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.
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