Last week we talked about how the apostles were spreading the good news of Jesus—and people were flocking to them. Thousands of people heard their message and believed, which made the religious leaders in Jerusalem very angry. They arrested Peter and John and told them to stop, but they refused. The next time they arrested them they had them flogged, but that still didn’t stop them.
They refused to stop, and kept spreading the word. No human authority was going to make them stop.
But flogging wasn’t the only thing the religious leaders could do. There was worse to come. But before we get to that, let’s start at Acts 6:1-7.
6 Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. 2 And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, 4 while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” 5 What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
This chapter starts out by telling us that the disciples were increasing in number, and because of that increase there was a problem between two groups: the Hellenists and the Hebrews. Now this can be a little confusing, because we generally think of the word Hebrews as meaning the people that became the Jewish people—the Hebrews were what they were called back in the time of Moses. So it came seem like there is a fight going on between the Jewish people and another people. But that’s not what’s happening here. While there were Gentile—or non-Jewish people who believed at this point—it wasn’t a group that the apostles were actively talking to yet. The vast majority of believers were Jewish. So this is not a fight between Jewish believers and non-Jewish believers. This is a fight between Greek speaking Jewish people and Aramaic speaking Jewish people. Remember Aramaic was the common language in Israel at that time, Aramaic was the language that Jesus spoke.
We’ve talked about before that people will find the oddest reasons to discriminate against others and decide one group is better than another. This is one of those odd reasons—it had to do with what language they spoke, and I’m sure there was a correlation between language and a cultural difference. They were all Jewish, they just spoke different languages.
So the Greek Jews are angry because they think their widows are being neglected as compared to the Aramaic Jews. And based on everyone’s response, and how they create a team of Greek Jews to deal with this problem, it’s probably true. The Aramaic Jews are probably looking out more for their widows, and there are probably more Aramaic Jews, and that meant the Greek Jews were being marganlized.
So this issue is brought before the twelve apostles, who then gather everyone. Peter and the apostles are like, “We, the Twelve, don’t really have time to deal with making sure everything is fair between you guys. Our job right now is to spread the word. But we hear this issue and it is a problem.” So to deal with the problem, they choose seven Greek Jewish men to deal with it—to make sure the widows in the Greek Jewish community are served.
You can tell the men they chose are Greek Jews by their names. Stephen is not an Aramaic name, it’s a Greek name.
Everyone is pleased with this course of action, and they all pray over these men. Then they all get back to work—spreading God’s word, helping the poor and the widows. And the number of disciples continues to grow.
Someone read Acts 6:8-15.
8 Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. 11 Then they secretly instigated some men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 They stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council. 13 They set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law; 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us.” 15 And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Stephen—who is one of the seven Greek guys called out previously—is a great guy. He’s full of gracy and power, he is able to do great works in Jesus name. But one day when he’s at a synagogue, a bunch of other non-Christian Greek Jews start a debate with him. But Stephen is so filled with wisdom and the Holy Spirit, that they don’t stand a chance. Stephen completely owns them.
They are not happy about this. They don’t like the stuff Stephen is saying, and they don’t like that he can beat them in a debate. So they start telling people that Stephen is blaspheming against Moses and God. Remember blasphemy is saying something bad about God—saying that God does something against his nature, or something that is just blatantly untrue about God. Today lots of people say bad things about God all the time—without a concern for that. But back then in ancient Jerusalem they took this kind of stuff very seriously, especially the religious leaders.
So they had Stephen arrested. Then they find some people to lie and say before the council that Stephen is always saying bad things about the temple and the law, and that he is preaching that Jesus is going to destroy everything.
Everyone turns to Stephen, and they see he has a face of an angel—what does that mean? Maybe that he looked innocent and unconcerned? Maybe that he looked like he was shining with a holy light? I don’t know, but it was something special.
Someone please read Acts 7:1-8.
7 Then the high priest asked him, “Are these things so?” 2 And Stephen replied:
“Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he left the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God had him move from there to this country in which you are now living. 5 He did not give him any of it as a heritage, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as his possession and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child. 6 And God spoke in these terms, that his descendants would be resident aliens in a country belonging to others, who would enslave them and mistreat them during 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 Then 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.
They’re going to give Stephen a chance to respond to these accusations—and Stephen is going to use that chance to give a whole speech, and we’re actually going to walk through his speech here because it’s great and it’s a reminder of things we’ve studied in the past! So Stephen doesn’t go directly into talking about Jesus, instead he goes back to the beginning of the Hebrew people, the point when they were set aside as God’s chosen people. He goes back to Abraham.
He reminds them how God came to Abraham well before he lived in the Promised Land—in Israel. And that God told him to leave his country and follow him, and Abraham did! Because of Abraham’s faithfulness, God made him the father of his chosen people.
God even told Abraham that hard times would be ahead, that Abraham’s descendants would live as strangers in a strange land, that they would be enslaved and mistreated, but God promised him that he would judge that nation, and that he would bring his descendants out in the end.
Now I’m sure at this point you’re like “Umm, what does this have to do with anything Stephen?” And I bet the council members were wondering the same thing. Stephen has been brought here because of blasphemy against God, and talking about Jesus, and instead he’s giving them a history lesson.
But this is all part of Stephen’s master debating tactics. He’s got a point, he’s just got to set things up to get us there.
Someone read Acts 7:9-16.
9 “The patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him, 10 and rescued him from all his afflictions, and enabled him to win favor and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Now there came a famine throughout Egypt and Canaan, and great suffering, and our ancestors could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there on their first visit. 13 On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five in all; 15 so Jacob went down to Egypt. He himself died there as well as our ancestors, 16 and their bodies[a] were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
Stephen continues his history lesson, going on to Joseph—who is Abraham’s great-grandson. He reminds everyone how Joseph was betrayed by his brothers—who are the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel. These men who are the founders of the twelve tribes—who are remembered in many ways as men of God—were jealous of their brother and hated him, so they sold him as a slave.
But God was with Joseph—and as we’ve discussed in the past Joseph went through many terrible things in Egypt, but it all ended with him being second to only the pharaoh. Because of his position, Joseph was able to secure Egypt against the coming famine.
But the famine hit the rest of his family hard, and they came to Egypt asking for good. And that was God’s purpose for Joseph in Egypt. Despite his brothers’ evil towards him, God had a plan for Joseph, and God used Joseph’s position to save them all.
This is going to be a theme we see in Stephen’s lecture. That the majority of people—in this case all of Joseph’s brothers—are making bad decisions, and don’t understand a good thing amongst them when they see it. But God uses everything for his glory.
Someone read Acts 7:17-29.
17 “But as the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, our people in Egypt increased and multiplied 18 until another king who had not known Joseph ruled over Egypt. 19 He dealt craftily with our race and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they would die. 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful before God. For three months he was brought up in his father’s house; 21 and when he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 So Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.
23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his relatives, the Israelites. 24 When he saw one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his kinsfolk would understand that God through him was rescuing them, but they did not understand. 26 The next day he came to some of 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 neighbor pushed Moses 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 When he heard this, Moses fled and became a resident alien in the land of Midian. There he became the father of two sons.
The descendants of Abraham, the Hebrews, remained in Egypt past the time of Joseph. A new pharaoh who didn’t remember Joseph and everything he had done for Egypt was in power, and he dealt very harshly with the Hebrews. This story should be familiar to everyone, not only because we studied it, but because of movies like The Ten Commandments and The Prince of Egypt. The story of Moses is one of the most well known stories in the entire Bible.
God promises a deliverer to bring the people out of Egypt, and he gave them Moses. Moses actually ended up being raised in the house of Pharaoh, adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter.
But one day Moses was out seeing the Hebrews and he actually ended up killing an Egyptian, to protect an Hebrews. Because of this, Moses ended up fleeing Egypt, and went to the land of Midian.
I honestly thing Moses was planning to live out his entire life in Midian, never going back or worrying about his people. But that was not God’s plan.
Someone read Acts 7:30-34.
30 “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to tremble 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 mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.’
But God was done with Moses, and he appeared to him in the form of a burning bush. God speaks to Moses, tells him to take his sandals off, because it’s holy ground, and is like, “How dare you be ignoring the people in Egypt. You need to go to Egypt.”
If you remember the story of Moses, our lessons or the movies, you know this conversation wasn’t quite this simple or easy. Moses didn’t want to go to Egypt. He wanted his easy life. But God told him to go, and in the end Moses obeyed God and went.
Someone read Acts 7:35-43.
35 “It was this Moses whom they rejected when they said, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ and whom God now sent as both ruler and liberator through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up a prophet for you from your own people as he raised me up.’ 38 He is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living oracles to give to us. 39 Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will lead the way for us; as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’ 41 At that time they made a calf, offered a sacrifice to the idol, and reveled in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away from them and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
‘Did you offer to me slain victims and sacrifices
forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 No; you took along the tent of Moloch,
and the star of your god Rephan,
the images that you made to worship;
so I will remove you beyond Babylon.’
Moses went to Egypt to be a liberator, but believe it or not, the Hebrews didn’t accept him at first. They were like, “psh, what are you doing here. Who are you?” And the Egyptians also laughed at him, because they were the people in power and didn’t expect Moses to be able to do anything. But the part that hurt the most, was the fact that his own people didn’t really believ ein him at first.
But Moses made many signs and wonders, he lead them out of Egypt, and to freedom! Moses did all these amazing things, and then he went up Mount Sinai to talk to God and get the law, and Moses turned his back for like five minutes and suddenly all the people he just liberated and did everything for, like went crazy!
They wanted to go back to Egypt! They wanted to worship a baby cow they made from their own gold, instead of the one true God who saved them. They saw the signs and wonders, they saw it all, and instead the turned their backs.
This is part of Stephen’s point again. God gives us amazing things, and we can’t see it. We turn our backs and disbelieve.
Someone read Acts 7:44-53.
44 “Our ancestors had the tent of testimony in the wilderness, as God directed when he spoke to Moses, ordering him to make it according to the pattern he had seen. 45 Our ancestors in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our ancestors. And it was there until the time of David, 46 who found favor with God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with human hands; as the prophet says,
49 ‘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?
50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. 53 You are the ones that received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.”
Stephen reminds them of the time of the Tabernacle, when instead of a Temple they had a tent. But then Solomon built a beautiful temple—which as we studied later got destroyed. The Temple of this time period is the second temple.
And basically, Stephen calls out their obsession with the Temple. He’s like “God doesn’t live in houses! God lives everywhere!!!” The Temple as we’ve talked about, was a critical element of Judaism. They viewed it as the place where God lived. But when Jesus died, the veil was torn, symbolizing God doesn’t just live there anymore. He lives everywhere.
But then Stephen gets to the heart of his message, why he went through his whole history lesson. He says that the people of Israel today—the ones who brought him to the council and the ones in the council are being just like the patriarchs who sold Joseph into slavery, or the Hebrews who turned their back on Moses and wanted to go back to Egypt. That God has done great and amazing things in front of them, and instead they are turning their backs on them and persecuting the people God has raised up.
He basically is calling them idiots who are bad at following God.
Let’s see how the council responds to this.
54 When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. 55 But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. 58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.
The council leaders are enraged. No one likes to be called an idiot, and they certainly don’t like to be compared to historical idiots who actively went against God. That’s not what these guys are about. They want to be good followers of God, and Stephen telling them that they’re not? It enrages them.
Stephen doesn’t see their anger, instead the Holy Spirit shows him heaven and the glory of God, with Jesus at his right hand. And he tells everyone what he sees—which makes them angrier.
They all rush him, grab him, drag him out into the city, and stone him. We’ve talked about stoning before—it’s literally means an execution where they throw stones at you until you die. And I don’t mean small tiny pebbles. I mean like big xeriscaping rocks. It would be like death by baseballs, except harder.
Stephen prays to Jesus while he is being stoned, and asks that Jesus not hold this sin against them, and then he dies. This makes Stephen the first Christian to die in the name of Jesus. He’s the first, but he’s not the last.
This section also introduces us to our first mention of a guy named Saul, who watched the whole thing. We’re going to talk about him a lot more in the future, but we’ll leave it there for now.