yieldedandstill
July 31st, 2005, 03:47 PM
Today the text for my pastor’s sermon was Proverbs 3:5-6
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
To give an example of someone who “lived” these verses, he used Acts 8:26-39
“And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to [him], and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.
And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on [their] way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, [here is] water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.”
My pastor didn’t read from the text on the example, he just told the story in his own words. His interpretation was that one day Philip had a strong urge to go south, and he didn’t know why, but since the urge was strong, he went south. When he saw the chariot, he had the urge to go up to it. And so on... Philip obeyed his urges and therefore trusted, leaned on, and acknowledged God, and so God directed his paths.
My question is: even though the text begins with ‘And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip’, and this word is translated from the Greek (transliterated) Laleo, which means
1. to utter a voice or emit a sound
2. to speak
A. to use the tongue or the faculty of speech
B. to utter articulate sounds
3. to talk
4. to utter, tell
5. to use words in order to declare one's mind and disclose one's thoughts
A. to speak
Can you say that having an urge to do something is the same thing as hearing a spoken word tell you to do something? I wonder if my pastor doesn’t believe that God spoke, or that angels spoke on His behalf.
I don’t know where I’m going with this, but my pastors version of the story made me uncomfortable. What think ye, oh wise ones? Is his version of the story an acceptable and correct version? Thanks for your insight.
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
To give an example of someone who “lived” these verses, he used Acts 8:26-39
“And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to [him], and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.
And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on [their] way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, [here is] water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.”
My pastor didn’t read from the text on the example, he just told the story in his own words. His interpretation was that one day Philip had a strong urge to go south, and he didn’t know why, but since the urge was strong, he went south. When he saw the chariot, he had the urge to go up to it. And so on... Philip obeyed his urges and therefore trusted, leaned on, and acknowledged God, and so God directed his paths.
My question is: even though the text begins with ‘And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip’, and this word is translated from the Greek (transliterated) Laleo, which means
1. to utter a voice or emit a sound
2. to speak
A. to use the tongue or the faculty of speech
B. to utter articulate sounds
3. to talk
4. to utter, tell
5. to use words in order to declare one's mind and disclose one's thoughts
A. to speak
Can you say that having an urge to do something is the same thing as hearing a spoken word tell you to do something? I wonder if my pastor doesn’t believe that God spoke, or that angels spoke on His behalf.
I don’t know where I’m going with this, but my pastors version of the story made me uncomfortable. What think ye, oh wise ones? Is his version of the story an acceptable and correct version? Thanks for your insight.