Month: November 2013

“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers…”
Acts 7:51-52

What tremendous love is displayed in Stephen’s message above! Sadly, few today would view such words as loving. Stephen has been preaching for fifty verses, laboring to expose the false confidence of his accusers. He has taken them through Israel’s history, showing them they are making the same mistakes as their forefathers. I wonder if he looked on the crowd at this point and saw disinterest and boredom in their eyes. Was it clear to him that they weren’t really getting the point at all? Whatever the reason, in a burst of emotion in v. 51, he makes the message as plain as he possibly can, leaving them with no doubt regarding the point he’s making!

We know Stephen wasn’t motivated by hatred when he preached these words because a few minutes later, as they threw stones to murder him, he interceded on their behalf and begged God to forgive them (v. 60). Stephen’s bluntness was clearly an act of love! Sometimes, the most loving thing we can do is give a strong rebuke. If a car is barreling down on someone standing in the middle of the road, it is an act of love and mercy to scream, “Look out!” The tone may be harsh, but it’s warranted given the gravity of the situation.

There is no greater danger than to be in rebellion against God and abiding under His wrath because you’ve rejected His Son! The crowd may have been becoming complacent, but Stephen had a sense of urgency regarding their need. We see a similar pattern with Christ in Mat 23:13-30 as he exposes the sin of the religious elite of His day. Seven times He cries out, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” He was the best friend they ever had because He told them the truth! We see the same love Stephen shows when Christ a few verses later laments, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Mat 23:37)

This kind of love is increasingly rare in our day. It’s this love that prompted Paul to recommend that the Corinthians correct the adulterer among them by delivering, “such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (1Co 5:5) If we will care for men’s souls as the Lord Jesus did, then we must also be willing to speak the truth in love even when we know our words will cut the hearers deeply. Remember Pro 27:6: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”

Jamie

“Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen…”
Acts 7:44

I’ve recently gone through Exodus as part our family devotions at home. One of the things that amazed me as we read about the tabernacle mentioned in our text today was how meticulous God was in the instruction given to Moses regarding its construction. No detail was overlooked. He was specific as to the items in it, the people allowed in certain areas of it, the materials to be used, the types and frequency of sacrifices, etc. As I read about the rigid structure set forth in that time under the law, I rejoiced in the contrast with what we have today in this new covenant of grace!

There are sadly those today who are still bound in the legality of the law. Paul encouraged the Colossians to embrace the fullness of what Christ had done in freeing us from the boundaries set by the ceremonial law, Jesus “having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (Col 2:14) As ministers of the gospel have pointed out in ages past, there is surely a difference between what we often refer to as God’s ceremonial law and His moral law. The ceremonial law had to do with the sacrifices, days, feasts, washings, etc. set forth in God’s law. These things were given to point us to Christ, but now that He’s come and fulfilled the law, they no longer continue. (Mat 5:17) For this reason, Paul asks the Colossians, “Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—’Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,’ which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men?” (Col 2:20-22)

To continue in such things now suggests that Christ’s work was insufficient. The Galatians particularly struggled with this fact, prompting the apostle’s strong warning in Gal 5:1-4: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”  To maintain the law now is to abandon grace, to enter back into bondage! Pretty serious stuff, isn’t it? Paul used that glorious word “liberty” as he addressed the Galatians. What freedom we have now apart from the law! We don’t build church buildings per the exact dimensions given by God because He didn’t give any. He hasn’t told us which instruments with which to praise Him. We should be rejoicing in the great liberty now given!

But what about basic right and wrong? Does that matter anymore? While the ceremonial law has fulfilled its purpose, God’s moral law still applies. Paul addresses our liberty in Christ in the following way in Gal 5:13-14. “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'” God’s moral law is an expression of His character. It’s still wrong to lie and steal! Our liberty never extends so far that we are permitted to act apart from love, and love is the fulfilling of God’s moral law. So we are not without law, but the experience is so different compared to that of the old covenant that it is called now the perfect law of liberty in Jam 1:25! “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” Thank God for liberty in Christ!

Jamie