Considering His Story

Acts 7

August 8^th 2010

People, and times, change. We do not live the same way as the people of the Bible. In some ways we do not think in the same way that people of the Bible. Our society seems vastly different than the ones we read about in the scriptures. Many of the cultures recorded in the bible kept record of history in an oral format. They did not rely primarily on written texts, they spoke history to each other. In an oral culture history is everything but we live in a technological age and information is for the moment. Information comes to us without context and, if it is useful for the moment, we fit it into our processing and move on. We google and go and often forget the information that we just gathered. Searching for information is not enough, if we find other information that we prefer we use that information. Our society is creating episodic thinkers – people who think only of the moment with little or no connection to the past or future.

Episodic thinking, however, has dangers. When we live without context we do not learn from history and we repeat mistakes. Episodic thinking also disconnects us from others and isolates from thoughts outside ourselves. The worst part of it is that episodic thinking can disconnect us from God and His word, leaving us without a path to follow when we have spiritual questions. When we live without considering history we live without considering His story.

A pattern that I am seeing in the sermons within Acts is that the gospel is presented as being foretold, with evidence, including the bad news before the good news, and then calling people to action. The basics of this pattern have been seen in 5 sermons that Peter presents from chapter 2 – 10 which we have spent time looking at over the last two weeks.

This week I want us to look at parts of the sermon that Stephen presents in Acts 7 on page 1701. Stephen uses history as evidence of the good news. Acts 6 tells us that Stephen was chosen with 6 others to make sure that the Greek widows were taken care of. Within this discussion he is referred to as "a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit (vs 5) and "a man full of God’s grace and power (vs 8)." With good comments like this it is no wonder that the corrupt spiritual leaders of the time wanted to discredit him and minimize his influence. This, of course, backfires and then they bribe false witnesses so that they can have him killed. He is accused of saying that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the temple and change the customs that Moses handed down to the Jewish nation (vs 14). He is treated as a spiritual traitor and heretic so they want him killed but before they kill him they make the mistake of asking him a question.

Acts 7 (Page 1701) begins with a question from the High Priest: "Are these charges true?" Stephen then gives the evidence, the historical evidence, that pertains to the good news of the resurrection of Jesus, and he does so for 53 verses!

Let’s pick up some of the highlights:

Stephen begins with the call to Abraham to leave his country for the Promised Land Stephen reminds his audience of the promise to Abraham that the messiah would come from the line of Abraham (7:1-8).

Verses 9-19 speak of God working in the life of Joseph while verses 20-38 show how God used Moses as a deliverer. Verse 39 says "But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt" which leads to the making of an idol in the form of a calf while Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments from God on Mt. Sinai.

The history moves quickly and from verses 44-50 the conquest of Canaan, the Promised Land, the time of the judges and kings are all wrapped up and the focus becomes the Temple that Solomon built and the belief that God was contained within it. This leaves the religious leaders as lion tamers with God being the lion that they control as they desire.

The idea of God being contained draws sharp criticism from Stephen and so we read these words in 51-53:

Stephen used history to show that the religious leaders who thought that they had God under control have always resisted the Holy Spirit. He then accuses them of killing Jesus, the promised Messiah, which leads to his being crushed to death by stones.

How effective was the message? Well, Peter when he speaks in Jerusalem in chapter 2 of Acts has 3000 people repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Later on in Acts 4:4 we read of another 2000 repenting and being baptized in the same way. So how do things work out for Stephen? How many people does he convert with this history based sermon? We do not read of any people surrendering to God because of this sermon but it does seem to have an eventual impact on the Saul because when he preaches as Paul his sermons are arranged in a similar format.

How are you with history?

How do you use history as evidence for your faith?

Can you lay out the basic flow of the Bible?

Can you put dates with the Exodus, Judges, Kings, Prophets and the phases of captivity for the North and the South?

How much confidence do you have in understanding and explaining the OT? NT?

How well do you know secular history and the role that people of faith have played in it?

If you did not score yourself too highly on these questions maybe this kind of history is not your best form of history but I want to encourage you to gain more confidence in this area while you share another form of history that tends to be more beneficial to the people that I often study with. I challenge you to be great at using you’re his story and helping others see God’s hand in their history.

Considering his story can include sharing your testimony and sharing how God has had his fingerprints in your life. It can mean looking back at key moments, people, or places where you have left standing stones as reminders of God’s action in your life. It can mean sharing the highs and lows of your life so that others can see that God has been with you the whole way.

This week you can take time to write out your walk with God. When did you start to know him, who helped you along the way, when did you surrender to him as Lord of your life, how has he helped you, what is His story within your story?

Then there is the other side. Helping people look through their own life to see God’s fingerprints. This occurs when we are asking people questions that take them from the moment back or forward in time to see God at work and to plan how they want him to live through them in the future.

History is important because we do not just live in the moment and our lives are intertwined with others. It is not coincidence, it is God-incidence so challenge yourself to see God at work and give Him the glory.

Next Week: Paul is asked to provide a message of encouragement – Maybe you know someone who needs encouraging as well? Acts 13:13-52 page 1714.