A Title
Chosen to be an ambassador of Christ
Best Verse
The Acts 6:3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.
Challenge
Delegation
The Acts 6:2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.
The apostles themselves were overwhelmed by the needs of the widows. Though helping the needy and poor with their needs is good, it is not good that it should be at the cost of the mission. The importance of the mission in the Church cannot be overstated. The gospel of Jesus Christ must be preached with full force.
The Acts 6:4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.
Without being encumbered by administrative matters, the apostles were now able to devote more of their lives for the ministry work. And how much more they were able to bless the congregation with such focus!
The Acts 6:7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
Difficulties
the remarkable person of Stephen
v3 : full of the Spirit and of wisdom
v5 : full of faith and of the Holy Spirit
v8 : full of grace and power
Stephen was a man of great power in the Spirit. A man who desired to preach the word above even his own life. The power is not his own, but fully by faith and drawing from the grace of God.
1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
2 Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus
Questions:
- why is Stephen regarded so highly? look at the next chapter
- how was Stephen able to exhibit such godliness?
what does it mean for Stephen to have the face of an angel?
The Acts 7:55 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. 7:56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Matthew 18:10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
Stephen has his eyes fixed on the Lord. He did not look upon the trouble at hand, but fully has his gaze on Jesus.
Essence
- v1-6 : the choosing of preachers
- v1-2 : the needs of the church exceeds the capacity of its servers, but the apostles prioritises witnessing
- v3-6 : 7 men chosen to preach the word, and given the blessing of the apostles
- v7-8 : the work of the Spirit in the seven
- v7 : people knew the word and obeyed the faith
- v8 : Stephen confirms the power of God with his great works
- v9-15 : Stephen brought against false witnesses
- v9-10 : Jews gathered to oppose Stephen, but Stephen was unstoppable with the Spirit
- v11-14 : the Jews sought to bring Stephen down by smearing him before other people
- v15 : Stephen had the face of an angel