What’s the hurry? Acts 7:30:
‘You know what thought did!’ Acts 7:20-29:
20 ‘At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for by his family. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. 23 ‘When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being ill-treated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defence and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses thought that his own people would realise that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, “Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?” 27 ‘But the man who was ill-treating the other pushed Moses aside and said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
There are three give away phrases in this potted biography of Moses. They are:
‘’…he decided…Moses thought…He tried…’’ (23, 25 and 26).
Of course, it is not wrong to make decisions. The Bible is filled with stories of people who decided to do certain things, or to not do other things. The more we read God’s Book, the more we will want to make wise choices; and the greatest decision we all face is whether we will accept or reject the Lord Jesus Christ. Neither is it a bad thing to think. There is a vast array of teaching in Scripture about the proper use of the mind. It is, indeed, possible and necessary that we should endeavour to cultivate a Christian mind. Nor is God’s Word against trying. For example, the book of Proverbs condemns laziness and commends diligence – as exemplified in the work ethic of the ant.
But…
…to just decide without reference to God…
…to think without seeking His wisdom…
…to try without relying on the power of the Holy Spirit…
This is not the way we’re meant to live. It is possible to be a Christian but live as a practical atheist – just making your own decisions, thinking your own thoughts and trying in your own strength. Think about what happened to Abraham when he tried to do God’s work (produce the child of promise) by his own fleshly efforts. Someone said to me recently that we shouldn’t assume. ‘To assume’ they said, ‘is to make an ass of u and me.’ Moses’ assumptions collided with reality, and He came off worse. Yet God used his failure to make him into the man/leader He wanted him to be. You may be brilliant – gifted and talented – as Moses clearly was (20-22), but if you are to fulfil God’s purpose for your life you will need to be broken of self-reliance and self-confidence. God will see that this happens, even if it takes years.
PRAYER: Lord forgive me for all the things I think and do without reference to you. Help me to submit all my thoughts and plans and ways – my everything – to you. I would not live in my own strength.
Waiting for God, Acts 7:17:
17 ‘As the time drew near for God to fulfil his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased.
Here are 4 things that struck me in this verse:
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God keeps His promises. Even though a long time may elapse between the giving of the promise and its fulfilment, God is always as good as His Word;
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Church growth will come about in God’s timing. All of us who are eagerly praying for growth must hold on to the truth that our prayers will be answered in God’s way and time;
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This great growth – a ‘population explosion’ (Exodus 1) – began small. It started with just one man. The growth continues today. Even if your local church is small, know that you are part of something immeasurably big. You do not belong to a weak and dying organisation, whatever the cynics might say;
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The growth came out of pain. Think of all that Joseph went through before this could happen; the injustice of his treatment at the hands of his brothers, and later on in Potiphar’s house. Call to mind his time languishing in prison when it seemed he was forgotten. Your suffering may seem senseless, and lonely, but who can say what great purpose God may be working out? One person’s pain may lead to kingdom advancement and church growth.
Always remember: GOD GIVES THE GROWTH!
The key to greatness, Acts 7:9-16:
‘9 ‘Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace. 11 ‘Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. 12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.’NIV
If God is with you, who can say where life will take you?
There can be no doubt that Joseph was the right man in the right place at the right time. He did not have an easy ride, but everything worked for good in the end (Romans 8:28) He became a great, great man in Egypt, being elevated to the highest position in the land, apart from that of Pharaoh himself. It’s a wonderful story, and has been popularised (although not with total accuracy) by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Nevertheless, the details capture the imagination. But what Stephen’s sermon makes clear (and also the book of Genesis) is that Joseph’s greatness cannot be explained apart from God and His sovereign purposes. He was raised up for God’s glory, to be an instrument of His saving work on behalf of Jews and Gentiles. Ultimately, it was all about God.The Lord was writing his story, and what an adventure it turned out to be!
I would rather have a bit part in God’s drama, than be the star in my own one man show.
Solid ground, Acts 7:1-8:
‘7Then the high priest asked Stephen, ‘Are these charges true?’ 2 To this he replied: ‘Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. 3 “Leave your country and your people,” God said, “and go to the land I will show you.” 4 ‘So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 God spoke to him in this way: “For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and ill-treated. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,” God said, “and afterwards they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.” 8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs. ‘NIV
F.B. Meyer said something like this: ‘’We stand on concrete whenever we can point to any promise of God and say, ‘Do as you have said.’ ‘’ An old hymn contains this verse: ‘’Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, and looks to that alone; laughs at impossibilities, and cries, ‘It shall be done.’ ‘’ We are starting to look at Stephen’s long sermon. It shows a breadth and depth of Biblical knowledge. He had a big picture understanding of God’s purpose to bring the Messiah into the world. The general tenor of his message is that again and again, in their history, the people of Israel rejected their God-sent deliverers and prophets. He appeals to them not to make the same mistake with Jesus. Might not He prove a great blessing in their generation, as Joseph and Moses, for example, had been in their’s?
It is true, as someone observed, that popularity may be purchased at the cost of Biblical truth; but Stephen was not trying to appear on any human honours’ list. For this great sermon he got stoned. (There is more than one way to stone a preacher by the way.) Like Peter and John on an earlier occasion, Stephen spoke with courtesy to those who were out to get him (1, 2a). However hostile people may be towards us, there is no place for rudeness on our part. ‘’By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you…’’ (2 Corinthians 10:1).
We think of Abraham as the father of the faithful. When God called him, he had to leave behind what, for that time, was a highly civilised culture with wonderful ‘modern’ amenities. There was sacrifice involved in following God. There always will be. Abraham had nothing to go on but the bare word of God (5), but that was enough. ‘’God’s people live on promises, not on explanations’’ Warren W. Wiersbe. What God told Abraham about the future was remarkably fulfilled (6,7). We are on solid ground when we trust the promises of God. Meyer points out that the promises of God lit up the weary years of Egyptian bondage. Stephen’s sermon causes me to think about Psalm 29:3: ‘’The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.’’
Mighty waters were rising up against Stephen, but the voice of God in and through him thundered over those mighty waters. The voice of the Lord must ultimately prevail – whatever men may say or do. ‘’The God of glory’’ (2), who called Abraham, was calling again through His servant Stephen.
PRAYER: Lord increase our faith!
Radiance under fire, Acts 6:8-15:
8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called) – Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia – who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. 11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, ‘We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.’ 12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, ‘This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.’ 15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
‘’All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel’’ (15). Stephen was one of the seven men chosen to help the church get back on an even keel (5).
I can’t help but think about Moses who, when he came down from the mountain after meeting with God, had a shining face. But he himself was not aware of it. So it is that there can be a certain undefinable ‘something’ about a person who walks with Jesus; an aroma, a fragrance. They walk in the light of the Light of the world. They reflect His light and shine brightly and beautifully amid the darkness of this world, reflecting the rays of the Son.
I remember being in the country one night recently. There was minimal street lighting, but there was a full moon, and the night was brilliantly lit up. Stephen was like a full moon. There were no half measures with him. His commitment to Jesus was total and unquestionable and how he shone in his day! But Stephen also reminds me of Jesus. He was falsely accused like His Master (11). At least one of the charges was similar (13, 14). He was tried, and as we will see, he was put to death.
Stephen, exemplifies the Spirit filled life (5, 8, 10).But if you want a powerful ministry, don’t expect an easy life. You will ruffle feathers.
Prayer: Lord, I want to be as filled with the Holy Spirit as any person can be. Please strengthen me to face all the consequences.
Moving towards the problem.Acts 6:1-7:
‘In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.’ 5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.’NIV
As we saw yesterday, when the church is growing, and in particular when this growth is unusually prolific, you can EXPECT PROBLEMS. These difficulties will take different forms from church to church, context to context, and age to age. But they will arise. Good leadership moves towards problems and not away from them. Today, we will look at two essential moves made by the apostles in this time of tension, and we can learn from what they did:
ESTABLISH PRIORITIES (2, 4): The apostles had a clear sense of what they needed to be concentrating on and they would not be diverted. Neither, though, were they willing to bury their heads in the sand and just hope the problem would go away. You can only sweep things under the carpet for so long. There had to be a way to keep their own focus, and yet deal with this potentially harmful eruption at the same time, and they figured it out. I believe all pastors should be committed to the twin priorities of prayer and Bible study. Many other (necessary) administrative tasks will devour these precious and delightful duties if we allow them to. So we have to carefully guard our time against all the urgent demands that would steal away our best hours for prayerful study. Churches should also do their utmost to help their pastors remain true to their essential calling. The church loses when its shepherds neglect the Word and prayer.
ENGAGE THE CONGREGATION (3- 6): The leaders did not abdicate their responsibilities. They thought through the parameters and presented them to the church, entrusting the congregation with the significant task of choosing the right men for the job. Thus leaders and led moved forward in a respectful, trust-filled atmosphere, and the result was even more growth. I was thinking about this as I lay back in the hygienist’s chair this afternoon. My only real fear when at the dentist’s (or hygienists) is of inhaling the water being sprayed into my mouth. The thought forcibly hit me this afternoon that I am afraid because I don’t sufficiently trust the suction instrument. I thought, ‘Yes, and how many leaders in the church don’t really trust the wisdom God has placed in the body of Christ?’ We will find many wonderful ideas and solutions within the local church. May God forgive us that we don’t always realise this and act on it.
Problems of growth.Acts 6:1-7:
‘6 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.’ 5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.’ NIV
In the Book of Acts we find a church growing in numbers. It also grew spiritually: ‘’…the word of God spread’’ (7a), but it certainly grew numerically. Today’s passage opens and closes between statements about growth and further growth. It was a time of rapid growth. Probably most of us have not lived through a period of such prolific church expansion, and known from the inside not only its exhilaration, but also its tensions. The growth was also, in some ways, surprising and strategic with ‘’a large number of priests’’ being enfolded into the bosom of the church. God’s Spirit was on the move, and who would not want that?
However, when huge growth takes place, and particularly when it happens quickly, you can:
Expect problems (1b): It may not be inevitable, but it is likely. The particulars of the contentious issues will differ from church to church, and context to context. But with growth, some people (and it is often those who have been around longer) can start to feel overlooked and left out. Such a situation calls for wise, strong and decisive leadership, and that’s what we see in our reading. (It also calls for a humble mind on the part of all, and a willingness to embrace the stranger; the kind of Christlike attitude which looks not only to its own interests but also to the interests of others; that considers others better than oneself: Philippians 2:1-5)
Somebody once asked, ‘Does good leadership move towards a problem or away from it?’ The answer of course is that it moves towards it; and tomorrow we will see what these leaders did.
Prayer: Lord, where the is even the tiniest dislocation or fracture in the life of the church, please pour in your healing balm.
There speaks wisdom Acts 5:33-42:
’33 When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honoured by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35 Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: ‘Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.’ 40 His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.’ NIV UK
I’ve heard it pointed out that Gamaliel was not totally correct in what he said (38), inasmuch as there are human enterprises which are highly successful. There can be flourishing churches where much of the ‘’activity is of human origin’’. Not everything originating in the mind of man is going to end up a flop. So there is a fallacy in Gamaliel’s opening gambit. (Although, it is also true to say that every merely human activity is going to ‘’fail’’ ultimately when weighed on the eternal scales of God’s judgment.) However, Gamaliel was certainly right to say that what is from God is ultimately unstoppable (39). Jesus is building His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew). For centuries the hellish gates have repeatedly tried, yet to no avail. To be sure, they appear to win temporary, short term victories, but it remains the case that ‘the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.’
We marvel at the attitude shown by the apostles (41), yet can you not identify with it in some way. Perhaps you have not been so severely abused as they were; but have you not been mocked and scorned and laughed at for being a Christian? Have you not found yourself the butt of cruel jokes and the target for snide remarks? And do you not know, at least to some extent, the ‘buzz’ of standing up for Jesus in the face of this frivolous and hostile world? You have known that deep contentment of doing the right thing, even though it was hard. Again, the bravery of these early Christian preachers shines through (40, 42). Knowing full well the likely outcome, they ‘’never stopped’’ talking about Jesus.
PRAYER: This kind of courage only comes from above. So Lord, here I am, applying for my own supplies of much needed bravery.
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