The Acts of the Apostles 33

Subtitle: The Gospel Spreads to Samaria

Acts 8:1-8.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on January 29, 2023.

In Acts 1:8, Jesus says, "[Y]ou shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."  The book of Acts can be outlined using these three geographical descriptions.

• Chps 1-7, The Gospel and Holy Spirit upon Jerusalem
• Chps 8-12, The Gospel and Holy Spirit upon Judea and Samaria
• Chps 13-28, The Gospel and Holy Spirit upon the nations

The phrase "ends of the earth" is not fixated upon a geographical point on the globe.  It is a picturesque way of describing all of the nations of the globe.  We see this supported in Revelation 5, particularly verse 9, where those worshiping God around the throne are "out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation."

The death of Stephen is presented as the transitional point for the Gospel spreading from Jerusalem into the surrounding area of Judea and Samaria (further north).  Luke shows through his book that the words of Jesus in Acts 1:8 happened as he said from roughly AD 30 to AD 62.  Of course, the book ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome, but spreading the Gospel. 

Obviously, the Gospel had not made it to the ends of the earth, but the burden is not upon him alone.  He hands the torch down to others.  In fact, far more happened in those thirty years by others to spread the Gospel.  This has led to the concept of an Acts 29 Christian, or an Acts 29 church.  It simply means that they recognize, we recognize, that we are continuing the witness to all the nations that the apostles started.

We will see today that persecution is one of the things that God uses to spread the Gospel.  It isn't necessary.  But, when it comes, it is used of God for the good of souls who need to hear.

Let's look at our passage.

A great persecution of the Church begins (vs 1-3)

In verse one, Stephen gives us a snapshot, summary, of this transitional point of the Church.  We have seen persecution upon individuals like Peter, John, and the apostles up to this point.  However, after Stephen's death a "great" persecution begins.

There are several words for persecution that are used.  This one emphasizes that the hunt is on and people are made to flee from pursuers.  Yet, we should know that the demeanor of those fleeing is not part of this word.  Some could flee in terror, but we do not see this in the book of Acts.  They do not flee in terror, but they do not want to be imprisoned or die.  Thus, they pragmatically move out of the sphere of danger.  They move on, but go forth victoriously- as we will see in the rest of this passage.

At this point, it begins to cost more to follow Jesus.  There is the question of whether you will stay or leave Jerusalem, but it also demands an answer to this question.  Is it worth it to keep following Jesus?  The heat is now on all believers in Jesus.

Luke tells us that this pursuit of anyone who was a Christian is what led to them being scattered throughout the region.  The word for "scatter" pictures the casting of seeds.  Each one of these Christians is a seed, or earthen vessel, containing the treasure of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit.  That seed and Spirit are capable of fruit in their lives, but also of life for others.

This is something that we need to get into our heart.  I might have a wart on the end of my nose and people tend to avoid me.  However, if I have the Gospel and the Holy Spirit, then there is a treasure in me that people need.  Of course, many who are very easy to look at are empty of any treasure.  May God teach us as believers in Jesus to remember that "he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him."  (Isaiah 53:2 ESV). 

What the enemy intended for evil, God turned to the good.  These believers went forth telling people about Christ and seeing others believe.

It is interesting to me that Jesus had told them that he wanted them to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  Yet, it took persecution to kick-start this part of the mission.  Were they being disobedient?  I do not think that Luke is showing this at all.  There does not seem to be any sense of this in the text.  I think the real point is that there is a proper timing of the Holy Spirit, and a proper way.  It doesn't always have to be because of persecution, but God was allowing Jerusalem to have as much grace as they would take.  They needed to hear the Gospel because the clock was ticking on Israel remaining as a nation.  Judgment was coming.  God gives them as much grace as they will take, and this persecution is basically the leadership pushing the grace of God out of Jerusalem.  Of course, they weren't able to push it all out.

Make sure that you don't miss this progression for us as individuals.  We need to receive the Gospel and the Holy Spirit within our own heart and mind, within our own family, which is our "Jerusalem."  As God teaches us and fills us with His Holy Spirit, He will then lead us forth to witness in our community and as far as the scope He has given us will lead.  We shouldn't rush it, but neither should we lag behind being dilatory or lazy.  God's heart is for the nations, and it begins for each one of us at the center of our hearts and minds.

Verse two shows us that Stephen is buried by his fellow Christians, "devout men."  It was considered an offense to publicly lament one who had been executed, especially for blasphemy.  However, these men make it abundantly clear that they are sorrowing over the death of Stephen.  He was a righteous man who did not deserve such a death.

This sorrow is understandable and should not be rebuked.  Though we do not sorrow as those who have no hope, we do sorrow nonetheless.  2 Corinthians 7:9-10 makes this point.  They weep because they are separated from one they love, and in a horrible way.  They weep for the loss of such a man who was used of God to heal people and set them free from evil spirits.  He fed widows and cared for the unfortunate.  We should weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice (Romans 12:15).

Yet, we do not want to become stuck in grief, and paralyzed by it.  Just as Stephen had served God faithfully to the end of his life, so too we must go on without him and serve God faithfully.  We do no one honor by walking away from God because of what happened to them.  Stephen's witness was that it was worth it to die for Jesus!  Grief has a natural cycle that is not exactly the same for each individual, but will definitely take as much as a year to fully absorb.

This hounding of Christians is lead by the young man Saul.  He seems to be zealous for removing Christians from Jerusalem.  Of course, he is being zealous to push the grace of God out of the city.  In such, we can become blind to the things that God is using in our life in order to bless us.  In our ignorance, we can push out the grace of God, bringing harm to ourselves and others around us.

Luke writes that Saul made a "havoc" of the Church.  The word has the idea of publicly shaming it by defiling their dignity, even causing a stigma to be attached to these Christians.  We see this with Saul entering "every house," and "dragging" them off to jail.  The dragging may or may not have been literal.  It is a word that is frequently used for arrests.  In many cases, it is clear that there is no actual dragging taking place.  It would be similar to a person today saying that, "They slapped him in cuffs and dragged him off to jail."  Again, it could be literal, but the language of slapping and dragging can be metaphorical.

Regardless, it was a difficult time for believers.

Samaria receives the Gospel (vs 4-8)

Saul is clearly trying to contain this "heretical sect," as he takes them to prison, but it doesn't work.  We should remember that there are at least 5,000 Christians in the city, and Luke has given several other summary verses where he describes the Church growing more.  Thus, we have a magnitude of thousands of Christians spreading out into the region.  This will cause the Gospel to spread out into Samaria and Judea as well- just as Jesus said.

It is interesting to me that Saul cannot seem to keep himself from doing the work of Jesus, whether he is trying to stop Jesus or help him.  Ironically, he is really bad at stopping the Church.  Everything he does only spreads it more.  This is the tragic fate of those fight against Christ and his purposes.  In the end, they only help us to do what God wants us to do.

Of course, the world is a lot better at trying to put out the fire of Christians today.  Yet, if you have your eyes upon Jesus, and are filled with his Holy Spirit, it is not that good!  We may be spiritually kicked in the gut and lose our breath, but the Breath of God will fill our lungs and enable us to catch our breath.  Just know that God is in control, not in that He is operating humans as marionettes.  However, His eternal purposes will always be accomplished in our lives and this world!  You can't lose on His side!

Luke then turns away from the persecution of Saul in order to give some stories of God powerfully working through these dispersed ones.

The scattered believers preached the Word.  Though the believers are scattering because of persecution, they are not keeping quiet.  They are using the Scriptures, the Word, to explain to people about the recent events in Jerusalem.  These are the Scriptures that talk about Jesus.  The Messiah had come, was executed, but then was resurrected.  He has now poured out the Holy Spirit upon those who believe.  Luke has already given us a taste of such preaching through Peter and Stephen's accounts in chapter 2 and chapter 7.  None of these events involve a pulpit or podium.  Preaching is not solely the work of a pastor.  It simply means to proclaim.

This brings us to Philip.  We know that this is not the Apostle Philip because verse 14 will tell us that the apostles were at Jerusalem when this happens.  Acts 6 describes the calling of seven men to be deacons in the early Church at Jerusalem.  Luke then went on to describe the ministry and martyrdom of the man who was first on that list of deacons.  Now, Luke shows us that the second deacon on that list, Philip, was powerfully used of the Holy Spirit as well.

As a side-note, the Apostle Philip is never specifically mentioned by name after Acts chapter one.  He is generally mentioned in the phrase "the apostles."  The Philip here is Philip the Deacon.  Of course, that ministry is not going to be able to continue with the scattering of the Church, at least not in the form that they had set up.  He will be later described in Acts 21:8 as "Philip the Evangelist, who was one of The Seven."  Saul had caused Philip to be promoted from a deacon to an evangelist, i.e., someone who has a ministry of telling others about the Gospel of Jesus.  For some reason, Philip goes to the city of Samaria. 

The city of Samaria is in the middle of the region of Samaria.  It had been destroyed several times through the centuries.  It was actually rebuilt and renamed by Herod the Great in the 1st Century BC.  It's new name was Sebaste, which is Greek.  Clearly, this was not a name that was popular with first century Jews.  This city was populated with around 6,000 people or more.  Note:  Here is a link to a map to help you picture where Samaria (Sebaste) is in relation to Jerusalem.  You may also note that Sychar is where Jesus ministered after speaking to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well.

Philip does not go to Samaria to hide.  He begins "preaching Christ" to them."  This is essentially the same as preaching the Word and we should not try to make a technical point out of these two phrases.  The early Church did not study the Word out of a mere desire to grow in intelligence.  They studied and taught the Word to know Jesus the Messiah better!  In fact, the word translated "preach" in both instances is different in Greek.  The first is literally to "Good News" someone.  The second is to proclaim, or herald, news that may or may not be good news.  It emphasizes the proclamation.  Jesus, the resurrected Lord who is in heaven pouring out the Holy Spirit on those who believe in Jesus, is good news that we should be proclaiming!

Notice that this deacon, now Evangelist, does miraculous signs by casting out demons, and healing people, specifically those who had paralysis and were lame.  He is not an apostle, but He is filled with the Holy Spirit and being led by the Holy Spirit.  There is no sense in the Bible that we have to have a title in order to be used greatly of God.  Any one who believes upon Jesus and is filled with the Holy Spirit can be used to do miraculous things.  Yes, God can do these things through us today.

There are seasons in which God gives signs or not.  However, we must be careful of using this as an excuse.  Maybe, they were far more desperate than we are as a people?  You can be cynical about God doing such things today.  However, it can also be our cynicism and lack of faith that leads to these things not happening right now.  Many in the Church, lean on everything, but God.  May we learn to lean upon Him and be in the place where He can do anything through us that He desires.  This calls for a person to be in prayer, in the word, seeking the leading of the Spirit, and then obeying His leading!

Luke mentions that the people paid close attention to what Philip had to say.  We do not know how many of these people were religious Samaritans.  Herod had brought people in to populate the city, and it had several pagan temples.  Still, the ministry at Sychar would have primed the pump in the area.  They would have known about Jesus and his disciples.  These inhabitants of Sebaste are transfixed at the message of Philip and the power of the Holy Spirit working through him.

This brings us to verse eight, which tells us that there was great joy in the city.  Think about the many people who are no longer demon-possessed, and those who knew them.   Think of a desperate parent who has tried everything to help their child, and now they are completely healed!  Think about those who can now walk, and are running around leaping and praising God!  Think about those who had been paralyzed showing everyone who will listen how they can now use their limb! 

How long had they gone without much in the way of God's grace, and then one day things changed.  Remember that about God.  We may be hyper-cynical about a move of God in our family, city, or Republic, but some days, God just changes things!  Maybe, He has been wanting to move for decades, perhaps centuries, but no one was in the right place spiritually for it to happen?  This day, Philip was in the right place with God.  Amen!

What a beautiful thing.  It was almost as if Jesus was back!  In truth, Jesus is back in us when we cooperate with and operate in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Yes, there are seasons to the work of God, but its foundation is a person who:  believes in Christ, seeks to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and asks Jesus each day what they should be doing for him.  We don't know if we are a generation that will experience what Jeremiah experienced, unbelief and the judgment of God upon the nation.  How can we know?  We can only know by being faithful like Jeremiah.  Even though it fills like he didn't do any good, Jeremiah lived a life of the Spirit of God and passed that torch on to the next generation.  He didn't fail, the people of Israel stuck in their flesh failed.  The faithful remnant is always victorious to accomplish exactly what God sent them to do!

You and I can be those people who are doing the will of Jesus and are ready for what he may have next.  We are Acts 29 Christians whether we use that phrase or not.  Until Jesus comes back, we aren't done working.  Let's get to work!

Samaria audio

The Acts of the Apostles 32

Subtitle: The Stoning of Stephen II

Acts 7:57-60.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on January 22, 2023.

Last week, we looked at Stephen's conclusion to his defense before the Sanhedrin, the highest council of Israel.  He tells them that they are resisting the Holy Spirit just like their forefathers did.  He tells them that they have betrayed and murdered the Righteous One, which had to be a hard hit to them.  Lastly, he tells them that they have not obeyed the law.

Each of these hits on an area that they would have thought they were performing well.  They prided themselves in having received the law and meticulously obeying it and teaching it to others.  They would have prided themselves in waiting for the Messiah and teaching others to wait for him in righteousness.  They would have thought that they of all people were not resisting the Holy Spirit, but instead, were doing what God had told them to do through Moses.

However, this isn't the first time that they have heard this.  Jesus took them to task on this.  Peter and John had also said similar things when they were before the Sanhedrin. 

Regardless, if Stephen's charges aren't enough to precipitate his stoning, his description of a vision of God's throne in the heavens pushes them over the edge.  This time Gamaliel doesn't step in.  Is he enraged too?  Or, has he decided that he has pressed his honor far enough, and won't take the risk with this angry group?

There is a powerful spiritual dynamic at work here.  God deals with us as individuals, but at the same time, we are often part of groups.  It is impossible to avoid the group dynamics that can catch us up in a wave of emotional response.

We might even take a moment to ask the question if Stephen should have toned it down a little.  Was Stephen being too judgmental?  Judge not lest you be judged?  In truth, that verse gets quoted a lot by people who use it as a moral cloak.  It is simply a warning to make sure your judgments are righteous because, when you stand before God, He will take the manner of your judgments into consideration.  You were harsh?  Then, He will be harsh.  You were merciful?  Then, He will be merciful.

There are times when God speaks strongly to us.  He does this because He loves us.  Stephen spoke some hard words, but they were from the heart of God who wanted these men to hear the truth.  He loved them enough to tell them the truth.

On the other hand, these men have to be careful how they judge, which looks like they merely judged by emotions.  This is the problem with the accusation that someone is being judgmental.  Even that accusation is itself a judgment.  If you are using it simply to stiff-arm dealing with your stuff, then you are not doing yourself any favors.  Ultimately, we will all stand before God, so it doesn't matter what the other person says.  It only matters what God says.  If God can speak through a donkey, then he can even speak through a sinner who isn't completely right.  Don't shield yourself with platitudes.  Instead, turn to God in prayer and seek the truth.

Let's look at our passage.

The reaction of the Sanhedrin (vs. 57-60)

The council had been listening to a man filled with the Spirit and exposing their sin.  What would their reaction be?  Would it be to fall on their face and cry out to God for repentance?  No, like a pot coming to a boil, the Holy Spirit has been convicting them of sin, and they do not like it.

Verse 54 tells us that the council members were cut to the heart, and they "gnashed at him with their teeth."  This may sound bad, but at least there was a reaction.  It was proof that the Holy Spirit was breaking through to them.  Of course, we don't want to try and make people mad on purpose, but when people do explode in anger, just know that the Spirit of God has touched a nerve.

Hebrews 4:12 says, "the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."  God's word through Stephen pierced their heart, and when that happens we can become quite uncomfortable.

Paul tells us in Romans 1:16 that he wasn't ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus because it is the power of salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and then to the Gentiles.  We have all had the Holy Spirit convict us of sin.  How we respond is the critical thing.

Like parents dealing with a stubborn and resistant child, God deals with the reality that we need truth inserted into our life, but outward conformity isn't good enough.  Is my highest goal for my child that they not embarrass me in public; that they protect my "brand?"  No, the real issue is always the internal for God and for any parent who truly loves their child.

When the truth finally cuts through to the heart of a child or an adult, you will always get a big reaction, whether for good or bad.  It may seem harsh sometimes when a person is angry or crying, but God wants our hearts, and without the conviction of the Holy Spirit no true work can be done.  Praise God that this is exactly what He does (see John 16:8).  When God convicts a person, it is not about pushing that person down.  Rather, it is Him pleading with them.  "Why will you die?  Take my hand!"

Sadly, instead of falling on their faces in repentance, they covered their ears, cast him out of the city and stoned him.

Perhaps they are crying out, "Blasphemy!" as they did with Jesus in Matthew 26.  They may also be trying to shout him down, since they categorically reject that he is actually seeing the throne of God.

Also, they cover their ears, somewhat to keep from hearing more, and somewhat as a symbolic showing that they reject what he is saying.  Then, they rush at him.

All of these descriptions fall short of godly judgment of godly men.  However, the worst description to me is the phrase "in one accord."  It was if they were a single organism working with one purpose and one passion.  Unity is important precisely because the thing that unifies us can be bad or good.  I don't like one word mottoes like: Unity!  Love!  Equality!  They beg too many questions.  Unity around what?  Love of what, and how is this love defined?  What do you mean by equality? 

These men were just as unified as the 120 disciples were in the upper room of Acts 1-2.  However, a different spirit was animating and unifying them.  It reminds of that scene in Fyodor Dostoevsky's book The Possessed.  It is set in Tsarist Russia before the Bolshevik revolution.  A fire is set in a rundown section of town and everyone is scrambling to put out the fire.  A man who was demonstrably crazy throughout the book is running around yelling, "You can't put out the fire.  It's in the minds of men!"  Of course, no one is listening to him.  He's a crazy man, but it is the most salient point in the book.  The communist revolutionaries were seized upon by a fiery idea that would unify them to horrible things.

Groups, crowds, and protests can be powerful for good, but they can also be powerful for evil.  What spirit is animating the group?  More importantly, what spirit is animating me?  If the Spirit of God is animating me, then I will know if I run into a group that is not.  Of course, the Pharisees believe that they are led by God's Spirit too.  So now, we can have an event where one side says they have the Spirit and the other side says, no, we have the Spirit, a spiritual stand-off.

Some people become frustrated with such things and just walk away, even from church altogether.  How can you know who has the Spirit?  You make sure that you are in connection with God's Spirit, and if you aren't sure, then get out of the group, go home, get on your knees, and pray until you find God.  Time always proves what side has the Spirit of God.  In fact, sometimes neither side has the Spirit of God.  Yes, it is hard and difficult to go through such things, but it is the call of God to grow up in Christ.  Make sure for yourself that you are being led by the Holy Spirit, and leave the rest up to God.

As the group begins to stone Stephen, Luke brings our attention to young Saul of Tarsus.  Chapter eight will begin to describe an outbreak of persecution upon the Christians, and Saul was a zealous tip of the spear in it.  There it says that Saul was "consenting to his death." 

In this passage, it says that they laid their outer cloaks at his feet.  He would be the guarding them as they focus on stoning Stephen.  Someone could steal them.  Similar to playing sports at the park, it is hard to watch your stuff while you are playing.  Typically, you get a friend to watch it.

Saul didn't throw any stones, but he was an accessory to the murder of Stephen.  Of course, he was probably glad to be part of cleansing Israel for God.  However, later he would look back on this moment and see himself as the chief of sinners.

Have you ever done that, looked back at your life and saw just how blind you really were?  Often, it is not just blindness, but wickedness too.  Saul would go by Paul after his salvation.  He realized that he had been the worst of the worst, and yet, God loved him.

What do you do when you know how wicked you have been, how resistant and rebellious, and yet God calls you, and tells you that He loves you?  We can protest that God doesn't know how bad we really are, but the truth is that He knows that we are even worse than we believe we are.  Yet, He still loves you.  Why?  How?  There is no real answer to that.  Try to tell your spouse, or kids why you love them.  You will end up with a list that seems trite.  Even if you say that you love them because they are so lovable, it dredges up the inevitable question.  What if you find out who I really am, an unlovable person?  You don't have to have a why when your kid is born.  You love them.  You don't know what their life will be like, but you love them.  However, God knows everything about us, past, present and future.  Yet, He still loves us.  He died on a cross for you, just as He died on the cross for Saul of Tarsus, and even Caiaphas.  God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should have eternal life.

In Stephen, God was goading and pleading with those men that day to accept the Truth about who Jesus was, and still could be in their lives.  We should be thankful to God that we are not stuck in the truth of what we were, or even what we are today, any more than Saul was stuck being a blind persecutor of God's people.

Let's finish by looking at the last words of Stephen.  The scene is a loud and angry one, and yet, Stephen is serene in the face of it.  Surrounded by hatred and people throwing stones at him, he demonstrates the love of Christ through his actions and words.

This is easier said than done.  There is a spirit of rage moving in the crowd that can be infectious to both sides.  It doesn't matter if you are right.  You can be caught up in a spirit of fighting and arguing that is not of God.  Now, you both are wrong.  However, Stephen does not rail against them.  He simply cries out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"  He is not calling down fire from heaven upon them.  He knows that he is about to go home to his lord.

Jesus had told the Pharisees within the hearing of the disciples that he would send prophets and wise men to them and that they would kill some of them.  So, these men knew that they had signed up for something that could cost them their life.

Stephen had come to the end of his race, and now the only thing left was to run through the tape into the arms of an awaiting Jesus!  It is interesting to me that it was a Hellenized Jew who was the first to die for Christ.  I don't think this was to slight Peter, nor was it to protect him.  Peter would give his life around 30 years later.

Regardless, for the believer in Jesus, to die is to be present with Jesus at the throne room of God the Father.  Stephen has lived a life that was a witness to the Truth of Jesus, and now he will give the ultimate witness by dying for Christ.  Jesus is worth dying for and he is worth living for.  In fact, it is only a person who has lived for Christ who can die for him.  They both go hand in hand, like two sides of the same coin.

Lastly, Stephen stays true to form by giving words of mercy to those who are killing him.  "Lord do not hold this sin against them."  It is clear that he is thinking about the death of Jesus.  Jesus committed his spirit unto the Father, and asked the Father to forgive those killing him because they didn't know what they were actually doing.  He perfectly images the Father in this moment because He is perfectly imaging Jesus, who perfectly imaged the Father.  I hope you followed that.

How could he do that?  He is unjustly being put to death by wicked men.  Clearly, the death and resurrection of Jesus had changed his mind about what his job in this life was.  His job wasn't to get justice, or rail against wickedness.  His job was to be a witness to the lost of the love of God that is calling to them even as they murder a man.  Stephen refused to become bitter, hateful, and angry.

Of course, this doesn't mean God will not judge.  In fact, it is precisely because God will judge that we can show mercy.  As long as they are alive, they can repent, turn from their sins, and put their faith in Jesus Christ.

Do I really believe that God is not willing that any should perish, even those throwing stones at me right now?  Do I really believe that He wants to hold out His hands offering peace through me, even those who are mistreating me?  How can a person have this kind of attitude?

We can only have this attitude by dying to our desires and plans, and asking God to fill us with His desires and plans by His Holy Spirit.  Only the Spirit of God can enable a person to love their murderer and pray for their forgiveness.  "Oh God, do in me what I cannot do in myself!"  Everyday people are slipping into eternity lost, and it breaks the heart of God.  Can it break mine too?  It can if I will seek to be filled with the Spirit of God, and His love.

Stoning II audio

The Acts of the Apostles 31

Subtitle: The Stoning of Stephen I

Acts 7:51-56.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on January 15, 2023.

As Stephen's defense comes to a close, we come to a bitter sweet event.  In some ways, this is an awesome story.  Stephen is standing up for Christ like a mighty warrior.  He is a good image of Jesus.  This here is some good imaging of our Lord.  At the same time, Stephen is winning the martyr's crown.

Yet, this story is also sad.  It is sad because he will be executed for believing in Jesus Christ as the Anointed Savior for Israel and for the whole world.  It is sad because the grace of God was rejected that day.

It is sweet because Stephen dies, and death holds no terrors for the believer.  O, yes, it does hold terror for our flesh.  We may all want to go to heaven to be with Jesus, but it is the dying part that makes us squeamish.  Not all deaths are equal.  Some pull their feet up into bed at night, go to sleep, and never wake up.  That's almost cheating!  However, others come to death through great torture and pain.

I have been reading about the Scottish Covenanters in the AD 1600s.  They were tortured greatly before being put to death, simply for not yielding to a king's demand that they worship Jesus in a particular way.  Yet, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord where there is no pain and suffering.  To be die is to be free from the battles against sin and wickedness.

Yet, we must be careful.  Yes, I long to be with Jesus, but the battle for saving souls is important.  It was important enough for Jesus to come down and fight it with us.  In fact, he fought for us when we were without strength.  There is something good in the battle.  It helps us to be more like him.  Our day of vindication will come from the Lord in due time.

It is sad because in this one moment they will prove the words of Stephen, and in this one act, they will make his case for him.  They could have repented, but instead, they did to him what they had done to Jesus before him.

Let's look at our passage.

The conclusion of Stephen's defense (vs 51-56)

Stephen comes to the end of his defense with a very hard conclusion.  He tells them that they are resisting the Holy Spirit like their ancestors before them.  On top of this, he declares that they are uncircumcised in heart and ears.

These men would be shocked by such a statement.  Circumcision was an outward sign that they were a part of the covenant of Moses, a son of the law.  Not to be circumcised would be to have no inheritance in Israel.  Neither was this just a male thing.  Women were part of the inheritance through only marrying circumcised men.   

Yet, in Deuteronomy, Moses made it clear that this pointed to a spiritual thing.  God wanted them to circumcise their hearts.  Stephen adds the idea of circumcised ears here.  What does it mean?  It is a part of my nature that keeps me from hearing and being touched by what God is saying and doing.  It needs to be cut away so that we can be sensitive to God.  If I want to be able to hear God, then I must remove from myself that flesh which keeps me from hearing God.  We could use any of the senses, such as eyesight.  If I want to see God, feel God, then I need to take up the sword of the spirit and do my own spiritual circumcision.

When Stephen mentions that they are resisting the Holy Spirit just like their ancestors, it reminds me of times when one parent will say to the other, "Do you know what YOUR child did?"  These are Stephen's ancestors too.  Also, we can note that not all of their ancestors resisted the Holy Spirit.

It might be good to go back through Stephen's defense and not all the people who resisted the Holy Spirit and all those who were obedient to the Holy Spirit.  In fact, you could say that Israel came about as a nation because Nimrod led a rebellion against the Spirit of God.

Stephen's argument starts with Abraham.  God cast away the nations because of their rebellion, but then turns around and says to him, "Abram, come follow me!"  Abram believed God and receives the promise that will lead to the nation Israel, and the promise to bless the nations.

What about the patriarchs?  God raised up Joseph and gives him some special dreams.  The Spirit of God was on this boy!  But, what happens?  His brothers don't like it.  They persecute him, and no doubt, in their minds they are only persecuting a spoiled brat kid who thinks he is better than them.  However, they are resisting the Holy Spirit.  They could have said, "Hallelujah, God is really working through our little brother!  Maybe, I should get to a place where God can use me too."  Or, they could have said, "God is with our brother.  Let's help him and we will participate in the great thing that God is doing through him."  Instead, they hated "Little Joe," and wanted to kill him.

Do you remember Moses?  The people resisted Moses from the beginning even unto the end.  This same thing happens throughout their history.  God shows up and calls prophets, priests, and kings, and the nation resists.  This pattern of small groups touched by God and faithful to him, a repentant remnant, countered by a large group who are resistant and rebellious.

By the way, we should pay attention to the parable of Ishmael and Isaac.  The whole point is that it is not enough to be genetically descended from Abram.  The blessing would be upon those who were born of a miracle of God.  This child of the flesh contrasted to the child that is a miracle from God is meant for us to understand what God is doing.  What Abraham could not produce in his flesh, God produced by His Spirit.  We are all born of the will of a man and woman, of the flesh, an Ishmael.  But, the good news is that we can choose to be born again by putting our faith in God, in Jesus.  The physical birth cannot save us, only the spiritual birth can. 

Stephen is making the same spiritual point that Jesus made in John 8:37-47.  Go ahead and read it.  I will wait for you.....

Essentially Jesus tells them that they claim to be from Abraham, but they don't do the things that Abraham did.  Nothing went wrong in their genetics.  They are biologically descended from Abraham, but Jesus doesn't even bother with that part of the point.  He jumps right to the problem.  You are imaging your true father the devil.

This is not a physical thing that you are stuck in.  Some people try to make a big deal about the serpent-seed and people literally being children of the devil.  Or, some through theology make it out like you have no choice.  You were either born a child of the devil or of God.  You can't do anything about it.  That is not what I see in the Bible.  If you give the Bible to a farmer, or a shepherd, and they read the Bible, they will come to the conclusion that we have a real choice.  These guys had the Law of God and the witness of the prophets, but they refused to come into a spiritual relationship with the God of Abraham.  They remained children of the flesh instead of children born of a spiritual act of God.

I don't think any of the men on the Sanhedrin that day were purposefully choosing to image the devil, although it is possible some were mere posers.  Most likely they had fallen into it because they refused to have that relationship with God where they believed Him with all their heart.  They had been born into a system and a way of doing things that they didn't build.  I am sure that God was poking and prodding their hearts along the way.  Yet, they continued on without finding out what God was trying to say.  If you don't image God, you will automatically fall into imaging the devil.  You may start out trying to image your "true inner self."  However, the devil will manipulate you all day long.  He is the father of all rebellion.

This same dynamic exists in the Church.  It is not enough to be physically born into a church, or physically go to a church.  It is not enough to say with our lips that we love Jesus.  We must embrace Him in our heart and learn from him by taking his yoke upon us.  "Yes, Lord.  I will quit pulling my way, and will start pulling your way."  A young ox who is not used to using a yoke will be yoked in with an older experienced ox.  I wonder who the older experienced ox is with whom we are yoked?  It's Jesus!  And, believe me; he does the heavy lifting!

You may not like choosing sides, but sometimes God forces the issue through moral dilemmas that come our way.  Don't wait until you get into the moral dilemma.  Start today drawing near to God in prayer and seeking His readiness for the trials that lie ahead of us.

In verse 52, Stephen points out the unsavory truth.  Those ancestors persecuted the prophets and killed those who prophesied the coming of the Righteous One, the Messiah.  This was a common occurrence.  Later they would gather the writings of the prophet and decorate their grave like a shrine.  They might even have a holiday to remember old Saint Elijah et. al.  One might make the argument that none of these prophets were perfect.  How could God blame them for persecuting them.  Of course, we will embrace the Righteous One when he comes.  This bluff came to an end with Jesus.  He was the ultimate litmus test.  They had practiced so well with all of the prophets.  How could they not persecute and kill the Righteous One?

Had these guys learned the lesson?  Of course not.  They are now doing the same to the disciples of Jesus, and Stephen here.

Then we have the charge again.  You have betrayed and murdered Messiah (vs 52).  It is one thing to persecute or kill a servant of Messiah, but quite another to kill the Messiah.  It is not like God has a six-pack of Messiahs that He can send if we fail to recognize the first, second, third, etc.  They had been drawing near to God with their lips while their hearts remained far from Him.  Yet, the Lord is faithful in every generation.

How can you process the reality that you just killed the only Hope that God sent to fix everything wrong with this earth?  Sometimes we think that we are boxed in, that we can never yield and confess just how wrong and sinful we have been.  We might develop a kind of cognitive dissonance that fights against us accepting the impossible truth.  However, this is the very path of salvation.  God is so loving that He simply wants us to quit posing long enough to be truly converted.  Converted simply means to turn around.  It begins with the revelation of the Truth that I have not been in right relationship with God.  What will I do with that?  What should I do with that?  I should have a change of mind where I agree with God's Word, with God's Spirit, and I should confess with my mouth that His way is righteous and the only way for me.  I should turn around and follow Jesus by doing those actions of repentance to which he leads me.

Then in verse 53, he accuses them of not obeying the law that they pretended to be upholding and teaching others to obey.  In essence, they were frauds.  No one likes being called a fraud in public, and those who have power don't like it even more.  If someone were to stand up within the State of the Union speech in the House of Representatives and declare that everyone in that building were frauds, that they were not obeying the Constitution of these united States of America, it would not be received well.  That person would be bagged and tagged within seconds and the long knives would come out in every facet of our society.

The reality is that people like this have come to believe their own press.  They would say...  "The Constitution is what we say it is," just as these men would say, "The Law is what we say it is!  Who do you think you are?"

Yes, being exposed is never easy, but it is the only path back to life, to repentance, to Jesus.  Only the Truth can set you free!

At this point the leaders are gnashing their teeth at Stephen.  It is not going well.  If you were a preacher,  you would be praying, "Lord, what can I say to turn this around?"  It is at this point that God does a strange thing.  He gives Stephen a vision of the throne of God in heaven.  He see the Glory of God on the throne and Jesus standing at His right hand.  Stephen is so caught up in the surprise of it that he blurts out what he sees.  Like young Joseph who was excited to share his dream, but didn't understand completely the implications of sharing it, so Stephen goes from life to death.  God knew the hearts of the patriarchs and if they really knew God then they would have gladly bowed down to their little brother.  Why?  We would do so because we would know beyond the shadow of a doubt that whatever God has for me to do will make me more like Him.  It will increase my resemblance to Him and give me communion with He who is Life itself!  This Sanhedrin could not accept what Stephen said he saw.  If he wasn't already a dead man, this would seal the deal.

Why would God do that?  Jesus had warned the leaders of Israel in Matthew 23:34 that he would send them prophets and wise men, and that they would kill some of them.  If they thought Jesus was a one and done thing, and that they wouldn't have to make such a hard choice again, they were wrong.  God in His mercy will keep bringing us back around to repentance.  We may not like it, but He loves us too much not to try!  No one will be able to say on that day, "God, You didn't try hard enough!"  No, God puts us in a tighter and tighter place, forcing us to make a decision.  Which side am I on?

It doesn't matter who God uses to deliver.  What matters is that our God is great and can give us victory through anything.  He can use the guy who isn't even in the army.  He's just a young man bringing lunch for his older brothers.  Then he hears the big giant bellow while all of Israel is shaking in their tents in fear.  Perhaps they are all saying, "When is Saul going to go out and fight him?"  Yet, Saul is no doubt saying, "There is no way I can go out there and fight him!"  Saul who was head and shoulders above the men of Israel did not have enough of God to stand up that day.  Yet, the Spirit of God rises up in the young man David.  "Who is this uncircumcised (pause and think about that for a minute) Philistine to slander our God?"  Was there not 1 circumcised male in Israel who could have stood up to Goliath that day?  Why did God have to bring forth a young boy with lunch for his brothers?  Isn't the story greater because God uses an untrained fighter to take out a giant?  Doesn't it make the God of Israel even more awesome?  The truth is that it is kind of fun when God uses the least of us to spoil the enemy.  It shows His power instead of ours.  It puts fear in the hearts of our enemies in a way that defeat at the hands of Saul could have never done.

In our flesh, we become stuck on things like this.  Perhaps, it is because we just aren't quite converted yet; we haven't been bold enough to circumcise our heart yet.  Praise God that He is always working to bring us back to Him.

You might feel like God isn't doing you any favors, or only making it worse.  "Why did You let that happen, Lord.  Why did You do that?"  However, at the same time, it is the greatest grace of God to us.  Stephen was a blessed angel of Truth to this Sanhedrin.  The blazing, white-hot Truth about how they could participate in the Kingdom of God!  If we could only surrender to Him, we will later look back and see His great love drawing us in the perfect direction.  How blind am I?  Saul didn't know how blind he had been until Jesus knocked him off of his high horse, and blinded his eyes.

Maybe, I am fighting the very thing that is God's grace in my life.  Perhaps, this is the wisdom behind the verse, "In everything give thanks!"

Let's be honest.  Everyone of us has resisted and rebelled against the Holy Spirit at one time or another in our life.  Yet, the love of God didn't quit on you, and He doesn't quit on others.  It is His mercy.  He is not easily offended.  In truth, He cannot be offended.  He can only be rejected and lost forever to us, He who is the greatest good, the very definition of good!  Let us turn to God with a whole heart today and not resist the Holy Spirit!

Stoning I audio

The Acts of the Apostles 30

Subtitle: Stephen's Defense VI

Acts 7:44-50.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on January 8, 2023.

This is the sixth part of Stephen's defense before the Sanhedrin, Israel's high court at the time.  Stephen has reminded them of Abram's call, the Patriarchs, the first attempt of Moses to deliver Israel, God' sending of Moses back to deliver them, the events and prophecy of Moses in the wilderness, and now today, the tabernacle of witness.  The tabernacle is with them in the wilderness, but Stephen's point is significant enough to be broken out as its own point.  He is calling them to remember the Tabernacle of Witness.

Our church buildings are not simply houses of worship.  We sometimes use words without thinking through the full import of what they put across.  However, sometimes words and phrases are used to diffuse the truth of what God is doing in His Church.  We have seen in this Republic the tendency over the years to lump churches into the same boat as synagogues, mosques, scientology centers, wards, etc., with the phrase houses of worship.  Our laws are written equating all of these things, but they are not equal.  There is an intended spiritual sleight of speech that is being used to pigeon-hole Christians.

It would be more correct to call our church a house of the Lord, a house of Jesus, of Yeshua, of Yahweh.  It is a place that belongs to the God who created the universe, and to His Son, the Lord Jesus, God's Anointed Savior.

However, even this misses the greater point that we will talk about today, which is the point of the New Covenant, the New Testament.  It is not about the building, but about the people who gather there.  Everyone who has truly put their faith in Jesus has become a house of Yahweh, the place where His Spirit rests.  More than this, we are being built together into a greater house of Yahweh as a corporate tabernacle.

Think about how this would impact the Israelites of the first century A.D.  This place that was geographically located, and was restricted with laws that gave only the high priest access to the place of God's presence, would now be located within the hearts of believers, of me!  That which I had always been taught to treat as holy and sacred is now me.  I have become a special place where God wants to rest and commune.  Furthermore, the body of true believers are pictured by the apostle Peter as individual, living stones being mortared together by the Holy Spirit in order to create a group of people within whom the Spirit of God dwells.  There is something special, holy, sacred, and incredible about God's Church and their gatherings that the world cannot copy.  There is something special, holy sacred, and incredible about you when you put your faith in Jesus.

In fact, just as Leah and Rachel "built up the house of Israel," so the Church of Yahweh is built up as we walk in spiritual intimacy with God and birth new lives into the Kingdom of God.

No, we are not merely a house those worshiping the works of our hands and the desires of our hearts.  We belong to the King of kings and the Lord of lords over everything in the heavens and on the earth!

Let's look at our passage.

Remember the tabernacle of witness (vs. 44-50)

Stephen calls them to remember the tabernacle that was built in the wilderness.  The tabernacle was a portable tent structure that served as the place of sacrifice and meeting with God. 

The Bible uses several terms of the tabernacle. The first word, mishkan, simply means a dwelling place and is a reference to God dwelling within it.  The other word, ohel, also means dwelling, but at its root is the concept of skins, as in animal skins.  It most often is better translated as tent, even though it came to be used of even permanent structures as Israel transitioned from being a camping society (forty years in the wilderness) to a more established people.  The tabernacle was a tent-like structure with several layers of animal skins sheltering the Holy place, and the Holies of Holies.

Stephen uses the phrase Tabernacle of Witness, which in the Old Testament would actually be the Tent of Witness.  Incidentally, another phrase that is used is the Tabernacle of Meeting.  The word translated as meeting is hard to translate.  It refers to special appointed times, and was used of the feasts of the Lord, both as calendar dates to observe and as prophecies about special appointed times that they symbolized.  However, Stephen emphasizes the word "witness."  The tabernacle was not just the dwelling place of the God of Israel, but also represented His witness, His testimony to Israel and the world.  This word is used of the stone tablets that Moses brought down from the mountain.  He was told to place the Testimony, the Witness, into the ark of the covenant.  The ark was also referred to as the Ark of the Testimony, which was placed within the Tabernacle of Testimony.

The interesting thing about a witness, or testimony, is that it can have a warning aspect to it.  God's law and words to Israel were both a witness of the good that they should do and how God would respond, and a witness of the evil that would come upon them if they did not follow God.  Moses tells them, testifies on God's behalf, that they would be unfaithful to God and that God would kick them out of the land.  Yet, He would later restore them back to the land.  The testimony is a double-edged sword.

So, we should recognize that the testimony is that testimony that God has given of Himself, and it is connected to the place where He dwells.

Stephen points out that God appointed them to build the tabernacle, instructed Moses in how it was to be constructed, and lastly, accompanied those instructions with a visual.  Moses was God's mediator and would relay all of these instruction to them.

Stephen emphasizes in verse 44 that the Tabernacle was built "according to the pattern that he [Moses] had seen."  This comes from Exodus 25:40 where God reminds Moses to follow exactly the pattern that God had "shown him" on Mt. Sinai.

We get this picture in the Bible, and here, of God as a Master Builder.  I know that groups like the Freemasons make a big deal out of God as an Architect, but they are merely ripping off God's true nature for their own fleshly gain.  God is the builder of all creation, and He did not use random mutations to create it all.  When Chuckie Darwin introduced his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (Yes, that is the full title), he believed that the cell would be confirmed as simply a box, like a Lego® brick.  He also mentioned that this theory required all things to be reducible.  You should be able to show how complex things like the eyeball could "evolve" from less complex things that originally had other purposes.  There would be a clear path of reducing an organism from a high level back to a single-celled level and even further.  Of course, over time science discovered that the cell is more complex than a modern city.  In fact, one protein is so complex that the odds of even the smallest of them being created through random mutations are astronomical, and that is just one aspect.  Another problem is that most mechanisms within different species are so complex that we find irreducible complexity.  Several things are useless in and of themselves, but work together to accomplish a particular function.

Though I have taken some time to show the weakness of the Theory of Evolution, it is weak particularly because of the master building, master engineering, that God has done in the creation.  Like any builder, God considered all that He would make in its design, but also in whether it would be worth it or not.  In eternity past, God determined it was worth it.  Remember, the next time you feel that life isn't worth it, that God has said it is worth it, has said that your life is worth it!  Can you trust Him?  He's got this!

God is the builder of David's dynasty, and Jesus is the builder of the Church and the New Jerusalem, its dwelling place for all eternity.  Hebrews 8:5 explains to us that the tabernacle was a copy, a shadow, of the heavenly dwelling of God.  So, God had shown Moses a pattern.  I don't think He showed him blueprints, but most likely gave him a glimpse of the heavenly tabernacle.    We will deal with this point more in a bit, but humans were also built, or fit, to be a dwelling place for God as a replica of the heavenly tabernacle. 

God is the builder of history.  He is the One who tears down and builds up.  No nation rises up or falls, but at God's command.  We will all serve Him.  We will either serve him in righteousness, worthy of reward, or serve His purposes through our wickedness, worthy of destruction.

Stephen then reminds them in verse 45 that the tabernacle was brought into the Promised Land and used up through the days of David, whom God used to conquer all the land that God was giving them.

This tabernacle was more than just a symbol, or a metaphor, for God's presence.  God's presence was actually localized there.  The cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night would actually come down upon the tabernacle and could be seen by the people.  This visible presence seems to move to inside of the temple at some point.  Eventually, the prophets would speak of the Spirit of God leaving the temple and it becoming ichabod, without [God's] glory.

This is in contrast to the temples of the nations surrounding Israel and those in Canaan that they had come to dispossess.  Those temples were ornate and probably made the tent structure that Israel had seem unimpressive.  However, they were mere fictions and wishful thinking that had been taught to them by fallen spiritual beings.  God did not inhabit their temples, and if anything was there, it was a worthless fallen entity that was powerless to help them against the One True God.

It is as if God sees what the nations are trying to do and decides to authorize Israel to make a true tabernacle for Him.  I am not saying that God is reactive because He would have seen this coming and already planned to work it into His purposes.  In fact, we should note the God who created the whole universe, seen and unseen, humbled Himself to be localized in some way in a tent structure in the wilderness with the people of Israel.  This building of dead skins represents when we die to our fleshly nature and become a dwelling place of His Holy Spirit.  It is not the thing that God is wanting, but is only a stepping stone, a prototype that helps us to see.

It was perhaps looking at the temples of the surrounding nations that led David to want to build a permanent structure for God, a temple.  Or, it could have simply been recognizing that he was dwelling in a palace that he had built for himself.  Why don't I build a better place for God?  David then tells the prophet Nathan what is in his heart.  Nathan knows that God is blessing David, so he tells David to go ahead with it without asking the Lord.  Before Nathan even leaves the palace, God pulls him up short and tells him to go back and tell David that it wasn't his job to build God a house.  However, his son Solomon would do it.

In 1 Chronicles 22:8, David explains that he had too much blood on his hands from taking the land.  God did not want the violence of force associated with His dwelling place.  This does not mean that David shouldn't have done what he did.  David fought the battles of the Lord.  Yet, there is more to this than just David's bloody hands.

In 2 Samuel 7, God actually responds to David with the question, "Will you build a house for Me to dwell in?"  Think of it.  A man building a house for the One who built the Galaxies, and the atomic nucleus, whose wisdom and being is truly beyond our comprehension.  God reminds David that He has dwelt in a tent from Egypt to David's day (400+ years).  Hmm, I wonder where God dwelled before the tabernacle?  The tabernacle was not built because God was homeless.  It was built to point to a greater Truth.

Instead, God promises to build David a house (a dynasty) and his son will build him a temple.  This first temple would be built by Solomon.  Yet, Solomon fell away from the Lord towards the end of his life.  Also, the first temple itself, which was supposed to be God's "permanent house," was destroyed in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians (really by God) because Israel continued its idolatry in the face of God.  When they came back into the land later, a second temple would be built, which was in existence during the days of Jesus.  This permanent temple was destroyed in A.D. 70.  God's permanent houses are doing so well.

Solomon and the first temple were a fulfillment of God's promise to David, but they were a falling-short fulfillment that served as a shadow of the true Son of David who would build the true temple of God.  The destruction of the former two temples points to a better permanent home for God.  Jesus is the perfect Son of David who comes forth to build the perfect temple to God.  In fact, Jesus laid the foundation for the third temple while the second temple still stood (for only 40 more years).  The third temple is the True Church of Jesus Christ.  It is a physical temple in that humans have bodies, but it is spiritual in that God dwells in our hearts and minds.  Even this follows the previous template.  Our mortal bodies cannot be the permanent home of God's presence, but He humbles himself as He did in the wilderness and takes up residence within us.  The permanent Temple will also be "built" by Jesus as he resurrects the saints with glorified bodies that are incorruptible.

This brings us to our last point.  God is too great to be limited to a mere building on earth.  Stephen quotes from Isaiah 66 to drive this point home.  This greatness of God is a developing theme throughout the Old Testament.  At first the ark is spoken of as a throne of Yahweh.  The mercy seat had cherubim wings to serve as a kind of backrest.  Yahweh is spoken of as dwelling between the wings and above the mercy seat, sitting upon an earthly throne.  Later, the ark is referred to as God's footstool (Psalm 132:7-8).  Notice that God is getting bigger.  In Truth, God is not getting bigger, but He is incrementally expanding their understanding of just how great He truly is.  The Isaiah 66 passage expands this to the point where the whole earth is God's footstool and the heavens are His throne.  In fact, even the heavens fall short of the full glory of God.  All creation is truly His footstool.

Do you not see that God is not in need of us to build Him a house.  He is already building a permanent house out of us.  We do need to lean into this process and cooperate with God.  Instead of focusing on how nice our building is, we should focus on what kind of dwelling place we are for God.  Am I a shabby, dilapidated temple?  Am I a temple that has been devoid of the word of God like it was in the days of Josiah (2 Kings 22)?  God's time with Israel was a humbling of Himself and yet it was a real thing.  Through unbelief, they missed out on the fullness of what it could have been and ended up losing it altogether (as a nation). 

We too are in danger of hearing this truth and falling short.  In 2 Corinthians 3:16, Paul says, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"  Perhaps, you find yourself saying, "Well, I don't feel like God's dwelling in me."  Really?  Where in the Bible does it say it is only true if you "feel it."  That would be like a husband not following through in the actions of faithfulness because he just isn't feeling it.  "I know God said we would become one, but I'm just not feeling it.  I want a divorce."  We judge ourselves by our own words.  Jesus didn't go to the cross because he was "feeling it."  While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly!  Love has feelings, but it must never let feelings drive its actions.  It is not even duty that drives love.  It truly is love itself that becomes the driving force behind the actions of love; God is love.

You cannot make yourself a temple of God, but you can cooperate and lean into the work that God is doing, even if you don't feel it.  Walk by faith and trust God to do the dwelling.  Jesus laid the foundation for your spiritual life and the Church as a whole.  He leads us like a master builder in our personal life and in the experience of your local church up to the Church as a whole.  God knows what He is doing so we simply need to trust Him!

You are His desired place of rest for eternity.  Yes, much of life calls for trust and faith in Jesus.  Like a marriage, we come to Christ and embrace his love by faith.  We don't know what all we will face in this life, but we will face it with him for better or worse.  Of course, he promises to work all of the "worse" stuff to our good.  What a deal; what a Lord; what a Savior!  His desire to dwell in you, and within us all, should lead us to turn to Him with all of our hearts.  We are His home, and He is ours!

Defense VI