Acts - Lesson 13

A deaconal (as Boice uses the word) or servant ministry is an attitude that doesn’t say, “Lord you can’t wash my feet” but rather says “Lord let me wash their feet”. As we study the speech that Stephen, full of grace and power, delivered there are some aspects that are conspicuous because of their absence. Even in his speech before a crowd that was not going to listen and was extraordinarily hostile, Stephen washes the feet of the Apostles. He bears the anger of the crowd without ever saying, “Well I’m just saying what the Apostles said so go ask Peter.” He witnesses to the role of Christ as the Messiah or Holy One but doesn’t pass responsibility for the message to anyone but God. He recognized the truth of God and so he didn’t need to bring any man into it. He was faithful to “wash feet” rather than to just watch the Apostles wash feet. He was here doing the heavy lifting.

After Abraham, Stephen uses Joseph as an illustration of Christ. Stephen draws that parallel to illustrate that Joseph was abused by the patriarchs and Christ was abused by the current generation. Then he moves on to Moses as an illustration.

Acts 7:17-22 … “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

God’s providence in the birth of a child gave them Moses in a time when the children were being killed. God’s providence in the birth of a child gave them Jesus in a time when the children were being killed. Moses was well qualified to be a leader of the Jews but it didn’t work out because the people were rebellious and violent.

Acts 7:23-29 ... “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

So here we see the Lord’s anointed thrust aside. At the time, Moses didn’t understand what God would do with his life but the men listening to Stephen were hearing about the sinful rebellious attitude of their fathers. Moses was the leadership that God had said was beautiful in His sight and who was trained and powerful in word and deed. Those in slavery were too blind to see their deliverer when he was standing in front of them.

Acts 7:30-34 … “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

As Stephen builds the picture of Christ, it is important to see that God the Father sent Moses and God the Father sent Jesus. God saw the affliction of His people in bondage and He delivered them. Because the Messiah was so central to the thinking of the common man and woman (remember the woman at the well?) of the day, and because Christ claimed to be Christ, these points were burning their way into the brains of those listening.

Stephen also makes a point that would have connected with the Jewish Leadership when he quotes Scripture indicating that a mountain in the wilderness was holy. They had the Temple and believed it was holy but you can’t box God in or fence Him in. Only by grace do we have access to all that the Holy Spirit brings. We can’t force His hand and when He “lifts” then we begin to see (if His grace permits) just how impoverished we are in all our efforts.

Acts 7:35-38 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.

The man they had rejected freed them. He performed signs and wonders. Moses even prophesied that God would send Christ as a “prophet like me from your brothers” and give living oracles or revelation that brings life to the hearer. The psalms are full of thanksgiving for the Words from God. Even the first psalm says that God’s Word gives life.

Acts 7:39-43 … Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: “‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

This shows that the prophecy of Amos 5 points out the way in which they made themselves liable for God’s judgment. They had a tendency toward idolatry and have loved idols rather than God. They have again rejected the one that God sent. We tend to rejoice in the works of our hands and believe that those things of our creation will go before us and ensure success. As we attribute our success and joy to the works of our hands we commit idolatry. Stephen keeps driving home the point that where the Spirit is by definition holy and the Jews think they have Him in the Most Holy Place in a literal box. Their tradition is that God is in a box in Jerusalem but it doesn’t fit the facts.

Acts 7:44-50 … “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by 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 what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?’

The tent of witness was in the wilderness and not Jerusalem. Once again, holy existed where God was. They didn’t even have the temple until God gave David’s son Solomon permission to build this place to worship. But Stephen points out that God doesn’t live in a house made by hands. The original charges against Stephen (vs 13) were that “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law.” Stephen has shown by biblical history that a Holy place is where God is. So the Temple isn’t necessarily holy. The Temple is only holy if God is present. Those who had this great affection for the Temple as a result (apparently) of separation from the Temple in other lands had in essence turned it into an idol. Even the law can be an idol if your lack of understanding leads you to reject the Messiah. Even the law giver Moses was rejected by the nation.

Acts 7: 51-53 … “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Well in our day we’ve heard about “seeker sensitive” presentations. However, Jesus didn’t use them and neither did Stephen. He is glowing with the Holy Spirit. He is radiant and he summarizes explicitly what he proved implicitly using biblical history. The listeners are uncircumcised in heart and ears, they resist God like their ancestors, they killed the Messiah just like their father’s killed the prophets, and they had the law but didn’t keep it. Conviction of sin in a reprobate heart does not yield a pretty product. As we share the Gospel we don’t worry about that but remember that a wise man’s eyes are in his head and we can recognize what is happening around us.

Acts 7:54 … Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

The crowd really did understand what Stephen had said and they were enraged by what he had said. They couldn’t really argue because all he had done was repeat history. Stephen had a remarkable grasp of the relationship of Old Testament prophecy and history to Jesus. The examples of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses were great examples and his exposition of the history was tremendous. When your read what Stephen said then you are encouraged to read and digest the Old Testament.  

Acts 7:55-56 … But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

Stephen is glowing with the Holy Spirit and God opens up his eyes and he sees Jesus, standing rather than sitting, at the right hand of God. Jesus is standing! Scripture often says that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God (Ephesians 1:20, 2:6; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 8:1; 12:2) and interceding for us but here He is standing to receive the first martyr. I’m sure He was also standing in special intercession for Stephen the first of many martyrs. This deacon goes to martyrdom before the apostles do while literally radiant – on fire – with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 7:57-60 … But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

The conviction was so great that the mob cried out and stopped up their ears as they rushed him. He was stoned while the young man named Saul looked on. Luke knew Saul really well and would record the history of his conversion and ministry. I noticed something the other day about what Paul said. He said, in his testimony, that, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:15–17). Stephen prays for Saul under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. God has Stephen praying for Saul before he is Paul when he is, by his own words, the foremost sinner. I remember from time to time thinking that Paul’s statement was hyperbole. Paul, in Scripture, corrects my way of thinking. It is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Paul was the foremost sinner of his day. His heart was stone cold dead. But God, who is rich in mercy, gave Paul to us as an example to encourage us to pray for the lost. And he gave us Stephen to remind us who we are to be in Christ and to remind us to pray so that things will be different than they otherwise would be.