Acts 7:44-60 - End of Stephen

Reminder from Last week - Moses

God guides our lives to prepare us for the future (Moses as an infant and being raised in Pharaoh’s house)

God calls and equips leaders who we do not always expect (Moses was not anything special - God molded him for the roll)

Rejecting the leader that God has called is rejecting God himself (The people rejected Moses and God punished them for it - They rejected Moses and then rejected God - Golden Calf).

Where did we end last week?

Last sermon ended with us talking about the debauchery of the Israelites and how they turned from the one true God, YHWH, to false gods like Moloch.

The People denied Moses and God and turned to the false gods. The Lord punished them for their bad decisions.

Stephen highlighted that they had done this through their entire history

Stephen Draws Attention to the Tabernacle and Tent of Testimony (v.44-50)

Acts 7:44–50 ESV

44 “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. 45 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, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, 49 “ ‘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? 50 Did not my hand make all these things?’

Stephen now draws attention to and addresses life beyond the wilderness, and does this by:

Drawing attention to the Tabernacle (“the tent of testimony”)

Drawing attention to the Temple (“dwelling-place”, “house”)

Tabernacle

The place where Moses communed with God

Where the priests would offer sacrifices to God.

Temple

A more permanent - non portable - tabernacle

David wanted to build it to honor God - God blessed him because he wanted to do this and promised him that there would always be a descendent of his who would reign on the throne.

The thing that was built to honor God quickly became an idol

This is why Stephen quotes Isaiah:

Acts 7:49–50 ESV

49 “ ‘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? 50 Did not my hand make all these things?’

God told them how they were to build both the tabernacle and temple, yet these things became something that Jesus said he would tare down.

A House of Idols - The temple was never designed to be a residence for God in the way that pagan temples housed idols - but the Israelites were treating it that way.

A Study Commentary on The Acts of the Apostles Chapter 7: Blood of the Martyrs, Seed of the Church (Acts 6:8–8:1a)

These words emphasize a point that Stephen has been stressing throughout his speech: God’s presence may not be limited to a single place or structure. It also demonstrates that Stephen’s opponents, in so limiting God’s presence to the Temple, had misunderstood right from the beginning God’s intention and purposes with respect to the Temple.

Stephen criticized the temple not for what it is but rather how it was viewed.

They made an idol out of it.

They did not understand that God would not dwell in temples made by man - but rather in us.

We are told throughout scripture that we are the temples of God.

The temple and tabernacle pointed forward to something better, something beyond themselves to something more enduring and substantial.

John 2:19–22 ESV

19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Ephesians 2:19–22 ESV

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

1 Peter 2:5 ESV

5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

In the end we will have no use for a temple for the temple will be God.

Revelation 21:22 ESV

22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.

Application: How does this apply to us

We cannot become so caught up with a building, the name on a building, or how a building looks that we forget what our commission is.

The goal of the church is not to be a group that has people in it to sustain a property or even fund a pastor - this may be a means to an end but this is not the end.

The church does those things so that they can use a building and a property to reach the community it is in for the gospel.

Now this does not give us permission to be bad stewards of what God has given, rather we must always look at everything through the lense of “How does this help us fulfill the great commission?”

We can use this building to fulfill the great commission, worship God, and equip the saints for the work of ministry.

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Back to Stephen… Acts 7:51-53

This is the pinnacle of the sermon - the climax has come at the end!

Acts 7:51–53 ESV

51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 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, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Everything Stephen has said has been leading up to make this point:

That the people are stiff-necked and just like their ancestors have rejected those whom God has sent them - with the most significant person they have rejected being Christ.

He told the story of Abraham and Joseph to get them to Moses - reminding them that he is telling the story of their people.

When he gets to Moses that’s where we can really compare Moses and Christ - The people rebelled against Moses as they rebelled against Christ.

And then they rejected all the prophets - just as they had rejected Christ.

They were the one’s with the lineage and the law - oracles from God - yet they rejected the Christ, the one who it all was pointing to.

Lets not be like these people - where what God wants for us is right in front of us, but we are too “stiff-necked” to move forward with him.

This could be in following change

This could be in us needing to repent of a sin

This could be that we need to turn to Christ - do not be so stiff necked and reliant upon yourself that you never surrender to Christ.

The Stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:54-60)

Acts 7:54–60 ESV

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 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. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 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. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 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.

Verse 54-56

The people were mad at Stephen, already not accepting his testimony, but then he sees Christ - he does not keep his mouth shut about the Christ.

Jesus being at the right hand of God shows that God has vindicated him.

To be at the right hand is to be at the position of authority.

To be at the right hand of God is to be vested with divine authority.

Jesus is the redeemer who Moses pointed to.

When Stephen says he sees “The Son of Man” they would have seen this as the ultimate blasphemy - for they would have recognized that the Son of Man statement was him claiming to see the Christ.

Daniel 7:13–14 ESV

13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Verses 57-60

They did not want to hear what Stephen was saying for they viewed it as blasphemy.

Saul: They lay their garments at the feet of young Saul to symbolize that they are the witnessed and the executioners of this crime of blasphemy.

This is the first time we hear about Saul

Two Amazing things about Stephen’s statement

Acts 7:59–60 ESV

59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 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.

“Lord Jesus Receive My Spirit” - proclaims that Jesus is both judge and savior.

Our only hope in death is the same as Stephen’s - “Lord Jesus receive my Spirit.”

There is only one way by which Jesus will receive our Spirit when we die and that is by that we are saved by him.

Jesus will not accept anyone who is not in him - PREACH GOSPEL

“do not hold this sin against them” - illustrates the non vindictive spirit of one who understands that his own sins have been forgiven by grace.

We should have this same outlook - Stephen knows that if God had not saved him, he would be standing right next to all those people with stones in their hands.

His only thought for these people is not that they would receive wrath, but that they would come to know and believe that Jesus is the Christ.

Conclusion

We are temples of the Holy Spirit given a mission to cary out (We cannot get so caught up with physical places that we forget the mission we have been given. The mission of a church does not center around a building but rather it centers around Christ)

Be willing to let God take the reigns (Do not be like a stiff necked horse who refuses to turn when directed by its master, rather be willing to let God lead you in life wherever he calls and however he directs)

Will you be able to cry out “Lord Jesus receive my Spirit”? (Have you believed upon Christ who is the author and perfecter of our salvation?)

Those who are forgiven forgive (Those who have received mercy give mercy. If we have been set free from sin by Christ, shall we not want this forgiveness to be shown to others who are lost)