Gospel – Acts 7-8
Bible Passage: Acts 7 and 8
In Chapter 7, Stephan delivered a long sermon to the Sanhedrin. In this story, the audience differed from the group that received Peter’s testimony. These people in the Sanhedrin were made up of the rulers, elders and teachers of the law; people who had high positions in the jewish religious organization.
It was also these people who accused Jesus of blasphemy and wanted Jesus to be crucified on the cross. They were very jealous of Jesus as He managed to draw many people to Him through His miracles, teachings and at that time His resurrection. Perhaps what made them even more jealous was that Jesus was born worst than a commoner and was not rich nor had any status in society.
When Peter preached the testimony of Christ to the people in the temple court or at Jerusalem, the people who received the Word were moved to believe and repent.
Acts 2: 37″When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
On the other hand, when Stephen testified of Christ to the Sanhedrin, the people were also cut to the heart but in a different way! In that case, the people in the Sanhedrin were moved to anger because their sins were brought to light and they wanted to cover their sins.
What Stephen said in his sermon was to point out that their forefathers and rulers rejected Moses and the prophets. When Moses was chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he was rejected by the people who doubted him as their leader. In the same way, many of the prophets were rejected, persecuted and killed by these religious leaders. Jesus, whom Moses had prophesied, was also rejected by the religious leaders and put to death on the cross.
Perhaps the greatest irony, was that the religious leaders at the beginning rejected these prophets, but later believed that they were listening or following the teachings of the prophets (especially Moses whom they revered a lot) whom they persecuted in the past.
Luke 16:31“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ “
John 9:28Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
What I can gather from these two comparisons are that people’s hearts differ greatly when receiving the gospel. Jesus once said about the different fields the seeds are sown. In this case, the gospel seed was sown on good ground when Peter preached and it brought for salvation to those who repented from their sins. On the other hand, the seeds that were sown on the people in the Sanhedrin were liken to those being taken away by the birds of the air.
When we go preaching, we are bound to face people having different fields. Some are able to receive the gospel to a certain extent, others reject them out rightly. Most of the time it is because of pride that people reject the True Gospel. Another reason is because people are so emotionally attached to the churches or temples they go, or they have family ties. The Truth to them means nothing, what is more important is the happiness or the comfort they have in their present circumstances.
There was once when I was with other brethren in San Jose Church in USA, that we went to the old folks home to preach. There was this American, white pastor who basically show great disdain to True Jesus Church, probably because we are yellow skin and ‘inferior’ to the white Americans.
When it was our time to preach to the old folks in that home, the American told us straight in the face not to disturb him in his ‘wonderful and important message’ to a truth seeker there; the impression he gave us was that his lesson was way more important then what we are doing and that we are a hindrance to his work albeit it was our time slot and it was time for him to leave. Perhaps that is the reason why it is so difficult to get more white church members in TJC.
Present times orthodox Jews and teachers of the law.
They are seen wearing blackand spotting a large hat and beard.
Picture taken at the Wailing Wall (or Western Wall) in Jerusalem.
Many religious Jews come here to pray as this is the only part of the Jewish temple
that is accessible to them or left standing.
The third irony is in Chapter 8. When the church was persecuted, the believers were scattered throughout the surrounding lands and started to preach. If it were not for the persecution, probably the gospel would not have spread that fast and would have been mainly in Jerusalem.
Sometimes I do find it an irony too in our current times. If there is no persecution, we tend to be less ‘kan jiong’ in preaching the gospel or less determined to do so. Perhaps we like it so much to be in our comfort zone and not willing to go out to suffer from rejections, scoldings and other forms of verbal or physical abuse (maybe chased by dogs).
During the Batu Pahat evangelistic work, once when we were tracting to the neighbouring houses, a dog from one of the houses almost bit one of the Batu Pahat church member! I think the dog’s mouth just missed about 5cm only! It was pretty scary and shocking.
The last irony is that Paul (then known as Saul) was wracking havoc to the church. He was consenting to the death of Stephen and putting many brethren to prison. In later chapters, we will read about Paul converting into Christianity and from a persecutor to one of the most persecuted Apostle in the Bible.
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biblereadingcompanion
I have also been thinking a lot about the 3rd irony that biblereader mentioned.
Why is it that we often need a kick up our bottoms before we start to do something? Why is it we need looming deadlines before we even start working on the project? Why is it we need the threat of some actions against us before we take action?
I’m sure quite a lot of you have seen this youtube video…
It starts off by with statements of apathy and disinterest. There are lots of things that are wrong but this generation just accepts it for a fact… and does nothing.
Living in the comfort zone.
But in the middle of the video, the statements change…
The voice now says…”There is hope. And all this will come true unless we reverse it…”
What follows is an amazing reversal of the statements made that shows that one can make a difference if they choose.
My point?
There are many things in our life of faith, in our service to God, in our relationship with Bros and Sisters in Church that we can choose to simply do nothing. We may not like how things are done or the way it is going. But we just accept it and do not want to do things differently.
We like to remain where we are… not involved. We like things to remain status quo because that will mean no trouble for us.
But all of us can do something… if we choose to reverse things…. if we choose to step out of our comfort zone and act.
Last night, I happened to be talking with Dn Shee and Dn Liew about Pr Shee & Eld Foong’s current trip to Myanmar via India. Dn Shee mentioned that Eld Foong was remarkable as he often would be out in the front trekking, boating, taking long bus rides etc through places where TJC has never been to before to seek out members and truth seeking friends so that we can continue to pastor and evangelise there.
It is not easy to go to far off places where it is a road less travelled.
But Eld Foong was willing to step out of his comfort zone to go because God has work there that needs to be done. Our other preachers have also done the same. Our UK brethren now in Africa are also all doing the same.
Should we not also step out of our comfort zones?
I am trying. Join me.
PS
Stephen said in Acts 7:51,”You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as you fathers did, so do you.”
What did the fathers do? “And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idols, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.” (Acts 7:41)
They had received the laws by the direction of angels and had not kept it. (Acts 7:53)
Why did Stephen had to reiterate history to a group of rulers, elders and teachers of the law; people who had high positions in the jewish religious organization?
Could the Israelites keep God’s laws completely? Didn’t Paul say,”O wretched man that I am!”
May be Stephen wanted them to understand that the crux of their problems laid not in their zeal for God but they resisted the Holy Spirit and relied on the works of their own hands.
Can the same be said of us today?
If we want to declare like Paul,”Who will deliver me from the body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our God!”, we cannot resist the Holy Spirit and relied on the works of our own hands.
Otherwise we may be like Simon. Although Simon believed and was baptized (Acts 8:13), Peter rebuked him as being “poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.” (Acts 8:23)
Lord Jesus said, “God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worhip in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24)
To be saved from this perverse generation (Acts 2:40), we must rely on the gift of the Holy Spirit whom we receive (Acts 2:38)
Biblereader
It seems during the time of Jesus or maybe even at present times, the staunch believers of God but not Christ, are seeking their own righteousness instead of the righteousness of God. In Jesus we do not seek our righteousness but seek His Mercy and Grace so that despite being utter sinners, we can be justified by Him through His blood and by faith. While the Jews at that time were seeking their own righteousness in keeping the law albeit they failed to keep the real essence of the law. Like loving man… and kept the law in a ritualistic and complicated way.
Romans 10:2-4 (New King James Version)
2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Even now, the Sabbath kept in Israel is very strict in terms of walking distance and turning on electrical or power. Whenever I do get the chance to visit Israel, I sometimes do pity those who are keeping the law in such ritualistic fashion that frankly, I find it a bit of a joke at present times…
For example,
Since they are not allowed to turn on electrical power, they ‘go around’ this law by having ‘specially made Sabbath food warmers’. This warmers have a ‘timer’ that turns on the heat ‘itself’ during Sabbath to keep the food warm. In such a way, the Jewish believer would not have sinned by turning on the electrical power. I would think, if I were to do business in Israel, I shall invent all electrical appliance to have timers that can be set one day earlier and exact time to turn on and off…however, I will not have that much business as there are about 20% of the population are religious Jews in Israel, the rest just do not keep such things.
Also, since on Sabbath, the Jewish believers cannot press any lift buttons (since electrical) the hotels will have Sabbath lifts that practically goes every floor and open the door at a preset timing. I pity those believers who are staying in the hotel at the upper floor (perhaps 20th floor)…they will wait a very long time to go up or down!