Acts 8:9-25 Embrace Kindness!

Acts 8:9-25 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria.When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them moneyand said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. ”Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me. ”After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

In Samaria, Philip, full of the Holy Spirit, proclaimed the gospel of Jesus with signs and wonders following him. The people listened to Philip carefully because of the miracles manifested in their midst. Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. (Acts 8:6) These miracles were important because they caused the Samaritans to stop and consider Philip’s words. Many of them were baptized (in the name of Jesus), both men and women. But Philip was not the only one in Samaria who could amaze the people with supernatural happenings. Simon was called by the Samaritans the Great Power of God. As a person dedicated to the devil, he could do many things that astounded the Samaritans. As with the magicians before Pharaoh during Moses’ time, they could imitate many of the miracles that Moses performed before Pharaoh. Sorcerers have power. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he tempted him with things he could really do for Jesus; otherwise, he would have been merely lying to Jesus. But Jesus knew God could quell any act the devil put before him. He dismisses Satan with these words:“Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ (Matthew 4:10) Simon, a Christian in name, desired to be considered someone great in the Samaritan society. He wanted them to continue to recognize him as a man of Great Power, performing the works of God. He wanted people to come to him when seeking answers from the supernatural. Philip’s ministry was validated by miraculous signs, and many were saved, but the Samaritans had no knowledge concerning the Holy Spirit. Philip had power from the Holy Spirit; Peter and John when investigating the events in Samaria realized the people needed this power. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Simon observed these two pillars of the church laying their hands on the believers to receive the gifting of the Holy Spirit. Simon was impressed by this act of receiving the Holy Spirit through prayer. To maintain a place of deference within the Samaritan community, Simon thought it would be great if he had this power of giving people the Holy Spirit. When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them moneyand said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. He knew if he had this power, he would still be considered a Great Powerof God. With this power, people would ask to receive the Holy Spirit from his hands. As with all sorcerers everywhere who dispense supernatural gifting to people for money, he could earn a good living by selling the gift of the Holy Spirit. Peter’s anger raged against Simon's desire to buy the ability to give the Holy Spirit. May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.Simon still had the heart of a sorcerer; his very existence to this point came from his ability to perform supernatural acts, now he had to repent of that mindset. He beseeched Peter to pray for him: Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.

Sorcery is the work of the devil. Supernatural powers of the devil become evident in a society when people seek witchcraft and magic. The proponents of this alternate way of bringing God or supernatural events into their lives, see it as a positive, enlightening experience. However, the confusion of the demonic world brings mental anguish, fear, and suicidal thoughts as is evident in Jesus’ confrontation with Legion, a man possessed by many demons, who was violent and lived naked in a cave. Many societies in the world are saturated with demonic worship; many religions in the world combine demonic worship in their search after the living God. In these societies of darkness, the power of God has to be manifested in the ministry of Jesus Christ. We find this in the book of Acts. The church spreads into the world because of the persecution of the believers in Jerusalem. Believers fled Jerusalem, but actively preached the Good News, THE WAY, in their dispersion throughout the area. They entered a very dark world, one controlled by the devil. Paul describes this darkness as being consumed by sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery,idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions,envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. The battle between this darkness and the light of The Way in every community and nation was very intense. Believers experienced persecution and even death in this dark world. However as the truth of the light of God penetrated these lands, the power of God delivered people from their sicknesses, demon possession, and disabilities such as blindness and lameness. In direct confrontation with the devil, we see Paul on the island of Cyprus confronting a sorcerer, Elymas,who was trying to prevent the governor of Paphos from accepting the gospel message. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Paullooked straight at Elymas and said,“You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. (Acts 13: 9-11) Through God’s manifestation of power on the island of Cyprus, many people came to Christ, finding release from slavery to the devil. In Philippi we see Paul casting out a demon from a girl who was making money by fortune telling. This demon in the girl was interfering with Paul’s mission in Philippi by disruptively announcing that Paul and Silas were doing God’s work. She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. (Act 16:17-18) In these confrontations with the devil, the Holy Spirit succeeded in releasing people from the devil’s hold. In addition, in these victories whole communities found freedom from Satan.

Phillip was ministering in Samaria, a land of the apostates according to the Jews. But in this land a great revival broke out, so Peter and John had to see what was happening in Samaria. When they realized these people had not received the Holy Spirit, they prayed for them who once were considered apostates to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We seethe apostles fulfilling the mission of loving your enemies. Jesus illustrates that kind of love by telling the story of the Good Samaritan. A teacher of the law wanted to know who is his neighbor, for the law is fulfilled in loving your neighbor as yourself. Jesus points out to him that even his enemy should be his neighbor. Then He tells how a Samaritan takes care of his enemy, a Jew, who had been beaten and robbed, left for dead on the side of a road. The Jew’s religious leaders passed him by on the other side of the road, not willing to help this man who was lying half dead on the other side of the road. But an enemy came along and rescued this nearly dead man, bandaging his wounds, feeding and housing him. He was also willing to pay the money needed to restore this Jew to health. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ (Luke 10:35) Jesus asked this teacher of the law, who was this Jew’s neighbor. Of course the answer was the Samaritan. He fulfilled the purpose of the law, not the Jewish religious leaders. The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”Now, in today's focus, we see Phillip and the Jewish disciples going to their neighbor the Samaritans and rescuing them from their half-dead, desperate lives. The truth of God’s salvation plan to redeem all men and women through Jesus Christ’s work on the cross was revealed in the community of Samaria. They were hearing in plain words the truth of the gospel that Jesus came to die on the cross, to rescue mankind from the slavery of the devil. This message of truth was accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit. As Paul said, My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5) These people in Samaria were seeing the power of God; their ears were now open to the truth of God’s mystery of salvation from the beginning of time. Often people, even believers, get confused by their fixation on this world and its events. Instead of fixing their eyes on the truth of eternal life in Christ Jesus, they place their interest on temporary events that will disappear into history. This kind of wisdom and knowledge about world events will garner no truth about eternal life, for it is based on the wisdom and knowledge of the flesh. In Samaria we see the Good News being spread throughout the land, freeing them from their way of worship, their ideas, their philosophies, all of which lead to eternal death. No longer will they rely on their own wisdom and knowledge, but on the truth of God and his light. For the Samaritans and for all believers, our focus on life should be in Christ. If not, we are like the sorcerer, trying to find another way to God other than the gate; Jesus Christ. We do not place our lives in the wisdom of this age or in the rulers of this age, that will profit us nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.  None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:6-7) God’s redemption plan, the mystery of God from before time, is where our lives should be focused. The knowledge of the rulers and the power structure of our day will never satisfy our spiritual needs, will never comfort our hearts, and will never lead us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Only the truth of the gospel has power to do that as we see in today’s focus. Who is your Samaritan today that you cannot love or accept? If you have someone in your life that you need to love, turn away from your unbelief and turn to God. No longer say to Jesus, Lord, Lord and then fail to do his will. This is unacceptable to the God of the grace and mercy that you have received without limit. Embrace this God of kindness and generosity and present him to all people for the sake of the Good News of Jesus Christ and him crucified.  

 

Acts 8:1-8 Great Joy!

Acts 8:1-8   On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.  Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.  But Saul began to destroy the church.  Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.  Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.  Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there.  When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said.  For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.  So there was great joy in that city.

The above focus reveals the beginning of the fulfillment of Jesus' prescience, knowing his disciples would go throughout the world preaching the Good News.  He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.  (Mark 15:15-16)  What Jesus knew beforehand was then becoming a reality because of persecution.  Jesus knew his disciples would be mistreated and all of his followers would experience great trouble at the hands of the Gentiles and Jews.  They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.  And so you will bear testimony to me.  (Luke 21:12-13)  Chief in this attempt to put away apostasy from Judaism was Saul.  Saul was a young rabbi, who had watched the unjustifiable stoning of Stephen, for Stephen had been accused by liars of speaking against God and Moses.  Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”  (Acts 6:11)  Saul probably thought the stoning of this supposed blasphemer was justified.  Believing Stephen’s ministry a real danger to Judaism, he felt justified to hunt down the apostates, the blasphemers, and either force them to recant their belief in Jesus being the Messiah or kill them.  Saul began to destroy the church.  Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.  Jesus in confronting the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, told the religious leaders that their father was the devil.  He assessed that they were the devil’s children because they had murder in their hearts.  Jesus knew they had murderous thoughts, breaking the commandment: thou shall not murder.  They wanted to murder an innocent man: Jesus.  Now we see Saul with the same spirit, a follower of evil, desiring to kill innocent men and women, believing he was doing God’s work by killing followers of Jesus.  Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.  He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.  (Acts 9:1-2)  The results of Stephen’s stoning by the religious elite helped spread the message of the Good News throughout the land.  It was like a rock thrown into a pond, waves of fleeing believers broke into other communities quickly with the words of the NEW WAY on their lips.  Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.  The pond in Jerusalem was no longer safe for the believers; they fled for their lives into other communities, preaching The Way everywhere they went.  We see Philip, a deacon in the church as was Stephen, going to a city in Samaria.  Samaria, a place of apostasy for generations, would hear the Good News about Jesus being the Messiah from Philip's lips.  Jesus previously had made inroads in this land of apostasy through his interaction with a woman at a well who had had many husbands and now was living with a man who was not her husband.  She lived in the town of Sychar.  Jesus impressed this woman so much with his words about her life, knowing she had five husbands and was now living with a man who was not her husband, that she went back to the city and convinced the people to invite Jesus to stay in their town for a few days.  Jesus stayed with them for two days, persuading many of them that He was the Messiah promised by God.  Now we see Philip in Samaria reaping what Jesus sowed.  During Jesus’ time in Samaria, Jesus told his disciples:  “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.  Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’?  I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!  They are ripe for harvest.  Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.  Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true.  I sent you to reap what you have not worked for.  Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”  (John 4:34-38)  Philip is now reaping what Jesus sowed in Samaria.  Jesus had stayed two days in Sychar sowing seed.

Persecution is the driving force that scattered the church in every direction.  Before this time, the church was rather secure in Jerusalem.  Jesus had told the believers to stay in Jerusalem until the gift of the Holy Spirit was given.  “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”  (Acts 1:4-5)  Being near the Temple, a place where God dwells, and in the holy city of Jerusalem was probably a very comfortable place to know God’s will.  The disciples went to the Temple every day to teach The Way.  The disciples were hassled and mistreated by the Sanhedrin, but they were fixed on staying in Jerusalem.  Even after the stoning of Stephen, all except the apostles were scattered.  But God had other plans now for the church.  He had infilled the church with his Spirit, and now the church was to go out into every land and share the Good News that salvation has come to the world in the form of Jesus Christ the man from Galilee.  As evident in Samaria, the power of God was in Philip’s ministry.  When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said.  For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.  Without the power of God, the church was to stay in Jerusalem.  They were sent to the world not just to proclaim another idea about a god or another way to live.  They were to proclaim the God who exists forever, who created all things and who is intimately involved with people, so much so that He would deliver them from demons, heal their bodies and give them abundant eternal life because of his love for them.  Therefore they needed the dynamo of God: the Holy Spirit in their lives.  Without the Spirit in their lives, the words they spoke would be considered to be just another philosophy or idea of how to live.  As with the philosophers of Athens, people have many thoughts about God, but without the reality of God in their lives.  What they really needed was empirical evidence of God in the affairs of men and women.  Philip’s ministry was backed up by miracles and wonders.  He was not just preaching some other wisdom or knowledge of man.  Man's wisdom and knowledge, his answers to life, are but foolishness to the eternal God.  He alone can change the lives of a finite person to an eternal one in his household.  He alone makes new creatures.  He can change lives permanently if they put their trust by faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, for He alone is the Word of God.  Philip and the believers in Jerusalem had to be filled with the Holy Spirit before they ventured out into the world to testify of Jesus being the Messiah sent from God.  Their message had to go beyond mere teaching of another idea about God or life.  As Peter proclaimed to the crowd on Pentecost, these are the last days.  And in the LAST DAYS it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.  (Acts 2:17-18)   God through his church was coming to the world in power, manifested in the works of the Holy Spirit.  Philip, full of the Holy Spirit, was proclaiming the Good News of Jesus the Messiah to the people in Samaria.  He was cloaked in the words of God through the gifting of the Holy Spirit.  

When the Good News arrives in men and women’s hearts, there is joy.  We see where Philip is teaching about THE WAY, there is great joy in that city.  They are seeing and experiencing the power of God manifested in their lives.  When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid CLOSE ATTENTION to what he said.  For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.  Something new was happening in their lives and in their community.  The mundaneness of life was changed; the routines of life were being affected by the Good News.  Philip was ministering about a God who has come down to change their lives permanently.  He was talking about a born again experience that leads to eternal life.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  (John 3:16-18)  Philip focuses on the work of God who is full of grace and mercy towards all people.  No longer will people have to depend on their works to know God, to please a holy God, but they will place their trust in God’s work that comes in the form of Jesus Christ.  Philip is announcing this truth of eternal life through Christ Jesus with supernatural signs and wonders. The Holy Spirit through his mighty works is imprinting on the people the reality of the salvation message.   God is coming to them in a mighty way to change their lives from a hopeless existence to an intimate relationship with him.  Everything they are hearing is based on faith in the words of the God of Israel.  Long ago a man called Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, was considered right with God because of his faith in God’s words, and not in his own reality.  He placed his faith in God’s words and not what he saw or previously experienced.  His wife Sarah was old and beyond child bearing age, but God told him he would have a son out of Sarah’s womb; he believed God’s words and not his understanding of life.  Because of his faith in God’s words and not his own understanding of life, God called him righteous, placing him in right standing with him.  Now Philip is expounding to the Samaritans that God’s grace and mercy have come to the world in the form of Jesus Christ.  Anyone who believes in Jesus, the exact replica of God’s mercy and grace, he or she will be considered right with God and will receive eternal life with God as a child in his household.  This understanding of God’s plan of redemption, reveals that his grace and mercy bring joy to ALL people.  At Jesus’ birth, the angels told the shepherds in the field,  “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause GREAT JOY for all the people.  (Luke 2:10)  God’s work in the form of Jesus Christ has come down to earth.  Faith in Jesus’ work is the same as Abraham’s faith in God’s word.  Jesus is the Word of God.  Therefore, faith in God’s word brings eternal life to all men and women who put their trust IN GOD'S WORK: JESUS.  People are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.  David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it: “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight.  Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.”  (Romans 4:5-8)  Yes the Samaritans were happy; they were experiencing great joy for God had come to them in grace and mercy THROUGH Jesus Christ THE MESSIAH FOR ALL MEN AND WOMEN.  Because of their faith in Jesus, their lives had been changed permanently, forever and ever.  Amen.  May we rejoice with great joy for the gift of God’s mercy and grace today.  

  

Acts 7:54-59 Live a Peaceful Life!

Acts 7:54-59  When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.  But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.  “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."  At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.  Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.  While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”   When he had said this, he fell asleep.

In Judaism, blaspheming the name of God is speaking irreverently about God, the Temple or even Moses and the law.  Such an act is punishable by stoning.   Then the Lord said to Moses: Take the blasphemer outside the camp.  All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him.  Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their God will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death.  The entire assembly must stone them.  Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.  (Leviticus 24:13-16)  Because the Sanhedrin had murder in their hearts, they brought forth liars who would claim that Stephen said blasphemous words about God and Moses.  Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”  (Acts 6:11)  The Lord Jesus was lied about too, but the liars' accounts were not convincing, for they did not hold together as being truthful.  People also lied about Paul desecrating the Temple and blaspheming God and Moses by teaching that the law and circumcision were not necessary to be right with God.  Even though lying is a detestable sin in both the New Covenant and Old Covenant, worthy of hell fire, lying is prevalent in human affairs.  Jeremiah equates lying with adultery, of being unfaithful in words, deceiving people for personal reasons.  "For they are all adulterers— a pack of treacherous liars.  My people bend their tongues like bows to shoot out lies.  They refuse to stand up for the truth.  They only go from bad to worse.  They do not know me,” says the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:2-3)  As Jeremiah says, liars do not know the God of integrity, his holiness and perfection.  In the above focus, we see Stephen’s accusers looking for reasons to kill this apostate believer in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.  As with Stephen's accusers, the elite of the Jewish community sought reasons to kill Jesus.  Also Paul was lied about by people who wanted to kill him.  In these situations, lying is pivotal in the accusations against Stephen, Jesus, and Paul.  Lying displays the devil's, nature; he is the father of all lies.  When he (the devil) lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  (John 8:44)  Demons use lying to deceive people; Eve fell for the serpent's deceptive words.  In Stephen’s case, the Sanhedrin is justifying their actions of stoning Stephen based on lies.  For them, judgment must be meted out on Stephen because he is a blasphemer.  They justify their actions of stoning Stephen by knowing they are following the commandment of God.  Saul, as he observed this scene, must have thought the stoning was justified for the killers put their outer garments at this feet.  He probably went away from that scene believing what he saw was a justifiable execution according to the law of Moses.  Later we see Saul going from city to city, dragging men and women back to Jerusalem either to be killed or to be forced to recant their belief in Jesus as the Messiah.  For him, Stephen’s stoning was a necessary act to squash this apostasy of Jesus being the Messiah.  Probably, the Sanhedrin also believed this stoning was legitimate and necessary to quell apostasy.  Earlier many of them had heard Jesus  affirm the question, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”  Jesus’ answer made it necessary to kill him.  ”The high priest tore his clothes.  “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked.  “You have heard the blasphemy.   What do you think?  ”They all condemned him as worthy of death.  (Mark 14:61-64)

As with the case of executing Jesus, the Sanhedrin was killing an innocent man; their indictment against Stephen was based on lies.  They were violating the cardinal commandment: You shall not murder.  Jesus addresses the commandment of not killing by examining the content of a man’s heart before that dastardly act.  Murder as with adultery foments in an evil heart.  God always judges the heart, its intentions, its darkness.  Men judge from the outside, but God judges the heart.  Jesus knows that this murderous darkness in men and women's souls begins with unjustifiable anger.  “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’   But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.  Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court.   And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.  (Matthew 5:21-22). During Jesus’ three years of ministry, Jesus knew the leading priests and teachers of the law were against him and his teaching.  He knew they were angry about him winning over the allegiance of the people to him; they were jealous of his large following.  Jesus was teaching about God’s grace and mercy.  To find favor with God, the priests were advocating following rigidly the law, along with their own man-made regulations.  Their position of honor and prestige in the Jewish community was being threatened by Jesus’ teachings.  Their anger against Jesus eventually turned to thoughts of murdering him.  Before restoring a man’s shriveled hand before their eyes, Jesus addresses their negative attitude about doing good on the Sabbath:  Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath.  ”Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”  So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.  But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.  (Matthew  12:12-14)  We see their anger toward Jesus transformed into murdering him.  Jesus is now consider a blasphemer because He is violating a regulation given by God to Moses.  Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy  (Exodus 20:8), a day that should be absent of any activity, a day of complete rest.  Stephen, who is carrying on the message of Jesus Christ in the Jewish community, is seen as a cohort of this blasphemer: Jesus Christ.  Therefore, Stephen also deserves the sentence of death.  People lie about him to allow the Sanhedrin to justify him being stoned.  But in carrying out their sentence of death, a more intense, wicked emotion comes to the surface. They were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.  They covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.  The devil's hatred of God manifested in them.  They did not want to hear the words of righteousness, so they covered their ears and yelled at the top of their voices.  The devil and his cohorts do not want to hear about God’s plan of redemption.  As with Jesus, they were thinking that stopping Stephen’s voice would give them victory over the mysterious plan of God to save all people from destruction.  The pit of hell was planned for them, not for people.  

         In Stephen’s face and words, we see the love of God for all people, even those who hated him and let the devil use them as his agents.  The devil is a liar, a fountain of lies; he will never quit lying to people about God and his righteousness.  Stephen is before the Sanhedrin because of lies told about him.  Jesus knew where these lies originated and that his followers would carry out the purposes of the devil.  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.  (John 8:44)   Stephen has been indicted by lies.  Now as a result of those lies, Stephen will be stoned.  As his face and words reveal, he is an adopted son in the household of God; he will portray his Father even in death.  The Father is perfect, righteous, never ending.  Stephen will die with the Father’s will on his life.  As Jesus commanded, Love your neighbor as yourself.  But He tells us that the Father goes well beyond just loving the neighbor; He loves those who hate him.  Stephen epitomizes this love at the very end of his life: Lord, do not hold this sin against them.  God does not want anyone to perish.  Stephen does not want these people full of hatred to face the final punishment of God.  He wants their lives to be spared.  Jesus talks about this love.   “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?  Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even pagans do that?   Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  (Matthew 5:44-48)  Perfection is emulating the Father’s love.  Normally people write this verse out of their lives, having no intention to loving their enemies.  But God has come to us in the form of Jesus Christ to restore all people to their Creator.  As Christians we are to reconcile people to God, not push them away or condemn them for not being faithful and obedient to the Creator.  We are to express God’s love for all people.  We see this in Stephen’s last words on earth just as we see this in Jesus’ last words: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  (Luke 23:34)  We are to carry the message of God’s love to the whole world, first starting in our own families, then to our neighbors, to our communities, to our nation, and to the world.  If we do not, we are aberrant Christians, doing our own thing and not God’s will.  Paul gives Timothy, his young minister, the purpose and focus for living for Christ.  I urge, then, first of all, that PETITIONS, PRAYERS, INTERCESSION AND THANKSGIVING BE MADE FOR ALL PEOPLE--for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.  This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.  (1 Timothy 2:1-4)  We see Stephen petitioning God not to hold this sin of murder against them.  We see Jesus telling his Father to forgive his killers.  We know Moses and Paul told God they would sacrifice their place with him for eternity for the salvation of those who wanted to kill them.  Are we better than these people when we are openly willing not to forgive our enemies?  Let us keep in touch with the Spirit of God, keep in step with him, loving all humans God created the best we can with the enduring love of God, our Father.  May this love rise up in each of us today to dispel Satan’s lies and advance the Good News.         

 

 

 

Acts 7:44-53 Be a Light in the Darkness!

Acts 7:44-53  “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness.  It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.  After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them.  It remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.  But it was Solomon who built a house for him.  “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands.  As the prophet says:“ ‘Heaven is my throne,and the earth is my footstool.  What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord.  Or where will my resting place be?  Has not my hand made all these things?’  “You stiff-necked people!  Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised.  You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!  Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?  They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One.  And now you have betrayed and murdered him— you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”  

Stephen, by reviewing the history of the Jewish people before the murderous Sanhedrin, exposes them to the truth that the children of Israel have mostly existed in a state of rebellion to God.  Even though chosen as God’s own people because of Abraham’s faith in God’s words and promises, they lived lives of waywardness to the Creator.  Sadly, after being set free from the yoke of slavery to the god of Egypt, Pharaoh, they longed for their old ways of living in Egypt, serving idols, created out of the imaginations of men.  In their wilderness journey, God revealed to them his absolute holiness and perfection, giving them laws and regulations to follow.  They saw God manifesting himself through smoke and fire on Mount Sinai.  This God, whom they would war against most of their existence, chose them to inherit a land of milk and honey.  This land would be one of peace and harmony if they followed God’s dictates, obeying his commandments and regulations.  However, in the wilderness and in the Promised Land the yoke of slavery to other gods lay heavily on their shoulders.  They ignored the God who revealed himself on Mount Sinai.  Instead of following religiously the commandments and holy regulations, they sought the authority of demonic gods, even sacrificing their own children to appease these wicked spirits.  The slavery of darkness discovered in Egypt controlled their minds, choosing the turmoil of rebellion rather than the harmony of obedience.  Nevertheless, God never left them without a way out of their sin.  He provided a holy sanctuary, a place where their leaders could meet with God.  This tabernacle had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.  God’s voice emanated from this Tent of Meetings, later from the Temple that King Solomon built.  The Israelites could always find God there through their intermediaries, the priests.  This place was one of holiness, so it had to be built with perfect dimensions, for it reflected God’s sanctuary of perfection in heaven.  They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven.  This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”  (Hebrews 8:5)  Stephen reminds the Sanhedrin that the tabernacle and the Temple are symbolic of God being with mankind.  However, God’s presence is not restricted to earthly structures, for as the prophet prophesied about God, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.  What kind of house will you build for me?  Steven says, He is not contained in tents or buildings, for He is an omnipresent Spirit.  This wonderful God of mercy and goodness, you leaders of Israel have neglected to serve honestly.  Instead, you burden the people with regulations and rules to cater to your own selfish interest.  Jesus castigated the priests and the teachers of the law for misusing their position of deference for their own benefit.  And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?  For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’  But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it.  Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.  You hypocrites!  Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you.“  ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”  (Matthew 15:1-9)  Jesus knew they diverted funds that should go to the parents to benefit their own coffers.  He called them hypocrites.  Now Stephen exposes the evil intentions of those who are standing around him; their willingness to kill an innocent man.

Steven incites the ire of the Sanhedrin by exposing their hearts in his discourse.  For their pretensions of being holy and righteous hide the wickedness in their hearts.  But this condition of hypocrisy has often been prevalent in the religious leadership of the Jews.  They make a show of righteousness without good intentions.  Jesus categorizes them as  hypocrites.  In Stephen's review of the history of the children of Israel in the wilderness and in the promised land, he emphasizes the sinfulness of all the Israelites and their fleshly hearts.  Paul describes such hearts.  The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.  (Galatians 5:19-21)  Of course, fleshly hearts do not pertain only to the chosen people, they are an endemic part of people everywhere.  The Jews' experience points out clearly that even if God treats humans well, revealing his powers and wonders to them above all other people in the world, the fallen nature of Adam will eventually manifest itself in rebellion to God’s authority.  This Adamic nature is a deep-rooted characteristic of mankind.  Jesus said for people to love their enemies, be perfect as God is perfect.  This is a challenge that supersedes the will of men and women.  This kind of unity is divine and not found much in the nature of people.  Jesus is especially harsh with the priests and teachers of the law, for they go around with broad phylacteries and long robes, displaying outwardly their holiness and goodness.  But their sanctimonious attire and actions belie their hearts' intentions of murdering Jesus.  Jesus says of them, For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.  These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”  (Matthew 15:19-20)  Jesus knows the hearts of those who oppose him as the Messiah.  They wish him dead.  Stephen also knows their hearts: they wish him to die too.  In fact, they will carry out their murderous intentions shortly after Stephen's conclusive remarks about their wicked nature.  Stephen addresses their hearts now, not their outward appearances.  You stiff-necked people!  Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised.  You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!  Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?  They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One.  No matter how holy they appear, their hearts are desperately wicked.  They are just as evil as their ancestors who tried to quash God’s words to them, coming to them from the prophets’ lips.  Jesus also recognizes this spirit of theirs, of attempting to kill the voice of God, to divert the plan of God of redeeming the world to himself.  “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.  And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.  Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!"  (Matthew 23:29-32)  Now Jesus is saying, Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!  KILL THE WORD OF GOD

As John states, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  (John 1:1-5)  The devil's intentions were from the beginning to disrupt the harmony between God and man.  Eve’s decision destroyed that harmony.  From that time on, the world has been in rebellion against God and has reaped the products of disharmony with God: discord, violence and chaos.  Millions have been killed for self-willed reasons.  Jesus was sent to the world to unite people in a right relationship to a holy and perfect God.  As John reveals, this catalyst of light was rejected even by his own people.  The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  (John 1:9-11)   The majority of his own people chose their heritage as descendants of Abraham over him as the redeeming Messiah.  However, as Paul relates, the Jews were no better than the Gentiles if they lived with uncircumcised hearts, hearts predisposed to selfish and sinful behavior.  Stephen in uncovering the hearts of his foes says, you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”   Their hardened souls could not accept the fact that God had sent the Messiah Jesus to rescue them from their state of waywardness to the Creator.  They were meant for redemption, not judgment.  They were meant to be children of God, not foes to God and his goodness.  However, the Jewish people crucified Jesus.  They killed the Son of God, rejecting his divinity and God’s purpose for his life.  They abused and killed the One Isaiah prophesied about, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.  He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.  The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.  (Isaiah 9:6-7)  Stephen would give his life for the ONE about whom Isaiah prophesied.  For Stephen, physical existence did not hold the answers of eternal life.  He had found life, REAL LIFE, ABUNDANT LIFE in Jesus Christ the Lord, his Messiah.  He was willing to give his physical life for real life as a child of the living God.  Praise God that we can live as God’s children today if we have called upon the name of Jesus.   

    

 

 

 

 

  

 

Acts 7:36-43 Give Thanks!

Acts 7:36-43  He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.“  This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.  ’He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.  “But our ancestors refused to obey him.  Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.  They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us.  As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!  ’That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf.  They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made.  But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars.  This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:“ ‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?  You have taken up the tabernacle of Mole and the star of your god Rephan the idols you made to worship.  Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon.

Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, but he could not lead the Israelites out of the darkness of their souls.  Stephen tells these leaders of Israel who intend to murder him that their souls are full of darkness.  No miracle from God in the desert, no physical phenomenon, no prophet could disperse the darkness that presided in the souls of these former captives of Pharaoh.  As they journeyed through the wilderness, they carried the Egyptian gods in their satchels.  They were constantly looking for a chance to rebel against Moses and Aaron who were following the God who delivered them out of Egypt.   As with Adam and Eve in their disastrous decision to be the designer of their own lives, the children of Israel also wished to carve out their own way in life.  They made images of gods they desired to follow, gods of war, fertility, prosperity, safety, and so on.  This desire led them to serve idols founded on their own wayward imaginations.  These idols were made of wood, stone, gold and silver.  They were silent gods, unresponsive gods, gods demanding horrendous sacrifices from them, even their firstborn.  Their little ones were burned on altars or cooked in the searing hands of idols like Molech.  Yes, Moses by the hand of God led the Israelites out of Egypt, but their souls were still laden with Egypt’s abomination of idol worship.  They rejected him (Moses) and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.  Make us gods who will go before us.   They (Aaron) made an idol in the form of a calf.  They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made.  Even though the Israelites saw with their own eyes the plagues that God placed on Egypt, they still desired gods who would allow them to be as their hearts desired: wicked.  They chose to serve Ashtaroth, a deity that would supposedly bring many children into families, and also make them successful in war.  They worshipped Rephan, an astrological god, who supposedly would guide their lives, giving them blessings and direction.  They bowed before the idol of Baal, a supreme god who demanded them to sacrifice their children, insuring them peaceful and happy lives.  These gods the Israelites desired to follow rather than serve the only God who made the heavens and the earth.  By constructing their own gods to follow, they attempted to fulfill Satan’s words.  The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”  “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.  “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  (Genesis 3:2-5)  But rather than living as God exists in peace and harmony, humans slid into a caldron of darkness, violence, and chaos.  Eventually a flood of destruction terminated this existence, except for Noah and his family.  Stephen recounts that the ancient Jews' lack of fidelity to God and their concomitant adulterous behavior, getting in bed with false gods, revealed to his present murderous foes that their hearts have not changed.  They are still rebellious to God’s authority.   Estranged from him, they intend to violate one of the Ten Commandments, murdering an innocent man.  

Moses delivering the chosen people out of Egypt is analogous to the creation story.  God’s chosen work, humans, his masterpiece that he called "very good,” would go astray.  He had prepared a land of milk and honey for them, the Garden of Eden, but instead of abiding in peace and harmony with God, they chose independence from God.  In choosing another way to live, the idols of self-indulgence crafted from their own imaginations became their gods.  We see them in the promised land cloaked with worshipping these no-gods. In Judges we see idol altars, shrines and memorials on every hill, under every tree, and at every crossroad.  The people of Israel were impacted by the degrading behavior of the wicked people who God intended for them to destroy.  They picked up many evil behaviors from these wicked people, even as with the Ammonites, sacrificing their firstborn to Molech.  In the history of Judea and Israel, many wicked kings ruled the land of Canaan.  They did evil in the sight of the Lord, conditioning their people to follow after the gods of the formerly displaced inhabitants of Canaan, but a remnant of these people always existed with the Israelites.  In king Manasseh’s reign, evil flourished.  Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years.  His mother’s name was Hephzibah.  And he did evil in the sight of the LORD by following the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.  For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and he raised up altars for Baal.  He made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, and he worshiped and served all the host of heaven.  Manasseh also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My Name.”  In both courtyards of the house of the LORD, he built altars to all the host of heaven.  He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists.  He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.  (2 King 21:1-7)  Stephen is telling his Jewish enemies that their hearts never changed from their waywardness in the wilderness to their inhabitation of the promised land.  Their hearts’ allegiance was to their idols, their gods, not to the One who delivered them out of slavery.  This new beginning and this new insight of the God who made them, given to Moses on the Mount of Sinai, did not alter their love affair of other gods and of their own evil choices in their lives.  But God would eventually bring a final judgment of dispersion from the land of milk and honey because of the hardness of their hearts.  I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon.  God harshly treated the Israelites many times to drive them away from their adulterous affairs with other gods.  Both Israel, made up of ten tribes, and Judea, made up of only two tribes, were eventually dispersed from Canaan because of their lust of other gods.  The prophet Ezekiel describes God’s judgment against his chosen people who were given a start to a new life in the promised land.  I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.  Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will slay your people in front of your idols.  I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars.  Wherever you live, the towns will be laid waste and the high places demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols smashed and ruined, your incense altars broken down, and what you have made wiped out.  Your people will fall slain among you, and you will know that I am the Lord.  (Ezekiel 6:1-7)  As with all people from the beginning of time, humans chose gods to satisfy their own wicked nature.  Even under horrendous judgment from God’s throne, the chosen people would not change; eventually they were dispersed from Canaan.  Stephen is now facing angry men who in a few years will feel the heavy hand of Rome on their land, experiencing the diaspora from Israel.  God’s judgment of his wayward loved ones is an ongoing experience.  The Lord disciplines the one he loves.  (Hebrews 12:6)

Stephen is a man who knows God through the love of Jesus Christ in his life.  He is filled with the Holy Spirit, so when he recounts the history of the Jews, the Holy Spirit is giving him the words to say to these rebellious foes.  Their hearts are touched so much that they cannot contain their anger.  His words expose the sickness of their hearts.  They know they are just like their wayward ancestors.  They know their religion is based on rituals and ceremonies, not emanating from the heart.  Their allegiance to God is based on heritage, not on a relationship to God in an intimate way.  Now Stephen’s words reveal the darkness in their souls and lives.  But Stephen is serving the source of light, life itself personified: Jesus Christ.  Jesus said, I am the light of the world; I do only what the Father God tells me.  All light and all life originates in the hands of God. The children of Abraham, even though chosen, even though experiencing God’s mighty hand of deliverance from their captivity in Egypt, served their own desires, depicted in the gods they chose to worship.  Now, as Stephen faces his adversaries, they no longer serve idols, for that practice stopped as the Israelites came back into their home land, but they still served themselves, and they were still in need of repentance.  John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus, but his message to the Israelites was to repent, repent of their self-willed lives, of their lack of caring for the poor and the disadvantaged, of their coldness to God.  Stephen is facing the leaders of the Jewish community, the Sanhedrin.  John the Baptist castigated them, calling them a brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’  I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.  The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.  (Matthew 3:7-10).  Rather than produce the fruit of righteousness and goodness, they murder Stephen, setting the stage for their eventual demise, carried out by the Roman government.  The priesthood would disappear and the time of the rabbis would become the source of spirituality in the dispersed Jews in foreign lands.  Stephen’s narrative about the children of Israel illustrates that the Jew’s waywardness in serving God with their whole hearts and minds is the quintessential example of all mankind.  No matter how wonderfully God treated them, no matter how many miracles were performed before their eyes, their instinctive desire was to serve themselves, first through idol worship and later in their self-indulgent lifestyles.  They were designed to be God’s chosen people, qualified in every way to be children in his household, but instead the history of the Jews depicts a wayward people, a recalcitrant people, unwilling to come under the dictates of God's law and its regulations.  Even if Moses were standing in place of Stephen, they still would raise their arms to slay the mighty prophet Moses.  But as Paul states: A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.  Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.  (Romans 2:28-29)  We who are around this breakfast table seek the praises of God and not of men, for we have been circumcised by the hand of God through the work of Christ on the cross, carried out by the power of the Holy Spirit in us.  Let us give thanks for the mighty power of God at work in our lives.  Amen.    

 

Acts 7:20-36 Hear the Good News!

Acts 7:20-36  At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child.  For three months he was cared for by his family.  When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.  Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.  When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites.  He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian.  Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.  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?  But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?  Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?  When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.  After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.  When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight.  As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say:  ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.  Then the Lord said to him, Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.  I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt.  I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free.  Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.  This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, Who made you ruler and judge?   He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.  He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.

In defending himself before the Sanhedrin, against the false accusations presented to them, Stephen speaks blasphemous words against Moses and against God.  (Acts 6:11)  He alleges that the children of Israel have always been rebellious, living unto themselves and not under God’s canopy of love.  In the wilderness, they opposed Moses’ leadership often, even threatening to stone him a couple of times.  Many times they expressed a desire to return to Egypt, even though they were slaves there.  Now because of false accusations, Stephen is on trial before the most religious men in Jerusalem.  These religious elite claim Abraham as their father.  However, Jesus in addressing these same religious leaders told them that their father is really the devil, not God.  I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”  “Abraham is our father,” they answered.  “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did.  As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.  Abraham did not do such things.  (John 8:38-40)  Stephen knows these leaders live with uncircumcised hearts.  They live by following rules and regulations of the law, but their hearts are far from God.  Jesus characterizes these leaders' inner thoughts and desires as rotten bones, decaying within them even as they walk through the communities of Israel.  Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.  (Matthew 23:27-28)  Now these same religious hypocrites are brazenly accusing Stephen of denigrating God and his servant Moses.  However, in their own lives, they lack true fidelity to the God of grace, mercy and love.  If they would have lived in Moses’ time, they would have been just as unfaithful to Moses as their ancestors, not willing to follow God’s plan for their lives.  These leaders' hearts were as uncircumcised as their forefathers'.  Before God introduced himself to Moses, Moses was uncircumcised in the flesh.  The Lord introduced himself to Moses from a burning bush and then called him to deliver the Jewish slaves from the hands of Pharaoh.  After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.  When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight.  As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say:  ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Later, Moses experienced circumcision, not only in the flesh but also in his spirit.  God would lead him not through regulations and commandments but by his own voice.  Moses was imbued with power; his words would be wondrously implemented by the Lord.  God placed several plagues on Egypt, causing Pharaoh to finally release the Israelites from their slavery.  The Israelites fled Egypt carrying much booty from the land of their former captors.  The Egyptians were glad to see them leave their land.  The Israelites were glad at first for their freedom, but soon realized they were traversing a very hostile environment.  This caused them to complain to Moses because he led them into such a stark environment, a place of little water and not enough food.  The prospect of surviving in such a wilderness very long was not good for them.  Their uncircumcised hearts still belonged to their idols; therefore, they could not envision what God had planned for them, a destination in a land of milk and honey.   Now Stephen was faced with the same lack of vision in the Sanhedrin’s heart.  They were blind to God’s mission of delivering them permanently from a temporary physical life to an eternal existence by the works of Jesus.  They could not picture themselves in heaven without obeying all the laws and regulations laid down on Mount Sinai.  They served God through rituals, commandments and regulations.  However, God was revealing to them a God of mercy, grace and love through a born again man: Stephen.  Stephen’s life demonstrated power, love and wisdom.  His life revealed a freedom that the religious elite abhorred.  They were still in the Holy Place in the Tabernacle where men service God, not in the Holy of Holies where God services men.  Through Christ’s death on the cross, the curtain between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies had been torn from top to bottom.  Christ, the Lord God, performed the final and complete work of pleasing the Father God by dying on the cross for all men and women.  For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)  But because of a veil of unbelief on these men before Stephen, they could not see the truth of the new covenant that they might have an intimate relationship with God, the Holy of Holies is available to them.  But as with their ancestors in the wilderness, they could not comprehend what Moses was really doing in the Tent of Meeting, nor understand his closeness to the God of all creation.  So, when Moses came out of the Tent of Meeting, Moses had to put a veil over his face, for the Israelites' unbelief in knowing God in a personal way was beyond their understanding.  Moses when he possessed an uncircumcised heart was warned when he approached the burning bush. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.  No man can approach God with an uncircumcised heart or he will face eternal judgment.  

Moses led the Israelites for 40 years.  He led a people who had little vision of a promised land.  They still carried their own gods in their satchels.  They reluctantly followed the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  When they first arrived at the promised land, they refused to go in—not only refusing, but threatening to stone Abraham, Aaron, Caleb and Joshua.  Because of uncircumcised hearts, they had no vision of taking Canaan, the land of milk and honey.  They had seen all kinds of miracles in the wilderness; they had seen the plagues that God had put on the Egyptians, but their hearts were still cold towards the Creator who chose them out of all the people on the earth as his own.  The veil to the plan of God for their salvation was fixed on their faces.  Now Stephen is addressing men who still have veils on their faces to the eternal plan of redemption.  The new covenant had been introduced to them through the life of Jesus Christ.  He had done more miracles and wonders than any man from the beginning of time.  God verified who Jesus was through the miraculous works that Jesus performed.  But most of the Sanhedrin wore the veil of avoidance to Jesus' amazing life.  They really did not see or hear the Good News that Jesus introduced to them.  They did not accept that Jesus was THE WAY to eternal life.  For them, Jesus was but a hindrance to their position of authority in the Jewish community.  Paul likened them to their ancestors in Moses’ time.   We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.  But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read.  It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.  Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.  But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  (2 Corinthians 3:13-16)  Stephen now faces the prospect of being put to death because of these people who have a veil over their hearts.  They saw Stephen and all other Christians as a threat to Judaism.  For them, these apostates must be killed or persuaded to recant their belief in Jesus as the Savior of all mankind.  These apostates carried the aroma of death to their way of serving God.  If the Jewish people grasped this new idea of Jesus being the way to God, their position of deference would be gone, and the Temple would no longer be essential in honoring God.  Stephen, because of the infilling of the Holy Spirit, knew the hearts of these religious leaders who were confronting him.  He understood he was an aroma of death to them.  To the religious leaders he was an aroma of death, but to those who know Jesus brings life, he is a sweet aroma.  The old covenant would be replaced by the new covenant of life through faith in the Son of God.  This eternal Son came to the world through the womb of Mary.  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.  He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.  The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.  (Isaiah 9:6-7)  This Good News of salvation through Christ would eventually be heard around the world, but Stephen would experience physical death at the hands of the uncircumcised in heart and mind.  May we rejoice that our hearts and minds have been made holy and pure unto the Lord that we might rejoice in Christ our Savior.