Luke/Acts for Beginners, lesson
number 17, the persecution of the church, the first part. There's a whole section
that we will do on this, Acts chapter six, verse one to 7:60. So far in this book Luke
has focused his attention on Peter and Peter's ministry and the persecution
at the hands of the Jewish leaders. Beginning in this chapter Luke brings
the church and its inner workings to the foreground. So let's look at our outline,
shall we. Look at our outline to see what point we have reached in our story. So
we've had Peter's first sermon through all the great things that are taking place
on Pentecost, post-Pentecost, the ministry. The persecution of Peter and the
Apostles begins, today, persecution of the church. And Luke is now going to
describe events taking place and people who are part of that first congregation
of the church in Jerusalem. So let's begin reading chapter six, verse one, it says,
"Now at this time, while the disciples "were increasing in number, a complaint
arose on the part of the Hellenistic "Jews against the native Hebrews, because
their widows were being overlooked in "the daily serving of food." So it seems
that after they were set free, the Apostles continued their work in
Jerusalem, where is it is estimated that the church is now 20,000 plus
people, very large group of people. Now we read previously that members sold land
and donated the proceeds to the church, and here we see one of the ways that the
church used this money and that was to provide food for the widows that were
part of that group. I've done a quick count of our congregation, about
400 people here, and we have about 25 widows. Four hundred people, about 25 widows.
Imagine a church 20,000 plus people, how many widows you would have? What a
challenge that would be to service? And apparently the
distribution and care was taking place on a daily basis. Once in a
while somebody has some surgery and the ladies and
well, various families will go to their house and bring some
casseroles, get them by for a couple of days. Here, every day they were
ministering to these women. Now, apparently this distribution in care was
taking place, as I say, on a daily basis, expensive and time-consuming.
Now the Hellenistic Jews were not Greek converts to Judaism, they were Jews who
were born outside of Israel. So note that Luke refers to the Jews born in
Israel as native Hebrews, to make this distinction.
So these Hellenistic Jews were converted to Christianity. Now we don't know why
the widows of the Hellenistic Jews were being neglected, doesn't give us a reason.
Perhaps the rapid growth of the church caused some to be neglected,
perhaps the Hellenistic Jews were sensitive to the fact that all the
church leaders, meaning the Apostles, were native Hebrews and any difference in the
treatment of their people was easily seen. People are sensitive,
aren't they? People are sensitive in any organization, but in the church as well.
Sometimes we take offense. Sometimes for no reason, but sometimes for
good reason. So Luke does not comment on the legitimacy of their complaint, only
that things came to a head with their complaint because it revealed, rather, it
reached the ears of the Apostles. So we get to the solution. "The
twelve summoned the congregation of the "disciples and said, "It is not desirable
for us to neglect the Word of God in "order to serve tables." So it's
interesting to note that it seems that the Apostles themselves were actively
involved in caring for the widows at this point. And they conclude that this
task was crowding out their more important work as leaders and
teachers in the church. Remember, they're just kind of finding their way here. The
church is established, but unlike us, they don't have the scriptures to go to and
to read, to find out. They're kind of making their way
here. Even today elders and preachers often find themselves
overloaded with tasks and responsibilities not connected with
their primary task of teaching and preaching and ministering
to the flock. So this problem moved them to begin
delegating some of the work they had been doing and establish a structure for
this young church. So let's continue reading, "Therefore brethren select from
among you seven men of good reputation "full of the Spirit and of wisdom whom we
may put in charge of this task, but we "will devote ourselves to prayer
and to the ministry of the word. "The statement found approval with the
whole congregation and they chose "Stephen, a man full of faith and of the
Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, "Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a
proselyte from Antioch. And these they "brought before the Apostles; and after
praying, they laid their hands on them." So the Apostles, first of all, established
some qualifications for those who were to be chosen. Men, Luke uses the specific
term referring to males. He doesn't, it's not mankind or just people in general,
but he specifies males. And I make a quick aside here, they could have
established a precedent here for sisters in Christ, for females to serve as
deacons. I mean, if there was ever a moment for this to happen, this was it
right here. And why not? I mean, serving food to other widows, it would seem
to me that this is a task more easily done by women. Women-to-women
type thing. And yet, the Apostles chose to have only men do this.
Not simply serving, but men to serve in this task, as the deacons. They were
to choose seven men, not nine or 15, seven. They said the Apostles determined that
seven men would be required to do the job properly. Imagine, seven deacons for
just one responsibility. They were to be spiritually mature men, full of the
Spirit. And those who possessed wisdom. In other words, they knew how to apply or to
use the knowledge that they possessed. So knowledge is understanding, knowledge of God's Word, God's will.
Wisdom is how do I apply that knowledge in a proper way. A lot of times we're going to choose a man to serve as deacon who's a good
carpenter. Yeah, let's get Billy. Billy's a carpenter, come on. He's got his
own, he's got his own business, he's got tools.
What better guy to get as a deacon? He's got tools, he's got time, come on. Let's get
that guy. Or Joe, who's a bookkeeper. Thinking that how this man is able to
serve the church is the primary quality that this person should have. And yet,
when I read here, I didn't see the Apostles saying, are there any caterers
in the congregation? Are there any cooks? Anybody runs an inn? How about farmers,
who have access to food. Have we got some of those guys? They don't mention that at
all as qualifications. Peter's criteria only names spirituality and wisdom as
the things to look for in a potential deacon. Of course, Paul elaborates on this later on in Timothy, but for now. Then Apostles instructed
the church to select the candidates for deacon. The church had to choose men who
were both spiritual and wise to be considered for the role of deacon. The
term deacon, just a simple translation, actually originally meant a waiter.
Somebody who waited on tables, a servant, a minister. All these words refer
to the same thing. Now, I'm not saying you can't choose a man who's a carpenter.
I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that the primary qualifications that they set
forth was that he be a man full of the Spirit and wisdom. It's okay if
he's a carpenter or a farmer. That's great that his skill perhaps matches the
need at the moment, but that's not the primary qualification. That's the point
I'm trying to make here. The Apostles would authorize the men selected and
vetted by the congregation to serve as deacons. And this they did how? By prayer
and the laying on of their hands, in order to commend them into service.
That's the order that we see here, the pattern established in the book of Acts.
And it's the order that we follow here to select and
to commend deacons into service. So the results, it says, "The Word of God kept
on spreading; and the number of the "disciples continued to increase greatly
in Jerusalem, and a great many of the "priests were becoming obedient to the
faith." This is what Luke writes, but what he doesn't write, is interesting. What
he doesn't write is, and there was a division in the church, and there was
infighting because of the trouble with the food distribution. Because
if that problem got to the ears of the Apostles, it means there was a
problem going on, there was murmuring, there was dissatisfaction, there was
gossip, there was trouble. And yet, the results that Luke writes is, Wow, the
church just kept on growing. Well, the church doesn't grow when there's
division and trouble. So Luke says the Apostles returned to their essential
work of prayer and teaching and we see the results of this renewed effort as
Luke records the continued growth of the church. Luke also mentions that the
gospel is impacting the higher levels of society by this time,
society and religion, as some priests now are beginning to
come to the faith as well. So now the persecution begins, as always.
When everything's going great, watch it, in the church. And that's not just in the
first century church, that's in a 21st century church. If everything is going great, the
pews are full, we're making budget, it's great, people are being
baptized and we're doing good works, watch it, trouble ahead. Exactly what
happens here. In Acts chapter six, verse eight and nine, Stephen is arrested. Remember the same
Stephen who was appointed as a deacon. It says, "And Stephen, full of grace
and power, was performing great wonders "and signs among the people, but some men
from what was called the Synagogue of "the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians
and Alexandrians and some from Cilicia "and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen,
but they were unable to cope with the "wisdom in the Spirit with which he was
speaking. Then they secretly induced men "to say, 'We have heard him speak
blasphemous words against Moses and "against God.' And they stirred up the
people, the elders and the scribes, and "they came up to him and dragged him away
and brought him before the council." So Luke notes that beyond his work as a
deacon, Stephen also performed miracles and thus the first member of the church,
aside from the Apostles, to do so that is recorded. So we learned later on that the
ability to speak in tongues and heal others and work miracles was transferred
to believers by the laying on of the Apostles hands in Acts chapter eight, verses 14 to 18.
We will read that when we get to that part. This is most likely how
Stephen received his ability to do these things. He already was mature spiritually
and wise, which explains his ability to preach and teach and
debate with the Hellenists. Now Stephen himself was a Hellenistic
Jew converted to Christianity. And he was now attacked by other Hebrew Hellenists ,
who considered him a traitor for his conversion. They tried debating him
unsuccessfully and so they resorted to the same tactics used to have Jesus
arrested, same playbook, same playbook. Oh, he's talking against Moses,
he's defiling the law, he's trying to destroy our religion,
he's guilty of blasphemy. So they stir up the people with lies and
this provides the Jewish leaders an opportunity to arrest him. And of course,
if he's doing miracles and he's strong in the Word, he's got a higher profile,
doesn't he? Now the way that Satan works is attack the leaders, attack
the leaders, attack the elders, attack the deacons, attack the ministers, get those
guys first. If you can break those guys down - have you ever been to a church
where the preacher runs off with one of the members' wives? Have you
been to a church like that? I hope not. But if you've ever been to a church or
heard of a church, what a blow that is to that church. The evil one didn't
have to hurt any of the 1000 members, he just has to get the guy up in
the pulpit, or he just has to get one of the elders to fail, to fall. What a
blow that is to the church. What a discouragement that is. So same thing, get
Stephen, he's rising up, he's powerful in the Word, let's get that guy. So in Acts
chapter six we read, the trial begins, it says, "They put forward false witnesses
who said, 'This man incessantly speaks "against this holy place and the law; for
we have heard him say that this Nazarene, "Jesus, will destroy this place and alter
the customs which Moses handed down to "us." And fixing their gaze upon him all
who were sitting in the council saw his "face like the face of an angel." So once
before the Jewish leaders several charges are brought against him
which are nearly the same as the ones brought against Jesus. It worked
then, let's try it again. Luke only records the various
accusations, but no evidence, notice there was no evidence for Jesus, and here
no evidence. Since there was no evidence to support the accusation,
only false witnesses who lied in order to condemn him. Very much like
Jesus, Stephen did not debate or defend himself against his accusers. Perhaps
included in His promise to provide His disciples with the wisdom to answer
those accusing them when the time came along with this came the ability to know
when to say nothing as well. Jesus promised His Apostles,
they'll take you in front of judges and they'll scourge you. And He said, don't
worry, I'll let you know what you have to say at the right time. And I
think along with that promise was also and I'll let you know when to say
nothing. So we get Stephens' response, Acts chapter seven, verses one to 53. I just want to
read a couple of verses of that, "The high priest said to him, 'Are these things so?'
Stephen said, 'Hear me brethren and "fathers, the God of glory appeared to
our father Abraham when he was in "Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran and
said to him, 'Leave your country and your "relatives and come into the
land that I will show you." So prodded by the high priest to speak
and answer the charges, guilty or not guilty, which they would have
dismissed to find him guilty and punish him anyways, Stephen instead begins a
long monologue that proceeds to tell the story of the Jewish people beginning
with Abraham and his initial call by God to leave his home and to come to the
land of canaan. He summarizes their history and heroes as well as God's
dealing with them as His chosen people. He brings the story to the present
day and he concludes with the same accusation that Peter made when he and
the other Apostles were dragged before these very same people. So we skip
forward to Acts seven, verse 51, he says, "You "men who are stiff-necked and
uncircumcised in heart and ears are "always resisting the Holy Spirit. You are
doing just as your fathers did, which one "of the prophets did your
father's not persecute? "They killed those who had previously
announced the coming of the Righteous "One, whose betrayers and murderers you
have now become. You, who received the "laws ordained by angels
and yet did not keep it." So his accusations are harsh, but true.
First they were stubborn, hard-hearted, and completely unspiritual. Uncircumcised of heart, meaning you don't have the spirit. They
were disobedient, resisting God's Spirit. They were as evil and disobedience as
their forefathers. He's saying to them, the prophets that God sent to
announce the coming of the Messiah, you killed those guys. You not
only killed those guys, you killed the Messiah when He finally
came too. So they not only killed the prophets sent to announce
the coming of the Messiah, they also killed the Messiah Himself. And
they received the divinely appointed law, but they did not honor it or keep it. So
Stephen's indictment of them is complete: guilty in the past; their ancestors in
the past acted as they did in the present. Guilty in the present of killing
their own Messiah. And he leaves out the future because the judgment to come for
their sins is evident, but not spoken. So we read and we go forward to seven, verse 54,
it says, 'Now when they heard this they "were cut to the quick and they began
gnashing their teeth at him." So his accusations, they hit home and they
experienced extreme emotion - cut to the quick, sawn in two; another way of
saying that they were sawn in two, they were cut in half. Gnashing of teeth,
they were grinding their teeth, suppressed rage. Despite this, however,
they don't make a move against him as he is still able to speak. its own verse 55
he says, "But being full," or rather, Luke says, "but being full of the Holy Spirit
he gazed intently into heaven and saw "the glory of God and Jesus
standing at the right hand of God and he "said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened up
and the Son of man standing at the right "hand of God." Now, in His mercy
and knowing what is to come, God gives Stephen a vision of the heaven
that he's about to enter as his reward for being faithful unto death. Note that
Luke mentions twice that Jesus is standing at the right hand of God, thus
signifying His authority. Every time any writer in the Bible talks about
the right hand of God, he's talking about authority and power.
Some commentators and commenters suggest that Jesus is standing to welcome the
first saint and martyr to reach heaven. Since the church was established on
Pentecost Sunday, and remember, this is a deacon. I'm not disparaging
deacons here, I'm just saying, the first martyr was a deacon. Any man selected to
serve as a deacon has been selected to serve in an honorable ministry. Verse
57, "But they cried out with a loud voice "and covered their ears and rushed at him
with one impulse." It's one thing to accuse them to their faces of
rejecting the Messiah, after all, Peter had done the very same thing and every
one of the 25,000 disciples in Jerusalem had basically done the same
thing by accepting Christ. Now, however, this man was claiming to
actually see both God and Jesus in heaven. This was now blasphemy in their
eyes. And it was to raise himself up, as one who could see God in
the heavens. So they would hear no more. And in a rage they moved to silence him.
"When they had driven him out of the city, "they began stoning him. And the witnesses
laid aside their robes at the feet of a "young man named Saul. They went on
stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord "and said, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'
Then falling on his knees he cried out "with a loud voice, 'Lord, do
not hold this sin against them.' Having said this, he fell asleep." Note that the, quote, trial did not follow
the normal procedure of a vote or a 24-hour cooling-off period before
pronouncing sentence, especially one that required execution. That was according to
their own law. If you pronounced a person guilty and worthy of death,
you couldn't sentence him on the same day. You had to take a 24-hour period and
then come back, a time to sober thinking. Think things over, and then you pronounce the sentence.
Not to mention the fact that the Jews were not permitted to execute criminals.
They had to go through the Roman officials, as they had done with
Jesus. This was not a trial, this was an angry mob taking the law into their own
hands and murdering someone in an act of rage. Now, I believe that there were no
repercussions. What they did was not only against Jewish law, it was against Roman
law. But I think the reason there were no repercussions: one, Stephen was not a
high-profile person like Jesus. Let's put it that way,
or even the Apostles. And he had not come to the attention of Herod or Pilate. And
even if Christians complained and brought charges, they couldn't do so to
the Jewish leaders for obvious reasons. And they dared not approach Pilate after
what happened to Jesus. So Luke chooses to introduce Saul, whom we know becomes
Paul the Apostle, at this point of his book, as one who minded the cloaks of
those stoning Stephen. Now, the witnesses were those who testified
against Stephen, and according to Jewish law, these men were required to cast
the first stones as the ones who had witnessed the crime for which the
person was being stoned. So if you were a witness to this person - yeah, he did it,
he's guilty, I saw him do it. Then that person is convicted of death by
stoning, then you, the witness, have to be the first one to throw a stone. That was
a serious business if you were a witness against someone, then you had to
participate in that person's execution, Deuteronomy, by the way, 17
verse six. So in this case these people were adding murder to the sin of perjury
that they had already committed. Now Stephen is not afraid of dying because
he is absolutely sure where he's going, to the point where he calls on the Lord
to receive his spirit. It says, he fell asleep, signifying that he entered the
period of waiting until Jesus returns. And what must have been hard for the
Jews to bear, Stephens final words are not a cry for help, they're not a curse
on his attackers, but like Jesus, a plea to God to forgive those who are in the
process of killing him. Can you imagine that? I just read a short article
about an individual who was executed, I don't know where, in some state, but
anyways, he was executed and they asked him, they always ask the person, do you have any final words? He was being executed by lethal injection
and they asked him, do you have any final words? And a lot of times at that
moment they either say no or they say well, I want to ask
forgiveness from those who I've harmed, and I apologize. God please.
Last words. Well, this person, they asked him if he had any last words and he
started to curse. And he cursed the ones who were killing him, he cursed the ones
that were putting him to death, he cursed the state. And the article said he kept going until he finally passed out and then he
died, an angry, evil man. I mean, Stephen, he says, Lord please
forgive the ones who are throwing the rocks at me trying to kill me. In this
way, God provides us with a model for those who
will suffer martyrdom. We often say the New Testament has
patterns. A pattern for how the church should be organized, a pattern for
how we should take the communion, a pattern for how we should baptize. And
and I agree, absolutely. There are patterns for how we do things.
I believe the Bible also has a pattern for martyrdom,
as we see here. First, don't act like you're executioners. Don't act like
you're executioners. Secondly, keep your eyes of faith on Jesus, because He's the
one you're going to. Thirdly, don't exchange a few more years of life on
this earth for an early departure for heaven. And finally, forgive those who are
taking your life, because in doing so they may have a chance to see you in
heaven one day. Open the opportunity for them to be forgiven. When someone harms
you or hurts you, why should you forgive them?
Well, if you don't, the road to forgiveness is closed to them. You have
to open the doorway to forgiveness by forgiving them, so that at some point if
they cry out to God for forgiveness, He will forgive them. Important. All right, a
couple of lessons just from the material that we've covered today: Satan always
finds a way, doesn't he? Always finds a way. Notice that it doesn't take long
before Satan begins his attacks on the young church in Jerusalem:
Peter's arrested to keep him quiet, then all the Apostles are
arrested to remove the church's leadership, they're beaten, then stirring up trouble
in the benevolence ministry. Notice, the trouble wasn't in theology, it
wasn't in the teaching. It was in the benevolence. Imagine, you're trying to do
good, you're trying to do good, and that's the place where the trouble is going to
start. And you know why? Because I'll tell you something, nothing offends a person
more than being accused of doing something bad when they're trying to do
something good. That's the most hurtful type of accusation,
when in Christian love and kindness you're making an effort to do
something good or in service to someone else,
and somehow somebody mistakes that information and turns it into
something bad. That really hurts. And then, attacks, I'm saying that the
devil attacks, a dynamic servant of the church who is having an impact on the
people in the name of Christ, and it began almost from the beginning and has
continued throughout history to this very day. Those of you who have been
members of this congregation, you know what happens here sometime, and
every congregation. I've worked in many different congregations and sooner or later there's always trouble of some kind.
So Satan continually attacks the church, especially when it is growing and
bearing fruit. So we need to be on our guard, because we are growing and we are
bearing fruit of good works, many good works.
I always ask myself, when people come to see me and they say, well, I'm
thinking this and oh my I can't get this idea out of my mind, and I'm discouraged. I always ask them, I say, okay, who is talking to you? If your heart
is saying to you, you're no good, you're no good, you're not worthy,
you're just not a good person. You may be able to fake it to the other
people in the church, but I know me, the guy inside of you, I know you're no good.
And when they, people, come to me and tell me something like that, I always ask the
same question: who's talking to you? Is that Jesus talking to you? Really? Is that,
think now, have you ever heard Jesus say that - you're no good, you won't make
it, you're not good enough, you haven't done enough. That's not Jesus talking to
you, that's the devil talking to you. So Satan always finds a way to get to
the church and get to individuals in the church. And maybe my exhortation
here is try to decipher who it is who's attacking you. And number two, we will
see what Stephen saw. We will see that. Stephen saw Jesus at the right hand of
God, just moments before he fell asleep, the kind of death that believers
experience as they await Jesus's return and their awakening from sleep. We will
both see and hear Jesus at the right hand of God, saying, well done good and
faithful servant. That's what Jesus says. He's the one that says keep going, don't
quit, this is good. He's the one that says that's a 30-fold increase. Do you
understand what I'm saying? In the parable of the seed and the sower,
He says, the one who sews the seed on good soil,
he gets an increase thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold. We kind of pass over that
little passage there - 30, 60, 100. What's He telling us? You're not always going to
hit a home run out of the park. It's not always going to be a hundred-fold, your
effort to serve Him, your ministry, it's not always going to be a hundred.
Sometimes it'll be thirty or sixty or a hundred. That's what Jesus
said. He says to you, good effort, keep trying. That was a 60-fold effort, but don't beat yourself up, that's okay. This is what we'll experience a moment
after we are awakened by an Angel's trumpet in the call of the Lord, when He
returns. A word of encouragement, a word of welcome. Stephen was only a man, but as
the first Christian to die, God had shown him, has shown all of us through him what
to expect after death, no matter how we die: peaceful sleep,
a resurrection, and the ability to see and hear Jesus Himself, and a welcome to
heaven, a welcome to heaven. This is what I look forward to when I see the
world and the mess that is continually reported. There's
always been a mess. I just finished reading a book, a series of books that my
my daughter gave me on Winston Churchill. A very interesting character and
historical character, amazing human being. But the figure that kind of jumps
out at me is the number of people who died in World War Two -
forty million people. Forty million people died in World War
Two, military people and civilians. Forty million. Every major city
in Germany was reduced to ashes. London, the city of London, and major cities in
England, reduced to ashes. Forty million people dead. So let's try to get some
perspective. The difference between then and now is that then you read about that
in the paper that came out once a day or the radio that had the six
o'clock news. Today we have news and information bombarding us 24 hours a day.
Sometimes I wonder how would today's media, how could they
report 40 million deaths, when it's front-page news if Kim Kardashian
buys a new sweater. What would they do with 40 million people dying? So let's
not let the exaggerations and the huffing and puffing of the media today
discourage us. We live in a marvelous country. We're still free. You
know what, everybody was free to come here today and hear a lesson from the
Bible. And you know what, they were free to either come here and hear a
lesson from the Bible or go across the street or go across to that one.
We might not agree with everything, but one thing I do agree with, isn't it
wonderful that everybody has a choice. All right, so that's our lesson. We'll
stop at Stephen because there's a whole other dynamic that begins after Stephen's
death and we'll continue that. And there's the bell. Our reading assignment
for next week, Acts chapter eight, verse one to 9:43. Always appreciate you reading ahead,
because as I say, I don't always read all the material in class. Thank you,
that is our class for this morning. Thank you. you very much for your attention
