Bible Reading Challenge Blog

Here we find a brief mini-series on the disciple known as Stephen.  Now, keep in mind that he was not one of the original twelve who had walked with Jesus, but rather he is chosen in these very specific verses to be a deacon.  That’s right, I said a deacon.  Let’s go ahead and talk through these verses and try to understand what is happening.  As we mentioned before the early Christian church was composed of primarily Jewish believers, but there were some who came from a culturally Greek background which was prevalent among the Roman Empire in those days.  Those who came from a Greek or pagan/gentile background were called Hellenists.  If there were a pecking order in the early church then the Hellenists would have been at the bottom of this order simply because they did not come from a Jewish background.  They were the newest arrivals at the church.  If we used First Presbyterian as an example then we could say that the Jewish believers were those who had been members of FPC for generations while the Hellenists, the newcomers, are those who have just started coming with the advent of the second service.  It is a bit of a stretch but I have to make it relevant somehow.

Well, the widows who had come from the generational believers and the widows from the newcomers all had a chance to eat at church in order to have their needs met.  They needed this meal to survive.  But, as tends to happen in most cultural settings, those with preferential treatment were getting all of the food while those widows who were the newcomers were being overlooked.  The Apostles noticed this and wanted to put an end to it.  They needed to appoint 7 people in order to ensure that everyone behaved and everyone got the same amount of food.  The reason why I said that Stephen is the first deacon is because these verses are referenced as the first time the role of the deacon is mentioned in Scripture.  The Apostles were responsible for the preaching of the Word and for prayer while the deacons, these seven people, were responsible to make sure that no one was overlooked.  So the origin of the office of deacon is found here in Acts 6.

But once we get past the beginning of this chapter we see the role of Stephen changing, and we see him in chapter 7 become the first Christian martyr.  But from verses 8-15 he no longer is serving table, the task to which he was assigned, but rather preaching the Word of God.   It is important to not see a progression of roles that goes deacon is the preliminary step in order to become an elder.  No, they are two separate offices with two separate and distinct callings.  But here in these verses Stephen moves from being called to be a deacon to that of being the preacher of the Word, which we call an elder.  

It is interesting to note that the author specifically lifts up the fact in vs.7 that many  priests came to believe in Jesus as Savior and so were added to those who were of the Christian faith.  The message of Jesus continues to spread.

Our stewardship motto for this year is going to be: “Give or Die!”  Not really, but if we based it on Acts 5 we could choose that route if we wanted.  I warned you that this was going to be a bit of a disturbing chapter.  We have two main stories in this chapter, the first is the death of these two disciples who lied to the apostles about how much profit they took in from the selling of their land.  I think the key verses for deciphering what happened as  result of this event can be found in vs. 11 and vs. 13.  Great fear seized the whole church, I assume this includes the disciples who were not directly involved in the death of the two, and as vs. 13 states: “none of the rest dared to join them”.  Ananias and Sapphira without a doubt lied to the disciples, and for all intents and purposes lied to God.  The punishment was immediate and real.  We don’t know the backstory, we just know that they sold their land for more than what they said, they had a chance to tell the truth, they chose not to, and so they died.  Interestingly enough we don’t read that God killed them, we don’t read that the people gathered around them laid a hand on them to facilitate their death, we just read that they fell down and died.  The image above is Raphael’s depiction of this biblical scene.  There is so much going on in that painting, do you see the woman being helped by the disciples, do you see the keys in Peter’s hand, do you see another woman counting her money, could that be Sapphira?

An event takes place in the life of the church that marks it as this type of a church.  This is a church that holds each other accountable…to the extreme!  What a huge swing that is from today’s church where we really don’t hold each other accountable in any way, shape, or form.  We may talk behind someone’s back if they are doing something of which we disapprove, but we would never consider approaching them and calling them out for their sin.  Who are we to judge?  That’s the most common response we would give and that we hear from others.  Oh for a church that would hold each other accountable in love and grace.  I say this as the primary offender, by the way.  The pastor, that’s me, probably has more insight into the life of people than most, and yet for some reason I feel ill equipped to confront a member of the church with a sin that might be a very visible and obvious part of their life.  At the root of this reticence has to be the distance that there is between members of the church.  We do not all live together, we do not share everything in common, I am not selling my house and my cars and giving the proceeds to the single mom who just needs to be with her kids.  We are not a church in the same sense of the word that they were in the 1st century.  Am I making excuses for our inadequacies?  Probably, but I hope we are also thinking about possibilities that we may find in our lives to reach out to the ones we love, our brothers and sisters in Christ, with encouraging insights into how we can all walk more like Jesus.

We move from the dirty laundry of the early church to the disciples healing and even their shadows having a salutatory effect.  But at vs. 17 we see the religious leaders of the day have had enough.  The Sadducees had already had their run in with Peter and his crew and had already thrown him into prison overnight back in chapter 4.  Enough is enough.  The text says that they were filled with jealousy because all the people were following them.  There is nothing worse than jealousy in religion.  If you are upset because more people are going to someone else’s church then your perspective is a bit skewed.  Why would we not celebrate when a church increases in number?  Why would we not celebrate if more laborers are coming into the field?  But the Sadducees had the power and were terrified of losing it or of Rome coming in and blaming them for whatever trouble these followers of Jesus might stir up.  Time to put a wrap on it, so let’s put them back in prison.  Here we have one of the many jailbreaks that take place at the hand of an angel of the Lord.  

Let’s look at one phrase that I have used repeated in my ministry to try to understand what God’s guidance and direction might be at a certain time in my life.  When I am faced with decisions that might be either personal or in relationship to the church I try to follow God’s guidance by going through the first door that might be opened.  From there I see what other doors and opportunities might be opened and then I go through those doors.  Gamaliel says the following in vs. 38-39 in regards to Jesus and his followers: “So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!”  This is so true.  If what we plan for the church is just our plan and we have not bathed it in prayer or asked for God’s intervention in a powerful way, it will fail.  But if it is of God, then God will bless it.

I have found throughout my ministry that those programs and activities that we are involved in will be blessed if we ask for God’s intervention.  When we step out in faith and get involved in something we should know fairly soon if it is of God or not.  I can tell you of two times when this was evident in my ministry.  The first was in Florida, where we had a preschool that we thought was God’s desire and intention.  It ran for a number of years but at a certain point it became obvious that it was losing money big time and conflict and strife were the primary defining aspects of this ministry.  We shut it down, it failed, it was not of God.  It was obvious to the session and to everyone in that room that this was not of God.  The second example was in Russia, where we stepped out in faith to open a second soup kitchen targeting moms and their children.  We only had half the money we needed, but we were convinced that this was of God.  The council decided to move forward in faith.  The next morning the German Embassy called me and promised the remaining funds.  Both have to do with money, and unfortunately, I do believe that funds are a great barometer for whether God is blessing a ministry or not.  If the Holy Spirit is moving then I have experienced that people know it and are more apt to give and get on board with something that is of God.  Is that a bad thing to say?  I hope not.  Well, the wise words of Gamaliel have held true, the Christian movement has certainly been of God, even, at times, in spite of us.

You need to remember where we were yesterday in order to pick up the flow from today.  Remember Peter and John are hanging out in Jerusalem and they heal a man, a beggar, who was crippled.  He got up and walked and jumped for joy and then clung to Peter refusing to let him go.  That is where we find ourselves today.  Peter and John are in the Temple with this man who was healed and a crowd of curious onlookers have gathered.  The disciples take this opportunity to preach about Jesus.  There is an important aspect of 1st century Christianity that we need to remember.  To the outside world there was hardly any distinction between the Jews of the temple and the Jews who believed in Jesus.  Belief in Jesus was to many just another manifestation of a Jewish thought and theology.  It fell squarely within Jewish practice, and so when the believers in Jesus were in the temple they worshipped and prayed and acted as any other Jewish person would have.  This is crucial but it is here where Christians begin to take on a distinction that would eventually force them out of the temple and out of the synagogues, and out of mainstream Judaism forever.

But at this stage Peter and John  were just Jewish men who believed in Jesus which really didn’t make them all that different.  From the very beginning of today’s verses we find an encounter between these disciples and the Sadducees.  It might be helpful at this time to read Matthew 22:23-46.  We find that one of the points of contention between the Pharisees and the Sadducees is this issue of the resurrection.  The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection.  Luke points out very directly that what they took issue with in regards to Peter and John here is not that they are preaching Jesus, they could deal with that, but that they were preaching the resurrection of Jesus.  This was a real problem for them.  Big problem.  Oh, in case you missed it, 5,000 people came to believe as a result of the healing and the words and work of Peter and John.  It seems like Luke adds this as an afterthought.  Can you imagine the headlines if this were to take place today?  But Luke here just casually mentions it.  It really isn’t about numbers, it is about the possibilities that we are given to let people know about who Jesus is and who he can be in our lives…if we would just give him a chance.

So Peter and John are put into prison overnight.  The next day they are put on trial and asked by what power are they preaching and performing these miraculous acts.  They say by the power of Jesus.  In fact, in vs. 12 we find the exclusive claim once again, as we see in John 14:6 that solely in Jesus is there salvation.  John states no one comes to the Father except through Jesus.  Here it is a similar approach as Luke has Peter state: “There is salvation in no one else.”  Remember the word for salvation can also mean wholeness and healing.  So really there is a double message here in Peter’s words.  There is no healing, there is no completeness, there is no reconciliation, there is no peace, there is no eternal life, there is no…” you get the picture and there is probably more than just a double message.  This exclusive claim can be disconcerting to some who want to cast a wide net and have an open tent for all to enter the kingdom of God.  That is my prayer every night that my understanding of salvation is wrong and that God’s grace far exceeds my limited understanding.  In fact, just yesterday, or the day before, I said never, ever judge who is saved or not saved.  That is not our job.  This is all still true, but we have words in Scripture that point to an exclusive claim in salvation in Jesus and in Jesus alone.  There are not many paths to God, there is only one, and that is the path of our Savior Jesus Christ.  

I hope you also recognize that this exclusive claim to salvation has as its partner the inclusive net of those for whom Jesus came in the first place.  For God came to save the world.  This is as inclusive as it gets.  So here is the tension.  There is this enormously inclusive welcome and invitation for all to come and live under the grace of God through Jesus Christ.  But there is this exclusive claim that only those who do claim that promise will get to the Father.  It is a tension, but it makes sense to me and it works for my limited understanding.

Now Luke sets the stage for what is going to happen in chapter 5, and it is one of the more disturbing chapters in the Bible.  Remember Acts 2:43-47 where we get a glimpse into the life of the earliest disciples.  They had everything in common, they met every day for worship and praise.  Here in chapter 4:32-37 we are introduced to some of the details of what living together and having everything in common actually looked like.  Everyone sold what they had, laid it at the apostles’ feet, and then the apostles’ distributed the proceeds according to the needs of people.  It sounds like a recipe for disaster doesn’t it.  Can you imagine if we did that at First Presbyterian?  I don’t think we would need to worry about new members classes.  Often people ask me why we don’t do certain things when theologically we seem to be commanded to do them.  Unfortunately, the answer often is because we are pragmatists, we tend to do that which is the most convenient and the least uncomfortable for those around us.  We are called to live like the earliest disciples, but we don’t because it isn’t practical.  This really isn’t a complaint, just a recognition that we simply do not live up to what we espouse as our ideals and our goals.  Keep that in mind the next time you hear someone say that we have compromised our principles.  Yes, you are right, we have, and every single day every single person makes decisions on how much we will compromise, and how little.  Again, this is not a justification, just reality.

We are also now introduced to Barnabas.  We will see much more of him later.  Just remember what his name means – the encourager.  He is one of my favorite biblical characters because he lives out his name time and time again.  We will see how we all need to have a Barnabas in our lives, as well as the times that we need to be the Barnabas in someone else’s life.  On to the next day, just brace yourself for chapter 5.  It is a doozy.

Acts 3 probably counts as one of those chapters of the Bible that is easily forgotten.  We tend to forget that Jesus was not the only one in the Bible who performed miracles and turned the attention of people to God through these miracles.  Remember in John when we saw that Jesus’ miracles were called signs and these signs were markers always pointing back to the God of all creation?  Peter does the same thing here.  In vs. 12 he reminds the people who have gathered as curiosity seekers that it was not through human hands that this person was healed, but rather through the power of Jesus himself.  What a great strategy that whatever we are able to accomplish we can redirect it to Jesus, the one who gives us the ability.

Every time that I read this Scripture I think of my approach to those who are in need and ask for monetary gifts on the street.  The word we normally use is “beggars”.  Every day someone would bring this beggar and deposit him by the beautiful gate.  It was a gate that people would frequently use and so it was really an ideal setting for someone who relied upon the generosity of people for their welfare.  Below you will find what some scholars believe to be the Beautiful Gate but most people call it the Golden Gate.  It is another John Faltin picture taken at our last trip to Israel.

One thing you should notice about this picture is that the gate is completely sealed.  It has been sealed since the 12th century primarily because of the belief that when the Messiah comes back he will come back through this gate. Those who sealed it did not want people to be tempted into thinking they could orchestrate a second coming and so create continuous unrest as each generation raised up its own “Messiah”.   The reference to this thought is found in Ezekiel 44:1-3 where the gate is commanded to be closed until the servant of the Lord were to come back.  Over the years there have been attempts by Christians to kind of try to force the coming back of the Messiah by physically attempting to open that gate which would in some way require the second coming of Jesus as the Messiah.  It is almost as if they are trying to force God’s hand.  Needless to say it has not worked.  

Let’s get back to the Scripture…so what is our approach when a beggar comes to us and asks for money?  It is something that has often bothered me so I have come up with an approach that is not Scriptural, unless you want to use this Scripture as a template.  I never give money to those on the street.  I have many times taken them for a meal, or bought some things that they have asked for, but never do I give money.  It is the cynic in me that says maybe, just maybe, you can’t trust what they are saying.  I know many people take the approach that you give them the money and then let God sort it out.  I totally get that and I am in no way saying that is the wrong way to approach the same situation.  It is just not the approach I take.  Peter healed the man, I can’t really do that, or at least I don’t think I can do that.  Maybe if I just had a little more faith in God and in people I would take that approach.  

So once Peter heals the man the man clings to him (vs.11) as Peter gives another sermon.  So this is the second time that Peter preaches in Acts.  To Susan Roe’s comment, it does seem like he is coming into his own as far as a leader of the 1st century church.  Without Jesus around they realize they need to be the go to people.  The message he gives is the same.  The prophets were sent to let us know about the coming of the Messiah.  The Messiah came in Jesus.  We killed the Messiah.  But the Good News is that we now know who the Messiah is and we are able to believe in him.

It is a simple message, but it is one that he repeats.  Peter calls Jesus the righteous and Holy One (vs.14), he calls Jesus the author of life (vs.15).  Peter attributes the beggar’s healing to his faith in Jesus (vs.16).  Wait, where did that come from?  We didn’t see his faith.  How do we know if he had faith in Jesus.  Isn’t that the point?  We so often second guess where a person is in their faith.  We so often make the judgment call and try to distinguish between believer and unbeliever.  Do me a favor, all of you who may be reading this, do not ever, ever try to be the one to figure out if a person is a believer or a nonbeliever.  John Calvin teaches us to treat all people as children of God.  That has to be our approach in life, it does make life so much easier.  So yeah, the beggar did believe in Jesus and so he was healed.  Praise be to God!

When we went to Israel  this was the spot where Jesus was supposedly waiting for his disciples as they brought their fish in from their boat.  This is the third time that Jesus appears to his disciples, the Bible says so.  It is so hard to believe that this is the last devotion that we will be sharing together.  We are at the end of our journey together, just like Jesus and his disciples were at the end of their journey.  I hope and pray that in reading the Scripture we learned daily about who Jesus is and we learned what it means to be a disciple maker.  

While we were on that spot where Jesus and his disciples may have been together for one last time we saw this in the sky:

Not sure if you are able to see the fish in the sky, right above the water where we were.  It was interpreted by us in the group as a sign.  A sign that the one who served fish and bread to his disciples never leaves us or forsakes us.  It worked the same as the rainbow did for Noah, as far as being reminded that God has made a covenant with us and that covenant will never be forsaken.  Praise the Lord!

But let’s get to Scripture.  After Jesus and his disciples sit and eat their meal then Jesus starts into Peter’s rehabilitation.  Three times Peter denied him in the high priest’s house.  Three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him.  All three times Peter responds yes, he does.  But only the Greek does it justice.  Jesus asks: Peter do you agape me, and Peter answers, yes, you know I philae you.  Two different words for love.  If you wanted to look at it in a more simple way than it should, we could see Jesus ask: do you love me.  Peter would respond yes, I like you.  That simply was not good enough. Finally, Peter, on the last one, responds, yes Jesus, I love you.  

I love the description of who that “other” disciple was.  It was the disciple that was close to Jesus when he asked who was going to betray him.  It was the one reclining on Jesus’ breast.  It was the disciple whom Jesus loved.  It was John.  See why I like John?

As much as I love Caravaggio, I have to call him out on this painting.  If you read the Scripture for today carefully, we don’t actually have Thomas inserting his finger into the body of Jesus.  What we have is at the sight of Jesus, Thomas makes the most powerful proclamation about Jesus that we have in Scripture:  “My Lord and My God”.  No one else is heard declaring that Jesus was their God, as we believe he indeed is.  I see Thomas different from most people.  He didn’t believe because he didn’t see.  I get that, Jesus even stressed that point.  But at the moment that he sees Jesus he makes this declaration that no one else in Scripture is able to make.  In the painting you have Jesus taking the hand of Thomas and guiding it into his side.  You have two curious onlookers, disciples, who wanted to see what would happen.  Thomas is not the doubting one, but rather the one who believes like no other disciple.

But again we are at the end of the chapter.  We need to head back to the beginning of 20.  Mary Magdalene sees the stone removed and runs back to tell the disciples.  She doesn’t see anything except the stone removed.  Very different from the other Gospels.  With the middle school Sunday School class last week we looked at all 4 Gospels and compared them.  John was markedly different from the others, as you would expect.  Remember, different doesn’t mean contradictory, it just means different.  The writers emphasized different aspects of that resurrection.  So the women went back and told the disciples who ran to see for themselves.  There was the speedy John, aka the “other” disciple, and Peter.  The question in these verses is what exactly did the disciples believe?  Did they believe that Jesus was raised from the dead or did they believe what Mary had told them that Jesus was not present?

While we may not know that answer, we know what Mary believed.  She believed that someone had taken his body.  Excuse me, Mr. Gardner, can you tell me where you put Jesus’ body?  I know you may have robbed his grave and taken all of his valuables, even though God knows he had no valuables, but just tell me where the body is and no harm no foul, I’ll just quietly put him back.  “Mary!”  It is at the calling of her name that she knows that it must be Jesus.  Jesus calls us over the tumult…Jesus knows us by name…He knows my name…Put yourself in the position of Mary and hear the Savior call you by name.