Friday 27 January 2012

Day Thirty-Five

If you have 5 minutes!
Read Acts 7:54-60 & Matt. 6:19-21
54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 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.” 57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 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.
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
In recent years, there has been marked protest against more traditional presentations of the gospel, caricatured as “going to heaven when you die.” Few Christians, I’m sure, have ever totally held this perspective; rather I imagine that all acknowledge the impact that the gospel has on the “now” as well as the “not yet.” There have, however, been legitimate concerns raised that within western modern culture the gospel has become individualised and privatised thus, as John Finney – for example – concludes, we need the Church and its gospel to be ‘broader and deeper;’[1] we need to be more kingdom minded.
As Jim Belcher observes, however, this renewed emphasis on the Kingdom of God has led traditional critics to re-brand this protest as a contemporary form of ‘social gospel’ liberalism. Soon, they argue, such kingdom thinkers ‘will drop the cross and atonement altogether, and the gospel will be reduced to social action, obedience, moral living.’[2]
Now, while properly understood, God’s kingdom can never be divorced from the cross, the resurrection or Christ’s return, whenever a balance is redressed there is always the risk of going too far the other way. Thus there is perhaps a danger that those trying hardest to – rightly – broaden our view of the gospel to include issues like social justice, creation care, politics and so on could end up unwittingly narrowing it again by neglecting those elements of the gospel which have traditionally been stressed. In other words, while we must affirm organizations like Christian Aid and their important redress: “We believe in life before death,” we must too – as Christians – not forget that our faith is ultimately based on hope; a hope that breaks into the “now” in amazing and essential ways but also a hope that won’t be fully realized until Christ comes again.
  • In 2 minutes, how would you summarize the gospel? If possible, actually speak this out to someone and see what they think.
  • There are “now” and “not yet” elements to the gospel in that it massively impacts the present but won’t be totally fulfilled until Christ comes again. What is your bias in this regard? i.e. Which of these are you most likely to focus on and why? How can we help one-another to maintain a healthy tension between the two?

If you have a bit longer :-)
Stephen is often referred to as the first Christian martry. Sadly, today, many Christians face the threat of death or imprisonment for their faith. Spend some time praying for them. For help with this see www.opendoorsuk.org.


[1] John Finney, “Emerging Evangelism,” pg. 2.
[2] Jim Belcher, “Deep Church,” pg. 111.

Thursday 26 January 2012

Day Thirty-Four

If you have 5 minutes!
Read Acts 7:44-53
44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45 Having received the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46 who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human 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 where will my resting place be? 50 Has not my hand made all these things?’ 51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 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— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”
Having built brilliantly to his climax, Stephen now delivers the finishing blow: “You’re so concerned about the temple, which God did give to us, but God’s greater than the temple and was meeting with us way before it even existed! How could you ever think it could contain him? Further, as I’ve just demonstrated to you through my deliberately crafted quick-stop tour of our history, us Israelites have constantly missed what God is doing and so turned against the people he’s sent us – and even God himself. You stubborn, rebellious people! Can’t you see that in turning against Jesus you have turned against God? You accuse me of not keeping the law and dishonoring the temple but you’re the ones who’ve rebelled!” (Or something like that!)
Stephen is angry – in my imagination at least! He is in a volatile situation and yet, rather than backing down, he goes on the offensive and, as we’ll see in a bit, it doesn’t go down well.
In his very insightful talk on anger (it's no. 45), Tim Keller defines anger as “defending something you love.” In other words, in and of itself, anger is not a bad thing – it’s not a sin! On the contrary, anger is an expression of love and occurs when the object of our love is threatened or damaged in some way. Therefore, the rightness (or wrongness) of our anger depends on what the object of love is that’s being threatened. Often, Keller argues, that object is our ego!!! For Stephen, however, the object of his love is very right indeed – it is Jesus. Thus, he doesn’t stop to think of the consequences; he delivers a brave and poignant attack!
  • When and why do you feel angry? Spend some time praying and thinking about this and then ask God, by his Spirit, to help you to identify what the objects of your love are that feel threatened at these times?
  • Are there things in the world that you think you should feel angry about? Do you? If not, why not? If you do, how can you channel this anger positively?
  • How can we spur one another on to become more Christ-like in this regard (i.e. getting angry over the things that he would rather than just because we’ve been inconvenienced slightly, for example.)
  • Have you, like Stephen, ever felt angry because Jesus (or your faith in him) was being attacked in some way? How did you respond?
  • Stephen offended his listeners through what he said. I am very reluctant to risk offending people so find Stephen’s boldness challenging. What about you? Are you more likely to offend people unnecessarily or hold back from saying something it would be good for people to hear out of fear they won’t like it?

If you have a bit longer :-)
Listen to Tim Keller’s talk “Healing your Anger” (free on iTunes). It’s helpful and insightful.

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Day Thirty-Three

If you have 5 minutes!
Read Acts 7:39-43
39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’ 41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made. 42 But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:  “‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel? 43 You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon.
Stephen continues to turn the screw as he builds closer to his climax. Not only did the people reject God’s appointed deliverer – Moses – but, as soon as they were out of Egypt, they turned from God himself. Stephens then argues that this rebellion against God continued right through the Israelite’s history resulting in their exile into Babylon.
If you have a LOT longer!
Now perhaps you are very familiar with Israel’s history and know exactly what Stephen is referring too. However, maybe you are less sure! If so, hopefully the summaries below will help:

Quick Overview of Israel’s History

Timeline:


So hopefully you’ve all heard of David – the one who killed Goliath with a small stone?! Well, he was the most successful of Israel’s kings both in terms of his commitment to God and the unity that he brought to Israel and so under him, the kingdom was as follows:
Solomon then starts well and the kingdom prospers in wealth and wisdom. However, he also has lots and lots of wives and they slowly turn his heart away from God.
Then, in 930 BC the northern tribes rebel against Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, because he (foolishly!) says that he will reign more harshly than his father Solomon had. Alongside this human reasoning, however, God’s hand is at work as in 1 Kings 11, we see that the prophet Ahijah predicts this split and attributes it to Solomon’s rebellion against God. Thus, the kingdom now looks like this:
(NB. Benjamin was actually part of Judah so should be coloured green not orange!)
Israel becomes, in human terms, the more powerful and prosperous of the two kingdoms but has a succession of bad kings, all of whom rebel against God. God tries to draw the people back to himself again and again through sending various prophets: Ahijah, An Old Man at Bethel!, Iddo, Jehu, Elijah, Micaiah, Elisha, Jonah, Amos and Hosea. However, the people don’t listen and so, in 722 BC, Israel finds itself taken over by the Assyrians – again through the paradoxical union of human and divine factors! (i.e. God warns the people that this exile will be in judgment for their sins but how this actually comes about is through the human choice of the Assyrians to attack, some bad decisions by the Israelite kings and the fact that Israel was in an important and yet vulnerable location.)
Whereas, some time after Judah has been exiled, some of the Israelites are allowed to return home; with Israel, once they’re exiled that’s it! They’re not relocated back to Israel at some later date.

Judah’s History – A Summary of John Drane’s Summary! [1]

In terms of location, Judah was more secure than Israel, which – situated in the midst of major trade routes – existed in a more strategic and thus vulnerable position. Further, during its 192-year existence, Israel was blighted by a high turnover of kings, many of whom were assassinated by their successors. In contrast, Judah had the advantage of a set dynasty: that of King David’s line. Both kingdoms suffered, however, from the split and from the 50 years they spent fighting each other.
Once Israel had been exiled, Judah found itself in a far more vulnerable position. The border of the Assyrian empire was now less than 20 miles from Jerusalem, Judah’s capital. Further, Judah’s king, Ahaz, had pledged allegiance to the Assyrians in return for protection against Israel and Damascas – despite Isaiah’s protests! This caused difficulties for Judah. However, by the time Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah, took over, Assyria had become preoccupied with problems elsewhere giving Palestinian states, such as Judah, a greater amount of freedom. Egypt and Philistine decided to break away from Assyrian rule and tried to persuade Judah to join them. Hezekiah was wiser than his Dad though and, when Isaiah warned him that Assyria was not yet down and out, he listened. It was a good job that he did as Assyria soon crushed the uprising against them.
Hezekiah then led the nation in religious reform, within which he was no doubt politically motivated as well as religiously (establishing a distinctive Judahite identity would be important if any surge for freedom was going to succeed). He also strengthened Judah’s military and dug a water tunnel into Jerusalem in case of siege. Once the current Assyrian king had died (Sargon II), Hezekiah saw a chance for freedom and, this time ignoring Isaiah’s warning, decided to join the Babylonians and Egyptians in their revolt. This backfired and Judah soon found itself under Assyrian attack with Jerusalem spared only by a large pay-off! Jerusalem then found itself under siege, which ended when the Assyrians suddenly withdrew following some mysterious illness (2 Kings 18:17-19:37).
During the following years, whilst Manasseh (Hezekiah’s son) was on the throne, Assyria reached its peak – taking over Egypt’s capital and establishing itself artistically, intellectually and culturally. Judah was no match for its power and lived under its subjection, even worshipping its gods.
Assyria’s power then started to weaken and Manasseh’s grandson, Josiah, saw a chance to make a change. He followed in Hezekiah’s footsteps by implementing serious religious reform, even removing Assyrian alters from the former northern kingdom. The pinnacle of this reform came with the rediscovery of Israel’s law book (undoubtedly the book of Deuteronomy), which was found in Jerusalem’s temple (2 Kings 22:3-20). This led, in turn, to Judah’s recommitment to its ancient faith, as recorded in 2 Kings 23:1-3.
Meanwhile, the Babylonian empire was rising as fast as Assyria was falling, becoming the region’s superpower in 612 BC once Assyria’s capital, Ninevah, had been taken. Inexplicably, Josiah decided to get involved in all of this and was killed for his trouble. Judah then came under Egyptian control for a while before the Babylonians defeated them and took Judah as a vassal. Four years later, when Egypt regained some of its power, Judah decided to make a break for freedom – despite Jeremiah’s protests! This was a seriously misjudged move and the Babylonians responded by tightening their grip on the Egyptians and, in 586 BC, taking the Judahite king – and many leading citizens plus treasure – into exile in Babylon. The new king, Zedekiah, also refused to listen to Jeremiah’s wisdom and, when he thought the coast was clear, decided to side with the Egyptians and break away. It was a big mistake! After an 18-month siege, Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon’s king) and the main buildings in Jerusalem, including the temple, were systematically destroyed. This defeat left the people in intense theological shock.  It appeared that either God had deserted them or that Marduk, the god of Babylon, had prevailed.[2]
However, the devastating results of the surrounding nations’ political manoeuvrings and the kings’ foolish decisions were seen by Judah’s prophets as judgment for the people’s rebellion. In their eyes, it was the curses of the covenant that they were now reaping. This covenant, however, was one that could ultimately never be annulled. God would prove faithful thus, even in the midst of such extreme disaster, there was reason for hope.

[1] See John Drane, “Introducing the Old Testament,” Chapter 6.
[2] Daniel Block, “The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1-24,” pgs. 7-8.

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Day Thirty-Two

If you have 5 minutes!
Read Acts 7:30-38
30 “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 get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: 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, for 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.’ 35 “This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness. 37 “This is the 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 wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.
One of my favourite clips from the TV series “Friends” is the time Ross and Phoebe argue about evolution. Phoebe is not convinced by the theory but Ross is adamant it is 100% scientific fact. Phoebe then begins an effective series of arguments resulting in Ross having to admit that there is a chance this theory could be wrong. Her strategy is to go back through history pointing out where scientists have previously made mistakes…
“Wasn’t there a time when the brightest minds in the world believed that the world was flat? And up until about 50 years ago, you all thought the atom was the smallest thing – until you split it open and this, like, whole mess of stuff came out…”
She then delivers her finishing blow… 
“Now are you telling me that you are so unbelievably arrogant that you can’t admit that there’s even a teeny tiny possibility that you could be wrong about this?”
Ross concedes that there is!
Stephen’s strategy in his speech is not too dissimilar from Phoebe’s approach here. Like Phoebe, he looks back over history charting the mistakes people have made in the past in order to try and persuade his listeners that, like their predecessors, they are making shocking error here! Unlike Phoebe’s speech, however, Stephen has three main points to make.
Firstly, as implied from Abraham onwards – and explicitly stated in vv. 48-50 – the temple is not unimportant but it has never been the only place people have encountered God. On the contrary, arguably the most important God-encounters in the Old Testament, including Moses’ call here, occurred outside of its walls; even outside of the city within which it was based – in fact they didn’t occur in the Promised Land at all! Moreover, although the temple could be a place of worship, it becomes a place of idolatry when people start to see God as somehow contained within it.
Secondly, and more importantly, Stephen deliberately recalls Israel’s history in such a way as to draw attention to the Israelite’s inability to see what God is doing and their rejection of his chosen servants. This was implicit in the abrupt beginning to his retelling of Joseph: “The Patriarchs were jealous of Joseph…” In his recap of Moses, it is even more explicit with Stephen adding in additional details (absent from the Exodus text) to ram home his point further: e.g. v. 25 “Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not;” v. 35 “This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.” v. 37 “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.’”
Why is he doing this? Well, like Phoebe he is building to a grand climax. He is preparing the ground before pointing out to his opponents their biggest act of blindness and rejection of all; their rejection of Jesus.
Thirdly, although Stephen’s opponents have accused him of “speaking against the law,” in rejecting God’s chosen Messiah, it is ironically they who are guilty of breaking the law – not Stephen.
If you have a bit longer :-)
  • Do you think it was reasonable that the Israelite’s didn’t see Moses as God’s appointed rescuer following his killing of the Egyptian?
  • Think of another occasion when the Israelite’s missed what God was doing. Spend some time meditating on this event, imagining that you were there at the time. Try to imagine what it would have been like and how you would have felt. Do you think you would have seen God’s hand at work and responded positively to this? Or would you have reacted like the other Israelite’s who missed it? (e.g. Imagine that you are one of the Israelites waiting to invade the Promised Land when the spies come back with reports of how massive the inhabitants look. Would you press on regardless or would you – like the Israelites did – turn back in fear? Imagine you are living in the prosperity of Israel when the prophet Amos suddenly arrives from Judah [who you’re not on good terms with] to tell you all that God is angry with you. Would you believe Amos or just think he was scare mongering? Imagine you are a first century, devout, monotheistic Jew living in a hostile land within which your culture and faith are constantly under potential threat. Someone comes into your temple and tells you about a man called Jesus who, you’re told, was killed but then rose from the dead. This man is now God’s appointed means of salvation and so in order to be in a good place with God you have to worship this resurrected man and put your trust in him. Would you believe this person? Would you feel warmly towards them or would you – like Stephen’s opponents – see this movement as a significant danger to not only your faith but your whole community and way of life?)
  • As I reflect back on God’s works throughout the Bible I am very unsure that I would have been one of the ones who did get it; who did see that God was moving and respond positively to this. Of course I like to think that I would! However when I take the time to try and see it from the Israelite’s point of view, I often find myself more similar to them than I’d like to think. So, the challenge is this: how can we help one-another to be attune and open to what God is doing now?! How can we best ensure we are working with God and not against him? 

Monday 23 January 2012

Day Thirty-One

If you have  5 minutes!
Read Acts 7:20-29
20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his parents’ home. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. 23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 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? 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
When I look back over my life since finishing school, I have to admit that it could be read as something of a random hotchpotch! Since school I have worked for a year with an engineering company, studied sports science and physics, studied theology, taught English in Thailand, taught Life Skills to disaffected young people, looked after two children under 5, undertaken various roles within church (mainly teaching and preaching), taken on various temp jobs and taught sport (not in that order)! Despite the apparent randomness, however, I have been constantly amazed by the ways in which God has used all of these different experiences to shape and help me. I was particularly struck with this during my time in Thailand and had a clear sense that all the various bits and pieces of work I’d done up to that point had, in different ways, equipped me for what I was now doing. Even the various computer and organizational skills that I’d learned on my year in the engineering company proved invaluable, despite the fact that about a month into this job I was fairly sure that a career in engineering was not for me!
God does anoint and supernaturally equip people for the work he wants them to do. However, he also uses the mundane and perhaps seemingly random experiences that occur in our lives to prepare us for this calling. Moses is a great example of this as his upbringing was essential to God’s call on his life. I think this is brought out strongly in the film “The Prince of Egypt,” which clearly shows how Moses’ early life within Pharaoh’s household gave him the access that he needed later on. Further, Moses was educated in the Egyptian’s ways thus would have known how to address Pharaoh and best deal with the challenges he faced. On top of this, there is the suggestion that Moses was, in his younger years, somewhat rash. It is perhaps again significant that God didn’t actually call him until he’d had some 40 years away from Egypt to mellow!
  • Have a think back over your life. Are there things you’re doing now that God has clearly used your past experiences, upbringing… to prepare you for?
  • Do you have any ideas about what God might be preparing you for in the future?
  • In times of hardship, or when what we’re doing just seems boring or pointless, is there any comfort derived from reminding ourselves that, although we can’t see it now, God will be using this time to prepare us for what he has next?!

If you have a bit longer…
…and want to find out more about Moses, you can watch some videos that we made for BOC on Moses. They star the amazingly talented Hannah Scott and Claire Fletcher with some brilliant animations by our very own Micha B (and Becky Jordan as an excellent flip chart stand!).

Friday 20 January 2012

Day Thirty

If you have 5 minutes!
Read Acts 7:17-18 & 2 Peter 3:3-9
17 “As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. 18 Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’ 19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.
3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
As John Stott notes, “The Israelites’ exile and slavery in Egypt lasted for four bitter centuries. Had God forgotten his people, and his promise to bless them? No. He had warned Abraham of their 400 years of enslavement and mistreatment. But now at last the time drew near…
  • Imagine that you are an Israelite living 200 years into this 400-year period of slavery. How would you feel? What do you think your relationship with God would be like?
  • Are there times when you have waited a long time for God to answer a prayer? Are there prayers you’ve repeatedly prayed that you’re still waiting for God to answer? What does it feel like to wait? What does it mean to wait well? How can we help one another in this?
  • How do you feel about the fact that throughout history people have often had to wait long periods of time before God acts in the way they’ve been hoping for? Why do you think God didn’t act sooner here? Why in general do you think God doesn’t always act as quickly as we might want or expect him to?

If you have a bit longer :-)
  • Before reading onto the remainder of Stephen’s speech have a think about where you think he might be going with all of this and why.

Thursday 19 January 2012

Day Twenty-Nine

If you have 5 minutes!
Read Acts 7:9-16
9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace. 11 “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our people could not find food. 12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors on their first visit. 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.
Having reminded his accusers that God first established the Israelites long before there was any particular building in which he could be worshipped or particular laws they were to follow, Stephen moves on in his quick-stop tour of the OT to Joseph. It is interesting that Stephen here says nothing of Jacob’s favouritism, nothing of Joseph’s dreams or coat but leaps straight in with: “His brothers were jealous so they sold him;” probably an allusion to the jealousy of those who had previously opposed (see 5:17). Further, his use of the all-encompassing word, “trouble,” no doubt refers to the false accusations made against him by Potiphar’s wife (cf. those made against Stephen now!) and subsequent unjust imprisonment.[1]
His general theme continues, however, as he repeatedly stresses the location of God’s next big intervention: Egypt. Moreover, there’s still no temple, still no law and as yet none of Moses’ customs!
  • If you were going to give someone a quick-stop tour of the OT, which characters and stories would you include? Why? If you have time, it would be really worthwhile to actually write this out or speak it out to someone. You could even get them to do it too and compare who/what you picked out and why.

If you have a bit longer :-)
Regarding the story of Joseph in Stephen’s speech, Beverly Gaventa notes that given, “the multitude of details that might have found their way into this brief retelling, it seems peculiar that Stephen lingers over the death and burial of Jacob and his sons.”[2]
  • Why do you think this is?



[1] Beverly Gaventa, “Acts,” pgs. 122-123.
[2] Beverly Gaventa, “Acts,” pgs. 122-123.

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Day Twenty-Eight

If you have 5 minutes!
Read Acts 7:1-8
1 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true? 2 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 Harran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ 4 “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’ 8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
Okay, let’s recap the charges:
“We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God…This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
In other words, they claim, Stephen is speaking against Moses, the Law, the Temple and the Jewish customs. As Wright points out, all of these things were important distinctives of the Jewish faith, thus of particularly high value to them whilst living in a pagan world.[1] Further, as Beverly Gaventa observes, “Since the beginning of Acts, believers have gathered at the temple…but resistance to the word of God has also come from those identified with the temple. Now the question emerges: Which group rightly identifies itself with the temple and its traditions?”[2]
How does Stephen respond? Well what he says is in effect something like: “Right, so I’m trying to destroy the foundations of the Jewish faith am I? Well let’s look at what those foundations actually are! In fact, let’s go right back to when the Jewish faith started, which you all know wasn’t with Moses, it was with a man called Abraham…” He then goes on to talk about Abraham and how, through Abraham, the journey of God’s people began – within which, however, “the focus is less on Abraham than on God, whose initiative is central to every point Stephen makes.”[3]
  • Have a little audit of what aspects of your Christian faith and church life you see as incontrovertible. What would those things be and why?
  • Are there aspects to your faith and church life that you recognize could legitimately be changed but which you really like? How would you react if someone started to challenge those things?
  • How can you properly determine what aspects of your faith and church life you shouldn’t be willing to change even if challenged to do so and which it would be okay to alter?

No need to spend any longer ;-)


[1] Tom Wright, “Acts,” 103.
[2] Beverly Gaventa, “Acts,” 119.
[3] Beverly Gaventa, “Acts,” pg. 121.

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Dy Twenty-Seven

If you have 5 minutes!
Read Acts 6:8-11
8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. 11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” 12 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.” 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.
One of my most vivid childhood memories is of going to watch my younger sister in her school’s production of Joseph. My sister played the part of Potiphar’s wife. Her and Potiphar appeared for probably a maximum of 5 minutes in a play lasting over an hour yet, from my completely unbiased perspective of course, they stole the show! He was wearing a classic fake glasses, nose and moustache combo and put on a Monty Python-esque funny walk; my sister was scarily convincing as the would-be adulteress literally chasing Joseph around the stage. In that play, as in many others, the smaller characters had an impact far beyond what you would expect from their relatively minor role.
So too in Acts, Stephen appears for the first time at the start of this chapter and is dead by the end of the next. However, his impact is huge! His death not only appears to be a significant part of Saul’s later conversion (7:58) but, through his speech in particular, he in many ways lays the foundation for the vast explosion of the church out amongst the Gentiles – the journey to which Luke starts charting in the chapter following Stephen’s death. 
Thus, Stephen becomes one in a huge line of people whose relatively walk-on parts resonate into history with an impact far beyond what could possibly have been conceived at the time (see also, for example, the women listed in Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew; the widow in Luke 21 who innocuously makes her offering and, in doing so, becomes Jesus’ example par excellence of what it means to give… and so on!).
  • Can you think of more recent examples of everyday people whose lives/actions/words have turned out to have an impact far beyond what anyone could have expected at the time?
  • Does the fact that God works in this way affect your view of him at all? In what ways might it make you reassess the potential significance of your life and what God might do through you?
Stephen has already been described as a man of full of wisdom, full of faith and full of the Spirit; Luke now adds that he was also full of God’s grace and power. We are perhaps so familiar with these words being used together to speak of God – and by his Spirit those who serve him – that the slightly incongruous nature of their pairing easily passes us by. But how often in the world do we see this incredible combination in practice? Perhaps it is something we can pray we’d see more of! It is, however, fitting that it is this description of Stephen that precedes Luke’s account of the “great wonders and signs” that he did among the people; it is because God is powerful and gracious that he is both able and willing to intervene in people’s lives for their good. 
  • Maybe choose one person you know of who is in a position of power and ask God to help them also have grace.

If you have a bit longer  :-)
Whilst writing on this section, Tom Wright laments the vehemence with which he, and other Christian writers and speakers, are often attacked if they dare to suggest anything new! Conversely, he notes, those on the more radical end of the spectrum can become similarly obtuse if he affirms any aspect of tradition. He concludes: “as in several previous generations, people today find real debate about actual topics difficult, and much prefer the parody of debate which consists of giving a dog a bad name and then beating him for it, and then lashing out, too, at anyone who associates with the dog you happen to be beating at the time.”[1]
In line with this, whilst at Bible college, I was shocked by how easily my whole view of a particular theologian could become tainted by just one comment. I would find myself in a quandary as to whether I should even bother to find out what else they might think because I was so put out by one thing they had written about x, y or z. I was surprised by the amount of effort required to remind myself that just because I disagreed with them on some things it did not mean they would not be a useful source of help!!! This is in part reflective of an unhelpful leaning that I have towards black and white/all or nothing thinking. However it is, I think, also indicative of a wider problem within our modern day society, which is that we’re perhaps not that good at disagreeing! Thus, for example (and to be a bit provocative!), one could argue that the meaning of the word tolerance has made a subtle shift from “agreeing to disagree” to just “agreeing” or, if not, staying quiet.
  • How do you respond when hearing or reading something that you disagree with?
  • We haven’t had a scale for a while so where would you place yourself on the following:




[1] Tom Wright, “Acts,” pg. 103.

Monday 16 January 2012

Day Twenty-Six

If you have 5 minutes (or maybe 10!)
Read Acts 6:1-7 & some of John Stott’s thoughts on these verses
1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” 5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose 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. 6 They presented them to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
The devil’s next attack was the cleverest of the three. Having failed to overcome the church by either persecution or corruption, he now tried distraction. If he could preoccupy the apostles with social administration, which though essential was not their calling, they would neglect their God-given responsibilities to pray and to preach, and so leave the church without any defence against false doctrine.[1]

[1] John Stott, “Acts,” pg. 120.

Three friends decided to go deer hunting together. One was a lawyer, one a doctor, and the other a preacher. As they were walking, along came a big buck. The three of them shot simultaneously. Immediately the buck dropped to the ground and all three rushed up to see how big it actually was. Upon reaching it they found out that it was dead but had only one bullet hole. Thus a debate followed concerning whose buck it was. A few minutes later a game officer came by and asked what the problem was. The doctor told him their reason for the debate. The officer told them he would take a look and tell them who shot it. Within a few seconds the game officer said with much confidence, "The pastor shot the buck!" They all wondered how he knew that so quickly. The officer said, "Easy. The bullet went in one ear and out the other."
Okay, so with the preaching jokes I could justifiably be accused of going for quantity over quality but the point I want to make is this: preaching doesn’t always have the best reputation! Perhaps understandably; I’m sure most of us have sat through sermons we don’t understand, go on for hours or are just plain dull.
However, just as the destruction of your favourite song through bad karaoke doesn’t put you off music for life, so too with preaching, we must be wary of letting our bad experiences taint our view of preaching all together. We must not throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak (nor get this particular saying the wrong way round, as I just did but fortunately corrected before it could be read!).
On the contrary, Jesus’ first followers were adamant that God’s Word must be faithfully taught thus we can be sure that this particular ministry is as important now as it was back then. Perhaps some of the ways this is done might be different – we now have access to resources they wouldn’t have dreamt of! – but one way or another, if Jesus’ church is to have health and life, the Bible must be taught and learned.
However, as Stott goes on to observe, the apostle’s resolute prioritizing of preaching and praying doesn’t mean they viewed practical care and administration as being in any way inferior. Rather, he notes, “it was entirely a question of calling.”[2] Both roles had to be fulfilled by Spirit-filled people and both appear to have been full-time responsibilities.

  • Open Heaven is blessed to have an administrator known to be “full of the Spirit and wisdom” in the form of the wonderful Lizzie Bullen. Spend some time today thanking God for her and praying the God would continue to bless her service to his church?
  • Within your walk with God, how much do you prioritise engagement with him through the Bible and prayer? What practically could you do this week to develop further in these areas?
  • Remember that Open Heaven has loads of great teaching material within its website!
  • Also, on the internet, you can access a wealth of Bible teaching. My personal favourite is my Dad! Less biased recommendations would include Tim KellerHaddon Robinson and the very helpful Bible Fresh website. (NB. If you’re reading this on the Acts blog,[6] please sign in and leave a link to any good talks you’ve listened to in the comments box below.)

If you have a bit longer :-)
Regarding the practical problem that arose in Acts 6, Tom Wright notes: “the apostles were quite clear what they should not do. They shouldn’t at once rush to do the work themselves…they must delegate.”[1]
  • Do you find it easy to delegate or do you tend to take on too much yourself? If you take too much on, why do you think this is? What can you do to improve in this area?

The apostles were able to make a quick and decisive decision to delegate because they were clear on their primary calling: to preach and pray. Thus, one way of managing more effectively what to say “yes” and “no” to is to have a clear sense of your gifting and passions.
  • What would you identify as your primary gifting and passion? (Or maybe identify a top three).
  • Looking back over the past month, what proportion of the things you’ve taken on would fit into these central callings? Are there any things you’ve said “yes” to that have hindered your effectiveness in these key areas? NB. The point of this is not to say that we should never do anything that doesn’t fit with our main calling(s). On the contrary, it is important we are willing to take on things that need doing even if they are not our best fit. Rather, the point is that we need to manage our time so that the things we are primarily called to don’t get neglected.


[1] Tom Wright, “Acts,” pg. 99.

[2] John Stott, “Acts,” pg. 121.