Acts 18: Gospel Lessons from the Old Testamen - Part 3
Notes
Transcript
Ball one: Stephen’s defense, defending himself against the accusation of denying their history - telling the history - from a Jewish Christian POV
Ball two: That’s ball two - sharing the gospel - he is evangelizing the Sanhedrin
Ball three: For us to apply the Gospel Lessons from Stephen’s teaching that we can apply to our lives
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What’s the difference between Stephen and the Sanhedrin?
Both claim to understood God’s plan, yet the way they live, this understanding looks very different.
Stephen compassionate and confident
Sanhedrin and leaders are jealous and angry. They are about to kill Stephen - not have him killed - but stone him with their own hands.
Obviously in two different places emotionally, spiritually - but they both claim to have a relationship with God. The Sanhedrin claim to know and understand God’s will and are committed to it. - even to kill Stephen
Stephen claims to have a relationship with God that calls him to believe, follow, serve, and testify about Jesus as the only Son of God - a message that will certainly lead to his death.
Both are claiming, not just to be right, but to be using Godly wisdom and yet here they are on a collision course.
For us as Christians it’s pretty clear which ones are the disciples and which are not but how can we tell?
Because of a principal that I’ve mentioned several times before and I’ll continue to bring it before us as we live as followers of Jesus, “What you believe determines how you behave.”
We can apply this in every area of our life.
how you approach children - DYB they are a gift from God and you are responsible for them?
How you approach work - DYB your work ethic is a true reflection of your character?
How you approach your marriage or your singleness - DYB it is a gift from God?
While we can see how our beliefs about a thing would shape how we treat that thing is true for every area of our lives; it is especially true when it comes to the things of faith.
I say this because it is our faith that has the ability to transform us and determine our beliefs about all things. And if we aren’t being transformed, if our beliefs about the things in our lives isn’t being changed, then our faith may not be as real as we wish it to be.
Probably most everyone here would say they want a real, true relationship with God. If I were to ask: “Do you trust God this morning,” if you’re a confessing Christian, you say, “Of course I trust God.” But I know some of you don’t trust God very well. Maybe it’s that you trust him in a creedal way, some categorical way. But you don’t trust him in a practical way, because it can be seen in the way you live your life, and I see it in my own life as well.
And these are the indicators that I don’t really believe God. I don’t trust God. Because our behaviors give us away.
Look at the Sanhedrin. They are angry about what God is doing, they don’t like it.
There are a lot of things in that come up in life that we don’t like. And lord knows there are plenty of opportunities to be offended.
But you respond with criticism, outbursts of anger, frustration, in that moment you show a short temper.
In that moment, we don’t see marks of discipleship.
Marks of Discipleship
Marks of Discipleship
But when we look at God’s word and the things that we would say we believe, I know in that moment God is there. That God’s word is to be my guide, that even in the most difficult situations I am to live as a representative of Christ because he is my strength.
Yet… maybe it’s because I have a prayer-less life, or you’re life is filled with anxiety as you worry about tomorrow, or you don’t know how else to respond because you have failed to spend time getting his word into you heart.
Whatever it is, the result is you don’t have a close relationship with God. You say you do - you’d like to think you do but the proof is in the pudding and your life makes it clear that your relationship with God isn’t all that you want.
Right?
Just so we are clear, there is a spectrum at work here. You’ve probably heard the passage, “If you draw near to God, he’ll draw near to you,” there’s a degree of closeness.
Some of you are not anywhere close to where you’d LIKE to be, then there are others who are not any where close to where you NEED to be. For some it’s a salvation issue and for others it’s a discipleship issue. I trust that in this moment God’s spirit is sorting that out in your heart.
But regardless of which camp you are in, there are times when you don’t have trust in God the way that you ought to have trust in God and it’s evident by your life.
I think we can see that in the difference between the Sanhedrin and Stephen and the other disciples; but we can also see it in the life of Moses.
Before we get into Stephen’s sermon, remember back in 6:11, Stephen has been accused of blasphemy against Moses and God. That is he is accused of disrespecting or even slandering Moses.
Moses like Joseph of last week is seen as a type of messiah for the Jews. He delivered them from the Egyptians… and he delivered God’s law to them. It is through Moses that the people of Israel… those with the promise and the sign of Abraham … become a nation.
Moses, in terms of importance, is about as close to God as you can get. So Stephen spends some time here.
Now if you know the story of Moses, you know that he lived 120 years and his life is presented in 3- 40 year blocks. Today we are going to consider the first two as we look to identify some marks of discipleship from Moses.
17 “As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased.
18 Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt.
Stephen begins by showing them that he didn’t blaspheme against Moses. He reminds them of the truth of Moses as the book of Exodus has recorded his life.
That the people have been waiting for 400 years to be delivered. That was the promise to Abraham.
Abrahamic covenant: got to have the people, got to have the land, going to have greatness, going to bless the world in some way in the end.
It was time for people to begin looking for their deliverer.
We have no record of people other than Moses stepping up to rescue the Israelites. It is as though the people knew the promise of God, that they wouldn’t return to the promised land for 400 years and they accepted it.
They understood the covenant promise God had made and they waited for it.
Wait patiently on God’s Promises
Wait patiently on God’s Promises
For us as the church, there is a similar promise.
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
In a world that is just as oppressive as ancient Egypt, Jesus says his church will overcome.
He tells parables, stories of a lost sheep, of a lost son, of a lost coin, as a reminder that he is at work still building his church. And we see that still. all over the world people are still coming to faith in Christ, the church is expanding around the world. We may hear the news in america and doubt it, but in other parts of the world, people are responding to the Gospel adn putting their trust in Jesus.
Don’t worry, but wait on God’s promises.
We are looking forward… not back.
The disciples were looking forward as well.
In Matt 19, Jesus promised them that they would actually sit in judgement of others. They were being judged by the worldly rulers but this moment only mattered in the sense that it prepared them fro what was to come.
Knowing this, they endured. When they were falsely accused, they prayed. When people got angry with them, they turned to God in worship. All of this wasn't actually about now it was about what was to come, God’s promise.
For the people of Israel in Egypt, they had a promise of a deliverer who would come and take them to the promised land.
For the church we have the same promise, Revelation 11 described what that day will be like when Jesus returns to take his church to be with him… to deliver us from our Egypt.
My question here is… do you believe that?
WHile we care about you being involved as part of the church, it’s not about being a better person. It’s not about jsut having a happier marriage.
❤️This question is about your believing that the God of the universe created you on purpose, to love you and spend eternity with you.
➗But because of Sin you have been separated from God. Your sin, your choosing to put you before Him. It seems to be unavoidable.
✝️Which is why Jesus came. He declared that by believing in him and his work on the cross, believing in his death and resurrection restores my relationship with God no matter what I have done.
❓Do you believe that?
Does your life look like you believe that or that this is all there is so I better get all I can?
Remember your beliefs will determine our behavior.
Wow… 2 verses into today’s text…
Let’s get back
19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.
20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his father’s house.
He, that’s the king of Egypt. Exodus records all the ways the king of Egypt mistreated the Israelites, including killing their children.
This was done because the Egyptians were afraid they were getting out numbered by their slaves.
Yet in the effort to kill all the babies, at least one slipped through… or maybe there was more to it than slipping through.
Maybe God’s hand was tipping the scale… making sure his promise would be be true.
Moses… the Israelites in Egypt; Stephen in Jerusalem were trusting in God’s providential power.
Trust fully in God’s Providence
Trust fully in God’s Providence
That’s a word for us today in our own Egypt… in our world that’s a bit opposed to the things of God and the teaching of scripture. Trust in his providence.
My bible dictionary defines providence as - the governing power of God that oversees his creation and works out his plans for it.
It may not seem like it in the moment, but disciples choose to live as though his promises are true, his power is real, God can do all the things he wants.
7 Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.
I love this verse. Spring is getting close, I’m getting my garden ready again.. this year it’s going to be different… I hope it’s true.
But one part of gardening, or my berries I can’t control is the timing of the crop. I have to wait, I have to trust that seed, soil, water, will produce a crop. I can’t snap my fingers, I have to be patient.
It’s easy to trust in God to do that.
It’s easy when it’s easy. Faith is I mean. But we need faith even when it’s hard. SO how can we make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard?
How can we make trusting God easy and not trusting him hard?
I think a big part of it is staying engaged in our faith. Keeping our faith alive makes it easy to trust God… but when I sit back and get caught up in my own thoughts… that’s when faith gets hard because I can come up with all sorts of reasons why I shouldn’t trust him… why his plan will fail… why I deserve something else.
Trusting and waiting doesn’t mean I sit idly by.
Look at Acts 7:22
22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.
Moses was an active agent in God’s plan. While he waited, while he trusted, he took part in God’s preparation.
Exodus tells us that he was nursed by his mother after he was taken in by Pharaoh's daughter. His mom became his nurse. It’s reasonable for many scholars to say that Moses was raised by Israel slaves, maybe even his mother, throughout his childhood.
Along the way he also received all the best formal training and education that Egyptians could provide.
Knowing his history, he could have become bitter, but instead, Moses submitted to what God was doing.
Submit diligently to God’s Preparation
Submit diligently to God’s Preparation
That’s a word for us.
Instead of seeing your circumstances as something to escape or regret, how can you seek God’s hand in it.
I’m bad about this, but I’ll pray for my kids safety and right after I do I remember that sometimes being a little unsafe is just what is needed to draw us to realize the hand of God in our lives.
That’s the first 40 years of Moses Life… preparation Now real quick I want to look at the next 40 years.
23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites.
24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian.
25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.
26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’
27 “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?
28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
All that Moses had gone through, he had to understand that his life was pretty special.
It’s clear that he understood that he was to be the deliverer of his people… if not that, he at least understood right and wrong and had the boldness to act upon it.
Problem was Moses took things into his own hands - literally.
He wanted to deliver God’s people in his way. and how did that work out?
The Israelites rejected him and Pharaoh wanted to kill him.
So he ran away.
One thing I’ve learned in my life every time I ran away from God… he wasn’t running from me.
He didn’t shy away from my sin, my failure, my embarrassment, my guilt. None of that kept him away.
Every time, God walked right into the mess I had created; as if to ask… “ok now what?”.
These 40 years were Moses’ OK NOW WHAT MOMENT.
It was God’s opportuntiy to humble Moses as he rejected God’s call on his life.
That’s the invitation from Moses:
Humble ourselves as a part God’s Plan
Humble ourselves as a part God’s Plan
What you believe determines how you behave
What you believe determines how you behave