs another person to come alongside them and help them take the next step or steps in their faith journey. We call this mentoring.
I know I sometimes need some extra help, and there are other times when I see someone who could really use a little extra one-on-one help with their Christian journey. Are we willing to ask for some help? How can we come alongside another person, not as someone better or smarter, but just a fellow traveler who happens to be a little further along the journey, at least at this point? This isn't about pride or arrogance but love and compassion. It's recognizing that the journey of becoming more and more mature in our faith requires all of us to get help sometimes, and give it at other times. Sometimes we're the Ethiopian, and sometimes the Holy Spirit wants to use us as a Philip.
I'm convinced the Christian journey needs more of us being mentored and mentoring others. Faith is caught more than it's taught, and that means experiencing it personally in the life of another Christ follower. We don't need permission from the church or a pastor to look around us and identify someone who can help us, or someone we can help.
The Good News is that the Holy Spirit always works in these mentoring settings, giving us what we need, and enabling us to give to another, even when we aren't aware that we have something to give. Trust Him to work in you, whichever side of the conversation you find yourself. In fact, many times when we're in a mentoring relationship, we discover ourselves being both the Ethiopian and Philip at one time or another. Like Philip, listen to those subtle leadings, and join someone else on the journey - you'll be amazed what God does!
