STEPHEN’S FAITH AND SPIRIT 

Acts 6:8-7:60

Key Verse 7:59-60

“While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then, he fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he said this, he fell asleep.”

The early church had overcome the growing pain of internal problems arisen from Ananias and Sapphira incident and disputes between Grecian Jews and Hebraic Jews. So the word of God spread and the number of disciples increased rapidly, and even a large number of priests became obedient to the gospel faith (6:7). As the Holy Spirit worked mightily, the evil spirit also worked.  Today’s passage shows the first martyr of early Christian church, Stephen’s faith and spirit.  This event clearly demonstrates how gospel of Jesus was not the extension of Judaism, but much greater than that, which has been prepared by God himself. Stephen’s faith and testimony of blood witnessed this boldly. On his blood, the gospel of Jesus did not stay in Jerusalem but spread over all over the world. 

Note:

Read 6:8-10. What kind of man was Stephen? (6:3, 5, 8, 10, 15)  Who arose to oppose Stephen? (6:9-10) Why? (6:10) Why did these Grecian Jews become angrier against him?

1) His name ‘Stephen’ (Greek, Stephanos) means, ‘wreath’ or ‘crown’. His name suggests he was a Grecian Jew.  He was one of seven Deacons chosen among people who were known to be full of the spirit and wisdom (6:3).  He was a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit (5), a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people (8), he was full of wisdom and spirit so that his enemies could not stand (10), his face was like the face of an angel (15).  These verses indicate that he was full of wisdom, faith and spirit.  He was passionate and enthusiastic to preach the gospel and fearless to face the enemies of God.

2) The opposition from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen-Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia (9).  These people may be 1.5 or 2^nd generation Grecian Jews from areas including St. Paul’s home province (Cilicia). Some of them may have been freed from former slavery and returned to Jerusalem (9).  They were Grecian Jews like Stephen, who may have tried to spread the gospel to these people first.  He may have preached this new covenant, which was different from that of Moses and the new meaning of temple worship by Jesus’ cross and resurrection, which is not restricted to the temple.

3)  They began to argue with Stephen, but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke (10).

4) I don’t know exactly why, but they thought that Stephen was one of them (sense of betrayal) or Stephen may have tried to spread the gospel to them because he knew them well and he had a broken shepherd heart to them as Apostle Paul did try first at the Jewish synagogues when he arrived at the new city or province.

Read verses 11-15. Why and how did these Jews plot against and lie about Stephen? (6:11, 13 14) How did they escalate their campaign against him? (6:12-14)  Why was their charge against Stephen before the Sanhedrin serious? (Ex 20:7, Lev 24:16)  How did these attacks affect Stephen? (6:15)   What can we learn from these events?

1) As they could not stand up against him, they plotted against and lie about him as the Jews did to Jesus.    They secretly persuaded some men to say, "We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God."(11) 

    They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law (13). 

   

 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us." (14) 

2) They stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law and twisted the word of Stephen.  They brought him before Sanhedrin, which was the religious supreme court of the Jews.  

“So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. [13] They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. [14] For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us." (Acts 6:12-14)

3) They accused him of blasphemy, against God, Moses and temple, which was punishable to death. 

Exodus 20:7 

"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. 

Leviticus 24:16 

    Anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death. 

4) He was calm and his face was like the face of an angel.  His face was glowing and shining by the spirit.

Acts 6:15 

   “All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”

5) The enemies of God are like roaring lions waiting for crouching on God’s people.  But when we are full of spirit and faith like Stephen, we can be calm and glowing.

Read verses 7:1-16.  What did the high priest ask Stephen? (7:1)  Where did the glorious God appear to Abraham what did he command Abraham to do? (2-3)  What did God promise to Abraham? (5, Ge 12:2-3, 7) Why did the patriarchs sell Joseph as a slave into Egypt? (9) Why is jealousy sin against God? How can we see God’s providence in the life of Joseph? (9-16)

Acts 7:1  Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?" 

2) Leave your country and your people

Acts 7:2-3  To this he replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. [3] 'Leave your country and your people,' God said, 'and go to the land I will show you.' 

3) Many descendents, blessing and land

Genesis 12:2-3 

    [2] "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;

    I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 

    [3] I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;

    and all peoples on earth, will be blessed through you."

Genesis 12:7 

    The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 

4) They were jealous of him (9).  Jealousy is rebellion against God’s sovereignty.

5)  God prepared for Joseph’s life through dream and helped him to know his plan in any circumstances.  God used him to preserve Jacob’s family in famine and raise them as a great nation in Egypt as he promised to Abraham.  

Read verses 7:17-29. When and how did God prepare the Israelites to leave Egypt? How did God save and educate Moses? (20-22)  How did the Israelites treat Moses? (25-27) How did their rejection of Moses parallel with their rejection of Jesus?  Why did Moses leave Egypt? (29) What training did he receive in Midian?  Read verses 30-34.  How and why did God call Moses? (30-34)  What is ‘holy ground’? (33)

1) God increased the number of the Israelites greatly and trained them by the new pharaoh.

2) God saved Moses by his parents’ faith and by the hands of the daughter of Pharaoh. He received the Egyptian royal education. Acts 7:22  Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. 

3) They did not accept him as a leader and deliverer.

Acts 7:25-27 

    Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. [26] The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, 'Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?' [27]But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?”

4) His murder was found. Acts 7:29 

    When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. 

5) A humble training as a shepherd.

6) God called him in the flames of a burning bush in the desert and appointed him as a ruler and deliverer.

 Acts 7:30-34 

    "After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. [31] When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord's voice: [32] 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. 

    [33] "Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground. [34] I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.' 

    

7) The ground was not holy by nature but was made so by the divine presence.  Holiness involves being consecrated to the Lord’s service and thus being separated from the commonplace.

Read verses 35-43.  What did Moses do as a ruler and deliverer? (36)  What were the living words and the promise which Moses received and passed on to his people? (37-38)  How did their forefathers begin the history of disobedience and rejection? (39-41) How did this continue and what was the tragic result (42-43)?

1) He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the desert.

2) He told them God would send a prophet like him from his own people and gave them the living words of God, which passed on to his people. 

Acts 7:37-38 

    "This is that Moses who told the Israelites, 'God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.' [38] He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us. 

3) They rejected Moses’ commands and disobeyed him.  They made an idol in the form of calf and worshiped it.    

4) Their disobedience and idol worship resulted in Babylonian captivity. Jealousy, pride and disobedience result in tragedy.

Read verses 44-50.  What did they have in the desert (44)? Why was it called the “tabernacle of testimony”? (Ex. 25:16, 21) What was the history of the temple? What did the prophet say about it? (Isa 66:1, 2) How does this answer one charge regarding their accusation: “speaking against the holy place” (6:13)?  Why does the Most High not live in houses made by men? (48-50) 

1) They had the tabernacle of testimony in the desert.  

2) The primary contents of desert tabernacle were the ark of the covenant and the two covenant tablets it contained, which were called “Testimony” (Ex 25:16, 21)

Exodus 25:16 

    “Then put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you.” 

Exodus 25:21 

   “ Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you.” 

3) David prepared for it and his son, Solomon built it.  

4) God the Most High does not live in houses made by men because the temple was the creation made by men.

5) The risen Jesus had now replaced the temple as the mediation of God’s saving presence among his people and as the one (the place) through whom they (and all nations) could come to God in prayer.

6) Jesus’ death on the cross replaced the animal sacrifices in the temple and the risen Jesus now mediates between God and men.

Read verses 51-60.  How did Stephen rebuke them? (51-53) What does ‘stiff-necked people’ mean? What were their sins as well as their fathers’? (52-53) What was the main point of Stephen’s message? (53)  How did they respond to Stephen’s message? (54)  Whom did Stephen look up to at the critical moment and how did he testify? (55-56) What was their response to his testimony? (57)  Why did they put their clothes at the feet of Saul (58)? What do you think the role of Saul was in this event? (58, 8:1, 1Ti 1:13) 

1) Stephen pointed out their stubbornness and sins like their forefathers who disobeyed Moses and killed the prophets. 

Acts 7:51-53 

 "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! [52] Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him-- [53] you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it." 

2) Unbending to God’s plan and insisting on their own ideas due to their prides.  Resisting the work of the Holy Spirit.  Proud and unrepentant heart.

3) They had consistently resisted the Holy Spirit and disobeyed God’s servants.

    God sent the righteous one and their pride caused them to refuse and resist as their ancestors did to Moses and the prophets.

4) They were furious 

Acts 7:54 

    When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 

5) He did not see their angry faces and looked up to heaven and the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Acts 7:55-56 

    But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. [56] "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." 

6) Acts 7:57 

    At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 

    

7) Saul may have been deeply involved and been in charge of this event behind the scene. He may have been a ring leader for this group.  After this event, he was the most ardent persecutor for the church.

Acts 7:58 

    dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 

Acts 8:1 

    And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.

    On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.    

1 Tim. 1:13 

    Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 

    

When he was being stoned, how and for whom did he pray to Jesus? (59-60) How did his prayer resemble Jesus’ prayer? (Lk. 23:34, 46)  What was the promise to him who is faithful, even to the point of death? (Rev. 2:10) 

1) He prayed to Jesus

Acts 7:59-60 

    While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." [60] Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep. This prayer is more powerful than suicidal bomber’s hatred.

2) Luke 23:34 

    Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 

Luke 23:46 

    Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.   

3) The crown of life.

 Rev. 2:10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. 

 Epilogue: The Holy Spirit guided the Church to spread beyond Jerusalem through this event.  The martyrdom of Stephen was the catalyst for this.  Amen 

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