Joyful Moments in Christ

As we continue to study the book of Acts, we will finish the story of Stephen. Last week, we saw him elected to the role of a modern-day deacon, a position where he really shined. Great things were happening and either out of fear or jealousy, some of the Jewish people who did not believe the claims of Jesus fabricated some false evidence and brought him to the Jewish council. This week, we will see what he says to the council and the unfortunate way that they reacted.

Here is the false evidence from last week:

They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and came against him and seized him, then brought him in to the council, and set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us.”

Acts 6:12-14 (WEB)

Stephen’s Defense: Common Ground with a Nomadic Lifestyle

Stephen starts his defense by pointing out the common ground that is shared by both the Jews and the Christians:

The high priest said, “Are these things so?”

He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Get out of your land and away from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land, where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his offspring after him, when he still had no child. God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. ‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out, and serve me in this place.’ He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.”

Acts 7:1-8 (WEB)

Discussion Question #1: Why do you think that Stephen talks about Abraham’s nomadic lifestyle?

In these verses, Stephen talks about the nomadic history of Abraham, one of the most important forefathers in the Jewish religion. First, we see that Abraham moved from Mesopotamia (Iraq) to Haran (Turkey) to Israel. He then follows this with the idea that Abraham’s offspring would be enslaved in Egypt, but that they would return to Israel and worship God from there.

This seems to be setting up the idea that while Jewish people were now in a set location, this was not necessarily a historical norm. God has always been wherever his people were. This will be important to remember as the gospel message begins to spread outside the boundaries of Israel. Stephen is setting up the idea that God will remain with his people. He will be with the Jewish people in Israel, but he will also be with the Gentile Christians in whatever location they may be.

Stephen’s Defense: God Can Turn Evil into Good

Stephen then goes into the specific example of God remaining with his people while they were in Egypt:

“The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house. Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s race was revealed to Pharaoh. Joseph sent and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, himself and our fathers, and they were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.”

Acts 7:9-16 (WEB)

As Stephen reviews the history of the Israelites in Egypt, we see that when trauma happens to his people, God will follow them wherever they might be taken. Joseph was sold by his own brothers into Egyptian slavery, but God proved that humans cannot foil the will of God. Not only did God rescue Joseph, but Joseph managed to become a ruler of Egypt. When famine came to Israel, Joseph was well set up to help. Isn’t it great that we have a nomadic God who meets us wherever we are?

Discussion Question #2: Can you think of a time that someone intended evil, but God turned it to good?

Stephen’s Defense: When God makes his People Prosper, Jealousy Occurs

Now, Stephen starts to direct his parallels a little closer to home. God prospered his people while they were living in Egypt, but the Egyptians seemed to forget the good things that Joseph did for him and their envy came into play.

“But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, until there arose a different king, who didn’t know Joseph. The same took advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to throw out their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive. At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome. He was nourished three months in his father’s house. When he was thrown out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son. Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works.”

Acts 7:17-22 (WEB)

Fear and jealousy is a terrible thing. The Jewish families were multiplying much faster than the Egyptians, so Egypt felt the need to use their military might to try and stop this progression. Fortunately, God never forgets his people! He gave the midwives the ability to save many of the children, one of whom God would raise up to save his people. Once again, God used evil for good. Moses was intended to die, but instead, God worked it so that he would be raised in Pharaoh’s own household and known as a son of Pharaoh’s daughter!

Stephen is setting the stage for the idea that the Jewish leaders have many similarities to the fearful and jealous Egyptians. We should beware when we try to foil God’s plans!

Discussion Question #3: Can you think of a time when God or another person provided rescue or a way out of a difficult situation?

Stephen’s Defense: Sometimes We Don’t Believe that God is Rescuing Us

Stephen then points out that the Israelites didn’t recognize God’s rescue plan for what it was:

“But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.”

“The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’ But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.”

Acts 7:23-29 (WEB)

Even though Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s household, he did not forget his roots. The evil he saw being wielded against the Israelites was painful to his soul. One day, he killed an Egyptian for mistreating one of his fellow Israelites. Rather than showing gratitude for salvation and asking Moses to do more, the Israelites caused Moses to flee from Pharaoh.

This is a striking parallel with the Jewish leader’s inability to recognize the promised Messiah! God wants to rescue his people, but sometimes, we won’t let him. What a tragedy!

Discussion Question #4: Can you think of a time when God or another person offered you a rescue plan, but you refused to accept it? Why didn’t you accept it?

Stephen’s Defense: We Have a Merciful God

The good news is that sometimes God overrides our rejection:

“When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came to him, ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Moses trembled, and dared not look. The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.

“This Moses, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us, to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him. They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. But God turned, and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets,

‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship. I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’”

Acts 7:30-43 (WEB)

What a merciful God we have! Even though God’s own people rejected Moses, God finds a way to send Moses anyway. Similarly, the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus, but God still used him as an instrument of salvation!

Discussion Question #5: Can you think of a time that you rejected a rescue plan, but either God or another person rescued you anyway? How did it make you feel?

Stephen’s Defense: God Doesn’t Dwell in a Specific Place

Stephen now lays out the crux of the problem, God dwells with his people, but not in a specific place where people choose to put him.

“Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen; which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him a house. However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

‘heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build me?’ says the Lord. ‘Or what is the place of my rest? Didn’t my hand make all these things?’”

Acts 7:44-50 (WEB)

God’s throne is in heaven, and while he also walks the earth, it is not his true dwelling place. Humans seem to wish that it were otherwise and keep building him places to live. God might inhabit them for a time, they are not his permanent home.

Many Christians seem to want to isolate God to church or pre-meal prayers, but this is not what God desires. What he desires is a real relationship where we walk with him in all aspects of our lives. Yes, we do get benefit from worshiping him in a church or saying thanks before a meal, but God wants so much more for us!

Discussion Question #6: Can you think of some ways that you try to constrict God? Which areas of your life are open to God? Which are closed?

Stephen’s Defense: The Big Accusation

At this point, Stephen goes for the home run and lodges a major accusation:

“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do. Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers. You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn’t keep it!”

Acts 7:51-53 (WEB)

Stephen is speaking directly to the Jewish religious leaders and accuses them of refusing to bow to God and listen to the Holy Spirit. Throughout the Old Testament, we see Israel’s forefathers mess up over and over again. The cycle of sin and repentance is unending. Now, Stephen directly accuses the current leadership of killing the promised Messiah!

Read: Resisting God: Why Do We Fight His Ways

Discussion Question #7: Can you think of a time when you have had to confront someone over a misinterpretation of scripture? Has someone had to confront you? What was their/your response?

The Response: Stephen’s Stoning

Unfortunately, the response of the religious leader’s was extreme anger and unwillingness to bend:

Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears, then rushed at him with one accord. They threw him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Acts 7:54-60 (WEB)

The leaders had no good response to Stephen. All they could come up with were false witnesses, plugging of their ears, and a stoning that ended in death. What a tragedy!

However, even in death, Stephen chose to follow Jesus’ example and said, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” While I’m sure that this was not the end that Stephen hoped for, he managed to find solace and strength in the power of forgiveness. The next time that someone wrongs us, let’s look to Stephen’s example!

Read: Finding Solace and Strength in Forgiveness: A Lesson from Stephen’s Faith

Discussion Question #8: Can you think of a time that you forgave someone for something serious? Has anyone had to forgive you of something serious? What was the result?

Discussion Question #9: Is there a grudge that you are holding onto? How can you turn to Jesus and allow forgiveness to enter your heart?

Please consider the example and lessons of Stephen in this chapter and say a prayer that is relevant to your own life.

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World English Bible (WEB): Scripture quotations marked (WEB) are taken from the World English Bible® public domain.

English Standard Version (ESV): Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.