Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Text
Big Idea
Both God and Israel are consistent.
God is constant in His attributes - dynamic, merciful
Israel is constant in fashioning a god who is static, serves them, and they reject his messengers.
Introduction
Last time - the selection of the deacons
The spot light now falls on one of those deacons - Stephen
He is described as being full of grace, and was doing great signs and wonders
He was empowered by the Holy Spirit to live a life the reflected His Saviour
Just like Jesus was full of the Spirit and wisdom, so also was Stephen - not because he possessed these things himself, but because the Spirit was dwelling in him
You are controlled by whatever fills you
Stephen is Accused
Stephen is Accused
Accusation
Stephen was preaching and performing signs and wonders among the people, when a group of religious people from the nearby synagogues came to argue with him
But Stephen was so full of the Spirit and wisdom that the combined wisdom of all these religious leaders couldn’t get the better of him -
- they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking
Stephen wasn’t an educated pharisee - he was a Greek!
He wasn’t a seminary-educated man with a bachelors degree in theology - how did he manage to defeat these religious experts?
This is a fulfillment of what Jesus promised his disciples:
Because they couldn’t defeat Stephen, the religious leaders cook up a false accusation against Stephen.
They twist what he has been teaching about the fulfillment of Moses and the Law in Jesus,
And falsely accuse him of blaspheming against Moses and God.
They say in chapter 6 verse 13-14
A very similar false charge to the one they made against Jesus
How would you respond in such a situation?
Our response to a false accusation might be to play the lawyer, to prove our innocence, to get ourselves out of the predicament
Stephen’s response shows that he is fixated not on saving his own skin, but on fulfilling his calling as a disciple of Jesus - he sees this as an opportunity to be a witness
Stephen goes onto the offensive - shows them they are in fact guilty of breaking the Law and rejecting God
So Stephen goes onto the offensive - shows them they are in fact guilty of breaking the Law and rejecting God
Stephen Preaches
Foreshadows in History
Stephen begins to take them on a journey through their past
Abraham
God appeared to him in Mesopotamia
By grace, covenanted with Abraham before the Law, the temple and Israel existed
Covenant of circumcision and a promise that Abraham would be the father of a great nation of offspring who would receive an inheritance from God
By grace, covenanted with Abraham before the Law, the temple and Israel existed
Joseph
rejected and hated by his brothers and sold into Egypt, but God was with him
sold into Egypt, but God was with him
became a type of Saviour of his people
There was no temple for God in Egypt
Moses
God was with him from birth, being found as a baby in Egypt
Saw himself as a saviour of his people, but was rejected
went into exile in Midian in the wilderness, and God was with him there, appeared to him in the burning bush
God was with Moses throughout his life - From Egypt to wilderness and back to Egypt and then out in the wilderness again
Was a saviour of Israel, performed signs and wonders, received living oracles from God to give to Israel, but Israel rejected him and replaced the worship of God with the worship of idols
because of that, God sent them into exile in Babylon
The Tent & the Temple
The tent of witness in the wilderness
Solomon built the temple
Stephen quotes “Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?
All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be,...”
God is the creator - he cannot be confined to a building
God told Moses to make the tent and the tabernacle, and gave David and Solomon his blessing to build the temple - both were God’s will.
Making them was not wrong, but confining God to them is.
The thrust of Stephen’s message is showing that:
God appeared
God spoke
God sent
God promised
God punished
God rescued
God is working his sovereign will all over the earth - he is not confined
Fulfillment in Christ
Stephen now reaches the climax of his sermon
Using the language of the prophets, he tells the religious leaders they are just like their stubborn, hard-hearted fathers who rejected God’s Word, prophets and appeals
Acts 7:51-
Using the language of the prophets, he tells the religious leaders they are just like their stubborn, hard-hearted fathers who rejected God’s Word, prophets and appeals
They have
Abraham
Their whole existence… their place in the world, being called Israel, God’s people…
… was owed only to the grace of God in calling Abraham while he was still a pagan idol worshipper in Mesopotamia, and giving him a promise
Abraham then believed the promise and turned his back on his pagan ways to worship God
Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise, and the promise is not for Abraham’s physical descendants, but for all who turn from their sin and believe in Jesus.
Joseph
Then came Joseph…
rejected by his own family - left to die…
but God was with Him even in Egypt where there was no temple
He was a type of saviour who was rejected by his own people but ultimately held the key to their salvation
His life ultimately foreshadowed Jesus, who would come in fulfillment of prophecy as the Messiah - the Redeemer of Israel...
but his own people whom he came to save rejected him and killed him
Moses
performed signs and wonders just like Jesus did
Heard from God just like Jesus did
Gave oracles from God to the people just like Jesus did
Was the Saviour of the people of Israel from slavery - a great foreshadow of how Jesus was to come and be the Saviour of all peoples from slavery to sin and death
But just like they rejected Moses, the people rejected Jesus
The Tabernacle and the Temple
Even the tabernacle and the temple were not ever meant to be the permanent dwelling places of God, but they pointed towards Jesus living in and among his people
The Israelites carried the tabernacle with them wherever they went, as a dwelling place for God
Solomon also built the temple as a dwelling place for God, and God’s presence would fill the temple as long as the people were being faithful to Him
but in reality, God doesn’t live in a building
God makes his dwelling place in His people
Stephen’s Point
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