Monday: Stephen’s Ministry
After their appointment, the Seven engaged not only in church ministry but also in effective witnessing. The result was that the gospel continued to spread, and the number of believers kept increasing (Acts 6:7).
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This growth started, of course, to bring opposition to the early church. The narrative then focuses on Stephen, a man of rare spiritual stature.
Read Acts 6:8-15. What do these verses teach us about Stephen and his faith and character? Also, what was Stephen preaching that so enraged his opponents?
As a Hellenistic Jew, Stephen shared the gospel in the Hellenistic synagogues of Jerusalem. There were several such synagogues in the city; Acts 6:9 probably refers to two of them, one of southern immigrants (Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria) and one of northern immigrants (those from Cilicia and Asia).
Jesus was no doubt the central issue of the debates, but the charges raised against Stephen indicate an understanding on his part of the gospel and its implications that perhaps surpassed that of the Judean believers. Stephen was accused of speaking blasphemies against Moses and God; that is, against the law and the temple. Even if he was misunderstood on some points—or his words were deliberately twisted—and false witnesses were induced to speak against him, the charges may not have been totally false, as in the case of Jesus Himself (Mark 14:58, John 2:19). Stephen’s explicit condemnation before the Sanhedrin for the idolatrous veneration of the temple (Acts 7:48) reveals that he understood the deeper implications of the death of Jesus and where it would lead, at least in regard to the temple and its ceremonial services.
In other words, while perhaps many Jewish believers of Judean origin were still too attached to the temple and other ceremonial practices (Acts 3:1; Acts 15:1, Acts 15:5; Acts 21:17-24) and were finding it difficult to abandon them (Gal. 5:2-4, Heb. 5:11-14), Stephen, and perhaps the other Hellenistic believers as well, quickly understood that Jesus’ death signified the end of the entire temple order.
| Why must we be careful not to be so locked into some of our cherished notions that we close out new light when it comes? |
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Interesting to note how bold Brother Stephen was especially when he was probed about the message he was preaching.Inspiration has this to say :
The servants of Christ were to prepare no set speech to present when brought to trial. Their preparation was to be made day by day in treasuring up the precious truths of God's word, and through prayer strengthening their faith. When they were brought into trial, the Holy Spirit would bring to their remembrance the very truths that would be needed. {DA 355}
I agree with you! The Holy Spirit is the One to inspire us! And we van only be guided by Him if we keep communion through prazer, reading and meditation! Connection is the key!
Stephen spoke with such authority and power no one could withstand his knowledge and power.
Perhaps he began explaining the 2300 day prophecy of Daniel 9
He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering.
Institution of the sacrificial offering has come to an end because the true sacrifice Christ have offered himself on the altar.
Religious leaders could not accept the new found truth.
Mixing truth with error (their own preconceived ideas) they arrested Stephen.
We have the truth. There is no more light for the people of God." But we are not safe when we take a position that we will not accept anything else than that upon which we have settled as truth. We should take the Bible, and investigate it closely for ourselves. We should dig in the mine of God's word for truth.
Newbegin, surely you are not seriously suggesting, that "We have the truth. There is no more light for the people of God"!
Our discovery and understanding of truth is progressive, and if we cherish the thought that "We have the truth. There is no more light for the people of God," we will be in danger of missing what God has to say to us. Instead, I believe we should be eager to discover what more light God is pleased to shine on us.
Please also see Counsels on Sabbath School Work, p. 23.
I believe that yeah! we have the truth, but I also believe that this truth is a progressive in the sense that it is not complete yet. And I believe that God will work todos guide us all through the guidance of His Holly Spirit in the study oficina His words.
Having the truth, and living the truth are regrettably, all too often, not the same thing. Truth has to be experiential, or else it is just words. If Christ is still alive today then he must make a difference in the way we interact with others otherwise he may as well be still in the grave. We can spend a lot of time arguing about the state of the dead, the Sabbath, the nature of the Godhead and our other pet ideas of truth, but without living a life that is loving and encouraging to others our "truth" is just a veneer on the surface of lies.
Stephen is credited as being the first "deacon" named along with Philip and others to take care of the daily needs of the woemen for sustenance. The word deacon is only mentioned in four verses of the Bible,1Timothy and Philippiians. The word deacon is derived from the Greek,diakoneo, meaning, to wait on the host, as a friend, or to serve in office. So by way of extraction we use the word,deacon. The most significant event connected with Stephen, would have to be the accusations of blasphemy and the results in Acts 6:8-13. The very lenthy history that Stephen provided, Acts 7:1-58 led to his stoning, and death. Amasingly, Stephen in verse 55&56, saw God and Jesus, standing at the right hand of God. We undoubtedly will never have that opportunity. Guess who is in the crowd while Stephen is being stoned? Yes, Saul- " Apostel Paul".
What I find quite interesting about Stephen's trial is that they intended to put him on Trial and God, though Stephen puts them on trial! Their reaction tells it all!
As Stephen faced trials and gave good account for his faith so we will face even more stormy trials as we draw closer to the end of time. May we anchor our faith firmly in Christ and remain faithful.
And why did the twelve indicate that "Serving Tables," was not in accordance with "The Ministry Of The Word?" Did not Jesus (The Word,) say to "Feed the Hungry?" as part of that ministry?
Feeding the hungry,clothing the naked is the entering wedge to the gospel, (feeding on the bread of life, being clothed with the white robe of His righteousness). Serving tables should never crowd out Jesus is what the Apostles were trying to prevent.
You wrote,
And that is, of course, true.
You also wrote
That is also true. But each individual follower of Christ is not given the same task. That's why we associate together in a "body of Christ" that is tasked with representing Christ to thew world and giving the gospel invitation. In this body, we each play our individual parts. And the apostles were most qualified for the task of preaching and teaching, while others could fill the role of ministering to physical needs. Nevertheless, the role of deacons did not rule out teaching and preaching, as the ministry of Stephen indicates.
Don't forget that the disciples were the ones who helped Jesus to feed and minister to the people. They were his helper or deacons, after all. The same concept as the apostle used when they choose the seven, they were delegating some of their many responsibilties so that they could give more time to the preaching of the word. We ultimately forget that these apostle traveled many miles by foot to preach the word let's not get side tracked here about they were too good to serve "tables". There were many duties they performed that's what the devil wants us to focus on.
This lesson is a powerful one for us today. Adhering to tradition, teaching and even trying to force others into doing what we do, the way we do it isn’t what the gospel is about.
It’s spiritual death to rely on our acts of piety to recommend us to God. That was the basis of the religious practices of the Pharisees and Sadducees. That type of religion has no power to transform us into to image of Christ. It definitely has no power to save.
In the final question of this day, is there a new light? What new light is it referring to?
Prov 4:18
I believe that "new light" is a better understanding of God's plan of salvation.
In the beginning of Acts we see many understanding and accepting that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Later we will see they came to understand that physical circumcision was not longer a requirement to be one of God's people, only circumcision of the heart.
It is interesting how we read in our unique Adventist doctrines into every conversation. I was surprised to see the suggestion that perhaps Stephen began explaining the 2300 day prophecy. We have to be careful that we do not superimpose "our truth" in every discussion. By saying "we" have the truth we are claiming a prerogative not given to the Mormons, LDS, Catholics, Pentecostals, etc. The "truth" really is about Jesus; His pure life, His example, His finished work on the cross, and how I can be grafted into His family - His church, by belief, repentance, and acceptance of His amazing grace. Nothing more, nothing less.
Stephen's words or teaching clearly points out the fact that Jesus death was not confined to a few for salvation but to many if not all. Stephen makes it clear that traditions of mankind are not unto salvation until you accept Jesus as your personal saviour. Defending tradition always leaves us perplexed when truth comes out instead of living with an open heart that will embrace the light that comes from God. Look at Revelation 10....eat the word .....this is regardless of being in the church or outside ...eat the word.....anyone yearning for the divine truth if they eat the word they shall see and recieve the truth( who is Jesus Christ- John 15). Therefore truth is not confined to a few but many of whom we will never know as individuals too. Therefore let's be prepared for more surprises in the end. One thing we must be wary of is the church as in organization has many who defend the status quo as opposed to defending the truth (Jesus Christ) and this remains a challenge to the present church hence pertinent to ask: " Do we have all truth or some truth", with a need to find more truth meaning more searching for understanding.