June 6, 2004

CLEAN AND AVAILABLE

Text: Acts 8:26 - 39

One day I was home between revival trips and I had some free time. My wife, Vickie, was busy with laundry and vacuuming. I noticed she had a grocery list written of things we were out of. So I said, “I’ll go to the store and pick these things up.” I took the grocery list, found the checkbook, and drove to the store.

As I approached those sliding glass doors, I noticed a huge new vending machine adjacent to the entrance. It wasn’t there the last time I was at the store. I stopped to check it out. It was a water dispenser. The claim on the front panel was sparkling fresh mountain spring water. I noticed the coin slot wanted thirty cents. To be honest, I was half impulsive and curious. I reached into the pocket of my jeans and pulled out a quarter and a nickel. After inserting them in the slot I waited for my “sparkling fresh mountain spring water”. All of a sudden it seemed like the whole river came out of the spout. It splashed on my pants, down on my shoes, onto the sidewalk and clear out into the parking lot.

I was shocked! Nobody told me you’re supposed to bring your own bottle! I was so embarrassed! There were people pushing their shopping buggies out of the store and they pointed their fingers at me and shook their heads. There were people coming into the store and, just to make me feel worse, they held up their pant legs and waded through the flood. That wasn’t the worst of it. I still had to go shopping, and my pants were wet all down the front! How do you explain that to the checker?

There was one thing missing: a clean, available container for the fresh water to be poured into and out of to quench the thirsts of others. And that’s what God is looking for in us: clean and available containers, for His Holy Spirit to be poured into and His influence out of to meet the needs of a hurting world.

We discover in this scripture evidence in Philip what it means to be clean and available. Our first clue what it means to be clean and available is in verse 26: “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, go south.” He lived close enough to God that God could get his attention.

We must face the question, “Do we live close enough to God that He can get our attention when He has an assignment for us?”

Next, Philip obeyed. He proceeded trustingly. He didn’t know where he was going or how long he’d be gone. The only instructions he received were what road to take, and which way to take it. “Go south to the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

“So he started out” (verse 27). What would we do if the Holy Spirit impressed on us to go on an assignment? Would we check our watch for the time? Would we look at our calendar? Who wants to take off on some impulsive tangent? We all have schedules and responsibilities. Philip, clean and available, continued in obedience.

He met an Ethiopian, an important official, in charge of the queen’s treasury. This Ethiopian had a hungry heart. He went to Jerusalem to worship. But there is evidence that his spiritual hunger was not fully satisfied, because we see that on his way home he was reading prophecy about Jesus from Isaiah 53.

Here’s another clue of what it means to be clean and available. Philip had eyes focused on others’ needs and was continually led by the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it’” (verse 29). Philip was immediate in his response to the Spirit’s direction. This causes us to review our lives. Does the Holy Spirit guide us in our daily lives and are we responsive to His direction?

The Holy Spirit gave Philip just the right words to say at just the right time. After he ran up to the chariot he asked the Ethiopian “Do you understand what you’re reading?” And as we are led by the Holy Spirit, He will give us just the right words to say at just the right time in those opportunities to witness and have an influence in others’ lives. Notice the Ethiopian’s response: “How can I unless someone explains it to me?” That’s an example where many people are living today. How can the folks whose lives we touch know the way, unless we are clean and available for the Holy Spirit to use?

Another clue about what it means to be clean and available is seen at verse 32. They reviewed a passage of scripture from Isaiah. In response to the Ethiopian’s question about the meaning of what he had read, Philip was obviously familiar with God’s Word! It wasn’t the first time that Philip had read Isaiah 53.

So if we are going to be clean and available containers for the Holy Spirit to use we must be familiar with God’s Word. I am convinced that many Christians would be better off to read their Bible more and watch television less! We all have twenty-four hours every day, and we choose what we’re going to do with our time.

In verse 35: “Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.” Philip had spent adequate time in God’s word that he was able to explain the Good News. There is someone in our normal network of weekly contacts who needs to hear the good news about Jesus. As clean and available containers, who give priority to the study of God’s Word, we are prepared to share the gospel effectively with others.

The Ethiopian, having believed Philip’s witness, asked to be baptized. Then something wonderful happened. Philip baptized a new believer! (verse 38). An unusual thing happened. At verse 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.

Well, I do an awful lot of flying, but never like that. When I get to Heaven I think I’ll ask Philip if they lost his luggage! I checked into an airport one day and told the ticket agent: “I want you to send this suitcase to Dallas, send this one to New York, and I’m going to Seattle. She replied, “Well, sir, we can’t do that.”

I said, “Why not? That’s what you did the last time I flew with this airline” (just kidding).

The last words of verse 39 tell us the Ethiopian “went on his way rejoicing.” When this Ethiopian left home he was lost. When he arrived in Jerusalem he was still lost. When he left Jerusalem and headed home, he was still lost. But when he met Philip, a born again, Spirit filled disciple of Jesus Christ, he heard the good news, believed, and was baptized. And went home saved!

It all happened because God had a clean and available container, named Philip, who was obedient to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Philip provides a great example for us. He lived close enough to God that God could get his attention and send him on an assignment. He was immediately obedient. The Holy Spirit continually guided him. He was familiar with God’s Word. And he led a lost person to the Lord.