In the last chapter, we read about Stephen, full of faith and power, doing great wonders and miracles among the people. There is no clarification as to exactly what wonders and miracles Stephen did among the people. He was selected to meet the requirements of an emergency for the apostles. It is obvious he was not satisfied with simply distributing relief to those in need. He grew well beyond the need of his assignment. Emergencies are often the situation that drives a man out of his comfort zone into a great deal more than he thought possible.

The result was that false witnesses claimed that he spoke blasphemous words against the temple and the law. They claimed he said, "Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us." Then the high priest asked, "Are these things so?" At this point, like Peter, Stephen gave a sermon and preached Christ crucified. Stephen understood that the problem was not just with those who crucified Jesus. So Stephen gave them the full version of the sermon.

Stephen started with the Jewish tradition of Abraham, the covenant of circumcision, oppression in Egypt, deliverance by Moses, and finally came to the temple built by Solomon. The real offense came when he claimed that God dwelt in the throne of heaven rather than in temples made with the hands of men. Stephen accused them of being stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears for they always resisted the Holy Ghost as did their fathers. He claimed their fathers persecuted the prophets before the coming of the Just One, of whom they were now the betrayers and murderers. He finally claimed they who received the law by the disposition of angels have not kept it.

There is a particular lesson in this sermon for those of us who today, sometimes suffer from an "edifice complex". Solomon did indeed build a house for God. Stephen recognized the danger of focusing on the temple. Jesus saw that the Pharisees followed the letter of the law and preserved the temple as proof of their special status in the world. Stephen was very direct when he said, "Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands."

God is a spirit, and while houses and institutions may catch that spirit, be possessed by it, carried by it, and animated by it, they can never contain or confine it. When they presume to do so, two things invariably happen. First, God is robbed of his universality and limited to prescribed areas. Jews who localized the Spirit of God in a land, a law, and a temple soon came to believe that God belonged to them and that, outside the boundaries which they had set for him, he was less accessible, less able to achieve his purpose. But, spirit is something like the wind; you can catch it, but you cannot hold it.

The second thing to happen is even more devastating. The people involved in such houses and institutions lose their capacity to perceive the presence of God. Their eyes and minds are restricted to the limits and boundaries of the organization. Imaginations no longer dream beyond the visible. When prophetic spirits appear on the scene, the people are afraid of them. They stone them or crucify them to avoid the inevitable change.

We still have the same problem today and it is not restricted to religion. Governments display the same tendencies. People who wish to live together on the basis of equally shared rights and responsibilities, can create an organization to house their spirit. The house must have a constitution, congress, laws, courts, bill of rights and other necessary implements to define the spirit. From there we see the two inevitable happenings.

First, people will believe they have captured the spirit completely and will work to keep the spirit to themselves exclusively. They do not realize that wind without motion is stale and without spirit. Second, people will confuse the house with the spirit and begin to worship the house instead of the spirit. They will not allow vision outside the boundaries and the fear of change will provoke extraordinary efforts to keep the status quo.

You can see these same tendencies in many churches today. Some refuse to accept any change at all and are forced to live in the past. These are the churches that fail to discern any distinction in the attributes and substances that make up the church. They cannot distinguish between the elements that are critical to the Spirit and the elements that make the Spirit more easily understood. They frequently become smaller and smaller as fewer people can see the influence of the original Spirit.

Some churches today think they have captured the spirit and are the ultimate authority on the Spirit’s objective, capacity and direction. Unfortunately, they are replacing the Spirit with their own will and desires. They have decided that the only critical elements in the Spirit are those they find appealing. A church with this approach is easily identified by the lack of recognized sins. They promote a loving god without enforceable guidelines.

These two happenings are not necessarily the result. If we recognize that we can never contain or confine our religion, we do not have to make either of these two mistakes. This is obviously the best choice but it is not an easy road to follow. First, we must recognize the Spirit can never be contained. That means our own practices must be constantly evaluated for potential change necessitated by the Spirit’s influence. We can never set on our laurels and assume we have the right answer. It is very difficult to re-examine our beliefs when we are comfortable with them. But it is necessary to validate everything we do against the revelations of God.

The Jews were quite comfortable with the revelations they had received in the past. By thinking they already had the right answers; they were not receptive to re-evaluation. They were already upset by the things Stephen said about the temple and the law. But when Stephen said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God," they could stand it no more. The opening of the heavens was the reassurance Stephen needed. Love still reigned. God still cared. Man still had a chance. Jesus still came first. This gave Stephen the strength to endure what followed.

You might get the impression that a mob lynched Stephen, but closer reading indicates it was probably an execution. Exegesis indicates that the young man named Saul was sent to oversee the stoning. The term witnesses refer to those officials whose duty was to throw the first stones. In the 22 verse of the 20^th Chapter of Acts, Paul admitted to having consented to Stephen’s death by keeping the raiment of those who stoned him.

As Stephen was being stoned, he prayed. That is no surprise. The most natural thing for a man to do when his life is in danger is to pray. In desperate times, even men without religion pray. Stephen’s prayer was different. The first was a prayer for himself. "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." This was different because it was not a request for deliverance. Instead it was an affirmation of trust. It contains no fear, only faith. It assumes that whatever happens, Jesus will be there and that he will be adequate to any emergency. What Stephen really asked for was that Jesus should steady him through his present trial. When life is hard and things are going against us, we have one supreme need – that Jesus will keep our spirit; keep it free from fear, keep it from turning sour, keep it from clinging to fleshly concerns, keep it clean and unsoiled by personal resentments and bitterness. They stoned Stephen but they could not stain him.

Stephen’s second prayer was for the people who were killing him. "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." When we are having a hard time, we are likely to forget that it is also bad for someone else. The situation was indeed bad for Stephen but he had the grace to ask that it not be bad for those guilty of his murder. We commend Stephen for his prayer and remember He was following a good example.

Jesus prayed both "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" and "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."