Acts of the Apostles - Lesson 6

• Today we begin the story of Stephen

  • Commonly known as the first martyr of the Church

    • He was also the first deacon

    • And deacons have traditionally played the role of martyr ever since

  • The story has two parts or divisions, which follow neatly in two chapters

    • Chapter 6 tells the story of why and how Stephen received his appointment as well as Stephen’s witnessing of the Gospel

    • Chapter 7 covers Stephen’s martyrdom, including his famous monologue summarizing God’s plan for redemption

      • At the end of Chapter 7 we also see a hint of Luke’s second main character in the book of Acts

      • Stephen’s story becomes the link between Luke’s protagonist in the first part of Acts (Peter) and his protagonist in the second half of the story (Paul)

• To start, we need to finish the final two verses of Chapter 5, which set the stage for the events of Chapter 6

Acts 5:41 So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.
Acts 5:42  And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

• After the second trial and flogging of the apostles, they went back to the brethren

  • They had been beaten and threatened with more severe punishment

  • Yet they left rejoicing

    • The reason for rejoicing was the way the Lord had counted them worthy to suffer shame for His Name

    • Jesus Himself had told the disciples that they would be blessed when persecuted

Matt. 5:10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matt. 5:11 “Blessed are you when people  insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
Matt. 5:12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

• The disciples knew this, and as persecution came upon the apostles, they naturally rejoiced

  • Truly, it was an honor

    • The honor comes from how God is using our life to mirror His Son’s life, in particular mirroring His sacrificial death

    • Not every Christian is granted this honor

    • And the apostles rejoiced at having been counted worthy for that honor

  • God purposes in granting it now and in this way it seems to be preparation for what will follow in Chapter 6

    • The leaders of the early Church were the Apostles

    • But the Apostles were hardly the only ones who would suffer persecution

      • And God has determined not to bring the Apostles to death too quickly, since they were needed to build this early church

    • So it stands to reason that other disciples would be appointed to be among the first to die

    • That leads us into Chapter 6, where we encounter Stephen

  • So the Apostles gladly ignored the command of the council and kept teaching and preaching, which kept growing the church

Acts 6:1 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.
Acts 6:2 So 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.
Acts 6:3 “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.
Acts 6:4 “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Acts 6:5 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.
Acts 6:6 And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them.

• So at this time the church is growing

  • And with growth comes growing pains

    • Christians are people, and anytime people gather, relationship difficulties can develop

    • And the solution to disunity is strong leadership

  • Here we’re witnessing the second example of internal threats to unity within the early church (the first being Ananias and Sapphira)

    • A complaint arose – the term in Greek is goggusmos, which means to murmur or secretly complain

    • It tells us that discontent was percolating and threatening to erupt into something more serious

  • The two groups involved were Jews from different origins

    • The first group are Hellenistic or Greek-speaking Jews

      • They came from outside the land of Israel and have returned to settle in Jerusalem

    • The second group are Hebrews

      • Which means they are Jews from within the land who speak Hebrew and Aramaic

    • There was long history of tension between these groups

      • Hebrews were more conservative and a bit haughty

      • Hellenistic Jews were more liberal and less likely to following the Law

  • Both of these groups had their respective widows

    • Widows were especially vulnerable members of society, and the church placed an emphasis on showing respect for widows

      • This may have been one reason why the church stood out positively in the culture

      • Especially against the backdrop of the Pharisees, who showed no regard for widows despite requirements in the Law to do so

    • The church supported widows by taking collections and distribution money and food to the widows to support them

• Somewhere along the way, this process began to fail

  • The widows of the local Hebrew Jews were receiving a disproportionate share of the support

    • The text says that the widows of the Hellenistic Jews were being overlooked or shortchanged

    • How would something like this arise? Who would have instigated it or permitted it?

      • Today, we would assume it was the fault of a church leader who was biased or incompetent

    • But at this point in the church’s history, there are only the apostles in leadership

      • And we know the Apostles weren’t the kind of men to condone this type of favoritism

      • So we can rule out the possibility that they were the cause of the favoritism

  • That means that the unfair distribution of food was the result of the congregation itself conducting the distribution in a biased fashion in favor of the Hebrew widows

    • It’s likely that the greater number of Jews in the Jerusalem Church were Hebrew

    • So the majority of the church body probably favored the Hebrew widows, naturally resulting in the unfair distribution

    • And when the Hellenistic widows raised a complaint, a dispute arose

  • We can see a pattern emerging here in Luke’s account

    • The enemy works to divide the church over temptations of money, possessions and honor or pride

      • Think Ananias and Sapphira

    • Or he works to intimidate the brethren through persecution

      • Which forms the second half of Stephen’s story

• This incident highlighted to the Apostles the need for additional leadership in the church to watch over the flock

  • So in response to the argument, the Apostles act

    • They bring the entire church together and announce the need for additional leaders

      • The reason for additional leaders is obvious

      • The needs of the church had grown beyond the capability of 12 men to handle everything

  • The Apostles express the need by saying it is not desirable (or pleasing) for them to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables

    • Let’s consider what the apostles are proposing

    • First, the word pleasing suggests that the apostles know there is an audience watching their actions

      • The audience is the Lord, of course

    • Secondly, the thing that will displease the Lord is neglecting the word of God for lessor

      • The highest levels of leadership in the church were to be primarily – if not exclusively – devoted to teaching God’s word

        • To do otherwise would not be pleasing to God’s word

      • Even something as important and loving as feeding helpless widows was not as important as teaching God’s word

    • Obviously, the need still had to be met, which is why the Apostles move to appoint deacons

      • But it’s worth remembering that the model presented here is that the role of a congregational leader – pastor –is to teach God’s word

      • And nothing should come before that duty (they were to be “devoted” to prayer and the word)

        • Other duties should be performed by other leaders

        • In my opinion, the pastor’s weekly schedule should be dominated by teaching and preparation for teaching

• So the apostle bring the congregation together and announce the decision

  • The announcement makes clear three things to the congregation

    • Teaching God’s word is preeminent in the church

    • Other needs will be met by other (lessor) leaders

    • These leaders have the backing of the apostles

  • The selection process was also placed in the hands of the congregation

    • Though we remember that Acts was not written as a manual for church operation, nevertheless this practice is consistent with Paul’s instruction in 1 Timothy and Titus

      • Suggesting that this practice for identifying leaders is intended to be a model

    • Here’s the model:

      • The pastoral leadership of a church is a plurality of teachers with manifest authority to conduct the church’s affairs

        • They are not beholden to the congregation

        • The sheep do not lead the shepherd

      • Since we do not have apostles today, we refer to these leaders as elders

    • Paul told Titus to appoint elders

Titus 1:5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint  elders in every city as I directed you,

• •  
  • So a shepherd appoints elders, based on their qualification to teach

    • The congregation selects deacons

    • Leadership from among themselves to minister to the other needs of the body

    • These lessor leaders also have qualifications, as Paul outlines in 1 Timothy and Titus

  • Here the qualifications are good reputation, the anointing of the Spirit

    • Reputation is martureo or witness or testimony

      • They must have a life and walk in faith that bears witness to godliness

      • It wraps up all that Paul outlines later in his letters

    • Then they must be full of the Spirit, which means having a life obviously under the control and direction of the Spirit

      • One thing (Spirit-led life) leads to the other (good reputation)

• The seven men selected are an interesting group

  • First, Stephen gets the most attention, because of his later focus in the chapter

    • Phillip is listed second because of his role in Chapter 8

    • The rest have no further mention in the Bible

  • All the names are Greek, indicating they were Hellenistic Jews

    • And one of them, Nicolas, was a Greek who converted to Judaism

  • This shows that the election of the deacons was clearly under the Spirit’s direction

    • We might have expected at least an even distribution of Hebrew and Hellenistic Jews

      • Or even a predominantly Hebrew selection

    • But it was all Hellenistic Jews, showing that the Spirit was working to correct for the biases in the group

  • Finally, they were confirmed in their ministry with a laying on of hands

    • This is an important step

      • The men are nominated by the congregation but appointed by the apostles (elders)

    • And the laying on of hands symbolically represents the anointing work of the Spirit

      • All authority and power for ministry comes from the Spirit

• Now look at the result of this step

Acts 6:7 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.

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• The word of God kept spreading because the apostles were freed from other responsibilities

  • This in turn led to the further increase of the church – and exceeding numbers

  • And now a new element

    • Priests, one after another, were coming into the faith

    • This is a remarkable footnote, because the priests of that day would have been Sadducees, since the Sadducees were in power during this time

      • And we see God adding to the church from among the ranks of their enemy in the city

    • And this revelation is likely the cause of the next episode of external threat to the church

Acts 6:8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.
Acts 6:9 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.
Acts 6:10 But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.
Acts 6:11 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
Acts 6:12 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.
Acts 6:13 They put forward  false witnesses who said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law;
Acts 6:14 for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.”

• Stephen is working in the full power of the Spirit

  • And he has evidently received supernatural power to perform miracles and teach with authority

    • We know in Chapter 8 that Phillip has been given similar powers, so apparently the seven deacons were equipped in a similar fashion

    • Stephen and Phillip are clearly not capable of these things prior to their appointment, so the power traces to the Apostles

  • This is an example of how the Apostles were able to appoint others to perform miracles

    • But these seven are never shown transferring those same powers further

    • It stopped with them because it had to originate with Apostles

  • Secondly, notice that Stephen is not depicted waiting tables

    • No doubt he did his fair share of table waiting, but it’s also likely that he and the other seven appointed others to that task

    • They were deacons, leaders

      • This meant they had responsibilities to lead and run the congregation

• Stephen encounters a group of Hellenistic Jews and proceeds to present the truth of the Gospel to them from Scripture while in a synagogue

  • This is the first example of the disciples preaching inside synagogues

    • Paul later made this his usual practice in every new city he visited

    • He brought the gospel to the Jew first, seeking the remnant, but then quickly moved to the Gentiles, his primary calling

  • Luke identifies these men as members of the Synagogue of Freedmen

    • Jewish records indicate there were somewhere between 390-480 different synagogues in the city of Jerusalem

      • This synagogue was founded by formerly enslaved Jews, who returned to the city

    • Other groups involved were

      • Cyrenians, which were Jews from North Africa

      • Alexandrians which were Jews from Egypt

      • Cilicia, which were Jews from Turkey

        • This last group included Tarsus, which was Saul’s (Paul) hometown

        • Perhaps Saul was in this group unable to argue against Stephen’s wisdom

• Since the men couldn’t win the argument, their pride was injured and their anger turned to conspiracy

  • So they stirred up others to spread rumors and lies

    • They accused Stephen of blasphemy

      • The literal blasphemy under Jewish law was speaking the name of God, which Stephen had not done

      • Instead they said he spoke against Moses and God, probably because he proclaimed the end of the Law

    • This led to the Elders dragging Stephen away and bringing him to the Council for yet another inquest

  • Stephen is accused before the council of two offenses:

    • Declaring the end of the Temple

      • Likely a repetition of Jesus’ own words, referring to the replacing of the house of stone with the Temple of the Body of Christ

      • This charge would have been an offense to the Sadducees who operated and protected the Temple grounds

    • Secondly, he is accused of destroying the customs of the Law from Moses

      • Certainly, this refers to the end of the Law now that grace has come in Jesus Christ

      • This charge would have incited the minority party on the council, the Pharisees

  • So the charges against Stephen are designed to make everyone mad at him

    • This sets the stage for Stephen’s persecution