Acts 6:1 Around this time, when the number of talmidim was growing, the Greek-speaking Jews began complaining against those who spoke Hebrew that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution. 2 So the Twelve called a general meeting of the talmidim and said, “It isn’t appropriate that we should neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables. 3 Brothers, choose seven men from among yourselves who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will appoint them to be in charge of this important matter, 4 but we ourselves will give our full attention to praying and to serving the Word.”
5 What they said was agreeable to the whole gathering. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Ruach HaKodesh, Philip, Prochoros, Nikanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas, who was a proselyte from Antioch. 6 They presented these men to the emissaries, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 So the word of God continued to spread. The number of talmidim in Yerushalayim increased rapidly, and a large crowd of cohanim were becoming obedient to the faith.
8 Now Stephen, full of grace and power, performed great miracles and signs among the people. 9 But opposition arose from members of the Synagogue of the Freed Slaves (as it was called), composed of Cyrenians, Alexandrians and people from Cilicia and the province of Asia. They argued with Stephen, 10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by which he spoke.
11 So they secretly persuaded some men to allege, “We heard him speak blasphemously against Moshe and against God.” 12 They stirred up the people, as well as the elders and the Torah-teachers; so they came and arrested him and led him before the Sanhedrin. 13 There they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and against the Torah; 14 for we have heard him say that Yeshua from Natzeret will destroy this place and will change the customs Moshe handed down to us.”
15 Everyone sitting in the Sanhedrin stared at Stephen and saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.
7:1 The cohen hagadol asked, “Are these accusations true?” 2 and Stephen said:
We all know what Stephen said that day. A historical oration that was so true it got him killed. Of course, it took lying lips to get him to this stage but he did not turn back from it at all. The Accuser came and instead of fleeing, he confronted it. Powerfully, I might add.
And guess who else was there: Paul.
The focus here is not on the speech, or Paul for that matter, but on the man that refused to back down.
The name Stephen literally means crown.
G4735 στέφανος stephanos (stef'-an-os) n.
Yeshua wore a crown (stephanos) of thorns. Paul talks about a crown (stephanos) of righteousness. Peter a crown (stephanos) of glory. In the letters to the churches, a crown (stephanos) of life is given to those that remain faithful even to the point of death:
Revelation 2:8 “To the angel of the Messianic Community in Smyrna, write: ‘Here is the message from the First and the Last, who died and came alive again: 9 “I know how you are suffering and how poor you are (though in fact you are rich!), and I know the insults of those who call themselves Jews but aren’t — on the contrary, they are a synagogue of the Adversary. 10 Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the Adversary is going to have some of you thrown in prison, in order to put you to the test; and you will face an ordeal for ten days. Remain faithful, even to the point of death; and I will give you life as your crown (stephanos). 11 Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the Messianic communities. He who wins the victory will not be hurt at all by the second death.”’
Huh. This sounds an awful lot like Stephen’s situation here. He surely didn’t have the Book of Revelation as a tool of encouragement, so what was it that empowered him to stand this strong? It’s almost as if he was created for this moment.
So much is spoken of the names and places in Hebrew but here we see that even in Greek, a name can describe character.
Stephen was a Greek-speaking Jew selected to help feed the widows that were being neglected by the Hebrew-speaking Jews. Seven guys were chosen to run the widow’s food bank who were known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. Stephen fit that description but then we see that he had a little something extra in the tank. He was a man full of faith and the Ruach HaKodesh.
We saw before that faith is the precursor of trusting, and trusting is required for miracles -- which he performed.
He was
Sounds like a solid dude. Almost sounds like you wish you were, huh?
Now, if you were full of faith and the Holy Spirit, how would you use that grace and power? Seriously, think about the types of things you would really do if you had the power to heal, deliver, perform miraculous signs, etc.
If you’re like me, you’d love to bring this to anyone and everyone you know. Life in abundance, right?
Quick question, though: what would you do for yourself?
My question is why someone with this sort of power wouldn't use it to save himself. The same question was asked about Yeshua:
Matthew 27:38 Then two robbers were placed on execution-stakes with him, one on the right and one on the left. 39 People passing by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “So you can destroy the Temple, can you, and rebuild it in three days? Save yourself, if you are the Son of God, and come down from the stake!” 41 Likewise, the head cohanim jeered at him, along with the Torah-teachers and elders, 42 “He saved others, but he can’t save himself!” “So he’s King of Isra’el, is he? Let him come down now from the stake! Then we’ll believe him!” 43 “He trusted God? So, let him rescue him if he wants him! After all, he did say, ‘I’m the Son of God’!” 44 Even the robbers nailed up with him insulted him in the same way.
If Stephen was full of the Spirit and wisdom, surely he knew this would not turn out all that well. The High Priest asked if the accusations were true -- and he never even answered the accusation. Wouldn’t he at least try to defend himself?
I think this is a valid question that sheds tremendous light on our own selfishness. It seems that having the question of our own survival introduced shows us plainly that we are ill-equipped to have this kind of power. We don’t understand grace, we have little to no wisdom, and our faith is incredibly weak. Therefore, we are powerless.
Realizing the gift of His Spirit is not for us and the things we want, but for others. Service to everyone else -- the servant of all -- is a foundational position we all must take in order to even start moving down this path. This whole narrative began with the issue of service to everyone, not just the Hebrew-speaking ones.
We must not deceive ourselves any longer.
Can you stand in front of the Accuser and defend Abba instead of defending yourself? We’d like to, I know, but self-preservation is a mighty force. From our own personal perspective, maybe even more powerful than His Spirit. Otherwise, we’d choose wisely.
But we can start this process if we really want. How? Forgive.
If we can’t even do simple things like forgive, how on earth can we claim to be selfless? And if we aren’t selfless, there is no chance we can use Abba’s power to do anything at all.
Exercise for today: Think of the person (or people) that have hurt you the most. If they were standing in front of you right now, what would you say? What would you think?
Could you ignore the urge to defend yourself and die instead?