The Testimony of the Patriarchs

Punished Good Deeds

Acts 6:8–15 NIV

Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.” All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Stephen had just been charged to step into a leadership role and serve the church by attending to the needs of widows, specifically the Greek Christian widows. Stephen was tasked with addressing the jealousy and divisions that were occurring within the church. Now, he turns his attention to ministering to Greek speaking Jews with the message of Jesus through signs and wonders. His words and healings of compassion were met with lies and false testimony.

No good deed goes unpunished. This is often how we look at the world, but this perspective speaks only to our limited sight. In the ultimate reality or the biblical perspective, all good deeds are praised by the One who is goodness in the flesh.

In Genesis, we saw the beginning of the perspective shift. Satan introduces a new perspective to the heart of humanity. Today, this perspective has pervaded our hearts and blinded our eyes to seeing the biblical perspective that God intended us to view the world and His creation through.

Even though the evidence of God’s hand was once again in front of them, the healings and the face of an angel signifying Stephen’s nearness to God, the people turned to what was familiar.

Counting the Cost

Acts 7:1–16 NIV

Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’ Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs. “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace. “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.

Our lives are not meant to be lived in the familiar. The familiar is the construct of our hands. The familiar has gotten us to this point. The familiar is self-destruction. The greater than is the construct of a hand greater than your own. The greater than is the step of faith into the provision and care of the One who made it all to begin with. The greater than is the continuation in the footsteps of the patriarchs and believing in the promises of the One who has always been faithful.

Counting the cost of hearing the Holy Spirit and walking obediently even though it is unfamiliar and costs you your ambitions and glory. Stephen was charged with the blasphemy of speaking out against the tabernacle and temple as the sole dwelling place of the Lord. He repeated the words of Jesus that He would tear down this temple and in three days rebuild it, speaking not of the physical temple itself but the altar as the sole dwelling place that the temple had become. The people were now the dwelling place of God. Counting the cost is being bold in your fervor for the Holy Spirit and responding to His truth as He leads you through the Scriptures.