Acts 10:1-23

¹ At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, ² a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. ³ About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” ⁴ And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. ⁵ And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. ⁶ He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” ⁷ When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, ⁸ and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. ⁹ The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. ¹⁰ And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance ¹¹ and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. ¹² In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. ¹³ And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” ¹⁴ But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” ¹⁵ And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” ¹⁶ This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. ¹⁷ Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate ¹⁸ and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. ¹⁹ And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. ²⁰ Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” ²¹ And Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?” ²² And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” ²³ So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.

As we approach the tenth chapter of Acts, it will become clear to us that in the first ten chapters of the book we seek the advance of the gospel through the geographical parameters prescribed by Jesus for His Church in Acts 1:8.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

We have seen Jerusalem become “home base” for the Church with the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost and the initial proclamation of the gospel and beginnings of the mother church.  We have seen it expand beyond Jerusalem to wider Judea and Samaria through the scattering of the believers as a result of the persecution following Stephen’s martyrdom.  We witnessed Philip’s surprising and amazing missionary work in Samaria and then the coming of the Spirit upon the Samaritans when Peter and John arrived and prayed for the new converts.  We saw hints of the further expansion of the gospel through the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch.  And now, in the tenth chapter, we see the official beginnings of the spread of the gospel among the Gentiles.

We think of Paul as the great missionary to the Gentiles.  This is an apt description, but let us recognize two truths:  (1) Paul always started with the synagogues in his missionary work and (2) the gospel officially came to the Gentiles through the ministry of Peter, not Paul.  This is helpful for it allows us to see that the Church was of one mind about the worldwide implications of the gospel.

This is not to say that there was not a maturation process that had to happen first.  There certainly was, and we will see it in our text today.  We are going to see in a microcosm the movement of Jewish believers towards Gentile believers and vice versa in the persons of Peter and a Gentile named Cornelius.  We will approach this critical text with two truths in mind:  the gospel promises outsiders that they are welcome to enter in through Christ and the gospel compels insiders to reach further out through Christ.

The gospel promises outsiders that they are welcome to enter in through Christ.

The first movement we will consider is the movement of those outside toward the gospel and the family of God.

¹ At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, ² a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.

Clinton Arnold has provided some fascinating historical background on Roman centurions and on the type of man Cornelius likely was.

Cornelius may have been a descendant of one of the ten thousand slaves freed by the Roman general L. Cornelius Sulla Felix in 82 B.C.  It is not uncommon for freedmen to take on the family name (gens) of their emancipator.  On the other hand, “Cornelius” was a rather common Latin name.

He was a fairly wealthy man of status living in a beautiful city.  Evidently he has been stationed in Caesarea for a long period of time because he possesses a home, his family is with him, and he has been there long enough to perform many generous deeds for the Jewish community.

“The financial attraction of the centurionate, however, was that the pay was probably some sixteen times that of the basic legionary salary”…The historian Polybius (1^st cent. B.C.) says of centurions: “They wish centurions not so much to be venturesome and daredevil as natural leaders, of a steady and sedate spirit.  They do not desire them so much to be men who will initiate attacks and open the battle, but men who will hold their ground when worsted and hard pressed and be ready to die at their post.”[1]

There is therefore some legitimate basis for us to think that Cornelius is a responsible person and a person who held the respect of his peers.  Socially, he was obviously fairly well off, a person of some means.  Luke also tells us that he was a godly man, a God fearer, a person with some knowledge of God who felt an accountability before God.  Of course, he did not know the gospel, but he was looking.  He prayed and he feared God and he led his family to do the same.

It is convicting to think that Cornelius did more with the partial light he had at this point than many who profess to know Christ do in terms of devotion and practice.  How many who profess Christ fail to commit acts of charity and lead their households to the family altar.  But Cornelius does precisely this.  He is seeking God.  Then, in God’s perfect timing, He moves to bring Cornelius further in.

³ About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” ⁴ And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. ⁵ And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. ⁶ He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” ⁷ When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, ⁸ and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

Here we see again the sovereign initiative of the God who loves the nations to open the door to those who previously were considered outside.  An angel of the Lord comes to Cornelius and instructs him on how to get Peter in his home.  Though he initially is fearfully, he trusts and he obeys and sends his men to Joppa to seek out Peter.

The significant point that must not be missed is that God comes to this outsider and invites him to a meeting in which not only his life and the life of his family will be forever altered, but the lives of the nations as well.  Indeed, we should look at this episode with great interest, for Cornelius’ invitation is likewise our invitation.  We are here, today, worshipping the Lord only because God in His mercy came to Cornelius.  It is a humbling thought!  The story of Cornelius is one about which we dare not be dispassionate, for his story is our story.

The gospel compels insiders to reach further out through Christ.

It should also not be missed that God instructs Cornelius to send men to bring Peter to him.  Why is this significant?  Because it was not enough for the Gentiles to move toward the gospel that these Jewish converts had.  The Jewish converts likewise needed to move toward these Gentiles if the gospel was going to be what it was intended to be.  So we see in our text a move towards one another on the parts of Peter and Cornelius, and, in seeing these, we are seeing the dissolution of a long-established barrier.

For this to happen, however, the Jews would have to learn to think differently.  In fact, they would have to dare to believe the unbelievable:  that the people they considered unclean were also welcome to come to Jesus and, in so doing, were as much a part of the family of God as they were.

⁹ The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. ¹⁰ And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance ¹¹ and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. ¹² In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. ¹³ And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” ¹⁴ But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”

You may think that you have had confusing dreams before, but I can assure you that none of your dreams have confused you the way that Peter’s vision confused him.  He sees a sheet lowering, and on that sheet are animals that no pious Jew would dare eat for they were forbidden, unclean foods.  In and of itself, the unclean animals on the sheet are merely disturbing and grotesque.  What makes this utterly confounding are God’s instructions:  “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”  In Peter’s mind, he cannot kill these animals because he could not even touch them!  But the thought of eating them was outright repellant to him.  We can see this in his reaction:  “By no means, Lord!”

Poor Peter, in a state of confused piety, tells God no on the basis that God did not want him to do what God had just then commanded him to do!  What a predicament!  We dare not judge Peter too harshly.  After all, how was this man who was raised as a Jew to all of a sudden think differently about an issue as fundamental as dietary laws and keeping kosher?  If the Jews knew anything they knew that the physical sign of covenant membership was circumcision and one of the critical ongoing physical acts of obedience and belonging was keeping kosher and steering clear of forbidden foods.

Philip Yancey once tried to imagine a situation in our day that would rival the shock and outrage Peter must have felt at the divine instruction to kill and eat.  What he came up with was the thought of a fully stocked bar being lowered at a Southern Baptist Convention gathering in Texas along with instructions that everybody was to come up to the bar and get a drink!  That is a scandalous thought indeed, but even that pales in comparison to what Peter felt here.

God’s response to Peter’s outrage was crucial to Peter’s spiritual growth and willingness to take the gospel to the nations.

¹⁵ And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” ¹⁶ This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

Behold the beauty of the gospel:  “What God has made clean, do not call common.”  Now we begin to understand:  this vision is not even primarily about food, it is about people.  Peter will soon make this connection.

¹⁷ Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate ¹⁸ and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. ¹⁹ And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. ²⁰ Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” ²¹ And Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?” ²² And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” ²³ So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.

Here the truth begins to dawn on Peter through the association of two unlikely events:  the unclean food lowered before him and an invitation from an unclean people standing before him.  God is showing Peter that these people should not be considered unclean and should not be rejected.  They are now welcomed in, and he, Peter, will be the initial human instrument through which God welcomes them.

How much Peter understood at this point is hard to guess, but clearly the truth of the matter was beginning to dawn on him.  We know this because he receives the servants and the soldier sent by Cornelius and agrees to go with them.  Peter’s going with the messengers represents an epic movement of the Jews and Gentiles toward one another through the new reality that Christ was making.  Erasmus beautifully put it this way:  Cornelius had “a glowing eagerness for the grace of the gospel” and Peter had “an alacrity and promptitude” as he “thirsted for the salvation of all races.”[2]

In the verses to follow we will see the exact content of Peter’s conversation with Cornelius and those within his house, but for our purposes at this point it is enough to note that the world-altering power of the gospel needed first to be acknowledged and released within the Church before it could be embraced by the world.  God’s setting of the stage for this was amazing.  He moved one who was outside further in.  He compelled one who was inside to reach out.  So it ever must be with the Church.

The Southern Baptist Convention was founded in 1845 at least in part to allow slave holding Baptists in the South to uphold the astounding notion that there was no fundamental disconnect between owning an African slave as property while simultaneously sending Christian missionaries to Africa to preach the gospel.  This was an absurd idea, of course, and one that the Southern Baptist Convention has since formally acknowledged as wrong.  Even so, it is sobering for us to realize that in our own history we have struggled to live out and embrace the full, radical implications of the gospel.  We too have had to grow up and realize what it means for our view of God and man that Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead.

Indeed, it would seem that every group, every race, every people has another group, race, or people that they struggle to see as fully equal to themselves, as deserving of their sincerest efforts to bring into the family of God as co-heirs with Christ.  The Church began with this struggle and it has continued with this struggle.  But it is a struggle we must not abandoned.  We dare not call common or unclean what God in Christ has called clean.  We dare not treat as less than brothers and sisters those who, through Christ’s blood, are or can be our brothers and sisters!

In her book Out of the Saltshaker and Into the World, Rebecca Pippert shares a story that helpfully illustrates how one church had to likewise grow up in this area.

When I first came to Portland, Oregon, I met a student on one of the campuses where I worked. He was brilliant and looked like he was always pondering the esoteric. His hair was always mussy, and in the entire time I knew him, I never once saw him wear a pair of shoes. Rain, sleet or snow, Bill was always barefoot. While he was attending college, he had become a Christian.

At this time a well-dressed, middle-class church across the street from the campus wanted to develop more of a ministry to the students. They were not sure how to go about it, but they tried to make them feel welcome. One day Bill decided to worship there. He walked into this church, wearing his blue jeans, T-shirt and of course no shoes. People looked a bit uncomfortable, but no one said anything. So Bill began walking down the aisle looking for a seat. The church was quite crowded that Sunday, so as he got down to the front pew and realized that there were no seats, he just squatted on the carpet–perfectly acceptable behavior at a college fellowship, but perhaps unnerving for a church congregation. The tension in the air became so thick one could slice it.

Suddenly an elderly man began walking down the aisle toward the boy. Was he going to scold Bill? My friends who saw him approaching said they thought, you can’t blame him. He’d never guess Bill is a Christian. And his world is too distant from Bill’s to understand. You can’t blame him for what he’s going to do.

As the man kept walking slowly down the aisle, the church became utterly silent, all eyes were focused on him, you could not hear anyone breathe. When the man reached Bill, with some difficulty he lowered himself and sat down next to him on the carpet. He and Bill worshiped together on the floor that Sunday. I was told there was not a dry eye in the congregation.

The irony is that probably the only one who failed to see how great the giving had been that Sunday was Bill. But grace is always that way. It gives without the receiver realizing how great the gift really is.

As this man walked alongside of his brother and loved him with all that he had received from Christ’s love, so must we. This man was the good Samaritan. He made Bill feel welcome, feel as if he had a home. So he also knew the secret of the parable of the prodigal son: there finally is a homecoming, because we really have a home to come to.[3]

There it is!  The welcoming hand of the gospel extended to one who previously a church might have looked at askance or with a dismissive air.  May we become this kind of people!  May we love as Christ loves.

I heard of Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel, Saint Francis, through Cook and Herzman’s course on Francis in the “Great Courses” series.  I was surprised to learn about this book.  Kazantzakis is the author of The Last Temptation of Christ and is considered to be theologically heterodox.  Thus, I approached the novel with a certain degree of skepticism.

I was not only pleasantly surprised by the novel but also deeply moved.  (I was initially comforted, I should point out, by the fact that John Michael Talbot wrote the Foreword for the edition I read.)  Kazantzakis’ portrait of Francis is profoundly respectful, admiring, and inspirational.  While he obviously takes artistic liberties here and there, I was surprised by how closely the novel actually follows the events of Francis life.  In fact, with proper caveats and cautions issued beforehand, this would not be a bad place for a person to start in their journey of learning about Francis.  The book would obviously need to be followed by good histories of Francis’ life, but the tenor and spirit of this novel are both in harmony with Francis’ actual life.

It is a long novel, and, at times, somewhat slow.  Even so, the overall impression of this reader anyway is that Kazantzakis did his homework and crafted a truly admirable work of art in this novel.  Kazantzakis’ imagination does not run so wild that Francis is lost in the telling.  The conversations and specific scenarios that he imagines and depicts fit nicely into what we know of Francis.  Some of the theological pronouncements that Kazantzakis imagines Francis saying are eyebrow raising, and a few I personally have a hard time thinking of Francis saying, but, taken as a whole, Kazantzakis gets very close to the right theological tone as well.

Francis of Assisi lends himself well to fictional depictions.  So many fascinating things happened in his life, and there are so many intriguing lacunae in his story that artists have repeatedly been tempted to imagine what he would have done and said in this or that situation.  Among these efforts, Kazantzakis’ stands strong as an exemplary example.

A great read!  Highly recommended.

Acts 6:8-15

⁸ And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹ Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. ¹¹ Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹² And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, ¹³ and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, ¹⁴ for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” ¹⁵ And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Jacob Silverman has written an article for the website www.howstuffoworks.com entitled, “Why do old couples look alike?”  It is a fascinating piece exploring the commonly held belief that the longer people are married the more they actually look alike.  Silverman cites some interesting studies showing that there may just be something to this notion.

A study published in the March 2006 issue of “Personality and Individual Differences” may have the answer. Twenty-two people, divided equally between male and female, participated in the study. They were asked to judge the looks, personalities and ages of 160 married couples. The participants viewed photographs of men and women separately and were not told who was married to whom. The subjects consistently judged people who were married as being similar in appearance and personality. The researchers also found that couples who had been together longer appeared more similar.

The article then goes on to offer some reasons why couples who are married a long time begin to look alike.  They note that “life experiences can end up being reflected physically,” so, for instance, a happy couple that smiles a lot “will develop the facial muscles and wrinkles related to smiling.”  Thus, “years of experience of an old couple’s marriage, happy or otherwise, would then be reflected in their faces.”

Furthermore, studies suggest that people tend to be drawn toward people who are genetically similar.  Silverman points to “a researcher at the University of Western Ontario [who] determined that when considering friends or romantic partners, a similar genetic profile made up about a third of the selection criteria.”  Not too similar, mind you, but similar nonetheless.  Genetically similar people appear to have healthier, happier, longer marriages.

There is also the dynamic of girls who tend to marry men who remind them in some ways of their fathers.  Silverman explains:

A study involving researchers from several universities showed that women prefer men who look like their fathers. Even women who were adopted seem to share the same predilection. Tamas Bereczkei, a researcher at Hungary’s University of Pecs who was involved in the study, called the process sexual imprinting. Women use their fathers as models by which they judge their prospective mates.

The study also found that a close father-daughter relationship more often resulted in a woman marrying someone who looked like her father. Again, the notion of imprinting arises as these fathers, by forming close emotional bonds with their daughters, seemed to provide a model of what a husband should be.[1]

That is really all quite fascinating, and there is no doubt something to it.  People who are married a long time really do start looking alike.  But if the evidence in the article is true, that phenomenon is really attributable to the fact that people who are predisposed genetically to look a certain way are drawn to one another in the first place.

But what about people who are not predisposed to look alike?  Our passage tells us about a relationship in which two people started looking alike who were not predisposed to do so.  In fact, one person was predisposed to look like the exact opposite of the Other, but, eventually, he came to look more and more like the Other.  This was not, like the relationships in the article, a romantic relationship or an earthly marriage.  Instead, it was a unique relationship built on a love that could only come from God.

I am talking about Stephen and Jesus.  I truly mean that.  When one reads the story of Stephen in the book of Acts, one cannot help but be struck by how much Stephen, by nature a rebel against God, came to look and sound more and more like Jesus the longer they knew each other.  This is especially evident in the events leading up to Stephen’s martyrdom, and it is to this series of events that we now turn our attention.

As we begin our introduction of Stephen, I would like us to consider him as a champion for Christ.  Truly he was.  His boldness, his courage, and his commitment all marked him as such.  This is why the Church still honors him today, two thousand years after the events about which we are about to read.

How was Stephen a champion for Christ?  What does a champion for Christ look like?

A Champion for Christ is One Whose Life Attracts the Attention of the Devil

Stephen was a man yielded to God who did great things.

⁸ And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹ Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.

The “then” at the beginning of verse 9 is a most telling “then.”  It connects the thoughts of verses 8 and 9.  Stephen is being used mightily by God, then…  Stephen is full of grace and power, then…

Then what?  Then opposition comes.  Then persecution comes.  From whom?  From “some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia.”  These who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedman were Jews who had earlier been deported and enslaved, most likely by the Romans, and later freed.  Thus, they were Freedman.  You will also notice that the synagogue or synagogues mentioned (it is unclear if there was only one actual synagogue for all the groups mentioned or if each group had a synagogue) were Hellenistic synagogues.  This means that Stephen, a Hellenist Jew, was being opposed by other Hellenist Jews.

In mentioning the synagogue for those from Cilicia, F.F. Bruce interestingly points out “the possibility that this was the synagogue attended by Saul, otherwise called Paul, whose native Tarsus was the principle city of Cilicia.”  He admits we cannot know if this is so because Paul, “‘a Hebrews born of Hebrews’…might have preferred to attend a synagogue where the service was conducted in Hebrew.”[2]

That is a most intriguing thought, and we know that Paul presided over Stephen’s stoning.  Regardless of whether or not there was a Cilician synagogue in which Paul was a member, a band of opponents rise up against Stephen.

There is an obvious point here, and a crucial one:  a life lived for Christ is a life that attracts the attention of the devil.  Follow Jesus and you will have your own “then,” just like Stephen did.

Be a bold witness for Christ, then the devil will try to silence you.

Be an example of Christian obedience, then the devil will try to lure you into sin.

Be a student of the Bible, then the devil will try to distract you.

Be willing to stand against the culture, then the devil will seek to get you to conform.’

A champion for Christ is one whose life attracts the attention of the devil.

A Champion for Christ is One Who Clearly Advances the Gospel With Sound and Irrefutable Words

Men rise up against Stephen and, the scriptures tell us, they “disputed” with him.  That is, they tried to argue Stephen down.

¹⁰ But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

Stephen, as we will see when we look at his amazing sermon in Acts 7, knew the scriptures well and was more than capable of standing against this crowd.  To anybody watching this scene, this looked like many against one. But it was not.  Stephen stood with the Lord.  Stephen stood with the truth.  He could not be so easily defeated.

Furthermore, Stephen went on the offensive.  He proclaimed the truth against the lies of his opponents, and “they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.”  He did not speak his words.  He spoke the words of the Spirit.  He was bold, a man mighty in the scriptures, a man who know the truth well.

One cannot help but wonder how many of us today could stand against an angry man and proclaim Christ in such a way that out enemies were confounded?  I will remind you that Stephen was not a seminary graduate.  He did not have a PhD.  He was not even an Apostle.  Who was he?  He was a man whose mind and heart and tongue had been touched with holy fire.  He was a student of the Bible and of divine truth.  He was a follower of Jesus, a passionate follower.

One of the great tragedies in our day is the number of men who are not so mighty in the scriptures, who are not so passionate in their discipleship, who do not so resolutely yield to their King.  One wonders at the phenomenon of men who can name every player on the Arkansas Razorback’s roster but cannot name the books of the Bible in order.  One wonders at the phenomenon of men who profess to be followers of Jesus who are so lax in their devotion, so distracted in their discipleship, so tepid in their witness, and so waning in their courage that they could not even begin to repeat what Stephen has done here.

If you were challenged like this, what would you do?  Call the preacher?  Stephen did not call a preacher.  Ask for more time?  Stephen did not ask for more time.  Hem and haw and mumble your way through a half-hearted confession of faith along the lines of, “Well, this is just what I believe”?  Stephen would not have dreamed of doing such a thing.

No!  Stephen was a man of God and he would not be bullied by the devil or his minions.  So Stephen stood like a lion surrounded by wolves and he spoke!  And as he spoke in the power of the Spirit his critics were dumfounded and frustrated.  William Larkin insightfully says of this, “Stephen has conquered their minds.  But God has not chosen through this witness to also conquer his opponents’ wills and lead them to repentance and conversion.”[3]

That is true.  They do not repent.  Far from it.  But they do hear and know that here is a champion of God whose words were irrefutable.

A Champion for Christ is One Against Whom the Devil Must Hatch Schemes and Plot Lies

Unable to thwart Stephen in a frontal assault, the devil had to resort to subterfuge.

¹¹ Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹² And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, ¹³ and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, ¹⁴ for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”

Is this not just like the devil?  He is resolute in his desire to steal, kill, and destroy.  So he leads these men to lie about Stephen in an effort to discredit him.  “Thwarted in open debate,” writes John Stott, “Stephen’s opponents started a smear campaign against him, for when arguments fail, mud has often seemed an excellent substitute.”[4]

A champion of Christ is one about whom the devil must hatch schemes and plot lies.  This is a compliment to Stephen.  Too often, though, this is shameful for us.  Why?  Because too often we are so easily refuted that the devil does not even have to resort to “plan B” to get us to stumble!  We make it so easy for the devil that he does not even have to get creative with us!

They lie about Stephen.  There is a kernel of truth in their lies.  This is how lies often work.  Stephen, of course, did not blaspheme, but he did indeed proclaim that Christ had fulfilled the Law.  He did indeed repeat Christ’s words about the temple being torn down, but these were words about the resurrection of Christ, not armed revolt as Stephen’s enemies made them sound.  He was repeating Jesus’ words from John 2.

¹⁸ So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰ The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But he was speaking about the temple of his body. ²² When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Stephen simply preached Christ, and the angry mob twisted his words, making them sound sinister and ungodly.  The irony is that in so doing they were the ones who were blaspheming.  They were the ones who were lying.

Regardless, they had to get creative.  They could not best Stephen in an open conflict.  They could not best Stephen man-to-man.  They had to lie about him to the Sanhedrin in an effort to have him silenced.

I am reminded of an episode from the life of Billy Graham.  Billy Graham has never fallen in moral scandal.  He is not a perfect man, but he has stayed true to his wife and true to his calling.  As a result, those who would like to silence Billy Graham have had to become creative over the years.  Once, when Billy Graham was preaching to a crowd on an outdoor platform, one of his critics hired a scantily clad showgirl to hop up on the stage and wrap her arms around Billy.  Then, a photographer who was planted in the audience was ready to take the picture and use it to discredit him.  However, when Billy saw the showgirl coming, he quickly stopped his sermon, lept from the stage, and ran as fast as he could away from the scene!

Even here the devil could not destroy his ministry!  But he tried.  He got creative.  He had to create false impressions since he could not best Billy in the usual ways.

Live in such a way that the devil has to get creative in his efforts to destroy you.

A Champion for Christ is One Who Reflects the Glory of God

A champion for Christ is also one who reflects the Glory of God.  We have mentioned how Stephen looked more and more like Jesus.  Here is one of the episodes where we see this clearly.

¹⁵ And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

They looked at Stephen, and they saw the glory of God reflected in his face.  “His face was like the face of an angel.”  Stephen was acting in an angelic way in his faithfulness as a messenger.  Now his countenance began to reflect that fact.

R.C. Sproul has referenced some interesting words from Jean-Paul Sartre about the nature of staring at people.

            The French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre described the destructive effects of becoming the object of people’s stares.  In polite society, there is only so long we can maintain eye contact with someone before making him or her uncomfortable.  When we see someone walking down the street and our eyes meet briefly, we say hello and then look away.  People stare at paintings in art museums or at animals in zoos, but if we stare too long at a human being, we are likely to get a hostile reaction because, Sartre said, staring at others reduces them to the status of objects.[5]

Is this not true?  A belligerent stare can start a fracas.  An overly long stare can lead to sin.  An intense stare can create great discomfort.  That is so true.  There is an etiquette to staring in polite society, an unspoken rule about how long we may do so and what the nature of a stare should be.

The Sanhedrin offered warlike stares, but what they saw in return must have been disconcerting.  They did not see a wallflower shrinking in insecurity.  They did not see eyes of hatred returning evil for evil.  They did not see a look of fear cowering and trembling.  Instead, they saw the face of an angel looking back with that godly confidence that only one at peace with his Maker can have.

But there is something else here.  Do you remember when they accused Stephen of blaspheming against Moses and against God?  That is telling, when we read this passage about Stephen’s face.  Why?  Because in Exodus 34 we read this about Moses:

²⁹ When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. ³⁰ Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.

And in Matthew 17 we read this about Jesus:

¹ And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. ² And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

How amazing!  How beautiful!  Stephen is not blaspheming against Moses and against God.  Rather, he is at peace with both.  Moses’ face shone with the glory of God.  Jesus’ face shone with the glory of the Father.  And now Stephen’s face looks like the face of an angel!

Stephen has become so like his Savior that he is given the honor of reflecting the glory in his very face, just as Moses did!  Stephen is a champion for Christ, a hero in the Kingdom of God!  May we see his example and be encouraged.

There are no ordinary followers of Jesus.

We can all be champions for our King!

I had never heard of the film, “The Island,” until my father emailed me this morning about it.  It is a Russian movie about a man plagued by guilt over his own sins who flees to a small monastery.  As he lives there grappling with his own need for forgiveness (frequently reciting the Jesus Prayer, for instance), he becomes an eccentric ascetic of undeniable spiritual power.

The movie deals with fundamental spiritual themes:  sin, guilt, forgiveness, peace, and grace.  I was thrilled to see that the entire movie is on YouTube.  It is in Russian with English subtitles.  A strangely powerful, moving, thought-provoking film.  Well worth watching!  Here it is:

Acts 6:1-7

¹ Now in these days when th  e disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. ² And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. ³ Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. ⁴ But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” ⁵ And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. ⁶ These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. ⁷ And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

R. Kent Hughes has told one of the most heartbreaking stories I think I have ever heard about church conflict.

            When a certain Dallas church decided to split, each faction filed a lawsuit to claim the church property.  A judge finally referred the matter to the higher authorities in the particular denomination.  A church court assembled to hear both sides of the case and awarded the church property to one of the two factions.  The losers withdrew and formed another church in the area.

            During the hearing, the church courts learned that the conflict had all begun at a church dinner when a certain elder received a smaller slice of ham than a child seated next to him.  Sadly, this was reported in the newspapers for everyone to read.  Just imagine how the people of Dallas laughed about that situation![1]

I also have in my files an Associated Press article about a conflict in a church in Spartanburg, SC, that ended up before a judge some years ago.  His response to the case was most interesting.

Magistrate tells church, pastor to settle their own dispute

The Associated Press

Spartanburg, [SC] – A magistrate told church members and the pastor they are trying to fire that he may not have the authority to settle their months long dispute and urged them to resolve their differences out of court.

The dispute involves Foster Chapel Baptist Church and its efforts to oust its pastor, the Rev. Douglas E. Dennis.  On several occasions, the church has voted to fire Dennis, but he has refused to stop representing himself as pastor or to leave the parsonage.

On Thursday, Magistrate Robert Hall told about 60 church members crowded into a Spartanburg County courtroom for Dennis’ eviction hearing that they need to settle the issue themselves.

“I’m asking you as a judge, and maybe I shouldn’t, but I’m asking you as a Christian, to resolve this matter,” Hall told the crowd, which included Dennis’ supporters and church supporters…

Dennis refused to comment on whether he things the dispute is resolvable.  “I’ll be back in the pulpit on Sunday.  That’s all I can say.” he said.[2]

When cannot help but be struck by this image:  a judge pleading as a Christian with a church to please resolve their conflicts like Christians without the involvement of the court.  Implicit in his plea were the ideas (a) that the Church should resolve its own conflicts and (b) that the Church actually can resolve its own conflicts.

Both of these ideas are true, as the Church’s example in Acts 6 makes clear.

Conflict In the Church is Inevitable

Having overcome the first bouts of persecution as well as an egregious attempt on the parts of two members to live deceptively in the midst of the Church (Ananias and Sapphira), the body of believers now must cross the bridge of conflict.

¹ Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

“A complaint…arose.”  That is saying a lot by saying a little.  For our purposes, let us not miss the obvious point:  conflict in the Church is inevitable.  It will happen.

Everything is going well.  The Church is growing.  The Church has successfully cleared some dangerous hurdles.  Then conflict comes.  It always comes.  Why?  Because the Church consists of human beings trying to do life together in the Lord.  As human beings, we conflict.

What was the nature of the conflict?  Well, the immediate cause was the fact that a group within the church, the Hellenists, felt that another group, the Hebrews, were receiving preferential treatment.  Before we consider the specific complaint, let us understand these terms:  Hellenists and Hebrews.

At this point in the life of the Church, centered in Jerusalem, we are not yet dealing with Gentile converts.  We are dealing with Jews who had embraced Jesus.  And in the Church there were two general categories of Jews.  There were the Hebrew Jews.  These were the Jews who were from the area of Palestine and who spoke Aramaic and Hebrew.  The other Jews were Hellenists.  This likely means that they were Jews from the Diaspora, that is, the scattering across the nations of the Jews from earlier years and persecutions and exiles.  What likely happened here is that many Jews who had been scattered over other lands decided, perhaps in their waning years, to return to the promised land.  Perhaps there were nostalgic reasons for this.  Perhaps there were spiritual reasons for it.  Perhaps they simply wanted to be buried in the land of their fathers.  Regardless, they came home.  They were called Hellenists because they had lived so long outside of Palestine that they had, to a certain extent, been Hellenized.  Hellenization refers to the historical phenomenon of the spread of Greek culture throughout the world through the conquests and intentional Hellenizing efforts of Alexander the Great.  Thus, these Hellenist Jews spoke Greek.

You can imagine how the Hebrew Jews thought of themselves as purer and truer Jews than the Hellenist Jews who spoke this foreign language of the pagans.  But here is the rub:  in the Church Hebrew Jews and Hellenist Jews had both come to know Jesus, had both been born again, and had both been brought into the Church.  So what you have in the early Church are tensions between these differing groups of Jewish converts.

It is not surprising, then, that the Hellenist Jews, those from “the outside,” would be the ones who felt slighted.  Slighted how?  Interestingly enough, they felt slighted about food.  Hear Luke’s description again.

¹ Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

Do you see?  The Hellenist Jewish converts felt that their widows, the Hellenist widows, were not being properly cared and provided for when the food was distributed to help the widows and the poor every day.  They felt that the Hebrew widows were receiving disproportionately more food than the Hellenist widows.  And this, of course, was seen to be unfair.

What was this daily distribution of food?  It was likely a hold over from the synagogue practice of the Jews.  William Barclay explains:

In the Synagogue there was a routine custom.  There were officials who were known as receivers of alms.  Two collectors went round the market and round the private houses every Friday morning and made a collection partly in money and partly in goods for the needy.  Later in the day this was distributed.  Those who were temporarily in need received enough to enable them to carry on; and those who were permanently unable to support themselves received enough for fourteen meals, that is enough for two meals a day for the ensuing week.  The fund from which this distribution was made was called the Kuppah or Basket.  In addition to this there was a house-to-house collection made daily for those in pressing need.  This was called the Tamhui, or Tray.  It is clear that the Christian Church had very wisely taken over this custom.[3]

So these Jews would have been familiar with the people of God providing for the daily needs of those who could not feed themselves.  Remember, though, that these Jews who embraced Jesus would have been cast out of the synagogues and removed from the benevolence lists.  Even so, the Church now saw it as their responsibility to care for those in need, so they picked up the practice of the Kuppah and the Tamhui and carried it on, this time with the loving words of Jesus ringing in their ears.

Even with these kindly benevolent intentions, complaints arose.  I repeat:  conflict is inevitable.  The question is not, “Will the Church face conflict?”  The question is, “How will the Church respond when it faces conflict?”

It is a question the early Church had to ask themselves.  It is a question we must ask ourselves as well.  Fortunately, we have a beautiful example of conflict rightly handled and responded to in our text this morning.

Resolution Of Conflict Comes When People Who Are Looking at the Bigger Picture of the Church’s Mission Help Those Caught in the Smaller Picture of the Conflict to Resolve it for the Good of All

The apostles learn of this conflict.  It finally reaches their ears.  “Some folks are unhappy,” they are told.  Their response is most interesting.  Listen closely.

² And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. ³ Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. ⁴ But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” ⁵ And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. ⁶ These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

What immediately jumps out is the fact that the twelve felt that the Church was capable of solving its conflicts.  “We can fix this!” they seem to be saying.  Tellingly, they gathered “the full number of the disciples” to address this issue.  Conflict is always a Church issue because conflict always has the potential to spill over into the Church at large.

Writing in the 16^th century, the German Lutheran Johann Spangenberg perhaps unfairly saw in the original complaint of these Hellenists “no little grumbling, but rather a poisonous rage, a barbed cursing and berating against the deep apostles.”  I say this is perhaps unfair because there is no evidence that the complaint came from any kind of demonic rage or that it was unjust.  It appears rather to have been precisely the kind of conflict that arises when Christians try to do life together.  Spangenberg went on to point out that there would have been no conflict in the early Church had God “punished such grumblers a he punished the children of Israel with fiery and poisonous snakes in the wilderness…or as Ananias and Sapphira died a sudden death.  But,” he observed, “God now prefers to use his lovingkindness rather than his wrath.”[4]

That is a jarring but very true observation.  God could have just struck everybody dead like he did Ananias and Sapphire.  But, of course, he does not do this.  What is happening here is very different from what was happening with Ananias and Sapphire.  Here we find normal conflict.  With Ananias and Sapphira we found intentional deceitfulness.  But Spangenberg’s point is a good one.  God does not allow us to to do an end run around conflict resolution by His simply killing people who are in conflict.  No, the Church must learn to live together.  The Church must learn how to get along.  The Lord knew that the Church needed to cross this bridge sooner rather than later since conflict is an inevitable part of the Church’s shared life.

When we look at the Apostles’ instructions on how this conflict was to be resolved, we discover a crucial truth:  resolution of conflict comes when people who are looking at the bigger picture of the church’s mission help those caught in the smaller picture of the conflict to resolve it for the good of all.

Let us take a moment and think through how conflict happens in a Church.  Start at the beginning.  The Lord establishes a church and gives it a mission.

This mission is unchanging and we have seen it amply illustrated here in the first chapters of Acts.  The mission of the Church is to bear witness to the resurrected Christ in word and deed and reflect His presence among His people.

Then, into this Church with a mission, God draws people.

People come in.  He grows His Church.  And, perhaps for a while, the people who make up the Church are united around God’s mission and God’s purpose.  God’s mission for the Church emboldens followers of Jesus to attempt great things for the Kingdom of God.

However, inevitably, people being people, something unfortunate happens along the way:  two people within the church conflict.

Who knows why?  It could be for an important reason.  It could be for a petty reason.  It could have to do with present perceived wrongs.  It could have to do with past perceived wrongs.  It may arise from personality conflicts.  It may arise from words carelessly or deliberately spoken.  It may arise just from two people who rub each other the wrong way, who irritate each other, perhaps, whose personality differences finally bubble over in conflict.

So two people enter into their own personal arena of conflict within the Church.  The longer they do this, the more they begin to drift from God’s mission for the Church because the longer they dwell in the arena of conflict the bigger it gets.  And do you know how it gets bigger?  It gets bigger through recruitment.  Yes, recruitment.

When human beings conflict, they naturally and instinctively want to bolster the solidity and assumed righteousness of their own positions by bringing others into the sphere of conflict, but on their side.  So they recruit.  They recruit by reaching out to others, initially those in their own circle of friends, telling them their particular version of the conflict, playing up the perceived faults of the other and downplaying any possible faults in themselves in the process.  People recruit in conflicts by offering narratives of the situation that their friends, already predisposed to believe and defend them, will find reasonable.

What is significant here is that both people are doing this.  Both people are telling their friends their versions of the story.  Now, some of these other folks will politely listen, offer words of encouragement, but refuse to enter into the sphere of conflict.  Maybe this is because they are smart enough to know that there is always another side.  Maybe this is because, even though they love the friend who has reached out to them with their version of the story of the conflict, they know their friend has weaknesses, they know their friend may actually be wrong in this situation.  Who knows?

Regardless, human nature being what it is, there are lots of folks who will enter into the conflict.

They will enter in the background, ideally, as gossip partners or verbal instigators, a cheering section, if you will. After a season of recruiting, the two people have effectively built networks of mutual affirmation for their respective versions of what is happening in the conflict.  And, of course, in any person’s version of a conflict, they are right and the other is a blithering idiot who may just be evil.  Now, this is potentially dangerous.  In fact, church splits occur when the respective networks on either side of a conflict grow so large that they divide the Church.

But here is the thing, it is not the mere forming of sides, even large sides, that ultimately split churches.  It is the increasing diminishment of the central divine mission of the Church that occurs when the localized mission of the opponents grows larger and larger that ultimately splits the Church.  Put another way, as the goal of winning the conflict grows larger, God’s goal for the Church, His mission for the Church to be a proclaiming, witness-bearing, Christ-demonstrating body grows smaller.  The mission of God for the Church becomes effectively eclipsed by the mission of those in the conflict to win.

How, then, is conflict resolved?  I repeat:  resolution of conflict comes when people who are looking at the bigger picture of the church’s mission help those caught in the smaller picture of the conflict to resolve it for the good of all.  Resolution comes when mature Christians who have not lost sight of the central mission of the Church call those embroiled in conflict to put their smaller mission of conflict-victory alongside the larger God-given mission of witness bearing so that they can see how very small and, at times, how very petty the conflict and the individual agendas that comprise that conflict really are.

What does this look like?  It looks like this:  “Hey man, can we talk for a minute?  Listen, I know that the two of you are at odds, have gotten your wires crossed, and are in conflict.  I don’t know who’s right and who’s wrong.  My guess is, you probably both are partially right and partially wrong.  That’s how these things usually are.  But as your friend, can I ask you to do something for me and for the Church at large?  Can I ask you to remember who we are and what we’re here for?  I’m afraid that this whole situation has become so big and so deep and so ugly that you guys are forgetting that people around us are lost and going to hell and they need a Church that is united in the gospel and speaking together.  Can I just say to you that whatever you stand to gain in this conflict if you win does not come close to matching what we are all going to lose if this thing isn’t resolved, and resolved quickly?  So please, take a moment and think about this.  God is wanting to do something here.  God is wanting us to do something here.  This conflict, no matter how legitimate the concerns that lie behind it might be, really does threaten the entire body.  Let’s all humble ourselves, apologize, forgive, and come back together around Christ.”

Please note that what I am calling for here is not a burying of the problem without resolution.  In fact, in our text this morning, they did take practical, wise steps based on solid judgment and wisdom to resolve the problem.  No, what I’m calling for here is for all of us to allow the greater mission to which we have been called to help us keep our smaller issues and conflicts in perspective.  This approach will call us to humility, a hesitancy to recruit others to our cause (because we will not want to spread the conflict), and a desire to resolve the issue quickly.

I would propose to you that we see precisely this in our text this morning.  Listen again.

² And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. ³ Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. ⁴ But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” ⁵ And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. ⁶ These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

Now notice a few important things:

• The Apostles clearly saw the potential for specific conflicts within the Church to affect adversely the entire Church.  Thus, verse 2, they “summoned the full number of the disciples.”

• The first thing they did was put the localized conflict beside the God-ordained mission of the Church to create perspective.  Thus, verse 2b, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God [i.e., the mission of the Church] to serve tables [i.e., the arena of the specific conflict].”

• They then called upon the entire Church to be part of the solution.  Thus, verse 3, “Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.”

• They offered wise, practical steps for conflict resolution, which the Church embraced.  Thus in verse 5 we see the seven men mentioned.  Interestingly, all of them have Greek, Hellenistic names.   Do you see the wisdom of this?  They appointed people from the offended party and gave them leadership, thereby bringing them into leadership and responsibility bearing and communicating to the Hebrew believers that these Hellenist believers were indeed full, equal members of the Church.

What a wise, careful, beautiful example of conflict resolution!

A Church That Commits Itself to Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution is a Blessed and Healthy Church

And what is the result of a Church committing itself to peacemaking and conflict resolution?

⁷ And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Brothers, sisters:  peace is a choice.

Peace is a choice.  And it is a choice that pays great dividends.  The Church embraced an intentional process of peace and “the word of God continued to increase,” and they grew, and even “a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.”  This is what happens when a Church resolves conflict and when individual believers resolve conflicts rightly.

The Apostles and the early believers have shown us how to resolve conflicts and maintain peace.  I would submit to you that conflict can only grow unchecked if we refuse to follow their lead.

The Body of Christ is crucial to the advancement of the Kingdom of God in the world.  This is why Christ created a Church.  We are the stewards and heralds of the amazing truth that the Jesus who was crucified and buried is now alive.

Do not…do not…allow unresolved conflicts, hurt feelings, disgruntled attitudes, and a refusal to embrace intentional peacemaking with others and ourselves derail the grand adventure to which we have been called!

Brad Gooch’s Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor is a very good, very strong consideration of one of the more fascinating, complex, and intriguing figures in American literature.  Gooch’s biography is fairly straight-forward in telling O’Connor’s story, but where it shines is in the engaging way it tells the story and the attention-grabbing details Gooch offers along the way.

Gooch presents us with an O’Connor that is deeply committed to her Catholic faith, intellectually rigorous, strident and meticulous in the crafting of her stories, and gloriously opinionated and feisty.  His image of her emotional life is compelling, with the passing of her father and her battle with lupus being the major struggles of her all-too-brief life.  She spoke intimately of the former with very few people, and did not care to have the latter broadcast and speculated upon beyond that which she herself was willing to share.

One need not even know the actual details of her often tense relationship with her mother, Regina, to surmise from her frequent use of the type of the exasperated Southern woman in her stories that she had ample experience with just this kind of character.  Indeed, O’Connor based her female characters on more than a few women in her family, but Regina appears time and again in the tales.  The two women could not have been more different (except for their shared devotion to the Catholic Church), and their relationship at Andalusia appears to have progressed primarily as a result of Flannery’s forbearance and careful avoidance of her mother’s excesses.  Regina also knew to give her precocious daughter the space she needed to create.

Gooch does a great job of showing how much O’Connor appreciated friends and community, and this biography should forever dispel the image of O’Connor as a recluse.  In fact, she had numerous friends with whom she maintained strong relationships, oftentimes primarily through letters as her health declined.  She knew what it was to be in love and to have her heart broken.  It is regrettable that she never knew requited romantic love.  On two occasions, women professed to being in love with Flannery.  One professed it to Flannery and the other professed it to others, being too afraid to tell Flannery.  Regardless, she was staunchly orthodox in her views of human sexuality and communicated this fact more than once.

Gooch does a phenomenal job setting O’Connor’s stories in the realities she was facing at different moments of her life.  He shines especially in showing where certain details of her stories arose from and in pointing out the many inside jokes she built into her stories.  Also, Gooch’s depiction of the scandal that O’Connor’s stories frequently caused in and around Milledgeville, GA, and among her relations was illuminating and frequently humorous.

This is a great work and effectively draw the reader emotionally into the story of O’Connor’s life.  Highly recommended!

Acts 5:17-42

¹⁷ But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy ¹⁸ they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. ¹⁹ But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ²⁰ “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” ²¹ And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. ²² But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, ²³ “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” ²⁴ Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. ²⁵ And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” ²⁶ Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. ²⁷ And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, ²⁸ saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” ²⁹ But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. ³⁰ The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. ³¹ God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. ³² And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” ³³ When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. ³⁴ But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. ³⁵ And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. ³⁶ For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. ³⁷ After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. ³⁸ So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; ³⁹ but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, ⁴⁰ and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. ⁴¹ Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. ⁴² And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

The story of the Church in Acts has taken some fascinating, unexpected and, at times, frightening turns.  In the latter half of Acts 5, the story continues with, we might say, three characters moving front and center:  God, the world, and the Church.  I hesitate to call God a character in the story for obvious reasons:  He is God.  He is above all characters and above the story.  He is writing the story.  Yet He, in Christ, and even in His Church, has entered the story and is working in powerful ways.  He was working in the story of the first century Church and He is working in the story of the twenty-first century Church as well.

Let us consider this text with a story approach, paying attention to the actions of each of the characters.  Taking this approach, we will be looking at the sections of the text that pertain to each instead of working through it in the exact order presented.

God:  Protection and Commission

We see the actions of God in the words of a deliverer who rescues the apostles after they are thrown in prison for preaching the gospel.

¹⁹ But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ²⁰ “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”

In verses 19 and 20 we see the two divine actions at this juncture in the tale:  protection and commission.  God protects His Church by delivering the apostles from prison.  How many apostles were imprisoned we do not know, but this appears to be a larger group than simply Peter and John.  They had been charged to stop preaching and, of course, they refused, saying that they could not disobey God for fear of man.  Their preaching was so effective and bold, and God used it so mightily, that the Church continued to grow at a rate that was alarming to the religious authorities.  Thus, they were incarcerated.

We have spoken before of the absolute necessity of the Church surviving and continuing its mission.  God protects His people.  Jesus had told Peter in Matthew 16:18 that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against” the Church.  Here He offers a physical affirmation of that fact by sending an angel to release the apostles.  In so doing, the Lord thereby showed, in a microcosm, what He does for Church throughout the ages:  He protects and frees His Bride to proclaim and live and advance.

And then God reiterates His commission through this messenger.

²⁰ “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”

We may see in these words a concise summation of the so-called Great Commission from Matthew 28.

¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

It is also a summation of His commission delivered at His ascension in Acts 1:8.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

What is most telling is that the Church’s marching orders do not change, and they certainly do not change as a result of changes in environment or escalating risk.  No, the Church has been called to a task:  bearing witness to the risen Christ.  That was the Church’s calling.  That is the Church’s calling.  That will always been the Church’s calling until the Lord returns.

The World:  Acceptance or Opposition (To Greater and Lesser Extents)

If the Church’s calling remains unchanged, it would seem, tragically, that the world’s blind response does as well.  By “the world” I am referring in this text to the Sanhedrin.  While they were certainly religious men, they had missed the truth and rejected it.  In fact, they warred against it.  Thus, their actions may be seen as indicative of how the world acts, even if their actions were bathed in a pious veneer.

When we look at the world, we see either acceptance of the gospel or opposition to greater or lesser extents.  For instance, we may see the naked hostility of the world in the Sanhedrin’s arrest of the apostles.

¹⁷ But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy ¹⁸ they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.

At the 2014 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, Russell Moore, the director of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the SBC, recognized the wife of Iranian Pastor Saeed Abedini.  Pastor Saeed Abedini had been in an Iranian prison for almost two years at the time of that meeting, and Dr. Moore had arranged for his wife to be present with us so that we might recognize her and pray for her husband and family.  As we did so, and as I watched this brave woman and thought of her husband, I was struck by the reality of persecution throughout the ages.  Here, standing before us, was the wife of a man literally suffering the fate of first century apostles:  imprisonment for preaching the gospel.

Yes, the response of the world is tragically consistent:  it hates the Lord Jesus and all that represent Him.  But we also see in this text that there are degrees of opposition to the Church.  A more moderate opposition can be seen in the Pharisee Gamaliel, who stands to caution the Sanhedrin against venting its full fury against the new movement.

³³ When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. ³⁴ But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while.

They were “enraged” because when they sent for the prisoners, it was discovered that they were no longer in prison and were, in fact, proclaiming Christ in public once again.  It is against this rage that Gamaliel stands and speaks.  His calming of the Sanhedrin is interesting and reflects the political and cultural dynamics of the religious authorities at that time.  F.F. Bruce informs us that “the Pharisees were in the minority, but they commanded much more public respect than did the Sadducees, so much so that the Sadducean members of the court found it impolitic to oppose the Pharisees’ demands. This was particularly important in a case like the present, in which the defendants enjoyed the people’s goodwill.”[1]

Gamaliel speaks:

³⁵ And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. ³⁶ For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. ³⁷ After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.

Gamaliel cautions them not to act rashly as they were all aware that other so-called messiah’s had arisen before and begun movements only to see those movements dissolve and disappear.  He gives two examples, though he could have given hundreds.  We know very little about this Theudas, but Bruce provides us with some interesting historical information about the second name Gamaliel mentions, Judas the Galilean.

When Judaea was reduced to the status of a Roman province in A.D. 6, after the deposition of Archelaus, a census was held under the direction of the legate of Syria, P. Sulpicius Quirinius, to determine the amount of tribute to be paid by the new province to the imperial exchequer. Judas, a man from Gamala in Gaulanitis (Golan), inaugurated a religious and nationalist revolt, contending that it was high treason against God, Israel’s one true king, for his people in his land to pay tribute to a pagan ruler. The revolt was crushed by Rome, but the spirit which animated it lived on, and emboldened the party of the Zealots to take the lead in the Jewish revolt of A.D. 66. Judas’s movement proved not to be so ineffective as Gamaliel supposed it was.[2]

Thus, Gamaliel argues, they had been here before.  They had seen revolutionaries rise up before, and all for naught.  His next words, however, reveal some uncanny insights and cautions.

³⁸ So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; ³⁹ but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, ⁴⁰ and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. ⁴¹ Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

This is why I say that the world opposes the Church to greater and lesser extents.  Not all seek to obliterate the Church, though there is no doubt that this is the ultimate desire of Satan:  the eradication of the people of God.  Gamaliel, famed for his wisdom and moderation, cautions the Sanhedrin to take care.  If it is not of God, it will fail.  If it is of God, you will be warring against God.  “In other words,” Gamaliel seems to say, to use our terminology, “let it play out.”

This is a fascinating development, and Gamaliel carries the day, though not, tellingly, until the apostles are beaten.  R.C. Sproul has offered an interesting response to Gamaliel’s advice.

            I would say that half of Gamaliel’s advice was good.  He was half right and half wrong when he said, “If this plan…is of men, it will come to nothing.”  Islam is not of God, and it has not failed; it has been around for centuries.  There are abundant evidences in history of false religions under the wrath of God that have not disappeared from the face of the earth.  The Gnostic heresy that plagued the church in the second and third centuries is alive and well today and is being taught in the pages of the Orlando Sentinel by a theologian at Princeton University trying to revive, along with Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, the Gnostic literature of the early church.[3]

This is true enough.  Many ungodly movements do succeed.  Gamaliel’s approach is not perfect, but it does show a degree of restraint.  I think we may yet see the hand of God even in this.  The God who can turn the hearts of pagan kings to His own ends is the God who can temper the Sanhedrin so that the Church may advance.  Even so, let us note that the world opposes the Church.  It has for two millennia.  Should the Lord tarry, it will for two millennia more.

The message of the gospel is antithetical to the entire program of the world.

The Church:  Faithfulness, Boldness, and Trust in God’s Protection

Regardless, it is that gospel that has been entrusted to the Church and it is that Gospel that the Church must never stop proclaiming.  We see this in the response of the Church to this persecution.

^21a And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.

The “this” they heard was the angelic instruction for them to go back out and continue preaching from verse 20:  “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”  So they did precisely that.  This is powerful.  Attention should be paid!  The persecuted Church refused to stop bearing witness to the risen Christ.  This is fuel on the fire of the Sanhedrin’s rage and also fuel on the fire of their own astonishment!

^21b Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. ²² But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, ²³ “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” ²⁴ Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. ²⁵ And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” ²⁶ Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. ²⁷ And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, ²⁸ saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” ²⁹ But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. ³⁰ The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. ³¹ God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. ³² And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

⁴² And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

“They did not cease.”

“They did…not…cease!”

What a testimony of courage!  What a testimony of resolve!

When I was a new pastor, just out of seminary, I endured one of my first ever contentious deacons’ meetings.  Thankfully, I have had very few of those!  I left the church that night and returned to the apartment in which my wife, I, and our then baby girl Hannah lived.  Hannah had a plastic toy horse that would neigh when you pressed a button on its belly.  As I walked into our apartment that night, I heard the repetitive neighing of that toy horse.  The button had gotten stuck just before I arrived and it would not stop neighing.

The sound immediately assaulted my ears and my entire body tensed at the sound of it.  I was reeling emotionally from the meeting and was myself unaware of how frustrated and angry I had become.  I walked into the apartment, picked up the horse, tried to get it to stop, then realized it simply was not going to.  As my wife and small child looked on, I picked up the ever-neighing toy horse, said, “Excuse me,” and walked out the front door.  I went to the car I had just recently exited, lodged the toy horse up under the front driver’s side tire, got in the car, cranked it up, and back over the toy.  I heard it crack and splinter under the tire.  I pulled the car back, then up, then back again, then up again, etc.  Each time I felt a little calmer, my stress level decreasing with each act of vehicular violence against this small toy horse.

Finally, I stopped, got out of the car, picked up the flattened plastic remains and carried the horse back into the house and held it out before my shocked wife and daughter who were wondering what on earth had happened to me.  As I extended the horse before them, to my absolute horror and outrage, it neighed once again!  As a result, we all began to laugh until the tears flowed!  It was the plastic horse that would not die!  It kept making that sound over and over and over again!

That is a funny story, and one that I am not terribly proud of, but I cannot help but see a truth in it:  the story of that little plastic horse is the story of the Church throughout time.  People have tried to silence it.  People have tried to crush it.  People have tried to stop it.  But the message continues!  It will not, it cannot stop proclaiming the message!  It has one message, hardwired into its very soul, and it cannot stop!

No matter how throttled and bludgeoned, the Church cannot stop announcing its message.  No matter how often the enemy makes the Church bleed, it cannot stop!  In fact, the persecution of the Church tends to increase the boldness of its proclamation.  John Stott quotes Bishop Festo Kivengere who “said in February 1979, on the second anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Janani Luwum of Uganda: ‘Without bleeding the church fails to bless.’”[4]

Here is the story of the Church of Acts.

Here is the story of the Church today.

It has a message and it has a mission.  It received both from Jesus.  Whatever else it might do, it must be faithful to the message and the mission.

Acts 5:1-16

¹ But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, ² and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. ³ But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? ⁴ While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” ⁵ When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. ⁶ The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. ⁷ After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸ And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” ⁹ But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” ¹⁰ Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹ And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. ¹² Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. ¹³ None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. ¹⁴ And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, ¹⁵ so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. ¹⁶ The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

When I was a boy there was a pastor in a church in my hometown who was accused of behaving immorally with a woman in the congregation.  Word of this had spread among the church members and, on the following Sunday, he stood in the pulpit before a large audience to preach his final sermon on his way out.  A friend of mine was sitting in the sanctuary and observed what I am telling you today.

This church is an old church and a stately church and had at the time an elevated, partially enclosed pulpit that the preacher ascended into to preach.  Above that pulpit was a huge chandelier that came down to a point in which sat a large light bulb that shone down upon the pulpit.  The minister preached his final sermon, neither affirming or denying the allegations, and, when he stopped preaching, the large light bulb hanging above the pulpit detached, fell, and shattered just before the pulpit.  A friend of mine was present in this service and witnessed this happened.  He shared that it was a very weird and very strange thing that caught everybody’s attention.

We should perhaps be careful not to read too much into these things, but we should also be careful not to read too little into them.  After all, the Lord God reserves the right to make powerful and chilling points when He needs to.  God above sometimes speaks in startling and unexpected ways, especially, it seems, when the holiness of his church is at stake.

God is Jealous for the Holiness of His Church Because He is Himself Holy

God has so spoken before, but in much, much more dramatic fashion.  Our text provides us with this incident.  The Church is growing.  It has passed its first test of persecution and people are coming into fellowship with Christ and His Church in droves.  Then we read this:

¹ But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, ² and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. ³ But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? ⁴ While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”

This is a startling rebuke, and one that we need to consider carefully.  To begin with, let us note that, contrary to what some have said, the early church was not practicing communism in its radical sharing of goods.  There was no ideological rejection of the idea of private property and no ideological affirmation of the idea that the leadership somehow possessed inherent rights of ownership.  On the contrary, what the early church practiced was nothing other than an agreed-upon generosity and life together.  They gave what they had to ensure that the poor would be cared for.  They were driven not by political ideas or coercion, but rather by the Spirit of God.

Peter recognizes precisely this when he says, “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?  And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?”  Meaning, “The property was yours and yours to do with as you would.”  What, then, was the problem.  The problem was dishonesty and ego-driven posturing.  The problem was that Ananias and his wife Sapphira acted as if they were giving all the proceeds of the land so that people would think them more generous than they were.  Had they simply come and said, “We would like to give half the proceeds from the sale of the property,” there would have been no issue.  But what they did was give a portion of the proceeds and claim that they had given all.  This is why Peter says that they had lied to God.

It is important that we not miss a crucial insight into the nature of the Trinity in the language of Peter’s rebuke.  Please note that Peter says in verse 3 that Ananias lied “to the Holy Spirit.”  Then, in verse 4, that Ananias lied “not…to man but to God.”  The implication is clear:  to lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to God.  The Venerable Bede commented, “It is therefore clear that the Holy Spirit is God.”  Furthermore, Basil the Great, the 4^th century Cappadocian Father, said that Peter’s words “show that sins against the Holy Spirit and against God are the same.”[1]

It is a serious thing to lie to God, as we will now see.

⁵ When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. ⁶ The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. ⁷ After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸ And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” ⁹ But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” ¹⁰ Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹ And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

Oh my!  What is happening here?!  Why has God struck these two members of the Church dead?  It is because of a fact that the modern Church is close to forgetting:  God is jealous for the holiness of His Church because He is Himself holy!  Do you understand the seriousness and the tragedy of the moral and ethical and spiritual collapse of the Church?  If the Church of the first century were to fall, imploding inwardly as a result of unchecked wickedness like that trafficked in by Ananias and Sapphire, then the primary vehicle through which God reaches the nations with the gospel would disintegrate.  It is imperative that the Church survive, and for it to survive as the Church, it is imperative that it walk in obedience.

It is indeed no small thing for those who claim to know and walk with Jesus to harbor a spirit of rebellion against Him in their hearts and to risk spreading that rebellion to others.  Erasmus questioned why it was that Ananias and Sapphira were treated so harshly “because a little bit of money was withheld in an otherwise generous act” when just before this he held out the hope of redemption to those who killed the Lord Jesus.  He answered astutely that Jesus “wished to show by the destruction of a few how much more serious it is to fall back into sin after the grace and light of the gospel have been received.”[2]

Ours is Church age of permissiveness and sentimentality and latitudinarianism.  But the early Church was not like this.  They knew that visibly associating with the Body of Christ, ostensibly because of having been born again through the blood of Christ, carried with it high demands for obedience and integrity.  Peter, before whose feet Ananias and Sapphira fell, further elaborated on this need for holiness in 1 Peter 1.

¹³ Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵ but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶ since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” ¹⁷ And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, ¹⁸ knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰ He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you ²¹ who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

If you are going to call God “Father,” then you should live as His child.  Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  You will.  This is not legalism or an unrealistic demand for protection.  The New Testament throughout exalts the forgiving nature of God.  He forgives us and we are to forgive one another.  The Church is comprised of struggling pilgrims en route, and we must be patient with one another.  But patience does not mean acquiescence to known rebellion.

To know the truth is to be accountable for it.  To know the truth well is to be even more accountable.  In James 3:1, James writes, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”  There is a greater judgment that comes with knowing the truth.  As a result the Church must be careful to be vigilant in personal holiness.

Many of you are familiar with William R. Newell’s 1895 hymn, “At Calvary.”  I remember especially liking this hymn as a boy when I would stand beside my parents and brothers and we would sing it in church.

Years I spent in vanity and pride,

Caring not my Lord was crucified,

Knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary.

Refrain

Mercy there was great, and grace was free;


Pardon there was multiplied to me;


There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary.

By God’s Word at last my sin I learned;

Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned,

Till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary.

Refrain

Now I’ve given to Jesus everything,

Now I gladly own Him as my King,

Now my raptured soul can only sing of Calvary!

Refrain

Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!

Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!

Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary!

Many of you have also heard of Donald Grey Barnhouse.  Barnhouse was pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1927 to his death in 1960.  He was a faithful pastor and a great man of God.  You may be interested to know that Barnhouse refused to allow Tenth Presbyterian Church the third stanza of “At Calvary.”[3]

Now I’ve given to Jesus everything,

Now I gladly own Him as my King,

Now my raptured soul can only sing of Calvary!

He explained that he forbade this because he feared that God might strike those dead who were singing this halfheartedly or flippantly.  He used our text this morning as his justification.  Had not God struck dead Ananias and Sapphira for their dishonest overtures of having given God all when they had not?  And does God not change?  And does God not have rights over His creation to do as He deems best?

Oh, Church:  consider carefully and well what you are saying when you claim to have given God all!

God Uses the Holiness and Integrity of His Church to Clarify Spiritual Reality and Further the Spread of the Gospel and the Reach of the Kingdom

God strikes Ananias and Sapphira dead for their duplicity and deceitfulness.  The verses that immediately follow should be seen as arising from this jarring display of divine holiness.  What is recorded here is directly connected to the terrifying display of power just witnessed.

¹² Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. ¹³ None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. ¹⁴ And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,

Do not miss the flow of the account or the amazing implications inherent therein:  there is a direct connection between the obedience and faithfulness of the Church and its effectiveness in the world.  This is not because the Church is working on its own and solely accountable for any so-called “results.”  On the contrary, the Lord God is always working above and beyond the obedience of His own people…but He also works through it.  It would be better to say that the obedience of the Church is itself fruit of and evidence for that kind of faith that the Lord uses to do great works.  He moves mountains through mustard seeds.  Where His people have faith, God moves.  Where His people abandon faith, we are unable to see His mighty deeds.  We may see this truth in the lack of miracles performed in Nazareth (as recounted in Matthew 13), when Jesus visited there.

⁵³ And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, ⁵⁴ and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? ⁵⁵ Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” ⁵⁸ And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

So it is today as well.  Our disbelief and our lack of faith stymies what we can become and what God will do through us.  We close ourselves off to the greater works of God when we fail to trust and to obey.  Disobedience is an inevitable fruit of such a lack.  As a result, the world is robbed of the Church’s true calling:  to be transformative salt and light in its living out, stewardship, and proclamation of the gospel.

However, when such disobedience and faithlessness is rooted out, God works mightily through His people.  Our text paradoxically says that many were too afraid to join the Church but that others came in as a result.  This is how the gospel works:  it draws and it repels.  Upon hearing it, some hate it, some fear it, and some come to Christ.  This dynamic was at work in the early Church and it is at work in the Church today as well.  This is seen in the above-mentioned growth of the Church, but also in the continuing works of power being wrought through the Church.

¹⁵ so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. ¹⁶ The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

This is most astounding!  People were being healed to the point that the sick were being brought where Peter was walking in the hopes that his shadow would fall upon them and they would be healed.  This raises a fairly obvious question.  Did Peter’s shadow have healing properties?  Of course not.  It is God alone who heals.  Rather, it was their faith, mixed, perhaps, with a degree of chaff, that opened their hearts and bodies to the healing power of God.  A.T. Robertson wrote of this:

There was, of course, no virtue or power in Peter’s shadow.  That was faith with superstition, of course, just as similar cases in the Gospels occur (Matt. 9:20; Mark 6:56; John 9:5) and the use of Paul’s handkerchief (Acts 19:12).  God honours even superstitious faith if it is real faith in him.  Few people are wholly devoid of superstition.[4]

He is right.  Oftentimes saving faith is weak faith, faith that does not fully understand, faith that must grown more deeply in its understanding.  Such was the faith of those who came seeking Peter’s shadow.  They would afterward, no doubt, come to understand more clearly that it is Christ that heals, but do their actions here not evidence an admirable faith in the healing power of God?

See what God can do through a people yielded to Him!  See a Church alive through the empowering Spirit:  obedient, powerful, world changing!  See the holy fear that falls upon the assembled saints when they give themselves completely to King Jesus!  See the watching world:   partially resisting, partially hating, partially trembling, partially coming!  See the Church tremble in awareness that the God upon Whom they call and in Whose name they advance is a holy consuming fire who is not mocked!

See the life to which we have been called!

The Church, the Body and Bride of Christ!

Craig Gross is the founder of xxxChurch, a Christian ministry seeking to minister to those caught up in sexual addiction and pornography.  They have been around a while now, and, as far as I can tell, do good work.  When I saw on Twitter that this book was available for $1.99, I decided to check it out.

While Eyes of Integrity does not offer any groundbreaking new insights that differ from other Christian works on the topic, I think it is one of the better resources available.  This is primarily due to Gross’ extensive work in this ministry and the ministry’s numerous encounters with those caught up in sexual addictions or the sex industry.  Particularly moving and helpful were the many stories and comments Gross provides from folks who have posted on their website.  These were painful to hear, but convicting, as they put a human face on a serious and epidemic problem.

Gross’ advice, again, is not new, but that is because the way out, while difficult, is really not a mystery:  deep, sincere repentance before God, true accountability, honesty, transparency, and a return to God’s view of human sexuality and, indeed, of human beings.  In unpacking these elements, Gross does offer numerous practical and helpful ideas.

No, the way out is not a mystery, but it can be an excruciating process for those caught in addiction.  This is where the personal stories that Gross provides are most helpful.  They bring a powerful and often emotional look at real people who have had to work through the realities of porn addiction and the havoc it brings.

Porn is a massive problem in the United States, which Gross illustrates most helpfully.

Today pornography is a 57-billion-dollar, worldwide industry, making more than the combined revenues of all the professional football, baseball, and basketball teams in America. Porn revenue in the United States (12 billion dollars) exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC (6.2 billion dollars), and, disgustingly enough, child pornography alone generates 3 billion dollars annually. In 2005 national online data polling estimated that one out of every ten websites is pornographic. Twenty percent of men admitted to looking at online porn while at work, while far more admit to using it in the privacy of their homes. (Kindle Locations 151-155)

And again:

According to a Wharton study:

The common wisdom is that pornographic material is the dirty secret of the Internet, accounting for vast amounts of traffic and enormous revenues. Jupiter Media Metrix, a company which tracks Internet usage, found that 30 million different users visited adult sites in March, accounting for 33.8 percent of all people who used the world wide web, according to media development coordinator Kumar Rao.

One study reported that 72 percent of those who dabble in porn are men and 28 percent are women. This study also found that more than 220 million dollars was spent at fee-based sites in 2001, up from 148 million dollars in 1999. By 2005 the number was up to an estimated 320 million dollars. (Kindle Locations 161-167)

This is sobering but gives a helpful insight into the extent of the problem.  Because of the pervasiveness of the problem, it is important that we have effective tools for helping people see the issues so they might exit this devastating world.  To that end, I’d like to recommend Gross’ book.  This would be a tremendous work to give to somebody who is struggling or to have men’s or women’s groups work through and discuss.