Stephen's Sermon

Acts 7:2 And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran”.

The largest chapter in the Acts is a single sermon by Stephen who explains the history of Israel to an already educated audience but the narration emphasizes their loss of Christ to them. When concluding the sermon, Stephen gives them a hard message calling them stiff necked people and murderers.

Stephen starts the sermon with saying “God of Glory” and in the end he sees the glory of God. Stephen could see the glory because he was able to demonstrate this glory through his sermon. The demonstration starts from separation of Abraham from Mesopotamia. Abraham was originally from a pagan family and God wanted him to forsake his family for the sake of God’s glory. This separation continues as God did not give any inheritance to Abraham in Canaan either. The plan of God is that we should go through trouble so that His glory is manifested. Enemies have their roles but they will reap what they had done. For us, it is glory through trials. We read a confirmation of this in Romans 8:17,18.

The next topic Stephen mentions is the covenant of circumcision which Abraham immediately obeys. The obedience to this covenant was the reason for the birth of Jacob and the twelve patriarchs. When God gives us a covenant and a promise, it is important that it is followed at the earliest. Stephen reminds that Issac was born out of the covenant and so, it is required for us to honor the covenant Jesus has given. In verse 51, Stephen calls the Jews as uncircumcised in heart and ears which have the extra knowledge that plain rituals are followed but the original call and requirement of the covenant is completely lost.

The next lesson is that God mentions to Abraham that his descendants will be slaves in a foreign land but after deliverance, they would come back and worship Him. But this disappointment became very high to God as in verse 40 onwards. This disappointment took place as the people did not hear about the upcoming prophet, they rejected Moses. We see God’s anger towards Israel.

The glory of God is so manifested in Joseph’s life as the verse gives emphasis to the introduction between Joseph, his family and pharaoh in verse 13. From the brother’s perspective we need to see how the glory of God is seen when Joseph whom they rejected is a great ruler in Egypt. Next, we read Moses being beautiful and pleasing in God’s eyes when he was a baby. God being pleased with a baby is only seen here in the bible. This is because of the perverseness of the generation and God seeing the future of how disobedient they are going to be. So, Moses was trained like Joseph and thought he would be the savior of the people. But it did not happen as God wanted His glory to be manifested. When people ask Moses “who made you a ruler over us”, Moses comes back saying God has made me a ruler over you. This time Moses is old and weak, but was performing wonders and signs in Egypt. Moses was rejected and people turned to Egypt. Stephen uses the term “Our fathers” meaning it is our nature to be stiff-necked and resist the Holy Spirit.

Being stiff-necked is something we all can relate to ourselves. After so many experiences, we still search for solutions in Egypt. The Holy Spirit’s main strength is renewal where we have newer ambitions and newer locations to search for salvation. Jeremiah 7:25,26 says that people could not heed their ears as their necks were stiff. When they could not hear, they did more evil than their fathers.

This is clearly understood when the death of Christ does not have any effect in us. In 2 Chronicles 30:8, we are requested to yield to the LORD and enter the sanctuary which is Christ. In Mathew 16:16 when Peter says that you are the Christ, we continue reading the excitement of Jesus in promising the Church and the authority given to it. Everybody else was following Jesus as a Rabbi for knowledge. But this understanding Peter had about Jesus made him soft necked than all of Judea. He was able to bend down to accept the Lordship of Jesus.

If we still are unchanged after learning about Jesus and his sacrifice, we are the ones who kill every prophet (as we ignore them). If we are enraged further, we end up like the ones who stone Stephen. But our Lord Jesus is so concerned to stand up and watch as Stephen dies. This sermon is worth a martyr as Jesus has to be accepted more than all doctrines and incidents.

Amen.