Here is in the book of Acts. We are going to cover Acts 6, 8 to 7, 60 today. It's a relatively long
section and so during the sermon I'm not going to be reading large chunks of scripture like I
normally do. I'll be summarizing a lot of it so when I'm reading it in the beginning please try
to pay attention and pay attention in particular to the themes of rejection and themes of
God's presence transcending Jerusalem and its locale. But let me pray before for the reading
and preaching of God's word. Heavenly Father, we humble ourselves before you. Lord, it is
our sin. To care so much about looking good than being good. To care so much about seeming
righteous rather than being righteous. To care so much about the recognition and
acknowledging from men and not from you, Lord. Forgive us and now address us by your word.
Transform us so that we might be faithful witnesses who live with an eternal perspective,
who live to receive that acknowledgement and commendation from the heavenly court, from our Lord Jesus Christ.
And not to please men.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Acts chapter 6 verse 8 to chapter 7 verse 60.
And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.
Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the freedmen, as it was called, and of the
Cyrenians and of the Alexandrians and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.
But they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking.
Then they secretly instigated men who said,
We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.
And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him
and brought him before the council.
And they set up false witnesses who said,
This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law.
For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.
And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
And the high priest said,
Are these things so?
And Stephen said,
Brothers and fathers, hear me.
The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia,
before he lived in Haran,
and said to him,
Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.
Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran.
And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living.
Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length,
but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him,
who he had no child.
And God spoke to this effect,
that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others,
who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years.
But I will judge the nation that they serve, said God.
And after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.
And he gave him the covenant of circumcision.
And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day.
And Isaac became the father of Jacob and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt.
But God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions
and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh,
king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.
Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan and great affliction.
And our fathers could find a food.
But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt,
he sent out our fathers on their first visit.
And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers
and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh.
And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his kindred,
seventy-five persons in all.
And Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, he and our fathers.
And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb
that Abram had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
But as the time of the promise grew near, which God had granted to Abraham,
the people increased and multiplied in Egypt.
But until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph,
he dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants
so that they would not be kept alive.
At this time, Moses was born and he was beautiful in God's sight.
And he was brought up for three months in his father's house.
And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.
And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,
and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
When he was forty years old, he came into his heart to visit his brothers,
the children of Israel.
And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed men
and avenged them by striking down the Egyptians.
He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand,
but they did not understand.
And on the following day, he appeared to them as they were quarreling
and tried to reconcile them, saying,
Men, you are brothers.
Why do you wrong each other?
But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside,
saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?
At this retort, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian,
where he became the father of two sons.
Now, when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai
in a flame of fire in a bush.
When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight,
and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord.
I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.
And Moses trembled and did not dare to look.
Then the Lord said to him,
Take off the sandals from your feet,
for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt
and have heard their groaning,
and I have come down to deliver them.
And now, come, I will send you to Egypt.
This Moses, whom they rejected, saying,
Who made you a ruler and a judge?
This man God sent as both ruler and redeemer
by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt
and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
This is the Moses who said to the Israelites,
God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.
This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness
with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers.
He received living oracles to give us.
Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside,
and in their hearts they turned to Egypt,
saying to Aaron,
Make for us gods who will go before us.
As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt,
we do not know what has become of him.
And they made a calf in those days
and offered a sacrifice to the idol
and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.
But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven.
As it is written in the book of the prophets,
Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices
during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
You took up the tent of Moloch
and the star of your god, Rephon,
the images that you made to worship,
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.
Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness,
just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it
according to the pattern that he had seen.
Our fathers, in turn, brought it in with Joshua
when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers.
So it was until the days of David
who found favor in the sight of God
and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
But it was Solomon who built the house for him.
Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands.
As the prophet says,
Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house would you build for me, says the Lord?
Or what is the place of my rest?
Did not my hand make all these things?
You stiff-necked people,
uncircumcised in heart and ears,
you always resist the Holy Spirit.
As your fathers did, so do you.
Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?
And they killed those who announced beforehand
the coming of the Righteous One,
whom you have not betrayed and murdered.
You who received the law as delivered by angels
and did not keep it.
Now when they heard these things,
they were enraged,
and they ground their teeth at him.
But he, full of the Holy Spirit,
gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God
and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
And he said,
Behold, I see the heavens opened
and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
But they cried out with a loud voice
and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.
Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.
And the witnesses laid down their garments
at the feet of a young man named Saul.
And as they were stoning Stephen,
he called out,
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
And falling to his knees,
he cried out with a loud voice,
Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
And when he had said this,
he fell asleep.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
We were introduced to Stephen
in the preceding passage
as one of the seven appointed
to distribute bread, food,
to the widows in the church.
He was described as full of spirit and wisdom,
full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.
And so it's not surprising then now
to see him ministering effectively
among the Greek-speaking Jews.
He says that he was ministering
full of grace and power,
was doing great wonders and signs
among the people in chapter 6, verse 8.
But as always,
as Stephen is growing in favor
with God and man
and his ministry is thriving,
there are detractors that come
to speak against him.
It says in verses 9 to 10,
then some of those who belonged
to the synagogue of the freedmen,
as it was called,
and of the Cyrenians
and of the Alexandrians
and of those from Cilician Asia,
rose up and disputed with Stephen.
It's unclear whether this represents
all distinct synagogues
or whether it's one synagogue
of the freedmen
that had all these people
from different ethnicities
or different regions represented there.
But it seems that Stephen was ministering
to the Greek-speaking Jews in particular.
These are all regions
of parts of the Roman Empire
of where the Jewish diaspora lived.
The synagogue of the freedmen
likely was a synagogue
made up of Jews
who had been formerly slaves
but emancipated.
And so he's ministering
to fellow Hellenist Jews.
Stephen himself was a Greek-speaking Jew
who is culturally Greek, Hellenist,
even though he's ethnically Jewish.
But some of them, it says,
disputed with Stephen,
but they could not withstand
the wisdom and the spirit
with which he was speaking
because Stephen was full
of the Holy Spirit.
However, when prideful, foolish men
can't win,
they cheat.
So in verses 11 to 14,
it says that they secretly
instigated men who said,
we have heard him speak
blasphemous words
against Moses and God.
They're conspiring to destroy Stephen
by accusing him with blasphemy,
which was supposed to be punished
by stoning with death,
according to Leviticus chapter 24.
So on the one hand,
they secretly instigate men
to falsely charge Stephen
with blasphemy.
And on the other hand,
they stir up the people in public
in response to that charge
that they themselves instigated.
And so they fire up the crowd
and see Stephen
and drag him before the court
in the Sanhedrin.
And once there,
they continue their malicious work
by setting up false witnesses.
And they say this,
this man never ceases
to speak words against
this holy place and the law.
For we have heard him say
that this Jesus of Nazareth
will destroy this place
and will change the customs
that Moses delivered to us.
So the charge is primarily twofold.
The charge of blasphemy.
First, they allege that Stephen said
Jesus will destroy the temple.
And then secondly,
they charge that Stephen said
Jesus changes the customs of Moses.
As is often the case
with false accusations,
there's at least a modicum of truth
in both of these allegations.
And that gives it an air of credibility
because Jesus did prophesy
during his ministry
of the destruction of the temple.
What's false, however,
is that he never claimed
that he himself will destroy.
And Jesus also said in John 2, verse 19,
destroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it up.
The Jews misunderstood this statement
to mean the literal temple,
the physical temple standing in Jerusalem.
And John clarifies in that context
that Jesus was not speaking of the temple
but of his body.
If they destroy him and kill him,
that he will be raised on the third day.
He was pointing to the once and for all sacrifice
he would make in his own flesh
by dying and being raised from the dead
so that to make sacrifices for sin
in the temple no longer necessary.
But to devout Jews
and maybe especially to the diaspora Jews,
the Hellenist Jews
who had returned to Jerusalem
to be near the temple,
this would have been a particularly offensive claim
because they had come intentionally
to be more actively, intentionally Jewish
and to practice their faith
within the temple.
And so they twist Stephen's words
and charge him with blasphemy
and we can see their murderous intent
because they know very well
that the punishment for blasphemy is stoning.
And in their wickedness,
they raise up false witnesses
even though they know
that the law also prohibits
being a false witness.
But they're willing to violate the law
as long as it suits their agenda.
And in chapter 7, verse 1,
the high priest calls upon Stephen
to defend himself
and he says,
Are these things so?
Are you really preaching
against the temple of God
and the law of Moses?
Are you really preaching
that Jesus will destroy the temple
and change the customs of Moses,
the two charges?
This is not a question
that Stephen can answer
with the simple yes or no.
because he could have
totally disavowed those claims
in order to get himself off the hook.
But if he did that,
he would not be bearing
faithful witness to Jesus.
Because it is true
that salvation is found
in no one else
but in the name of Jesus.
Jesus does supersede the temple.
Jesus does bring the law of Moses
to its intended end,
as it says in Romans 10, verse 4.
Jesus does not destroy the temple
or abolish the law,
but he does fulfill
both of those things.
Jesus is the new
and the greater Moses.
And so simply replying
yes or no
would not have sufficed.
So he chooses
to use this last opportunity,
his last few breaths,
to preach the gospel,
to speak of Jesus.
Jesus.
And Luke's main point
in including this narrative here
in Acts
is to teach us
that whoever acknowledges Christ
before the court of men
will be acknowledged by him
in the court of God.
And he answers the two charges.
So first,
he talks about how Jesus
is the new temple.
And then secondly,
he talks about how Jesus
is the new Moses.
First, Stephen recounts
the history of Israel
to make a biblical case
that God's presence
has always transcended
Jerusalem and its temple.
And in doing so,
he supports his assertion
that Jesus is the new temple of God.
And beginning with Abraham,
the father of faith,
he speaks about this
in verses 2 to 8.
He begins with a conciliatory tone,
addressing the Jews
as brothers and fathers,
affirming that they're his fellow Jews.
But then later,
when he's speaking of Abraham
entering the promised land,
in verse 4,
he distances himself
from his audience.
And he says,
God removed him from there
into this land
in which you are now living.
He doesn't say
this land in which we are now living.
He distances himself
from the land
and from the fellow Jews.
He's trying to make
a theological point.
This is a point that he,
notice how he emphasizes
Abraham's geographical movements
in that section,
verses 2 to 8.
In verse 2,
he says that God appeared
to Abraham where?
Not in Israel,
but when he was in Mesopotamia.
And after that,
Abraham doesn't enter
the promised land right away,
but then he lives
in among the Chaldeans
in Haran.
It's only after that
that Abraham finally
enters the promised land.
But even when he does,
Stephen notes in verse 5,
God gave him
no inheritance in it,
not even a foot's length,
but promised to give it to him
as a possession
and to his offspring after him.
This is a remarkable point.
God didn't merely
promise Abraham
that he would give his land
to his offspring.
He promised it to Abraham
himself as a possession,
but then he didn't give him
a foot's length.
This is why it says
in Hebrews 11, 8 to 10,
that by faith Abraham obeyed
when he was called
to go out to a place
that he was to receive
as inheritance.
And he went out
not knowing where he was going.
By faith he went to live
in the land of the promise
as in a foreign land,
living in tents
with Isaac and Jacob,
heirs with him
of the same promise.
For he was looking forward
to the city
that has foundations,
whose designer
and builder is God.
In other words,
the land of Canaan
represents and points
to something far bigger,
far better.
It represents the city of God.
Living in the presence of God,
in perfect communion with him,
it's a type
or a foreshadowing of heaven.
Similarly,
Abraham's descendants
won't immediately possess
Canaan either.
God told Abraham
that his offspring
would be sojourners,
aliens,
foreigners
in a land belonging to others.
Stephen's pointing out
to his Jewish audience
that though they make
much of the fact
that they now occupy
the land that God himself
had promised to them,
that though they occupy
the Jerusalem
where the temple is,
Abraham and many
of his descendants
never themselves
physically possessed
the land.
They were instead
sojourners,
and yet they were fathers
and exemplars
of the faith.
Being a faithful Jew,
in other words,
is not so inextricably
tied to the Holy Land.
moving on from Abraham,
Stephen makes the same point
about Joseph
and the other patriarchs
in verses 9 to 16.
Joseph was sold
into slavery
by his jealous brothers.
Nonetheless,
despite the fact
that Joseph had been
forcibly disinherited
from the land of Canaan
and removed
from the promised land,
Stephen notes
in verse 9
that God was with him
in the foreign land.
And by God's favor,
Joseph rose to become
a ruler over Egypt.
And during the time
of the great famine
all over Egypt and Canaan,
God used Joseph
to summon all of Jacob
and his household
to live in Egypt
because in Egypt
there was still grain
because of God-given wisdom
that Joseph had.
So once again,
the 12 patriarchs
during this time
did not live
in the land of Canaan,
but in Egypt
where God's nonetheless
blessed them
and prospered them.
Of course,
Stephen is aware
that Joseph specifically
asked his brothers
in Genesis 48-25
to carry his bones
from Egypt
and to bury them
in the land of Canaan
after his death.
This was his expression
of his faith
in God's promise
to Abraham
that he would occupy
the promised land.
But then,
even in recounting
that detail,
Stephen highlights
in verse 16
that they were carried
back to Shechem
and laid in the tomb
that Abraham had bought
for a sum of silver
from the sons of Hamor
in Shechem.
The city of Shechem
mentioned twice here
is significant
because it's
a Samaritan city
at the foot
of Mount Gerizim,
the holiest site
in Samaritan worship.
As some of you
might recall
from Jesus' dialogue
with the Samaritan woman
in John chapter 4,
there was bad blood
between Jews
and Samaritans.
They avoided each other
like a plague
because the Samaritans
were descendants
of Jews
after the Assyrian invasion
who had remained
in the land
that was occupied
by their conquerors.
They stayed
and settled there
and intermarried
with the Assyrians.
And because of this,
the Jews saw them
not only as political rebels
but also as racial half-breeds
whose religion
had been adulterated.
And one notable difference
between Samaritan worship
and Jewish worship
was that Samaritans
constructed a rival temple
on Mount Gerizim
at Shechem.
And the Jews
worshipped on Mount Zion
in Jerusalem.
And Stephen
makes it a point
to emphasize
that Joseph,
a patriarch
that the Jews revered,
is not buried
in Jerusalem,
not in Judea,
but in Shechem,
in Samaria.
This is yet another way
that Stephen
is undercutting
the Jewish contention
that the gracious presence
of God
is confined
to Jerusalem
and its temple.
moving on
from Joseph,
Stephen recounts
the story of Moses,
which is the longest
section of this speech,
verses 17 to 43.
And here, too,
he emphasizes
the same theme.
He notes that
because of a wicked Pharaoh
who threatened
to kill
the Jewish infants,
in fact did,
the Jews were forced
to expose their infants
to the elements.
And Moses was exposed,
it says in verses 21 and 22,
it was the Egyptian Pharaoh's
daughter
who adopted him
and brought him up
as her own son.
And Moses was instructed
in all the wisdom
of the Egyptians
and he was mighty
in his words
and deeds.
The Moses
that the Jews revered,
the person
that the Jews revered
above all other forefathers,
was born a Jew
but reared
as an Egyptian.
And not only that,
when Moses tried
to come to the defense
of his fellow Israelites
and struck down
an Egyptian
who was oppressing
his fellow Jew,
they rejected him
saying,
who made you a ruler
and a judge over us?
And it's their rejection,
his Jewish brethren's
rejection of Moses
that made him free,
he says,
to become an exile
in the land of Midian.
Once again,
a sojourner,
an exile,
removed from
the promised land.
After another 40 years,
he says in verse 30,
an angel appeared to him
in the wilderness
of Mount Sinai
in a flame,
a fire,
and a bush.
And when God spoke there,
he says in verse 33,
he said,
take off the sandals
from your feet
for the place
where you are standing
is holy ground.
Later,
Jewish rabbis
commented on this
saying that
God's revelation
in the wilderness
proves once and for all
that there is no place
that is too desolate
for the presence of God.
That's a similar point
that Stephen is making here.
Where did God
appear to Moses?
Not in Jerusalem,
but in the wilderness.
Not in Mount Sion,
but on Mount Sinai.
The Jews charged Stephen
in verse 13 of chapter 6
with speaking against
this holy place,
but Stephen insists
that even the desolate
wilderness of Sinai
was consecrated
and became
a holy place
when God revealed
himself there.
In other words,
Jerusalem and its temple
are not the only
holy place.
The holy place
is wherever
God's Spirit rests.
all this serves
to make the point
that being a sojourner
and an exile
is the norm
and not the exception
in the life
of God's people.
That God's presence
is not limited
to Jerusalem
and the temple.
And even when
God's people
finally did come
to occupy Jerusalem
and built the temple,
they did so
with the understanding
that God cannot
be confined
to such physical locales.
to make this point,
Stephen mentions
in verses 44 to 45
that the tabernacle,
the tent of witness,
which was the portable tent
where the Israelites
worshipped and made
sacrifices and such
during their time
in the wilderness,
that this tabernacle
preceded the temple
of God
and God's presence
moved with it.
And even after
conquering
the land of Canaan
in Joshua 18.1,
this tent,
the tabernacle,
was set up
in Shiloh
and people
continued
to worship God
there
for approximately
300 years
until the time
of David.
And when time
finally came
for them
to build
the great temple,
it wasn't David
the great king
who built the temple,
but it was
his son Solomon.
And when Solomon
was dedicating
the temple,
Solomon himself
said in 1 Kings 18
verse 27,
Solomon well
understood this
and Stephen
does as well.
And so Stephen
says in verse 48,
the most high
does not dwell
in houses
made by hands.
And to drive
that point home,
he cites
Isaiah 66
verses 1-2
in verses 49-50,
saying,
heaven is my throne,
where God says,
heaven is my throne
and the earth
is my footstool.
What kind of house
will you build
for me,
says the Lord?
Or what is the place
of my rest?
Did not my hand
make all these things?
How can the God
who created
the cosmos
dwell,
be confined
to a man-made
temple?
How can the
Most High God
be constricted
to such a lowly
place on earth?
It's absurd
to think that God
can be confined
to a physical
location.
The temple
was never meant
to be
the permanent
exclusive dwelling
place of God.
It was a type,
a shadow
of the reality
to come.
And that reality
is Jesus.
In Jesus,
the Son of God
took on human
flesh and became
simultaneously
Son of Man.
And it says,
in Him,
the whole fullness
of deity
dwells bodily
in Colossians 2
verse 9.
But that's not
the end of the story.
This amazing
condescension of God
in taking on
human flesh
continues in
Colossians 2
verse 10
when he says
that to believers,
you have been
filled in Him
who is the head
of all rule
and authority.
This is similar
to what Paul says
in Ephesians 1
22-23
that God gave
Christ as head
over all things
to the church
which is His body,
the fullness
of Him
who fills
all in all.
Human beings
were alienated
from God
due to their sin
and guilt
before God.
And God
was alienated
from human beings,
sinful human beings
because of His
righteous wrath
towards sinners.
But by dying
on the cross
for our sins,
Jesus
simultaneously
removes our guilt
and satisfies
God's wrath
so that we can
be reconciled
to God.
and when Jesus
died on the cross,
the curtain
of the temple
was torn in two,
indicating that
the barrier
between God
and man
had been
torn down.
And now Jesus
is the one
mediator
between God
and man
and when we
repent of our sins
and believe in Jesus,
His death
and His resurrection
on our behalf,
we are united
to Jesus
by faith.
we become
one with Him,
we become
His body
and by extension
because Jesus
is the temple
of God,
we ourselves
become temple
of the Holy Spirit
as 1 Corinthians
3 says.
And that's why
where we meet
for corporate worship
is ultimately
not important.
We are looking
hard right now
for a place to meet,
for a permanent
home for our church.
But in light
of this truth,
it's not ultimately
important.
we can worship
God at a building
dedicated to His
worship like this
place,
or at a rented
school facility
like we used to,
or even outdoors.
The Spirit of God
indwells God's
people.
The church
is the gathered
people of God.
So it's not
inside a church
building,
but wherever we are
gathered as God's
people,
that God
is present.
And this is such
a wonderful
privilege.
Think about it.
God dwells
with us.
All of the other
major religions
have pilgrimages
to sites
that they deem
holy.
You have to make
long,
arduous journeys
in order to make
merit
by visiting
these holy sites.
Every other
major world
religion has this.
but true
biblical Christianity
has no such
requirement.
God is not
over there
in the distant
land,
in some holy
place quarantined
from rest of
sinful humanity.
He is with
us.
He is
imminent.
He inhabits
us.
He befriends
us.
Look at the
intimate way
in which
Revelation 3
20 describes
God's indwelling
presence among
us.
The Lord Jesus
says,
Behold,
I stand at
the door
and knock.
If anyone
hears my
voice and
opens the
door,
I will come
into him
and eat
with him
and he
with me.
The living
God comes
into our
home.
into our
life,
into our
body,
he dines
with us.
You get
that in no
other religion.
God comes
to
God.
God
is
God.
And the
implication of
this is that
we can't
box God
in.
We can't
set him
aside somewhere
in a neat
little box
where he
doesn't disturb
our lives.
God
is
God.
This is
Stephen's
main charge
against his
fellow Jews.
The problem
is not the
temple itself.
The problem
is the way
they use
the temple
to box
God in,
to try to
contain him
and control
him.
In a
similar way,
people nowadays
reduce God
to amulets
and pendants
and talismans,
as if we
can put God
in our
pockets and
carry him
around like
a good luck
charm.
We reduce
God to
rituals and
formulas and
legal requirements
as if we
can control
him and
manipulate him
to do what
we want him
to do.
As one of the
prayers we
sometimes use
for a confession
of sin says,
we often
worship not
your true
self, but
who we wish
you to be.
We too
often ask you
to bless
what we
do,
rather than
seeking to
do what
you bless.
Forgive us
for seeking
concessions when
we should be
seeking guidance.
Forgive us
when our
worship shapes
you into
what we
want,
instead of
shaping us
into what
you want.
In what
ways have
you compartmentalized
God in your
life?
Sunday
worship is
God's
time, but
the rest
of the
week is
mine.
Is that
your attitude?
No,
every hour
of your
life you
are alive
to glorify
God.
A tithe of
my income
belongs to
God, but
the rest of
the paycheck
is mine.
Is that
your attitude?
No,
every dollar
in your
bank account
is a gift
from God
that you
might glorify
God with
it.
Do you
behave
yourself,
wear nice
clothes and
abstain from
profanity and
put on a
smile during a
worship service
only to live
in a way
that is
completely
contrary to
the gospel
of Jesus
Christ the
rest of the
week?
God cannot
be contained.
He cannot
be boxed
in and
set aside
so that our
life and
worship is
compartmentalized.
Our entire
life is
supposed to
be a
living sacrifice,
a spiritual
worship to
God because
our bodies
themselves are
the temple
of the
living God.
That's
Stephen's
charge,
his defense.
The
Sanhedrin's
second charge
against Stephen
was that he
spoke against
the law of
Moses,
that he
told them
not to
follow Moses'
customs,
the customs
handed down
to them by
Moses.
And Stephen
answers this
charge by
demonstrating that
Jesus is the
new and
greater Moses,
who instead of
merely giving the
law engraved in
stone, who now
engraves the
very law of God
onto our hearts
so that we can
actually obey
him.
Even before
Moses, God
had ordained that
he would deliver
his people from
the upcoming
famine by making
Joseph a ruler
over them.
So this is part of
the history that
Stephen recounts.
And he revealed
this to Joseph in
a dream that he
would be a ruler
over God's people,
that he would be
used by him to
rescue them.
But Joseph's
brothers, the
patriarchs, were
jealous of Joseph.
They rejected
him and sold
him into slavery
in Egypt.
Much like the
Jewish leaders,
who are filled
with jealousy,
as it says in
Acts chapter 5,
verse 17,
and Acts chapter
13, verse 45,
and in Acts
chapter 17,
verse 5,
there's a
recurring theme.
He's setting up
a pattern that
the Jews that are
persecuting Christians
actually fit the
pattern of those
who reject God's
prophets and his
messengers time
and time again
out of jealousy.
And not only
Joseph, but Moses,
the lawgiver himself,
was rejected by
the Israelites.
Chapter 7,
verse 22,
described Moses
as mighty in his
words and deeds.
That's a phrase
that's not actually
found in the book
of Exodus,
but it's a phrase
that's actually found
later in Acts chapter,
or in Luke chapter 24,
verse 19,
where Jesus is
described as mighty
in deed and word.
So, immediately,
Luke is establishing
a connection between
Moses and Jesus
when he describes
Moses this way.
And then,
he further recounts
in verses 23-25
that when Moses
was 40 years old,
it came into his
heart to visit
his brothers,
and when he tried
to make peace
among them
by trying to
stop them
from fighting
against each other,
once again,
the Jews rejected
Moses,
retorted to him,
who made you
ruler and a judge
over us?
Repeatedly,
Moses is rejected.
The people don't
understand that God
is making him,
using him to rescue
them from their
slavery in Egypt.
Likewise,
the Jews,
in Stephen's day,
it says,
acted in ignorance
in chapter 3,
verse 17,
in crucifying Jesus.
They did not
understand.
And Stephen says
in verse 35-38
that this Moses
whom they rejected
as their ruler
and judge,
God himself
has made
both ruler
and redeemer.
He uses
Moses
to perform
signs and wonders.
He uses Moses
to speak
God's living
oracles.
And this,
once again,
establishes the
parallels to Jesus.
Like Moses
who performed
signs and wonders,
Jesus is described
as attested
to God
by mighty works
and wonders
and signs
in Acts chapter 2,
verse 22.
Like Moses
was rejected
by his fellow Jews
from being ruler
and judge,
but nonetheless
appointed ruler
and judge
and redeemer,
Jesus is rejected,
but then God
appoints him,
it says in Acts
chapter 5,
verse 31,
leader and savior
to give repentance
to Israel
and forgiveness
of sins.
In short,
Jesus is
the prophet
like Moses
that Moses
himself
had prophesied
that God
would raise up
in Deuteronomy
chapter 18,
verse 15.
So it's no surprise
then that the Jews
in Stephen's day
reject Jesus
the same way
their forefathers
rejected Moses.
verses 39
to 40
and following
Stephen
talks about
how the Jews
continually
turned back
in their hearts
toward Egypt,
made an idol,
a golden calf,
and worshipped
other gods.
He quotes
from Amos
5,
25 to 27
there.
And having
observed
this pattern
in Israel's
history
of rejecting
God's
bookspersons,
Stephen challenges
the Jews
in verses
51 to 53.
He says,
You stiff-necked
people,
uncircumcised
in heart and ears,
you always resist
the Holy Spirit
and as your
fathers did,
so do you.
Which of the
prophets
did your fathers
not persecute?
And they killed
those who announced
beforehand
the coming
of the righteous
one,
whom you have
now betrayed
and murdered.
As he did
earlier,
Stephen is now
again
distancing himself
from his
fellow Jews.
Previously,
he spoke of
our fathers,
but now he
says,
Your fathers
did.
He's trying
to make the
point that he's
trying to tell
them what
separates Stephen,
what separates
him from the
rest of the
Jews.
It's his
submission to,
his listening
to Jesus
as God's
chosen Messiah,
unlike his
fellow Jews
who reject
him.
The charge
of being
a stiff-necked
people,
of course,
was the
charge that
the Old
Testament uses
over and
over again
to refer
to God's
people and
their
rejection
of him.
And so
it's a
stinging
charge.
And even
though the
Jews took
pride in the
fact that
God gave
Abraham the
covenant of
circumcision,
he now calls
these proud
descendants of
Abraham
uncircumcised
in hearts
and ears.
once again,
Moses himself
had prophesied
in Deuteronomy
30 that
one day
God would
circumcise
our hearts
so that we
can actually
obey him.
Prophet
Ezekiel in
chapter 36
also said
that God
would give
us a new
heart and
a new
spirit and
cause us to
walk in his
statutes.
This promise
is fulfilled
ultimately by
the person
and work
of Jesus
Christ.
As it
says in
Romans 2
28-29,
what matters
is not
physical
circumcision,
but the
circumcision
of the
heart.
And that
circumcision
of the
heart is
performed
not by
human hands,
but it
says by
the spirit
in Romans
2-29.
it's
when we
have the
obedience
of faith
to Jesus
Christ,
when we
accept him
as our
Lord and
Savior,
as the
Messiah sent
by God
for our
redemption,
to be our
ruler and
king,
that's when
we are
indwelled by
the spirit
of God.
So
according to
Stephen,
it's not
him who
has rejected
the law
of Moses.
Moses.
It's his
Jewish
accusers who
have rejected
Moses,
because they
have rejected
the prophet
like Moses
that Moses
himself
prophesied
of.
These Jews
sought to
justify
themselves by
keeping the
letter of
the law
when God
himself had
ordained that
we should be
justified by
faith in
Jesus Christ.
These Jews
put their
confidence in
their own
flesh, in
the trappings,
the external
trappings of
religion,
rather than in
the inward
testimony of
the Holy
Spirit.
Do you
put your
confidence in
the external
religious
trappings?
Do you
put your
confidence in
your religious
heritage,
your pedigree,
your father
as a pastor
or a seminary
professor,
that your
family has
been Christians
for many
generations?
Many Jews
of Stephen's
day could say
the same
thing, and
yet they were
uncircumcised in
hearts and
ears.
Do you put
your confidence
in your own
moral or
religious
observance,
that you go
to church
every week,
that you read
the Bible and
pray regularly,
that you subscribe
to the right
theology,
or that you're
part of the
right denomination,
that you have
not committed any
blatant sins
recently, or that
you support the
right social and
political causes,
or that you're
an upstanding
citizen, or that
you donate money
to charity.
Many Jews of
Stephen's day could
say the same
thing, and yet
they were
uncircumcised in
hearts and
ears.
The only way to
have right standing
with God, the
only way to be
saved is to
believe in the
name of Jesus,
the righteous
one.
Instead of
resisting the
Holy Spirit, we
are to yield to
the Holy Spirit by
repenting of our
sins and trusting
in Jesus Christ
alone for our
salvation.
I want to
plead with those
of you who are
living with guilt
that hasn't been
dealt with, or
with shame in
your own
identities.
stop trying to
save yourself.
Stop trying to
atone for your
own sins.
Stop putting your
confidence in your
own flesh, in your
own qualifications,
as Stephen's
Jewish contemporaries
did.
It's not our own
labors.
It's not our own
righteousness.
It's not our own
piety or devotion
that atones for
our sins.
Only those who
come naked to the
cross,
can be clothed
with the
righteousness of
Jesus.
Only those who
come empty
handed to the
cross of Jesus
can receive God's
mercy and be
filled with the
Holy Spirit.
Jesus alone
saves us.
Unfortunately,
Stephen's Jewish
audience didn't
heed this warning,
and instead, we
are told in
verses 54 to 58
that they were
enraged, they
ground their teeth
at him.
And after hearing
of Stephen's
vision of the
glory of God
and Jesus
standing at the
right hand of
God, verse 57
says, they cried
out with a loud
voice and stopped
their ears and
rushed together at
him.
Covering their ears,
a gesture of
righteousness,
self-righteousness,
saying that I can't
bear to hear the
blasphemous words that
are coming out of
Stephen's mouth.
But all it does is
to confirm what
Stephen said earlier,
that they are
uncircumcised in
their ears.
They are deaf to
the truth of
Jesus.
They throw Stephen
out of the city and
stone him to death.
It's a brutal way
to die, a
punishment reserved
for the most
heinous of sins in
the Old Testament,
sins that threaten
the very survival of
the Jewish faith
community from
which the Messiah
had to be born.
sins like
blasphemy.
When stoning
someone to death,
they lower you to
a pit or to a
valley outside the
city and then
starting with the
witnesses of the
trial themselves,
they throw stones
at you.
And they don't
pelt you with these
little pebbles.
They crush you by
hurling large stones
at you.
And since this
happened during the
trial before the
Sanhedrin, it
seems the Sanhedrin
sanctioned it.
However, we know
from John chapter
18 that the Jews
did not have the
right under Roman
rule to execute
people.
They did not have
the right to meet
a capital punishment.
So this is not an
official killing.
It's not an
execution.
This is a
lynching.
Unauthorized
lynching.
that's how the
first martyr of the
faith died.
But there are
several details that
suggest a great
reversal of what's
happening.
In the Mishnah, the
official commentary of
the rabbis, of the
Jewish rabbis, it
details the steps that
you're supposed to
take when you're
stoning someone to
death.
And it specifies that
the person that is
being stoned is
supposed to be
stripped of his
clothing.
But interestingly, in
verse 58, it's not
Stephen, but the
witnesses, the false
witnesses who testified
against him, who are
stripped of their
clothing.
They take their
garments off and lay
them at the feet of a
young man named
Saul.
The Mishnah also
specifies that the
person that's being
stoned to death is
supposed to confess at
the time of his
stoning and say, may
my death atone for
all my sins.
But instead, Stephen
prays in verse 60,
Lord, do not hold
this sin against
them.
Stephen does not
confess his sin, but
the sins of his
accusers and
persecutors, and he
pleads for God's
mercy on their
behalf.
And of course, in
doing this, he's
following in the
footsteps of his
master, Jesus, who
himself was charged
with the same
charge that Stephen
is being charged
of, who himself
had false
accusers, false
witnesses brought
against him, who
himself was unjustly
tried and executed,
and who himself
cried out, Father,
into your hands I
commit my spirit, who
himself prayed for
his executioners, saying,
Father, forgive them,
for they know not what
they do.
Luke intentionally
presents Stephen's
martyrdom in the
pattern of Jesus'
death, because he
wants to teach us
that this is not an
isolated incident.
This is a pattern
that every Christian
is called to follow.
We should not be
surprised when, as a
church, we face
determined and
organized opposition
and persecution.
We should not be
surprised when people
launch smear campaigns
against us, or drag us
to court, sue us for
our allegiance to
Christ.
But when we suffer in
this way, we must not
lose hope.
And there's a
wonderful hope here
in verses 55 to 56.
We are told that
Stephen sees Jesus at
the right hand of God,
which is a fulfillment
of Luke chapter 22,
verse 69, that Jesus
himself prophesied when
he was standing on trial
before the Sanhedrin.
He said that you will
see the Son of Man at
the right hand of God.
So that's been
fulfilled.
So Jesus has been
vindicated.
He has been raised
from the dead, ascended
to the heaven.
Now he's seated at the
right hand of the
Father.
But that's not the only
thing.
There's something curious
here.
He says that the Son of
Man is standing at the
right hand of God.
This is a curious detail
because wherever Scripture
mentions Jesus' session,
ascension, his ascension
and being ascended at
the right hand of God,
he's being seated at
the right hand of God,
it always specifies that
he is seated.
It implies completion,
that it's finished.
Jesus is sitting at the
right hand of God.
But uniquely in this
verse, it says that Jesus
is standing at the right
hand of God.
Why is he standing?
Isaiah chapter 3, verse
13 says that when the
Lord judges the nations,
he stands.
When God is about to
issue his verdict, he
stands.
So then, this is likely
connected to what Jesus
said in Luke 12, verse
8.
I think we have that on
the screen for you guys
to look at everyone
who acknowledges me
before men.
The Son of Man also
will acknowledge before
the angels of God.
While Stephen is
being condemned by
the human court,
Jesus stands to
vindicate him.
While the Sanhedrin
declares Stephen guilty
of blasphemy,
Jesus declares him
not guilty and
commends him for
bearing faithful
witness to him.
by every earthly
appearance, it's Stephen
who is on trial.
And it's Stephen who
is the loser.
In the heavenly
court, it's not Stephen
who is on trial, but his
persecutors who are on
trial.
And he is, Stephen
himself is victorious.
He is vindicated.
And we must remember
this heavenly reality
when we are persecuted
for bearing witness to
Jesus on earth.
Even when all men
reject us
and forsake us,
Jesus, our Lord,
will stand for us.
For all of those
who are faithful to him
till the end.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father,
Lord,
we do not desire
the applause of men.
Lord, we do not
want to make a name
for ourselves here on
earth.
but Lord,
from our heart of hearts,
from the depth of our
innermost being,
we desire
the commendation of our
Lord,
our King Jesus,
standing up
to vindicate us,
to receive us
into his kingdom,
and to say to us,
well done,
my good
and faithful servant.
God,
we cannot
bear faithful witness
to you
and acknowledge you
before men
without your help.
So, Lord,
fill us with your
Holy Spirit.
embolden us,
empower us.
Let us not,
let us be
men and women
who
do not
love their lives
even unto death.
And may Jesus
be exalted
in our lives.
In his precious
name we pray.
Amen.