TOPIC:"A Portrait of a Beautiful Christian"
"And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose...Philip" (Acts 6:5).
There is nothing I like to do more as a minister of the Gospel than a character study of some individual in the Bible. In this message I want to introduce you to the man in our text by the name of Philip. Not Philip the Apostle, but a Greek speaking Jew known as Philip the Evangelist.
In this in-depth study of Philip's life I want to examine how he got started in his Christian career and how he finished his Christian life. It's a magnificent study of a beautiful and fruitful servant of Christ and His Church whose spiritual life ended as beautiful and fruitful as its began. Would not each one of you like that to be said one day about you? That the end of your spiritual life was as beautiful as its beginning. That you ended up well. Not everyone will end up well. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatian Christians: "Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth" (Galatians 5:7)?
We shall see Philip in the commencement of his ministry, in the continuance of his ministry, and in the climax of his ministry. Let's begin our study.
Think, first of all, of Philip, this beautiful Christian, in the COMMENCEMENT of his career. Philip comes to the forefront in his activity for Christ in Acts chapter 6 verse 5 where Luke writes these brief words about him: "...and they chose...Philip." No historical background is recorded about him at this point. We know nothing about Philip before this.
Greek-speaking Jews who were born in lands other than Palestine, were complaining that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. Into that situation, Philip a Spirit-filled man and highly regarded by the early Jerusalem church, was chosen along with six other men with the task of equally and fairly administering a food program to the needy widows of the church. Some believe these men were the first deacons chosen . . .