By: Dale Weckbacher
Text: Acts
6:8-15
Acts 6:8
And Stephen, full of
grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.
(ESV)
With the simplicity of the Gospel
message, ministry would appear to be easy.
However, the sharing of the simple message meets with great opposition
for we have powerful spiritual forces at work in the world that constantly
attempts to stop the Gospel message (Ephesians
6:12). While unseen these spiritual
forces are real with God allowing Daniel to catch a glimpse of these forces hindering
the delivery of the answer to his prayer (Daniel
10:2-14). While the message of the
Gospel is simple, ministry must occur under the grace and power of the Holy
Spirit with the minister protected by the armor of God (Ephesians
6:13-18).
Stephen is first introduced in
Scripture in Acts
6:5 as one of the seven chosen to minister to the neglected Hellenistic
widows so the Apostles could focus on their devotion to prayer and the teaching
of the Word of God (Acts
6:3-5). The signs and wonders done
by Stephen are possibly events occurring as he ministered to the widows under
the grace and power of the Holy Spirit (Acts
6:8). This account in scripture is
the first record of someone other than one of the Apostles doing signs and
wonders in the name of Jesus and aligns with Mark
16:17. However, just like with the
Apostles, the signs and wonders done in the name of Jesus have gotten the
attention of the religious leaders with them disputing Stephen (Acts
6:9), but these leaders could not stand up to the wisdom and the wisdom of
the Holy Spirit with which Stephen spoke (Acts
6:10).
This failure to withstand
Stephen’s wisdom from God left these religious leaders with no choice but to
secretly instigate a mob against Stephen making false accusations against
Stephen (Acts
6:11). This instigation and fake
testimony stirred up the people including the elders and scribes, prompting
them to bring Stephen before the council just like they did with the Apostles (Acts
4:1-22; 5:17-42; 6:12). As they
bring Stephen before the council, those disputing with Stephen begin to present
their false witnesses to the council accusing Stephen of speaking of the destruction
of the temple and abolishment of the customs of Moses (Acts
6:13-14). As Stephen stands accused,
his face shines like that of an angel (Acts
6:15). The accusations against
Stephen are false because,
1) Jesus
was not speaking of the destruction of the temple building but his death and
resurrection (John
2:18-22) – When the religious leaders of Jesus time asked him for a sign,
he told them that if they destroy this temple, he would raise it in three
days. The temple he was speaking of was
the temple of his body within which was the Holy Spirit. The sign is Jesus' death, burial for three
days, and his resurrection, signifying the destruction of sin. Jesus was not making a blasphemous statement but
providing a sign pointing to salvation.
2) Jesus
was not abolishing the customs of Moses but pointing out the hypocrisy of the religious
leaders in Jerusalem (Matthew
22:23-33; 23:1-3) – One of the Jewish customs was the requirement that the
brother of a man dying childless must marry the widow to raise up offspring for
the brother (Deuteronomy
25:5-8). The Sadducees were not
interested in finding out whose wife the woman would be at the resurrection for
they did not believe in the resurrection.
Instead, their agenda was trying to trap Jesus into abolishing the
custom but instead, Jesus informs them that in the resurrection of the dead,
the woman will not be given in marriage but will be like the angels in
heaven. Jesus then challenges their lack
of belief in the resurrection by reminding them that God is the God of the
living and not the dead (Matthew
22:32).
The accusations leveled at
Stephen are false and unfounded, yet they will lead to his death. They are also the same accusations leveled at
Jesus indicating these religious leaders do not yet understand who Jesus
was. The simple message of the Gospel
that Jesus died, was buried in the grave for three days, and arose from the
grave, brings salvation to all choosing to believe. If you have not made this profession of faith
in Jesus as your savior, I encourage you to do so now by praying with me,
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans
3:23) and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans
6:23). I ask you to forgive me of my
sin and cleanse me as you promise in your Word (1
John 1:9). I believe you died, spent
three days in the grave, and resurrected from the dead and now declare you Lord
of my life.
While the Gospel message is
simple, its presentation will meet with opposition by the enemy who wants to
condemn all of humanity to an eternity separated from God. Jesus came that we may have abundant life
through his death on the cross. As a
Church in these chaotic times, it has never been more crucial for believers to be
like Stephen and continue ministering and sharing the simplistic Gospel message
with the grace and power of God through the Holy Spirit. A world in chaos needs Jesus with the Church
as His ambassadors (2
Corinthians 5:20) who are filled with the Spirit of God to be witnesses for
Christ (Acts
1:8). May God bless everyone reading
this post.
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