Perhaps you have all heard various versions of the “human life / tapestry” illustration.
One of them goes something like this:
A man was visiting a museum or a shop of some kind and his eyes fell on a large piece of fabric, which apparently was being cleaned.
It was a maze of interlocking threads of color going in every direction without any obvious pattern or plan.
He didn’t think that it looked at all pretty or interesting.
But beside it was a sign or plaque which gave its name and description, along with a very high dollar value.
At first he thought that the sign must have been associated with some other piece of art, because what he was looking at was ugly.
But just about that time the workers turned it over, and the visitor could see that it was a beautiful tapestry of intricate design and marvelous detail.
He was amazed and realized that this example of the weaver’s art was worth every bit of the value on the plaque.
Another man once dreamed that angels were making a tapestry representing all the chapters of his life.
He got a chance to see it one day, but it was nothing but a maze of intersecting threads and colors.
But when the angels turned it over, he could see that all those independent threads had been woven by the will and providence of God into a beautiful work of art.
The people that we are today, is a work of art, with contributions made by thousands, but which has all been overseen and managed by the providence of God.
There have been literally thousands of people who have contributed one or more colors to our lives.
Some, like parents, spouse, siblings, special teachers, and maybe a pastor or two have added much more than most, but everyone has left his mark on our lives and souls.
Even Satan has splashed a little ugly stain here and there over the black background of our depravity.
But under it all, over it all, and through it all there has been the hand of the Master – the Lord.
I sincerely hope and pray that the color of your life is bright and brings glory to the Lord.
One of the threads in Paul’s life was a man named Philip, and one of the threads in Philip’s life was Paul.
Perhaps on the underside of their tapestries, each other’s thread stretched half way across without surfacing on the pretty side,
but there they were in unmistakable colors.
Let’s think briefly this afternoon about the relationship between Philip and Paul.
We’ll note their station, their relation and their junction.
If you wanted to show off your amazing storehouse of useless Biblical trivia, you might call him, Philip the Gospelizer.
He was Philip the “euaggelistes” (yoo-ang-ghel-is-tace’).
And I hope you can remember that this word is related to “euaggelion” (yoo-ang-ghel’-ee-on) which is translated “the gospel” and means “the good news.”
Philip was a spreader of the gospel, an evangelist.
And we aren’t left in any doubt about what exactly that entailed.
Turn to Acts 8:4 –
Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.
And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.”
And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
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.”
to spread the gospel and baptize converts as the Holy Spirit directed him.
Apostles were also evangelists, but they were a bit more than that.
Incidentally, Acts 8:39 and 40 add – “And when they [Philip and the Eunuch] 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. But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.”
The Holy Spirit gives us a time-line and itinerary, which brought Philip to Caesarea.
Before Philip was an evangelist he had been a DEACON.
Before he became a missionary of the church in Jerusalem, he had been a SERVANT in that church.
Go back to Acts 6:1 – “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:
Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.
And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.”
And I don’t think that men are made deacons in order to get them to serve the Lord.
Only those who are already actively serving the Lord above and beyond the ordinary should be considered for the office of deacon.
And those who have servants’ hearts can sometimes end up as evangelists and missionaries.
As I said a minute ago, the apostles were also evangelists.
Paul and Philip had been carrying out the same kind of ministry, even though Paul carried some added blessings which put him into a very special company of men.
But as Philip helped to establish churches in Samaria and possibly in Caesarea,
Paul started churches throughout Macedonia, Achaia, Asia and Galatia.
These men had a lot in common.
Not only was Philip an Evangelist,
But there may be one other reason why Luke was led of the Lord to mention that here.
Not only was it his office, but it differentiated him from another man who in Paul’s day may have been known as “Philip the Apostle.”
Paul was an evangelist and an Apostle.
Philip was an evangelist and previously a Deacon.
What did it feel like for Paul to know that he wasn’t going to see some of his friends again?
And in nearly every church, the Holy Spirit had been telling people about the upcoming problems in Jerusalem.
Those people kept pleading and begging Paul not to go up to the city.
But his mind was made up.
Despite being resolute, what emotional turmoil there must have been in that man’s heart.
And now here is the added twist of Philip.
The scripture doesn’t say that Paul had to look for and find the church in Caesarea.
And it doesn’t say that he surprised the church by arriving just before services one day.
These verses don’t say that Philip invited the visitors to his house or to stay in his house while they were in the city.
In fact it doesn’t directly say that Paul actually slept at Philip’s house, even though it appears that he did.
I know that we shouldn’t assume things when it comes to the Word of God, but we are at least permitted to muse and wonder sometimes.
Do you suppose that Philip and Paul had been in communication during the last few months or longer?
Do you suppose that there was a standing invitation for Paul to stay at Philip’s house?
And if there was, when was that invitation first made?
The first time that we are introduced to Philip it was as a deacon.
A few minutes ago I read Acts 6:1-7 which describes the first deacons.
The next verses talk about one of those deacons:
Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.”
And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.
And this Paul was at the forefront in the murder of that good servant of God.
I find it hard to believe that Philip, the second named deacon, didn’t know of or actually meet Saul of Tarsus before that man was converted to Christ.
Isn’t it likely that as Saul’s persecution of the Lord’s church continued, that Philip was one of the men who was in his sights?
Don’t you find it interestingly coincidental that immediately after we read of Stephen’s death Acts 8 says:
And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.
Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.”
Could these have been steps by the Lord to preserve his life for an extended ministry?
I think that these two men knew each other, both before Saul’s conversion and then even afterward.
After Paul spent some time in Damascus learning much about the Lord there,
he eventually went down to meet the saints of Jerusalem whom he had earlier been trying to kill.
And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.
And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.
Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.”
I think that it is very likely.
And although I have no scriptures proving it, I would not be surprised to learn that they had stayed in contact to some degree over the intervening years.
The tapestry of both their lives had been somewhat interwoven.
We don’t know how the Lord brought him to the truth or whether he had met the Lord Jesus before the crucifixion.
But we do know a little about Saul’s background before he became the Apostle Paul.
And I would venture to guess that despite some similarities they were two very different men.
I doubt that Philip ever hated the disciples of Christ, because he may have actually been one of them.
It’s possible that he never despised and spit on the name “Jesus of Nazareth” the way that Saul had done.
I don’t know if Philip would have ever called himself a “Pharisee of the Pharisees.”
But whatever similarities and differences that there had been between them, they meant nothing now.
When Philip thought of his friend Stephen, it may have been with mixed emotions.
But when he looked at the hands of Paul, he didn’t see any of the blood of the martyr Stephen there.
How could he not see it?
And yet, there was the also the blood of Christ, covering over the blood of the martyr.
Verse 15 says that Paul and his friends spent several days in Caesarea with Philip’s family and the church.
And when they got ready to depart, once again the brethren plead with him not to go up to Jerusalem.
Paul’s reply is one of the most heart-wrenching Christian statements ever made:
“What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
How could Paul think of dying in Jerusalem without thinking first about the death of the Lord Jesus, and then for a brief moment thinking about the death of Stephen?
And here standing before him, and weeping over the possibility of his death, is the friend of the man whom he had killed.
What a cacophony of emotions there must have been in Paul’s heart.
But whatever these two men had been before, now they were brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ.
There was a new relationship between them, which superceded anything which had earlier existed.
And oOne day soon they were going to stand side by side shaking hands with Stephen and praising God as a trio of brothers.
And, now, who are your brethren?
How many of your former enemies are now kin in Christ?
The son of Madeleine Murray O’hair?
Saul of Tarsus?