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:

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[1] Tom Wright, “Acts,” pg. 103.

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]

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[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 Keller, Haddon 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.

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[1] Tom Wright, “Acts,” pg. 99.

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[2] John Stott, “Acts,” pg. 121.