STEPHEN AN EARLY INTERPRETER OF CHRISTIANITY
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
ACT 6: 7-10 7:54-60
Key Verse
“And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people”.
Acts 6:8
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever got some bad news about what would happen to one of your friends? And have you ever tried to warn them in advance that they should avoid this disaster? Well, experience has taught us that bringing bad news to someone even if it will help them to correct their course of activity and come out on top, this will not always be welcome. There is a proverb, a wise saying, that says that people will generally always shoot the messenger. People do not like bad news especially if it shows that they have been doing something that was wrong.
That is the situation in our Bible Study for a man called Stephen who was elected to help administer help to people in the church decided to in addition to helping the brethren with food and clothing and other things they needed went about and taught the people about the Lord Jesus Christ and about the salvation brought by the Lord Jesus Christ. He went about to preach the Gospel as Jesus had commanded, and he was very successful in doing that. This was so because he was filled with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit gave him wisdom and the ability to carry the message of God to the people as well as the ability to do all kinds of miracles to help the people.
But this led the enemies of Jesus to bring all kinds of false accusations against Stephen, the apostles, and to those that were leaders of the early Christians. They accused Stephen of speaking words against Moses and the law that Moses had brought from God, against the Temple that had been built as a place of worship for the people, and against God.
But Stephen was brave and bold, and it did not frighten him when he was brought before the Jewish Council of Leaders. They did not understand what Stephen was doing because they had misinterpreted the Scriptures. Before this Jesus had warned them about their misinterpretations but instead of accepting what Jesus was teaching them they had crucified Him.
Stephen, to defend himself against these false accusations, reminded the Council of the history of the nation from the time of Abraham, during the time of Joseph, and the time of Moses. He reminded them that the people of the nation of Israel had always rejected the teachings of these great patriarchs and had always given these patriarchs a very difficult time. The disobedient leaders spent a lot of their times turning against the commandments of God even though they pretended that they were following God. Stephen warned the men on the Council that they were doing exactly the same thing as their fathers and God did not like it.
They argued a lot in this debate with Stephen and Stephen beat all their arguments down to the ground. Among the people that Stephen debated with was Saul, a man whose name was later changed by Jesus to Paul when he was converted and became a Christian. But at that time Paul could not beat Stephen in the arguments even though he was a learned and skilful debater.
The people on the Council including Saul was so enraged and so full of fury and anger at Stephen seeing that their fathers were always disobedient and rejected the leadership of the men that God had provided for them, that they closed their ears, rushed upon Stephen like madmen, and dragged him out and stoned him to death.
When he was dying Stephen did not curse them. He looked up into heaven and saw Jesus standing in heaven at the right hand of the Father and he asked Jesus to forgive them for the sin that they were committing in killing him. Then he prayed to Jesus to receive his soul. Into heaven and then Stephen died. He was an early martyr and as well he was an early teacher of the important doctrines of Christianity.
We can learn a lot from Stephen’s life and Stephen’s behaviour and his sermon before the Council. We can love our enemies but at the same time we should not shy away from telling them the truth and helping them to resist the deceptions of Satan. But we like Stephen must be filled with the Holy Spirit and we must be wise for it is only the Holy Spirit that can teach us how to talk to people, and how to help them to escape the life of pain, despair and suffering that many people in the world are experiencing. They might not want to admit their bad position but we know that they are not in a good place and our task is to help them., So let us do what God commands knowing that God the Father Jesus Christ our Lord, and the Holy Spirit are right beside us to help us all throughout our life and throughout all our activities..