February 28th, 2010

Today’s scripture focus – Acts 7:2, 51-60

We might call Stephen the first church board member in scripture!  He was one of the seven deacons chosen to oversee the church’s daily operations.  Stephen’s powerful ministry attracted the attention of some radical fundamentalist Jews, who began to stir up trouble against him.  They falsely accused him of speaking against Moses and the Temple.  This would be the equivalent in our day to saying Paul was a false prophet and the Bible was not God’s word.  These were serious accusations.  Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin.  This is their third appearance in Acts.  First they strongly warned Peter and John not to speak in the name of Jesus.  Then, they flogged the apostles for speaking in the name of Jesus.  Their actions in this story will escalate to murder.

Most of chapter seven is taken up with Stephen’s self defense.  At first reading, Stephen’s words seem to wander from Old Testament story to Old Testament story.  He touches on Abraham, the patriarchs, Moses, David, etc.  Stephen was establishing that his message in no way defamed Moses or his ministry.  In fact, the good news Stephen preached was the fulfillment of Moses’ message.  This part of the sermon probably drew some “amens” from the crowd.  However, something happened when he began to preach that God had always dwelled in the hearts of men, and not in a hand made building.  Apparently the Sanhedrin turned on Stephen at this point.  Stephen turned the tables on his accusers and finds them guilty of rejecting God’s Messiah.

Immediately they carried Stephen out of their Temple in order to stone him.  The (false) witnesses were required to cast the first stones.  They removed their outer garments, possibly due to the gory nature of this particular execution method.  Stephen looked up and saw “the Son of Man” standing.  These words are only used to refer to Jesus as heavenly Judge.  Stephen had already moved from the court of man to the heavenly court, and pleaded with Jesus to find his murderers “not guilty”.  His death should have been agonizing, but the story says he simply “fell asleep”.

Mark Twain said “The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.”  The full story of scripture is one of false accusations against the godly, often culminating in their persecution and murder.  It happened to Jesus, to Stephen, and continues to happen to followers today.  The good news is that God never wastes His children’s suffering.  The death of Stephen resulted in the spread of the Church throughout Asia, and the planting of a seed in the heart of a young witness named Saul.  Our attitude during times of suffering serves as our defense and rests our case when we suffer at the hands of the world.

CrossGroups

• Go around the table and share prayer requests.  Have someone lead in prayer.
• Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.
• Ask these three questions.  Let as many answer each one as would like.

1)      Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?

2)      What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?

3)      Think of a time you were misunderstood or falsely accused.  How did you handle it?  If you were a Christian at the time, how did your faith in Christ help you?