Nothing brings out bad manner and bad language like a phone call from a telemarketer.

Can I get an Amen?

The moment you say hello, and are greeted first with that brief static-buzz on the line and then with an overly-cheery voice chummily asking for you by (mispronounced) name, you can feel your blood pressure rising.

Is it just me, or is it your experience as well that these calls come on the busiest days, at the busiest times? Dinner is cooking, kids are fighting, the door bell is ringing . . . and this fool on the phone launches into some selling spiel that can go on for ten minutes before a breath is drawn.

The best, simplest defense is just to hang up. But I admit, its hard to resist making some sort of caustic comeback. Even worse, how many of you have actually had the telemarketer call you back wondering "how did we get cut off?" Or they call back irate, angry at you for hanging up on them!

These telemarketers are the twenty-first century's most common experience of evangelists. As the US economy has slowed down to a sluggish crawl the hard sell intensity of our free market economy has picked up. Sellers don't know or care if you need their products, want their products, like their products, or hate their products. All they care about is making the sale.

No wonder evangelism has a bad name among so many people. No wonder Stephen Carter, in his widely cited book Culture of Disbelief, observes that "The message of contemporary culture seems to be that it's perfectly all right to believe that stuff--we have freedom of conscience, people can believe what they like--but you really ought to keep it to yourself." (Culture of Disbelief [New York: Harper Collins, 1993], 24.) No wonder in parts of New Jersey, there are ordinances against door-to-door solicitations. That means that Christians making cold calls on homes can be ticketed and fined for unsolicited visits.

Even among Christians, there are some calling for the "Death of Evangelism." As one advocate of evangelism's demise has put it, "Many Christians think of evangelism the same way they think of visiting their aunt with Alzheimer's: something they know they're supposed to do, but are always finding ways of putting off. The thing about it is that I think the vast majority of American Christians find the notion of evangelism extremely distasteful and do not practice it in any fashion."

The story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch reveals what true evangelism is about and how it's carried out. It's one of the best resources for unpacking what Florence Nightingale meant when she said that all of Christianity could be expressed in 8 one-syllable words, four of which are spoken by God, and four spoken by us: "Lo, it is I" (God's initiative) and "Here I am, Lord" (our response).

First, "Lo, it is I." Remember Holman Hunt's famous picture of Jesus knocking at the door of our heart? Have you ever wondered why it isn't the other way around? It's not we who are knocking down God's door. It's God who's there, knocking at our door, and hunting us down.

What a radical notion. It appears here in our text for this morning, as God is already present, has already picked the time and place for this remarkable meeting. Remember? It was an angel of the Lord who directed Philip's steps to that wilderness road. Remember? It was the Spirit who pointed out the Ethiopian's chariot and told Philip to join it. Philips' agenda was not calculated or composed. It was spontaneous and Spirit-directed. It's the height of arrogance to think that we take God anywhere. God is already active in our world and in our lives, long before any evangelist gets there.

Your job and mine as evangelists is to find out what God is already doing in our world and in people's lives, and to help other people understand that what's going on all around them is God speaking these words, "Lo, it is I." That's why Philip's first comment to the Ethiopian eunuch makes no judgments. It only asks for insight into the man's own perceptions: does he understand what he is reading?

Philip didn't present himself as one with all the answers and he didn't presume he knew the needs, wants, desires, of the stranger in the chariot. For all Philip knew at this point, the Spirit could have brought him to the Ethiopian so that the stranger could teach him! What makes Philip a true evangelist is that he waits for the Spirit of God to make the first move, and that he is better at listening than talking.

The Ethiopian, the one to be evangelized, is the first to offer any sort of invitation in today's story. His long quest for spiritual fulfillment, a quest that had brought him to Jerusalem to worship, was a quest that had driven him to purchase and study the Hebrew Scriptures himself. He was seeking information, insight, inspiration. He was, as the Spirit knew, the perfect candidate to respond to Philip's question, "Do you understand?" The Ethiopian's mind is hungry and his heart is ready. He knows he needs "someone to guide me." What he doesn't know is that God is already guiding him.

It's the Ethiopian who extends his hand first, who invites Philip to join him in his chariot, who initiates the direction and content of their meeting. Can there be any doubt that God has set these two up, that God has already been working and waiting in the Ethiopian's life to bring him to this point? Could Philip have artfully turned ANY Scripture to fit his own urge to tell the good news of Jesus? Or was it not divine guidance that brought Isaiah 53 to the Ethiopian's attention that day?

As an evangelist Philip is required to do but two things: go where he is directed and respond to those who respond to him, and help them respond in faith to God's invitations and initiatives. David Henderson even argues that "If you have ten minutes to share the gospel with someone, spend the first nine asking questions and listening. Only then can we speak words on target. When we speak more than we listen, it's like flying a kite in the dark. Our words go out, but we have no idea if they ever get off the ground." (Culture Shift: Communicating God's Truth to Our Changing World [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998], 212.)

It's God's work to ready the heart. It's God's work to set the stage. It's God's work to let the Spirit blow where it may. It's our work to help people hear God speaking in their lives, "Lo, it is I." And it is our work to help people speak to God in reply, "Here I am, Lord."