Acts 6:8-15 For or Against the Holy Spirit

Acts 6:8-15 Stephen Seized - For or Against the Holy Spirit




8 Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.



There’s an old black and white British movie called “The Man Who could Work Miracles.” It’s based on a short story of the same name which was written by HG Wells, one of the greatest science fiction writers of the 20th century. The plot is a bit like Bruce Almighty because an ordinary man is given almighty powers to do anything he wants by two angels. They want to see what would happen to the world if a man who didn’t believe in miracles was given the power to do anything that he liked.



Through trial and error, the hero of the story begins to realize how much power he has, but instead of using it for the common good of humanity, he ends up satisfying his own needs. He gets everything that he wants and ends up becoming impatient with the whole world. When he has to wait a whole day for something he desires, he decides to stop the entire world; after all, if he has to wait, then the rest of humanity should wait along with him.



Unfortunately, he forgets that the world is revolving at 2000 miles per hour, so when he commands the whole planet to stop, it’s like pulling the brakes on a high speed train. Everything and everyone is shot into the sky and ends up in space. The whole world is destroyed and the angels’ experiment is an epic failure. They decide to go back in time and stop the man from receiving the gift of unlimited divine power.



I wonder what we would do if we were given the gifts of God’s grace and power? Would we perform great miracles and wonders that would bring glory to God, or would we use that power to enrich ourselves and embrace our desires? Would we work for ourselves and go against the work of the holy spirit, or would we remain humble enough to use those gifts for the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom by working with the Holy Spirit?



In today’s passage, we continue the gospel of the Holy Spirit and get to read about the man called Stephen. He has been chosen by the church’s leaders, the Apostles, as a deacon. But he has also been given great gifts by God which he doesn’t use for himself. Instead he performs great wonders and miraculous signs among his people, showing them that God is powerfully present with them through Jesus Christ His Only Son.



I wonder if Stephen was tempted to do otherwise. The people and authorities would have loved him to use those gifts to kick out their Roman oppressors and liberate the Jewish people forever. The mobs would have loved that and the religious clerics would have been ecstatic. If they could get rid of the Roman tyranny and emperor’s dictatorship, the Jewish people would all have been in seventh heaven. But Stephen didn’t use God’s gifts for himself or even for his people; he used them to advance God’s Kingdom and Christ’s ministry. He was not about to go against the Word, way, and work of the Holy Spirit in order to appease the people, his culture, or those who felt victimized. Stephen was chosen by God through the apostles to do Christ’s work. Nothing or no one would convince him to set that aside.



History follows some fairly predictable paths. Because Stephen, like Christ before him, would not use his God given powers for the people, he made enemies of the authorities. They even went so far as to begin rumors, spread misinformation, and openly confront Stephen. Traditional Jews grew hostile towards him and tried to diminish his ministry by attacking him and his message in public. Stephen became a target of the reactionary forces in Jerusalem, but no matter when, where or how they confronted him, they could not stand up against him because the wisdom of the Holy Spirit spoke through him.



A recent survey of church groups across America is showing a large decline in mainstream denominations. Even some large mega churches are beginning to feel the pinch of Christians leaving their humongous campuses. It seems that America is rejecting the old traditional religious comfort zones that we have built amongst us for the last one hundred years. As denominations like the PCUSA scramble to appease the culture and try to be relevant, there is one large group of churches that is still growing: the Pentecostals.



Is it just mere coincidence that those churches which place a higher emphasis on the presence and works of the Holy Spirit in worship, ministry, and mission are still growing? Has both the grace of God and His power been transferred from traditional church groups to those churches who honor Christ’s teachings and dynamically express their faith in the Living and active presence of the Holy Spirit?



If the current trends continue then by the end of this century mainstream denominations will be read about in the history books and not experienced in our present form. The Church will be missional and spiritual, dynamic and powerful in ways that we cannot even begin to comprehend. Our seminaries will become secular centers where people can research and study all manner of religions. And if you think that will never happen, let me tell you this: I graduated from the Divinity Faculty of Glasgow University in Scotland. The faculty had been in existence for more than seven hundred years. There is now no Divinity Faculty at Glasgow which was exclusively used to train people to become ministers; it is now the Department of Religious Studies which is part of the Faculty of Arts and the dean of the department is an Islamic woman.



It won’t happen here? Seven hundred years of history was cast aside in Scotland – most of our seminaries here are less than 200 years old.



But let’s get back to Stephen. When the forces against him couldn’t contradict his wisdom, they resorted to lies, deceit, and false accusations. They had, after all, managed to silence Jesus of Nazareth in this way, so why not try the same tactic with one of his pain-in-the-neck followers. They persuaded some people to turn up and say bad things about Stephen. I guess if those biblical events were happening today, they would have bussed them in from all over the country to shout and protest – it’s amazing how many loud voices can be bought even today with money. They accused Stephen of blasphemy which was a quick way of stirring up the people and bringing about a stoning or a lynching.

They accused him of going against the Law of Moses which was standard practice for setting up a show trial. If enough people took up the chant of blasphemer, then things would get out of control very quickly and Stephen would end up dead. It’s the oldest reactionary move in history: destroy the opposition by continually telling lies. If enough lies are told over and over again, then the people buy into it. The ring leaders are rounded up or slaughtered on the spot. History repeats this again and again and again. Sadly, we’re seeing it take place all over the world right now. Heaven knows what kind of state we’ll all be in by the end of this year.

So what if Stephen was brought up on trumped up charges of blasphemy almost 2000 years ago? What has that to do with us, our faith, and our world? Two words: Said Musa.

What? What’s a Said Musa? Said Musa is a Christian in Afghanistan who is being tried for blasphemy in an Islamic Court under the authority of the Afghan government which we are propping up with our own soldiers and service people.

Musa was one of about 25 Christians arrested on May 31, 2010, after a May 27 Noorin TV program showed video of a worship service held by indigenous Afghan Christians; he was arrested as he attempted to seek asylum at the German embassy. He converted to Christianity eight years ago, is the father of six young children, had a leg amputated after he stepped on a landmine while serving in the Afghan Army, and now has a prosthetic leg. His oldest child is eight and one is disabled (she cannot speak). He worked for the Red Cross/Red Crescent as an adviser to other amputees.

He was forced to appear before a judge without any legal counsel and without knowledge of the charges against him. “Nobody [wanted to be my] defender before the court. When I said ‘I am a Christian man,’ he [a potential lawyer] immediately spat on me and abused me and mocked me. . . . I am alone between 400 [people with] terrible values in the jail, like a sheep.” He has been beaten, mocked, and subjected to sleep deprivation and sexual abuse while in prison. No Afghan lawyer will defend him and authorities denied him access to a foreign lawyer.

Any and every human being who is imprisoned, abused, or tortured for the free and peaceful expression of their faith deserves our support, but Musa is also a remarkable person and Christian. In a letter smuggled to the West, he says, “The authority and prisoners in jail did many bad behaviour with me about my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For example, they did sexual things with me, beat me by wood, by hands, by legs, put some things on my head.”

He added a thing much more important to him, that they “mocked me ‘he’s Jesus Christ,’ spat on me, nobody let me for sleep night and day. . . . Please, please, for the sake of Lord Jesus Christ help me.

He has not, in fact, even appealed to be released, only to be transferred to another prison. He has also stated that he is willing to give his life for his faith. “Please, please you should transfer me from this jail to a jail that supervises the believers. . . . I also agree . . . to sacrifice my life in public [where] I will tell [about my] faith in Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, [so] other believers will take courage and be strong in their faith.”

That, my dear friends, is a real Christian. Like Stephen, Said Musa is field with the Holy Spirit and will not surrender to his peers, his surrounding culture, his Afghan society.

The questions that we should all be asking this morning are these: Are we dying to appease our culture or are we giving our lives to Christ? Are we Christians in the world or are we a church of the world? Are we for or against the Holy Spirit?

Sunday 15 August - Faithful Witnesses - Acts 1:15-26

One of the biggest issues that the Church is facing today is about the authority of the Bible. People question whether or not a holy book which sums up human history in just over six thousand years and took 1500 years to compile is relevant in the 21^st century. Because of this, traditional customs and values are constantly being scrutinized, challenged, and changed. What was good enough for Paul and Silas may be good enough for old time religion but, according to some, it certainly isn’t good enough for modern people.

Today’s passage from Acts deals with similar questions. Luke continues to write about the beginning of the Christian church as an apologetic, an answer, and as an historical and theological reply to those who were asking such questions as:

Where did Peter get his authority to preach? What makes the Gospel different from other religious messages? What really happened to Judas Iscariot and did Jesus make an almighty mistake in choosing him in the first place?

I’ve mentioned to you to look out for and watch what the Holy Spirit does throughout the Book of Acts. In today’s passage, several noteworthy things and teaching moments take place. Luke writes that Peter stood up amongst the Gathering and suggested that they find a successor for Judas. Peter believes that this is necessary to perfect their leadership number of twelve in order to maintain continuity with the twelve tribes of Israel.

Peter also states that Judas’ betrayal of Christ was foretold a thousand years beforehand, through the work of the Holy Spirit inspiring King David as he composed several psalms. This maintains the continuity of the first Christians with their Jewish roots, but it also showed them that the Holy Spirit had been working for centuries in the sacred history of Peter’s people in order to bring about salvation through Christ.

This is very important for us to understand and accept because it deals with the authority of scripture, which is one of our major issues facing our people today. The Holy Spirit actively inspired David to write words in his psalms which became fulfilled prophecies in Christ’s lifetime. The Holy Spirit did this and we need to remember that. As John Calvin wrote five hundred years ago, “Such manner of speeches bring greater reverence to the scriptures… (because) …they were directed by the Holy Spirit.”

This is why I personally think it that questioning the authority of the scriptures is not something to be undertaken lightly, or to glibly cast aside the Bible because of its cultural contexts. The great arrogance and mischief can arise when we question Biblical authority because we are in danger of saying and believing that we know better than the Holy Spirit about the Word of God. And that, my dear friends, was the very first temptation and sin in the Garden of Eden when the serpent tempts Eve beginning with the words “Did God really say…?” (Genesis 3:1)

But why is Peter mentioning Judas at all and why does Luke fill in the details about Judas’ death?

Peter is bringing resolution for himself and the rest of the Gathering. Judas had been with them for three years. Despite his obvious faults, he was still one of them. John Calvin stated that “It is not to be doubted that the disciples did remember Judas with grief and sorrow.” In the midst of all their joy about the Resurrection of Christ, the shadow of Judas’ betrayal and tragedy of his death still affected them. To bring closure to their sorrow, they have to appoint a successor. To find relief from their grief, they have to accept that the Holy Spirit foretold this long ago.

Luke fills in the details about Judas’ death and his gory ending, not because he wanted to shock his readers, but because in Luke’s time there were already rumors surrounding what had actually happened to the traitor. Some misguided Christians, who would later be known as Gnostics, began to think that Judas did not commit suicide but that he nobly sacrificed himself by taking Christ’s place on the cross. Their stories are very similar to what Charles Dickens would write 1800 years later in his famous book “A Tale of Two Cities” where the anti-hero Sydney Carton dies at the guillotine in place of the hero Charles Darnay. No doubts the Gnostics of the past would love to have borrowed Dickens’ words and place them in the mouth of Judas Iscariot as he died on the Cross for Jesus: “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.”

But this never happened, which is why Luke includes the gory details about Judas’ death – a fatal falling to the ground which causes his stomach to burst open and all of his intestines fall out – which happens when someone dies and dangles from a rope for a while and then the noose breaks. (This is also why in England traitors were hung and disemboweled).

This in turn brings us to another question: did Jesus make a mistake in choosing Judas in the first place, or as John Calvin put it: “It seems a strange thing that Judas, who was chosen by Christ for such an excellent ministry, should fall so filthily.”

Did Jesus make a mistake? Well that’s like asking “Did God make a mistake in creating Adam and Eve?” The short answer to both questions is a loud and affirmative “No.”

The mistakes that were made by Judas, Adam, and Eve were all committed through their own free will and subsequently their own foolish choices. Judas fell away, not because he had been compelled to through prophecy, but only by the malice of his own heart. John McArthur, a great contemporary preacher that I admire, has this to say:

“Judas represents the greatest example of wasted opportunity in all of history.”

McArthur also goes on to say: “Although he was counted among the apostles and received his portion in their ministry, Judas was obviously never saved.”

“Judas was obviously never saved.” We all make mistakes and Judas tragically paid the price for his act of betrayal. He couldn’t live with himself or of the fact that he had placed Christ into the hands of His enemies. If Judas had been saved, he might have heeded Christ’s warning to him before the Last Supper. If Judas had been saved, he might have been able to go into hiding and come back to Christ after the Resurrection and plead for forgiveness. Had he been saved and if he had done that, Judas would have been shown mercy by Jesus and fully restored to God’s favor. But Judas was not saved and so he believed that God could not help him, nor could Jesus be gracious to him. And so the tragedy of Judas lies not in the sad fact that he committed suicide, but that he did not give Christ the opportunity to forgive him. He died in his sins, instead of being saved from them.

When Peter talks about the need to find a successor for Judas, he also lays out the conditions and qualifications for such a person. It would have to be someone who was with Jesus from the very beginning and who had seen the Risen Christ. In other words, it had to be someone who had remained a faithful follower of Christ, and an exclusive witness of his Resurrection. This new apostle would have to preach the Gospel and take the exclusive message of the Resurrection to other people. He would have to have been taught personally by Christ and have been an eye witness to the post-resurrection appearances of Christ. In other words, he had to validate his faith with personal accounts of who Jesus was and what actually happened after He rose from the dead.

This brings us to a very important point about sharing the gospel. Many misguided Christians believe that sharing the gospel is about good deeds, kind words, and nice acts of compassion. These are wonderful things to do on behalf of the church, but sharing the gospel is not about how many good deeds we get done in a day. Sharing the gospel has always meant one important thing – it is about telling a dying world full of dying people that Christ still lives! Without the Resurrection, there is no gospel, and without the constant telling of the Resurrection, there will be no salvation. As Paul the apostle once wrote to the church of Corinth, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”

Finally, a successor is chosen. The Upper Room Gathering of about 120 people selects two candidates and leaves the final choice up to the Holy Spirit using the customary method of applying lots. This is the last occasion in the Bible that lots are used. After the Great Day of Pentecost, lots will no longer be needed because the Holy Spirit will directly guide the apostles and Christ’s church.

The use of lots is not like throwing dice or picking door prizes. The apostles use the lots as a sacred means of giving the final decision over to God. This is not spinning the bottle, the tossing of a coin, or hoping for a win. This is sacred nomination and final affirmation given by the Holy Spirit. Luke tells us that they say together a very special prayer: Then they prayed, "LORD, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry...."

Through the presence of the Holy Spirit, Matthias is chosen, whose name actually means “The gift of the Lord.” We don’t hear anything else about this new apostle in the Bible, but some ancient documents of the early church say that Matthias first preached the gospel throughout Judea and then he went down into Ethiopia and Sudan to preach to cannibals and pagans. He was eventually crucified, so Judas’s successor actually went to the cross for the sake of Jesus and his Gospel.

So what have we learned today? (1) The Holy Spirit has been at work for thousands of years.                   (2) Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, so we should all be wary of believing that we know better than the bible.   (3) If we are open to the Holy Spirit, then He will guide us clearly; but if we become divided, we will end up making bad choices as a Church and will suffer the consequences.

Prayer:        Lord, You know everyone’s heart here today. Show us the way, through the Sacred Presence of the Holy Spirit, that our church should take to fulfill Your ministry and mission in this community. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Study Resources

Links

John Macarthur’s Bible Study page: “Grace to You”

http://www.gty.org/

Apostle Matthias Information

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10066a.htm

Home Study and Personal Reflections    

1.       What made Peter suggest that the Upper Room group needed to choose a successor to Judas??

2.       What do you think about Luke’s account of Judas’ death? What makes us feel sorry for Judas?

3.       How much of a priority is Christ in our lives? Do we ever allow other things to take His place?

4.       Where does the authority of the Bible come from? Why should this make us cautious about criticizing the Scriptures?

Sunday 8 August - All in the Family - Acts 1:10-14

Acts 1:10-14

A couple of years ago, when Evelyn and I took our youngest daughter Lauren to the airport to start her journey and mission trip to Tanzania, Africa, we waited with her up until the last possible second. We stood in line with Lauren to make sure that her tickets and luggage were validated. We walked her up to the security gate and hugged her just before she got into line. We watched her go through the security system and saw that she picked up her carryon bag and shoes. She then turned the corner and disappeared out of view. We just didn’t want to let go of her physically or emotionally until she was totally out of sight. And before the terrible events of 9/11, we once would have waited until the flight took off and watched the plane until it went up into the clouds.

The disciples felt the same thing. They peered intently at the sky until their eyes were sore. They didn’t want to lose sight of Jesus. They wanted Him to always be there. They didn’t want to give Him up emotionally because once He was gone from view, then the responsibility of His Mission and God’s kingdom would firmly be placed upon their shoulders.

Perhaps they were also hoping that Christ would change His mind, turn around, and head back down to Earth. If that was the case, then they were quickly given a reality check by the two angels who suddenly appeared beside them.

"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

This was the first lesson that the disciples were given without Jesus being present after the Resurrection. This also became crucial to their ministries and mission, their preaching and message. Christ would return, suddenly and surprisingly. No amount of wishing would bring Him back before His appointed return, but when it did happen it would occur swiftly and suddenly, without words or warnings.

So this shaped their discipleship of Christ. They were to live their lives appropriately as Christ’s followers and in the strong belief that Jesus would return at any time.

Two thousand years have almost passed since that day of the Ascension and we have perhaps grown complacent about Christ’s Second Coming, but let’s seriously remember this: we are now two thousand years nearer to His imminent return than these first disciples ever were – should that in itself not make us more careful and circumspect about how we live our Christian lives? We are, time-wise, nearer to Christ’s Second Coming than any generation before us, so instead of being complacent, shouldn’t we be even more prepared?

I find it interesting to note that John Calvin, the great reformer, uses this passage to support his argument against the transubstantiation doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. They believe that the bread and wine in Communion actually becomes the real body and blood of Jesus Christ. John Calvin argued that because Christ ascended into Heaven, and would not return to Earth until God’s appointed time, His actual body and blood could never be present with us. If that was the case, then it would mean that Jesus had broken His promise and disobeyed God; it would also mean that the two angels lied. For Calvin, Christ’s Spirit is present with us in the preaching of the Word and the celebrating of the sacraments, but Jesus’ physical presence won’t ever be experienced on Earth again until He finally returns at the Second Coming.

Talking about returning, the disciples eventually walk away from the Mount of Olives and head back into Jerusalem. This is a very brave thing to do – they are headed back into the heart of enemy territory where Christ Himself had been arrested, tortured, and executed. At any given moment an informer, guard, or even a priest could have recognized them as Christ’s followers.

We are told from Luke that the distance was a Sabbath Day’s walk, which meant that it was only three quarters of a mile of a journey. They head upstairs to a large guest room which may have been the same Upper Room where Christ shared their Last supper together before His crucifixion. This location would help them to keep emotionally connected to Christ, in much the same way that we all feel when we visit a family home, a past workplace, or even an old church that we used to go to. In that room, they had shared Christ’s last moments of teaching and giving. As they broke bread together and prayed there, they must have re-experienced that holy and sacred time.

This is why I think it’s important to bring our families to church on a regular basis. We need to give them a sanctuary, a trysting place, a holy place of worship and prayer in their lives. It’s really important for them to feel spiritually loved and embraced by God in His House. And it’s especially important for our new college students and school leavers. They need somewhere to come back to and belong, to pray in and worship, especially during crucial times and major issues in their young lives. If it was good and healthy enough for the first disciples to return to the upper room, it’s also good for all of us to return to those holy and sacred places that have impacted our lives with the presence of Christ.

Luke mentions the names of the eleven disciples who return to the Upper Room. At one point, ten of them, excluding young John, had run away from Christ when He was being crucified. Now they all return together, obeying Christ’s last command to wait in Jerusalem. They did not know what was going to occur, but they also did not question Christ’s command.

For at least ten days, they would have met together in the room with some of Christ’s own family. This would have brought about some interesting group dynamics and an intense therapy session for all of them.

Think about it for a moment; Christ is gone, so the old wounds amongst them may have opened up. There was John and James, the ambitious sons of thunder who went to Jesus in secret and asked for favorable places of prominence in Christ’s Coming kingdom. They even caused an argument within the group about who was the greatest among them. Now with Jesus gone up into heaven, the old argument could have quickly resurfaced.

And then there was Peter, who had proudly declared that he would have laid down his life for Christ, and yet he had been scared off by a mere girl, a serving maid outside the Sanhedrin.

Added to the mix, were Jesus’ own family members – his mother and his brothers. From the gospel passage that we read this morning (Mark 3:20-21, 31-35) we know that before His Resurrection that they didn’t fully support Christ’s ministry. At one point, they thought that He was crazy and anxiously sought to bring Him back home before He did Himself any damage.

So you have all these people, followers and family with major dysfunctions and they are gathered together, almost like a funeral party, to mourn Christ’s absence and grieve His disappearance.

But something almighty has changed them…and that change has occurred through the Resurrection. They have seen Christ alive after being dead, and so their lives will never be the same again. There is no ‘greatest’ amongst them because Christ’s greatness cannot be equaled. There is no denial amongst them, because they have seen Jesus with their own eyes and heard Him speak with their own ears. And there is no fear of craziness or insanity in Christ, because He has proved to them who He actually is – the Savior of the world and the Everlasting Son of God.

And so this time in the Upper Room becomes a sacred moment of peace and reconciliation, humility and fellowship, recommitment and restoration. They all joined together in constant prayer – praising God for what had occurred and communicating with Christ’s Spirit. They could not see Him or touch Him, but through focused and determined prayer, they could feel His presence with them as they spiritually connected to Him. They were beginning to become a family of faith. They were beginning to become what we would one day call ‘church.’

So to sum up, what have we learned from this passage today?

Firstly, that Christ will one day swiftly, surprisingly, and suddenly return, therefore we should live each day as Christians who expect His imminent arrival.

Secondly, that Christ invites and brings together failures of all kinds to become His followers, and that we each have a holy and human need for sacred gathering places.

And finally, that to become church, we need to constantly pray together, worship together, and just be together, so that we may experience fellowship as a true family of faith.

Prayer:        Lord Jesus, thank You for returning to Heaven so that Your Church could be established and that we, two thousand years later, may be given the opportunity of being restored to God through the forgiveness of our sins. Help us to become a loving family of faith, a compassionate congregation, and a community church of disciples and followers, servants and messengers. In Your Holy Name, we humbly and thankfully pray. Amen.

Home Study and Personal Reflections    

1.       Why do you think that Jesus returned to Heaven and did not stay on earth to be with His disciples and family?

2.       How can we live our lives each day as if we are anticipating Christ’s imminent return? How will that belief affect our everyday choices?

3.       Where are the sacred places in our own lives? In what ways do we experience Christ and faith there?

4.       How can we make our church more effective at making us followers of Christ and a true family of faith?

Other Resources                              

Mount of Olives

http://tinyurl.com/ydcefhb

Ascension of Jesus

http://tinyurl.com/5w4zfm

Being the Church 2 by William Loader

http://tinyurl.com/26sh3tl

Kids Pages –Jesus Ascends

http://tinyurl.com/2feg26j