Being raised to a position of responsibility in the early church was sometimes a death sentence too. Stephen and Philip were members of the Seven whom the Apostles had appointed to organize the fair distribution of food to the widows of the various cultural groups of believers. It is significant that the appointments pleased the whole church and that it was the church – rather than just the Apostles – who selected the Seven, and that they chose men who all had Greek names. To qualify for this role, it was not enough to have integrity and to be a good organizer, you had to be full of the Holy Spirit and God’s wisdom too. Stephen clearly had these qualities in enormous measure, and they were further enhanced when the Apostles laid hands on the Seven and imparted miraculous powers and healing gifts too. Social action, serving the community, hospitality and care for the poor were, at a stroke, raised to the highest level by this apostolic decision and a message given that this is a key part of the Church’s calling on earth. Stephen did not seem restricted to that specific task either – and nor did Philip – since they also engaged in ‘power ministry’ and in preaching the gospel in a very public way. A certain very radical sect of synagogue members took great offense at his teaching and were also rather jealous. It is likely that Saul/Paul was at that time a member of the Tarsus branch of that sect. In a very underhand way, they brought Stephen before the High Priest on charges of blasphemy – specifically: speaking out against Moses and God, and saying that Jesus would destroy the temple and change the Law of Moses. Given the opportunity to defend himself, Stephen went on the attack (which only goes to prove that attack is NOT ALWAYS the best form of defence!). In sketching out the history of Israel, starting with Abraham he basically pointed out: Joseph was rejected and persecuted by his brothers; Moses was rejected and misunderstood by his own people – on countless occasions; Israel regularly rejected the Law of Moses too; and the Tabernacle / Temple are not really God’s house – as He declares himself in Isaiah 66:1-2. This was a long speech, partly because Stephen realized that it would be the last one he would make on earth (and none of us would hurry to get the end of it either!), and partly because he wanted to get his facts right. He then turns on his accusers and accuses THEM of being a rebellious, ‘stiff-necked’ people who even then were refusing to follow God’s Spirit – just like most of their ancestors. Just for good measure he made them responsible for Christ’s death too. Winding up the religious leaders was like bashing a hornets’ nest with a stick – but it was still not a capital offence. Never mind; Stephen then claimed to be seeing Jesus raised from the dead and standing at the Father’s side in heaven. As Stephen died, he committed his spirit to his Lord and also prayed that his killers would be forgiven. For Christians, ‘falling asleep’ is the new ‘death’, and is as close as that Old Enemy is now permitted to get to us. Saul gave his approval of this execution by guarding the clothes of the stone-throwers. He then sought the approval of God by beginning a major persecution campaign against the whole church; the Greek words used in these verses are descriptive of fearsome wild animals on the rampage. Saul’s anger knew no limits and he stopped at nothing to destroy the church and kill or imprison its members. Godly men mourned for Stephen (and that’s OK!), buried his body, and scarpered. Only the apostles were left behind in Jerusalem – which is rather ironic, given that the word ‘apostle’ means ‘sent one’. Philip sought refuge in Samaria and did what a Spirit-filled person always did: preaching the gospel and performing miraculous signs. Many folk believed in Jesus and were baptized – including a man called Simon The Sorcerer, who also became a disciple of Jesus (and of Philip). One very unusual thing did NOT happen: none of the new disciples seemed to have received the Holy Spirit as the Jerusalem church had done. Problem? No. Peter and John were summoned from Jerusalem and they prayed for, and laid hands on, these new disciples, at which point the Holy Spirit was released into their bodies in the normal way. Why did the Spirit hold back initially? Well, this was a community of Samaritans, hated by the Jewish people and seen as a separate culture and nation by all God-fearing Jews (John 4:9). There was a very real danger of these new believers being rejected from the outset by the ‘mother church’ in Jerusalem, which had never seen non-Jews getting born again. Therefore, the best way for God to ensure unity among his church worldwide was to make sure that the Apostles were the ones responsible for impartation of the Holy Spirit and who saw the evidence that God was treating Samaria exactly the same as Jerusalem. (Read also Acts 11:15-18, which was precisely the same reason that Peter gave for accepting the Gentiles a believers too.) Many Christians of ‘Pentecostal’ persuasion use the Acts examples as proof-texts of a rigid ‘second-blessing’ theology; I have never been convinced that God has limited himself to blessing us in two stages, and neither should we limit God’s power either. Let’s go expectantly for everything that He has for us THE FIRST TIME, and then expect him to bless us more and more every day of our lives too. We all need the Baptism in the Holy Spirit – from Day One! Philip then has his famous encounter with the Ethiopian official and faithfully explained the gospel to him, starting from where he had questions. A good answer quickly escalates to good news about Jesus if you listen to the Holy Spirit as you go along. Immediately they found water, the Ethiopian was baptized by Philip, who was then transported (Star Trek – style) to another town about 20 miles away. Not all baptisms end as spectacularly, but the main thing is that half of Ethiopia was soon to get saved as a result of this key man, and also a servant of God being obedient at the right time. Baptism is therefore NOT a public event, even if it is sometimes desirable; it is better to be baptized as soon as possible after confessing faith in Christ – a practice that churches would do well to adopt. Fact: we don’t baptize in order to preach the gospel; we preach the gospel in order to baptize! (Today’s reading: Acts 7 (starting at 6:8), 8.) Andy Acreman.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 11:38:49 +0000
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