SCRIPTURE: Acts 7
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. [John 5:45-46] In our passage, Stephen, like Jesus, is being accused of speaking against Moses, the Law and the Temple. Both Jesus and Stephen challenge the religious leaders that they have totally missed the point of Moses, the Law and the Temple. And both of them dies for their words.
Stephen reviews the history of Israel (for those of us who have read Genesis and Exodus, much of what he writes is now familiar!). Stephen shows that Moses saw that everything was pointing to the coming Messiah, but that God’s people have usually rejected God’s message and messengers – and ultimately the Messiah Himself. It’s not about the temple, it’s not about the Law, it’s not about Moses, it’s about the promised Messiah Who has come.
Jesus warns the religious leaders that in the end, Moses (whom they claim to follow and obey) will accuse them for missing the point.
The challenge that I hear in this is that still today, we often miss the point of the bible. We major on minors, and miss what really matters. The religious leaders killed and lied to protect the Law, and christians today are guilty of gossiping, false accusations, ungracious attitudes, etc. in defence of their ‘right doctrines’ (I think of that church meeting where two elders exchanged fists in the name of orthodoxy – yikes!). We invest huge amounts of money and time to protect and maintain our theologies, our buildings, our programs, meanwhile we do not follow Jesus in love to those that are lost, needy, oppressed, mistreated. We are like the Pharisees that Jesus accused of worry about technical tithing while ignoring matters of justice, mercy and faithfulness [Matthew 23:23].
Both Jesus and Stephen stand up for truth, but they do so in a loving, gracious way. Compare Jesus’ praying for those that crucified Him [Luke 23:34], and Stephen praying for those that stoned him [Acts 7:60]. We must speak for the truth, but in love. We must practice the message before we preach it. We must receive Jesus before we share Him with others. Otherwise the One we speak for, the truth we proclaim, will be our accuser on the last day.
PRAYER:
Lord, help me not to miss the point in my desire to make a point. Show me if I am missing the point, and help me go in the right direction.
What do you have to say for yourself? Do I have the words to speak when I am asked to give my story of faith – how God has worked in History and in me? The religious leaders had eyes with which they could not see the Way but only their way. How often do I not insist upon my and not God’s Way? God interweaves His faithfulness, His love, His promises throughout the Story. Continue to mold me Lord and use me as an instrument of Your Way. Help me to walk in the most excellent Way also on this day.
O Master, let me walk with Thee,
In lowly paths of service free;
Tell me Thy secret; help me bear
The strain of toil, the fret of care.
Help me the slow of heart to move
By some clear, winning word of love;
Teach me the wayward feet to stay,
And guide them in the homeward way.
O Master, let me walk with Thee,
Before the taunting Pharisee;
Help me to bear the sting of spite,
The hate of men who hide Thy light.