Acts 6:8-15 Fighting the Good Fight August 15-16, 2020 Nic Gilmour NCCC v Intro Ø Fight the right fight, right! (2Ti 4:7; 1Ti 6:12, Jas 1:12) Ø Humans aren’t the enemy. (Eph 6:10-13). Ø Fight fire with the water-of-life. v Exegesis: meaning from the Text/Context/Whole-Text Ø V.8 “full of God’s grace and power…” (Ac 1:8a); “sweetness and strength…merged in one personality” (‘The Acts of the Apostles’ by Morgan, 142-143) Ø V.8 “performed great signs and wonders among the people” (Ac 2:43; 5:12) – always in covenant community. Ø V.9 “Opposition arose” – Jealousy, fear, insecurity – worldview. • Legalism (ex-slaves), now Pharisees or Scribes. Saul? • Gal 3:3 “are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?!” • Don’t run away/over each other but towards one another! Ø V.9 “began to argue” – beware stupid arguments, or good arguments stupidly argued! (2 Tim 2:22-26, Tit 3:8-11, Eph 4:2-3). Ø V. 10 “But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave” • Encouragement and unity (Heb 10:23-25). Send it, don’t send it! • Becoming unoffendable (Jas 1:19b-22). Get over your outrage/ bitterness / smallness. “It’s just not fair!” Yep. Ø Vv.11, 12 “they secretly persuaded…they stirred up…” with half-truths and exaggerations. Worse than lies. See V.13 below. Ø V.12 “they seized” – Mob mentality. Lynching. Beware group-think. “Thus the opposition degenerated from theology through slander to violence…Let others use these weapons against us; may we be delivered from resorting to them ourselves!” (‘The Message of Acts’ by Stott, 127). Ø V.13 “produced false witnesses” – likely bribery, before the Sanhedrin (comprised of chief priests, elders, teachers of the law – presided over by the high priest), given some authority but not of capital punishment. Ø V.13 “speaking against this holy place and against the law” • Jesus said he would raise (not destroy) the ‘temple’ – the Romans would do that in 70AD – notwithstanding accusations to the contrary (Jn 2:19-21; Mt 26:60-61; Mk 14:57-59) • Jesus didn’t come “to abolish the law but to fulfill it” (Mt 5:17) Ø V.15 “his face was like the face of an angel” • Moses in Ex 34 – God’s favor and authority. (Mt 17:2; 2 Cor 3:7-18) • Similarity of Stephen and Christ’s accusations and words (Mt 26:61; Lk 23:34)
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Acts 6:8-15 Fighting the Good Fight August 15-16, 2020 Nic Gilmour NCCC
v Intro Ø Fight the right fight, right! (2Ti 4:7; 1Ti 6:12, Jas 1:12) Ø Humans aren’t the enemy. (Eph 6:10-13). Ø Fight fire with the water-of-life.
v Exegesis: meaning from the Text/Context/Whole-Text Ø V.8 “full of God’s grace and power…” (Ac 1:8a); “sweetness and
strength…merged in one personality” (‘The Acts of the Apostles’ by Morgan, 142-143)
Ø V.8 “performed great signs and wonders among the people” (Ac 2:43; 5:12) – always in covenant community.
Ø V.9 “Opposition arose” – Jealousy, fear, insecurity – worldview. • Legalism (ex-slaves), now Pharisees or Scribes. Saul? • Gal 3:3 “are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you
now being perfected by the flesh?!” • Don’t run away/over each other but towards one another!
Ø V.9 “began to argue” – beware stupid arguments, or good arguments stupidly argued! (2 Tim 2:22-26, Tit 3:8-11, Eph 4:2-3).
Ø V. 10 “But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave” • Encouragement and unity (Heb 10:23-25). Send it, don’t send it! • Becoming unoffendable (Jas 1:19b-22). Get over your outrage/
bitterness / smallness. “It’s just not fair!” Yep. Ø Vv.11, 12 “they secretly persuaded…they stirred up…” with half-truths and
exaggerations. Worse than lies. See V.13 below. Ø V.12 “they seized” – Mob mentality. Lynching. Beware group-think. “Thus
the opposition degenerated from theology through slander to violence…Let others use these weapons against us; may we be delivered from resorting to them ourselves!” (‘The Message of Acts’ by Stott, 127).
Ø V.13 “produced false witnesses” – likely bribery, before the Sanhedrin (comprised of chief priests, elders, teachers of the law – presided over by the high priest), given some authority but not of capital punishment.
Ø V.13 “speaking against this holy place and against the law” • Jesus said he would raise (not destroy) the ‘temple’ – the Romans
would do that in 70AD – notwithstanding accusations to the contrary (Jn 2:19-21; Mt 26:60-61; Mk 14:57-59)
• Jesus didn’t come “to abolish the law but to fulfill it” (Mt 5:17) Ø V.15 “his face was like the face of an angel”
• Moses in Ex 34 – God’s favor and authority. (Mt 17:2; 2 Cor 3:7-18) • Similarity of Stephen and Christ’s accusations and words (Mt 26:61;
Lk 23:34)
2
v Application: legacy to Them/Us/Me Ø Practical – Widespread sharing of the gospel, post dispersion “to the ends
of the earth” (1:8b; 8:4; 11:19; Mt 28:18-20) Ø Theological – revolution in the universal mission of the church, not God
localized in the temple (See ‘Stephen’ by R.E. Nixon) Ø Spiritual - Christians now know they are not just a sect, but “the Way” (Ac
9:2; 24:14), the new people of God, that Jesus was the “way to the Father” (Jn14:6), and they are living as pilgrims and exiles (see Pauline letters, and Hebrews; also ‘Acts’ by Gempf)
Ø Emotional – Saul of Tarsus – confronted by religiosity, floored by grace – there is hope, even for me!
v Questions for the brave of heart Ø What hills have I shown I’m willing to die on? Ø Would others describe me as having a mixture of “sweetness and strength”? Ø Who did I really encourage today? (Who will I tomorrow?) Ø Who am I going to ask to hold me to account that I ‘send it, don’t send it’? Ø What would it take for me to become unoffendable?
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