Acts - Week 4 / Monday

Reading for today: Acts 7:1-29

Stephen, one of the 7 men chosen to oversee the ministry of taking care of the widows, has found himself being used by God in some pretty marvelous ways. The miraculous power of God has been at work in and through his life, much to the consternation of the Sanhedrin. They ultimately have him arrested and false charges are brought against him. When we get to this 7th chapter, Stephen is allowed to defend himself against these charges.

His defense consisted of two points: 1) He describes the history of Israel, which the Sanhedrin would have known very well already, but he focuses on how Israel rejected God's plan on various occasions; 2) He reminds them of the past covenants between God and his people.

In the first verses, Stephen emphasizes the faith of Abraham, who believed God's promises even when he saw absolutely no evidence that it would be fulfilled. He also emphasized the way Joseph was sold by his brothers, yet was used by God to save their lives. The treatment of Joseph by his brothers parallels how the Jewish leaders (some who were undoubtedly part of the Sanhedrin) treated Jesus.

Stephen goes on to describe how Moses, being called by God to lead His people, was at first rejected by his own people when he came to their defense. The parallel is once again drawn here to the way the Jewish leaders failed to understand what God had done through Jesus in providing salvation.

This description of Stephen's words is a good reminder to all of us why it is so important to know God's Word. By simply relating the stories that were so well known to his hearers, Stephen is able to draw these men into these stories, and force them to see themselves.

When you and I are confronted by God's truth, we have the choice as to whether we are going to allow that truth to change us, or to react to the truth in destructive ways. We will see later in the week how the men of the Sanhedrin responded to the truth.

How about us? How are we responding to God's truth? Are we allowing it to make us better persons, or do we become defensive, and take a destructive posture, either to ourselves, or to the messenger of the truth?

Tomorrow: Stephen brings the hammer down!