Acts 7:51-53

Summary retelling of Acts 7: 51-53:

Now Stephen is ready to make his point.  Stephen calls the religious leaders a stiff-necked people, which basically meant that they are stubborn.  They think that they’ve got God all figured out, but they really don’t get what God is doing at all.  The Hebrew people persecuted the prophets that God sent among them to bring them back to God.  They killed the people that announced that Jesus was coming.  And now they are guilty of killing Jesus Himself.  They are guilty for rebelling against the very Law that they are so proud to have received.

Thoughts for Today:

First Thought:

The course of Stephen’s whole argument is that the Hebrew people have every advantage from God.  God has led them the whole way through every significant moment of their faith.  Every moment that they are proud to claim as a part of their heritage is actually a moment that God was taking them by the hand and leading them through.  They have every reason to understand why being humble before God is important.

Are you humble before God?  Do you do things His way and do the things He wants with respect to faith and a relationship with Him?

Second Thought:

However, we know that the Jewish leaders did not humble themselves before God. They knew the Law and they thought that they had the right interpretation of it.  They were more interested in proving themselves right than they were in humbling yourself before God.  They have a history of rebelling against God and choosing their own path.  They lived up to their history by crucifying Jesus.

In what areas of your life are not humble before God?  In what areas of your life are you convinced that you have God’s plan figured out?

Third Thought:

Imagine for a moment being Stephen and having to tell the same people that killed Jesus that they are guilty of the act and God will hold them accountable.  Now imagine being one of the Sanhedrin and hearing that although you have spent your life trying to understand the Law there is this untrained layman telling you just how guilty you are of going against God’s desires.

Would you have the courage of Stephen to say what He did?  Would you have the courage of Stephen to live in faith like he did?  When you are confronted with your errors, to you have the stubbornness of the Sanhedrin?

Passage for Tomorrow: Acts 7:54-56