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²³ “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. ²⁴ And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵ He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. ²⁶ And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ ²⁷ But the man who was wronging his neighbour thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹ At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰ “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ³² ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. ³³ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴ I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’ (ESV)

How does God come down to deliver His people? By sending Moses! As E.M. Bounds observed, ‘God’s methods are men.’ He uses people in forwarding His purposes. But He takes His time to prepare His servants. He is by no means in a hurry (as we so often are) At the age of 80, Moses’ greatest mission was to begin. At 40 he tried to do it his own way, by 80 he was ready for God’s way. ‘ It is when we come to the end of ourselves that we arrive at the beginning of God. The world has ever to learn what God can do by those who are wholly emptied of self-confidence but yielded to His hand.’ F.B. Meyer.

Here are a couple of other things I note in this account of Moses:

• Supposition can cause us all manner of problems! (25);
• Example is so important to gaining a hearing (28).

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ² 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, ³ and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ ⁴ Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died,  into this land in which you are now living. ⁵ 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. ⁶ 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. ⁷ ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ ⁸ 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.

⁹ “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. ¹² But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. ¹³ And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. ¹⁴ And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. ¹⁵ And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, ¹⁶ and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷ “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt ¹⁸ until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. ¹⁹ He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. ²⁰ At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, ²¹ and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. ²² And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. (ESV)

I noticed, first of all, that Stephen was tender and respectful in his address (2), even though he was also forthright and direct, as we will see later.

We are going to read through this sermon in three sections, because there is so much material to cover, but just a general comment here on the sermon as a whole: he takes them on a journey; gives them a potted history of their nation, and its halting, limping, often straying relationship with God. He takes them through facts which would be well known to them. The depth and breadth of his understanding, and his ability to communicate these details to his contemporary situation is breath-taking. The whole sweep of it shows that ‘History is His (God’s) Story.’

‘The drift of the whole speech, which must be borne in mind as we read it, is that again and again the Chosen People had rejected their God-sent deliverers and prophets, and had taken their own evil courses. The rejection of the Saviour was only a parallel to that of Joseph by his brethren, and that of Moses by the nation. Israel had always been stiff-necked and froward, and ought not history to warn Stephen’s hearers against taking a similar attitude towards Jesus of Nazareth?’ F.B.Meyer

Just one little thing to leap out at me in the section about Abraham is the comment that ”God removed him from there” (4). May the Lord direct our paths and choose our homes.

PRAYER: ‘Yea, choose the path for me, although I may not see, the reason thou dost will to lead me so…’ – from the hymn ‘Thy blessed will divine’)

8And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9Then 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. 10But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12And 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, 13and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” 15And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. (ESV)

Stephen’s ”wisdom”, ”grace”, ”power” (and ”faith” v.5) came from ”the Spirit”. He was, we might say, an anointed man, and the sense of God’s presence about him gave him a supernatural glow. It inevitably makes one think of Moses, and how he shone on his return from the mountain where he had met with God, but he didn’t realise it. (Interestingly, Moses is mentioned in verses 11 and 14, and there will be several more references to him in the next chapter).

However, being a man of the Spirit – one who walks with God – will put you out of step with the world. Like Jesus Himself, Stephen was treated falsely and unjustly. His enemies deliberately lied about him. Instead of graciously bowing to the obvious truth of Stephen’s words, they set out to eradicate that truth. They really did not want to hear. They set themselves against it.

PRAYER: Lord, I do not ask for popularity, but I do ask that my light will shine for you in this dark world.

1Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

7And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. (ESV)

In a time of great blessing upon the church, problems can suddenly arise from (seemingly) left field. A violent storm is whipped up, and bears down on our little boat, and we feel under threat. How comforting to know that Jesus is with us.

This is a section which commences with growth and concludes with (it would seem) even greater growth (1,7). But in between there lay a wise leadership decision by the apostles: one which embraced the whole church, though it was initiated by ”the twelve”. There could have been a huge rift. The ”Hellenists’ were Greek-speaking Jews, and they had a grievance, feeling that their widows were not getting their fair share. Decisive leadership action nipped it in the bud.

But note the priorities of the apostles (2,4). No church should stray from them. Especially in a time of explosive numerical growth (but not exclusively so) it is easy for leaders to get sucked into constant firefighting, and lose their focus.

Some people see here the formation of the first diaconate, and you can see why. But note that leaders in practical matters had to be godly men of known good character. At least two of them (Stephen and Philip) had, or went on to have, powerful speaking ministries.

With the focus on ”the word of God” (2,4), it’s fascinating that the growth of the church is described in terms of the growth of the Word (7). They saw significant growth – a growth which made deep inroads into the ranks of the leadership of Judaism. This is one of several growth summaries that we will find as we work through ‘Acts’.

PRAYER: Lord, bless the leaders of your church with all the wisdom they need, and bless our churches with deep unity in you.

17But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy 18they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. 19But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20“Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” 21And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.

Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. 22But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, 23“We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” 24Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. 25And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” 26Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

27And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” 29But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

33When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. 34But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. 35And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. 36For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. 38So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, 40and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name. 42And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. (ESV)

You have to say that there is something quite funny about this ‘great escape’ (see v.25). Whether they believed the resurrection message or not (and the Sadducees certainly didn’t) they were going to hear it again (30). It made them raging mad, but they were not in control (which must have made them even madder!). Jesus had told His apostles that the Holy Spirit would give them power to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8;5:31), and this is exactly what happened. In fact, there is a remarkable ending to this passage (42): surely the evidence of God’s grace.

Gamaliel, by the way, was wrong on his first point, but right on the second (38,39). There are human plans and undertakings which succeed in the short term (or, at least appear to); but if something is of God it is ultimately unstoppable. A little over two thousand years of the persecution of the church has surely demonstrated this.

12Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. 13None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. (ESV)

I remember reading, years ago it would be, about a church in India led by C.T. Studd. Someone observed, ‘That is not a church to attend unless a person means to be converted!’

I also think about Ronald Dunn’s wonderful book, ‘Don’t just stand there, pray something.’ He tells how when, as a young man, revival came to his home church, he stood on the steps outside, fearful to go in. The sense of God’s Holy presence was scary to him.

Both those stories came back to me as I read this ‘electric’ short section – alive with the power of God – and showing a central paradox of this church’s life (13,14), i.e. that people both deeply respected them and kept their distance. Following on from the incident with Ananias and Sapphira, it appears there was an intensification of the Holy Spirit’s work among them (”…more than ever…” v.14) Again, some of this feels very much like the gospels: the ministry of Jesus continues.

Notice two references to ”the people” (13,16). What was happening on the inside of the church was spilling over to touch the outside. There was community impact.

PRAYER: Lord help us to not settle for routine church. Give us a hunger and a thirst to see your living presence manifest among us

32Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

1But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” 5When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

7After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you^a sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. (ESV)

It is no wonder that there was ”great fear”. The sense of God’s presence was vividly real. Can we also read this passage without sharing a sense of reverential fear? Our God is ”a consuming fire” (Hebs.12:29). He is not to be trifled with.

Going back to the first paragraph, we would have to say that such unity as they had was a gift of grace, and helped to corroborate their message (33). It was the living Lord Jesus who broke the natural bent towards selfishness that lurks in the human breast.

‘When the Church is filled with the Holy Spirit, her pockets will be easily emptied before His gracious, thawing presence. Let the sun arise in the heavens, and the frozen streams are instantly liberated and begin to sing on their way to transform wildernesses into gardens.’ F.B.Meyer

I believe that a proper Christian attitude towards money and possessions says, ‘None of this is mine.’ We are stewards of God’s property.

What a study in contrasts we have with Barnabas, and Ananias and Sapphira. The same phrases are applied to each (4:37;5:1). What seems vividly clear is that no-one had to sell land and property, or to give all the proceeds. The sin was in the pretence. it was in lying to the Holy Spirit (5:3), who is ”God” (5:4).

‘The sin of Ananias was not in keeping back part of the purchase money, but in pretending to have brought all to the Apostle. He wished to pose as a saint, and at the same time to line his own nest. In the act of consecration, we must not allow one corner for Satan or selfishness to possess, because instantly we shall have to concede the right of way, and a thoroughfare will be opened, along which all manner of contraband may be smuggled in.’ F.B. Meyer

‘Like draws to like; Judas went to his own place, and the Apostles to their own company.’ F.B. Meyer

How good to belong to the church family, and to be able to return to your own ‘home’ – to your spiritual kith and kin. What a prayer they prayed. They were aware of God being in total control. As Warren Wiersbe observes, they called on the Lord who made everything and is able to do anything.

They saw the fulfiment of Psalm 2 in recent happenings (25,26; see 1:16).

It is a remarkable feature of this prayer that they didn’t ask for protection, but specifically for ”boldness” (29), and they received precisely what they asked (31). In fact, there was a physical manifestation of the presence of God. The great evangelist, D.L. Moody, was asked, ‘Why do you pray so often to be filled with the Holy Spirit?’ His reply was, ‘Because I leak!’ F.B. Meyer wrote: ‘They had been filled before, but they were filled again. It is our privilege to claim repeated infillings to make good our leakage and evaporation.’ You may well know that in Paul’s exhortation in Ephesians 5:18: ”…be filled with the Spirit…” the idea is to keep on being filled.

PRAYER: ‘Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me…fill me anew

5On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

13Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. 15But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, 16saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” 18So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” 21And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened.22For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old. (ESV)

EXCLUSIVE MESSAGE:

Verse 12 is so important, and needs to be read in conjunction with Jesus’s own claim in John 14:6 It’s an exclusive claim, and, as David Pawson said, because it is exclusive it is also inclusive. If Jesus is the ONLY way to the ONLY God there is, then everyone must hear the good news about Him, regardless of their creed, colour and culture. Some people paint a picture of God being on top of a mountain, with the world’s different religions being like different paths up to the same destination. But this is emphatically not the Bible’s message, and it is not in keeping with what Jesus ”the truth” claimed.

EXCITED MESSENGERS:

As we read chapter 4, Jilly made the comment, ‘How can we doubt that these men were not only with Jesus, but with the resurrected Jesus?’

‘Note the exuberance of the life of God! We cannot but speak, Acts 4:20 . When once we have got the real thing, we cannot and dare not be still; we must speak. As the swelling seed will break down a brick wall, so when the love of Christ constrains us, though all the world is in arms, we must bear witness to our Lord.’ F.B. Meyer