Acts

November 13, 2025 –  Stephen, Stoning, and Getting What You Deserve— Acts # 20

David Chupp Acts , , , , ,

November 13, 2025 –  Stephen, Stoning, and Getting What You Deserve— Acts # 20
Acts 7:54 – 8;1

Acts 7:54-60   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.” 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.” 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.

Imagine if you were one of the over 5000 Jewish followers of Jesus on this day.   One of your leaders has just been stoned to death by the people in charge of the Jewish Religion, your religion.  All Jesus-followers at this time were Jewish, and they did not think they had stopped being Jewish when they followed the apostles and Jesus.  You see, all their life they had been raised by their Jewish parents, their Jewish community at synagogue, and the leaders of the Jewish religion, the priests, scribes, and Pharisees, to pray every day for the Messiah that would one day come.  So if you are a Jesus follower on this day, you have no reason to believe you have stopped being Jewish.  In fact, that Jewish prayer you prayed every day, for the Jewish Messiah to come, has come true, just as the Jewish prophets foretold.   You are a Jew who believes your Messiah has come.

And the people in charge of your religion, the ones in charge of the temple where you worship, and the ones who hold the power to excommunicate you from the religion or even kill you, these people just killed one of the most helpful, kind, Spirit-filled men you have ever known.  And the charge against him, blasphemy, was for saying the same things you were speaking to a friend yesterday.  How would you feel?  Would you be wondering if they were coming for you next?  

Acts 7:58   Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.

You have heard Bible stories about stoning and have probably at one time read the rules about stoning in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, but since many people fall asleep reading Leviticus and since we don’t know the culture well, let’s review a little about stoning.

Stoning was a common form of punishment in ancient times.  It is found in the law codes of several cultures.  In the Old Testament, sins punishable by stoning are in two categories:

  1. Those that deal with man’s relationship to God.   This includes those who tempt others to engage in idolatry (Deuteronomy 13:7,11), those who participate in idolatry themselves (Deuteronomy 17:5), those who use God’s name in a curse (Leviticus 24:16), those who offer their children to Molech (Leviticus 20:2), people who serve as mediums or necromancers (Leviticus 20:27) and a special case of a man who gathered wood on a Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-36).
  2. Social Crimes.   It is the fate prescribed for the wayward and defiant son (Deut 21:18-21), whose actions are accounted a capital offence to emphasise the gravity of disrespect for parents.   This sounds incredibly harsh to us, but understand the context.  First, it was not uncommon at all in these times for a father to kill his son for disobedience. Many cultures saw this as a fitting punishment, either death or being sold into slavery. But Biblical law is more restrictive and deprives the father of his authority to exert capital punishment on his own.  It is for the community elders to decide.  Secondly, in Jewish history, this was never done.  The Talmud states, “It never happened and it never will happen.”  Like many of our law codes today, there are specific maximum punishments on the books that are never used.  In Old Testament times, extreme cases of rebellious sons usually resulted in disinheritance.  The punishment of stoning was carried out in some cases of adultery, and there are several cases discussed in the Old Testament (and one in the New Testament).   Again, this maximum punishment was not always carried out, and apparently, the spouse had the right to insist on a lesser sentence.

Stoning took place outside the camp or city.  

Leviticus 24:13-14   Then Yehovah spoke to Moses, saying, “Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.”

This was to ensure that the blood of the guilty would not contaminate the camp or city.  Remember that contact with a dead body made a person ritually unclean for seven days. 

Numbers 19:14-16   This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days. And every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean. Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

Remember that Jesus was crucified and Stephen was stoned just outside the city walls.  (The exception to this was adultery.  If a woman was convicted of the crime of not being a virgin when she married, she was to be stoned at the door of her father’s house, implying parental responsibility for their child’s sexual behavior.)

Initially, stoning was done by throwing stones at the guilty person until they were dead.  By New Testament times, stoning was frequently done by pushing the guilty off a roof or a cliff.   If they did not die from the fall, a large rock was placed on their chest to make breathing difficult.  If they survived that, then they would cast stones.  Note this quote from the Mishna, the first written collection of the Jewish oral law that had been passed down for centuries.

“The elevation of the stoning grounds was twice the height of a man. One of the witnesses to the crime pushes him by his hips [so that he falls on his side]. If he falls onto his chest, he is turned onto his hips. If he dies [from the fall], the court has fulfilled its obligation. If he is still alive, the second witness takes a stone and places it on his chest. If the condemned man dies, the court has fulfilled its obligation.  If he is not dead, he is stoned by all of Israel…”

This quote from the Mishna (Sanhedrin 45) was written after 200 AD, but was considered the practice in the first century as well. The rabbis noted that the change in method was to fulfil Leviticus 19:18 (“Love your neighbor as yourself”) as seen in this quotation from Sanhedrin 45a: “Love your fellow as yourself, by choosing for him a better way to die.”  

This method of stoning is seen when the leaders of the synagogue in Nazareth decided that Jesus had committed blasphemy and needed to be killed. 

Luke 4:29   And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.

They intended to stone Jesus in the usual manner of the day, by pushing him off the cliff.  But God did not allow it that day.

Stoning was a form of public execution, not just observed by the public but carried out by it.  

Leviticus 20:2   The people of the land shall stone him with stones.

The community was responsible for carrying out the punishment.  Again, this may seem odd to us because our culture does not operate under the same assumption of community guilt as the culture of the Bible (though it should).   According to scripture, the community bears some of the guilt of any member who sins.  If a family member sinned, it brought guilt and shame on the family.  If a member of their community or nation sinned, this too brought guilt and shame on every member.   By participating in the stoning, they removed the guilt the lawbreaker had brought on the community.

And when the stoning was the sentence of a court hearing, the witnesses in the hearing were to throw the first stone.

Deuteronomy 17:7   The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

The Scripture is clear that there must be two or three witnesses, and that God takes the idea of false witness very seriously.  It is one of the ten commandments.

Exodus 20:16.  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

By requiring the witnesses to throw the first stone, the witnesses are directly responsible for the execution, so if their testimony was false, then they are guilty of murder.   

Knowing this information about stoning gives us some insight into the story in John 8 of Jesus and the adulterous woman. 

John 8:2-7   Early in the morning, Jesus came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

If you pictured the crowd of accusers picking up stones and then dropping them as they walked away, then know it didn’t happen that way.  They would not have stoned her there in the city, much less in the most holy place, the Temple.  We are told that this woman was caught in the act.  It is somewhat odd that she was caught in the act, but only the woman was brought to Jesus as the guilty party.  And they misquote the Scripture specifying the woman should be stoned when both of the scriptures that mention this (Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22)  refer to both the man and the woman (and do not specify stoning). 

Then Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 

 First, understand that the Greek word for ‘throw a stone at her’ (“ballo”) can also be translated as ‘put or place a stone on her.’  Any of those 3 English words can be used.  The translator has to choose which English word to use based on the context.  This is the same Greek word, translated as “put” in this verse in James:

James 3:3   If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.

I am glad our translators chose ‘put’ in this verse in James instead of ‘throw’.  It would take perfect aim and timing to throw a bit into a horse’s mouth, and I do not recommend trying this.  But the original English translators of the Bible were unaware of the change in method for stoning when they translated, so they chose to use “throw” instead of “put” or “place”.  But knowing what we know now, we see that what Jesus said is indeed consistent with the practice of the day, placing stones on the guilty party if the guilty party did not die from the fall. 

Secondly, when Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin place the first stone,” he is not asking who in the crowd is perfect and without sin (as I have usually heard it interpreted).  He is referring to the specific command in Deuteronomy 17 that the witnesses are to be the first to throw (or place) stones.  He is reminding these people who have come forward as ‘witnesses’ to this woman’s sin that it is a sin to be a false witness, and they had better be willing to fulfill their responsibility to begin the sentence if, indeed, they are without the sin of false testimony.   

Suddenly, no one is willing to be a ‘witness’ to this adultery, as apparently, no one is willing to commit the sin of false witness and murder.  There is no one left to condemn her.

But the false witnesses in our story of Stephen in Acts 7 were indeed willing to take on that sin.  How would you feel if this were your friend that people had lied about in court to have him killed?  What if you were Stephen’s mother or father?  How would you respond?  And these convicting him are members of their synagogues, and church leaders and priests.  How could God allow this?  They all deserve death.

Would you be angry?  Would you want to take revenge on the person who did this to your friend?  Would you pray and ask God to punish them severely for this horrible sin?  Would you want God to open up a hole in the earth and swallow them right away?  There may have been people in Stephen’s day who prayed that very prayer, who wanted to take vengeance into their own hands.  But how did Stephen respond?

Acts 7:59-60  And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 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.”

His dying words were, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”  What a Jesus-like attitude to have.  Jesus said the same thing from the cross.  He, too, was condemned by false witnesses and the court of the priests.  Those who were responsible for maintaining the integrity of religious practice, but committed the worst possible evil.  

We know the names of some who were in the court that convicted Stephen.  Annas and Ciaphas were there for sure.  But there is one other person who had a part in deciding Stephen’s fate, who you know very well.  Later on in this person’s life, he confesses to this sin.  He admits that he voted to put them to death.  And we know without a doubt that he was there for Stephen’s trial. He says this:

Acts 26:9-10   I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.

“I cast my vote against them.”  There is no other place to cast a vote like this except in the Sanhedrin, the court that tried and convicted Stephen.  The person speaking here is the apostle Paul.  He admits he voted in the court to have Stephen and others killed.  He admits the sins he committed.

And the Scripture specifically records his presence there.  

Acts 7:58-60  Then they cast Stephen 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.” 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.

Though oddly, when chapter divisions were added to the Bible in the 13th century, Mr Langton separated the last sentence of this story of Stephen into a different chapter. (I leave it to you to contemplate his motive.)  So the final sentence of this story is in chapter 8:

Acts 8:1   And Saul approved of his execution.

And Saul approved of his execution.  In Greek, “approved” or “agreed to.”  This young rabbi, trained by the most respected rabbi of his day, was in the council voting to have this innocent man stoned to death.  Now, what is the penalty for condemning an innocent man?  What should God do with these men?  What do they deserve?  What does Saul deserve?

But God did not give them what they deserved.  There are plenty of times when God does give people what they deserve throughout the Old Testament, and we discussed the story of Ananias and Sapphira just a few weeks ago, who received their punishment immediately.  How about these people who sent Jesus to the Romans for crucifixion and those who sent this innocent man, Stephen, to his death?  I can’t help but wonder whether the reason they didn’t get what they deserved is that one of God’s dear children prayed that they wouldn’t.  

Jesus:  “Father, forgive them for they really don’t understand what they are doing”
Stephen: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”  

I can’t speak for the outcome of all of these men who voted to kill Jesus or Stephen.  But I can talk about one of them.  God did not hold the young man Saul’s sin that day against him.  God did not give Saul what he deserved.  In fact, Jesus makes a very dramatic effort to reveal himself to this very man, appearing to him on the Damascus road.  Do you think the prayer of Stephen asking God to forgive those who condemned him (including Saul) had anything to do with God’s miraculous intervention with Saul?

There is an interesting comment Jesus makes to the disciples on the day of his resurrection.  They are gathered together.

John 20:22-23.  And when Jesus had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

We don’t have time now to discuss these verses thoroughly.  Perhaps another day.  But know that different denominations interpret this differently.  The Catholic Church uses this passage as Biblical evidence for the rite of confession.  They maintain that Jesus is giving his apostles the ability to choose which sins are forgiven and which are not, and that this is passed on through apostolic succession to priests.  (The priests don’t forgive the sin, but they say he has the power to convey or confer the forgiveness of God.)   Some Protestant denominations explain that these verses do not give church leaders this power, but are saying that we can pass on the knowledge of the path to salvation so that men can become saved through Jesus and thus receive forgiveness of sins.  

Let me add my interpretation. I believe in prayer. I believe prayer matters.  I see examples in the Bible of people praying and God listening and responding to their prayers.  And I think one way God answered that prayer that Stephen prays to forgive his accusers was to meet Saul on the Damascus Road.   I believe an answer to Stephen’s prayer is the apostle Paul.  Because God sought out Saul, who deserved to die right then and there, the gospel spread throughout much of the world, and we have much of the New Testament.  And this knowledge demands that I pray earnestly for God to forgive others, especially those who have harmed me.

Regardless of how you interpret these verses, know that we have a responsibility to forgive sin, even the sins of those who are our enemies, those who persecute us. 

Matthew 5:44:  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Luke 6:28   Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
Matthew 6:14-15  For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Do you have an enemy?  Has someone done you wrong?  Has someone treated you so poorly that you want God to punish them?  Then pray for his forgiveness.  Pray that he will seek the forgiveness of Jesus.  In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he says this:

2 Timothy 2:25-26   Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

What if Stephen had not prayed for Saul’s forgiveness?   What if, instead, he prayed for Saul to be given what he deserved?   Would it have changed the outcome?

I can’t pray for people to get what they deserve, because God certainly didn’t give me what I deserved.  I was a sinner, lost and without hope.  I deserved death and eternal separation from God.  I deserved hell.  But grace.  God’s grace did not give me what I deserved, but what I needed.  Love and mercy and grace.  Forgiveness of sins and God’s Holy Spirit were placed within me.   I thank God every day that Saul didn’t get what he deserved.  Then we wouldn’t have these rich letters of scripture he wrote.  I thank god every day that I didn’t get what I deserved.   And I then have no choice but to pray to God that, even for those who have treated me harshly, God will grant them repentance. 

November 6, 2025 –  Temples, Monuments, and Churches— Acts #19

David Chupp Acts , , ,

November 6, 2025 –  Temples, Monuments, and Churches— Acts #19
Acts 6:12 – 7:1

We continue with the story of Stephen.  He was chosen to be one of seven to oversee the distribution of resources in the growing church.  He was obedient to this and more.  The Holy Spirit began to do miracles through him.  Then some rose up against him and made accusations to the court of priests.  That’s where we pick up the story in Acts.

Acts 6:12-7:1   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.” And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
And the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

Stephen then gives them a long lesson.  52 verses.  I won’t print it all here, but you should read it now, Acts 7:2-53.  Stephen recounts Israel’s history, but he focuses on two main themes. The first one is that God has, throughout history, raised up deliverers for the people, but they have been rejected. And just as they rejected the prophets, they rejected Jesus.   And the second one that I would like to look at primarily here is that God gave them the tabernacle and the temple as places where they may dwell with him, but they made the mistake of thinking that God actually dwelt in the temple.  They put too much emphasis on the temple and its liturgy.   By the time of Jesus, the temple had essentially lost its true function and was more of a monument than a Temple. An excellent piece of architecture —a grand building —but not a place for God.

While we were in Egypt a month ago, we saw temple after temple.  But no one worships at any of these temples any longer.  They no longer function as temples, but just monuments to long-lost Pharaohs.  And Stephen, in his speech to the Chief Priests, will tell them that they have lost the purpose of their Jerusalem temple.  It was a place to meet God in worship, but they have used it to make money and gain power for themselves.  And they revere the temple more than they revere the God they should worship there.  Their temple has become an idol.

And the question we need to ask ourselves this morning, as we consider this passage of scripture, is: do we make the same mistake?  Have we placed too much emphasis on our individual church, on this church, or on a particular denomination, or church service itself, and forgotten that it is all about God, that the church is not the style of worship we use or the church rules we follow or the denomination we belong to, or the building we worship in?  Are we in danger of making the same mistake as these religious leaders in Acts 7?  

Just over 20 years ago, our church in Alabama was having its sanctuary remodeled.  Overnight, some cleaning rags spontaneously combusted, and the sanctuary was destroyed by fire.  It was a difficult time.  Many mourned the loss of that building, as they had very fond memories of their time there.  Babies had been dedicated there, children baptized there, couples married there, and some saints’ funerals held there.  There were mothers of young girls who dreamed of their daughters being married in that sanctuary.  But it was beyond repair. 

I remember standing outside looking at the charred building and saying to the pastor, “It’s only a building.”  That may have sounded a little callous then, because it really wasn’t just any old building, like a warehouse or a store.  But it really was just a building.  There were some holy moments in that place, but it was the moments that were holy, not the place.  It’s just a building.

But sadly, there are many stories of churches that have had bitter controversies over building decisions, whether to build a new building or remodel.   At least one church split over the color of the carpet in the new sanctuary.  Half wanted blue, half wanted red. The argument became so heated that people stopped speaking to each other. Some even left.  Months later, when the church finally installed the new carpet, they had lost far more than members—they had lost their witness. 

Now perhaps one group was right.  Maybe there were experts on interior decorating and on church decor who could state as a fact that one color was better for that circumstance.  But that doesn’t matter.  Choosing to be right is not more important than choosing to be in relationship.  A church splitting over carpet color may sound ridiculous… until we realize that we all have our “carpet issues.”

As a Christian Counselor, my wife often faces this same situation in marriage counseling. Usually, the most significant conflict in marriage is over things that don’t really matter, like carpet color.  She frequently asks couples who can’t seem to agree on a particular situation this:  “Would you rather be right, or would you rather be in a good relationship with your spouse?”  This is not only an essential principle for marriage, but a fundamental part of our understanding of God.  God is always right.  He is never wrong.  But he is willing to love us despite our wrongs and to seek a relationship with us.  He is willing to suffer himself to atone for the wrongs we have done, so that he can have that relationship.  And he wants us to show that same mercy and grace to others.  

But we all fight carpet color issues at some point.  Small things are blown out of proportion, causing division.  Every church has them.  Every denomination has them.  Every heart has them.  We all have the temptation to make something secondary into something sacred.  And this time, in Acts 6 and 7, the fight was over the temple itself.  And Stephen stood before the religious leaders of Israel and dared to challenge their obsession with one sacred thing: the Temple.

The charge against Stephen was simple. 

Acts 6:13-14   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.

They produced false witnesses who said,  He wants to tear down our temple and the way we worship here.  He wants to demolish the center of our faith.  But Stephen’s response in Acts 7 would reveal that their love for the Temple had actually blinded them to the true center of their faith—not a building and the sacrifices offered there, but the presence of God.

When Stephen begins his 52-verse defense, he doesn’t start with the accusations against him. He begins with a history lesson.  He tells the story of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses—men who met God outside of any temple or holy site.  He wants to show them that God doesn’t have to have a Temple made with human hands to meet people.

Long before there was a temple, before there was a promised land, before there was a chosen people, God first appeared to Abraham not in this place but in a pagan land.  Stephen is saying, “You think God only works in Jerusalem? He met our father Abraham in Babylon!”

And where did God first meet Moses? In the wilderness.  God spoke to Moses from a burning bush—not in a temple, but on dusty ground on Mount Sinai.  Stephen quoted God’s words:  

Acts 7:33. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 

I have been on that mountain twice. I’ve hiked up and down that mountain, and there is no place with a sign that says this is holy ground.  That was Stephen’s point: Wherever God is present, it becomes sacred ground.  Let me tell you that on that sunrise at the top of Sinai, I found holy ground.  I had a sacred moment with God up there. Because it was never the ground that was holy, it was the presence of God that was holy.  It’s not about the location—it’s about His presence.   

Then Stephen speaks of how God moved with the children of Israel on their journey.  After God delivered them from Egypt, they returned to the same mountain where God had met Moses before.   And there God told Moses, “Make me a tabernacle that I may be worshipped in it.”  No, that is not what he said.  God said:

Exodus 25:8  “Let them make me a tabernacle, that I may dwell in their midst.   

That is what God wanted.  That is what he did in creation: he built a world and made a garden there so he could dwell with us.  And ever since Adam and Eve messed up God’s perfect plan to live with us, ever since Man brought sin and death into the world to drive a wedge between us and God, ever since that moment, God has been working to make a way to reunite himself with his creation.  So that is why they built the Tabernacle so that he could move with his people on their journey, and the tent was placed right in the middle of them. 

For all of the years in the wilderness and for hundreds of years after coming into the land, God met them in a tent—the Tabernacle—because His presence moved with His people. Only later, when Israel had settled in the land, did Solomon build the Temple, and even then, Stephen told them:

Acts 7:47-50 “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 reminds the Sanhedrin that even when Solomon built the Temple that God designed, it was not to be His house.  God made it clear then that He cannot be contained in any man-made structure.

And yet the Temple had become their idol.  The Temple was not a bad thing, nor was the Tabernacle.  They were both good.  God gave the plans for the Tabernacle to Moses and the plans for the Temple to David.  God gave these structures to be a symbol of His desire to dwell among His people.  But symbols can become substitutes.  

Remember the bronze serpent on the pole that Moses made?  The people were dying from poisonous snake bites, and God instructed Moses to make a bronze (or more likely, copper) serpent on a pole.  The people would look to it and be healed.  (Jesus mentions it in His discussion with Nicodemus in John 4.)  Did you know that this copper snake that Moses made was still around in Israel 1000 years after Moses made it?   2 Kings 18 tells us that when the good king Hezekiah was trying to destroy all the idols in Israel:

2 Kings 18:4   And he [Hezekiah] broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).

The people had taken something good that God designed for a good purpose and turned it into an idol.  And idols must be destroyed.  This is not a new idea.  God made all the animals and all the heavenly bodies, and many false religions have turned them into idols.  And now Stephen is telling these priests that they have taken the idea of the Temple as the place where God meets men and turned it into an idol.

And for these Jewish leaders, the Temple was a status symbol: proof of their national pride.  It was a security blanket: “As long as we have the Temple, God is with us.”  And it was a source of control: it gave the priests and leaders power over who could approach God.  They believed that questioning the Temple was questioning God Himself.   But in truth, their loyalty had shifted—from the Lord to the location.  This is not a new problem.  It was the same 600 years earlier in Jeremiah’s day.

Jeremiah 7:3-4  “Thus says Yehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’

They had made a mantra of their claims that because the temple was there, they could not be defeated.  The Babylonians can not take our city, for the Temple of God stands here.   But Jeremiah warned them that the Temple was no protection from the punishment for abandoning their obedience to God.  And so this prophecy came true on the ninth day of the month of Av, 586 BC, the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple.

And now Stephen tells them, as Jeremiah did their predecessors, that the Temple is not God, and they have left God no choice but to destroy the object of their idolatry. Idols must be destroyed.

So again, God called up a foreign oppressor nation to do that.  And in 70 AD, Roman troops breached the city’s walls and destroyed the temple.  And it happened on the same day of the year as before, on the ninth of the month of Av.  God is trying to teach this vital lesson.  Do not take something good I have given you and make it into an idol.

It is easy to read the story and see how these priests had been deceived into thinking they were doing a great job handling religion, when all the time they were like shepherds leading their sheep to destruction, to see how they had substituted their Temple and their religious practice for God.   But now let’s bring this forward 2,000 years.   

The problem Stephen exposed still exists—the temptation is still there, just in different clothes.  There is a temptation today to take something wonderful that God has given us and turn it into an idol.  And there is a temptation to see the local church as the new Temple.  It’s easy for a congregation to fall in love with itself.   There’s nothing wrong with loving your church!  But some churches, over time, like the Temple, turn inward on themselves.  They see themselves like these priests in Stephen’s day see the Temple, as the “House of God”.

J D Greear wrote a book in 2015 called “Gaining by Losing,” in which he described the modern-day church as a cruise ship.  Initially, there were ocean liners, built to ferry people across the Atlantic.  Now, don’t be fooled by the movie about the Titanic.  For all but a few people, these were not luxury trips at all but were filled with poor immigrants or refugees seeking a new life in America.  These were destination-based trips.  You tolerated the journey to reach the destination.  That is why they were called ocean liners. They were designed to get you from point A to point B on a regular route or line, like a bus or train.

With the advent of larger airplanes, the need for ocean liners as primary transportation diminished.  And then we saw the rise of cruise ships that did go places but, over time, really became destinations in themselves, with top entertainment, restaurants, water slides, ice rinks, etc.   They mostly went in circles, delivering you back where you started.

Before the 1960s, most churches were small and community-based. They had a sanctuary, a few offices, and classrooms. The church was destination-based; a means to get you to the throne of God.  Then churches began following the cruise ship model, Greear notes, offering more and more amenities to attract members to their particular brand.  We saw churches build sports complexes, coffee shops, and bookstores, and, of course, better-decorated sanctuaries with the latest stage sound, lighting, and special effects, and padded pews for the comfort of the members: more charismatic pastors, video backdrops. 

All of this catering to a membership that chooses which church to attend based on what that church can do for me or how it meets my perceived needs.  I have heard friends say, “Well, this church has better programs,” or “that pastor didn’t meet my needs,” or “that is not my favorite kind of music.” “I didn’t enjoy the worship service.”   It is all about me and what I need.  They go somewhere, but they don’t get you to the throne of God.

Therein is the problem.   The gathering of believers is not for the purpose of getting something but giving something — giving praise to God, giving a part of your income, and giving service to others to spread the gospel.  We are there to serve, not to be served.  To give, not to get.   

You should never make your decision about church attendance based on what you get out of it.

There is the danger that the destination is our enjoyment of the worship service. Not us meeting God at his throne.  Do you see how ridiculous that sounds?   You can lose the church’s very purpose by making it all about yourself.  Then you are no longer worshipping God, but you are worshipping an idol, either the church or yourself.

The priests in Acts 7 got a lot out of the Temple.  They got power, prestige, and money.  It was not about God; it was all about them.  The temple had become their cruise ship.  We, too, must be careful not to obsess over our own institutions, for if we do, we stop moving outward and start looking inward.

Temple-thinking says: “If people want God, they’ll come to us.”  The gospel says: “Go into all the world.”  Our focus must be broader than our little corner of the world.  We need to be kingdom-minded.  Just because we have the resources to make our sanctuaries bigger or better doesn’t mean we should.  We have to consider the needs of God’s kingdom.  It is not all about us.

The religious leaders thought they were guarding holiness, but in truth, they were rejecting the Holy One Himself.  Jesus stood right before them—and they didn’t recognize Him.  Stephen’s accusation still echoes:  “You’re worshiping the symbol of God’s presence, not God’s actual presence.”

Jesus came to make a radical change in the structure of the Temple in God’s world.  The days of a physical temple as a symbol of God’s dwelling among people are no longer needed. God was never contained in a building, he told Solomon that.  It was always God’s wish to dwell with us intimately in our hearts.  But the problem was sin.  So Jesus came to bring about the final defeat of sin, so that God could take up residence in our hearts.  And 50 days after Jesus defeated sin, the Holy Spirit came in power on Pentecost.  And from that day on, the Temple building in Jerusalem lost its purpose.  Oh, they had polluted and defiled it so severely that it was no longer serving the purpose God intended anyway.  So it is no more.

  Paul said this:  

1 Corinthians 3:16  Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

And Paul isn’t using the generic Greek word for ‘temple’ there.  He is using the Greek ‘naos’ for the Temple.  Naos is the word for the most holy place, the holy of holies, the very place where God’s spirit dwells.  When Jesus cleanses us of sin, we become together the holy of holies.  God has accomplished his goal of communion with us again.  We are the temple.

And Stephen got a glimpse of that.  They become so angry at Stephen that they take him outside the city and stone him to death.  And as the stones began to fly, Stephen looked up and said: 

Acts 7:56   Look, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

Think about that. They accused him of disrespecting the Temple—but Stephen saw the real Temple—the presence of God in heaven, with Jesus standing beside the Father.   What they were defending was a shadow.  What Stephen saw was the reality.   Through Christ, we have become God’s temple.  That means that God’s presence is not limited to one church building.   God’s Spirit is not confined to one denomination. God’s glory is not dependent on our brand.   The actual temple is wherever the people of God live, love, and carry His presence into the world.

I showed you monuments that the pharaohs in Egypt built 1000s of years ago.  Monuments to a past that is gone.  That is what man has always built – monuments.   We do that in our country also. 

And the Temple in Jerusalem had become a monument.  It was initially built to be a place where God met people.  Where worship was centered.  But over the years, it became just a monument.  A structure that commemorates a past event.  Not only did it no longer function as God intended, but it had become an idol.  And idols must be destroyed.

God doesn’t build buildings and monuments; God builds people.

So we must not put too much importance on buildings.   Don’t call this the house of God.  God doesn’t live here.  He can’t be contained.   Don’t call it the church house either.  We don’t live here; we just meet here to worship.  I don’t even like the phrase ‘house of worship’. One, because it is not a house, and 2, because worship is something we do all day, every day, everywhere. 

We should look at our buildings as mission outposts.   A mission outpost is a small, localized base, often focused on outreach, service, and fellowship. These outposts can serve as places for evangelism and discipleship, hubs for community support — like food and clothing —or spaces for believers to be recharged and connected to go back out into the world.  I believe the current military term is Forward Operating Base or FOB.  This is a staging area to send people out to do the mission.

As Greear noted, we as a local church should not function like a cruise ship.  We are not here to serve ourselves.   Greear said we should be more like aircraft carriers.  Aircraft Carriers equip planes to go off and complete missions.  The church is not the mission. It is a staging ground for the mission of carrying the light of the gospel to the places in the world where there is darkness.  We meet here to worship God and to get our mission assignment.  Every time we walk out those doors, we should know what our specific mission is for that week.  Do you know your mission?

October 29, 2025 –  Good News and Bad News— Acts #18

David Chupp Acts

October 29, 2025 –  Good News and Bad News— Acts #18
Acts 6:8–15

Acts 6:8-15   And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 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. 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.” And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Today, we discuss Stephen.  He was one of the seven we spoke of last week, appointed to ensure that everyone (specifically widows) received the assistance they needed.  They were given the task of distributing resources.  That may not seem very interesting, but look at verse 8.

Acts 6:8   And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 

Verse 8 tells us that Stephen was not some glorified waiter passing out food or serving tables.  When Stephen began to allow God to use him in this ministry, the Holy Spirit began to work in his life in even more dramatic ways.  This is an important lesson.  Jesus said: 

Luke 16:10   One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much,

And in his parable of the master rewarding his faithful servant, the servant is told:  

Matthew 25:23“Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.

Stephen was faithful over the work of distribution, and next thing you know, the Holy Spirit is doing miracles through him.  There is a lesson here.   Do something small in obedience to God, and watch the Holy Spirit turn your small act into something big.  Do you want to see God do mighty things?  Then be obedient to do small things.  Visit a neighbor, bake a cake, rake someone’s leaves, take someone to lunch, volunteer in a local mission.  Be faithful, and watch God come alongside you; then the Holy Spirit starts doing what the Holy Spirit does, and before you know it, you are seeing the power of God at work through you.  Stephen is bringing the gospel to people through his words and his actions. 

Remember that our word “gospel” comes from the Old English “godspel,” which meant “good story.”  This is the word most translations use for the Greek ‘evangelion,’ which meant “good news.”  The gospel of Jesus Christ is the best news the world has ever heard.This is the gospel:  God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in him may have eternal life.   Hear the good news: God, the all-powerful creator of the universe, sees you and loves you so much that he would do whatever it took to bring you back to Him.   God’s love led him to give His Son for you, even though that meant suffering at the hands of those he came to help, so that complete forgiveness for our sins is available.  The good news is that the wages of your sin -death – have been paid.  The good news is that, because sin and death have been defeated, we can dwell with God forever in his love and grace.

But have you noticed — not everyone receives it as good news? Some are offended by it, angered by it, even threatened by it.  That’s precisely what we see in Acts 6.  Stephen is doing good — full of grace, full of power — but his message stirs up fierce opposition.  The very ones who should have recognized the hand of God accuse him of blasphemy.  How can the same message that brings life to some bring fury to others?  Look back at Jesus’ sermon in his hometown of Nazareth.  He reads this scripture out of Isaiah:

Luke 4:18-19  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

This passage in Isaiah was very familiar to those there.  They prayed for the day when this good news would come, for it would be the time of the Messiah.  They prayed every day for this time to come.  So Jesus reads the scripture that foretold of the coming good news to the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed.  And then:

Luke 4:20-21  And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

Jesus gives them the best possible news they could ever hear.  You know that thing you have been praying for your whole life?  That your mother and your grandfather and your great-grandfather and people for hundreds of years have prayed for? Well, here it is.  The Messiah is here.  Good news!  And how do they react?

Luke 4:28-29   When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 

It should have been good news to them.  But they took it as bad news.  As with Stephen, they are ready to kill the messenger.  How can the gospel be seen as bad news?  The scriptures tell us that some will see the gospel as good news, but some groups will see it as bad news.  We just looked at Jesus quoting Isaiah that the gospel is good news for the poor, the blind, the captive, and the oppressed.  Now look at the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, we find in Matthew 5.  These are the people that Jesus says the gospel is good news for:  the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…. The gospel is bad news for the proud, the powerful, the corrupt, the comfortable, the demonic. Let’s take a look at these groups.

The Gospel is Bad News for the Proud.
The gospel says: “You cannot save yourself.” That’s humbling. It tears down pride and ego. The proud want to believe they’re good enough — that their morality, religion, or hard work will earn them favor.  But the gospel says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). To the proud, that’s not good news — it’s offensive.   Because it means they stand in need of mercy; they aren’t good enough.  That’s why some of the Pharisees couldn’t stand Jesus.  He told them their righteousness wasn’t sufficient.

Matthew 5:20  For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

These guys that all of the Jews looked up to as the righteous ones, these guys who followed every single law in the Torah.  They were so careful to tithe every penny and not walk too far or do work on the Sabbath.  If you can’t be more righteous than they are, then you can’t be part of my kingdom. This offended some of the Pharisees, and they turned against Jesus.  Their pride in their keeping of the law was challenged by the gospel that says “no one is good enough.  We can never be.  We need the righteousness of Jesus.”

In Luke 18, Jesus tells a story about two men who were praying in the temple: one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 

Jesus said, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”  We see this all through the Bible.  From Proverbs to James

Proverbs 16:18   Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
James 4:6   God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

So, the good news that only grace can save may be great news to those who know they are sinners, but it is bad news for the proud and self-righteous.

The Gospel is Bad News for the Powerful.
The message of Stephen — and the message of Jesus — was a direct challenge to the power structures of their day.  And they were both dealt with in the same way.  Jesus was put to death on a cross, and Stephen was stoned to death.  When the gospel says “Jesus is the authority: it also says “the Chief priest and the Sanhedrin are not.  When the gospel says “Jesus is Lord,” it also says “Caesar is not.”

The powerful, the elite, and the controlling forces of society don’t like that.
They build their empires on fear and domination — and here comes a carpenter from Nazareth proclaiming a kingdom built on love and justice.  No wonder rulers trembled.

The gospel is bad news for every tyrant, every oppressor, every unjust system — because it proclaims that Christ alone reigns.  We read in the Bible that God’s Kingdom was bad news for Pharaoh in Egypt, for Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, and for the Emperors of Rome.   We have seen this in modern times also.

In 1949, Mao Zedong announced the formation of the People’s Republic of China.  He is easily the worst mass murderer in the history of the world, responsible for over 45 million deaths.   And he highly opposed Christianity and the gospel.  Mao’s communist regime aggressively persecuted Christians, methodically searching out Christians, torturing them, and letting them die in labor camps, seeking to eliminate the faith.  

He wanted to stamp out the gospel.  To him, it was not good news.  But bad news for you, Mao, the gospel is unstoppable.

Mao’s attempt to eliminate Christianity from China ultimately backfired, leading to an explosive growth of the church. The persistence of the faith under a state that sought its destruction demonstrates the Gospel’s power to endure in the face of tyranny.   But China is a slow learner.  Persecution of Christians in China continues.  They demand that churches be registered with the state and then place in their churches images of Xi Jinping and sing communist anthems and praise communist heroes.  The government places rewritten Bibles with passages removed that contradict communist beliefs and others rewritten to align with socialist values.  They use spies and facial recognition to identify underground churches, and they arrest church leaders.  

Despite all these government attempts to destroy or control the gospel, listen up, China.  I have some terrible news for you.  Over the past 4 decades, Christianity has grown in China faster than anywhere else in the world, from 1 million Christians to 100 million.  The underground house church movement flourished under Roman oppression in the first century, and it continues to do so today in China. And Jesus is just getting started.

The Gospel is Bad News for the Corrupt.
John 3:19–20  Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

That’s why they couldn’t stand Stephen — he was shining too much light.  His words exposed hypocrisy. His life reflected holiness.   When light enters the room, darkness doesn’t debate — it flees or fights.  The Gospel was bad news for the corrupt Herod Antipas.  His corruption was exposed, and it was his downfall.   The gospel is bad news for the corrupt, not because God doesn’t love them, but because His love won’t let them hide any longer.

The gospel calls us to die to self, take up our cross, and follow Jesus.  That’s uncomfortable. It demands change.  For those who want a safe, easy religion, the gospel is bad news — because Jesus doesn’t offer comfort without commitment.  He calls us out of the pew and into the mission field.  He calls us to forgive, to serve, to sacrifice.  The gospel is bad news for those who just want Jesus to make their life smoother — instead, He makes it meaningful.

The gospel forces a decision; it never leaves us neutral.  It confronts us with the question: “What will you do with Jesus?”  You can’t ignore Him. You can only receive Him or reject Him.   That’s why the gospel is bad news for the indifferent — because it insists on a response. Indifference dies at the foot of the cross.  You must either fall on your knees or turn away.

So the Gospel is bad news for the Proud, the Powerful, the Corrupt and the Complacent and finally, the gospel is bad news for darkness, for Satan, and all evil powers.   Every time the good news is proclaimed, hell trembles.  Colossians 2:15 says:

Colossians 2:15  He [Jesus] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in the cross.

The gospel announces that evil’s time is up.  The serpent’s head has been crushed.  The victory of Christ is final.  That’s bad news for every force that opposes the reign of God.

I had the opportunity this past Thursday to talk to a missionary, Joe Fleming, who is working with the Holy Spirit doing some amazing work in Africa.  His story is amazing.  He was working with Voice of the Martyrs in West Africa when he happened to meet up with this man.

His name is Emmanuel Momo Kante.  Momo grew up in a small village in Sierra Leone, where for a thousand years, people there worshipped idols and regularly sacrificed their children to these idols.  The village priests would hear from the idol how many children were required.  They would go to the home and choose a child from birth to 17 years old for sacrifice.  The child had to be free of blemishes or deformities.  They would then take that child that evening up on the mountain to an altar there and slit his throat.  When he was 8 years old, Momo was chosen to be sacrificed, but his sister helped him escape to a city where a family took him in and raised him.

At 20 years old he developed a severe illness and went to a Baptist missionary who prayed for him.  He was healed and gave his life to Jesus.  Several years later, his brother persuaded him to return to his village to bring the gospel.  He was afraid to go as he thought they would kill him.  But he did return and shared the good news that they didn’t have to kill their children any longer.  He told them of a God who did not ask for them to die but instead sent his Son to die for them.   He spoke to the whole village for 3 days of the gospel and 150 people accepted Jesus and were baptized, and the child sacrifice stopped in that village immediately.

Momo took John to his village and they sat in a hut and listened as over a dozen women told him how they had to give up their children.  A mother talking about how she had 11 children, but only one lives.  The rest were taken and sacrificed.  A grandmother who lost six children and five grandchildren.  A young man who had no siblings because they were all taken, and no parents because they were killed for mourning their children.  But in this village, they told him, because the gospel came, we don’t have to give up our children anymore.  See, now we have children.  Jesus did this for us.

This is the power of the gospel.  This is the power of the Word of God.  Do you think the gospel is good news?  What if you woke up every morning wondering if today was the day you would have to give up your child to be sacrificed? Your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents- for over a thousand years parents lived in this fear.   And then someone comes and tells you that there is a better way.  That you can follow the one true God, who doesn’t require you to give up your son because He gave up His son for you.  How good is the news that no more children have to die?  You can understand why that in almost every village that the gospel enters there are mass conversions.  Most of the village all at once chooses to leave thier way of life and follow Jesus.  150 baptized in a day.  How can you not choose so great a salvation?

In 2020 they identified 600 villages where the gospel had not reached, where they still practiced child sacrifice.  By June of this year the gospel has entered 200 of those villages and there are no more sacrifices of children.  This is good news.  But the gospel is very bad news for the power of evil.  The demons no longer have their way in those 200 villages.  And listen up Satan, your days are numbered in those other 400 villages, because the gospel is going there too.

This past Monday, six days ago, one of my pastor friends in Alabama heard this story and how John had 12 teams ready to go out to 12 more villages, but didn’t have the funds.  It costs just over $12,000 per team to equip them and pay the teams salary for the 14 months it takes to establish a church.   So in 3 days this week they raised over $200,000 to send these teams and more.  So those 12 teams will be equipped and sent out next week.  The gospel will go into 12 more villages, and that is bad news for the forces of darkness.

Joe has trainers now all across Africa and into Pakistan and Afghanistan.  He told us Thursday they have started 2100 churches and have over 373,000 believers.   Since May of 2023, just over two years they have baptized 35,000 new believers.  This in places where evil had ruled people for over a thousand years.  And now all of these people can claim this verse in Colossians:

Colossians 1:13-14   He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

So to review:
Jesus told us the gospel is good news for: the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…. I think we in America really don’t comprehend what amazingly good news our gospel is.  We are somewhat insulated from the horrors of our world. When we really take a hard look at the world and the evil in the world around us, child sacrifice, child trafficking, the killing of unborn babies, the horrible treatment of the poor, only then can we appreciate the good news of the light of the gospel.

And how can we possibly hear the stories of child sacrifice and do nothing about it.  How can we hear the stories of child trafficking and ignore it?  How can we see people created in God’s image being oppressed and just look away?  Because, as the Gospel is incredibly good news to these, it is bad news for some.

The gospel is bad news for: the proud, the powerful, the corrupt, the comfortable, and the demonic.  Watch out you proud, you powerful, you corrupt, you who are comfortable, and beware forces of darkness… your time is almost up.   The gospel is more powerful. The Gospel is unstoppable.   Sin and death have been defeated, and you are next.   

As children of God,  as followers of Jesus, our eyes opened to the goodness of God and the evil in this world, we go out into this world as representatives of the gospel, as reflections of King Jesus.

2 Corinthians 2:15-16   For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing: to the one an aroma of death leading to death; to the other, an aroma of life leading to life.

October 23, 2025 –  Time to Serve— Acts #17

David Chupp Acts , , ,

October 23, 2025 –  Time to Serve— Acts #17
Acts 6:1–7

Acts 6:1-7   Now in these days, when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 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. 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. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

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.

As we have seen so far in Acts, the early church was known for many things — bold preaching, miracles of healing, and rapid growth — but one of its most beautiful qualities was its heart to serve.  They didn’t just preach the gospel; they lived it.  They didn’t just talk about love; they showed it in action.  When widows were hungry, they fed them.  When needs arose, they met them, giving of what they had and, if necessary, selling land they owned to provide for those in need.

But we read in Acts 6 today about that spirit of service being tested.  As the church grew, some widows — the Greek-speaking Hellenists — were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.  It wasn’t intentional. There are natural divisions in the church at this point based on their language.  Most in the Jerusalem area spoke Aramaic or Hebrew and used the Hebrew Scriptures in their synagogues.  Others were from regions outside Judea and in their community spoke Greek, like most of the rest of the world.  They would typically use the Septuagint in their synagogues, the Greek translation of the Old Testament done by Jewish scholars in the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. 

There was a natural division, of course, based on language.  And the needs of those in your same-language community would be more well-known than the needs of others you have less contact with.  So some of the Greek-speaking widows were not receiving the help they needed.  Once the need was made known, the church rushed to fill it.  Before the apostles in the book of Acts ever said a word about serving widows, the call to serve had already been written into the story of God’s people in the Bible.  From the beginning, God’s law commanded care for the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner:

Deuteronomy 10:17-19  For Yehovah your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Since their departure from Egypt, God has been teaching the children of Israel who He is and how He wants them to behave.   In fact, if you want to know how God wants you to act, then study God’s character, for we are to imitate Him.  The more we understand who God is, the better we know how God wants us to act.  Yehovah says, “This is who I am.  You see how I act.  If I am your Father, then grow up and act like me.”   He tells them, “Look, I am not like the gods of Egypt, where you were slaves.  You could bribe those gods; they didn’t care about justice.  They cared only for themselves.  Do not imitate them, but imitate me.

This is the heart of the God we serve — a God who stoops low to care for the vulnerable.  And they specifically list three sets of people here.  The fatherless and the widow, you understand.   Orphaned children obviously need the care of the community. So too did widows, for in their culture the widow had no means of support.  And then the sojourner.  That Hebrew word, ‘ger,’ meant the “newcomer, the foreigner, the alien, or the immigrant.”  These people, just joining them, had no land and thus no means to care for themselves.  Like the widow and the orphan, they needed the community’s love and support.

This is the Abu Simbel temple near the southern border of Egypt, carved into the side of a mountain just beside the Nile.  These four colossal statues are of Ramses II. They are over 70 feet tall.  Every depiction of Pharaoh and their gods is huge.  Why are they so big? 

Look here at the base of one of these statues of Ramses.  The person standing there gives you an idea of the proportions.  Now look at the figures carved under the feet of Ramses.

These are the people whom he has conquered and enslaved.  They are on their knees with their hands bound behind their back, humbled in submission to the great Ramses.  They are literally under his feet.  His enemy has been trampled and subjugated.   And they are tiny compared to the pharaoh, just as you are when you pass by under Pharaoh’s feet. 

The reason that all of the depictions of gods in Egypt were big was to make you look small.  You are nothing compared to them.   You are like a pitiful slave.  But Yehovah says that He is not like these gods of Egypt.  He stoops low to care for the most vulnerable of his people.  And He is trying to teach this lesson to the children of Israel.  He says, “You were immigrants in Egypt. You spoke a different language and worshiped a different God.  And they treated you poorly.  You were slaves there.  Don’t let me find you treating others like this.   Don’t imitate the pharaoh and the gods of Egypt.  Imitate me.  You are my children.”

Exodus 22:22-24  You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

This is the lesson they are taught just after escaping from Egypt.  God is serious about how widows, orphans, and immigrants are treated.  God says, ‘If you mistreat them, I will destroy you.’  But Israel doesn’t learn this lesson very well.  Here are the words of Isaiah  7-800 years later:

Isaiah 10:1-3  (Message)  Doom to you who legislate evil, who make laws that make victims—
 Laws that make misery for the poor, that rob my destitute people of dignity, exploiting defenseless widows, taking advantage of homeless children.
 What will you have to say on Judgment Day, when Doomsday arrives out of the blue? Who will you get to help you?

God cares for those that society abuses and tosses aside. This is the heart of the God we serve — a God who stoops low to care for the vulnerable.  He hears the cry of the oppressed, He defends the weak, and He calls His people to do the same.

The mistreatment of these poor is listed as a primary reason that God called down the enemy to destroy them, just as he told them he would in Exodus.  First, Assyria came from the north and wiped out the Northern tribes.  Then, Babylon came as an instrument of God to destroy their country and take the southern tribes into exile for 70 years.    God is so serious about this that he brought destruction on his chosen people. 

Pharaoh would never humble himself to help an ordinary person.  However, in contrast, our God did this:

Philippians 2:6-7  Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Jesus left his throne in God’s heaven, where there was no pain or hunger or sickness.  A place where he was worshipped constantly.  And he left all that behind to enter our cruel world and take the form of a servant.  No idol god of any nation would ever do that.   No other king would give up his throne to come to take on the task that Jesus did.

And Jesus spent his entire ministry serving others.  And he tried to teach his disciples that whoever would be greatest must be the servant of all.  They were slow to grasp this lesson, so on the night before he went to the cross, at his final meal with them.  He takes on the task of the lowest servant and washes their feet.

Matthew 20:28  The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

So the passage we just read in Philippians continues with this verse. 

Philippians 2:8  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

He humbled himself.  He lowered himself to the point of suffering and death for us.  You see, Pharaoh made himself look big so he could make everyone else look small.  Our God became small, to make us big.   He came to lift us up and make us bigger—more than we were.  And Paul says this is the lesson that Israel had trouble learning and that we must learn.  The verse that precedes this passage :

Philippians 2:4-5  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

Have this mind in you.  This is the mind of Christ.  Think like Jesus.  See others the way Jesus sees them.  And be willing to lower yourself, to humble yourself, to make yourself small, to lift others up.  This is who God is. This is the gospel message.

Now back to our story…

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.

Now, don’t read this wrong.  They weren’t saying serving tables was unimportant — they were saying it was so important that it needed to be done by people called and equipped by God, especially for this job.  Look at the qualifications for this position.  They aren’t looking for good businessmen, strong backs, or good organizational skills.

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.”

They looked for people full of the Holy Spirit.  Why? Because even simple acts of service are sacred work when done in Jesus’ name.  Every meal served, every visit made, every hand extended in compassion is more than just a good deed.  Because God, through the Holy Spirit, is present in those acts of mercy and love, they carry much more meaning.

What we learn from this passage is this:  Serving others isn’t a distraction from the gospel — it’s a demonstration of it.  Every time we love someone in need, we preach a silent sermon about who Jesus is.  The Holy Spirit in us makes an impact in our service way beyond any physical act we can do.  

Stephen was one of the seven chosen.  We will talk about him next week.  He didn’t see himself as “just serving tables.”  He saw himself as serving Christ. And we will see how God used him mightily, both as a servant and a powerful witness. When you serve others, you are not doing small work — you are doing kingdom work. You’re showing the world what the love of Christ looks like in action.

So what is the most important job in the Kingdom of God?  Is it the prophet – the preacher?  Is it the administrator?  Is it the worker of miracles, the healer?  How about the teacher?  What is the highest calling in the Kingdom of God?  Paul answered that question in 1 Corinthians 12.

1 Corinthians 12:27-31 “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts.”

Earnestly desire the higher gifts.   But what are the higher gifts?   Don’t misunderstand his statement about “first apostles, second prophets, third teachers….”  Theologians will be quick to say that this is not a listing of importance.   So what are the higher gifts that we are to desire?  The next verse says: 

1 Corinthians 12:31  And I will show you a still more excellent way.

And what does Paul show us next?  That is the last verse of the twelfth chapter.  So the more excellent way is found in the thirteenth chapter of Corinthians. 

1 Corinthians 13:1-2  If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

This is the Love chapter.   The more excellent way is the way of love.  

1 Corinthians 13:8  Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 

Prophecy or knowledge or tongues or any gift or ministry without love is empty.  All the other gifts and ministries will come to an end.  But the love that is behind them, the love that comes to us from God and flows out of us through God, will never cease.  All gifts and all work done in the kingdom are essential, but the most important job is to love. 

1 Corinthians 13:13  So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

It is greater than faith. It is greater than hope.  Again, if we understand who God is, then we know how God wants us to behave.  God is love.  His love is limitless and is for all people. So that should be who we are, people who love others radically.  People who like their God are willing to sacrifice themselves to love others.  But again, back to our story.

Once the seven men were chosen, the apostles prayed over them and set them apart for service.  And look at what happened next: 

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.”

That’s not a coincidence.  When the church began serving one another well, the gospel began to spread further.  Why? Because the love of God is powerful, spreading like a wildfire.  When people see the church caring for each other — across cultural lines, across differences — it gives credibility to the message we preach.  Do we want our church to grow?  Then we must learn this lesson.  Service in love, across cultural and language differences.  Jesus said,

John 13:35   By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

The church grew not just through preaching, but through serving.   If we want to see revival in our day, it won’t come just through louder preaching —it will come through deeper compassion.  It’s often the acts of love that open the door for the words of truth.  When a church rolls up its sleeves, when believers feed the hungry, comfort the hurting, and serve the forgotten — that’s when the light of Christ shines the brightest.

Acts 6 shows us what happens when a church takes service seriously: needs are met, unity is restored, and the gospel moves forward.  Serving others is not optional for a follower of Christ — it’s the very heartbeat of our faith.  It’s how the world sees Jesus in us.   So, ask yourself today: How can I serve others in Jesus’ name?  How can I reach out to those in our community who are forgotten, who suffer from injustice, who are poor and needy, who are the sojourners?

1 John 3:16-18   This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

October 13, 2025 –  This Is How I Fight My Battles — Acts #16

David Chupp Acts , , ,

October 13, 2025 –  This Is How I Fight My Battles — Acts #16
Acts 5:33-42

Today, we will conclude our story in Acts 5.  Remember that the apostles are all placed in prison overnight for disobeying a specific order from the highest court in Israel.   But God decided that they didn’t need to stay there overnight.  He sent an angel to release them so they could return to the temple and resume preaching that same message.  As the choir just sang, “If you need freedom or saving, He’s a prison-shaking Savior.  If you got chains, He’s a chain breaker.”

Acts 5:33-42  When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

First, let’s discuss the principal players in this section of the story.  They are meeting in the council of the highest court, the Sanhedrin.  Remember that the high court of priests was composed of two religious groups, the Sadducees and the Pharisees.  These two groups differed in their religious beliefs, their social standing, and the focus of their religious practice.   

Social/Political Standing- 
Sadducees were the aristocrats; they were generally wealthy.  They were politically involved and often allied with the Romans.  Pharisees were a lay movement popular among the ordinary people and the middle class. 

Religious Beliefs
Sadducees accepted the first five books of the Torah.  They rejected the Oral Torah (the laws added by the Pharisees).  They did not believe in supernatural beings (angels or demons) and dismissed the idea of an afterlife and the resurrection of the dead.

Pharisees accepted the authority of the entire written Torah (our whole OT) and the Oral Torah (the laws they believed were handed down to Moses but not written in the Scriptures.  Laws that their predecessors continued to refine over time.  They believed in angels, demons, and other spiritual beings as well as in the afterlife and the resurrection of the dead.  

Religious focus
The Sadducees’ religious focus was on the temple and the rituals there (and of course, the collection of temple taxes, contributions, and other sources of revenue).  The Pharisees focused on righteousness, as defined by keeping all of the commandments (written and oral).

The Sadducees were against Jesus from the beginning.  His teaching emphasized the resurrection that they completely rejected.  And Jesus threatened their political power, and then he threatened their authority and their pocketbooks when he cleansed the temple of the money changers.

We often overemphasize the conflict between the Pharisees and Jesus.  Initially, they were curious about Jesus and his beliefs, and their debate with him was not aggressive but rather their usual learning style.  Jesus certainly had more in common with the Pharisees than the Sadducees.  He often ate in their homes.  Nicodemus was a Pharisee, as was Paul.  At one point, Pharisees warned him of a plot on his life.  Later, as his rejection of the Oral Law became clearer, some of them (not all) joined the Sadducees in their opposition to Jesus.

In the days of Jesus and Acts, the Sadducees had a greater representation on the Sanhedrin, and they controlled the high priesthood.  But they needed the support of the Pharisees there to maintain social stability.

Knowing this, let’s look back at the story we have been working through in Acts.  The apostles are continuing to preach their primary story of Jesus being the Messiah and God raising him from the dead.  You can now understand why the Sadducees on the court are particularly angry about this, for they say resurrection is impossible.  That is why 

Acts 5:33  When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

We looked at this word translated here, “enraged,” back in July.   The Greek is diaprio, which literally means “sawn in half.”  This is an abbreviated version of what we see in Acts 7:54, which in Greek is “diapriō kardia autos” and is translated in the ESV “enraged,” but in the King James Version more literally “cut to the heart.”  This is extreme anger, bordering on rage or madness.  These apostles have, according to the Sadducees, “filled Jerusalem with your doctrine [of resurrection from the dead]” and they are thus way beyond just angry to the point of planning how to kill them.

These religious leaders think they stand on righteous ground when they desire to kill the apostles.  They feel like they are defending the true religion against some new heresy.  They believe these apostles are deceiving people and leading them astray.  They must be stopped to protect the true faith. They feel that it is their duty to defend the faith.  They are defending God himself.  

Enter Gamaliel.  
Gamaliel was no obscure figure. He was the most respected Pharisee of his day, later known as “Gamaliel the Elder.” According to Acts 22:3, the apostle Paul himself studied under him. Jewish tradition holds Gamaliel in high esteem—wise, balanced, and respected by all. Here, in Acts 5, Gamaliel demonstrates that wisdom. He commands the council to pause and consider what they are doing (always good advice).:

Acts 5:35  “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men.”

He reminds them of two failed movements—Theudas and Judas the Galilean—both of which at first received considerable support but fizzled out after their leaders died. Then comes his key insight:

Acts 5:38-39  “If this plan or undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!”

In other words, you don’t need to defend God. If this movement isn’t from Him, it will collapse. If it is from Him, nothing can stop it. That’s faith. That’s confidence in the sovereignty of God. And it stands in stark contrast to the anxious defensiveness that we see in the Sadducees and that so often characterizes religious people—even today.

Let’s be honest: most of us are more like the Sanhedrin than Gamaliel. When Christianity is criticized, when society moves away from biblical values, or when our beliefs are mocked, we feel a surge of indignation. We want to “strike back”—with words, with politics, sometimes even with hostility.

The church has a long history of poorly reacting to perceived threats against religion.  Let me give you just a few examples:

The Crusades (11th–13th centuries): After centuries of Islamic military expansion and the conquest of the Holy Land by the muslims, Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade in 1095, asking knights to come to the aid of the church to defend it’s honor, to expell the Muslims from the Holy land, and in doing so, to get remission of all their sins.  They did liberate Jerusalem, but along the way, crusading armies responded with violent sieges and massacres of thousands of people, including entire Jewish communities in the Rhineland, seeing the Jewish “enemies of God” as a more immediate threat than Muslims in the Holy Land.  Many Jews were given the option of forcibly converting or dying.  This established a violent pattern that was repeated in later crusades and pogroms. The Crusades are part of our sad history, reflecting an aggressive and militarized response to a perceived religious threat.

The Counter-Reformation (16th–17th centuries): The Catholic Church responded to the rise of Protestantism with a Counter-Reformation. This involved theological reforms, but also violent persecution in Catholic-dominated territories. Protestants were labeled heretics and subjected to torture, as in the Spanish Inquisition. Many were hanged or burned at the stake for their views. The French Wars of Religion involved decades of brutal civil war and included the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572, in which Catholics slaughtered thousands of Protestants.  All in the name of “defending the faith.”

Lest you think it was only the Catholic Church responding with violence, John Calvin participated in the trial of a theologian, Michael Servetus, who was burned at the stake; Martin Luther endorsed the brutal drowning of Anabaptists and the burning of heretics.  He wrote pamphlets that encouraged the violent suppression of a revolt in Germany, and also wrote a pamphlet supporting the persecution of the Jews, including burning their homes and synagogues.  Again, all in the name of defending true religion.

Witch hunts (15th–18th centuries): In both Protestant and Catholic areas of Europe and in the US, hysteria and fear of witchcraft led to the persecution and execution of tens of thousands of people, most of them women. Theologians often conflated magic with heresy, justifying the punishment of witches as a way to defend Christianity against perceived Satanic threats.

How about in our times?   
One morning in December 1994, my wife was in a grocery store just across the street in Brookline, Massachusetts, when John Salvi opened fire in an abortion clinic on Beacon Street, killing two people and wounding five others.  This, Salvi said, in defense of the Catholic Church.

And you know of the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church that have held protests at military funerals as well as at the funerals of gay victims of crimes.  On May 14, 2008, two days after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, which claimed the lives of at least 70,000 people, WBC issued a press release thanking God for the heavy loss of life in China, and praying “for many more earthquakes to kill many more thousands of impudent and ungrateful Chinese.”

And you know of Jerry Falwell, who in 1980 proclaimed that the AIDS epidemic was a divine punishment for homosexuality.  John Hagee commented on Hurricane Katrina in 2005, stating he believed New Orleans was being punished for its “level of sin.”  The day after a devastating earthquake hit Haiti in 2010, televangelist Pat Robertson claimed the disaster was the result of a “pact with the devil.”  And then, after the events of 9/11, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and other conservative figures suggested that the attacks were divine judgment for America’s supposed moral failings, including the acceptance of abortion and homosexuality. 

And this is just a tiny sample of centuries of hostility and hate, all in the name of protecting religion, defending the church, or standing up for God.  This is the same attitude driving this Jewish court in our story. 

So how are we to respond?  How do you react when you feel someone is attacking your religion or your church, or Jesus himself?   Aren’t you responsible for speaking up when people are berating your God and your faith?  You can’t just sit back and let it go on, can you?  Someone has to fight that battle, don’t they?

Seven years ago, a song came out of Overcomers Church in Dallas, Texas, with a great message, though I have to admit that I initially found it annoyingly repetitive. The lyrics are:  “This is how  I fight my battles.  It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by you.  This is how I fight my battles, right here at your table. Your blood and your body have overcome.  Grace, Grace, Grace.  This is how I fight my battles.”   

There is a great story in 2 Chronicles 20:19-23.  The armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir have come to attack Judah.  King Jehoshaphat set up his army to stand against them.  And who did he put on the front lines?  Who did he put right at the front of his army?  Not his infantry.  He appointed Levites and singers to go out before the army, praising God with loud voices.  And God defeated those armies, with the soldiers of Judah never having to fight.   This is how we fight our battles.  We fight our battles with praise to the Lord.   

In Second Kings 6, the prophet Elisha and his servant are under attack by the armies of Aram, and the servant is scared because they are surrounded.  

2 Kings 6:15-17  When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Yehovah, please open his eyes that he may see.” So Yehovah opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.  It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by you.   This is how we fight our battles.

The Israelites are escaping Egypt.  They have a body of water in front of them that they cannot cross, with the Egyptian army coming toward them.

Exodus 14:10-14  When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to Yehovah. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of Yehovah, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. Yehovah will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.

And the Israelites pass through the water on dry land and the Egyptians drown. Stand firm, be silent, Yehovah will fight for you. This is how we fight our battles.

And one night in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is taken prisoner by the temple guards.  And Peter takes a sword and attacks those arresting Jesus. 

Matthew 26:52-54  Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”

A few hours later, Jesus stands before those who can sentence him to death.

Matthew 27:12-14  But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

Silence before those who berate and accuse you.   This is how I fight my battles.

Why was Jesus silent?  Because He knew the truth didn’t need to win an argument. He didn’t need to win a court trial or a debate.  He was there to win a battle with sin and death.  A battle that he would win not by winning, but by dying on a cross, and by lying 3 days in a grave, and then by rising from the dead.  This is how I fight my battles: in silence before my accusers, then with the thundering power of an almighty God who can conquer death.  God’s truth does not need a verbal defense.  His truth will be evident in His will being done despite any opposition.

And the entire story of Scripture shows this: God’s truth has never needed human defense. It only needs faithful witnesses.

We need to study scripture and learn the lessons there.  When we feel attacked, we don’t act in fear and panic.  We don’t rush to the offensive or the defensive.  We stand still in silence and see Yehovah fight for us.  We don’t need to win debates on Facebook or in public.  We don’t need to win arguments; we need to win hearts.  And that comes through the body and the blood of Jesus, the love and mercy and grace of the Father, not through our words or our swords.  This is how we fight our battles.

If we feel like we need to defend God, then we don’t understand who God is.   Ancient people believed that their gods needed human support in the form of sacrifices — animal or even human—to live. We saw in Egypt how they felt they needed to bring their Gods food to eat and people to serve them.  Yehovah, however, makes abundantly clear in the Bible that He is not like that. He does not need our sacrifices or offerings, and He doesn’t need us to defend His honor.  He is self-sufficient.

And we do not need to defend the gospel message.  Charles Spurgeon said it best: “The Gospel is like a caged lion. It does not need to be defended. It just needs to be let out of its cage.”If you look up every use of the word “defend” in the Bible, you will see that it is God who is our defender.  We are not to defend ourselves, and we are not to defend Him.   This is an essential message to a world where Christians are constantly talking about defending “our” rights.  

But the Scripture does call us to defend somebody.  Not God and not our rights or ourselves.  We are called to defend the fatherless, widows, oppressed, afflicted, poor, and foreigners.

Proverbs 31:9  Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Isaiah 1:17  Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
Deuteronomy 10:18  He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.

What if Christians focused their energy on these things and defended the purity of the gospel message? The faith that Jesus initiated would suddenly become much more attractive. And remember, God doesn’t need us to defend Him. He wants us to represent Him!  There’s a big difference.

These apostles were sentenced by this court and flogged, chained to a post, and beaten with whips.  Then they were released, and how did they respond? 

Acts 5:41  Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

Their backs are bleeding with deep wounds, and in intense pain, they rejoice.  They had seen their Lord just months ago, punished in this same manner.   They celebrate they they are worthy to suffer like him.   This is how we fight our battles.  Did this stop the spreading of God’s message?  No, because as Gamaliel said, “if it is of God, you will not be able to stop it. Chapter 5 ends with this verse:

Acts 5:42 “And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

This is how we fight our battles.

October 7, 2025 –  The Central Message of Acts — Acts #15

David Chupp Acts , , ,

October 7, 2025 –  The Central Message of Acts — Acts #15
Acts 5:17-33

As we continue our study in the Book of Acts, I want to use this story in chapter 5 to highlight the central purpose of the book.  What is the primary lesson we should learn from the book of Acts?

Acts 5:17-33  But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”
And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now, when the high priest came and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” Now, when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.
And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

This is the story of the second time the apostles were imprisoned before being brought before the Sanhedrin, the highest court in Jerusalem.  Remember that incarceration in these times is not punishment, but merely holding them for trial.  But this is different.  This is a real trial, for the apostles are now in violation of a direct order of this court and face severe punishment.  While it was only Peter and John the first time, now all the apostles are before the Sanhedrin.  And as we will see next week, this trial will end with the apostles being flogged.  Typically, that meant being chained to a pole and receiving 39 lashes with a whip.

First, they were warned not to speak, but they continued to preach in the Temple.  Then they were imprisoned this second time for speaking this message, but they were miraculously set free.  And what did they do next?  They went right back to the same area and did exactly what the Sanhedrin warned them not to do, but what the angel told them to do.  

Then they are brought right back into the priestly court, where they preach the same message to their accusers again.  To these same people who just months ago tortured and killed their rabbi for the same reason.  The apostles know this will likely end in at least a beating for them, if not a death sentence.  This leads us to the main lesson we can learn from the book of Acts.  What made these ordinary men so uncommon?  What made these simple disciples so powerful?  What made these once frightened men so bold, unafraid of the authorities who could sentence them to death?   If we don’t learn anything else from the Book of Acts, we have to understand this.  So I ask you, “What is the primary lesson we should learn from the Book of Acts?”

This primary lesson of the Book of Acts is evident in several passages that I want you to keep in mind as we continue through the book.  The first part is Acts 1:7-8:

Acts 1:7-8  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

The Holy Spirit comes and gives us power, and we become witnesses.

And the second part of the central message of Acts is found in a phrase that we see repeated all through the book:

Acts 6:7  And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly.
Acts 12:24  But the word of God increased and multiplied.
Acts 19:20  So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

Throughout the book of Acts, we see this repeated over and over.  So it must be important.  The Word of God increased.  Now, by combining these ideas, we arrive at the primary lesson in the Book of Acts.

“The Holy Spirit comes to dwell with people of faith, enabling them to fully express the Word of God in their lives and share it with others.”

This is my one-sentence book report on Acts.  This is the theme of the book.  These are not the same men who cowered in the storm and hid in the upper room after Jesus’ crucifixion.  They are living lives without fear.  They are living lives of obedience to God, expressing godly characteristics that we call the fruits of the Spirit.  They have been forever changed.  

This is God’s doing. This is the result of salvation.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Let me illustrate that.

Let’s imagine for a moment that God decided to bring salvation to one of those trees outside.  Ok, it is an analogy, but bear with me. If God brought salvation to that pine tree outside, then it would be changed.  It wouldn’t look the same as before.  It wouldn’t have pine needles and grow pine cones.   It would have different leaves and bear different fruit.  It would bear the kind of fruit God told it to, doing whatever God’s word said for that tree to do, because salvation has come to that tree.  No one would look at that tree and think it was just an ordinary tree. Everyone would immediately recognize that it is completely different.  No one looks at an apple tree and believes it is a pine tree.   It has now become the tree that God intended it to be.  That’s what salvation does.  Your life changes radically so that everyone can see that you are different from what you were, and you become who God intended you to be, producing the fruit of salvation that He intended.

When salvation comes, the Holy Spirit in you empowers you to live your life in obedience to God’s Word.   You may not have noticed this, but it is challenging to live life and follow God’s Word entirely on your own.  The temptations are so….tempting.  You can’t live that life under your own power.  That’s why Paul said, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We can’t do it on our own.  So we get help from God to live that way.  The Holy Spirit comes upon us to dwell in us and help us become obedient to God’s word.  And when you live that way, people notice you are different.  You are as different as a pine tree and an apple tree.

So through the power of the Holy Spirit, you live in such a way that you express the Word of God in your life.  Later on, we can discuss other expressions of the Holy Spirit in believers, such as how He gives us words to speak, divine insight, tongues, or prophecy, for example.  

But none of these things is the primary role for the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Job #1 for the Holy Spirit:  Help us live our lives in obedience to the Word of God so that we will be the person God created us to be. This is what the Holy Spirit does in your life.  That is why Paul said in his letter to the church in Galatia: 

Galatians 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

The Holy Spirit within us changes us, making us as different as a pine tree and an apple tree.  We become obedient to God’s word, and this is what we look like.  This is the kind of fruit we bear.  This is what people see when they look at us.

Look at this list and ask yourself, “Am I allowing God’s Spirit to lead me to be the person that produces this fruit?  Do I need to surrender to the Holy Spirit in my life to make me more of this type of person?”

Now, Paul had another list of fruits in Galatians 5.  He listed the fruit that people bear when they are not who God wants them to be.  

Galatians 5:19-20  These are the fruits of the flesh: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness…

That is the fruit you bear before salvation, before the holy spirit comes to live in you.  If someone consistently bears this kind of fruit, then they are not listening to the Holy Spirit.  They look more like a pine tree than the apple tree God wanted them to be.  

This is why we have the Book of Acts in our Bible: to show us how the Holy Spirit transformed these first-century disciples, enabling them to live lives consistent with the Word of God and then spread this message to the world.  Look back at those verses from which we derived the central message of Acts again.   You will receive power from the Holy Spirit.  It will change you, and then you will be witnesses.  And then all through the book of Acts, this phrase:  “The Word of God increased.”   But how does the word of God increase?  

God’s word is full of life.  God spoke life into existence in Genesis 1.  In the first book of the Bible, we see that God’s word creates biological life.  Then in the Gospels, we see God’s word grant eternal life.  God’s word is life.  Remember that after the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus began teaching more difficult things, and many of His followers deserted Him.  Jesus asked the disciples if they would leave him also, and Peter replied:

John 6:68  Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

God’s word is the word of life.  God’s word is alive, and being alive, it grows and multiplies.  The author of Hebrews said it this way:

Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

In Egypt last week, we saw walls that were a hundred feet high, filled with hieroglyphs.  Each symbol was meticulously carved into solid rock by hand.  Thousands and thousands of man-hours setting words into stone.  Some of these words were placed there 4000-5000 years ago.  But these words are dead.  They speak of a mythology whereby a pharaoh might conquer death and attain eternal life. 

Here are words from what they call the ‘Book of the Dead.’  They thought these were words of life.  But each of these Egyptian gods was created from their imagination, dreamed up to explain the wonders of the world and to justify the rule of a supreme leader, a pharaoh who would attain a life after death and lead them to have a chance at life after death.  But we read in Exodus how Yehovah defeated these Egyptian deities.  Each of the 10 plagues in Egypt was directed at one of the major Egyptian gods.  The deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt demonstrates how all these stories in stone are nothing but myths.  These idols are not real. These stories are fiction.  No matter how hard they try to preserve Pharaoh’s body in elaborate tombs, filling them with every item he may need in the next world,  Pharaoh can not conquer death for them.  For thousands of years, these Egyptians sought a way to eternal life.  But their stories, the words on these temples, are dead.  They have no answer for death and do not bring life.  Yehovah showed that He and He alone had the words of life.  And like Egypt, many other cultures have sought ways to eternal life. 

There are people today who are seeking alternative means of eternal life.  Significant scientific research is being conducted to extend the human lifespan, and some scientists believe that immortality may be within our grasp.  I have a friend who is part of a group of scientists studying apoptosis, the mechanism by which the body causes damaged cells to die.  In some forms of cancer, the damaged cell avoids this process and continues to grow and reproduce.  Some believe that if we can learn to control this process, we could not only cause cancer cells to die but also allow normal cells to continue growing and reproducing indefinitely, resulting in no decrease in function as one ages.

Imagine skin that does not thin and lose its elasticity, remaining youthful; bones that do not lose density and compress; and vision that does not deteriorate with age.  Imagine a world with no cancer.  It sounds good, but the word of God tells me that. Immortality is not something we can achieve on our own.  We can not avoid death.  Sin has brought death into the world, and science is no match for sin.  Botox may hide wrinkles, but it can not cover sin and death.  God alone has the answer for death.  His words alone can bring life, for His word is life.  And there will be a time when aging is no more, and cancer is no more, and life is eternal.  God is preparing that future for you, not science. 

So God’s word is living.  It brings life, sustains life, and has the answer to death.  But how does God’s word increase?  God’s word increases each time it enters the heart of a new believer and each time a believer grows in faith through His word.  It is impossible to overestimate the importance of God’s word to us.  Through the Holy Spirit, it is supposed to live in us: 

Colossians 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

The word is supposed to dwell in us, take up residence in us.  As it lives in us, it grows and multiplies, contagiously spreading to others.

When I was 8 years old, I joined the Rome Boys’ Club Choir.  We traveled all over the country for 10-14 days each summer in Greyhound buses.  We would pull up to a Boy’s Club in some town and watch out the window of the bus as cars arrived in the parking lot.  The local Boys’ Club would have arranged for families to house us for the night.   We would wait for our name to be called, then grab our suitcase and go to spend the night in pairs with our assigned family.  (Can you imagine doing this today?)  You always hoped that you would be chosen to go with the family that drove up in the really nice car.

I stayed in a lot of homes, some really amazing places, a few mansions, and a few that were pretty rough.   But we were almost always welcomed with great hospitality.  People went out of their way to ensure we had everything we needed and arrived at the concert on time.   Some people went above and beyond in their hospitality, hosting parties after our concert for us or arranging for us to go swimming, ride go-karts, or do other activities.

However, there was one place I recall where I felt like we were an imposition.  It was a nice enough house.  But they barely spoke to us.  They showed us our bedroom and went to the other side of the house.  They had someone they knew drive us to the concert and pick us up.  We never saw them until the next morning.  I guess they thought we would eat at the concert, so they didn’t offer us any food, and we had no supper that night.  Thankfully, my mom had packed more snacks in my suitcase than I could eat in several weeks, so we were okay. But everything they did let us know that they wished we weren’t there.  We saw them the next morning when they came to our door and said our ride was there. And we were happy to leave. That was a very uncomfortable stay.

How about you?  Have you ever stayed as a guest in a home where you didn’t feel welcome?   It’s pretty miserable.  

If you know my wife, you know that she is the model of hospitality.  She goes out of her way to make sure anyone staying with us feels at home.  There are fresh flowers in the room, and she looks after every detail.  We often have people staying in our garage apartment.  There is a family currently with us who came in town for a funeral and have stayed with us for several weeks to help settle things.  We had 20 college girls at the house Friday night for dinner who were in town for a volleyball tournament.  Hospitality is a ministry.

It is one of the best ways to show love to people who aren’t friends … yet.  You share love and grace with them through your hospitality.  They see the Word of God living in you because you bear the fruits of the Spirit in your life.  And the word of God will flow from you to them as you speak and act out the Word in your life.  Later in our study of Acts, we will take a deeper look at what the Bible says about hospitality, because God has a great deal to say about it.  However, I have a question to ask you for now.  If God’s word is supposed to dwell in us, to live with us, then let me ask you, “What kind of host or hostess have you been to this guest in your house?”

Does God’s word feel welcome in your life, or are you like the family that opened the door to their house for me but didn’t offer to feed me and didn’t even speak to me?    

God’s word dwells in us to have a relationship with us.  We are instructed in how to live.  God’s word should make a difference in the way we see others and the way we treat others. The whole 3rd chapter of Colossians teaches us how to treat others and how to live.   When God’s word dwells richly in us, we become who we are supposed to be, conduits of God’s love and mercy and grace.  We overflow with God’s goodness.  We like these disciples to become different, and we cannot help but share the grace that God has so richly poured out on us.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, as we live our lives as God directs, showing evidence of our salvation through the fruits of the Spirit evident in our lives, we become living witnesses to God’s grace and mercy without needing to say a word.  

We need to be very sensitive to the working of the Spirit of God in us, watching for him to reveal things we need to change and paths we need to walk.  We need to leverage all the gifts God has given us to increase the Word of God in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

We have to be more involved in participatory ministries.  I want to share a passage from a book that helped shift my perspective on ministry.  It is from Shane Claiborne’s “The Irresistible Revolution.”

“It is much more comfortable to depersonalize the poor so we don’t feel responsible for the catastrophic human failure that results in someone sleeping on the street while people have spare bedrooms in their homes. We can volunteer in a social program or distribute excess food and clothing through organizations, and never have to open up our homes, our beds, our dinner tables. When we get to heaven, we will be separated into those sheep and goats Jesus talks about in Matthew 25 based on how we cared for the least among us. I’m just not convinced that Jesus is going to say, “When I was hungry, you gave a check to the United Way and they fed me,” or, “When I was naked, you donated clothes to the Salvation Army and they clothed me.”
Jesus is not seeking distant acts of charity. He seeks concrete acts of love: “you fed me…you visited me in prison…you welcomed me into your home…you clothed me.” With new government funds and faith-based initiatives, the social-work model can easily entangle the church in the efficiency of brokering services and resources in a web of “clients” and “providers” and struggling to retain God’s vision of rebirth, in which we are all family. Faith-based nonprofits can too easily be the mirror image of secular organizations, maintaining the same hierarchies of power and separation between rich and poor.
They can too easily merely facilitate the exchange of goods and services, putting plenty of professionals in the middle to guarantee that the rich do not have to face the poor and that power does not shift.
 Rich and poor are kept in separate worlds, and inequality is carefully managed but not dismantled. When the church becomes a place of brokerage rather than an organic community, she ceases to be alive. She ceases to be something we are, the living bride of Christ. The church becomes a distribution center, a place where the poor come to get stuff and the rich come to dump stuff. Both go away satisfied (the rich feel good, the poor get clothed and fed), but no one leaves transformed. No radical new community is formed.And Jesus did not set up a program but modeled a way of living that incarnated the reign of God, a community in which people are reconciled and our debts are forgiven just as we forgive our debtors (all economic words). That reign did not spread through organizational establishments or structural systems. It spread like disease—through touch, through breath, through life. It spread through people infected by love.”

Claiborn, Shane “The Irrestible Revolution”

The Word of God increases when we live our lives in such a way as to make God’s word alive in our actions.  We establish relationships with others, and God’s word flows through us in how we act and what we do.  We see this in our homeless ministry.  We offer a variety of classes for our neighbors without homes, but it is not in these classes that people change.  We give them food and a warm place to stay, but that alone doesn’t cause people to change.  It is when we sit down at the table for a meal with a few of our neighbors and get to know them, allowing them to get to know us.  That is when God does his work.  That is where lives change.  Because when you allow people to get to know you, then they can see the Holy Spirit living in you, and the Word of God living through you, and then the Word will increase. “1

Ministry must be relational.  That is always God’s plan.  Donating money to a good cause is a commendable act, but it is not a substitute for a ministry.  It is giving back to God some of what He gave to you.   To do ministry, you have to be hands-on, making relationships with others.  This is what we see in the Book of Acts: God’s Holy Spirit transforming people so that they can extend love to others, who will see the fruit of the Spirit in them. As a result, God’s word will increase as they, too, accept His word into their lives.

These disciples are examples of lives changed through the Holy Spirit.  They can not stop doing what God tells them to do.  Despite threats of beatings or death, they can’t stop being who God wants them to be.  It is because they are different now.  This is who they are now.  This is the lesson for us in the Book of Acts. This is what we must do.   Let us strive to listen to God’s holy Spirit in our lives and let God lead us to be who we are meant to be.  

I challenge you to take a hard look inward at your own life.  Are you listening to the Holy Spirit in your life as you should?  Is God’s Spirit dwelling richly in you, or have you just set Him in the corner and ignored him?  Have you welcomed God into your life with great hospitality, or have you just tolerated His presence there?  

Let me be the first to confess that I don’t always listen to the Holy Spirit as I should.  Instead, I sometimes hear my mouth saying things that aren’t consistent with the fruit of God’s Spirit.  There are times when my sweet wife, my ezer kenigdo, has to remind me that patience is a fruit of the Spirit.  So let me be the first to publicly ask you to pray for me, that God would help me to listen better and obey, that I might be who God wants me to be.  Will you pray for me?  I pray that we are all filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit and filled to overflowing with His Word, so that His presence and His Word flow out to our community.

September 21, 2025 –  It’s Just Another Miracle— Acts #14

David Chupp Acts , , , , ,

September 21, 2025 –  It’s Just Another Miracle— Acts #14
Acts 5:12-16

As we continue our study of Acts, we last saw the early church get its first threat from the Temple leaders.  They were told to stop talking about Jesus or there would be consequences.  But this didn’t slow down most of them.  They went right back to the temple, preaching Jesus and healing people.   We pick up the story in Acts 5:12

Acts 5:12-16  Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

Picture the scene: people are milling around the temple area when a few of the apostles walk in.  Someone cries out, “Hey, there they are!” and the crowd rushes over.  People want to see the miracle workers.  They have come from all around Jerusalem just to have a chance to see this.  They have brought their sick to be healed.  And this is not just a one-time thing.  Luke tells us, “signs and wonders were regularly done.  This is the natural rhythm of the early church, overflowing with the power of God.   So let me ask you, “Is this the world you live in?”

You may ask yourself, “Why don’t we see signs and wonders regularly done?”  If you are walking down Broad Street and see someone suddenly stand up from their wheelchair and start jumping up and down, what would you do?   Would you be skeptical?  What if you then saw this same person walk over to someone you recognize, a blind girl you have seen many times downtown?  And suddenly she drops her cane, exclaiming that she can see?  You know this girl.  She was blind, but now she can see.  Miracles of healing are happening around you.  What would you do next?  You would likely pull out your phone and call someone to tell them about it because signs and wonders are not “regularly done” in your world every day.   So, you may ask, why aren’t they done now as they were then?

At this particular time, the apostles and the early followers of Jesus experienced miracles that were commonplace.  However, there is a misconception that frequent miracles occurred throughout the Bible, but that is not the case.  There are many miracles, but they are concentrated in a few pockets of time.  We can see this in the words of Asaph the psalmist in Psalm 77:11

Psalm 77:11-12  I will remember the deeds of Yehovah; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.  I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.”

Asaph sounds like us, looking back at the good old days when all the miracles were done.  He would have asked the same question we ask, “Why were there so many miracles back in the days of Moses, or Elijah, and not today?   And miracles are indeed concentrated in specific periods of time.   Fast forward to the New Testament times, and numerous miracles are occurring.

Matthew 9:35   And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.

Jesus certainly performed frequent and regular miracles.  However, it’s worth noting that all the miracles of Jesus occurred within a remarkably short period of his ministry, spanning just over a year. And the miracles in the rest of the New Testament took place over the lifetimes of the disciples and Paul.   This explosion of miracles was for a specific purpose and was predicted by the scripture.  We need to be careful to understand why all of these healing miracles happened at this time.

Think back to when Jesus had just started his ministry, and John the Baptist was sitting in prison.  John had proclaimed that Jesus was the coming Messiah.  He pointed out to his disciples that Jesus was the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.  But in Herod’s prison in Macherus, John keeps hearing how Jesus is hanging out with sinners and having parties with tax collectors, and he starts having second thoughts.  “That doesn’t sound like things I thought the Messiah would be doing.  Could I have misunderstood God about this guy?”   Remember what John had said about these days of the Messiah:

Matthew 3:7  You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Matthew 3:12  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
Matthew 3:10  Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Wrath — Unquenchable fire — an ax to the tree — throwing in the fire.   John was expecting Jesus to show up in this sinful world with a chainsaw and a flamethrower.  John saw a Messiah who would clean house, like Jean-Claude Van Damme or Chuck Norris.  To kick butt and take names.  But that was not the report he was getting about Jesus.  So he sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the Messiah.

Matthew 11:2-3   Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?

John was having a real problem.  He told everyone that Jesus was the Messiah, but he doesn’t think Jesus looks very Messiah-like.  What do you do when the Messiah doesn’t look like what you’d thought he’d look like?  Or for us today, what do you do when God doesn’t do what you thought He would? How do you respond when you read all about God healing all these people in the Gospels and in Acts, and then God doesn’t heal you, or your loved one?   Ask John.  The Messiah is here to fix everything. Finally, the good guys should be winning.  And Jesus is out partying while John is chained to the wall of a prison. You do what John did.  You seek Him out.  So John sends his disciples to ask Jesus.

Matthew 11:4-6 “And Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.’

Jesus is directing John back to the scriptures to understand what the Messiah was really all about.  In other words, Jesus says, “Here is how you know that the messiah has come: the blind are receiving their sight, the lame are walking, and people are being healed.

Now, there are some healings in the Old Testament, but did you realize that nowhere in the Old Testament was there someone born blind who was healed? Nor was there anyone born mute who was healed.   This type of healing Jesus was doing was different.   Now, you may not have known this, but everyone in Jesus’ day knew this, because they knew their Scripture.  And Isaiah was a favorite book among many people.

The book of Isaiah is a book of both bad news/good news.  Half of it is Isaiah telling the people that they are about to be judged for their sins.  God is going to let the nation be destroyed by Assyria, and later by Babylon.  Devastation is coming.  But then he gives them the good news.  There is hope.  Yes, your city will be destroyed, but God will give you a new city, a new Jerusalem, where everyone prospers, and there is no danger from enemies anymore.    And guess which sections of Isaiah were read the most?   The good news parts. 

It is harder to read about the harvests failing, the crops all dying, the vines withering, the cities laid waste and becoming deserted, the enemies at the door.  Let’s skip all that judgment, fury, wrath, and destruction and go right to the good part when God’s mercy breaks forth.  Let’s focus on the love, grace, and compassion, rather than the warnings of destruction.  (They are a lot like us today in what we want to read and talk about in the Bible.  Let’s sing about heaven, not about the judgment here on earth.  There aren’t too many hymns about God’s punishment on us.)    So, guess which parts of Isaiah they knew the best?    Let’s skip to the good stuff. Let’s re-read chapter 35.   

Isaiah 35:1-6  The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of Yehovah, the majesty of our God.
Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;  Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.”

And the people say, “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.  Even the desert lands grow crops.  The days of living in fear are over.  And the blind see and the mute talk.”  This is what will happen when God brings his Messiah.

Well, if you were living in Jesus’ day, you would have had access to 39 scrolls of Scripture.  Thirty-nine books in our Old Testament, and not once do you have someone born blind regaining sight or someone born mute being able to talk.  It has never happened.  But God promises here in Isaiah 35 and elsewhere that these things will happen when his kingdom breaks forth on the earth and the Messiah arrives.   

That is why Jesus answered John that way.  Jesus says, “Tell John that the blind see, the lame walk, and the mute talk.” Tell John that Isaiah 35 is happening right now.    These healings are the sign of the Kingdom of God busting out. So John has to accept that his view of what precisely the messiah would do —the view that most of the people had then — was wrong.  

When we don’t understand what God is doing, we need to seek God out and ask Him about it.  We don’t just say, “Well, God didn’t do what I thought he would, so there must not be a God.  I have seen people have a major faith crisis and quit on God when a family member is not healed.  They, like John the Baptist, had a misconception about how things would be when Jesus came.  Some preacher (probably on TV) told them that God would heal everyone if they prayed hard enough, had enough faith, or sent them money.  Like John, they misunderstood the Bible, and when it didn’t work the way they understood it, they quit.

God didn’t heal my friend, so I am leaving the church.”  No, if God is not doing everything the way you think He should, then guess who is wrong?  Not God.  You don’t throw your beliefs out the window; you go back to the scriptures and see where you misunderstood.  John the Baptist had it wrong; it is okay if you are sometimes mistaken about what God is doing, also.

So these healings that Jesus was doing were not just compassionate deeds, but proof that the Kingdom of God was breaking forth just as John said.  And these healings that Jesus does and the disciples do here in Acts, and the healings we see today, are just a taste of what is coming.  They are like the first buds of spring.  When those daffodils bloom in early spring.  They are nice, but they get me excited because they are just the heralds of hundreds of flowers of all kinds that will soon bloom in my yard.  Jesus’ healings and sermons preached the same sermon: The Kingdom of God is among you.  Each of these healings here in Acts shouts out the same message.  The Kingdom of God is here, now.  Each healing we see today is another whisper to the hearts of those who have ears to hear.   See, God’s Kingdom is still breaking forth in this sinful world and is a promise of a future with no sickness and no death.

But throughout history, God has only done a few large-scale interventions.   Creation, the deliverance of the children of Israel from slavery, and the conquering of the land, as well as the ministry of Elijah/Elisha.  The ministry of Jesus and the apostles.  Other than these few times, large groupings of miracles are rare. And even though 1 Corinthians talks about believers with gifts of healing, they weren’t doing miracles to the same degree as Jesus and the apostles.  

So while I think we overestimate the frequency of miracles in the Bible, I think we underestimate the number of miracles happening today.  I stand before you as a witness today that God is still in the miracle business..

I have told you before of some of the miracles I have seen — of medicine multiplied, appearing where it didn’t exist, of rain that started and stopped at the moment of prayer, of God placing a very rare but desperately needed item in a cigar box in a mud house in Mexico, or in a box of medical junk in Ghana.  I have seen children with rampant cancer be told there was nothing the doctors could do, only to see their following scan be clear of any disease.  I have seen lives turn around from the brink of disaster.  There is no way anyone could ever convince me that God is not doing miracles all around us.  I have seen them with my own eyes.

But some people would say they haven’t seen any miracles.    Perhaps they are from Nazareth.
Why do I say that?

Mark 6:1-6  “He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?

Most of the people in Jesus’ hometown didn’t see many miracles either.   Mark is clear that their lack of belief prevented Jesus from doing many mighty works there.  That fits well with the gospel emphasis on faith for healing.   You remember Jesus saying several times, “Your faith has made you well.”  What he is saying is that because you have faith in me, I am able to do miracles for you.  No faith, no miracles.

The Greek word for unbelief (apistia) is used in the Gospels for people who totally reject Jesus, like these people in Nazareth, who don’t believe who he is.  A similar Greek word, oligopistia, is usually translated as “little faith,” and it refers to people who accept Jesus, but their faith is so small that they do nothing with it.  They don’t act on their faith.  We see this in the story of the disciples in the boat in the storm.  They were scared because they had no faith that Jesus would protect them.  They accepted who Jesus was, but that didn’t make a difference when they thought their boat would sink.  They were ruled by fear, not by faith.  So Jesus says, “Oh, you of oligopistia.  You of little faith.” A faith that just sits there and doesn’t do anything, that makes no difference – that is “little faith.”

It says that Jesus marveled at their unbelief,  their rejection of him.  “Marveled” means astonished or surprised, taken aback.  You see that word 43 times in the New Testament.  Most of the time, it is about people who are shocked when Jesus does something.    Jesus calms the sea, and the disciples marvelled.  The mute man speaks, and they marvel.   The crippled man walks, the fig tree withers, and the disciples marvel.  Twice, it is Jesus who marvels.  Two times, Jesus is surprised by others.  What astonishes Jesus?

The first instance occurs when the centurion requests Jesus to heal his paralyzed servant, stating that he doesn’t need to be present for the healing.  

Matthew 8:10   When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.

The second time is in the passage we just read, he is astonished by the unbelief of the people in Nazareth.

So what astonishes Jesus?  Jesus is shocked by one Gentile man’s unexpected deep faith and by the lack of faith of his Jewish hometown people.  Jesus couldn’t do many of the things he hoped to do in Nazareth because of the unbelief he encountered in that place.   This is our story.  Jesus hopes to do many incredible, miraculous things in our lives.  But he can not do them because we prevent him.  Oh, we say we believe.  But belief is not what you think in your head, but what you do.  Belief is how you act.  You can have all the Bible knowledge in the world, but what you know does not matter unless it changes how you act.   Again, it is like the disciples in the boat in the storm.  They believed who Jesus was, but that didn’t change their reaction to a storm.  If they had faith and trusted in Jesus to protect them, then there would be no fear.  Their fear revealed their lack of faith.  And if you surrender your life to Jesus and don’t give it all to him, if you keep parts of your life under your control instead of His, then you don’t believe.

I marvel at a lot of things.   I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the clouds at sunrise, by the immensity of the ocean.  I am at times surprised and taken aback by the majesty of nature, of glaciers calving, of waterfalls, and mountain views.  I am astonished at times by how mean some people can be, and how some devote their whole lives to taking advantage of others. I marvel at a lot of things.

But Jesus in Nazareth is only surprised by one thing: that God himself would come and give his life as a ransom for people who did not deserve any mercy. He would die to remove our sin burden and grant us forgiveness that we could not otherwise obtain. Despite this, many people would choose not to follow Him or do what He says.  That leaves Jesus astonished.

The God who spoke this entire universe into existence says, “Do you want to join my family and come live with me in this incredible place where no one ever gets sick or dies?”  And people say, “No, I don’t think so.”  That astonishes Jesus.  This God who says, “Hey, I can work all things so they turn out the very best for you if you follow my ways.”  And People say, “Nah, I think I know better than you, I’ll do it my way.”  That astonishes Jesus.  Jesus offers life instead of death, forgiveness instead of condemnation, and eternal joy instead of eternal misery.  And still some reject him.  That blows my mind, too, Jesus.

That is the situation in Nazareth in Jesus’ day, and that is the situation that we live in today. We may go further than the people in Nazareth and believe that Jesus is who he says he is.  That is good.  But that is not faith.  It is only faith when we step out in obedience, trusting Him to lead us and equip us for any task He calls us to.  It is faith when we are not afraid of any storms of life because we trust in him.  It is faith when we aren’t scared of disease or cancer or natural disasters because we have complete trust in him.

And when I look at the miracles I have witnessed in my life, Most have happened when I stepped out in faith, being obedient to whatever he calls me to do.  Most of the miracles I have seen happened when I was doing something out of my usual routine or schedule.  Many on mission trips.

Following his call one summer, I found myself again working in a hospital in Ghana, Africa.   I saw a man in the clinic who had a horrible infection in his hand.  It had been going on for weeks and was getting worse. He had been treated by some person in his tribe whose position was translated to me as a ‘witch doctor.’  And his hand was horribly swollen and red and hot and draining.  He could not move a finger.   When I saw him, he needed immediate surgery so he wouldn’t lose his hand.   He needed an orthopedic specialist, a hand surgeon.  

What he got was me.  Both of the Family physicians who performed all the surgeries in that mission hospital were involved in a lengthy case.  I was it.  I have never felt so underqualified in my life.

I remembered from anatomy class many years ago that there were 10 or 11 potential spaces in the hand that would all have to be drained. And if they weren’t all drained appropriately, then the infection would worsen.  The anatomy is very complex there.  That’s why hand surgery is a specialty and should never be attempted by any other surgeon, and certainly not by a pediatrician.  So I prayed and said, “God, you put me here, and you gave me this to do, so I am going to trust you to empower me to do it.   So I found the surgical anatomy book and had a nurse hold it and turn pages for me as I did the procedure.  And God guided my eyes and my hands. And the man recovered with full use of his hand.  God did that because I couldn’t have done it without Him.  

I am convinced that God is waiting to do many miracles if only we would let him.  But we have to be obedient enough to step out and follow him.  If we don’t display that kind of faith, then we will see no miracles.  He often leads us into situations where we lack the proper resources or feel we lack the right skills.  If we only attempt to do things that we can do without God, we never leave room for Him to show out.  

This should be our prayer:  God, please call us to do things that we can’t do.  Please call us to do things that are impossible.  Please lead us to the uncomfortable places.  Give us goals that we can’t possibly reach.  Put us in situations where we will fail without your help.  We must follow Him and attempt things that are impossible for us to do without Him.  Only then can He step in and do the impossible for us and with us.

September 16, 2025 –  A Tale of Two Thieves (or 3)— Acts #13

David Chupp Acts , , , , , ,

September 16, 2025 –  A Tale of Two Thieves (or 3)— Acts #13
Acts 5:1-31

I was only a boy back at the oasis at Kadesh, barely old enough to carry water.  We were at the border of the long-awaited promised land.  Moses had sent 12 men to spy out the land before we entered.  I was there when our fathers stood trembling and listened to the report of the spies, how the enemies were giants and the cities had massive walls.  I can still hear their cries of fear that night, even after all we had seen.  I watched as my parents and the other adults decided not to enter the land and refused to trust the Lord.  And so that day God turned us back to wander, and for forty years I grew up beneath desert skies.

Now I am fifty years old. Almost all those who were adults then—my own father among them—lie buried in the wilderness. Only we who were children then remain, and now we are the “elders”, once again standing on the edge of the promised land.

I have seen God’s power again and again. I gathered manna in the morning from the desert floor. I drank water that gushed from a rock. I saw the earth open and swallow Korah’s rebellion whole (Numbers 16:31–33). I saw people suffer from the sting of fiery serpents in the camp and then be healed because they looked on the bronze serpent. And when Moses died, we all wept bitterly on the plains of Moab until our tears dried in the hot wind.

Through all those years, Achan and Eli were my friends. As children, we played together, racing between tents, chasing goats, all while looking forward to the land God had promised. We watched our fathers die and buried them in the sand, and we swore to God to do better.  The three of us were brothers at heart, and we dreamed together of a house to live in with vineyards and olive groves.  Just a month ago, we stood together and saw the Jordan River halt its flow as the priests stepped into it.  We saw the waters rise up in a wall, and then we all crossed that river on dry land, just as we had crossed the sea back in Egypt when we were little kids.  And just a few days later, we celebrated Passover in our new land together.

That was just over a month ago.  Much has happened in the past week.   For 6 days, we marched with the priests around the great city of Jericho, carrying the ark of Yehovah.  They constantly blew their shofars as we circled the town, but we marched in silence, Eli and Achan alongside me, and then we returned to our camp.  But on the seventh day, we circled the city seven times.  Then the priests blew a long note on their shofars.  Joshua repeated the instructions he had given us all week.  It was time to shout and then rush in and take the city.  But first, he repeated the warning that everything in the town was cherem, it was devoted to God.  This was God’s battle, and all the spoils went to God. Only Rahab and her household were to be spared. 

Achan, Eli, and I stood shoulder to shoulder, shouting until our voices were raw, and watched as those massive walls of the city crumbled like dried mud.  It all happened just as God told Joshua it would happen.  When the dust settled, we stood for a second in awe of the power of God.  And the three of us looked at each other and smiled, rejoicing in the strength and power of Yehovah.  And as we rushed toward the city of Jericho, Joshua’s words rang again in our ears:

“Keep away from the devoted things… All silver, gold, bronze, and iron belong to the Lord’s treasury” (Joshua 6:18–19).

As we moved through the city, I saw Achan pause near a shimmering robe. He caught my eye, and for a heartbeat, something unspoken passed between us. I dismissed it—we had been through too much to doubt one another.  We gathered all of the gold, silver, and bronze for God’s treasury.   And then we burned everything else in the city.  

That night was quite the celebration.  Having seen God take down this huge city made us feel invincible.  Nothing could stop us now.  But Joshua was not one to rest.  The next day, he set his sights on the next city, Ai.  He sent some scouts, and they returned and let Joshua know it was not nearly the size of Jericho.  So they decided they only needed to take about 3000 troops.   The troops were chosen by lot, and the three of us all hoped we would be selected so that we could see the power of God on display again.  Eli was chosen, but Achan and I were not.   So we prayed Yehovah’s blessing on Eli and sent our friend out with the small army.

They returned two days later.  But they came back not in victory, but in shame.  What should have been an easy battle ended in defeat and the death of 36 of our brothers.  And one of the 36 who died was Eli, our friend since childhood.  The news of his death struck me harder than any sword ever could. Achan and I sat in silence that night, staring into the fire, the weight of loss heavy between us.

That evening, Joshua lay face down before the Ark, and he asked the elders to join him.  In mourning before God, we tore our clothes and put dust on our heads.  But then God’s voice thundered:

“Get up.  This is not the time to mourn a loss in battle, but a time to mourn the sin of Israel.  You have sinned.  You have taken what is mine.  I will be with you no longer until you destroy the items that you stole from me.”  (Joshua 7:11).

Someone had taken some of the treasure from Jericho.  Someone had broken the cherem.

At dawn, we all assembled and divided into our tribes, awaiting God’s revelation of the guilty party.  And the lot fell on my tribe, Judah.  I looked at my friend Achan in shock, that someone from our tribe would have disobeyed God and brought shame on us.  And then the lot fell on Zerah, our clan.  This was hard to believe.  So then our clan was divided again. I stood with my family, next to Achan with his family.  And then the lot fell on my friend, Achan. 

I was speechless.  Joshua approached my friend and gently said,  “My son, give glory to Yehovah and confess” (Joshua 7:19).

Achan’s voice trembled:
“It is true… I saw a beautiful robe, silver, and gold. I coveted them. I took them. They are buried beneath my tent” (Joshua 7:20–21).

Messengers returned with the treasures, the dirt still clinging to them. My heart broke. This was the boy who once shared my dried figs in the wilderness, who sang the songs of Moses beside me at the campfires, who mourned with me for Eli only yesterday.

In that valley, we stood together—Achan, his family, his possessions, and all Israel.   We were all flooded with tears as the stones rose over my friend; the sound echoed off the valley walls like thunder.  The pile of stones still stands in the valley that we call Achor, the valley of trouble. The stones stand as a monument to the God who sees all, even the secrets we bury deep.

That night, I could not sleep. I thought of the Red Sea’s walls of water, of manna’s sweetness, of serpents and mercy, of Jordan’s parted waters—all the times God had shown His power. And I thought of Achan buried beneath those stones and Eli, whose blood stained the ground at Ai. My friend’s hidden greed had cost us so much.

Now, as an elder of Israel, I tell you this: nothing—no robe, no silver, no secret sin—can be hidden from the Lord. As Adam and Eve could not hide in the garden, we cannot hide from His watchful eye.  I have seen over and over his mercy and grace towards us.  Growing up in Egypt, I would never have been anything but a slave.  But he delivered me from slavery.  He redeemed me.  And through the long desert journey, he gave us grace after grace.  A cloud covered us during the day to shield us from the scorching desert sun.  A pillar of fire warmed us on the cold nights.  He provided all our needs and delivered us from harm so many times.  But His holiness is not to be taken lightly.  His commandments are not to be broken.  He is merciful, but he is just.  He is full of grace, but a flagrant sin will not go unpunished.  May we all seek to be obedient servants of you, Yehovah, our God most high.

Acts 4:36-37  Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Acts 5:1-6  But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

Acts 5:7-11  After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately, she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

The stories of Achan in Joshua 7 and Ananias with Sapphira in Acts 5 are separated by centuries, cultural contexts, and covenantal eras, yet they share striking similarities in their portrayal of sin, community holiness, and divine judgment. Today, I want to look at these two accounts side by side to illuminate how serious God is about obedience, how He treats hypocrisy, and to demonstrate how he consistently deals with people in both the Old and New Testament times.  

Achan’s sin occurred after Israel’s miraculous victory at Jericho. God had clearly commanded that all the devoted things—gold, silver, and valuables—belonged to Him alone (Joshua 6:17–19).   This is the law of cherem.  God would win the battle with Jericho, so everything that resulted from the battle belongs to Him.   Everything that could be burned would be burned, given to God, much like a whole burnt offering is given to God by being consumed by fire.  The precious metals would be given to the priests for use in the tabernacle and later the Temple.  

Achan secretly kept some of the spoils for himself, burying them under his tent. His theft was an act of disobedience against a direct divine command and a breach of Israel’s covenant with God.  They were God’s possessions.  He stole them from God.

Similarly, Ananias and Sapphira’s sin was rooted in deceit. In the early church, believers were selling possessions to share with those in need.  As we discussed last week, they understood the Biblical view of ownership.  Everything belongs to God, and He entrusts some of His property to us to manage as stewards.  Ananias and his wife sold a piece of property but secretly kept part of the proceeds while pretending to give the full amount.  When Ananias came to Peter, he told Peter he had devoted the sale of the land to God.  At that point, the proceeds from the sale belonged to God. Peter asks him:

Acts 5:4  While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?

It would have been perfectly okay if Ananias and his wife had sold the land and decided to give God 20% or even 5% of the proceeds.  They could have come and presented it to Peter, saying, “Here is a portion of the money from the sale of our land, use it for the poor.”  

Instead, they wanted to look as righteous as Barnabus, giving 100% of the sale, even though they were keeping some.  But the minute they said it all belonged to God, then it all belonged to God.  Words are important.  But they decided that no one would realize their deceit — they would appear righteous despite their deceit.

Like Achan, Ananias acted as though he could hide his actions from God and the faith community. In both cases, the sin was not merely the material act—stealing or withholding—but the spiritual betrayal: a failure to trust God’s provision and a deliberate choice to misrepresent the truth.

We see this same thing happening 1000 years after the defeat of Jericho and the sin of Achan, and 400 years before the events in Acts.  Listen to the prophet Malachi speaking in 430 BC.

Malachi 3:8-12   Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says Yehovah Sabbaoth, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says Yehovah Sabbaoth. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says Yehovah Sabbaoth.

Malachi said they were stealing from God.  The Torah required a tenth of their money, crops, or herds that they accumulated to be presented at the temple.  They were His.  But they were neglecting the temple offerings.  They were keeping for themselves what belonged to God.  This is precisely what happened with Achan and with Ananius and Saphira.  This is not an Old Testament concept, not a New Testament concept, but a forever concept.  

The sin of Achan caused God’s anger to “burn against Israel” (Joshua 7:1).  Achan’s private disobedience led to Israel’s humiliating defeat at Ai. It was a battle they should have easily won.  They thought the enemy was small.  They had just easily taken down the most fortified city in the land.  They did not count on God being against them instead of for them in the battle at Ai.  As a result, 36 Israelites died.  The entire community suffered because of one man’s hidden transgression.  

Sin affects the community, not just the individual.   There is a collective responsibility to keep the covenant.  If one member breaks the covenant, all are affected.  In the same way, Ananias and Sapphira’s sin threatened the whole community of believers in Acts 5.  Left unchecked, their hypocrisy could have seriously undermined the Spirit’s work.   Achan was stoned to death.  Ananias and Sapphira fell dead immediately.   Acts 5:11 notes that “great fear seized the whole church,” indicating that God’s swift judgment preserved the integrity of the Christian community. Both episodes emphasize that individual sin can have communal consequences.

In both accounts, God’s judgment was immediate and severe.   For those who seek to draw a clear distinction between God’s actions in the Old Testament and the New Testament, this should serve as a wake-up call.  God has not changed.  

These punishments may seem harsh by modern standards, but in their contexts, they served as dramatic warnings.  It was the grace of God displayed in His dealing quickly with these sins before they caused worse problems.  God’s holiness cannot be mocked, and covenant-breaking jeopardizes the mission of God’s people.  We see in Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth a similar concern:

1 Corinthians 5:1-2  It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

Everyone in town knew this man was flagrantly committing a sexual sin in their midst.  Even the pagans disapproved of his actions.  Yet the group of believers in Corinth chose to ignore it.  Paul was very clear that he should be removed from the fellowship.  Paul continues:

1 Corinthians 5:5-6 … you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.  Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump? …

Paul hopes that by removing him, he might come to his senses, repent, and find salvation.  Yet the congregation in Corinth is boasting instead of mourning this man’s sin.  We see this in too many congregations today.  They ignore flagrant sin in their fellowship when they should be mourning over those who refuse to repent.  Paul warned that just as it only takes a pinch of yeast to cause the entire loaf to rise, it only takes a little sin to affect the whole church.

1 Corinthians 5:9-10  I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

They are not to associate with sexually immoral people in their Christian fellowship.  He clarifies that he does not mean the people outside the church.  There is no such rule for avoiding sinners who are not in your fellowship.  In fact, Jesus demonstrated that this is precisely who you should seek out.  We should go out of our way to show love to and befriend those outside our fellowship who are flagrant sinners, remembering that we, too, were once the same.  But for the grace of God, we would still be in that situation.  How can we not want to share that grace with everyone?  But for those in the church, there are different rules:

1 Corinthians 5:11  But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 

For those who have joined your fellowship and persist in flagrant sins, you are not even to eat with them.  By doing so, you are pretending that sin doesn’t matter and that God is not God.  By ignoring the problem, you are making light of Jesus’ death on the cross.  

1 Corinthians 5:12-13  For what do I have to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.

And let me tell you, the church has done this wrong for so many years, assuming the position of judge of the world, telling the world they are sinners.  It is not our job to judge the world. That is God’s job, and we are not God.  We need to stay in our lane.  However, for those who are part of our fellowship, it is not only our right but also our responsibility to judge them.  The hope is that correction will lead to repentance and restoration.  We have had this backwards.

Paul’s rebuke of the Corinthian church echoes the lessons of Achan and Ananias: sin, even when committed by one person, is never a private matter in God’s community.  That was true 3400 years ago in the Old Testament.  It was true 2000 years ago in the New Testament believers, and it is true today.  

Israel would never defeat Ai until Achan’s sin was dealt with.  The followers in Acts 5 could not continue to grow healthy if they tolerated hypocrisy.  The followers in Corinth could not preach the gospel while tolerating open scandal. 

Whether under the Old Covenant, at the birth of the church, or in the life of a New Testament congregation, God calls His people to holiness for the sake of His mission. Confronting sin—with grief, humility, and the hope of redemption—preserves the purity of the church and displays the character of a holy God.

When we answer God’s call to accept his gift of salvation, we enter into a covenant with God.  He promises to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  We promise to make Him our Lord, to turn over our lives to Him. We say, “Here, God, I give you 100% of my life.”

We lay our lives down at his feet, but are we really giving it all, or are we, like Ananias and Sapphira, holding something back?  Once you say, “I give my life to you, God,” then it is His. If you try to take some of it back, then you are stealing from God.

Following Jesus is serious business.  If we treat our obedience, or the obedience of others in our fellowship, lightly, the whole community suffers.  Let us pledge anew our commitment to follow Jesus with 100% of all we have, mind, body, and spirit. 

September 9, 2025 –  A Biblical View of Ownership — Acts #12

David Chupp Acts , , , , , , ,

September 9, 2025 –  A Biblical View of Ownership — Acts #12
Acts 4:32-37

Most of the teachings I do are verse-by-verse explanations of scripture, giving you the context for the passage, history, language, and culture.  But today’s is topical.  Something is going on in the community of these early believers that many people find unusual, and it makes some others really uncomfortable.  Today, I want to look at the big picture to explain what motivates these followers to behave this way.  

Acts 4:32-37  Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

The idea that Jesus’ followers shared their possessions bothers some people.  It is especially uncomfortable to many people in the US, where the concept of private ownership is a key element of society.  Our identities are often tied to what we have achieved in life and what we own, such as our house and automobiles.  Some people look at these first-century believers and say that this sharing of possessions would not work in our world today.  Why are they freely sharing everything? 1 

It is because their view of ownership, the Biblical view of ownership, is radically different than the prevailing view in our culture.  So we will do an overview of the scripture to make sure we understand their motives.

But first, let’s talk about babies.  It is so much fun when babies start to speak. Those first words are so precious.  (Especially if the first word is dada.)  But it seems it is just a few months when their primary word is “NO!”. And then, a few months later, their primary word when playing with a sibling or friend is “mine.” Children naturally latch onto the idea of personal ownership.  You don’t have to teach them about ownership.  Teaching a toddler about sharing, however, can be a trying experience. 

If you have ever seen the Disney Movie “Finding Nemo,” you know there is a group of characters that provide some comic relief, a flock of seagulls.  Every time they appear on screen, they have one focus.  They are all selfishly trying to obtain that one morsel of food that is available. Like a toddler, they cry out the same thing over and over: “Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!” They are funny characters—but it’s also a little uncomfortable. Because if we’re honest, those seagulls are a mirror of our own hearts.  Think about it:  We see something we like, and our first instinct is, “Oh, I would like to have one of those!”  Someone else gets a new car or a promotion at work, and we think, ” I wish that were mine.”  The latest phone or gadget comes out and we think we’ve got to have it—“Mine!”

This is why advertising is big business.  It is all about feeding the desire for possessions.  Almost $500 billion is spent on advertising yearly in the US.2  Amazon spent 26 million dollars to air one ad during the last Super Bowl.3  How we view our possessions, how we view ownership, makes a difference in how we live,

So let’s look at this from a Biblical perspective.  And the first question is: Do we own anything?

Psalm 24:1  The earth is Yehovah’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

The Bible says God created it.  It all belongs to him.  If you go back to the beginning, in the Garden of Eden…God placed man in the garden to work the land and to care for it.  Man was given dominion over the earth and the creatures in it.  He was to subdue it.   But it is dominion, not sovereignty.   Only God is sovereign.  Man is given dominion.  He is to take care of the land, but is he given ownership?

Who owned the Garden in Eden? Adam did not own the garden. It is God’s garden.  He makes the rules.  It is evident that when Adam and Eve decide they no longer want to live by God’s laws of the Garden, they are banished.  God does not leave; they leave.   Man was the tenant farmer, God was the owner.

But wait… doesn’t God promise Abraham that he will give his descendants land?

Genesis 17:7-8  And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.

An everlasting possession.  That seems to imply Abraham’s descendants will have ownership.  So 400 years later, when they were redeemed from Egypt and had traveled back to the land, it was divided up by tribe, assigned by lots (Joshua 18).  So it would seem that God does endorse ownership of the land.  But let’s look at how God mandated the land be used.  There were a lot of rules.

Every seven years was the Schmita year.  They were not to farm the land.  They were not to till the ground nor plant any crops.  Any crops that grow naturally are available for anyone to take as needed.  Anyone could harvest on any land that year.  Additionally, in this Schmita year, all debts were forgiven.

Land could be bought or sold, but every 50 years, there was a reset. Every 50 years was a Jubilee (Yovel) year; any land that had been bought or sold went back to the original owner or their family.  Additionally, any slaves or indentured servants were freed in that year.  This ensured that the land stayed with the tribes as they were initially allotted, and that no family would be doomed to live forever in bondage.  

And there were rules on how you harvest the crops on your land: 

Leviticus 19:9-10  When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am Yehovah your God.

We see this in the book of Ruth, where the destitute widows can harvest wheat from the edges or corners of anyone’s field.  The land was theirs to manage, but the owner had expectations for how they would use the land.  That included using a portion of the harvest to help the poor.  

In those days, people’s righteousness was judged by how much unharvested crop they left in the corners of their fields.  A person who was not righteous might gather 100% of the harvest for himself and leave none.   If you were a generous person, you would leave large amounts of grain to harvest in the corners and edges of your fields.   Today, we can apply this principle to our budgets, and we must ask ourselves, “How big are my corners?”  How much of what I produce from the resources God has given me to manage is left for the poor?

Why were they given all these rules about how they were supposed to manage their land?

Leviticus 25:23-24  The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.

Because the land is not theirs, it is God’s.  God’s view of land ownership is that God owns all the land.  He has allotted portions of the land to people to use, but he has strict rules on how it is to be used. 

I have a friend who has a beautiful Porsche convertible.  Imagine for a moment that I borrow his car.  Now, when I am driving that car, I know very well that it is not mine (nor, thankfully, the car payment).  And I am not going to be reckless with it.  Before handing me the keys, my friend mentioned that he only uses premium gas and is careful not to exceed a certain RPM.   I would be very careful to follow his instructions.  After all, it is his car and he knows how to handle it.  I would carefully avoid potholes, drive very defensively, and I’d return it with a full tank of premium gas.  Why?  Because he was kind to loan it to me, and I want to be a good steward of what I have borrowed.  

The Biblical view of Ownership is this:  God owns everything.  He has entrusted a portion of his world to us.  It is not our land, but His.  They are not our possessions; they are His. We are temporary managers.  And we have a responsibility to manage God’s land and His possessions according to his rules.   After all, it is his world and he knows best how to handle it.  

The moment we start to think of this world as our property, whenever we forget that it all belongs to God, then we are tempted to misuse what we see as “ours”.   It can lead to selfishness, as we wonder why we should give away anything.  If other people need something, let them work like I did to get it.  Why should I give away what I worked so hard for?  It can also lead to pride.  Look at what I have.  I got this from hard work and smart business decisions.  Look at me.  Look what I have done.  

When Israel was about to enter the Promised Land, God knew this could become a problem.  They had been slaves, and for the past 40 years, were wanderers.  Now they are entering a rich, bountiful land.  So just before they go in, Moses warns them:

Deuteronomy 8:11-14,17–20  Take care lest you forget Yehovah your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget Yehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery… Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember Yehovah your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget Yehovah your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that Yehovah makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of Yehovah your God.

Don’t forget God, who gave you everything you have.  Don’t forget Yehovah and go worship other gods like the god of materialism, or the god of pride, or the god of self.  If you do, you will perish.  This advice was good almost 3000 years ago, and it is good today.  God understands the temptation of ownership, wealth, and false self-sufficiency.  

And ownership can bring other problems. For example, if you are the owner of a business, you have the potential for greater income return, but you carry the full weight of the company.  You have to oversee every aspect, from payroll to market shifts.  You assume the financial and legal risks of the business and must juggle multiple roles. Ownership can lead to much worry and stress.   What if my company has a bad year?  What if the economy crashes?  What if my taxes increase?  What if someone takes what is mine?  What about tornadoes, what about floods?

 An employee can focus solely on their specific area of the business, largely exempt from the broader concerns.   If we view God as the owner and accept our position as a steward, we no longer need to worry about outcomes because God will take care of that.  

But there is an even more important aspect of ownership we need to look at.  This idea of ownership is about more than land and other possessions.  Look back at that verse in Psalm 24:

Psalm 24:1  The earth is Yehovah’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

“And those who dwell therein.”  It is not just our land and possessions that belong to God.   We belong to God.  He created us, he gave us life, and He sustains us.  He gives us every heartbeat and every breath.  And more than that, for those of us who have received the gift of salvation through Jesus, we are “doubly owned” by God.

Jesus said it this way…

Matthew 20:28 “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

He gave his life as a ransom for many.  We understand a ransom as what you pay to release someone who is being held hostage.  The Old Testament view is that a ransom is to buy back people’s freedom who had become slaves.   In Rome, many of their slaves came from lands they had conquered.  But in Israel, the primary reason people ended up in slavery is that they had to sell themselves into slavery for debts they could not pay.   The act of paying the ransom is redemption.  God redeemed the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. 

Jesus had an interesting discussion with some of his followers about being set free:

John 8:31-34  So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

Jesus said, “The truth will set you free,” to which they responded, We don’t need to be set free; we were never slaves. And Jesus tells them that they were indeed slaves to sin.  Why were they slaves to sin?  The payment owed for sin is death (Romans 6:23).   Because of their sin, they owed a debt that they could not pay.  Jesus is telling them that because of this debt of sin that they could not pay, they had sold themselves into slavery.

So Jesus came to redeem us, to pay the ransom for our release from slavery to sin.  That is why Paul can say things like this:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.

You were bought with a price.  Jesus purchased our redemption with his death and resurrection.  He set us free.

Ephesians 1:7  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

We have been redeemed from slavery to sin, so we are free.  And what do we do with this freedom?  Paul says when we choose redemption, we choose Jesus to be our Lord.  So we are no longer slaves to sin, but we answer to a different master or lord, Jesus.  

Several times in the introduction of his letters, Paul says he is a slave of Christ Jesus (as do James, Peter, Jude, and John).  

Romans 1:1  Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus….

Paul expands on this thought in Romans 6:

Romans 6:20-23  For when you were slaves of sin…. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If you asked any servant in Jesus’ day, “What are you going to do today?” they would look at you like you were crazy.  A servant had no choice.  They did whatever their master told them to do.  There were no discussions or debates.  This slavery to God, becoming his servant, is our voluntary position.  We choose to be his servant instead of serving sin.  We decide to follow his decrees, his direction for what we are going to do today and tomorrow.

But Paul, who multiple times called himself a slave to Jesus, also said this:

Galatians 4:4-7  But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

So are we slaves to Christ or are we sons?  The answer is yes.

Our attitude of obedience to God is like the attitude of a slave to our Lord—complete obedience without question.  We wake in the morning, awaiting God to assign us a task.  

God’s attitude of love and grace toward us, however, is not like a master to a slave but like a father to a child. I think Paul reconciles these two by following the Old Testament idea of children having complete obedience and devotion to their parents (as he restates in Ephesians 6:1-3).  We are the children of God, and our level of obedience as his children should be so complete, such a thorough obedience as if we were slaves to a master.

This concept of ownership is what the first-century followers understood.  This is why they freely shared their possessions with those in need.  Because they understood that the things they possessed did not belong to them anyway, it was not their land, but God’s land they were given to manage for a while.  It was not their donkey or their sheep, but they all belonged to God.  So it is only right they they manage God’s possessions as God would want them to.  

These were people whose fields had big corners.  They left much of what they had for others in need.  Their lives were built on the Biblical view of ownership.  Their lands, their homes, and their possessions were all His.  And they understood that they owed their very lives to Jesus, who had ransomed them from slavery.  So they were willing to freely give that up also if necessary for the Kingdom of God.  And many of them would be called on to be martyrs.

Finally, I can’t talk about slavery without making this point:

When I mention slavery, your thoughts probably go to earlier times in our country, which indeed has a horrific history of slavery, and, sadly, slavery was supported by many churches.  That is our history.  We can’t go back and change that.  But there is something we can change.  Today, there are about 50 million people enslaved in our world.  50 million.   And many of them are children.   Some have been kidnapped, but most, just like in Jesus’ day, ended up as slaves to pay family debts that could not be paid.  Poor people are taken in by predatory loan practices that result in the loss of their children if they can’t repay the loan.  50 million slaves.  In India (which has an estimated 18 million slaves today), the average loan amount taken by the families that may lose their child is $68.  Several mission organizations are working to redeem children from slavery.  My wife and I have been supporters of Freedom’s Promise4, which works in Southeast Asia, and Set Free, which works in India.5   $ 68, less than many families will spend on lunch today, can ransom a child from slavery.  Preventing child trafficking and redeeming children from slavery are both worthy ways to make our corners bigger.  What would God have you do with His possessions that He has entrusted to you?

  1. And some say that what these followers are doing is similar to Communism or Socialism.  That is certainly not the case.  The Biblical model is voluntary sharing motivated by love and unity, as opposed to involuntary redistribution mandated by the state.  God, who has limitless resources and motives of grace and love, directs the management of resources, instead of a government of men, which historically becomes corrupt and self-serving.
  2. From marketingcharts.com.
  3. From mediaplaynews.com.
  4. http://www.freedomspromise.org
  5. http://www.setfreealliance.org

September 2, 2025 –  The Followers of Jesus Respond to the Threat — Acts #11

David Chupp Acts , , , , ,

September 2, 2025 –  The Followers of Jesus Respond to the Threat — Acts #11
Acts 4:23-31

We have been discussing this one story about Peter, John, and the lame man for the past month. The story unfolds over 24 hours, but spans almost two chapters of Acts.  It began one afternoon at 3 pm when Peter and John were going to the Temple.  There, they encountered a man who was paralyzed from birth, and he was healed.  He followed them into the Temple, and everyone there recognized him as the lame beggar whom they had passed for years.  Peter and John preach for about 2.5 hours and then are placed in custody overnight by the Temple police.  The next day, they are questioned by the court of high priests, who threaten them not to continue to speak about Jesus.

We noted that this is just the beginning of the persecution that will intensify over the following four chapters of Acts, culminating in the first martyr for the faith.  But at this point, the priests don’t yet feel they can do more than threaten them.  So they warn Peter and John not to speak any more about Jesus.

This is Israel in the first century.  They have no First Amendment that guarantees free speech. This is a genuine threat that they must take seriously.  The last person Peter and John saw this group deal with ended up on a cross.  Today, we examine how these followers respond to these threats and consider how we should react when we face similar threats.

Perhaps you feel that this doesn’t apply to you.  In the US, we are not currently under any significant form of persecution. You may not have ever been physically threatened by a person who meant you harm.  But have you ever felt your life was threatened by an accident or illness?  Has your health been threatened?  We all know friends who have been threatened by cancer and other physical threats this past year.  We know people who physical disasters, flooding, fires, and storms have threatened. And while persecution is not a big problem for many of us now, in many countries it is a big problem. The Bible tells us that a time of persecution will come everywhere.  And just as the followers in Acts 4 are seeing the first hints of persecution, we are seeing the first hints of persecution here in the US.  None of us here may live to see more than these stirrings of persecution, but it will come, and we must be ready. We must discuss how we should respond when it does come.   So how do you respond when you are threatened? 

Acts 4:23-31  When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who, through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
For truly, in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness

How do you respond when you are threatened or get bad news?  They have been warned by the highest court not to speak about Jesus anymore.  However, they feel compelled to share this great news about Jesus with everyone.  

When they got the bad news, here is what they did not do:  They did not panic, fret, wring their hands, cry, moan, or groan.  They did not get angry, sad, depressed, or anxious.  They did not do any of these things.  They prayed.   If your initial response to getting any bad news is not prayer, then you are doing it wrong. 

So these followers in Acts 4 responded to bad news with prayer. But let’s look a little deeper and see how they prayed and what they prayed for.

Acts 4:24  And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord…

They addressed God as “Sovereign Lord.”  What does this title mean?  “Sovereign Lord” is translated from a single Greek word, ‘despotes’, from which we get our word despot.  The modern definition of despot is: “a ruler or other person who holds absolute power, typically one who exercises it in a cruel or oppressive way.”1 Today, this word has a very negative connotation.  But the original Greek term was neutral, referring to the head of a household. (The female equivalent was despoina, or “lady of the house”.)  Later, in the Byzantine Empire, it was a term of high honor.  However, it now carries a very negative connotation, similar to the words ‘tyrant’ or ‘dictator’, which were initially neutral terms until the late 1700s. 

Why did these terms develop such a negative connotation?  Due to the rise of oppressive rulers, people began to realize over time the potential problems that occur when one person holds all the power.   Specifically, it was during the time of the French Revolution and the reign of Louis XIV that the term ‘despot’ became so negative. It was Lord Acton in 1887 who wrote: 

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence2 and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.“3

Power in the hands of men is a temptation few can stand. God alone is the supreme power that is incorruptible.  He is sovereign in that he is all-powerful.  He controls the sun, the moon, and the stars.  He controls the wind, the clouds, and the storms.  And He has the power to control every detail of our lives.  But God, in His wisdom, withholds His control over you unless you allow it.  He asks us to submit our wills to His voluntarily.  Now, there are times when God will override man’s free will.  We see this especially in how God deals with evil kings, such as Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, and Cyrus, as seen in this verse in Proverbs:

Proverbs 21:1  The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of Yehovah; he turns it wherever he will.

God directs the will of kings in circumstances when He must protect or discipline his people.  But this is the exception, not the rule.  Except on these rare occasions, God will only be sovereign in our lives if we allow him to be.  His kingdom is one you choose to enter or exit.  By definition, you are only a part of the kingdom if you follow the rules of the king.  Adam and Eve chose not to follow the king’s law and left the garden.  If we want to be in God’s kingdom, we must follow him as king and obey his precepts.  That is what it means when we call Him ‘Lord.’  He directs, and we follow.  You can only call him ‘Sovereign Lord” if you follow him and obey his laws.

So they pray, addressing God as their ancestors addressed God in the scriptures:

Acts 4:24  Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them…

You see this same manner of addressing God throughout the Bible, especially in the psalms and Isaiah, and here in Nehemiah:

Nehemiah 9:6  You are Yehovah, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.

And then, in their prayer in Acts 4, they quote the first two verses of Psalms 2.  Again, the prayer begins:

Acts 4:24-26   Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
“Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?
 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed.”

Psalm 2 describes the rebellion of kings and nations against God and His Messiah (His Anointed).  In quoting this psalm, they recognized that the threat was not against them, but against God Himself.  It is God’s plans the high priests want to thwart.  And if you know Psalms 2 as these followers know Psalms 2, you know how this ends.  If you don’t know the psalm, then of course you should stop reading Acts and look it up.

How does the psalm say that God responds to the nations plotting against him?

Psalm 2:4   The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.

He laughs at them.  He tells them he has installed His King in Zion, the one he calls his son.  And he will break the other nations with a “rod of iron”.  He will “dash them to pieces like pottery” (verse 9).  They should recognize his Son as the true king and “celebrate his rule with trembling (verse 11), for “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.” (verse 12). The first-century disciples, quoting this psalm in their prayer, acknowledge:
1. That God is their personal sovereign.
2. That He is the all-powerful creator who is sovereign over the world.
3. That He has appointed a King to rule, that is His messiah.
4. That His Messiah will defeat all enemies and rule forever.

They continue their prayer, identifying this attack by these priests as the same response these priests had to Jesus.  

Acts 4:27-28  For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place…

It was inevitable that the powers of religion and government would both rise up against Jesus.  And God would intervene and resurrect Jesus, thus claiming the victory over them, over sin, and over death.  

And now they come to the part of the prayer where they make a request to God regarding the situation in which they have been threatened.  What did they ask for?

If you were being threatened, what would you ask God for?   Obviously, you would ask him to remove the threat.  If someone wants to hurt you, what would you ask for? You would pray, “Please don’t let them hurt me.  Stop them.  Get in their way.”  If your health is threatened, what would you ask for?  “Please heal me.  Please take away this cancer, please heal my heart.”  If you are threatened by temptation, what would you pray for?  “Please remove this temptation.”  All of these sound like reasonable responses, but they are not the complete response that the Bible teaches. 

For example, regarding temptation: On the night Jesus was arrested, Jesus told Peter that the Satan would tempt him.  Jesus tells him that He is praying for him.  What does Jesus pray for Peter?    

Luke 22:31-32  Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.

He does not pray to take away the temptation; he prays for Peter not to fall.  He prays that Peter might endure the temptation.  Trials and temptations are essential parts of our walk with God.  Through them, our faith is tested and grows. If we were to pray away all of our trials, then we could not grow.  This is how the book of James begins:

James 1:2-4  Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

We need trials of various kinds, so that our faith will grow.  These troubles produce a faith that endures.  Now it is okay to ask God to remove them if possible.  Remember, Jesus prayed in this manner in the Garden.  

Luke 22:42  Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.

God does not want us to suffer, but sometimes suffering is necessary to learn to depend on Him, to learn obedience, or to accomplish the mission He has for us.  Discipline can be painful.  What parent has not said, “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.”  (Though I wonder if any children ever believed that.)  Some lessons are unfortunately learned the hard way.  

This is the same way we should pray if someone is trying to harm us or kill us.  That is precisely the situation Jesus was in when he prayed this prayer.  He was about to be handed over to men who would torture him to death. Yet Jesus prays, ‘If this is the best thing for the kingdom of God, then let’s do it the hard way.’   Be honest with God and tell him you really would like to avoid that bad situation, but then be a good servant of God and submit to his will if it is best for the kingdom.  God is our sovereign, our king, so we bow our will to the will of the king.  

When the highest court in the land threatened these first-century followers, they didn’t respond with worry, with anxiety, with defeat, or with dismay.  They turned to pray.  They prayed to God, who was sovereign in their lives, and they were willing to follow the path He directed.  They recognized the battle is not so much against them, but against God Himself.  And they knew from scripture that God would be victorious, just as he was victorious over these same priests when they threatened Jesus.   But remember that victory for Jesus was marked by a cross, a grave, and ultimately a resurrection.  So too, victory for most of these followers will end in violent deaths before their resurrection.

When they were threatened, they didn’t ask God to remove the threat. What did they ask? 

Acts 4:29-30  And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

Look upon these threats and give us the boldness to continue speaking your word, despite the threats from these priests.  They saw themselves in a battle.  And they have entered a battlefield where it looks like they are outnumbered and outgunned.  But they don’t call to be airlifted out to escape the battle; they call for back-up.  They call for reinforcement.  They call to the one who has all power and is sovereign.  

Is your burden heavy?   Don’t pray for lighter burdens, pray for stronger backs.
Is your path hard?  Don’t pray for an easier path, but ask God to walk with you and strengthen you on the path you’re on.
Do you feel trapped?  Don’t pray for an escape route, pray for wisdom and endurance. 
Pray for boldness in the face of trials, temptations, and persecutions.

Look how far these followers of Jesus have come in a few short months.   They have come a long way from the disciples they were when Jesus was arrested.  Then they were afraid to be associated with Jesus.  Peter denied that he knew him, and was scared not by a man with a sword, but by a servant girl standing around a fire.  After the crucifixion, they were hiding in a locked room, afraid that the Jewish leaders would take them next.  Then they were ruled by fear.  

But now they are ruled by faith.  Just a few months later, they are recognized for their boldness. They have passed from fear to courage.  They are speaking publicly, affirming their relationship with Jesus.  Then they find themselves face to face with this same group that condemned Jesus, and they threatened them to stop speaking Jesus’ name.  And how do they respond now?  Peter, who denied Jesus in that very man’s courtyard a few months ago, now tells them, “Well, you are the religious experts, so tell me, who is more important to obey, man or God?  I can’t stop speaking the truth about Jesus that I have seen with my own eyes.”  Peter is a totally different person.  

What changed in Peter?  He spent time with Jesus after his resurrection.   And Peter’s fear melted away in the light of his faith.  Why was he afraid before?   He was worried for his future, he was scared he would be shamed, and he was afraid he would die.  His fear is all about what might happen to himself.  His thoughts were centered on Peter.  It is all about me.  The most important person in Peter’s life was still Peter.

Then the resurrected Jesus meets him by the lake.  Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?”  Peter says yes, and then 3 times Jesus replies, ‘Feed and tend to my sheep.’ Stop prioritizing Peter and reach out to others.  Jesus knows that the secret to removing Peter’s fears is to liberate Peter from himself.  Quit worrying about what might happen to Peter! 

Jesus stands as a testimony that anything man may do to you is not permanent.  There is something about walking around with a formerly dead guy to help remove your own fear of death.  Jesus pushes Peter to true humility.  Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.  The cure to the fear of death is dying to self.  Boldness begins when self ends.  When you are certain in your faith that God loves you, that he wants only the best outcome for you, then you can trust God and not worry about anything that might come.  

When you have died to self, when you have given your life away to Jesus, then your life becomes less important to you. But your life has become even more important to Jesus, who will care for you and work everything out to the best, so much better than you could have ever done.  If we put our love for God and others ahead of the love of our own life, then we have little to fear.   John the Baptist said it this way in John 3:30, “He must increase, I must decrease.”  This happens as the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us, just as He did with these disciples.  And that is the big difference in these followers now.  God’s Holy Spirit has come to them.  There is a close connection in the Book of Acts with the word ‘boldness’ and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

In their prayer, they recognize this.  The attack is not against them; it is against God.  So we do not need to fear, for God can handle it.  We can then continue in the boldness of the gospel.  They responded to the priest’s threats with prayer to ask God to make them bolder in the face of the danger.  And God honored this request and showed His approval in a way only He can:

Acts 4:31 “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

God rains down His Holy Spirit on them anew.  And the whole building shook with the power and glory of God.  Oh, that our buildings would shake with the power of God’s approval on us!

1.  Oxford Language Dictionary, 2024.
2.  Lord Acton’s comment on the corruption of those who exercise influence without authority rings loudly in our culture today, particularly in the context of social media influencers.  They have no legal authority over people, yet they maintain power over millions through various social media outlets, which is evident in their sometimes multimillion-dollar income.  We are just beginning to recognize the dangers of this influencer culture, which include misinformation, endorsement of hazardous products, unrealistic beauty standards, the promotion of a culture of comparison, deceptive marketing, and privacy risks.  We must be similarly wary of the rising trend of Christian Influencers.  Please check out the article in Christianity Today, which states, “Christian influence comes with a cross. Its purpose is far more about self-sacrifice than self-indulgence.” (Giboney, Justin.  “How to be a Christian Influencer Worthy of the Name.” Christianity Today, May 21, 2024.)
3.  Letters of John Emerich Edward Dahlberg, Lord Acton.  1887.