Author: SFJ Bible

Acts 7:51-60

51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

The Stoning of Stephen

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together¹ at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Footnotes

[1] 7:57 Or rushed with one mind

(ESV)

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Acts 8:1-3

Saul Ravages the Church

8:1 And Saul approved of his execution.

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

(ESV)

Acts 7:30-50

30 “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ 38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. 39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

  “‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
    during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43   You took up the tent of Moloch
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the images that you made to worship;
  and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

44 “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.¹ 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

49   “‘Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
  What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
    or what is the place of my rest?
50   Did not my hand make all these things?’

Footnotes

[1] 7:46 Some manuscripts for the house of Jacob

(ESV)

Acts 7:1-29

Stephen’s Speech

7:1 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And Stephen said:

“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 7 ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

(ESV)

Acts 6:1-15

Seven Chosen to Serve

6:1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists¹ arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers,² pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Stephen Is Seized

8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Footnotes

[1] 6:1 That is, Greek-speaking Jews

[2] 6:3 Or brothers and sisters

(ESV)

Going Deeper

Paul (8-13-16)

1. Saul before Paul

Before Paul was renamed Paul, he was born as Saul. Saul was born in Tarsus in Cilicia (modern day Turkey). He was of the Benjamite lineage and had Hebrew ancestry. His parents were Pharisees (who we studied about last week) who adhered strictly to the Law of Moses.  In his young teens, Saul was sent to Palestine to learn from a rabbi named Gamaliel, under whom Saul mastered Jewish history, the Psalms and the works of the prophets. Saul became zealous for his faith, and this faith did not allow for compromise. It is this zeal that led Saul down the path of religious extremism.  Saul eventually turned his focus to a ruthless pursuit of Christians, as he believed he was eradicating them in the name of God. Arguably, there is no one more frightening or more vicious than a religious terrorist, especially when he believes that he is doing the will of the Lord by killing innocent people. This is exactly what Saul of Tarsus was: a religious terrorist. Acts 8:3 states, “He began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women to put them in prison.”

Saul was like many who we might look at today and say, “They are just too far out there.  There is no hope for them.”  As Christians, we can even become jaded and give up hope in praying for these kinds of people or even develop feelings of hatred towards them.  The good news is our God will have whom He wants. God saves both the prodigals, who are irreligious and consumed with the secular world’s ways, and the zealots, who are super religious and consumed with self-righteous methods and self-salvation.  It is good for us to remember that our gospel testimony needs to be to those who are lost on both ends of the spectrum.  The parable of the prodigal son is a good example of this.  Both the younger brother (irreligious) and the elder brother (religious) were lost in their own way and needed to see the gospel of the Father’s grace for salvation. Both of these extremes exist in our culture today, and both need the gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. Paul’s Conversion

God had great redemption for Saul. In Acts 9:1-22, we see that Paul met the “resurrected Jesus” on the road to Damascus. He hears the words, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He says, “Who are you Lord?” Jesus answers directly and clearly: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (vv. 4-5).  Wow. What a moment. God saved Saul and gave him faith in and submission to Jesus Christ.  From this moment on, Saul’s life was turned upside down. As a result of this miraculous transformation, Saul became known as Paul (Acts 13:9).

As a result, Paul devoted his life to Jesus’ glory and become one of, if not the most, influential pastors of the early church!  He planted churches and wrote most of the New Testament.  Most theologians are in agreement that he wrote Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Philemon, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. These 13 “letters” (books) make up what are known today as the “Pauline Epistles.”

3. Where is Paul’s authority from?

In Galatians 1, Paul introduces himself this way: “Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the brothers who are with me.”

Paul is sent (the word apostle means “one who is sent”) by Jesus Christ Himself who converted Paul’s life on the road to Damascus. Not only is his authority given by God Himself,

But it is confirmed by the body of believers (his bothers) who are with him.

So we see here, Paul’s authority is by God and confirmed in godly people.

*Trust me, if Paul was not sent of God, there is no way the early Christian Church would have backed a guy who devoted his life until that point to having Christians arrested or killed.

In his opening words of the book of Romans, Paul’s says this of himself:

Romans 1:1-6  Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

First, Paul refers to himself as a “slave of Jesus Christ.” The Greek word for servant here is actually slave.  Paul counted it his greatest joy to be a slave for Jesus.  WHY?  Because he understood the slavery from which he was freed and for whom he now serves.

All of us are formerly slaves to sin. We were literally dead and in bondage to nothing but sin and deserving of nothing but eternal damnation apart from the glory of God.  To be saved is to be set free from the bondage of sin, but we are never free in the sense that our flesh longs for total control.  In Christ we become slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:16-18).  Slaves to Jesus.  He is our lord. He is our master.

We are free from the eternal bondage of our former slavery to sin and our sentence of death.

But we are never free, meaning apart from rule.  God created man to be under rule.

It is the sin of man to ever think that we are free from any kind of rule or authority.

We are ruled by sin or we are ruled by God. 

The difference is: it is life to be a servant of God. It is joy to be a slave of God.

There is no higher or greater role we could ever play.  Like Paul, do you value the fact that in Christ you are a slave to Christ?  Is your life His? Is your purpose to do His will for His glory?

The other thing we see here in Romans 1 is the scope of Paul’s ministry.  He says he is doing all this “for the sake of his name among all the nations.”   The great commission of Jesus commands His people to go make disciples of all nations. Paul saw that the nations were his scope of ministry.  How could one man get the gospel to all nations?  He couldn’t, but he could train up disciples who then went and made disciples who could.

This is a picture of the glorious birth and work of the early church.  Paul was a critical leader and teacher used by God to spread the gospel and to plant churches.  Do we see and value our mission the same as Paul, or are our daily focus and priorities all too set on our little lives and self-made kingdoms?  May we repent of making this life about ourselves and give way more of our time and energy to being discipled so that we can truly go and make disciples unto the nations!

4. Paul’s suffering:

One of the biggest highlights of Paul’s ministry and focuses of his teachings was the reality that as Christians in this time and place, we will suffer for the name of our Lord.  Paul didn’t run from this; instead, he embraced it as the reality of the eternally important call on our lives that God has given us. 

Take a moment and read the following passages again and be reminded of what Paul went through in his life and ministry for our Lord.  2 Corinthians 1:8-9,    4:8-12,    6:4-10,   11:23-29,    12:7-10

Wow. We thought we had a hard time.

It is so important that we learn from Paul in this area.  He went through so much and yet remained joyful and on mission despite his struggles and sufferings.  He knew who his God was. He understood his mission and purpose for this life.  He let his theology shape his thinking and attitude in all that he went through.  Here is just a taste:

• I rejoice in my sufferings (Col 1:24)
• Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thes 5:18)
• Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 5:20)
• Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor (Acts 5:41)
• But we rejoice in our sufferings (Romans 5:3)

Sometimes it is easy for this to be agreed with in the good times and forgotten in the bad.

So how do we keep the joy of the Lord despite our sufferings like Paul did?

Let’s look at Romans 8:31-39

Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?   32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

This is saying: Since God paid the infinite price of His Son by sending Jesus through the ultimate suffering for you, if He did that,  will He not then surely carry through in providing everything you need?  Then it goes on to say this in verse 35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?   Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” These are gnarly forms of suffering, right?   But he goes on to say in verse 37, no, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  So you’ve got persecution and murder of Christians. And then he says in all these sufferings we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us!

This is how we are able to find JOY in our suffering.

A conqueror has his enemies lying subdued at his feet.    Right? 

So your sufferings are conquered… they are defeated… distress, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, persecution… there they are, conquered at my feet.

Now “more than conquerors” means these things are not just in chains at my feet– they are serving me.

My tribulation, my distress, my persecution, my famine, my nakedness, my danger, the swords against me…

As painful and tearful as they are… They are serving me in Christ.   God is working them all together for my good.

The good is the key.  The good is the foundation of our JOY.

The good that God works in and through our suffering is the foundation of my JOY.

I trust in God who is over all things.  I trust Him completely.  This is how we walk in joy even when you can’t see through the fog or the pain or you’re barely staying afloat.

The joy is not the circumstance.  Hear me: The circumstances of our suffering is full of tears.

In Christ we can have joy in our suffering. This doesn’t mean that when we are in the thick of it that there are not tears!

There’s plenty of tears.  The Bible tells us in Isaiah 53:3 that Jesus was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”

Paul says in 2 Cor 6:10 that he was “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.”

God wants us to be joyful.  But He doesn’t do it with circumstance; He does it with Himself.

He does it with the Gospel. And we must trust that He does it in and through the circumstances.

This is what Paul understood, and I pray you do too.

Oh, I could go on for days with all we can take way from Paul. Like how to live the sacrificial life in the here and now.  How to be satisfied in plenty or little.  But for time, I will just leave you with one of my favorite Paul quotes from Galatians and pray you see what I do in the power of these words and what they mean for those of us walking in Christ:

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

By His grace and for His glory,

-Shepherd

Soldiers for Jesus MC