The Acts of the Apostles 28

Subtitle: Stephen's Defense IV

Acts 7:30-36.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 18, 2022.

We have been looking at Stephen’s defense before the Sanhedrin, although he is actually on offense here.  Last week, he reminded them about the rejection of Moses. 

Today, we are going to be reminded of the fact that God later sends Moses back to Egypt to serve as His representative.  He would be used first to deliver Israel from their bondage, and second to bring them to their promised inheritance.

Deliverance in God is not just about getting out of trials and difficulties.  We cannot say, “God get me out of this difficulty,” and then, “I’ll take it from here,” after He delivers us.  God is a deliverer, but He is not AAA.  Of course, if the AAA guy tries to tell you how to live your life, you will remind him that you are only paying for him to tow your vehicle to the shop.  However, with God, there is always a positive thing that God is bringing us towards when He delivers us out of difficult things.

Let’s look at our passage.

Remember that the rejected Moses came back to lead them out of Egypt (vs. 30-36)

Stephen calls to their attention that the rejected Moses is sent back to Egypt to lead Israel out of slavery.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why he would be pointing this out in light of the events surrounding Jesus. (The backdrop to this found in Exodus 3-4).

We last saw Moses hightailing it out of Egypt because Pharaoh has put his picture on the Top 10 Most Wanted List in all of Egypt’s post offices (just kidding about the picture).  At 40 years of age, Moses flees from Egypt into the Sinai and then keeps going into what we would call northwest Saudi Arabia, the land of Midian in those days.

The Midianites came from a man named Midian.  He was the offspring of Abraham and his marriage with Keturah, whom he had married after Sarah had died.  The several sons that he had with her were given gifts and sent eastward so that they would not interfere with God’s promise to give the land to Isaac.

Moses meets a “priest of Midian” named Reuel, and also called Jethro.  He marries one of Jethro’s daughters and has two children.  It is 40 years later (Moses would then be 80) that God shows up to call him back to Egypt. 

This part of the life of Moses is skipped over very quickly.  In fact, this happens a lot in the Bible.  Sometimes Christians can wonder why God doesn’t do something supernatural everyday in their life, but we forget that even biblical prophets sometimes felt the same way (see Habakkuk 3:2).  God does do amazing supernatural things from time to time, but He also is with us in the in between times of routine.  It is there that we live out the faithfulness of trusting Him.

In fact, human beings were not created to be in a frenetic state of excitement all of the time.  It would kill us.  So, we serve God greatly during the times of routine, even if it doesn’t seem to be something great to us.

This brings up another issue.  If the only thing you ever do is marry and raise a family to replace yourself in the next generation with the torch of faith, then that is a great thing.  Think of how many people have failed to do this, and have even caused the fall of people from believing God.  We can be very poor at seeing what is really great.

We don’t really know where Moses received his understanding of God.  Was it all from the bush forward, and directly from God?  Or, is it possible that this priest of Midian, his father-in-law, still held to the faith of Abraham his ancestor?  There is no way to know.

Let us notice that the call of God upon Moses began long before he could show himself faithful to God.  God did not spare the child in the basket because his faith was so strong.  Yet, there comes this time as an adult where God comes knocking, and Moses is going to need to respond with faith.  It looks like Moses was a little shaky in his faith.  At one point, he even tells God that the plan is great, but that He should do it with someone else.  So, what is the key to responding in faith when God comes knocking?  The key is to live a life of faith during the routine times.  It may seem like God isn’t doing anything, but nothing in our life goes to waste with God.

The forty years of being trained in the wisdom of Egypt in the house of Pharaoh and the forty years of learning to be a husband, father, and shepherd in the desolate wilderness would be important parts of God’s preparation in the life of Moses.  Don’t get me wrong.  Everything you are going through is important for you right now, but it is also preparatory.  We are not generally told why God allows us to go through what we do, but God will not waste it in the end.  God often uses the routine times to build in us the greatest thing that we can have and that is faith in Him.  So, let’s be faithful today.

At 80 years of age, Moses has a spectacular event.  The Angel of the Lord appears to him in the middle of the wilderness in a burning bush.  It is clear that he is not intending to go back to Egypt, but God has different plans.  Don’t you just love it when God has plans other than what you have?

It is not a burning bush that draws his attention.  I have read that bushes on fire are a common thing in that area.  However, this bush is not being consumed by the fire.  This is what causes Moses to go over and see what is up with this bush.  It is then that he finds out that this is no normal bush and it is no normal fire.  It is the Angel of the Lord.

This picture of a natural thing on fire by God and yet not consumed is an important one.  It is a good picture of how God made human beings.  Our God is a consuming fire, and yet, He created us to be filled with Him and yet not be destroyed.  Of course, our fallen, mortal state does need to be resurrected in order for us to be perfectly fit to dwell in the presence of God.  However, even in our mortal state, God has made us to be capable of being filled with His presence and displaying His glory without dying.  Two things operate together to make this possible.  First, there is His work of mitigating, or moderating, His powerful glory.  However, there is also our faith in Him.  God is to be feared because He does not suffer fools.  However, the believer who trusts in Him does not need to fear that God’s presence will consume him.

This also connects to the Day of Pentecost.  The 120 believers had tongues that looked like fire come down and set above their heads.  They each became a bush on fire from the presence of God, and yet not consumed.  Quite the opposite, they become a source of life.  They are not a big Redwood, or a Cedar of Lebanon, but rather just a simple bush on fire of God.

The cross itself is the most ignoble tree of the earth, and yet the Son of God hung on that cross as the fire of God’s wrath came down upon him.  The cross is a place of consuming and Jesus did die.  Yet, he was not destroyed because He is the Lord of life.

This angel speaking from the bush is no normal angel.  It is the Angel of the Lord.  This passage in Exodus is one of the classic passages of demonstrating that this angel is unique from all of the others.  Though he is an angel (messenger), he speaks as if he is God.  In another place, God refers to this unique angel as having His Presence within him and having His Name upon Him.  Some scholars of Israel before the first century would even refer to this as being a Visible Yahweh versus the Invisible Yahweh.  It was a way of God accommodating Himself so that people could see and interact with Him.  Of course, this Angel of the Lord could only be the Lord Jesus Christ.

Regardless, the Angel tells Moses to remove his sandals because he is on holy ground.  The idea of sacred space is huge in the Old Testament.  You don’t just walk into sacred space without making sure you have permission and do it in the proper way.  To us moderns, it may appear that God is creating arbitrary barriers to approaching Him, but it is anything but arbitrary.  We are taught to be very careful how we treat holy things, things set apart for God’s purposes, as opposed to the common things that are for our own purposes.  Christ makes us holy and shows us how to humbly approach God the Father in prayer.  This space is not holy because of its coordinates on the earth.  It was holy because God was there.

This brings up another issue.  What are God’s holy things?  Do you not know that you were made to be a holy, sacred space, for God?  Do I treat my life as a common thing to do whatever I want, or do I recognize that I am a holy person set apart for His purposes, and so I should be careful what I do?  How many Christians tell themselves that fornication isn’t so bad because many people are doing far worse in this world.  Yet, this excuse will not stand us in good stead.  We should not fool ourselves that God won’t care.  The only way to fix this is through repentance and faith in Jesus.  This can cleanse us so that we can go forward.  When the temple was defiled, you couldn’t just say, “Oops!” and then just continue on with sacrifices.  They would have to stop and cleanse the temple before they could resume service to God.  For Christians, we must listen to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, instead of grieving Him, and repent before the Lord while putting our trust in the way that Jesus shows us to live, in Him period.

The Lord also let’s Moses know who is talking to him, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Moses hides for fear of dying from seeing God, but God instead reveals to Moses a new name for Himself.  He is to be called Yahweh, The Being One.  In the past, He is the Being One; in the present, He is the Being One; in the future, He will still be The Being One.  All things that exist find their source in The Being One.

Following this, the Angel has a message of deliverance for Israel.  Three phrases are given by Stephen to represent God’s message:  I have seen their oppression; I have heard their groaning; and, I have come down to rescue them.

Have you ever doubted that God saw your difficulties and heard your cries?  Have you doubted because He didn’t come down and rescue you in the past?  This is part of the faith that we are called to have.  Imagine how many Israelites died in slavery before this moment.  A generation passed away in liberty and then finally a generation will see deliverance.  Is this fair?

We don’t always understand the timing of God, but know this: He always sees and hears, even if He doesn’t come down to rescue.  Death itself is a type of rescue that takes the righteous into the presence of God.  I doubt that in the Resurrection those who experienced deliverance in Egypt will grouse over those who didn’t.  This kind of thing becomes irrelevant in light of eternity because they all had to have faith, whether waiting for deliverance, or being delivered. 

So, why does God wait for deliverance?  First, it calls for us to learn humility, which is an essential part of imaging God.  Some would emphasize that none of us deserve deliverance, but I think this misses the point.  There are things that we need to learn and experience before we are delivered.  This is true as individuals, or as a nation, or as a world.  God’s timing optimizes His grace with our ability to learn.  God sees you and He has a day of deliverance for you regardless of how your trial goes.  In fact, the cross itself is God declaring, “I see you; I hear you; and I have come down to save you!”  In some ways, Moses is a type of Christ, but in this burning bush episode, he is a type of us coming to the cross and receiving a revelation of who God is.  There as the wrath of God burns upon the Son of God, He tells us that He sees us and hears us and will save us.  Yet, this burning God/man is asking you to participate in His deliverance of others!

Did God need Moses to deliver Israel?  Why is God in Midian convincing Moses to go to Egypt?  God technically doesn’t need us in the sense of our abilities, but He does need us in the sense that He created us to bear His image.  No father needs their son to come and work with them.  The boy isn’t good at it and often gets in the way.  But, a father also needs, or wants badly, for his son to grow up and become a man like He is.  Of course, we will never be Gods like our Father is, but we can participate in His divine nature as Sons of God.  God often waits because it is the only way we will ever learn to become like Him, and He calls us to join Him in the deliverance of others (as well as ourselves) because He wants us to learn to become like Him!

Stephen emphasizes that God sends Israel a deliverer that they had rejected, “the Moses whom they disowned.”  If they wanted to be delivered, then they would have to get behind Moses and follow him.  There would not be another.

Moses would become a savior and a ruler over them because God chose him.  However much Moses had been trained to lead, it is not he who would do the heavy lifting of saving Israel and bringing them to the promise land.  God would do the great wonders and signs.  Whereas, Moses is His representative.  Even surviving in the desert is not mainly at the ability of Moses, but the provision of God.  The ruling of Moses is mainly him explaining the laws that God had legislated.  The ruling, and saving, of Israel by Moses is overshadowed by the Angel of the Lord, the true Savior and Ruler of Israel.  Moses was simply a mediator.

This is the tension that exists between being called of God and yet not to do it in our own wisdom, strength, reason, etc.  Sure, our past is preparatory, but not always for us to do what we think.  Many times, our training helps us understand that God is working due to the contrast.  Ultimately, we must be prayerfully making decisions and asking God for wisdom. 

Are not our people in slavery today under the Pharaoh of this world?  Can we not hear the Holy Spirit saying that He sees, hears, and has come down?  Who among us will choose to labor with God?  Perhaps today, He is intersecting your life and calling you to come with Him to work for the souls who are held in bondage to sin in this world.

Defense IV audio

The Acts of the Apostles 27

Subtitle: Stephen's Defense III

Acts 7:17-29.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 11, 2022.

Stephen is still before the Sanhedrin of Israel, and he continues his walk down memory lane.  Though the council may find this insulting, it is important to know where you come from.  The history of a people is important because it has the kernel of why God has allowed the people to rise among the nations.

Remember, Israel was not one of the original nations that were created at the Tower of Babel (see Genesis 10).  To use phraseology from the Apostle Paul, we could say that Israel is like a nation “untimely born.”  None of those original nations exist today, though we all come from them. 

Israel was created by God for His purposes.  Stephen is reminding them of why they are a nation in the first place, and the purpose of God.  It is the How and Why of their existence.

It is also important to understand the truth about that history.  We know this quite well today as we see a struggle in our own culture over our origin story and how it should be understood.  We should not be shocked by this because Israel clearly had people of its own who did not buy the origin story of the Exodus.

As Stephen tells the story, we see that it is full of God’s Spirit trying to lead Israel, and yet only a remnant truly believing and following Him.  The others are resistant and even rebellious.

Do we not know that God has allowed these united States of America to rise up for a particular purpose?  It should not fill us with arrogance, but rather a humble attitude that asks, “God what are you doing, and what would you have us do?”  In a way, God has general purpose in all of the nations, but He does raise up certain nations at certain times for certain purposes, and Israel had a huge role to play in bring salvation to all of the other nations.

May God help us to hear Stephen’s appeal to believe God, and follow Jesus, rather than rejecting The One whom God has sent to save us from our sins.

Let’s get into the passage.

Remember the call of God upon Moses (vs 17-29)

Stephen fast-forwards from Joseph to Moses.  Just as God had a call upon the people of Israel, He also had a purpose in Moses.  Moses is as important to Israel as Abraham.  Abraham is seen as the Father of the faith, a friend of God.  Moses is the one who goes up Mt. Sinai and brings The Law down for Israel.  He is the mediator of God’s covenant with Israel.

By this time, the first generation of tribal patriarchs had passed away.  Israel was coming to the end of the 400 years that they had spent in Egypt.  During this time, they had flourished and multiplied in the best area of Egypt, numbering in the millions now.  This draws the ire of a new Pharaoh who “did not know Joseph,” at least he did not care about this history.  He could only see that there was a large group of foreigners in his land and he felt threatened by this.

We are not told how Israel was pressed into slavery, only that Pharaoh dealt “shrewdly” with Israel.  The word basically means “wisely,” but in this negative context, it would have the sense of craftily. 

How do you subjugate a free people?  This part is skipped over in the narrative, but something happened.  Brilliant minds have worked on this problem many different times throughout history.  However, in our day and age, it has become a science.  It is the science of subjugating large groups of people to become cattle and sheep for the pleasure of the elite.  It is a betrayal of humanity by other humans.

Pharaoh thought that subjugation and slavery would slow down the growth of the Israelites, but it did not work.  They continued to flourish and multiply under the harsh conditions.  This is a big problem for Pharaoh so he then commands that the midwives kill the male children.  When the midwives refused to do so, then the command is that the people are to expose their male babies, or pay the price.  It is important to see how God’s blessing upon the Israelites was a problem for Pharaoh. 

Of course, this brings up the hard question.  How can you talk about God’s blessing when they were in slavery?  This is the point.  God’s blessing was upon Israel all the time that they were in Egypt, not just when they left.

It is interesting how God moves in the light of our trials and difficulties in life.  I do not believe that God made Pharaoh make Israel slaves.  However, God knew that it would happen. 

Logically, there are three possible sources to our trial:  God is actively causing it, or God is letting us experience the results of our sin, or God is letting us experience the sin of people or spiritual entities.  No matter what the source of our trial, God is committed to helping those who turn to Him, even sinners who are repentant.  He will work it to your good if you will just trust Him, and wait upon Him in faith.

Here we might complain that God is letting it last too long and going to a point where children are being put to death.  How could he do that?  So, when should God step in?  If He steps in before any sin happens then we will complain when someone is judged, and God states that they were “going to sin grossly.”  If He steps in after a little sin, but nothing big, we will still feel that He is over-reacting when He sends someone into the Lake of Fire.  God in His wisdom allows us to experience the effects of our sin and the sinful choices of others.  None of us should leave this earth with the Pollyannaish notion that humans are basically good.  We have far too much evidence to the contrary.  We are the ones who chose the knowledge of good and evil, and God allows things to play out to the degree that He does so that we will understand the true nature of our sin, and His love.

The truth is that we do not like waiting upon the Lord.  We think that His timing is generally too late.  In fact, if you think that God finally turned things to the good on the day Israel left Egypt, then you are not paying attention to what He is teaching us in His Word.  The very difficulties that Israel went through in slavery would prepare them to hear God’s Word later when He tells them not to oppress the stranger in their midst.  They were not to have two sets of laws, one for Israelites and one for foreigners.  Of course, Israelites would have privileges that foreigners did not, but they should not be mistreated because they are foreigners.

God’s timing is always perfect for His purposes.  The reason we do not think it is perfect is because we are focused on our own purposes.  My purposes basically are not to have anything in my life that would challenge me to be like Jesus!  That would be things like difficulty, trial, rejection, and unbelievers in my face.  Part of the trial is to surrender to God’s wisdom and trust, to let Him help you become like Him.  Do you believe that the difficult things in your life were to prepare you to grasp and understand God’s Word?  At least the potential is there, if you will leave your purposes on the ground and go after His.  He loves you too much to give you a “perfect” life where nothing bad ever happens.  In fact, the perfect life is one where bad things happen because they teach us about God’s love that went to the cross while we were still sinners.

This does not mean that everything is easy now that I know He is working it for my good.  When a person wants to become stronger and begins lifting weights, they soon realize that the benefits that they are seeking can only be had by going through the pain of lifting, “No pain, no gain!”  We will discipline ourselves (okay, some people will) in order to gain physical strength, which only profits a little.  What pain are you willing to go through in order to be spiritually fit, like the Lord Jesus was?  No pain, no gain.  I do not just mean pain of being hurt and persecuted.  I also mean the pain of saying, “No!” to the lusts and desires of my lazy flesh, in order to obtain something greater spiritually.

What does it mean to be like Jesus?  For me, I see 4 important character traits.  I need to become a man of the Spirit of God, rather than my flesh, a man of the Word of God, a man of prayer, and a man living out the righteousness of Jesus.  Once you receive a clear vision of Jesus hanging on the cross for your sins, you really do not need any more evidence that God loves you and will do whatever it takes to bring you to Himself, the very definition of the ultimate good!

Did you notice in this story that it looked to Israel like God was not doing anything when He was preparing their deliverance.  We sometimes act as if we have the omniscient view.  Perhaps we have been reading too many novels, or watching too many movies.  Who am I, and what do I know?  Not only is God’s timing perfect, but He is always working in ways that we cannot see. 

I do not know about you, but God does not send me status updates on how He is bringing my situation to the good, like Amazon.  To the Israelites, it looked like God was not doing anything about their situation.

Yet, God was actually using the very commands of Pharaoh to bring about their deliverance.  Just think of it.  The mother of Moses does not have the heart to kill him, so she puts him in a basket on the Nile River.  She technically obeys the command of Pharaoh.  Exposure was the most common way of taking the life of a child.  Only in extremely barbaric places would they strike, burn, and actively kill a child.  She casts her son on the water, and entrusts him into the hands of God.  She may have had some direction from God.  She may have intended Pharaoh’s daughter to find the baby, but she had no guarantees of what would happen. 

God had a purpose for Moses that did not include being eaten by a crocodile, or found by an Egyptian who would kill him.  God made sure that Moses ended up in the hands of the one person who could protect him from Pharaoh.  I can hear her now.  “O, daddy, can I keep it?  Can I, huh?”  Pharaoh ends up bankrolling and training Israel’s deliverer.  Of course, we know that Moses does not deliver Israel.  God does, but He often uses people in what He does (the righteous and the wicked).  God was preparing their deliverance when it looked like He was doing nothing.  Thus, waiting on the Lord is a wise thing to do as well as being righteous.  Have you ever thought that it is wicked not to trust God who has shown Himself to be more than faithful, and more than able?

Waiting on the Lord requires faith.  I cannot always see what He is doing, but I know that He is working all things to the good of those who love Him.

Another part that we balk on is this.  God allows things to happen that we think He should not.  Yet, now we are back to the issue of over-reaction.  When God’s plagues start falling on Pharaoh from the God of Israel, he will not be able to feign innocence.  His wickedness towards Israel was far worse than anything God righteously did to him.  The problem of sin, and what it leads to, is serious and personal.

The Old Testament does not record the age of Moses when he decided to check on his people, but Stephen gives us the traditional view that Moses was 40.  For some reason, it comes into his heart to check on his people.  Of course, he knows that he is not an Egyptian, but a Hebrew that was spared by Pharaoh’s daughter.  I believe that it is God who puts it on his heart, even though Israel is not ready to be delivered yet. 

Moses sees that they are not just working hard, but being harshly treated.  Moses kills one of the taskmasters who was mercilessly beating a Hebrew slave and hides him in the sand.  Even this was part of “preparing their deliverer.”  On the next day, he sees to Hebrews fighting with each other, and he tries to help them reconcile.  Think of it.  You are in a trial of slavery as a people and you are fighting with your own people.  You are mistreating your own people.  And, we wonder how the enemy is able to keep us in slavery.  He only needs to keep you divided and fighting one another.  Moses means well, but the bitterness of servitude has embittered the hearts of many Israelites, particularly this one.  His acidic response hits Moses like a sucker-punch. 

Listen.  The enemy knows how to cut you off at the knees.  If God puts something in your heart and you go to do it, just know that he will be winding up to give you as many low-blows as he can (and he is good at it).    This incident is symbolic of all of Israel.  They are not ready to be delivered yet, though they would have said that they were.  They had bigger problems than a Pharaoh and his taskmasters.  They had gigantic spiritual problems that had built up strongholds in their hearts.  The rejection of Moses is symbolized in the question, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?” 

God was already stirring the heart of Moses for the plight of his people, but neither he nor they were ready yet.  Somethings need to simmer before they are ready.  Imagine every day you cry out about your situation, wanting relief, and yet at the same time you are lashing out in anger at the very thing or person God is wanting to use to help you. 

Moses would have to come back in 40 years, which is interesting.  They would have to wait another 40 years because of their rejection of him.  A similar thing happens when they get to the promise land.  They refuse to fight the giants at first, and so they go back into the wilderness for 40 more years.

Let me close this by comparing Moses with Jesus. We see many parallels between Moses and Jesus, though no human can perfectly picture Jesus.  In fact, this is our job, to image Jesus to the world around us. 

Let us first look at ways that Moses is not like Jesus.  We might note that Jesus did not kill anybody when he came to Israel.  He laid his own life down that they might be set free from sin and death. 

Also, Jesus dwelled among his people in their servitude under the Romans.  Whereas, Moses was in the palaces of Pharaoh.

Lastly, Jesus did not flee away, but ascended into heaven and sits at the Father’s right hand waiting for the day when it is time to make his enemies his footstool.

All this said, there are some striking parallels.  Jesus did spend time in the halls of heaven before he came down, became a kinsman to Israel through the incarnation, and experienced what his people were going through.

Jesus was also rejected the first time he came to Israel.  “Who made you judge and ruler over us?”  Of course, the answer to this is God the Father did.  Peter prophesied before Israel in Acts 2 saying, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 

Jesus then goes away from Israel and ends up taking a Gentile bride.  To be fair there are Jews who are a part of this bride, and even the foundation of it.  Yet, the Church has a very Gentile flavor to it.  Yet, Jesu will come again, after a long period of time, and deliver all of God’s people.

This world cries out for a savior, but at the same time it rejects the One that God has given, Jesus.  Just as the cry of oppression from Israel’s slavery was heard by God, so the cry of sinners suffering under sin is heard by God today.  How tragic that God has done everything, but believe for us.  Yet, we still say that He is not good enough.  Jesus is not good enough.  We double down on trying to be our own saviors.

Israel was not saved by its own faithfulness from Egypt.  They were saved by the faithfulness of God.  May God help us not to look at our circumstances and become stuck in the quagmire of despondency.  Rather, let us look up in faith and know that our God is even now working these things for our good.  Perhaps He even has some great things He would do right now, if we would only dare to believe!

Defense III audio

The Acts of the Apostles 26

Subtitle: Stephen's Defense II

Acts 7:9-16.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 04, 2022.

Stephen is addressing the Sanhedrin in defense of the charges of blasphemy that are against him.  This is no true defense before the court, unless you see Stephen making his defense to the heavenly court. 

When you have a defense lawyer today, they work every angle in order to get you out of the charges.  This is not what Stephen is doing.  There is a time to use the law and lawyers to defend yourself.  However, there are times that call for standing up and witnessing for Christ, and this is the choice Stephen makes.

Last week, we looked at Stephen reminding them of the call of Abraham, and how he responded to God.  In today’s passage, Stephen moves forward to Joseph.  The family of Jacob was messy.  You might say that all families can be messy.  You probably were not raised in a family that had children from four different wives.  Stephen reminds them of God’s call upon Joseph, and how the envy of the tribal patriarchs was used to accomplish God’s will.

Let’s get into our passage.

Remember Joseph and the tribal patriarchs (vs 9-16)

As with Abraham, Joseph will be highlighted for his faith in God, especially in God’s promises, despite numerous difficulties.

Stephen points out that the brothers of Joseph were envious of him.  The patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel were spread out in their ages.  Genesis does not give the years of their births, but we know that Joseph is the eleventh son, and that the twelfth son, Benjamin, is his full brother.  They were both birthed by Rachel.  An interesting note, Benjamin is the only one of the boys that was born in Canaan, Bethlehem specifically.

So, what was driving this envy of Joseph by his older brothers?  First, we have the issue of these four wives.  Jacob only wanted to marry Rachel, but he was tricked by Laban into marrying her older sister Leah.  Jacob worked for Laban for another seven years to pay the bride price for Rachel.  Leah was stuck married to a man who did not want to marry her and loved her sister.  This developed a rivalry between these two sisters where Leah was able to produce four sons for Jacob, and Rachel none. 

This drove Rachel to deploy the “Sarah Tactic.”  She gave her maidservant, Bilhah, to Jacob in order to have children by proxy.  Bilhah would be considered a second-tier wife, and her children would be considered Rachel’s legally.  This, of course, is not as satisfying as having children, but Rachel gets a couple of “points on the board” out of it.  Leah then deploys the same tactic with her maidservant, Zilpah, who also has two children (this time considered Leah’s).  Notice that Jacob is in a tight pinch.  He was tricked into marrying Leah.  Then, how could he say, “No,” to the love of his life who could not have children, and was sorely distressed?  Also, how could he say, “No,” to Leah once he acquiesced to Rachel?  Long story not quite as long, Leah births six sons for Jacob, with another two by her maidservant, Zilpah, for a total of eight.  Whereas, Rachel had two sons- she died birthing the second-, with another two by her maidservant, Bilhah, for a total of four.

Such rivalry between mothers has a way of impacting the children who grow up hearing it and witnessing it.

Secondly, Jacob clearly favored Joseph over the rest of the boys.  He loved him more than the others.

As if this was not enough, we are told of an incident when Joseph was seventeen.  He told his dad about some bad things that his brothers were either saying or doing.  The passage is quite vague as to what the “evil” was.  I am sure they saw him as a tattle tale from that time forward.

Lastly, God saw the hatred of the brothers toward Joseph, and chose Joseph to save his family.  Joseph received two dreams that did not take a great interpreter of dreams to interpret.  Each dream depicted the brothers all bowing down to Joseph.  This seems to be the last straw.  The ten brothers (minus little Benjamin) lie to their father about Joseph being killed by a wild beast, when they had sold him to slave-traders on their way to Egypt.  Okay, we can give Reuben a pass on this one, so the nine brothers.

Let us note that God will use the envy of these older brothers to position Joseph exactly where he needs to be in order to save his family from a famine that will come later.

God had a plan and a purpose for every one of them.  However, God blessed Joseph even though it came with a lot of heartache.  Stephen emphasizes that God was with Joseph and gave him favor.  It sounds so spiritual and awesome.  But remember, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers.  Imagine the sense of rejection that went deep into his heart.  Imagine watching the hills as you are drug into Egypt, hoping that your father will come to rescue you.  Yet, it never happened.  These things stung and did not feel like the favor of God.

It started to get better when he was purchased by Potiphar.  God blesses him and he is put in charge of the whole household.  Then, Potiphar’s wife falsely accuses Joseph of trying to rape her.  Joseph is thrown into the royal prison.  There he interprets dreams for Pharoah’s baker and butler.  He asks the butler to remember him when he is restored, and yet, the butler forgets about him for several more years.

Psalm 105:19 gives us an interesting commentary on this situation. “Until the time that his word came to pass, the Word of the LORD tested him.”  Sometimes, we romanticize the idea of God being with us and calling us to great things.  We may imagine a few things going wrong, but then they will be quickly fixed when we pray.  However, the patriarchs and the prophets went through many difficult things, even though they were truly blessed and called by God. 

Can we trust God?  Can we believe that He is working all things to the good for us, and for others?  It takes a long time, but Joseph eventually ends up as second only to Pharaoh, in charge of storing up the grain of Egypt for the coming seven years of famine.  This was all because God gave Pharaoh a dream about seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.  God also gave Joseph the interpretation of the dream.  This greatly impressed Pharaoh. 

Yes, the good times had come, but it was through much pain and sorrow.  Would my faith in God survive such experience?  I pray that it would, just like Joseph’s faith in God persevered to the end.

Stephen then reminds us that the famine was severe enough that it affected Jacob’s family in Canaan.  Jacob then sends the ten brothers down to Egypt to buy grain, which sets up an interesting interaction.

The ten brothers do not recognize Joseph in his Egyptian garb, years later, and not expecting him to be 2^nd in command of Egypt.  Joseph then tests them to see if they have treated his younger brother, Benjamin, in a manner comparable to how they had treated him.

It is clear to Joseph that the brothers are sorry for their treatment of him, and have not harmed Benjamin.  He reveals himself to them and has his family brought into Egypt to live without fear of the famine.  Joseph would care for them.

This raises a question.  Why would Jacob go into Egypt knowing that God had told Abraham that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign land?  In Genesis 46:3, God tells Jacob not to be afraid to go down to Egypt.  God promised to bring his offspring back to the land of Canaan and give them possession of it.  Jacob was able to move to Egypt because he had learned to trust God, even when it might lead to a difficult experience.

Again, Stephen is using the history of Israel and its patriarchs to highlight the importance of faith in God, versus resisting the Holy Spirit.  How important it is to surrender our lives to God.  Of course, we pray for God to help us and deliver us, but we are content with any development because we know that He is always working it towards a good end.  Yet, every generation of Israel had people who resisted the Holy Spirit, just as we have today.

May we hear what God is saying to His Church today, here in these united States of America.  Too many Christians are resisting the leading of the Holy Spirit.  We need to learn to let go of the tradition of men that we have been taught, and cling to the Word of God that we can see with our eyes, and the Spirit of God Whom we can know intimately if we seek Him with all of our heart.  Let’s seek him today!

Defense II

The Acts of the Apostles 24

Subtitle: The Arrest of Stephen

Acts 6:8-15.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 20, 2022.

Stephen is one of the first deacons for the Jerusalem Church.  He helps to care for the widows who have no family and means of care.

Yet, it is clear in our story that Stephen has a passion that goes beyond taking care of widows.  He also wants to let his fellow Judeans know about Jesus the Messiah.

Let’s get into this passage.

Stephen’s ministry is resisted vs. 8-15

Stephen was listed first in Luke’s list of the seven overseers of the ministry to widows.  His name is a Greek name that means “crown.”  This is very appropriate since Stephen surely won a crown as Jesus promised in Revelation 2:10. “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”  (NKJV).  At the end of chapter 7, Stephen will gain the title of the first Christian martyr, at least that we know of in the New Testament.

His name is typically vocalized as “Steven” in these United States, but the name would have been sad with an f-sound in the middle, Ste’-fan-os.  It is very common for historical names from the East to be Latinized.  Remember that these are Aramaic/Hebrew speaking people using the Greek language as a vehicle, that is then translated into Latin before moving further West into the English language.  Just a little research online will demonstrate that Eastern history records the names differently than here in the West.

Stephen clearly has a passion for doing more than feeding widows, as I said earlier.  He begins to powerfully minister in Jerusalem, but resistance develops quickly.  No doubt, if he had limited himself to just feeding widows, there would have been little resistance.  Yet, Stephen speaks out publicly about Jesus and this causes a stir.

There are already some descriptions of Stephen before we get to our passage.  We are told in verse 3 that Stephen would fit the description of being a man “of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.”  This is stated again in verse 5, so it is no surprise in verse 8 when it says he is full of faith and power.

Some versions have “grace and power, but that is not a big problem.  The grace of God is not activated except by faith in Him (see Ephesians 2:8,9).  Stephen had both the grace of God and faith in Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit also worked powerfully through Stephen.  We are told that he did great wonders and signs.  None of these signs and wonders are detailed, but the adjective “great” speaks for itself.  Of course, Luke gives us plenty examples of the apostles doing such.  Though Stephen was operating powerfully like the apostles were, there is no mention of him preaching in the temple. 

There is no room for ego in God’s church.  There is no contest for who has the most power of God, not to mention that we would not be the best judges of what is the most powerful work of God.  Would that all God’s people would be operating in great wonders and signs.  Yet, there are seasons in the work of God.  My job is to be so full of the Holy Spirit and faith that He can do through me whatever He wants.

Stephen draws the attention of a particular synagogue.  Jerusalem had many synagogues.  The Synagogue of the Freedmen is most likely a group of Jews who had been Roman slaves, and then had been emancipated, or manumitted.  This happened from time to time, but great number of Jews received freedom from Pompey in the first century BC.

Cyrene is on the coast of North Africa in modern day Libya.  Of course, Alexandria was on the coast of Egypt west of the Nile Delta.  Cilicia was a province in Southeast Turkey, which has the city Tarsus in it.  The Asia here is the province of Asia in Western Turkey on the coast towards Greece.  The cities of Revelation 2 and 3 are in this province.

These men began to dispute with Stephen, no doubt in public.  However, they were unable to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.  Notice that it is not “his wisdom and spirit.”  Stephen clearly spoke by the wisdom of Jesus and with the power of the Holy Spirit.  It is important for believers to rely upon the wisdom of God’s word and the help of His Holy Spirit.  Without these, we are doing the same thing as the world and will have varying results, all natural.

Since they are unable to stand against him publicly, they stir up the people and leaders to arrest him.  In debates, the term ad hominum is used to refer to an attack against or to the person, or human, that you are debating.  It is a common deflection to attack the person when you are unable to disprove their point.  The extreme form of this is to become physical and to use whatever power one can to make a person retreat from their argument.  These men secretly induced some to twist Stephen’s words to be blasphemous against Moses and God (more on this later).  Stephen would have slipped under the radar if they had not brought attention to him, being how the apostle’s ministry was so public and the focus of the elders.

A large group seizes, or arrests, Stephen and take him before the Sanhedrin to lay charges against him.  At this point, we should point out that it is important to know that Stephen most likely does not know where this is all headed.  He is simply being faithful to Jesus and the Gospel.  He just cares about his people and has great faith.

It is interesting that God clearly protects the apostles at this point.  All twelve of them have just been released even though the council wanted to put them to death.  Yet, at the same time, God is going to allow Stephen to be martyred.  We do not always understand why God protects one and not another. We could even ask if those who are allowed to be martyred are more blessed than those who are not.  Regardless, this question really has no solution other than that God’s wisdom is above ours.  He displays His power in some through deliverance, and His power in others through their martyrdom.  They are simply two very different witnesses that are both important.

Stephen is falsely accused of blasphemy.  They say that he is speaking blasphemous words against the holy place and the Law (of Moses).  The main blasphemous statement they hone in on is this, “Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” 

We can recognize parts of the Gospel in both charges.   As the Messiah, Jesus has been given authority over heaven and earth.  Jesus had made it clear that Jerusalem would be completely torn apart by the Romans after his rejection.  To be fair, this is clearly represented as a judgment from God for rejecting His Anointed King.  This is nothing more than almost every prophet in the Old Testament had stated.  Thus, it cannot be blasphemy.  Similarly, Jesus had fulfilled the Law of Moses, and was leading Israel out from under its yoke into the law of the Spirit, of life in Christ Jesus.  Therefore, many of the customs of food, offerings, and sacrifice for sin would no longer be effective.  What is blasphemous about these?  Jeremiah spoke about a day when God would create a New Covenant with Israel (Jeremiah 31).  Stephen was not speaking against any of these things.  He was speaking for God and His Anointed Prophet-King.

The last verse tells us that Stephen looks like an angel before the council.  Some commentators believe that there was something visible upon Stephen, such as a glow.  We do see that angels, and heavenly beings, are sometimes described in terms that emphasize glowing, or bright light.  At the very least, there is a powerful peace and composure upon the countenance of Stephen that could be described as not of this world.  He does not look like a man who is facing excommunication, or even execution.  He has the look of an angel, which most likely infuriated his opponents.

What is my composure and demeanor in the face of the anger and incivility of this world?  How do I respond when people employ under-handed tactics against me, and twist my words?  Stephen was a man full of the grace of God.  He had great faith in Jesus, the Gospel, and that he was doing God’s will.  Like his master, we will not see him lashing out at his accusers and yelling at them.  Instead, we will see him speak the truth in love, though it cost him his life.  Stephen would follow his master in laying down his life in order to wake them up to the great sin they were committing.  May God help us to follow the Holy Spirit with great faith, no matter where it may take us.  He is worthy of every sacrifice that we make in His name!

Arrest audio