Stephen is Seized, Acts 6:8-15

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 21

Acts 6:8-15

Stephen is Seized

  1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. Stephen, a servant in the Church, is a bold preacher. From a Greek culture and a Greek speaker, he boldly begins to enter synagogues in Jerusalem that accommodate Hellenized Jews from various parts of the Roman Empire.
  7. And Stephen is “full of grace and power” and though we wish we knew more, it is probable that his preaching was powerful, fearless, with signs and wonders accompanying.
  8. The religious authorities are now driven to extremes; Stephen must be stopped. They resort to dishonest means to do so. If more and more are joining with the believers in Jesus, and now from the Hellenized Jews, it can only be trouble.
  9. Stephen is arrested (seized) and brought before the Council of Israel, the Sanhedrin. False witnesses are brought in who testify that Stephen is blaspheming Moses and God, charges if proven would allow them to execute Stephen without Roman approval.
  10. A second set of charges is that Stephen preached against the Temple and the Law. The Temple in that the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:1-2 were misunderstood or twisted, and the Law in that is was proclaimed that Jesus fulfilled the Law. (see Matthew 7:13-14)
  11. These indeed, if true, are revolutionary words. And the idea that Jesus would “destroy this place” clearly put Him and His followers into the category of dangerous traitors.
  12. At that very point of false testimony, the face of Stephen was altered so that he looked angelic. What is this?

 

Seven Chosen to Serve Acts 6:1-7

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 20

Acts 6:1-7

Seven Chosen to Serve

  1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. “The disciples”—the first time Luke uses this term—more than 5000, and they are students, disciplined students.
  8. The origin of our four gospels is here, first the oral accounts then written accounts, of the life and ministry of Jesus.
  9. And there is, of course, trouble in this early church to the point there are murmurings or complaints making their rounds and to the point it surfaces.
  10. The Twelve themselves are responsible for the problem. The Greek cultured widows are being neglected in the daily distribution of food. We do not know the details.
  11. Somehow the apostolic band was engaged in actual food distribution and needed to be relieved of this job.
  12. Seven men are to be selected from among the congregation to correct the oversight. Was their bias involved?
  13. Seven men with good reputations, filled with the Holy Spirit, and wise, are brought forward. They each have Greek names and are likely all “Hellenists” or Jews coming from the Graeco/Roman culture. One of the seven is Nicolaus who is not even Jewish, but a Gentile proselyte to Judaism—this is quite revolutionary.
  14. Luke uses this opportunity to introduce Stephen and Philip both of whom will figure large in the fledgling Church.
  15. The Twelve lay hands on them, a time honored Jewish practice (see Ex. 18:17-26 & Nu. 27:16-18). This is what will come to referred to as ordination—a setting aside and not an anointing of the Holy Spirit.
  16. The result is continued growth in the numbers of disciples.

The Apostles Arrested and Freed, part 2 Acts 5:33-42

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 19

Acts 5:33-42

The Apostles Arrested and Freed part 2

  1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. In part 1 we find that the Twelve, due to their refusal to cease preaching Jesus, are arrested and put into prison. By the agency of an angel, they are set free and proceed to the temple to continue their preaching. They are discovered again, re-arrested and brought before the Council. The Apostles again refuse to obey man rather than God.
  8. The religious authorities are completely enraged. If the Apostles are right, and Jesus is the Messiah, their lives and work are rendered meaningless and errant.
  9. Gamaliel, a respected Pharisee, grandson of the great Hillel, head of the school or which Paul was a student, makes a dramatic and conciliatory presentation.
  10. “If” Gamaliel argues, the Twelve have it all wrong, their movement will ‘probably’ fail. The second “if” is not a maybe but a surety, but if the Galileans are right and it is of God, nothing can stop it.
  11. This is not the truth of God since many, hundreds plus, false religions exist and their mere existence counts for little or nothing.
  12. The council agrees to Gamaliel’s proposal, and the Twelve are set free.
  13. The mindset of the Apostles’ is extraordinary, they leave the Council rejoicing. And their rejoicing in that they are counted worth to suffer dishonor because of Jesus-the name.

14.       And again, they refused to stop preaching Jesus as the Christ, meaning they could end up in real trouble.

The Apostles Arrested and Freed, Acts 5:17-42

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 18

Acts 5:17-42

The Apostles Arrested and Freed

  1. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
  2. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
  3. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  4. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  5. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
  6. First Peter and John but now the Twelve Apostles are arrested and brought before the Council of Israel—and the trouble is their preaching Jesus as raised from the dead.
  7. An angel sets the 12 free, and we see very little of angelic ministry from this point forward. The angel of the Lord instructs that they go to the temple and preach Jesus.
  8. Once the Council discovers the 12 missing, they are re-arrested and brought back for an interrogation.
  9. How confusing it must have been for the leaders of Israel. If the followers of Jesus were right, then their whole structure and reason for living was nullified and more than that, error.
  10. Peter, as spokesperson, will not budge and insists it is their duty to obey God rather the Council. This, understandably, enrages the august body to the point they are ready to kill the Twelve.
  11. The bloodshed was prevented by Gamaliel, the chief teaching rabbi of the school of Hillel. Paul, still Saul, is one of his students.
  12. The wise cleric counsels moderation. He recalls others who rose up against the established order and were eventually defeated. The idea is that the same would be true with the followers of Jesus the Galilean.
  13. There was the possibility that the Council might even be found fighting against their own God. Leave them alone; let the results of the Jesus movement be the proof.
  14. The Apostles were beaten (see Dt. 25:1-3) then set free.

These immediately continued preaching Jesus in the temple and from “house to house.” Courage under fire for sure