"Devoted" - Preaching at Harderwyk - Acts 6 - May 16, 2021

Resources For "Devoted" Series From Each Harderwyk Preacher

I. From The Commentaries On This Passage

Stephen’s belief about the Law and the Temple from John Stott, “The Message of Acts”

“What Jesus taught, then, was that the temple and the law would be superseded, meaning not that they had never been divine gifts in the first place, but that they would find their God-intended fulfilment in him, the Messiah. Jesus was and is himself the replacement of the temple and the fulfilment of the law. Moreover, to affirm that both temple and law pointed forward to him and are now fulfilled in him is to magnify their importance, not to denigrate it. ...

Stephen’s speech was not so much a self-defence as a testimony to Christ. His main theme was positive, that Jesus the Messiah had come to replace the temple and fulfil the law, which both bore witness to him. As Calvin put it, ‘No harm can be done to the temple and the law, when Christ is openly established as the end and truth of both.’ ...

What interests many people most about Stephen is that he was the first Christian martyr. Luke’s main concern lies elsewhere, however. He emphasizes the vital role Stephen played in the development of the world-wide Christian mission through both his teaching and his death.

Stephen’s teaching, misunderstood as ‘blasphemy’ against the temple and the law, was that Jesus (as he himself had claimed) was the fulfilment of both. Already in the Old Testament God was tied to his people, wherever they were, not to buildings. So now Jesus is ready to accompany his people wherever they go. When soon Paul and Barnabas set out into the unknown on the first missionary journey, they will find (as Abraham, Joseph and Moses had found before them) that God is with them. That is exactly what they reported on their return (14:27; 15:12). Indeed, this assurance is indispensable to mission. Change is painful to us all, especially when it affects our cherished buildings and customs, and we should not seek change merely for the sake of change. Yet true Christian radicalism is open to change. It knows that God has bound himself to his church (promising that he will never leave it) and to his word (promising that it will never pass away). But God’s church means people not buildings, and God’s word means Scripture not traditions. So long as these essentials are preserved, the buildings and the traditions can if necessary go. We must not allow them to imprison the living God or to impede his mission in the world.”

NT Wright on Stephen from “Acts For Everyone”

“But Stephen was going around Greek-speaking synagogues within the Jerusalem area, and the people he was speaking to weren’t trying to defend a position of power, since they didn’t have any. They were defending a worldview, a way of looking at things which coloured their whole life. And they saw the proclamation of Jesus as a threat to that whole way of thinking and living.”

“Stephen is claiming the high moral ground. He stands with Abraham, with Moses, with David and Solomon, and with the prophets, while the present Jewish leadership are standing with Joseph’s brothers, with the Israelites who rejected Moses, and with those who helped Aaron build and worship the golden calf. As we consider our own traditions, and think of them lovingly since they ‘prove’ that we ourselves are in the right place in our worship and witness, perhaps sometimes we need to allow the story to be told differently, and to see whether we ourselves might be in the wrong place within it.”

“The point of being a ‘martyr’, then, a ‘witness’, is not just that giving one’s life to death provides striking confirmation of one’s faith (when facing death, what’s the point in being a hypocrite?). It may be much more: that the point at which a person stands at the very threshold of heaven and earth, still in earth but called to give up their life for the faith, is the point where they may for a moment be in a position where they can, as it were, see both dimensions of reality, and speak about the normally hidden one to the people who cannot yet see it for themselves. This, again, from Luke’s point of view, is itself part of the meaning of the whole scene. The Temple was supposed to be the place where heaven and earth met. Stephen is demonstrating that heaven and earth in fact come together in Jesus and his followers.”

II. Ongoing Resources

1) Spiritual Formation Resources Page - CLICK HERE - This is still a work in progress, but be a part as we look to build

2) Scotty Smith’s Heavenward Daily Prayers - CLICK HERE to see the daily prayer blog of Scotty Smith.  You will see an option to have them delivered to your email inbox each day as well.  

3) Simple Lectio Divina Overview - CLICK HERE for a simple introduction of the spiritual practice of a more personal way of experience the Word through contemplation and reflection.