I'm Rubber, You're Glue...

Acts 6:8–15 ESV

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

How many of you remember when you were a kid and someone tried to say something mean to you or about you? Did you say something like, “I'm rubber and you’re glue. Everything you say bounces off me and sticks to you.”

What do we mean when we say that?

It’s a way of saying, “I don’t care what you say about me. Your words will not hurt me.” While it’s usually a figurative saying, sometimes it turns out to true, especially when that mean person is accusing you of something and it turns out they are the guilty party.

As we see in our opening passage, Stephen was teaching about Jesus, and doing great signs and wonders. The religious leaders don’t like it, so they send some of their scholars to dispute his teaching. They fail, because Stephen is filled with the Spirit, who is giving Stephen wisdom and authority.

So they make up charges that Stephen is speaking heresy, claiming that Jesus wants to destroy the temple and abolish the law of Moses.

Let’s go on with the reading:

Acts 7:1–10 ESV

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.

Stephen goes on with his history lesson, explaining how God used Joseph to deliver Jacob and his brothers in Egypt. Four hundred years later, the descendents of Jacob, the Hebrews, were made slaves in Egypt, and God raised up Moses. The first time Moses tried to help the Hebrews, they turned against him, and he ran away into the wilderness for 40 years. God sent Moses back to Egypt, the ten plagues happened, the firstborn throughout the land died unless they were protected by the blood of the lamb, and Pharaoh set the Hebrews free. Pharaoh changes his mind, God parts the Red Sea and miraculously rescues the Hebrews from Pharaoh. They get to Mt. Sinai, where God calls Moses to come up and received the 10 commandments. While he’s up there, the people rebel by making a golden calf to worship.

Stephen continues, showing how God faithfully fulfilled his covenant, leading the Hebrews to the Promised land. All that time, they had a tabernacle, a sacred tent, for the presence of God to dwell in. Eventually, Solomon built the temple that David had designed. Then Stephen says,

Acts 7:48–53 ESV

Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, “ ‘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? Did not my hand make all these things?’ “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 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, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Why did Stephen give this history lesson? It was to prove one thing. The religious leaders were accusing Stephen and Jesus of trying to tear down everything Moses had built, but the fact is that everything Moses, Solomon, and all the prophets said and did pointed to the coming of the Messiah—Jesus. It was the religious leaders who were rejecting everything their scriptures told them about. Do you remember that thing kids say when someone is throwing insults? “I’m rubber, you’re glue. What you say bounces off me and sticks to you.” This is literally what is happening in this passage. Stephen is making it clear that the religious leaders are guilty of everything they accused him about. They thought they were so clever, accusing Stephen of going against the law of Moses. But, through his rebuttal, he makes it clear that it is his accuser who are going against the HEART of the law.

That is the difference between knowing scripture and understanding scripture. The priests and religious leaders were experts in scripture memorization. They knew all the laws—that’s how they were able to work around the laws without actually breaking them. But they didn’t understand the heart behind the law. They were filled with judgment and condemnation rather than grace and mercy.

They developed an interpretation of scripture that put them in control. Anything that pointed to Jesus being the promised Messiah, they rejected. They were intentionally blind.

But when you understand the Word of God, you have the tools you need to live a successful Christian life in this fallen world. To understand the Word of God, you have to understand the HEART of God, and you need to be filled with the Spirit of God. Acts six and seven keeps telling us that Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit—the same Spirit who inspired the scriptures. So it makes sense that the Holy Spirit residing in Stephen was giving him insight as to the meaning of the scriptures. When the religious leaders challenged Stephen, he wasn’t concerned, because the Holy Spirit was with him.

The religious leaders built their entire profession on the idea that you are saved by keeping the law. But we all know it is impossible to keep every law every moment of the day. Jesus showed us that keeping the law is impossible because God looks at our hearts. Just DESIRING to break the law is the same as breaking it. This is why God implemented the sin offering—a blood sacrifice to pay for our sin—because the wages of sin is death. Every sin earns the death penalty. If a sin is committed, someone has to die. That’s why Jesus came: so he could be the perfect sacrifice to pay for all sin, once and for all.

But to be forgiven of our sin, we first have to acknowledge our sin and submit to the lordship of Jesus as our deliverer AND our king. The religious leaders couldn’t accept this because it meant admitting that their system wasn’t enough and surrendering the authority they sought to Jesus.

When the religious leaders made their accusations against Stephen, he responded by showing how the scriptures defended his teaching. When Stephen turned their accusations back at them, the religious leaders reacted with anger. Remember what I said last week about responding versus reacting? A reaction is mindless, a reflex. A response is intentional. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we can respond appropriately to attacks from the enemy. We don’t have to defend ourselves; we need to stand for the truth of God’s word. If we are actively sharing the gospel, we will face attack. It’s gonna happen. But if we stay in communion with the Holy Spirit and prepare ourselves with the Word of God, those attacks won’t destroy us.

I’m not saying we will walk away unharmed. We will look at the rest of this story next week to understand what I mean. But no matter what, we can still finish with victory when God gets the glory.

Communion

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.