Overcoming More Spiritual Leadership Challenges | Acts 7:23-60
Luke's account of Stephen and his message exposes nine challenges that we must prepare to overcome: (6) presumption; (7) rejection; (8) distortion; and (9) hostility. This sermon is part 12 of “Building the Church,” Bryan Craddock’s verse-by-verse sermon series on Acts 1-7.
Some building projects seem to last forever. Progress might be so slow that you don’t even notice it as an outside observer. There could be multiple reasons for that. It might require extra time because of its size and complexity. A lot of the work could be happening out of sight. On the other hand, the project might be held up by people who oppose it. The workers could have gone on strike. It’s also possible that mistakes were made that must be fixed.
Jesus promised to build his church, and you might wonder if it will ever be complete. It’s a massive project that will continue until every elect soul is saved and Christ returns. A lot of the work happens out of sight. But opposition, uncooperative workers, and shoddy workmanship must also be overcome.
In Acts 1-7, Luke chronicles the growth of the church in Jerusalem after Christ’s ascension. This history equips us all to continue the work today. It reveals the plan of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. It gives us examples of how to make decisions, practice fellowship, be a good witness, handle opposition, and deal with sin in the church. It shows us the heart and values that should characterize spiritual leadership.
Luke concludes this part of the book in Acts 6:9-7:60. His account of Stephen and his defense before the Jewish council exposes nine challenges that we must prepare to overcome. Thus far we have examined five of them--arguments, accusations, delay, affliction, and persecution--and I suggested that the key to overcoming them is to trust God. The remaining four challenges all relate to obeying him. So, I encourage you to examine your heart to evaluate how you have responded, are responding, or would respond to these challenges.
Presumption
I’m always impressed by dogs that are trained to follow at their master’s heel. They don’t pull to the side or strain at their leash. A dog’s natural inclination is to yank the person walking them wherever they want to go. You might even wonder who the real master is.
We could raise the same question about our relationship with God. Are we following the Lord and his word? Or are we setting the course, presuming that he will follow us and bless us? Who is the real master?
That tendency toward presumption is always present in our hearts, and it is a particular challenge when you seek to exercise spiritual influence and leadership. As Stephen presents his defense before the Jewish council, he shares how Moses struggled to overcome it. In Acts 7:23-25, he says,
When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.
A few more details are recorded in Exodus 2:11-15, but not many. There is no indication that the Lord prompts Moses to take this action. He presumes that God is going to work through him. His heart for his people is commendable, but killing someone is not how the Lord would have him do it.
Moses also presumes that the Jewish people will rally behind him, but they don’t. In verses 26-29, Stephen says,
And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, 'Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?' But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
The man asks a good question. Who made Moses ruler and judge? If the Lord had called him to it, he could have said so. But he did this on his own initiative, and his rash behavior has gotten him into big trouble. He is forced to flee Egypt. He completely fails in his great plan for serving God. But it might have been worse if he had succeeded.
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warns about presumption in spiritual leadership. Some people engage in ministry and presume to be saved when they are not. Matthew 7:21-23 tells us that he says,
Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'
How do you overcome such presumption? You must learn humble obedience to God’s will, and that can be a hard lesson. Moses ends up living in obscurity, working as a shepherd. Forty years go by until God is ready to send him, and the challenge of presumption is still there. In verses 30-34, Stephen describes what happens:
Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.' And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.'
Moses learned to fear the Lord and to respect his holiness. We do not know how much he knew about the history of his people. At some point, he would be the one to write that history for us in the book of Genesis. But as the Lord mentions the patriarchs, he reveals that his plan dates back centuries before the time of Moses. Moses needs to recognize that and to trust him.
Exodus 3 and 4, however, tell us that Moses makes excuses to the Lord about why he cannot go. He says that people will not listen to him and that he is not eloquent. Such statements may seem humble, but they are not. He is still presuming that the Lord’s work relies on his abilities. It doesn’t!
Thankfully, Moses trusts the Lord and humbly obeys his instructions. Stephen describes the result in verses 35-36.
This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?'--this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
The Lord accomplishes great things through Moses. But why does Stephen spend so much time telling his story? I suspect that he is challenging the Jewish council to examine their hearts. Are they humbly obeying God’s will or are they acting presumptuously? What about you? We overcome presumption through humble obedience, but following the Lord’s will does not necessarily make life and ministry easy. Stephen says that Moses faced another challenge.
Rejection
Our society is driven by popularity. It shapes the content in the news and on social media. It determines the sources you see when you search the Internet. It’s how we select leaders and judge their effectiveness. So, do you still qualify as a leader, if you’re abandoned by all your followers?
Stephen reminds the Jewish council that even after Moses delivered the people of Israel from Egypt, he still faced the challenge of rejection. He starts by quoting something Moses said in Deuteronomy 18:15. Acts 7:37-38 tells us that Stephen says,
This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, 'God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.' This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.
The Lord raised up several prophets to proclaim his word throughout Israel’s history. They all exercised significant influence, but none of them led the nation as Moses did. God used him to deliver them from captivity and to part the Red Sea. They saw him ascend Mount Sinai to draw near to the Lord and to receive his commandments. But that was still not enough to maintain popular approval. In Acts 7:39-41, Stephen says,
Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, 'Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.
Of course, the people were not just rejecting Moses. Their idolatry was a rejection of the Lord and his commands. When Moses came down the mountain, he demonstrated the consequences of their actions by shattering the stone tablets engraved with the commandments. The people violated their covenant relationship with God, and the Lord disciplined them for it.
But that incident with the golden calf was not Israel’s only instance of idolatry. They repeatedly turned away from the Lord to worship other gods and ended up being conquered and taken into exile by the Babylonians because of it. In Acts 7:42-43, Stephen quotes Amos 5:25-26. He says,
But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: "'Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.'
Why does Stephen review Israel’s idolatry and their rejection of Moses and the prophets? They were accusing him of speaking against Moses. But he is going to show them that their rejection of Jesus is part of the same pattern of rejection from Israel’s history. Jesus is the prophet like Moses. John 1:17-18 says,
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among them (Jn 1:14). He made God known in a way that Moses never could. He opened the way to eternal life in the presence of God, but the Jewish council put him to death.
So, if Moses, the prophets, and Jesus all faced rejection, what should we expect as we proclaim the gospel of Christ? Jesus clearly warns his followers in Matthew 10:24-31. He says,
A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
We overcome the challenge of rejection through the assurance of God’s acceptance that we receive through faith in Christ. We might be tempted to get people to accept us by saying what one group or another wants to hear. But God’s opinion is the only one that truly matters. We must obey our mission to bear witness to the gospel. But there is another challenge that might lead us astray.
Distortion
In the middle of the 20th Century, indigenous people on the New Hebrides Islands in the South Pacific were inundated with all sorts of modern stuff. Much of it came from American troops who used the islands as bases during the Second World War. When those visitors left, the islanders wanted more. So, they built symbolic landing strips with control towers. They made uniforms and marched in military style parades. They believed that engaging in these activities religiously would bring the blessing of more cargo from the sky.
We might laugh at those cargo cults, but they demonstrate a challenge that we all face. We can miss the point of something and generate our own religious distortion instead. Stephen shows how the Jews were doing this with the temple. They were accusing him of speaking against it as a holy place (6:15). But he traces its history and reminds them of something that the Prophet Isaiah said. In Acts 7:44-50, Stephen says,
Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?'
Stephen quotes these words from Isaiah 66:1-2, and the point is that God is concerned about all of someone’s life, not just their participation in temple rituals. So, when people worship him but persist in disobedience, their worship only serves to offend him. In Isaiah 66:3, the prophet likens their sacrifice of an ox to killing a man and of a lamb to breaking a dog’s neck. He says that their grain offering might as well be pig’s blood, and that their incense offering is tantamount to blessing an idol.
People tended to distort the temple into a guarantee of God’s blessing. They assumed that it protected them and made them superior to other nations. When Jeremiah proclaimed that Jerusalem would fall to the Babylonians because of their disobedience, Jeremiah 7:4 says that people responded by saying, “The temple of the Lord. The temple of the Lord. The temple of the Lord.” Jeremiah calls these deceitful words.
Jesus quotes from that same chapter to express his indignation with how people in his day were using the temple. Matthew 21:12-13 tells us,
And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers."
The priests required people to give offerings at the temple using a Tyrian shekel rather than some other currency that might have an idolatrous image. Pigeons were the animals that poor people could use as their animal sacrifice in place of a more expensive animal. But this business took up significant space in the court of the Gentiles, and Jesus’ words suggest that they were overcharging people. So, the same people who piously charged Jesus and Stephen with attacking the temple, allowed it to be turned into a profit center. Do you see the distortion there?
Aren’t there similar distortions in churches today? There are leaders who take advantage of people and turn the church into a source of profit. There are church members who act spiritual for an hour on Sunday but live selfish lives the rest of the time. Then they act morally superior, looking down on their neighbors and coworkers, because they are good church going people.
How do we overcome the challenge of distortion? Isaiah 66:2 helps us. Stephen only quotes the first line, but the council members probably knew the rest of it. The full verse says,
All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
Do you tremble at the word of God? Are you humble and contrite before him? Those who are not don’t like being confronted. So, that leads us to one final challenge that Stephen faces.
Hostility
I don’t know if anyone enjoys going to the dentist. Even if your dentist is the friendliest person you know, they still stick sharp tools in your mouth and poke around until they get a reaction. Dentists aren’t trying to inflict pain. At least, I don’t think so. Most people understand that this discomfort is for their own good, to spare them something worse. So, they endure it without lashing out in retaliation.
Preaching the gospel as a faithful witness for Christ is a bit like dentistry. The truth of God’s word probes people’s souls, and sometimes it hits a nerve. The goal is not to inflict emotional pain, at least, it shouldn’t be. Our purpose is to spare people from the anguish of sin and judgment. But unless God changes their heart, they will not accept that. So, faithful witnesses sometimes face the challenge of hostility.
Stephen hits a nerve in Acts 7:51-53. He has presented solid biblical evidence that Israel has a pattern of rejecting its leaders and of distorting the blessings of God. He links that background to the present and says,
You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it."
You might read Stephen’s words as the ultimate put down, but that is not his goal. Arrogant, self-righteous people must come to see their sin. They must accept that their hard heart needs to be circumcised. They must recognize that they have been willfully deaf to the Holy Spirit. This group was directly responsible for the murder of Jesus. But since he died to atone for our sins, we are all indirectly responsible for his death.
We must all experience this painful conviction of sins, so that we will repent and humbly turn to the Lord to be reconciled with him through the work of Christ. The point is not just to feel bad and then to move on without being changed. In 2 Corinthians 7:9-10, Paul explains,
As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
The Jews who were prosecuting Stephen do not seem to experience any grief. In their anger, they respond with unbridled hostility toward him, yet Stephen overcomes this challenge in three ways. First, in verses 54-56, Luke tells us,
Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
The Lord grants Stephen a vision of heaven. He beholds the glory of God. He is assured of the triumph and power of Jesus. We may not have an experience like that on this side of eternity, but we can always find strength and encouragement in the biblical accounts of heavenly realities. The book of Revelation, in particular, is written to give us this insight so that we will be comforted and strengthened to persevere in the face of hostility.
Stephen overcomes in a second way as they unleash their hostility against him. Verses 57-59 say,
But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
Stephen finds comfort in the hope of being with Jesus. Jesus told the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Lu 23:43). That truth enables followers of Christ to face death without fear. In Philippians 1:21, Paul says, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Being with Christ will be far better than life now, yet the Lord keeps us here to serve his purpose (Phil 1:23-24).
The third way that Stephen overcomes hostility is revealed in Acts 7:60. It helps us see his heart in raising the painful truths that provoke this hostile response. Luke tells us,
And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Stephen was not trying to bury them in guilt. He was seeking to free them from their bondage to sin. So, with his final breath, he prays for them just as Jesus prayed for those who nailed him to the cross (Lu 23:24).
Are we prepared to overcome hostility? The temptation is to fight fire with fire, but that will lead us to be more like the Jewish council than like Stephen. Set your eyes on the things above. Entrust your soul to Jesus, and seek to lead people to the freedom of forgiveness that is only found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
__________
The Christian life is not an easy path. We face countless challenges--arguments, accusations, delay, affliction, persecution, presumption, rejection, distortion, and hostility. But even through all of that, you can be confident that Jesus keeps building his church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The rest of Acts confirms that truth. Luke gives us a hint of what is coming by mentioning Saul in Acts 7:58, and we will trace his story in our study of Acts 8-20 that I’m calling, “Hope for the Nations.”
The first seven chapters have taught us much about what the church should be and how it should function. What is your response, particularly to this final passage? Have you felt conviction over your sin? Our goal is not to bury people in guilt but to lead them to forgiveness and salvation. If you have never done so, I encourage you to repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you would like to learn more about persevering in the face of opposition, 1 Peter 4 would be a good chapter to read.
The challenges that we have considered today are all overcome through obedience. Do you need to grow in obedience? Identify a particular change that you need to make, express that commitment to the Lord, and pray for his help. We could all grow in boldness for the gospel. Even Paul asked the Ephesians to pray that he would declare the mystery of the gospel boldly as he ought to speak (Eph 6:19-20). We all need to pray that request for ourselves and for our fellow believers.
May the good news of Christ fill our hearts, minds, and mouths!
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?