Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran…” (Acts 7:1-2)

Stephen, a leader in the early church, was on trial before the highest council of the Jewish elders – the Sanhedrin. The high priest mentioned here was probably still Caiaphas, who also presided over the trial of Jesus (Matthew 26:57).

The high priest asked Stephen, Are these things so? He invited Stephen to explain himself considering the accusations recorded in Acts 6:11-14. Stephen was accused of speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God, and against this holy place [the temple], and against the law.

In his response Stephen gave a panorama of Old Testament history. We shouldn’t think Stephen instructed the Sanhedrin on points of Jewish history they didn’t know. Instead, Stephen emphasized some themes in Jewish history they may not have considered:

– The Bible says God never confined Himself to one place (like the temple).
– The Bible says the Jewish people often rejected those God sent them.

This really was not a defense. Stephen wasn’t interested in defending himself. He simply wanted to proclaim the truth about Jesus in a way people could understand. Stephen wasn’t trying to be acquitted; he wanted to clearly present God’s truth.

One of the charges against Stephen was that he spoke against the temple, and the same accusation was made against Jesus. Some of the Jewish people of the first century had made an idol out of the temple. They took something good – the temple and its services – and made it the entire center of God’s work. They thought so highly of the temple that it was a death-deserving sin to speak against it!

Stephen confronted this false and dangerous idolatry by remembering Abraham. Stephen explained, The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia. Stephen emphasized that the God of glory appeared to Abraham before he even came into the Promised Land.

Abraham didn’t need a temple for this revelation of the God of glory, and he didn’t even have to be in the land of Israel. God was greater than either. This explained why it was wrong for this council to put Stephen on trial for speaking against the temple.

It wasn’t as if God was in Canaan and Abraham was in Mesopotamia, and God said to Abraham “Come on over here so that I can speak to you.” God appeared to Abraham right where he was in Mesopotamia. He was the God of Israel and Jerusalem and the temple; but God was and is so much more.

Don’t think that you must go to a certain place for God to reveal Himself to you. We don’t go to church because it’s the only place God is; we go because that’s where His people gather. The God of all creation can speak to you right where you are today.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 7

And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. (Acts 6:5-7)

It’s not easy to deal with problems in the church, especially when one group feels mistreated. But in Acts 6, when there was a dispute over the treatment of Christian widows from a Greek cultural background, the Holy Spirit led the apostles to the right solution.

The solution was so good that it pleased the whole multitude. Both sides were happy!  We can’t say this was a good decision only because the people liked it. Yet, God confirmed the wisdom of the apostles through agreement among the people.

Luke, the author of Acts, listed the seven men. They all had Greek names, showing that they were probably Hellenists themselves. This showed great sensitivity to the offended Hellenists by appointing Hellenists to take care of the widows’ distribution.

After the seven men were chosen, they prayed for them, and they laid hands on them. It was important to lay hands on them even if their service was mainly for the practical needs of the widows. Practical service is spiritual service. The same Greek word is used for both distribution (Acts 6:1) and ministry (Acts 6:4). The idea behind the word in both places is service, whether in practical ways or spiritual ways.

Look at the wonderful result: the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. Considering all that could have gone wrong when Satan tried to attack the church through division, it’s wonderful that everyone involved did the right thing.

Those with the complaint, the Hellenists, did the right thing: They made the need known, instead of complaining and whining, and they trusted the solution of the apostles.

Those of the other party, the Hebrews, did the right thing: They recognized that the Hellenists had a legitimate need, and they trusted the solution of the apostles.

The seven chosen men did the right thing: They accepted the call to unglamorous service.

The apostles did the right thing: They responded to the need without distracting themselves from their central task.

Satan’s strategy failed. He tried to divide the church, and it did not work. Satan’s second strategy also failed. The apostles were not distracted from the focus of ministry God had for them – to focus on the word of God and on prayer.

Such grace was evident that even a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith – many priests were coming to Jesus!

When we are in seasons of potential division, let’s do the right thing – and see God do His great work.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 6

Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables…but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:2, 4)

A problem threatened to divide the young community of Christians. When one group felt their widows were being neglected by the church’s charitable work, the problem needed to be solved. Yet, the apostles insisted that they were not the ones who should directly meet the need.

The apostles explained, it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. This didn’t concern the actual serving of food and cleaning of dining tables for these widows. It was a figure of speech that meant the handling of the practical work involved in caring for the widows.

The apostles said that they should remain faithful to their central calling, which was prayer and to the ministry of the word. In the big picture, it would be wrong for them to spend their time administrating the practical needs of the widows.

Some people believe that this was evidence of a superior attitude among the twelve; that in their pride, they considered themselves above such work. I don’t think so. Instead, I think they were wise in delegating these responsibilities. God did not call these apostles to be everything and to do everything for the church. God has and will raise up others to serve in other ways.

Thinking about this in a modern context, we can say that a pastor should not have his time consumed in tasks that are essentially “serving tables.” Yet there is something wrong with a pastor who considers such work beneath him.

Yet, the apostles were not to do nothing – they had work to do, saying we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. The fact that the apostles busied themselves with prayer and the ministry of the word shows how energetically they did those things and how consuming it is to preach and pray rightly.

The ministry is a lot of work, even apart from administrative headaches. A young man said to Donald Grey Barnhouse, “I’d give the world to be able to teach the Bible like you.” Looking him straight in the eye, Dr. Barnhouse replied: “Good, because that’s exactly what it will cost you.”

To serve the needy widows well and to serve them fairly was real work. To give oneself continually to the word of God and to prayer was also work. One isn’t better than the other; each is good and valuable for God’s kingdom. What we need is a sense of God’s calling and gifting for our life, and a sense of what the Holy Spirit wants us to do. These early Christians understood their calling and did their work – do you? Doing what God has called and gifted you to do is the work that pleases Him.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 6

And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. (Acts 5:40-42)

The prestigious council of important men hoped they could intimidate the apostles into no longer preaching about Jesus. After a strong warning, they called for the apostles and then beat them.

When we read those words in verse 40, we wonder: “Just how badly were the apostles beaten?” According to some scholars, the word beaten in verse 40 can also be translated skinned; the beating they received stripped the skin off their backs. Another commentator wrote, “It was no soft option; people were known to die from it…. It was meant to be a serious lesson to offenders.”

Yet, even after such a severe beating, the apostles were not intimidated and they were not discouraged. Instead, they left rejoicing. They were not rejoicing that they suffered, but that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. It was a privilege to be associated with Jesus in any circumstance, even to suffer shame.

Because of this joyful association with Jesus, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. Whatever beating or shameful treatment the Sanhedrin gave them, it did absolutely no good. The disciples didn’t stop preaching for a moment.

This challenges each of us as followers of Jesus. They continued where we may have stopped. We often find the threat of social rejection is enough to make us keep quiet about who Jesus is and what He did for us. We need to have the apostles’ courage and determination to stand firm for Jesus Christ. We think that suffering shame for Jesus’ name is like a deadly poison that will kill us. Under the work of God’s Spirit, that shame heaped upon us for the sake of Jesus can instead be like a vitamin boost that makes us stronger.

The great preacher of Victorian England, Charles Spurgeon, spoke of this kind of bold heart: “Now, I charge every Christian here to be speaking boldly in Christ’s name, according as he has opportunity, and especially to take care of this tendency of our flesh to be afraid; which leads practically to endeavours to get off easily and to save ourselves from trouble. Fear not; be brave for Christ. Live bravely for him who died lovingly for you.”

I love that last phrase of Spurgeon’s: “Live bravely for him who died lovingly for you.” In the Western World, it is mostly only shame that we suffer for Jesus’ name. Let’s bravely endure what we must bear, standing with and praying for our brothers and sisters across the world who must bear much worse.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 5

But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

This was the second time that Peter stood before this council and gave such a bold answer. The previous time was recorded in Acts 4:19-20 when Peter and John said, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. Here, the apostles said the same thing in different words when they said, we ought to obey God rather than men.

Those words were a bold declaration. The boldness of Peter and the apostles was a contrast to the Sanhedrin. The men of that council were far more concerned about the opinions of men than obedience to God. Earlier in Acts 5 we read that many common people in Jerusalem had a positive opinion about the disciples of Jesus (Acts 5:13). We also read that the church was growing – many people wanted to become Christians (Acts 5:14). Because of this, the men of the council (who seemed so important and influential) were afraid to punish the apostles. They cared about pleasing the crowd more than pleasing God.

Because of this, what Peter and the apostles said was probably a shock to the men of the council: We ought to obey God rather than men. Those were remarkable words.

The apostles’ response to the council was not a defense, and it was not a plea for mercy. Instead, the apostles simply explained why they did what they did.

In general, the New Testament teaches that we should submit to those in authority over us. Yet submission on the human level is never absolute, and never is more important than the submission we owe to God.

We should obey rulers, but not when they contradict God. The Lord has established structures of authority and submission for the man and woman of God. But, as someone such as John Calvin explained, if a person in a position in authority becomes very disobedient and wicked, they give up the honor of being obeyed.

Every Christian should agree with Peter and the disciples: We ought to obey God rather than men. As Christians, we do submit to rightful authority, and we recognize that this kind of submission goes beyond only doing things that we would otherwise agree with. Yet, when normally rightful authority goes beyond their God-appointed place, our response is we ought to obey God rather than men.

The council that intimidated the apostles and told them to stop preaching was not master over the church – Jesus Christ is Lord. While we respect the work and authority of councils and mayors and governors and other leaders, we understand that Jesus Christ is Lord over the church and when God tells us one thing and human authority tells us something else, we ought to obey God rather than men.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 5