I Don’t Know Why I’m Doing This …

5th Sunday of Easter, May 10, 2009
Preacher: Pastor Gary Johnson

Readings:
Acts 8:26-40
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8

Audio sermon file:

http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/292/0E84B48B-6191-A778-54B1-BFC8FDD1DACC.mp3


There was a WAY COOL moment that came at the start of today’s service, when the Sunday school kids came out and sang:

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.
Where?
Down in my heart!
Where?
Down in my heart!
I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart,
down in my heart
down in my heart to stay

.… and for a few magical, marvelous moments, it lifted and charged the room. For those wonderful couple of moments, everyone had a smile on their face and we were filled with … joy.

How does this happen?

Sometimes it takes The Spirit … riding on the wind; a voice, a suggestion, an inkling that you’re supposed to do something, go somewhere, say something. On the winds of the Holy Spirit, we are often nudged to be a part of something that, at the time, we seem not to understand.

“I don’t know what made me go there. Something in me called me, made me stop by,” we say. And, invariably, there’s the feeling of “I’m so glad I did!”

And that something would not have occurred to you had you not allowed that something to “blow you into the life of another”. On some level, it’s a conscious decision. Philip is called by the Spirit and nudged to “go … to a dangerous road”. And the wonder of it all is “He got up and went”. He probably doesn’t understand why as reason would have it that he shouldn’t want to go, it was not prudent to go, it was a swarthy stretch of road. Philip probably had a day planner and a to-do list, a day full of appointments. But he forewent that.

He is “called” to approach the Queen’s “right hand man” – the guy who guards the money, has the power, influences authority, has the Queen’s implicit trust. He’s dark-skinned, obviously a foreigner, not from Israel. He has personal drivers, a limo … he’s obviously “got it goin’ on”. And, for all that, he’s got “something missing in his life”. He has the great job, the cool robes and it’s still “not enough”. He’s struggling with a passage in Isaiah and …

And something tells Philip … “Hey, go talk to that guy …”

That something is the gift of the Spirit through Baptism … to serve.

Philip “knows this guy”. Philip knows this guy is rich and he knows he’s NOT in this guy’s class. And this Ethiopian eunuch asks what the meaning of the scripture is and Philip fills him in … he tells the story of how Jesus conquered death and sin NOT by way of money or power or leverage, NOT with generals and an army, but by humility.

The eunuch’s response: when he next sees water, he says “What’s t stop me from being baptized, right here, right now?” What a great response!!

So what’s with Philip and the Spirit? Tell your story, write your song, say your piece when you hear a calling. Your witness is all God asks. God’ll take care of the rest. Lead the horse to water. God’ll take over from there.

The cool part? The eunuch goes dancing away after dipping himself in the waters of baptism. He was singing like the little kids this morning:

I’ve got the peace that passes understanding,
Down in my heart,
Where?
Down in my heart!
Where?
Down in my heart!
I’ve got the peace that passes understanding,down in my heart
down in my heart to stay.

I’ve the got love of Jesus, love of Jesus
Down in my heart,
Where?
Down in my heart!
Where?
Down in my heart!
I’ve the got love of Jesus, love of Jesus
down in my heart,
down in my heart to stay.

As the Voices of Zion also sang today … “Now all the vault of heaven resounds …”
The vault of heaven opens when we walk away from our own lives into the life of another.

Through your witness, God can lead them to a place where they will realize that it wasn’t ever the money or the Queen’s trust that matters. It’s in the waters of baptism that the light’s turned on. The eunuch in all of us is going to have to keep reading (and wrestling) with scripture, keep working on his baptism, but, and here’s the onderful thing, he’s going to “pass it on”, “pay it forward”.

Soon, on some given day, he’s going to say “I don’t know why I’m doing this, but …”

Someone out there, maybe today, maybe tomorrow is longing. They’ll cross your path. And, if you heed the call and brave the dangerous road, something glorious will happen. And in that moment, like Philip, you will be swept away, like Jesus on the Road to Emmaus, you’ll “be gone in an instant” to leave that someone pondering what just happened. And their eyes will be opened to a new light. They will go on joyfully singing, a changed person, with a new smile and a new outlook on life, riding on that wind that brought you to them, spreading that joy that’s filling their heart.