20231112 Acts 6:8-Acts 8:3 Stephen’s Ministry

This is how our text fits in the context of Acts. In Acts 6:1-7, Hellenist widows were neglected in the daily distribution of food. The apostles appointed seven men from the Hellenist community to fix this problem. Acts 6-8 highlights the ministries of two of these seven men, Stephen and Philip. In Acts 1:6, Jesus commissioned the apostles to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea-Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. In Acts 6-8, we see the transition from Jerusalem to Judea-Samaria. In the account of Stephen, three themes of Acts come together. (1) The work of Stephen is the work Jesus continued to do. (2) Stephen bears witness to the resurrected king and the result is the expansion of the Kingdom of God. God uses this speech to bring the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea-Samaria. (3) Acts is an account of the early new covenant community. It highlights internal and external threats to the young Christian community. God uses every threat for his purposes to show that nothing will impede his plans. This is the outline. Acts 6:8 to 8:3 has four movements which are: the charges brought against Stephen (Acts 6:8-15), Stephen’s Defense (Acts 7:1-50), Stephen’s Offense (Acts 7:51-53), and the consequences (Acts 7:54-8:3).

1 First, we see the charges against Stephen in Acts 6:8-15.

This is the background. Acts 6:8 notes that Stephen is “full of grace and power, and was doing great wonders and signs among the people.” In response, in Acts 6:9, members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen “rose up” against Stephen. They see to it in Acts 6:11-14 that Stephen is put on trial before the elders and the scribes. At his trial, they brought false charges against him. This is the accusation. The accusation is that Stephen spoke blasphemous words against Moses and God (Acts 6:11). Acts 6:13-14 clarify the charges. Stephen spoke against God by saying Jesus would destroy the temple. He spoke against Moses by "changing the customs Moses delivered.”

These charges are still relevant today. A First Way the charges against Stephen are relevant for us today is that Christians have a different understanding of the temple than Jews. The temple is where God dwells. It symbolized God’s presence with his people. Acts 2 taught that the Holy Spirit lives in those who believe in Jesus. This means that individually and collectively Christians and the Church are the Temple of the Living God. In believing this, the same charges made against Stephen could be made about us. A Second Way the charges against Stephen are relevant for us today is that Christians have a different understanding of the law than Jews. The charge concerning the law of Moses is also understandable. In the history of the Christian church, we have struggled with the law of Moses. Christians all agree that Jesus’ coming has changed our relationship with the Law of Moses. Jesus fulfilled the law and the church is not a nation like Israel. This means that many aspects of the law are not applicable, even if the principles remain valid. In practice, we still keep the moral aspects of the law like the 10 commandments (c.f. Sermon Mal 4:4-6). We could also be charged by Jews of changing the customs Moses delivered.

2 Second, we look at Stephen’s defense in Acts 7:1-50.

This is the big picture. Acts 7 is Stephen’s speech, he surveys a lot of the OT. Stephen highlights Abraham, Joseph, and Moses, and the tabernacle and temple. Stephen shows that his teachings fit with Israel's history. He teaches three things. (1) God has always operated outside of the temple. (2) The people have always failed to see what God was doing and rejected his agents of deliverance. (3) It is actually Israel who is guilty of breaking Moses’ law.

Acts 7:2-8 is about Abraham. Stephen says that “the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia” (Acts 7:2). Acts 7:4 adds that it was “the land of the Chaldeans” (Acts 7:4) which is Babylon. In other words, Stephen highlights that God appeared to Abraham when he was in Babylon. On the same theme, he states that Abraham was a sojourner in the Promised Land, but never possessed any of it (Acts 7:5). Possessing the promised land is not necessary to be faithful to God. Acts 7:9-16 deals with Joseph. These verses show that the patriarchs who represent Israel, mistreated Joseph. Israel rejected God's chosen agent for protection and God was with Joseph in Egypt.

Acts 7:17-43 is about Moses. Again, the story of Moses reveals that God works outside of the Temple and the promised land. God appeared to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai and called that place Holy Ground (Acts 7:33). God declares that he is present in Egypt when he says that he has seen the affliction of his people in Egypt (Acts 7:34). Stephen comes back to his second theme that Israel rejects God’s chosen instruments. In Acts 7:35 he states that God appointed Moses as both a ruler and redeemer and the people rejected him. In Acts 7:37, Stephen addresses his third theme, it is Israel who rejected Moses. Because Moses had announced that a prophet greater than him would come, to whom the people would have to listen (Deut 18:15-18, c.f. Acts 3:22), believing in Jesus is obeying Moses. Rejecting Jesus is disobeying Moses. Another way Stephen shows that Israel rejected Moses is by retelling the story of the idolatry with the golden calves.  

In Acts 7:44-50, Stephen turns to the Tabernacle and the temple. The Tabernacle was a tent that the people of Israel had for worship until Solomon built the temple. In Acts 7:48, Stephen quotes Is 66:1-2 to show the temple's limitations. God says in Isa 66:1-2, "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?” The temple was important for Old Covenant worship, but the people turned it into an idol.

Stephen's defense is for us as well. The first charge against Stephen is that in minimizing the role of the temple he was attacking God. The second accusation is that he was changing the law of Moses. To defend himself, Stephen makes three arguments from Israel's history. (1) God has always operated outside of the temple. (2) The people have always failed to see what God was doing and rejected his agents of salvation. (3) It is actually Israel who is guilty of breaking Moses’ law. These points are relevant for us.

A first application is that God operates more broadly than what we can imagine. This is a real story. “In 1912, medical missionary Dr. William Leslie went to live and minister to tribal people in a remote corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After 17 years he returned to the U.S. a discouraged man – believing he failed to make an impact for Christ. He died nine years after his return. But in 2010, a team led by Eric Ramsey with Tom Cox World Ministries made a shocking and sensational discovery. They found a network of reproducing churches hidden like glittering diamonds in the dense jungle across the Kwilu River from Vanga, where Dr. Leslie was stationed.”[i]

This is what we learn. God works everywhere even in places we least expect it. He is at work in the jungles of the Congo, in the European parliament, schools, universities, in your families, and your workplace. We need to recognize that God is present in churches different from ours. He is worshiped and changing lives there as well.

A Second Application is that it is possible in areas of our lives to oppose God and reject what he teaches when we condemn godly voices. We see it in church history and in our own day. If we look in the history of the church, Jan Hus and William Tyndale were both burned for speaking against the abuses of the Catholic church. I think Russel Moore is a modern example. He was a leader in the Southern Baptist Convention. He criticized it for how it handled racism and sexual abuse allegations. He has gotten death threats, for his outspokenness. There is continuity. The religious rejected Jesus. Many rejected the reformers. Many Christians were on the wrong side of the slave trade. Today, Christian ethics offends people and offends Christians. Calls to repent from nationalism at the expense of love for the kingdom of God, calls to repent from idolatry at the expense of the worship of God, calls to repent from sexual immorality at the expense of a gospel-proclaiming marriage, calls to repent from individualism at the expense of forming a deep community, calls to repent from racism and discrimination will go unheeded, and the godly voices will be shut down even by Christians.  

3 The third movement in our text is Stephen’s offence in Acts 7:51-53.

Acts 7:51 is marked by a big shift. Stephen turns from the third person to the second. He goes from "they" to "you" (plural). He lists some of the harshest accusations against his contemporary Jews. Stephen calls them, “You stiff-necked people.” Following the “Golden Calf” incident God calls the people of Israel a “stiff-necked people” (Exod 32:9). They are like the golden calf they have made. They have a stiff neck like oxen who cannot be directed. A second particularly targeted charge against them is that they are “Uncircumcised.” Though they are physically “the circumcised”, Stephen calls them uncircumcised in heart and ears and they resist the Holy Spirit. Finally, Stephen’s third charge brings all of Israel's past sins on his hearers. He says, “As your fathers did, so do you.” Their fathers persecuted and killed the prophets, and now they have murdered God’s Righteous one. At the beginning of the account, they accused Stephen of changing the customs of Moses. Stephen ends his speech by accusing them of breaking the law in Acts 7:53.

Stephen's accusations against the Jews of his day could apply to us. Following Jesus and worshipping the true and living God is not a matter of a herd religion where you just follow blindly what many people are doing. Circumcision or baptism do not save. What is required is that we are born-again. We need a circumcised heart that submits to the Holy Spirit in a way that accepts and obeys the Law in light of what the New Testament teaches.We are stiff-necked when we cannot be led because we are too focused on our golden calves. It can be the gods of popularity, comfort, or control, money, beauty.

Our Action plan is simple, we continue to turn back to Acts 2:41-47. We need to enjoy fellowship with Christ and his body to discern ways in which we are still stiff-necked and not serving God because of idols. We are a church that focusses on worship, intentional care, and discipleship through meals in homes, prayer, and studying of the scripture. We organize our lives around Jesus and what he did on the cross so that in everything we do, we want to make him known.

4 Fourthly, we look at five results of Stephen’s speech in Acts 7:54-8:3.

The first result is Anger. In Acts 7:54, the speech is over, Luke shifts back to the narrative. Those who heard were “enraged.” This word only appears one other time in the NT. It is in Acts 5:33 and it is followed by, “and they wanted to kill them.” This is a “murder in the heart” kind of anger.  

The second result is we see Jesus’ posture towards Christians. In Acts 7:55, Stephen gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. This expression is particularly intriguing because Jesus is always described as sitting at the Father’s side. One of the responsibilities of the Son of Man was to judge (Matt 25:32-33).  

At his trial, Stephen is deemed guilty by the mob. Jesus, the true judge, stands to offer his verdict which is to welcome him home.[ii] We too can witness confidently. At times, we may encounter rage. Like Stephen, we can know that if we are in Christ, the true judge rejoices in us, cheers us on, and will welcome us home.  

The third result is Violence. In Acts 7:57 those present, “cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.” The loud cry and the covering of their ears are to stop hearing Stephen whom they thought was blaspheming. According to Philo, a first-century early Jewish historian, blasphemy was an insult to the pious. He wrote that when blasphemy “enters in at their ears and pervades the whole soul.”[iii] They “cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears” because they thought they were hearing blaspheme. This fits with what happens next. According to Lev 24:14–16, those who blasphemed were to be stoned outside the camp. This is what they do in Acts 7:58.

The fourth result is witness to Christ in death. Just before his death, in Acts 7:60, Stephen echoes Jesus’ words on the cross, “Lord do not hold this sin against them.” This recalls Jesus's words, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Stephen is called a martyr because he did not waste this injustice. With his final words, even in death, he bore witness to the love of Christ. As one who is forgiven, he could forgive his killers and show the radical love of God.

A Fifth result is that God’s kingdom expands even more! God used Stephen's death for his purposes. According to Acts 8:1, on the day of Stephen’s death there arose a great persecution against the church, and they spread to Judea-Samaria. What the persecutors used for evil, God used for good. This transition marks the beginning of the gospel going out to the world.  

Conclusion

This account of Stephen fits perfectly in Luke’s theological history of the early Christian church.  

First, in Stephen, Jesus continues what he began in his earthly ministry. The phrase “wonders and signs” connects the signs of Moses (Acts 7:36), Jesus (Acts 2:22), the Apostles (Acts 2:43), and Stephen (Acts 6:8). Stephen is accused of slandering Moses and the temple. Jesus had similar charges brought against him (Matt 26:61). Finally, Stephen embodied Christ’s love for forgiving his enemies who put him to death. There are implications for us. In presenting Stephen as one who imitates Jesus, Luke invites us to do likewise. We will most likely not have to die for our faith, but it is not beyond the fate God has for some Christians. We can follow Jesus to the end. This means that no matter what other situation God allows us to endure, we need to keep loving those who want to harm us. In practice, it is going to involve sacrificially loving even when it hurts, a supervisor, teacher, or classmate, parent, or sibling.

Secondly, we see that nothing will hinder God’s work. What happened to Stephen was tragic and wrong. It is tragic and God uses it. In the context of Acts, we see that it led to a shift in the gospel witness. This text guarantees gospel success! This can motivate us to live for God and his glory. What moved from Jerusalem to Judea-Samaria now fills areas all over the world. One day, God’s kingdom will be made manifest in all its glory at the return of Christ!

Stephen's death shows what matters most. We must make our relationship with God our priority. We must value our relationship with God over career, or worldly success, over our children's grades, and even life itself! In the meantime, we get to enjoy eternal life today. Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God. One day he will also stand as our judge and he will welcome us by his side.

[i] https://theaquilareport.com/missionary-died-thinking-he-was-a-failure-84-years-later-thriving-churches-found-hidden-in-the-jungle/

[ii] Schnabel and Pohill

[iii] Philo, Decalogue 63. In Schnabel.