Overcoming Spiritual Leadership Challenges | Acts 6:9-7:22
Luke's account of Stephen and his message exposes nine challenges that we must prepare to overcome: (1) arguments; (2) accusations; (3) delay; (4) affliction; and (5) persecution. This sermon is part 11 of “Building the Church,” Bryan Craddock’s verse-by-verse sermon series on Acts 1-7.
With most rollercoasters, it is obvious what the ride entails. You see all the steep drops, sharp turns, and hair-raising loops from a distance. You hear the rumble of it hurtling down the track and the screams of the riders. So, if you are not into that sort of thing, you can choose a more relaxing, easy ride instead.
You might assume that in life being a Christian is the more relaxing choice. It is true that faith in Christ leads to peace and hope, but the ride was never meant to be easy. Jesus has called us to serve as witnesses who proclaim his gospel and make disciples of all nations. Exercising that kind of spiritual leadership in the world leads to all sorts of hair-raising situations. It can be very turbulent!
We have already seen some of those twists and turns in the book of Acts. Jesus promised to build his church, but as it takes shape, the believers face intense challenges from outside the church and from within. Luke’s purpose in recording these events is not simply historical. By showing how the apostles led the church through those problems, he equips us to continue the work of Christ today.
Acts 6:9-7:60 serves as a finale to the first major section in the book. Surprisingly, instead of the apostles, Luke focuses on Stephen, one of the seven men who was just selected to help care for widows. As we saw previously, his ministry extends far beyond serving tables. He represents a new generation of spiritual leaders. God enables him to preach and to perform miracles. In fact, Luke devotes more space to his defense before the Jewish council than he does to any of Peter or Paul’s discourses.
Stephen draws upon the Old Testament to show the challenges that Jewish leaders have faced throughout history. But when he begins to address the council’s treatment of Jesus, they murder him. So, his death thus becomes part of the story, confirming the point that he makes in his message. When taken together, Luke's account of Stephen and his message exposes nine challenges that we must prepare to overcome. We’ll consider five of them now and then conclude our study of Acts 1-7 with the remaining four.
Arguments
Pickleball has exploded in popularity. With its stubby paddles and plastic ball, it seems like a party game. But for a lot of people, it has become intensely competitive. Their goal is not just to keep a volley going, but to smash the ball in a way that their opponent will not be able to return.
We find the same competitive spirit in some conversations. Some people have no interest in understanding your point of view. They just want to smash you with an argument that you won’t be able to answer.
Stephen encounters this challenge during his ministry. In Acts 6:9-10, Luke tells us,
Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.
As we saw earlier in the chapter, some Jews in Jerusalem had grown up away from Judea in areas dominated by Greek culture. That was the case with the places mentioned here. Cyrene and Alexandria are cities on the north coast of Africa. Cilicia and Asia are regions that are now part of Turkey. Many Jews were probably taken to these areas as slaves, but some gained their freedom and returned to the land. Since they knew Greek better than Hebrew, they formed their own synagogues in Jerusalem.
The experience of maintaining their faith against the idolatry of Greco-Roman culture made these Hellenistic Jews particularly passionate. It had been an intense battle. Since Stephen’s name is Greek, he might have even been part of their synagogue at one point. But when they hear him proclaiming the gospel of Jesus, they see him as a threat. They attempt to argue him into submission, but it doesn’t work.
When we encounter argumentative people, pride tempts us to respond in kind. We feel compelled to win the argument by intellectually stumping them. We might even justify it as a show of superior wisdom. But even if you win the debate that way, you are losing the real battle! That argumentative mindset does not align with biblical wisdom. James 3:17 says,
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
This kind of biblical wisdom must shape how we interact as much as what we say. This emphasis on gentle reason does not originate with James. We also find it in the Old Testament Proverbs. So, when Acts 6:10 says that Stephen’s opponents could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking, we should read it in this light. He does not win the debate by intellectually crushing his opponents. He overcomes their arguments with the wisdom of gracious and sincere reason.
Is that how we respond to the challenge of argumentative people? Do we become argumentative ourselves or do we reflect the fruit of the Spirit? If we respond well, our opponents may use a different tactic to challenge us.
Accusations
There is a common logical fallacy called setting up a straw man. It’s when you frame your opponent’s views in an exaggerated way that is easy to knock down. You make them seem so foolish that people dismiss them. Or you present them as so monstrous that people hate them.
Stephen’s opponents inspire hatred by challenging him with false accusations. In Acts 6:11-14, Luke tells us,
Then they secretly instigated men who said, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God." And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, and they set up false witnesses who said, "This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us."
These accusations are familiar to the council, because they are the same ones that they used against Jesus (Matt 26:59-66). In both cases, false witnesses are recruited to testify. They make it seem as if Jesus and his followers are attacking core elements of the Jewish faith--the Law of Moses and the importance of the temple. These claims are false, but there is a kernel of truth to them.
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that he did not come to abolish the Law of Moses, but to fulfill it (Matt 5:17). He then explained the heart behind several of the commandments. But even in doing that, he challenges the customary applications of the Law. The Pharisees held that in addition to the written text, there is an authoritative oral tradition passed down from Moses with specific details about how to obey the commandments. Jesus does not seem to accept that view, so with a little exaggeration they can falsely accuse him and his followers of attacking Moses and the Law.
The second accusation relates to the temple, and it stems from two statements. The first is when Jesus drives out the money changers at the beginning of his ministry. When the Jews ask him for a sign, John 2:19 tells us that he says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John explains that he was not speaking of the physical temple, but of his body. The other statement is in his Olivet Discourse. According to Matthew 24:2, he prophesied that the stones of the temple would be thrown down. He was not advocating that, but it was not difficult to construe those two statements as evidence of a conspiracy against the temple.
How can you overcome such emotionally charged false accusations? Your opponents are not interested in nuanced explanations. Jesus chose to remain silent initially (Matt 26:63), and Stephen does the same. So, in Acts 6:15, Luke says,
And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
This is the only time that we find this expression in the Bible, so it’s not clear what Luke means by it. Revelation 10:1 speaks of an angel’s face shining like the sun. Perhaps there was some manifestation of God’s glory on Stephen as there was on Moses after he spent time in the presence of God. But Luke is probably referring to the innocence and peace that the council could plainly see in Stephen’s countenance. According to Matthew 10:16, Jesus prepared his disciples for situations like this by saying,
Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
Are we prepared to face false accusations? Are we living innocent lives? Or do we behave more like the accusers in this passage? Do we set up straw men and hurl false accusations at people? That tactic is commonly used today, even in the church. So, be careful who you listen to, because it shapes how you think. We only overcome by being innocent and truthful in how we interact. Stephen models this further as he presents his defense. He begins by speaking of a different kind of challenge.
Delay
We live in a very time-conscious society. We don’t like it when people or circumstances delay our plans. We want immediate results here and now in the present. So, we’re not good at remembering the past or living for the future, and that often leads to foolish leadership decisions.
Stephen begins his defense before the Jewish council by going back to the beginning of their history and recounting the story of Abraham. He may have intended to explain how Jesus fulfills the Abrahamic covenant, but they interrupt him before he gets there. As I mentioned, he recounts the challenges faced by Israel’s leaders, and Abraham stands as their first leader, even though he spent most of his time waiting for God to give him descendants to lead.
Delay is a challenge that we all face, and Stephen highlights that challenge in what he says about Abraham. Acts 7:1-5 tells us,
And the high priest said, "Are these things so?" And Stephen said: "Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, 'Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.' Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.
The Lord promises to give Abraham a land, to make him into a great nation, and to bless all the families of the earth in him (Gen 12:1-3). Time keeps ticking away, but none of that happens. Abraham is already 75 when he leaves Haran and several more years pass after he arrives in the land. He must trust the Lord through the delay.
In his grace, the Lord renews his covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15 and shows that the delay is part of his plan. Stephen quotes from that chapter in Acts 7:6-8. He says,
And God spoke to this effect--that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 'But I will judge the nation that they serve,' said God, 'and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.' And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
The Lord establishes circumcision in Genesis 17. Abraham is 99 years old at that point, and his wife, Sarah, has still not conceived a child. He has fathered Ishmael through Sarah’s maid, Hagar. But that effort was a departure from God’s commands. This ritual of circumcision serves as a reminder to keep trusting God, waiting upon him to fulfill his promises.
According to John 8:56, Jesus said that Abraham rejoiced to see his day. The Jewish leaders consider his claim blasphemous. Paul explains in Galatians 3:16 that Jesus is the promised offspring of Abraham. He will bring the true inheritance and the ultimate blessing of eternal life. But when Jesus came, the Jewish leaders were too caught up in their own plans to accept what God was doing through him. They lost their way during the delay.
As followers of Christ, we stand to inherit the blessing of the Abrahamic covenant, but we still face a delay. We are waiting for Jesus to come back. So, part of spiritual leadership is maintaining that hope, rather than cooking up our own plan for the world. Hebrews 10:23-25 says,
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
How are we handling the challenge of delay? Are we trusting God’s plan? Are we stirring up one another to love and good works? Are we encouraging one another to keep waiting for the day? It’s one thing to wait when life is easy, but what about when it is hard?
Affliction
The Greek word for affliction is rooted in the idea of pressure. It reminds me of a sponge. You never know what's inside until you squeeze it. Affliction brings that pressure to bear on us, particularly in leadership situations, and what comes out will either demonstrate our sincerity or undermine it. It will reveal whether we are trusting the Lord.
As Stephen testifies before the Jewish council, he recounts the affliction that came upon Joseph, the great grandson of Abraham. Acts 7:9-10 tells us that he says,
And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.
The hardest affliction to bear is often that which comes from our own family. Joseph’s ten older brothers were jealous of their father’s special affection for him. Genesis 37 records that their ill will toward Joseph was even heightened by some prophetic dreams that God gave him. He saw that he would rise to a position of prominence over his family. His brothers responded by faking his death and selling him into slavery in Egypt.
As heart-wrenching as that experience must have been, Joseph continued to trust the Lord and live with integrity. He even ended up in prison because of false accusations from his master’s wife. But those afflictions led him to the place that he needed to be to interpret the dreams of the royal baker and cupbearer. Because of that connection, he was then summoned to interpret the Pharaoh’s dreams, and the Pharaoh appointed him to a position of leadership over Egypt.
In time, everyone in the region experienced the affliction of a great famine. That pressure revealed the wisdom of Joseph’s preparations for all to see, even his family. In Acts 7:11-16, Stephen says,
Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
The Lord used these trials to preserve Jacob’s family. Joseph recognized that. Genesis 50:20 tells us that he told his brothers,
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
His words apply to all affliction, particularly that which Jesus and the apostles experienced. The Jewish leaders were motivated by jealousy too (Matt 27:18; Acts 5:17). But their crucifixion of Jesus served to fulfill God’s saving plan, and their harassment of the apostles ended up leading more people to faith in Christ.
How do you respond to affliction? Does the pressure reveal your faith in our sovereign God? Are you trusting in his goodness? Learning to handle affliction well is what prepares us for the next challenge.
Persecution
The shape of a pyramid is often used to chart the leadership of governments and other organizations. But one of the dangers of that structure in our fallen world is that its massive weight can be brought down upon people with crushing force. In its purest form, the person at the top holds unchecked authority that can be turned against the purposes of God.
The Jewish people are well acquainted with the challenge of systematic persecution. That is what makes it so shocking when their religious hierarchy begins to pursue Christians that way. In fact, Stephen’s trial is the tipping point that initiates it. Perhaps he anticipates that because he reminds them of the persecution that they faced in Egypt, the home of the pyramids. Acts 7:17-19 tells us that he says,
But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive.
The king commanded the Jewish people to cast their newborn sons into the Nile River. They had not yet received the prohibition of murder in the Ten Commandments. But in their love for their children, they knew that this requirement was abhorrently wrong. It also opposed God’s promise to multiply Abraham’s descendants into a great nation. In such cases, God’s people must disobey the authorities.
We are not told how many families resisted or how many baby boys died because of this decree, but at least one family was able to resist for a while. Even when they finally gave in, God blessed their efforts. In Acts 7:20-22, Stephen says,
At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house, and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
Even when the power of Egypt was turned against God’s people, he was still in control. He worked through that persecution to raise up a new leader for his people. Stephen has more to say about Moses and the leadership challenges that he faced, but we will save that for next time.
For now, let me ask: Are you prepared to trust God through persecution? In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Paul recounts the Lord’s words to him as he prayed for the removal of a particular trial that he calls a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan. He tells us,
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
The world sees contentment as passivity. It tells us to take power and to fight back against those who threaten us in any way. That’s the logic that led the Pharaoh to persecute the Jews in the time of Moses, and the Jews to persecute Christians after their trial of Stephen. But Jesus says that we are blessed when we are persecuted (Matt 5:10). Paul says that when we are weak, then we are strong. Do you believe that? Are you willing to trust God? Are you leading others to do the same?
__________
As we follow Christ, we must be prepared to face these challenges: arguments, accusations, delay, affliction, and even persecution. Perhaps it sounds too simplistic, but the way that we overcome is by trusting God. We are saved by faith in Christ, and we must live by faith in him.
Do you have that kind of relationship with God? If not, I encourage you to start trusting him. Confess your sins and begin to follow Christ. Look to his word for guidance. If you want to learn more about how faith has shaped people’s lives, Hebrews 11 would be a good chapter to read.
Perhaps you are facing some of the challenges that we have considered. Have you entrusted those situations to God? Cast your burdens upon him. Seek your contentment in the sufficiency of his grace and power, and then encourage others to do the same.
May we walk by faith, live in love, and rejoice in hope as we wait for Jesus to return.
Reflect
How have you faced these challenges? How did you respond?
How would you change your response to such challenges moving forward?
How could you best encourage someone facing one of these challenges?