The Essential Question (Part 3): The Church Is PersecutedSample

Courageous Evangelism

Prepare: Spend some time thanking God for the people you know, either personally or from history, who have sacrificed to enable you to know the good news about Jesus.

Read: Acts 7:20-8:1a

Reflect: Whenever I hear someone preach about Moses, I can't help thinking of Charlton Heston in the movie The Ten Commandments. Coming down from the mountain, he was all strong and righteous, holding up those stone tablets into the wind. For me, Moses is an Old Testament superhero. But in our current passage, Stephen adds some details that don't fit the Hollywood script: Moses was a kid from a broken home who went to a fancy boarding school, and had anger issues and a messiah complex (Acts 7:20-26). Complicated guy.

What was Stephen's point in rehashing the Moses story? He was using it to carefully inch toward a conclusion he knew his audience didn't want to hear. In addition to the realistic picture of Moses, notice how Stephen also highlighted the way the chosen people reacted to Moses, their divinely commissioned deliverer (Acts 7:35-36). Israel had a history of rejecting its saviors. Hmmm. Then Stephen quoted Moses himself predicting a prophet who was yet to come, a clear reference to the Messiah (Acts 7:37). This implies that preaching about Jesus Christ was not disrespecting Israel's history and religion, it was fulfilling it. Now wait just a minute!

I think something must have happened between verses 50 and 51. Maybe the crowd's body language showed they weren't listening. Or maybe one of the religious leaders booed or spoke out. We don't know. What we do know is that in verse 51, Stephen took off the gloves and let them have it.

This raises an interesting question: When, if ever, is it appropriate to verbally attack those who have different religious beliefs than ours? Since the church was born its history has been filled with arguing and division. I think the often-overlooked New Testament book of Jude gives us some helpful guidance. In writing about false teaching that was damaging the church, Jude counsels that we should "contend for the faith" with the false teachers, but "be merciful to those who doubt," that is, the average church member (Jude 1:3, 22). Perhaps the reason the church is so divided today is that we've reversed those two approaches.

In any case, Stephen concluded his sermon with a riff of point-blank accusations. You're all a bunch of proud, Spirit-opposing, hypocritical murderers! Makes for an awkward coffee hour. But it didn't really matter how he ended because this sermon was the last straw for a crowd that was already out to get him. Even as he died, Stephen continued to be a witness for Christ (Acts 7:55-56), which further infuriated his opponents.

Luke ends this story like a good movie director, giving us a quick glimpse of a new character (Acts 8:1), someone we'll be hearing much more about soon. But for now Luke lets us ponder the courage and impact of Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, who became the church's first martyr. Sadly, he wouldn't be the last.

Apply: Think of a person you know who is hostile to the Christian faith. On a piece of paper, make an outline of the way you'd make the case for Christ to that person. Now, pray that God would give you an opportunity to do so.

The Essential Question (Part 4): The Good News Changes Lives

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