Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Have you ever felt the exhilaration of being selected for a very significant assignment or position? Do you remember the feelings of inadequacy but also excitement for the opportunity? Join me again back in Jerusalem, about 2000 years ago, as seven men have been carefully selected, by those in the spiritual ‘great awakening’ which was turning Jerusalem upside down since the arrival of the Holy Spirit during Pentecost. (Acts 2)
Yesterday we looked closely at the CRITERIA for their selection found in Acts 6:1-4. Today let’s look at WHO these selected men were? They were pioneers! Never before had a group of men been selected for such an assignment.
Acts 6:5 names them as “Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them.” The truth is four of them are very little known to us, but must have been well known to those who selected them: Procorus, Nicanor, Timon and Parmenas.
Nicholas from Antioch may have been a Gentile who converted to Judaism, and perhaps, as a devout worshiper of God, came to Jerusalem for the Shavuot/Pentecost festival. Nicholas may have been therefore, among those first 3000 who responded to Peter’s message and was baptized. (Acts 2:5,38-41) If only a few weeks later Nicholas was viewed as one who met all the criteria we looked at yesterday, that tells me this Nicolas dedicated himself immediately to learning all he could about Jesus from the apostles, and fully yielded himself to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in his life.
May I ask, how long have you considered yourself a Christian and how fast have you grown?
Philip is a fascinating man and we’ll follow him as he fled Jerusalem when a persecution broke out against these early Christians. Philip courageously traveled to share the Gospel of Jesus with Samaritans and even an African, an Ethiopian official! (Acts 8)
Stephen is the last of these seven remarkable men selected to care for the widows and serve this rapidly growing movement of new Jesus followers in Jerusalem. He seems to be a very unusual man of God. Stephen is described as: ‘full of faith and the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 6:5) and “a man full of God’s grace and power, who performed great wonders and signs among the people.” (Acts 6:8) Now, I wonder what those carefully chosen words describe as the reputation shaping activities and character of this man Stephen?
Sadly, then as now, evil people oppose even very good people who are a great benefit to the community. Acts 6 tells us opposition rose up against Stephen from other Jews, “But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave Stephen as he spoke.” (Acts 6:9,10) Now I wonder what that stirs up in your minds my friends? What moral courage, what spiritual wisdom, what clear articulation of truth, what Holy Spirit anointing of Stephen is described here? Do you know anyone like that today in your part of the world?
Sadly, opposition to truth can always find others to join its evil cause and that’s what happened as Acts 6 & 7 describe. Stephen was arrested and brought before that same angry group of religious leaders who had arrested, beaten and sent Jesus to be crucified. It’s also the same group who had arrested and interrogated Peter and John following the healing of the crippled man; (Acts 3) and then arrested the entire group of apostles, having them flogged and warning them not to speak any longer in Jesus’ Name! (Acts 5:40) Do you see the growing problem?
Obviously, these passionate followers of Jesus will not be silenced! And as the Sanhedrin interrogated Stephen the record describes him with these amazing words: “All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.” (Acts 6:15)
Now what do you suppose they saw, my friends? Was it a brilliance like the angel who opened the tomb and announced Jesus’ resurrection? (Matt. 28:3) Or the angels who explained Jesus’ ascension? (Acts 1:9,10)
In response to the hate filled questions shouted at Stephen, Acts 7 gives us the record of Stephen’s Holy Spirit guided response, retelling the history of God’s love for and persistent efforts to draw the people of Israel to Himself. Finally, Stephen’s conclusion was very powerful: “You stiff necked people… You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered Him…” (Acts 7:52) Oh my! Can you imagine the response of these devout, religious leaders who are accustomed to be revered not accused?
What is the most angry you’ve ever become? How did you behave? The record says these Sanhedrin holy men “were furious and gnashed their teeth at Stephen! But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven…and said: ‘Look, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:54-56) Pause. Did God enable Stephen to actually see all the way from Jerusalem into His throne room in heaven? Well, apparently so, and rather than Jesus seated on His throne at the right hand of the Majesty, as described in Hebrews 1:3, Stephen said Jesus was STANDING! What do you suppose that means?
Royals do not normally rise up from their thrones simply for a better view, nor do they rise up to honor someone, for they view themselves as the supreme one to be honored. But Jesus, God the Son, is different from all others who have or do sit on thrones.
Jesus is humble, not prideful, while still being supreme and sovereign overall. Jesus is attentive, not aloof to events impacting His people. Jesus is compassionate, not calloused to the pain of His people. I believe Jesus allowed Stephen to see that He was carefully watching what was transpiring, WHILE He was sovereign over this situation.
Furthermore, Jesus was preparing to receive Stephen into His presence for the record tells us those angry men of the Sanhedrin dragged Stephen out of that place and stoned him to death! Stephen became the first martyr of this great Jesus movement. (Acts 7:57,58) But Stephen was not killed by atheists nor by political activists nor by Gentiles angry at Jews. Stephen was killed by the same Jewish religious leaders who called for the crucifixion of Jesus while they should have been calling their fellow Jews to celebrate Jesus as their Messiah!
Now we need to pause and ponder all this, and the ‘lessons learned’ notes will help you deeply reflect, while the worship song will refresh your soul, and let’s meet here again tomorrow to see what happened next.
Today’s Scripture: Acts 6:5-7:57.
Choose below to read or listen.
 |  |
Acts 7
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.