Speak As We Ought

     In Acts 6 and 7 we learn the story of Stephen, one of the men chosen for the ministry of helps in the burgeoning Jerusalem church. It’s noteworthy that we don’t get a lot of details in the New Testament as to how a local church is to be organized. Whenever this happens, we have to know that such information is purposely withheld. Perhaps it is because it is easy for believers to fall into legalism. Perhaps it is because God knew that the structure would have to be flexible in order to accommodate the many cultures across time and across the world.
       The one detail we do get is that Stephen is “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.” This qualification is repeatedly emphasized throughout the New Testament letters. Acts 6:8 adds that “Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.”
       Before long, a dispute arises from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen. Their identity is not clear in Scripture. Some translations call it the Synagogue of the Libertines. Libertine is a Latin word that originally referred to people who had been enslaved by the Romans but had been set free. Their dispute with Stephen’s preaching shows us that they may have been freed from one type of slavery, but they were still slaves in another sense. “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey?” (Rom. 6:16).
       The chapter reports that the group is not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which Stephen spoke. So they secretly induce men to lie before the council, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
         Stephen’s response to their charges is recorded in Acts 7. Given the nature of the charges, Stephen’s sermon summarizes the history of the Jews as detailed in the Old Testament as well as their offenses against God. He ends by calling them stiff-necked hypocrites who persecuted the very prophets who foretold Jesus’ coming. Needless to say, this recounting of their rebellious ways doesn’t go over well.
          In a scene reminiscent of Christ’s closing words on the cross, the passage records, “But he [Stephen], being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into Heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, ‘Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ ” (vs. 55-56).
         The bystanders begin to stone the man of faith “as he was calling on God and saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not charge them with this sin.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep [died].”
       The Chronos Lesson: The early stages of the establishment of the Church after Christ’s ascension as recorded in Acts presents the pattern of the successful spread of the Gospel. It shows:

• People were the centerpiece of God’s plan, both as the deliverers of the Gospel message and the recipients.
• Prayer was the first step in every decision of the early Church, and the continual basis for every outreach.
• Scripture was the benchmark. The foundational apostles demonstrated their knowledge of and belief in the fundamental principles of the faith, which included an understanding of God’s chronos timetable and corresponding kairos signs (Heb. 6:1-2).
• The promised power of the Holy Spirit within believers was the only power source upon which they operated.
• Their task was to be eyewitnesses of what they had seen and heard. They spoke from personal experience. They walked the talk.

       Oh how the world needs to see this same “real-life pattern.” The world needs to see and hear the Spirit of Truth speaking through us for each and every situation we encounter. We can set aside our legalistic, religious rules because we know that God’s Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and Grace.