Acts 6:8-15

So this section of Acts is really deep. When I was looking over chapter 7 I know I could not do it with the rest of chapter 6 tonight, and as I look over it more and more I don’t think I can do all of it next week. There is so much information in the speech he gives to those who are trying to kill him and we have the time to slowly work through it.

But for today I want us to look at really just 7 verses this evening, and that is Acts 6:8-15

Acts 6:8–15 ESV

8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 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. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 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, 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 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.” 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

If you remember from last week Stephen was one of the seven deacons chosen. Stephen as we learned last week was full of the Spirit full of wisdom and today we see that he was full of grace and power. This is why he was able to do ministry so well that ruffled the feathers of those who opposed them, all while being a faithful servant. Because he was full of grace and full of power. Full of the Spirit, and Full of wisdom.

I thought of it like this… Whatever fills your cup is what is going to come forth from it. (This applies to everything in life in fact )

Bartender asks what would you like and you tell them, and then you are filled with whatever drink he gives you, but our own lives are like that as well.

You are controlled by whatever fills you, I even talked about this on Sunday we spend so much time in things that don’t build us up as believers and that is why we don’t look like we should as Christians. Our Sin drives us to desire to be filled with things that are not Christ like.

Stephen is portrayed in Scripture as such a Godly man.

Have you ever thought what it would say if you were introduced in the bible? Later on in Philippians there are some people who have disagreement that causes a ruffle and that is all they are known for. Do you want to be known as a Stephan or a Jezabel. Think about that..

One man I was reading this week said if you are filled with Jealousy, the success of others will infuriate you. If you are filled with lust, your sexual appetites lead you into great darkness. If you are filled with anger, you will quarrel and even murder with your thoughts. But if you are filled with God’s power and wisdom you will live a life Stephen demonstrated and others, Christ exalting life.

A great challenge of the day for believers is distraction, and those distractions cause us to fill up on what we really desire, and in turn it causes us to shift away from God, and towards something else. Stephen was not like that neither should we be.

Now something to note is Stephen had something we don’t have today and that was the ability to preform wonders and signs, just like Jesus.

But it wasn’t even his signs, and wonders that got people confronting him it was his teaching… The text does not even elaborate on them only states that he did. As we talked about so far this was just there to validate the messenger of the message.

v9-10 We are introduced to the Synagogue of the Freedmen..

Acts The Man Stephen (6:5, 8–10)

(4) The opponents who debated Stephen were “members of the Synagogue7 of the Freedmen” (v. 9). They came from four places: Cyrene and Alexandria, cities in upper Africa, and Cilicia and Asia, provinces in Asia Minor. The most important town in Cilicia was Tarsus, Paul’s hometown. Did Paul (Saul) worship in this synagogue? We cannot be sure, but we know that he was involved in Stephen’s death. He may have, however, preferred a synagogue using Hebrew, for he calls himself a Hebrew (2 Cor. 11:22; Phil. 3:5). The most important town in Asia was Ephesus (cf. also the seven churches in Asia, Rev. 2–3). Freedmen (libertinos8) were probably the descendants of those who had been liberated from slavery or imprisonment. This synagogue “might well have owed its origin to Jews who had been taken as prisoners of war to Rome in the time of Pompey (63 B.C.)” and were later liberated.9 This was clearly a Hellenist synagogue and may be the one to which Stephen himself once belonged

So Stephen has some people after him, but that does not stop him, and you see why. Because they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit.

I like that language, and I think its helpful to us that we let the message offend not the messenger like Stephen does well.

Jesus says in Luke 21:15 something promising that this will happen..

Luke 21:15 ESV

15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

No-one can go against the wisdom of God, so they have to go after the messenger, not the message.

So what do these people have to do in order to go after Stephen they have to make something up…

v11. They say… Stephen spoke blasphemous words against Moses and God. They gather some people they bring false report and they go after him.

Stephen did not have the same popularity of the apostles so he was probably easier to single out as well.

This is what they said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 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.

The words they said were carefully said… Remember trials during that time could not put people to death unless they were offenses by word or deed against the sanctity of the temple. Remember they tried to do this to Christ but failed.

So they bring up the fact that Jesus is going to tear down this place. He most likely did this because they were turning the synagogue into an idol, and like Jesus Stephen was going after things in their own hearts that were idols.

They twisted his words though Jesus did say he would destroy the temple. Mt 24:1-2

Matthew 24:1–2 ESV

1 Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

They also went after Stephen for quote on quote saying the law is no longer valid or useful, when we know Jesus himself said he fulfilled part of the law.

What is interesting in all of this though is Stephens Face.

Acts 6:15 ESV

15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

As the locked Eyes on him they began to see his own face light up, and what is cool about this was if you remember back in Exodus whose face lite up with the glory of God?

And who was the people claiming Stephen was going against? Moses

One guy said… Luke has given a “description of one whose communion with God was such that something of the divine glory was reflected in him.” He reminds us that “oddly, the same had been said of Moses (Exod. 34: 29ff.; cf. 2 Cor. 3:12–18).” Both “bore the mark of having been with God. And yet Stephen was accused of ‘speaking against Moses and against God.’ ”

Another man said.. Luke is not asking us to picture Stephen with a angel-like face, but rather, with an expression that denoted his determination to speak God’s word fearlessly, faithfully, and forcefully to the end. May we too share that face of an angel in our day.