Acts 6:8-15 Stephen is Seized

Stephen was not one of the apostles and yet God used him mightily! This man was full of grace and power. Of course, the grace is God's grace. God poured out his unmerited favor upon him in ways that were evident to the people who knew him. Also, God's power was in operation through his life. This was evident by the signs and wonders that he was doing among the people. It was not his own grace and power, but God's grace in operation working through his life on behalf of those who were in need.

Several Jews came together to dispute or argue with him, but they could not withstand his wisdom and Spirit. How many deacons you know in the church that are able to stop an argumentative Pharisee on his tracks? Not many! If any at all. Stephen's story gives me an inkling of the caliber of the workers of the Early Church. They were not newbies to the faith. They knew their stuff! And this is the product of increasing the Word of God! The Apostles dedicated themselves to their call to preach and teach and the people benefitted from that by growing in the grace of God to the point of being able to use it to preach and teach themselves.

One of my sins is spiritual gluttony. I want more and more of the Word of God, but for what? Do I make good use of it to minister to others in the body of Christ? or is it just to increase my head knowledge and say: "I know that." Packing in the Word of God and not using it to feed others makes me "fat." And I am not talking about faithful, available, and teachable. I'm talking about fearful, apathetic, and touchy. The accumulation of Scriptural knowledge for the sake of knowing alone has disastrous results. Instead of spurring on growth, it makes me stagnate in my spiritual growth. The kingdom of God is about service. Stephen understood this well and that's why the power of God was evident through his life.

But the world got fed up with Stephen and they framed him to bring him down. It was the only way to silence him - to make him a martyr. As he stood before the council listening to the many false testimonies spoken against him, God gave him more grace with the radiant look of an angel on his face. It seems to be a godly intervention on behalf of Stephen. But despite such a manifestation in his countenance, the council dismissed it after hearing his message and killed him anyway. Signs and wonders are not enough  for the world. Ultimately, if you don't befriend the world, it will take your life. We have been warned by Jesus that the world will hate us. We must be ready for this type of opposition and persecution. Am I ready?

Father, thank you for men like Stephen who give us clear example of what it is to live a life of faith in the midst of a threatening world. Grant me his knowledge, courage, and desire to serve at whatever cost.

Acts 6:1-7 Seven Chosen to Serve

One of the problems that the Early Church encountered was a lack of organization. The Apostles were trying to do everything including serving at tables to provide for the needs of the people. Pretty soon, they found they could not keep up trying to do everything. Frustration was setting in and complaints started to arise because some segment of the widows were being neglected. The effects of a lack of organization are felt throughout the whole body and something had to be done.

The body of Christ is certainly a living body, an organism, but it is also an organization. In order for the body of Christ to be effective in all its ministries and remain alive as a body, it is necessary to organize its functions properly to ensure proper execution. The Apostles were forced to set priorities in their ministry and they chose to do what they were called to do: to pray and to preach the Word of God. My priorities in ministry should not be any different - I must prioritize my call according to the gifts God has given. Understanding that serving at tables is very important, they decided to appoint capable people and delegated those functions that they couldn't do even if they tried.

Sometimes, it is not a matter of being able to do it, but able to do it well. The execution of the Apostles in the area of distribution brought criticism because they were not able to execute effectively. I'm sure that if they continued to try doing it, they would have lost many people in the shuffle. Sometimes, I neglect quality in the execution of ministry and the body suffers. One of the most important things in their efforts to organize is to establish the requirements for those people who are to execute the job. The Apostles came up with three requirements: have a good reputation, be full of the Spirit, and full of wisdom. The Church today needs to continue to enforce these requirements.

A good reputation is easy to enforce. A candidate's life and testimony should be an open book that speaks to the values and priorities of a person. But how do you enforce being filled with the Spirit??? My reading of Acts and the New Testament as a whole tells me that the essential "signs" of a person filled with the Spirit is boldness and courage to be a witness to unbelievers. This is the area of life that must be probed to determine fullness in the Spirit. Wisdom is also very evident in the life of a person. I must state clearly that it is not earthly wisdom we are looking for here, but heavenly wisdom. It is to make decisions according to godly principles in ones life and church sometimes at a great cost.

The final consideration for a proper organization is to know how many people you need for the job. In this case, the Apostles deemed it necessary to have seven men appointed for the task. I am sure that the number was the result of the need in the body of Christ. I wonder how would it have been if they had appointed only three persons. The number must be enough to cover the need.

Interestingly enough, the results of such a reorganization brought an increase in the Word of God and the number of disciples multiplied greatly. I am very quick to look at the number of disciples, but I don't think I've ever thought of the Word of God increasing as a result that I must measure. What is an increase in the Word of God? It is to saturate all of church life with the preaching and teaching of the Word. It is to have more preaching points to communicate the Gospel. It is to have more people trained to witness the good news of the Gospel. I must seek to increase the Word of God by prioritizing my work in the kingdom and organizing the efforts of the body of Christ.

Thank you Lord for your Church, your body on earth. Help me respond to your call and prioritize my tasks according to that call and do not allow me to be swallowed up by the urgent. Help me facilitate the reorganization of your local body on earth for maximum effectiveness for the kingdom. Amen

Acts 4:1-22 Peter and John Before the Council

The healing of the lame beggar was an indisputable sign from God. There were people who witnessed the healing. There were people who knew firsthand the beggar, who was over forty years old, and his condition. Though many people came to Christ as a result of the miracle (estimated 5,000), some still opposed the message. The priests and the Sadducees were annoyed with the preaching for different reasons. The priests opposed it because they didn't believe in Jesus as the Son of God. The Sadducees opposed it because they did not believe in the resurrection and did not like the proclamation that Jesus had resurrected from the dead. No matter how powerful a sign God may perform in our midst, there will be opposition.

Peter and John, after being arrested, were questioned about their good deed. The officials asked by what power they had performed it. Peter, filled with the Spirit answers that it was in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom they crucified, whom God raised from the dead. Now, this is what I call courage and boldness! Knowing that he was arrested by people who hate Jesus and the resurrection, Peter still pounds, without fear, the truth in their faces. This is the kind of courage and boldness I need in this world to make known the message of the kingdom of God.

The message of the kingdom is clear. Jesus Christ is the one killed and resurrected; the stone they rejected and God made him the cornerstone; the salvation of the world. For there is no other name in which we must be saved. Peter not only demonstrated courage and boldness in preaching Jesus' name and his resurrection, but he makes the claim that Jesus is the exclusive savior - there is no other. We think that a message of exclusivity is not accepted today, but in those days, there were many religions and some pagan religions had many gods. To make a claim of exclusivity was counter-cultural, even daring. The gospel of the kingdom does not have room for polytheism (many gods) or syncretism (mix of religions). I need to make a decision about Jesus: Is he or is he not the Savior of the world? If he is, I must proclaim him as the exclusive savior with resolve and unapologetically.

The Spirit of God takes uneducated, common people and transforms them into true witnesses to the world. People who are determined to speak the name of Jesus no matter the cost. Even under threat to speak to no one, they were more concerned with God's perspective - "whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you." What they had witnessed was so life-changing that they could not be silent - "for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." Have I truly experienced the saving power of Jesus in my life? If I have, what is holding me back from sharing the greatest thing that has happened in my life? If I fear something, it means I am not filled of the Holy Spirit. I need his fullness today, every day!

Father, send your Spirit and fill me up. May I boldly proclaim the name of your Son Jesus no matter the opposition. Grant me courage and boldness. Amen.