Luke-Acts: From Bethlehem To The World Week 9

Good morning, just a quick announcement. This Tuesday, the 13th we will be having Small Group at 6 PM here at the church. If you haven’t been able to join us up to this point, I would encourage you to come by and check it out. We are doing a series on the 23rd Psalm called: “Don’t Give the Enemy A Seat at Your Table.” I promise that you will enjoy it.

Let’s go ahead and get started here. Over the Summer months we have been going through the 2 books of the Bible that Luke authored, His self-titled gospel account, Luke, as well as the book of Acts, which is the story of how the early church was birthed. I’ll give you a quick recap, then we will pray.

Week 1: Introductions to Luke and Acts. Written The Most Honorable Theophilus.

Week 2: Luke Ch. 1 & 2; Acts 13. Angel delivers the good news about John the Baptist and the birth of Christ. Paul delivers the good news in the Synagogue. We bear the Good News

Week 3: Luke 6:43-49. We are called to have obedient hearts. The difference between obedience and performance.

Week 4: Luke 22:14-24. Communion. Look towards the past, present, and future.

Week 5: Luke 23: 32-43. The two criminals that were crucified with Jesus. One put this faith in Christ, the other did not.

Week 6: Acts 2:1-4. The sound, sight, and speech of the day of Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit fell on Jesus’ followers.

Week 7: Acts 2: 5-13. The crowd’s reaction to the “upper room” miracles.

Week 8: Acts 2: 14-40. Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost.

PRAY

This week we are going to move forward in Acts a bit and cover the story of Stephen. Most of his story is in chapter 7, but it does overlap into chapter six and into chapter 8. It’s a lengthy story, so I won’t be reading the entire thing, but we will cover all of it. In your handouts I’ve included a rough outline of the Stephen’s story.

The First Christian Martyr (6:8–8:3)

1. Stephen Arrested (6:8–15)

2. Stephen’s Speech (7:1–53)

3. Stephen Martyred and Believers Scattered (7:54–8:3)

We are going to be covering the story in 3 main sections, as highlighted in the outline. First though, let me fill in some context between Acts 2 and the beginning of Steven’s story.

1. Stephen Arrested (6:8–15)

Back in Acts 2, we saw the Holy Spirit make His grand entrance on the Day of Pentecost. On that day there were miracles of sound, sight, and speech. The people in the street gathered around…Peter got up to preach and Acts says that 3000 people put their faith in Christ that day. This birthed the early church. Then, in Acts chapters 3 and 4, Luke records a number of miracles by Peter and John. More people were coming to know Christ and the early church was in great unity. Things begin to take a slight turn in chapter 5, this is where we see the story of Annias and Sapphire. This couple told Peter that they had sold some property and had decided to hand over all of the proceeds of the sale to the church. Turns out, they weren’t telling the truth and in a truly 1 of a kind story in the N.T., God struck them down for lying to the Holy Spirit. Also in chapter 5, Peter and the disciples were brought before the Jewish leaders. They were saved by a pharisee named GAMALIEL, who recommended to let the men go.

The beginning part of Acts 6 is the first time we see some administrative problems creeping in. The Hellenistic Jews were complaining that their widows were being overlooked by the Hebraic Jews in daily food distribution. Hellenistic Jews were Jews living in Jerusalem who spoke Greek as their primary language, while the Hebraic Jews were Jewish people who maintain the traditions of the Jewish religion and speak either Aramaic or Hebrew. It is unclear whether or not these Jews were Christians. I can’t image that traditional Jews would want to team up with the Christians Jew…so they were probably Christians. Either way, The disciples came together and chose 7 men to oversee the administrative duties of the church in Jerusalem. Among this seven men was Steven.

Acts 6:8–10 “Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from some members of the Freedmen’s Synagogue, composed of both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, and they began to argue with Stephen. But they were unable to stand up against his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking.”

There is a lot going on behind the scenes in this story. Not too much time had passed since the day of Pentecost, and prior to that, Jesus’ resurrection. Aside from the times when Israel was taken into captivity, this was probably the lowest point of moral that had been seen in hundreds of years, and maybe ever. The pharisees had been proven wrong, but there is no way they would admit it. On top of that, the N.T. lets us know that the early church was just exploding. At this time in the early church, the message of Christ was being preached only to Jews. Keep in mind that the story of Stephen takes place while Paul was still a Pharisee, so it was in the very early days of the Church.

It’s clear that Stephen was a mighty man of God. As I mentioned previously, he had been chosen by the apostles to help with administrative duties within the church. It sounds like Stephen was not at all afraid of declaring the Gospel of Christ to other Jews. This got him in trouble with the Jewish leaders though.

Verse 9 says, as Stephen was proclaiming the gospel and performing miracles, Jewish leaders from a particular synagogue, had tried to argue and debate with Stephen, but they could not stand up against Stephen’s wisdom and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The name of the synagogue was the

Freedmen’s Synagogue

The Freedmen’s Synagogue was composed of Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asaia.

The names of synagogues often referred to the makeup or the language of the congregation, such as “the synagogue of the Hebrews.” There are also examples of synagogues being named after their patrons and founders—for example, Synagogue of the Augustan's, Agrippans, Herodians

The name Freedmen comes from the Latin name libertini, which was used to describe free men who were formerly slaves. We aren’t sure if that was the makeup of the Synagogue, but the name is quite telling.

Either way, Stephen had gotten their attention in the worst way possible. It sounds like Stephen was a great apologist, an apologist, or

apologetics is the science of defending the gospel.

The leaders at the Synagogue wanted to arrest Stephen for breaking the law of Moses. The problem was that Stephen had not done anything worthy of arrest. So what did the leaders do, did they recognise they had no real evidence and left Stephen alone? Let’s find out.

Acts 6:11–14 “Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.” They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; so they came, seized him, and took him to the Sanhedrin. They also presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and the law. For we heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.””

The Synagogue leaders got someone to bear false witness against Stephen. This is a great example of why Jesus railed so hard against the Pharisees. It’s why He called them a brood of vipers and a whitewashed tomb....Outwardly they claim to stand up for what is right, but they connive in secret to fulfill their ends. Like anyone who claims to do the right thing, but their hearts are corrupt, they claim that the ends justify the means. It’s OK for them to lie and break the 10 Commandments, as long as they are stopping people from blasphemy.

Stephen was arrested and brought before the main legislating body, known as the Sanhedrin.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Sanhedrin)

The supreme council in charge of Jewish affairs in Roman Palestine.

While the exact makeup and nature of the Jewish governing body in first-century Palestine is uncertain, the varying depictions of the Sanhedrin reveal a group consisting of priests and religious teachers who meet to decide on legal matters with religious, political, and social ramifications.

This is where chapter 6 of Acts ends. Chapter 7 opens up with the Sanhedrin beginning to question Stephen. When a person was brought before the Sanhedrin, the accused was at least given a chance to speak on their own behalf, to either refute the charges or to plead guilty of the charges.

2. Stephen’s Speech (7:1–60)

Stephen’s sermon or speech is the longest piece of dialogue in the book of Acts. So, I will not be reading it word for word this morning. Instead, I will cover the main ideas, I also included the O.T. quotes on your hand out. Here is a rough outline of what Stephen talks about in his speech:

Stephen’s Speech:

I. God’s Covenant with Abraham (7:1–8)

II. Israel’s Rejection of Joseph (7:9–16)

III. Israel’s Rejection of Moses (7:17–41)

IV. Israel’s Rejection of the Prophets (7:42–50)

V. Israel’s Judgment Sealed (7:51–60)

O.T. quotes in Acts Chapter 7:

Gen. 12:1/Acts 7:3; Gen. 15: 13-14/ Acts 7:6-7; Ex. 2:14/Acts 7: 27-28; Ex. 3:6, Ex. 3:7-8, Ex 3:10/ Acts 7:33-34; Ex. 2:14/ Acts 7:35; Dt. 18:15/ Acts 7:37; Ex. 32:1, Ex. 32:23/Acts 7:40; Am 5:25-27/Acts 7:42-43; Is. 66:1-2/Acts 7:49-50.

I put together a compilation of sorts of the passages. I’ll read these, then we will talk about his speech in more detail.

Acts 7:2 ““Brothers and fathers,” he replied, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,” Acts 7:9 ““The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, but God was with him” Acts 7:30 “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.” Acts 7:44 ““Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.”

One of the parts I love about the book of Acts is the different ways the gospel is presented. There is no one formula that equals success. If we compare Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 to Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7, they are different, yet Christ is always the focus.

Here in Acts seven, Stephen was speaking to a room full of religious academics, which, from my experience, are some of the most difficult people to crack. In order to make his point, Stephen chooses 3 heroes of the Jewish faith. Abraham, Joseph, and Moses. Stephen chose these 3 men because no Jew would doubt that God spoke to them. Not only that, but God spoke to each of these men before Israel had their own land and more importantly, before the Temple was built.

Let me try to get your brain working here:

Why would Stephen choose O.T. figures before the Temple was built?

God spoke to Abram (Abraham) in Mesopotamia, to Joseph in Egypt and to Moses on Mount Sinai.

The reason, in my view is because Stephen wanted to draw the Pharisee’s attention to the fact that God visits and speaks to His people outside of the Temple, more than that, God speaks to His people outside of the land of Israel.

Acts 7:47–50 “It was Solomon, rather, who built him a house, but the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands, as the prophet says: Heaven is my throne, and the earth my footstool. What sort of house will you build for me? says the Lord, or what will be my resting place? Did not my hand make all these things?”

This was important because over the centuries, the pharisees had taught that God will only communicate to His people within the Temple in Jerusalem. Stephen was showing the Sanhedrin how their own history goes against what they have come to believe.

Stephen ends his speech by accusing the Jewish leaders of murder.

Acts 7:51–53 ““You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your ancestors did, you do also. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. You received the law under the direction of angels and yet have not kept it.””

It’s clear that the Holy Spirit had given Stephen a special type of fearless, boldness (if that is even a saying!). Stephen says that, just as in the past, they have killed the One God sent. Except this time, it wasn’t a prophet, it was the Righteous One, the messiah, God made flesh.

3. Stephen Martyred and Believers Scattered (7:54–8:3)

As soon as Stephen leveled these accusations at the Sanhedrin, they went ballistic.

Acts 7:54–57 “When they heard these things, they were enraged and gnashed their teeth at him. Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” They yelled at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him.”

In what was, no doubt an absolute tragedy for the early Church, God would use the death of Stephen to propel the church outward. In what can only be described as an angry mob, the Jews in the temple rushed Stephen. Luke goes on to say that the Jews grabbed Stephen, drug him outside the city gates and began to stone him.

For all the difference it makes, this was an illegal execution. As in the case of Jesus, they would legally have been required to go to the Roman officers before taking such action, for only the Romans could serve the death penalty. Thus, it would not be inaccurate to label this killing as plain-old, cold-blooded murder. It had no more legal backing than a Ku Klux Klan lynching back in the day.

Chapter 7 ends with Stephen asking the Lord to forgive his attacker.

Acts 7:60 “He knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And after saying this, he fell asleep.”

When we read that Stephen was stoned to death, most people living in the US may have a difficult time visualizing what that may look like. A person being stoned to death in Ancient Israel was not a pleasant thing to watch, much less participate in. I’ve included an additional sheet with your handout this week; it tells you all about the practice of stoning, back in Ancient Israel and how it works today in the Middle East. I’ve also included some scripture passages and misc. facts.

Stephen’s story ends in the first few passages of Acts 8.

Acts 8:1–3 “Saul agreed with putting him to death. On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria. Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him. Saul, however, was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison.”

I’ve mentioned this before, but one of the great things I love about the Bible is that the authors do not try to hide the negative aspects of people we consider hero’s of the faith. Stephen’s story is a great example, Luke decides to introduce Saul, later known as the Apostle Paul as being a contributing factor to the first Christian martyr. Not only that, Luke says that after Stephen’s death the early church underwent massive persecution. The Jewish Christians in Jerusalem began to spread out and take the gospel of Christ with them.

No doubt, the Jewish leaders at the time were hoping to permanently stamp out those who are claiming that Jesus was the Messiah. They needed that to go away quickly before it grew into an uncontrollable mess. The story of Stephen is one of my favorite in the Bible. To be honest, it really takes some of our Americanized interpretation of scripture and turns it on its head. What do I mean by that? I’ll take the last few minutes and talk about 2 things the story of Stephen can teach us about the Character of God and how we relate to God’s plan: 1. the mystery of the sovereignty of God and 2. the certainty of the sovereignty of God.

The Mystery of the Sovereignty of God

I think if we were writing the story of Stephen today, we would have it where after Stephen gave his speech to the Sanhedrin, all of them would get saved and they would have a potluck in the temple basement.

1 Timothy 6:15–16 ...He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.”

Stephen was mighty man of God, chosen by the disciples to help lead the early church. The Holy Spirit had given Stephen such great wisdom and insight into Christ’s mission on this earth. Stephen was a force to be reckoned with, yet he was stoned to death in the prime of his life and ministry. Imagine all the good Stephen could have done, had he remained on this side of eternity.

When we read scripture we have the very, very valuable benefit of hindsight. For example, we read the story of Stephen and see that his death caused the early church to grow beyond Jerusalem and pave the way for Gentiles to be accepted. Imagine though you are Stephen’s wife or mother and father. Let’s just be honest here, none of what I mentioned would probably matter…because it would be a long time before we would see the great benefit of Stephen laying down his life for Christ.

What about those situations where someone dies a seemingly senseless death, a person who gets falsely imprisoned, or even a child who is born into a situation that brings only suffering.

I think we do our best to deal with these extreme circumstances the best we can, but most of us probably think to ourselves…thank God that is not me. God is sovereign over all of these circumstances, yet in the heat of the battle, we are rarely able to see any good or long ter benefit of needless suffering.

The mystery of the Sovereignty of God is when we see great potential is someone, but that potential is taken away unexpectedly. This is why it hits us so hard when a child is taken from us or is born in a situation where that potential will never have the opportunity to flourish. The mystery of the sovereignty of God is something happening that is the exact opposite of what we think would be best in a situation. To be honest, for the majority of my adult, Christian life, I walked around with my head in the clouds, using the sovereignty of God as an excuse to not engage emotionally with difficult circumstances or I would use the sovereignty of God as an excuse to no ask some of the difficult questions. It’s when I began to wrestle with the mystery of God’s sovereignty that I came to really appreciate:

The Certainty of the Sovereignty of God

1 Timothy 6:15–16 ... He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.”

For all of life’s uncertainties, one thing we can can be certain of is that God is in control. Granted, sometimes this is easy to accept, while other times it is not. Regardless, this is why we are called to walk by faith and not by sight. It’s why Paul tells us in Romans Chapter 8 to have the mindset of the Spirit. The certainty of God’s Sovereignty tells us that no matter what the circumstance is, we can trust the Lord…even when something seems pointless. A truly mature believer is someone who has wrestled with the contrast between the mystery and the certainty of God’s sovereignty, and landed in a place where living a life of faith is the only answer, if one truly wants to live a life for Christ.

The certainty of God’s sovereignty teaches us that regardless of what happens, God has his hand on the situation, even if we can’t see it. I think it takes a divine mix of discernment and Holy Spirit empowerment to know when we are being called to act and when we are being called to sit and wait. Let me give you a couple of examples:

After Stephen gave his speech and the Jewish leaders rushed him and drug him outside of the city, if I were Stephen, I would want to fight back, or if I was there as Stephen's friend, I would have wanted to try and save him. It’s highly unlikely that none of the disciples were there or even Stephen’s family. It would probably be my reaction to think: there is no way that God wants Stephen to be stoned to death. I guess it would be similar to Peter’s reaction when the Roman guards came to arrest Jesus-Peter was ready to die for Jesus-but we know it was not for the right reasons, as Peter would go on to deny Him 3 times after that.

Yet, there are times where we are called to act, either on our behalf or on the behalf of another person, in the role of advocate. A great example of this is when Jesus drove the money changers out of the Temple. Or, when Paul decided to have Timothy circumcised, so he would be accepted amongst the Jews. We also have the situation where Paul confronted Peter, in front of others for showing favoritism and partiality. Or, remember the time when Jesus stepped in and saved the adulterous woman from being stoned to death.

To really come to terms with the mystery and certainty of God’s sovereignty, we must wrestle these things to the ground. It is easy to give simple “hand wave” explanations that require little or no thought. Where we mistake our fear of asking tough questions for faith.

It is a pretty well known fact that many people, when pursuing a career in ministry end up becoming disillusioned and walk away from the ministry or even their relationship with God. Why does this happen? It happens because when you go to school to get your credentials you are exposed to all manner of different views and opinions about things you thought you were certain of…especially if you grew up in the church. All of a sudden, you realize that your pastor and the people you trusted did not have all the right answers…that when you really dig into God’s word and are shown how and why you have been wrong, that can be really tough.

This is what I’ll say though, either you come out of that experience with a better understanding of God’s word and are possibly open to what others have to say, or you simply walk away, as your presuppositions and worldview have been shattered.

I share this with you because once you’ve walked through that type of crisis of faith, I guess you can call it, the certainty of God’s sovereignty becomes all the more real, and the mysteries of God’s sovereignty are able to be dealt with in a mature manner.

It’s obviously not my goal to have anyone have a crisis of faith…that said, we all must learn to deal with the mystery and certainty of God’s sovereignty and plan for our lives. Just as it was Stephen’s goal to challenge the sanhedrin, it’s my goal to challenge you and myself, to help get us out of our religious, self-righteous ruts and patterns. To see beyond ourselves into the greatness of the one who created us and whom we serve. It’s may prayer for all of us this week that the Holy Spirit would help us wrestle with the difficult duality between the mystery and certainty of God’s sovereignty. It’s my prayer that we all become emotionally and spiritually mature. I realize it’s a process that can be difficult, but the Lord is able to get us there.

Psalm 29:10–11 “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned, King forever. The Lord gives his people strength; the Lord blesses his people with peace.”