“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.” (Acts 7:51-53)
It does not matter how much I read the message of Stephen, it still thrills, challenges, convicts and fascinates me.
What is so fascinating is how Stephen highlights a trek through the historical context of the Jews from Abraham to Solomon. Yet the potted history draws out some themes about how God works and how people react to how He works.
As has been seen previously in the book of Acts, people full of the Holy Spirit are emboldened to speak. Such fearless speaking get straight to the heart of the issue. It is deliberately provocative. There truly is no way you could hear those words and not feel the need to react in some way. These are not just words of information, these words incite the listeners to do something about what they hear.
It says so much about Stephen that his knowledge is applied so carefully in outlining the issues his audience needed to hear. Especially when it draws to the conclusion that sees him blatantly and categorically accusing his audience of being stiff-necked, rebellious, deaf and disobedient murderers who do so because they resist the Holy Spirit. Talk about pulling no punches. Talk about saying it as it is. Talk about an uncompromising stance.
That you have the boldness to say this and while you’re being battered with stones you can still ask for their forgiveness is amazing. It’s amazing because it reaffirms that the point of Stephen’s speech was not just to accuse – it was to draw attention to the people’s need to repent. It’s an outline that would certainly have a lasting effect on one of the listeners who consented to the brutal murder of this witness.
Over two thousand years later, this reader, hears the words of Stephen and is convicted. Convicted of being someone who knows what it is to resist the Holy Spirit and be among a people who resist the Holy Spirit. I am grateful, however, that the conviction did not lead to rejection, but to repentance. So that I am not dependent on a place of worship, but understand that I am the body/temple and part of a people who are the body/temple in which He seeks to be worshipped in truth.
As these words are read, may they bring us to a realisation that we need the Holy Spirit to fully embrace the freedom that God has given us. Freedom from slavery, freedom from the chains of jealousy, envy, selfishness and other chains that lead people to reject God’s messengers even the Son of God Himself.
As these words are read, let us be reminded that following Jesus and being full of His Spirit may lead us to speak out and trouble the status quo.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 