Challenged by Reality

Introduction:

Stephen has been accused of the following:

Acts 6:11 “τότε ὑπέβαλον ἄνδρας λέγοντας ὅτι ἀκηκόαμεν αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος ῥήματα βλάσφημα εἰς Μωϋσῆν καὶ τὸν θεόν.”

Acts 6:14 “ἀκηκόαμεν γὰρ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος οὗτος καταλύσει τὸν τόπον τοῦτον καὶ ἀλλάξει τὰ ἔθη ἃ παρέδωκεν ἡμῖν Μωϋσῆς.”

It was his preaching and his public address that changed, forever, the relationship between those devoted to Jesus and the city of Jerusalem.

God wants us to know Him.

He wants us to understand Him.

He has revealed himself to us to a sufficient degree that we know He alone created us and that He is eternal and divine.

No matter where we may go, that will not change.

Israel, like most other people, did not grasp that reality.

Stephen will confront them with the realities of their past, recorded in scripture, and that includes more than just one rejection of Moses.

One of our great delusions is that our decisions and our actions affect only us. This could not be further from the truth.

Moses in a Foreign Land

Acts 7:27 provides important information that Stephen will later echo.

Note specifically the terminology of “push away or drive away.”

The man who said these words to Moses captures Israel’s historical attitude toward Moses.

Stephen will make this clear by the end.

Moses compares to Abraham but for different reasons.

He left his people for a foreign land.

He lived as a “stranger” (Acts 7:29) in the land of Midian.

God moved and called Abraham to live as a foreigner, but because Israel rejected Moses as their leader forcing him to leave them and live among another people.

Why he was there, living in those conditions, seems to be important to Stephen’s line of thought.

Through Moses we can see someone living as a foreigner and having sons in foreign lands because Israel rejected God’s leader.

God in a Foreign Land

Stephen continues to use the scriptures, and now he moves to Exodus 3:2.

“And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.”

Moses wanted to investigate the sight of the burning bush, so he started to approach when he heard the voice.

Exodus 3:1-6 now serves as Stephen’s text.

God introduces himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Moses, hearing this, became afraid, and he did not dare to investigate further.

God proclaimed Moses to be standing on holy ground.

The true God of creation is not bound by geographical constraints.

Wherever He may be present, humans are confronted with His holiness.

It is His holiness that confers holiness to place, not the other way around.

Introduction (Part 2)

Stephen is in the tradition of Jeremiah as he proclaims this critique of his own people.

He does not accept the assumption that his generation of Jews can claim obedience or moral superiority to previous generations of Israelites.

There might be a common way of thinking present in that generation, at least as the NT writers understood it.

Matthew 23:29–36 “Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι οἰκοδομεῖτε τοὺς τάφους τῶν προφητῶν καὶ κοσμεῖτε τὰ μνημεῖα τῶν δικαίων, καὶ λέγετε· εἰ ἤμεθα ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν, οὐκ ἂν ἤμεθα αὐτῶν κοινωνοὶ ἐν τῷ αἵματι τῶν προφητῶν. ὥστε μαρτυρεῖτε ἑαυτοῖς ὅτι υἱοί ἐστε τῶν φονευσάντων τοὺς προφήτας. καὶ ὑμεῖς πληρώσατε τὸ μέτρον τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν. ὄφεις, γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, πῶς φύγητε ἀπὸ τῆς κρίσεως τῆς γεέννης; Διὰ τοῦτο ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω πρὸς ὑμᾶς προφήτας καὶ σοφοὺς καὶ γραμματεῖς· ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀποκτενεῖτε καὶ σταυρώσετε καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν μαστιγώσετε ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς ὑμῶν καὶ διώξετε ἀπὸ πόλεως εἰς πόλιν· ὅπως ἔλθῃ ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς πᾶν αἷμα δίκαιον ἐκχυννόμενον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος Ἅβελ τοῦ δικαίου ἕως τοῦ αἵματος Ζαχαρίου υἱοῦ Βαραχίου, ὃν ἐφονεύσατε μεταξὺ τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου. ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἥξει ταῦτα πάντα ἐπὶ τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην.”

Luke 11:47–48 “Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, ὅτι οἰκοδομεῖτε τὰ μνημεῖα τῶν προφητῶν, οἱ δὲ πατέρες ὑμῶν ἀπέκτειναν αὐτούς. ἄρα μάρτυρές ἐστε καὶ συνευδοκεῖτε τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν, ὅτι αὐτοὶ μὲν ἀπέκτειναν αὐτούς, ὑμεῖς δὲ οἰκοδομεῖτε.” (Also records the above but Mt. is clearer by being more expansive.)

There must have been concern over this, and Stephen “rubs salt in a generational wound.”

God’s Faithfulness through the Rejected Moses

As God speaks to Moses, He shows himself faithful to His promise, once again, and He sends Moses back to Egypt to deliver them.

Notice that starting in Acts 7:35, Stephen repeats the phrase “this Moses.”

Acts 7:35 - “this Moses.”

Acts 7:35 - “God has sent “this one.”

Acts 7:36 - “this one”

Acts 7:37 - “this is the Moses”

Acts 7:38 - “this is the one who came to be”

Rejection of God and Moses

Israel rejected Moses as their leader even after “signs and wonders.”

In Acts 7:39 “ᾧ οὐκ ἠθέλησαν ὑπήκοοι γενέσθαι οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν, ἀλλʼ ἀπώσαντο καὶ ἐστράφησαν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν εἰς Αἴγυπτον”:

Stephen claims the fathers did not want to be obedient to Moses.

Again, they “pushed him aside” like the did 40 years prior.

They returned in their hearts to Egypt.

Stephen frames the golden calf incident as a rejection of Moses and God.

Exodus 32:1-35.

Idolatry and rejection of God’s chosen leader go hand in hand.

To desire other gods to lead them back to Egypt was a rejection of the reality of Jehovah alone as creator.

How deeply do we want to shine the light of the Word of God on our lives?