Acts 6:8-15

Prior to today’s reading it has been only the apostles’ ministry that led to healings and other signs and wonders. Now with the prayers and the laying on of hands on the deacons (v. 6) we see “great wonders and signs” (v. 8) being performed by Stephen. Later another deacon, Philip, will also be showing Holy Spirit power.

But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. (v. 10) These “men from the Synagogue” (v. 9), possibly even including a rabbi or two?, were overwhelmed by Stephen’s claims. They were troubled enough that anger took root and they began to plot against him. Stephen is following the pattern set by Jesus, with false witnesses set against Him also, even the charge of destroying the temple – the same charge brought against Jesus. And as we shall see in the next few days, Stephen will suffer the same outcome as Jesus. But not before he lays his counter-charges fully before his challengers!

Slava Bohu!

Acts 6:1-7

I’ve known it already, but it always strikes me nicely that the Greek widows were complaining and that the deacons chosen all had Greek names. But further today I noticed that (it may have been that) the apostles stepped back from that decision. The apostles had said, “Therefore, brethren, select from among you… (v. 3a), with a verse 6 follow-up, And these they brought before the apostles… So it looks to me like the apostles were willing to go with whatever the “congregation of the disciples” (v. 2) decided. Intriguing.

The church growth is again mentioned, now twice in these seven verses (vv. 1, 7). But beyond the numerical growth, as I mentioned a few days ago, (even) …a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. (v. 7). This is huge! It’s not just the common people, even priests are hearing and believing! But reflect on that a bit. The priests are very learned in their Jewish heritage and faith while the apostles (Peter and John), in the eyes of the Council, were “uneducated and untrained men” (Acts 4:13). Their training came from their time with Jesus and from the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Every time I come up with something that I had not seen before, even though I’ve read these verses maybe hundreds of times, I thank the Holy Spirit for opening my eyes. We need more Holy Spirit power in our lives!

Slava Bohu!

Acts 5:33-42

Gamaliel said it all – vv. 35-39! My main reflection is to our current state of affairs at St. Andrew’s and the difficulties from the past year. If the Lord is with us, we will move on and succeed and grow! My only other comment is that the Council’s beatings and commands do not stop the apostles from teaching and preaching “…in the temple and from house to house” (v. 42). Glory!

Slava Bohu!

Acts 5:22-32

The high priest’s speaking: We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. (v. 28) You know what’s strange here – two phrases: “this name” and “this man’s blood”. The high priest is not willing to speak Jesus’ Name!! I wonder why. Guilt? Fear? Pride? All the above? He has been told by Peter and John that there is power in that Name; maybe he fears a negative outcome if he is the one who is speaking the Name!! Curious! And frankly (maybe only to me), somewhat amusing…!

To me today’s scenario is also amusing. The Jewish leaders have gathered the entire Council together, “all the Senate of the people of Israel” (v. 21b), and asked that the prisoners be brought before them. Then the officers come to report that there are no prisoners!! Then someone else comes and says that the “prisoners” are teaching in the temple!! Imagine the high priest’s embarrassment…! I expect that he is furious!! His judgment would be immediate death to them all (in spite of his/their fear of being stoned by the people). But unfortunately for him, that murder would not be allowed by the Roman authorities. Only the Romans could condemn and execute. So here we see the beginning of the protection that is afforded the early Christians by the Roman rule of law. The Gospel spreads in large measure due to “Pax Romana”. The heathen protectors. GLORY!

We will see in tomorrow’s reading that the Jewish leaders are enraged at Peter’s response – which we are reading today. I just wanted to point out that their rage is based on what they deem blasphemous in Peter’s speech – “God exalted Him”; “Leader”; “Savior”; “Holy Spirit”. Peter is attributing Deity to Jesus – blasphemy to these Jewish leaders.

Slava Bohu!

Acts 5:17-21

So, yesterday I got ahead of myself – What does it take for the Jewish leaders to believe? All these signs and wonders and healings taking place – that’s a good thing, right? But the leaders have the apostles arrested. Why? Verse 17b tells us that they were “filled with jealousy”! JEALOUSY??!! What were they jealous of? The “power” that they perceived was coming from the apostles…? Not likely. They didn’t seem to like it when Jesus was performing miracles. Frankly, I’m not sure they liked seeing the people healed. Rather, I think they liked having the people beaten down and submissive. Were they jealous of the crowds that the apostles were gathering? Possibly. Recall that Jesus talked about those Pharisees who …love[d] the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces. (Luke 11:43, NIV) Maybe it was that, combined with their fear that they might lose their standing with the masses? Clearly the apostles’ “popularity” was exceeding their own!! So the Jewish leaders were jealous of the apostles and took action against them. I’m wondering where I might find jealousy within myself and what I’m doing about it…??

But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out… (v. 19) So here’s something that I’ve seen before, in pieces, but never put together. My Study Bible listed three other occasions in Acts where an angel of the Lord intervened: guiding Philip (Acts 8:26); releasing Peter from prison (Acts 12:7-10); and striking down Herod (Acts 12:23). I’m confident that we have angels around us, guiding and protecting us, but we don’t see them and mostly don’t acknowledge them. I guess it’s appropriate for us to thank the Lord for His guidance and protection, whether it’s the Holy Spirit doing the work or His angels. Bottom line – we need to recognize Jesus and His Holy Spirit in our lives and be thankful for – and submissive to – His work within us!!

Slava Bohu!

Acts 5:12-16

What does it take for the Jewish leaders to believe? All these signs and wonders and healings taking place – that’s a good thing, right? But I’m getting ahead of the readings – that’s for tomorrow!

None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. (v. 13). I was wondering who “the rest” were. My Study Bible suggested that the incident with Ananias and Sapphira caused the weak and faint-hearted to back away from the apostles, fearing that their weak faith might lead to the same outcome for them. I also wondered if “the rest” might be the Jewish authorities, possibly reflecting back to the fact that Barnabas was a Levite (vv. 4:36-37). Later, Acts 6:7 tells us that …a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith, but that may not be the case just yet.

Again we see the apostles gathering in the temple, in Solomon’s Portico (v. 12b), and multitudes gathering around them. Today’s reading speaks of healing miracles (vv. 12, 15, 16) accomplished at the hands of the apostles – no doubt the apostles were also sharing their faith. I’ve always admired the Catholic Church’s approach to evangelism, both locally and globally. Dr. Matlock spoke about this a few weeks ago. Their “evangelism” was to go out with a goal of “doing good” (think, Mother Theresa) – mostly building hospitals and schools – and would construct a chapel for their own use, but also invite the locals to join them. Sounds remarkably like the apostles’ healing ministry in Solomon’s Portico…! GLORY!

Acts 5:1-11

Ananias and Sapphira – a sad story… I’m sure a lot of money sermons could be preached on this incident – for example, how much of our “proceeds” are we keeping back? But it’s not the “keeping back” that got Ananias and Sapphira in trouble, it was their lying about it, presumably to make themselves look good. So the better sermon is, how much am I lying to God? I’ll stop there and leave that for reflection.

Slava Bohu!

Acts 4:32-37

Today’s reading is the second “transition section” that we have seen in Acts. The first was at the end of Chapter 2. In these transition sections time passes, but we don’t know how much. So it could have been that Peter and John appeared before the Council in the first few weeks after Jesus’ Ascension or it could have been months. (We don’t imagine it would have been years.) Likewise, the time passage in today’s reading could also be weeks or months, but this time also, possibly years. Our Chronological Bible has Jesus’ death in A.D. 30, with Stephen’s martyrdom in A.D. 32, so we have only Chapter 5 in our readings before we meet Stephen in Chapter 6.

And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus… (v. 33a). Time has passed since Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension and the Holy Spirit’s anointing at Pentecost, but the one focus for the apostles is the Resurrection. The apostles are seeing miracles and signs and wonders taking place in Jesus’ name, but the preaching focus is the Resurrection. Later, in I Cor. 15:17, 19 the apostle Paul writes of the power of the Resurrection in our lives: And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins… If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. Jesus’ Resurrection is the game-changer for us as Christians. Many people have died for their faith, but none have come back bodily from their death.

When I am sharing my faith with a non-believer, I ask a series of questions. Do you believe that Jesus lived? Do you believe that He died, that He was crucified? Do you believe that He rose from the dead. I typically get “yes” answers for #1 and #2a, with a “maybe” for #2b and either a “no” or an “I don’t know” for #3. Then it’s time to launch into evidence for Jesus’ Resurrection. If you’ve never read it, a short book by Josh McDowell, More Than a Carpenter, provides in simple terms a number of evidence items for the Resurrection.

Folks, we need to have Jesus’ Resurrection as the foundation of our faith and as the center of our witness. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus…

Slava Bohu!

Acts 4:23-31

…to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. (v. 28) Every time I run into some “predestination” item I wonder about predestination and choice and free will. My Study Bible, not a fan of absolute predestination, argued against any notion that the Lord had put it into the leaders’ minds to do what they did, but that he allowed them to undertake their “freely chosen acts to accomplish His chosen purpose”. So I went to other translations. Here is the NIV, a better understanding, I think, of what the text actually means: They did what Your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. So the “predestined” notion in this verse first quoted above refers to the outcome, Jesus’ crucifixion, not to the means to that outcome. That is, God had preordained that His Son would die on our behalf, but that men acting on their own free will brought it about.

I’ll end on a happier note: …and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. (v. 31b)

Slava Bohu!

Acts 4:13-22

One of my favorite Scripture verses: …for we cannot help but speak of the things that we have seen and heard. (v. 20) That was my “go to” verse from my classroom days. I would irregularly quote Scripture in class whenever verses popped into my head (appropriately into my lecture!). And I never feared being challenged for those quotes by some radical student arguing about the separation of church and state. I knew that my faith was part of who I am, just like my farm background, my military service, my family, were part of who I am. That would have been my defense, but I never got called on it.

And they [the Council] recognized that they [Peter and John] had been with Jesus. (v. 13b) Wouldn’t it be great for us to be recognized for our having been with Jesus? That reality came to the Council members only after they had heard Peter’s witness from yesterday’s reading. So if we want to be recognized for having been with Jesus, it would probably be helpful if our conversation directed our listeners to wonder about that connection.

Slava Bohu!