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Past Ponderings

Sunday, December 9, 2018

PONDERING...How Do We Defend The Faith? (Acts 7)

How Do We Defend The Faith? (AM Sermon Notes)
GIST: Use God’s Word to answer objections and point to needs.
SCRIPTURE: Acts 7
Brace yourselves. This morning we’re tackling 60 verses☺️. Last week we looked at the arrest and trial of Stephen. He was arrested for faithfully proclaiming the Gospel which threatened how the religious leaders wanted to live their lives. Today, we’re going to look at his sermon response. It’s the longest sermon recorded in the book of Acts, and that’s not happenstance. There is much to be gleaned. Honestly, there is so much we could address from this passage, and I realize a 30 minute service likely will not do it justice. Therefore, if anything from this passage strikes you which I do not address here, I would love to talk about it with you afterwards (or message me).
For this morning, I want to look at what the passage was used to accomplish in this original context. It’s a sermon, but it’s also an example of what we call “apologetics”, or a defense of the faith. Looking at how Stephen faces this opposition tells us a lot about how we should as well. Therefore, I want to walk through what he does, and then look at what that means for us. The gist? Use God’s Word to answer objections and point to needs.

I. USE GOD’S WORD TO ANSWER OBJECTIONS
Verse one opens with the high priest asking Stephen to respond to the accusations which were brought before the council. "1 And the high priest said, "Are these things so?" Here are the→
Accusations: Blasphemy against God, Moses, and the Temple. Literally, this couldn’t get any worse! This is the description of ultimate blasphemy which was punishable by death (Leviticus 24)! Notice, however, that Stephen does not defend himself. His defense is just to answer their objections with the truths about Scripture. He’s not trying to make appeals to his character or justify his actions. Preserving his life is not the point here. Instead, he uses the reality of God, Moses, and the temple to point them to Jesus. Hold on to that, I want to come back to it in the takeaways.
Now, the bulk of this passage is his response. Essentially, he starts by addressing each accusation. He was accused of blaspheming God, and he shows that he has a→
Right Perspective on God (2-16) Look at verses 2-16, “2 And Stephen said: "Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,”
God of Glory. This phrase is very important. It actually only occurs in the Old Testament one time, and that is in Psalm 29. Stephen is about to demonstrate a strong grasp of Biblical History, and it starts here. This is a psalm they would have recognized, and it’s a psalm that spoke directly about the sovereignty of God over all creation. He is not devaluing God here.
Look and where he goes next, and let’s pay special attention to the special attention he pays to God☺️! “3 and said to him, 'Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.' 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect--that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 7 'But I will judge the nation that they serve,' said God, 'and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.' 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. 9 "And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. 14 And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.  (emphases added)
God of This History. At this point, Stephen’s audience would have been loving this. He was giving a bird’s-eye-view of their favorite story (*Note: which means he’s not trying to relay every detail). This is the story of which they were so proud! Yet, he makes it abundantly clear, it sure wasn’t these people who were orchestrating any of this. We’ll come back to that in a moment, but for now let’s just note that Stephen makes this point: the one constant was God alone; without Him, none of this marvelous history would have taken place. Stephen has the right view of God.
After establishing this, he moves on to the second objection and demonstrates a→
Right Perspective on Moses (17-43) This is the biggest section of his sermon. Let’s walk through verses 17-43. In an attempt to help us digest this as we go, I’m going to try and continue to underline the contrasts being made here between God and “the people”. “17 "But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. 23 "When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, 'Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?' 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' 29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. 30 "Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.' And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.' 35 "This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?'--this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, 'God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.' 38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. 39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, 'Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' 41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: "'Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.'”
Again, this is one of those sections we could look at from several different angles. For now, I just want to make these big picture observations. Stephen makes these two points very clearly. First, Moses was a→
Man used by God. He was a man, so he wasn’t perfect. He messes things up. He even tried to take salvation into his own hands...and killed a guy. Nonetheless, any success he had was completely from God. And this is made even more clear by the fact that he was a→
Man rejected by his people. We can’t miss the Jesus parallels he’s building in here. This is not the man the Israelites would have expected to rescue them. His Egyptian upbringing didn’t check their Hebrew boxes. Even after God chooses him, they reject him. They don’t want him to begin with. Then, when he’s on the mountain with God for too long, they get tired of his leadership...and start worshiping false gods! He was a rescuer the people didn’t want. Hm, sound familiar? Stephen has the right perspective on Moses, too, and is starting to work in his perspective on his audience’s role here, as well. Undoubtedly, their starting to pick up on this. Nonetheless, he moves on to his third accusation and shows that he also has the→
Right Perspective on the Temple (44-50) Look at verses 44-50, “44 "Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by 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 what is the place of my rest? 50 Did not my hand make all these things?'” He’s essentially making one point here→
The temple was made by human hands and not meant to contain God! This is the point when they might have started getting a bit resistant! Their view of the temple really border on, if not full on amounted to, worship. Again, Stephen demonstrates that this view, not his, was the one in error. God is meant to be worshiped, not any man-made structure.
So, after using God’s Word to answer their objections, he uses God’s Word to point to their needs.→

II. USE GOD’S WORD TO POINT TO NEEDS
Remember, his purpose is to point them to Jesus. They might want to kill him right now, but their need is greater than his because they are heading straight for Hell. He has the→
Right Perspective On Their Need (All & 51-54) Throughout his message his has been making this point: God has always been rejected by our people. Even the patriarchs got it wrong before they got it right. Before Judah’s line produced David, Judah was throwing his little brother, the one God had chosen to use, into a well! When Moses came on the scene, he tried to save his people by murdering an Egyptian, then ran away into the wilderness because the people didn’t want his help anyway! This had always been the case, and Stephen hammers this home in verses 51-54, “51 "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it." 54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.” He doesn’t mince words here. He says, “Listen, it has always been like this, and you’re doing the same thing now! God sent His Messiah, Jesus, and you killed Him--the one you need!”
He has the right perspective on their needs. They needed Jesus, so he tells them. He also just has the→
Right Perspective… Period (55-60). We could camp out here for sure, but let’s just briefly look at how his life ends: “55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep."
Speaking of perspective, notice who had a clear view of what was going on here(Paul)! We’ll be talking about him more in the coming weeks. For now, note that Stephen’s life ends→
Gazing At Grace. He lived his life with his eyes firmly fixed upon Jesus and died doing the same. What more could we possibly ask for?

TAKEAWAYS
1. Be ready to defend. Know what you believe and why. Here’s the apologetic key: know God’s Word! It is hard to stand for that which you do not truly know. Dig in and dig deep. There are so many resources in our society today. Grab me afterwards, and I’ll recommend a few!
2. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Let me close with these observations:
-The purpose of our defense is His proclamation, not any selfish need for vindication!
-This attitude impacts our interactions. We go out with gentleness and respect longing to see souls saved. Stephen desired to forgive even in the midst of hate!
-This perspective gives us strength. How do we face hostility?
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
 In the light of His glory and grace.”


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