Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week we talked about the trial of Stephen.

The passage we read told us that he was performing great wonders and sings among the people but opposition arose from members of the Freedman’s Synagogue.

They tried to argue with him but as we talked about, Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit so they were unable to stand up against his wisdom in their debates.

Since Stephen was speaking in the power of the Spirit they were basically arguing against God which just doesn’t work very well.

And as I said last week, it’s kind of futile to argue with the creator of everything that exists.

But since they couldn’t beat him in a fair debate the members of this synagogue chose to stack the deck in their favor.

They cheated.

They lied about Stephen committing blasphemy and he was eventually put on trial in front of the Sanhedrin just as we’ve seen happen to Peter and John twice already in Acts.

They accuse him of all kinds of things including threatening to destroy the Temple and to change the Law that was handed down from God through Moses.

This week we turn to Stephen’s response to these accusations.

Now a big part of this series we’re doing in the book of Acts is reading through the scriptures together out loud each week here in our worship service.

This is quite a long chapter but I don’t want to skip over any of the reading so let’s jump in.

Picking up in chapter 7 verse 1.

This is right after the accusations have been leveled at Stephen.

Acts 7:1-

Let’s stop right there for a minute.

Stephen has been accused of some pretty serious crimes according to Jewish law.

And when he’s asked if the accusations are true, what does he do?

He starts out by giving them a history lesson.

Now remember, the men on the Sanhedrin council are are very well versed in the scriptures.

These are men who could literally quote the Old Testament books from beginning to end.

And Stephen starts off by reminding them of what they’ve all not only read, but memorized.

He reminds them of the story of Abraham how God called him and promised to bless his descendants forever even though Abraham had no children.

But he reminds them that God granted him a son Isaac who would go on to father Jacob who would be the father of the patriarchs, the twelve men for whom the tribes of Israel were named.

Then he reminds them of the salvation that God provided through Joseph during the time of famine which unfortunately led to a dark time for the nation of Israel.

They spent 400 years in slavery in Egypt

And then let’s pick up reading with verse 17

Acts 7:17-

So Stephen reminds them of their time as slaves in Egypt, but he goes on to remind them that God sent a savior.

Moses escaped the purge of infant boys by the Pharoah and was even raised in the palace as the adopted son of the princess.

When he grew up he would try to stand up for his people but they would initially reject him and he would flee Egypt for 40 years.

Ultimately though, God sent Moses back to lead the children of Israel out of slavery and back to the land which God had promised to Abraham.

But not before they spent another 40 years wandering in the wilderness.

Let’s pick up reading now with verse 37

Acts 7:37-50

God rescued the children of Israel out of their slavery in Egypt, but once again they reject Him when things get tough.

While Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving the 10 Commandments the people waiver and they get Aaron, Moses brother, and the high priest, by the way, to create an idol for them to worship.

And if you read through the Old Testament you see that this is a pattern that is repeated time and time again by the Israelites.

They follow God for a while, then eventually they reject Him and turn away to other gods.

They get conquered, spend time in slavery, but God sends a savior to bring them back to the promised land, and ultimately back to Him.

So Stephen reminds them of all these things that they already know.

In these 49 verses he goes through the entire history of the nation of Israel reminding them of how they have continually rejected God and been saved by him over the centuries.

But then, he turns to the present.

He looks at the people accusing him and he looks at the members of the Sanhedrin and he says this, beginning in verse 51.

Stephen turns the accusations around.

He says, “You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears!

You are always resisting the Holy Spirit.

As your ancestors did, you do also.”

What does he mean by uncircumcised hearts and ears?

He’s telling them, just as Jesus had told them before, you follow the letter of the Law, but you’re missing the point of it.

The whole point of circumcision, when it was given to Abraham as a covenant, was to separate out this nation as a people who had a special relationship with God.

But over time the outward signs, the physical representation of the covenant had become more important than the relationship itself.

The Sanhedrin was more concerned that people keep strict adherence to the Law then that they have a relationship with God.

And you also have to remember that the law to them wasn’t exactly the Law as it had been given to Moses.

Yes, they still revered the Law, big L, but over time there had been layers and layers of different rules added on top of it.

As each generation of scribes and priests came along they added their interpretation of what was meant on top of what had been handed down to Moses.

So where the Law, big L, said that the Sabbath should be a day of rest and no work should be done, the interpretations added so many layers on top of it that there was only a certain distance a person was allowed to walk on the Sabbath.

I’ve even read that one of the laws said that you were not allowed to spit on the Sabbath because when the spit hit the ground it would create a furrow in the dust which would be plowing the earth, which is work.

So that’s the attitude that Stephen is addressing here.

He’s saying, you’re getting all the outward signs right, but you’re missing the relationship.

And then he goes on.

He’s reminded them of all the times through the years that God has sent a savior for the nation of Israel.

Then he reminds them that God has sent the ultimate savior, Jesus, and once again, just like with Moses and all prophets, they rejected him.

In fact, he reminds them, they murdered him.

Now let’s pick up reading with the last few verses of this chapter beginning in verse 54.

So Stephen is falsely accused of blasphemy and of plotting to destroy the temple and change the Law handed down through Moses.

But he turns it around on his accusers and shows how they are the ones that have changed the Law because they’ve added so many layers to it that it barely resembles what God gave them anymore.

And what is the reaction of the people?

As you might expect, they aren’t happy.

Verse 54 tells us they were enraged.

And they drag him out of town and they stone him.

But even as they are throwing rocks at him to kill him Stephen is still praying for them, he looks up into heaven and sees Christ standing at the right hand of God and he prays, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

How many of us could pray that same prayer in the midst of persecution?

I’m not even talking about being stoned to death, but just in the middle of some of the stuff going on today.

As we see religious liberty being threatened in our country; as we see bakers being put out of business because they stand by their religious beliefs not to support same-sex marriage; as we see all Christian influence being expelled from our schools; as we see Christianity being suppressed more and more, can we pray the same prayer?

Can we say, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them?”

I know it’s hard for me.

I felt called by God to come back into the military as a chaplain, but since I’ve come back I’ve seen policy changes that go totally against my beliefs as a Christian.

And my human nature is to get angry.

My human nature is to fight.

And we should fight for what we know is morally right in the sight of God.

But we should also pray.

We should pray for those who don’t believe in Christ because as I said earlier, He is the ultimate savior.

He is the answer to all the problems in the world.

So we who know Him, should be witnessing to those who don’t, and we should be praying for them.

Even when our human nature is to fight back.

So let’s join together in prayer right now.