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RISE Church Decatur
Acts Session 13
Please find Scriptures and key points here to follow along on Sunday morning. An audio Recording of the message will be available this week at https://risechurchdecatur.com/listen/
Locations & Times
RISE Church
1901 S Trinity St, Decatur, TX 76234, USA
Sunday 9:00 AM
Sunday 11:00 AM
The Book of Acts — Session Thirteen
A Face Like an Angel
Stephen: The Man, the Ministry, and the Accusation
Acts 6:8-15 | ESV
A Face Like an Angel
Stephen: The Man, the Ministry, and the Accusation
Acts 6:8-15 | ESV
The Table-Server Who Shook Jerusalem
Stephen was appointed in Acts 6 to serve tables — to oversee the daily food distribution
He was not an apostle. Not one of the Twelve. Not a recognized leader before Acts 6.
And within a short time of that appointment:
He is performing signs and wonders
He is winning debates the finest synagogue minds cannot answer
He is standing before the full Sanhedrin
He will die as the first martyr of the Christian faith
The Spirit cannot be contained by the assignment
Stephen was appointed in Acts 6 to serve tables — to oversee the daily food distribution
He was not an apostle. Not one of the Twelve. Not a recognized leader before Acts 6.
And within a short time of that appointment:
He is performing signs and wonders
He is winning debates the finest synagogue minds cannot answer
He is standing before the full Sanhedrin
He will die as the first martyr of the Christian faith
The Spirit cannot be contained by the assignment
The Diaspora Synagogues of Jerusalem
Jerusalem was home to numerous synagogues organized along ethnic and geographic lines
The Synagogue of the Freedmen — descendants of Jews taken captive to Rome by Pompey in 63 BC and later freed
Cyrenians — from North Africa; the community of Simon of Cyrene who carried Jesus's cross
Alexandrians — from Egypt's great intellectual capital, home to the largest Jewish diaspora in the world
Those from Cilicia and Asia — Cilicia is the home province of Tarsus
Saul of Tarsus almost certainly worshiped in one of these synagogues
Jerusalem was home to numerous synagogues organized along ethnic and geographic lines
The Synagogue of the Freedmen — descendants of Jews taken captive to Rome by Pompey in 63 BC and later freed
Cyrenians — from North Africa; the community of Simon of Cyrene who carried Jesus's cross
Alexandrians — from Egypt's great intellectual capital, home to the largest Jewish diaspora in the world
Those from Cilicia and Asia — Cilicia is the home province of Tarsus
Saul of Tarsus almost certainly worshiped in one of these synagogues
Stephen's Context
Stephen is a Hellenist — a Greek-speaking diaspora Jew who has become a follower of Jesus
His opponents are also Hellenists — same cultural world, same language, same Greek Scriptures
This is not Palestinian Judaism versus Hellenistic Judaism
This is a confrontation within Hellenistic Judaism itself
Stephen is one of them — and they cannot answer him
That makes the conflict more intense, not less
Stephen is a Hellenist — a Greek-speaking diaspora Jew who has become a follower of Jesus
His opponents are also Hellenists — same cultural world, same language, same Greek Scriptures
This is not Palestinian Judaism versus Hellenistic Judaism
This is a confrontation within Hellenistic Judaism itself
Stephen is one of them — and they cannot answer him
That makes the conflict more intense, not less
Full of Grace and Power
"And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people."
Acts 6:8 (ESV)
Full of grace — pleres charitos — the attractive, winsome quality of a life shaped by the Spirit
Full of power — dunameos — the same word as Acts 1:8; the Spirit's enabling force
Until this point, signs and wonders have been performed by the apostles
Stephen is the first non-apostle in Acts to perform them
The Spirit is not the exclusive property of the apostolic office
He distributes His gifts to whomever He chooses
"And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people."
Acts 6:8 (ESV)
Full of grace — pleres charitos — the attractive, winsome quality of a life shaped by the Spirit
Full of power — dunameos — the same word as Acts 1:8; the Spirit's enabling force
Until this point, signs and wonders have been performed by the apostles
Stephen is the first non-apostle in Acts to perform them
The Spirit is not the exclusive property of the apostolic office
He distributes His gifts to whomever He chooses
The Spirit Beyond the Assignment
Stephen was appointed to table-service — that was the need of the moment
A person full of the Spirit meets the need of the moment faithfully, whatever it is
But the Spirit cannot be confined by the assignment
The character the community discerned in Stephen before his appointment
Is the same character that now overflows into signs, wonders, and Spirit-empowered debate
Faithfulness in the small assignment produces the person needed for the large confrontation
Stephen was appointed to table-service — that was the need of the moment
A person full of the Spirit meets the need of the moment faithfully, whatever it is
But the Spirit cannot be confined by the assignment
The character the community discerned in Stephen before his appointment
Is the same character that now overflows into signs, wonders, and Spirit-empowered debate
Faithfulness in the small assignment produces the person needed for the large confrontation
The Debate Nobody Could Win
"Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen and of the Cyrenians and of the Alexandrians and of those from Cilicia and Asia rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking."
Acts 6:9-10 (ESV)
The synagogue was a place of rigorous theological debate — disputation was expected and honored
Stephen's opponents are educated, Scripture-formed, Greek-speaking Jews — not theological lightweights
If Stephen were going to be silenced by argument this is where it would happen
"Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen and of the Cyrenians and of the Alexandrians and of those from Cilicia and Asia rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking."
Acts 6:9-10 (ESV)
The synagogue was a place of rigorous theological debate — disputation was expected and honored
Stephen's opponents are educated, Scripture-formed, Greek-speaking Jews — not theological lightweights
If Stephen were going to be silenced by argument this is where it would happen
Wisdom and the Spirit
Luke uses the same two words as Acts 6:3 — wisdom and Spirit
The qualifications discerned before the appointment are the same qualities operating in the debate
Antistemi — could not withstand — could not hold their ground
Not because Stephen was the more skilled debater alone
But because the Spirit speaking through him operated at a level no human cleverness could counter
Jesus promised this in Luke 21:15 — I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand
Stephen is the fulfillment of that promise
Luke uses the same two words as Acts 6:3 — wisdom and Spirit
The qualifications discerned before the appointment are the same qualities operating in the debate
Antistemi — could not withstand — could not hold their ground
Not because Stephen was the more skilled debater alone
But because the Spirit speaking through him operated at a level no human cleverness could counter
Jesus promised this in Luke 21:15 — I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand
Stephen is the fulfillment of that promise
When Argument Fails — Fabrication Begins
When people committed to a position cannot refute the arguments against it, they face a choice
Follow the argument wherever it leads — what honest inquiry requires
Or abandon argument and resort to power — what those committed to position at all costs will do
Stephen's opponents choose the second path
What follows is the oldest playbook in institutional self-preservation
When people committed to a position cannot refute the arguments against it, they face a choice
Follow the argument wherever it leads — what honest inquiry requires
Or abandon argument and resort to power — what those committed to position at all costs will do
Stephen's opponents choose the second path
What follows is the oldest playbook in institutional self-preservation
The False Witnesses
"Then they secretly instigated men who said, 'We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.' 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, and they set up false witnesses who said, 'This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law...'"
Acts 6:11-13 (ESV)
Hupoballo — secretly instigated — to suborn, to plant testimony, the language of conspiracy
They could not defeat Stephen in open argument — so they manufacture the argument they need
"Then they secretly instigated men who said, 'We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.' 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, and they set up false witnesses who said, 'This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law...'"
Acts 6:11-13 (ESV)
Hupoballo — secretly instigated — to suborn, to plant testimony, the language of conspiracy
They could not defeat Stephen in open argument — so they manufacture the argument they need
The Charges — A Distortion of the Truth
The charge against the holy place — distorts Jesus's actual teaching that the Temple would be destroyed
The charge about changing Moses's customs — distorts Stephen's teaching about fulfillment in Christ
The most effective false testimony is always a twisted version of something real
Close enough to be plausible. Distorted enough to be damning.
Jesus faced exactly the same tactic at His trial before the same council (Mark 14:57-58)
Luke wants us to see the pattern: those who carry the Word most faithfully are treated the way the Word made flesh was treated
The charge against the holy place — distorts Jesus's actual teaching that the Temple would be destroyed
The charge about changing Moses's customs — distorts Stephen's teaching about fulfillment in Christ
The most effective false testimony is always a twisted version of something real
Close enough to be plausible. Distorted enough to be damning.
Jesus faced exactly the same tactic at His trial before the same council (Mark 14:57-58)
Luke wants us to see the pattern: those who carry the Word most faithfully are treated the way the Word made flesh was treated
Stephen and Jesus — The Same Pattern
False witnesses — both Jesus and Stephen
The same charges — Temple destruction, changing Moses's customs — both accused
The same court — the Sanhedrin
Unable to answer the teaching — leads to manufactured charges — leads to trial
Irenaeus: Stephen is the first to follow his Lord into martyrdom
By following his Lord's exact path into false accusation and unjust trial
The servant is not above his master (Matthew 10:24-25)
False witnesses — both Jesus and Stephen
The same charges — Temple destruction, changing Moses's customs — both accused
The same court — the Sanhedrin
Unable to answer the teaching — leads to manufactured charges — leads to trial
Irenaeus: Stephen is the first to follow his Lord into martyrdom
By following his Lord's exact path into false accusation and unjust trial
The servant is not above his master (Matthew 10:24-25)
A Face Like the Face of an Angel
"And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel."
Acts 6:15 (ESV)
The full Sanhedrin is seated. The accusations have been made. The trial is about to begin.
And everyone in the chamber sees something they cannot explain
Moses descended from Sinai and his face shone — the face of someone who has been with God (Exodus 34:29-35)
Stephen is about to speak a word from God — and before he says a single word his face testifies that he has been in God's presence
"And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel."
Acts 6:15 (ESV)
The full Sanhedrin is seated. The accusations have been made. The trial is about to begin.
And everyone in the chamber sees something they cannot explain
Moses descended from Sinai and his face shone — the face of someone who has been with God (Exodus 34:29-35)
Stephen is about to speak a word from God — and before he says a single word his face testifies that he has been in God's presence
The Most Powerful Testimony
Stephen's most powerful testimony in Acts 6:8-15 is not his argument — though it was unanswerable
It is not his miracles — though they were undeniable
It is his face
Not anxiety. Not defiance. Not bravado.
The settled, luminous peace of a person whose life is hidden with Christ in God
The Sanhedrin can read faces. They have not seen this before.
What do people see when they look at yours?
"And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel."
Acts 6:15 (ESV)
Stephen's most powerful testimony in Acts 6:8-15 is not his argument — though it was unanswerable
It is not his miracles — though they were undeniable
It is his face
Not anxiety. Not defiance. Not bravado.
The settled, luminous peace of a person whose life is hidden with Christ in God
The Sanhedrin can read faces. They have not seen this before.
What do people see when they look at yours?
"And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel."
Acts 6:15 (ESV)