Second Sunday in Advent

In his larger catechism, Martin Luther famously wrote,

Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God, your functional Savior.

I put this question to you this morning and to me.

What does your heart cling to?

What does your heart confide? Who does your heart confide in?

In what do you find deep rest?

We come to our last Sunday in Acts until the new year.

We're going to take a break for a few weeks.

And if you've been following along, you'll remember that Acts is this remarkable turnaround.

It's a continuation of the Jesus story.

And in it, we see these apostles who are bold and brave

and who are bearing witness to the resurrection of Christ from the dead,

who previously, a few months prior, they were overconfident, but they were cowards.

And they fled, all of them, when Christ experienced his passion.

There's this incredible turnaround with these apostles.

It really is a remarkable thing.

You'd think they're two separate groups of people.

But no, they're the same apostles that walked with Jesus that are now testifying to his resurrection.

In today's section of Scripture, Stephen, who, if you were here last week,

he was one of the seven that were entrusted with the distribution of alms and charity to the poor.

But Stephen wasn't just somebody who was about mercy ministry,

because here we see that Stephen is an incredible preacher.

He is proclaiming with grace and power, doing wonders and signs among the people,

similar to what the apostles are doing.

And Stephen faces the same type of opposition that the apostles faced and Jesus did as well.

So, there's five groups of different Jewish people described here,

a part of two separate synagogues.

And they are pushing back against what Stephen is saying.

And it says that they couldn't match his arguments.

So what do they do?

The same thing that they did with the apostles and what they did with Jesus.

They drum up a bunch of false accusations.

And in this case, in two different ways.

They accuse him of advocating for the destruction of the temple, just like Jesus did.

And the second thing is that they are accusing Stephen of messing with the law,

the words of Moses, that they are taking the law and teaching something different.

That Stephen is reinterpreting the law to suit his own agenda that is contrary to what the scriptures say.

On one hand, it seems like it's just a status quo accusation against Stephen.

But to really understand these accusations and the gravity of them,

we need to understand the significance of the temple and the significance of the law.

And how both of them were unbelievably central to Jewish religion in the first century.

The accusation goes like this.

I'll read it again.

Acts chapter 6 verses 13 and 14.

Acts 6:13

And they set up false witnesses who said,

This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place, that is the temple, and the law.

For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, that's the temple,

and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.

So what will Stephen do?

It's always a question that, I mean, we know we continue reading.

We don't pause necessarily as we're reading the text.

So we know that Stephen's just going to go at it.

But what is Stephen going to do?

How is he going to respond?

It appears that Stephen, if he wants to get out of this unscathed and alive,

he has to denounce Christ.

He has to, in some way, lessen the blow.

Well, Jesus didn't really say that and start, you know, leaning into nuance.

Or maybe just straight up denying him.

This group is angry and they're vengeful.

Jerusalem is seeing thousands of people converted to this false Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth,

who is somebody that did not rise from the grave, but stayed dead because he hung on a Roman cross.

This is what Stephen and the apostles are doing.

We need to squash it.

It can't happen.

And they are angry and they are vengeful.

And they do not seem like they are ready to hear a reasoned argument.

So what does Stephen do?

Well, Stephen doesn't attempt to defend himself.

He doesn't cower.

He doesn't get, in a sense, backed into a corner and lash out at them.

But instead, he sees this ever-growing mob in them, a captive audience.

And so, beginning with Abraham, he lays out the case that those who are truly guilty of misunderstanding the temple and the law,

it's not him, it's them.

He is accused of acting in a way that contravenes the scripture.

And what does he do?

He uses the scripture to prove that actually his detractors are the ones in the wrong.

This text will shed light on why Stephen and the early church had such power and courage in the face of such real and deadly opposition.

Again, keeping in mind the question I asked you earlier.

What does your heart cling to?

Who does your heart confide in?

This text, it will shed light on those two questions for Stephen and help us to answer those questions for ourselves.

It will also shed light on the difference between a real and a functional Savior.

And I'll explain that in a bit.

So, this text is a really hard one, in a sense, to preach on a Sunday.

Matthew read verses 8 to 15.

This whole section goes from chapter 6, verse 8, all the way to the end of chapter 7, which is, I mean, it's 60 verses.

So, it's a huge, huge chunk.

And it is one unbroken speech of Stephen.

That is the biggest unbroken speech in all of Acts, and quite possibly the entire Bible.

I don't know if that's 100% true, but I'm almost certain.

I'm like 90% sure that that's the case.

So, what we're going to do is not read through every verse.

I'm going to sum up a lot of it.

But we're going to seek to address how Stephen responds to those two accusations.

One, against the temple.

Two, against the law.

And how our only hope, Stephen teaches us, in life and death is in Christ Jesus.

So, let's just jump into it.

That's quite the bit of an intro, but this is quite the bit of a text.

So, let's take a look at the temple.

To fully understand the significance of this first accusation against the temple,

we have to understand that by the first century, the temple was the epicenter of Jewish religious and social life.

It wasn't just a Friday evening, Saturday morning place where people went to worship.

All of life surrounded and was tied to the temple.

And the temple in the first century wasn't the temple that Solomon built.

If you remember King Solomon, not King David, was the one who would build the temple.

That temple was destroyed in 587 by the Babylonians.

This is Herod's temple.

And it is about double the size of Solomon's temple.

And it was unbelievably ornate and beautiful and gorgeous and absolutely huge.

It was a symbol, in a sense, of Jewish longevity and the staying power of a persecuted people.

Especially amid Roman occupation.

Remember, Israel right now is occupied by Rome.

Rome does not like sharing their throne with anybody.

And so, this temple, this grand, huge, magnificent temple, is in a sense a big thumbing of the nose to Rome.

Not only that, but the temple was understood as the place where God resided.

It was the place where God's presence was amongst His people.

And it was the place where heaven and earth met.

So that in the temple, it was the symbol of God coming down and dwelling amongst His people.

So the temple is a big deal.

It's a huge deal.

However, by the time the first century rolls around, this temple became something that God never intended.

And this is where the rub is.

The temple was to be a symbol of God's presence.

And the temple, built by Solomon, it replaced the tabernacle that was supposed to be the place, again,

where God's presence resided among His people when they were going through the desert.

And we see that there's always a place or always a symbol of God's presence amongst His people.

But the temple in Jerusalem began to function not like the temple according to the Scriptures,

but like a temple of Artemis.

Or Athena.

The place where God could be contained.

The place where God was safe and controlled.

Neat and tidy God.

It's never God's intention.

For the entire earth is the Lord's, for He made it.

How can God, who created the entire world, be confined by His own creation in a box?

Gorgeous box.

Beautiful box.

Gold everywhere box.

But a box.

How can He be confined to that one locale?

Wow.

So, this is where Stephen, he's flexing his Bible muscles here, because he begins with Abraham

and says, hey, listen.

If God is confined to a temple, why did God meet Abraham in Mesopotamia?

When he was a pagan, worshipping many different idols.

If God is confined to a box, why does God minister and why is He with Joseph in Egypt?

If God is confined to just the temple, why did God meet Moses in Midian and at Mount Sinai?

And even when Solomon finally built a temple, God made it clear that he does not dwell in temples made by human hands.

And then Stephen quotes Isaiah 66 and he says this.

This is in verse 49 and 50.

This is God speaking.

Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.

What kind of house will you build me, says the Lord?

Or what is the place of my rest?

Did not my hand make all these things?

The temple had become a place that no longer represented the presence of God.

Represented the presence of God amongst His people, but became the economic and political center for those in power.

The temple gets perverted.

It became the commodification of religion.

We keep God here.

He is safe.

He is neat and tidy.

And what does Jesus do?

He blows that out of the water.

Which, in a sense, makes the accusations against Stephen half-correct.

Jesus, going back, if the temple was a symbolic representation of God's presence amongst His people,

and the place where the gap between heaven and earth was bridged,

then Jesus makes the temple obsolete.

Or better put, Jesus is the temple Himself.

Both temples and the tabernacle and the desert all pointed to Christ.

Christ.

It should have acted as a preparation for Christ.

So when the true and the greater temple came, everybody would say,

Aha!

That's what it was all about.

For in Christ, God meets man.

In flesh.

This is what we are celebrating, or preparing for in Advent,

and what we'll celebrate at Christmas.

That God doesn't say,

Come to me.

He says,

I'll come to you.

And God, the Son of God, takes on flesh in the person of Jesus Christ,

fully man and fully God.

And in Christ, man meets God.

He's the temple.

It is also the place, the temple is,

where man atones for their sins,

so that we would be, in a sense, made clean,

to be in God's presence,

through sacrifice.

But Jesus, a once and for all sacrifice,

dies on the cross,

so that no other sacrifice is needed,

and that we clothe ourselves with Christ's righteousness,

and we enter into the presence of God.

So in a really huge, wonderful, beautiful, cosmic way,

Jesus is the temple.

And all the other temples that Israel had,

I mean, the two temples and the tabernacle,

it all pointed to that.

It was a symbol.

It was a road sign.

It was a miniature that you could look at and see,

oh, this is what the big one will look like.

And that is what the temple represented.

But they didn't notice that,

because their heart did not cling to God,

but instead to power and prestige.

So God,

He will not share His throne with another.

He wants our entire being,

He wants to lay claim on all the real estate that is Daniel,

all the real estate that is you.

No inch He wants to cede to any other kingdom,

not even to your own.

Either God is calling the shots,

or we are.

We cannot try to manipulate God.

And this is what Stephen is getting at.

That God can't be confined at all,

because He is all-powerful,

and He is Himself, in Christ Jesus, the temple.

There's this interesting bit in the opening chapters

of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,

where Lucy asks Mr. Beaver

if Aslan is a safe lion.

And I'll read just a bit here,

because I'll botch a beautiful little bit.

This is Lucy speaking.

Aslan is a lion.

Oh, sorry, it's Susan.

Aslan is a lion, the lion, the great lion.

Oh, said Susan,

I thought he was a man.

Is he quite safe?

I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.

Safe, said Mr. Beaver.

Who said anything about safe?

Of course he isn't safe,

but he's good.

He's the king, I tell you.

Aslan is the lion in the story

that represents Christ.

When we try to confine God

to a Sunday meeting,

or confine Him to an evening Bible study,

or simply just maybe a devotion,

because you're an advanced Christian,

I don't mean that in a put-down way,

but you're hitting your devotions every day,

and you think,

that's it, I've done my peace,

God has gotten my mornings,

or God has gotten my Sundays,

or God has gotten this,

or God has gotten that.

We are confining God.

We are treating Him

in a neat and tidy way.

We are confining Him,

but He can't be confined.

He is not a safe God,

but He's a good God,

and He's a good king.

Like the religious Jews,

we have a propensity

to keep God in a box,

affirming His existence,

but denying His power.

It is a huge warning to us as well.

So,

we conform to Him.

We trust that His desires for us are good,

and His commands are just,

but we cannot make the mistake

in trying to tame God.

We can't do it.

He will not be tamed.

He has shown us His ways,

and we must,

by His strength,

teach our hearts

to love the things that He loves,

and do the things that He calls us to do.

That we would cling to Him,

and confide in Him,

and find our hope in Him.

And how do we do that?

Well, that's through God's Word,

and fellowshipping with one another,

and this leads us to the second accusation

that Stephen is doing away with the law.

So, what does he have to say about that?

So, Stephen continues

by refuting this second accusation

that Jesus and His teaching,

because He is teaching what Jesus is teaching,

are changing the customs

that Moses apparently gave

to the people of Israel.

This is,

I mean, this is a big accusation.

I would hate anybody to accuse me of that,

or to accuse you of that,

but we need to pause for a second.

Because they are claiming that

their interpretation of the Bible

is the interpretation of the Bible.

And by the time we get to the first century,

we have this whole apparatus,

so to speak,

of interpreting the Scriptures

in a way that subverts

the very nature of God's commands.

So,

the tradition goes,

and this is not in the Bible,

but the tradition goes,

that when God gave Moses

the Torah,

or the books of the law,

He whispered

the interpretation in his ear.

It's called the oral Torah.

So, He gives the law,

and then whispers the interpretation

in His ear.

So, on one hand,

I mean, we have to interpret the Bible.

The Bible takes interpretation.

I mean, it doesn't take interpretation

when we say don't steal.

It seems very obvious,

but there's a lot of things

that aren't necessarily obvious

at first glance.

An example,

what does it mean to refrain

from work on the Sabbath?

What constitutes work?

How about rest?

How,

what if rest for one person

is work for another?

Somebody hates gardening,

they have to do it,

it's,

it's,

it's a headache.

Another person

can't wait

to get their hands dirty,

and to get on their knees,

and plant,

and harvest.

Are we to leave these things

for people to personally apply

the text of,

of Scripture to their lives,

or are we to have a blanket,

one-size-fit-all approach?

Both approaches

have wisdom,

and both have shortfalls.

Interpretation is,

it's,

it's very important,

and not necessarily

an easy thing.

So,

I gave the example

of the Sabbath.

This is just one command

of some 613 commands

recorded in the books

of Moses.

So,

what happens

by rabbis

and scribes

is that they

come up

with a whole system

of how to

interpret the laws.

What does it mean

to keep the Sabbath,

or what does it mean

to not mix fabrics,

or what does it mean

to keep the death

outside of the city?

It's an elaborate apparatus,

like I mentioned,

of interpreting God's words.

But the problem is,

the heart of the law

expresses two things

according to Scripture itself.

That one,

God is a holy God,

God,

and that He is set apart,

He is without equal,

He is perfect

and good

in every way,

and that His laws

reflect that reality

of who He is.

And the second

thing that the law

points us to

is that we are not God,

and that we are sinful,

and we are broken,

and we have an inability

to keep the law

in its entirety,

and therefore,

we are lawbreakers.

So the law,

although good,

was not given

so that we could keep it,

and therefore achieve

some kind of righteousness

on par with God's,

but it's to let us know

that we are broken people

that have an inability

to live a perfect life,

and therefore,

how on earth

are we to get to God's level?

The Apostle Paul says it

here in Romans 3,

Romans 3:20

verse 20,

For by works of the law,

no human being

will be justified

in God's sight,

since through the law

comes knowledge of sin.

That's it.

The law is good.

It's a fantastic thing.

Fantastic principles

to live by,

to obey God,

but it is not the source

of your justification.

It is not the source

of your salvation.

Already now,

we begin to see

the difference between

a real Savior

and a functional Savior.

A Savior that promises

salvation

eight days a week,

and a Savior

that is weak

and false,

that at best

gives you

the idea

that you're saved,

but is completely

devoid of power

to justify.

Real Savior,

functional Savior.

But what happens

when you adapt the law

and interpret the law

in a way that

changes that purpose

so that we do not think

we need God's grace,

but in a sense,

seek a way

to justify ourselves

through our keeping

of the law.

What does that do?

It means we start to

fiddle with God's words.

We start to say,

well, it can't mean this.

And we do that as Christians.

This isn't just

a rabbinical problem.

There's hard parts

of the scriptures

that we are fine

to either ignore

or say,

you know,

those rough edges

aren't that rough.

Why don't we sand

those down a little bit?

Listen,

we are in this boat together.

I am,

like I say this often,

I am elevated here,

but I am not over you.

I am amongst you.

I do this every day.

We have this propensity

to self-justify.

Does this not expose us

as lawbreakers?

You know,

the great irony here

is that we try to keep the law

because we are not lawbreakers,

because we will achieve righteousness

in God's sight,

and by doing so,

we prove the very purpose

that the law was given

to expose us as lawbreakers.

We have a propensity

to self-justify

and therefore turn God's law

into something

it was never meant for.

And what do we do?

We miss the one

whom the law points towards.

And this is what Stephen

is getting at here.

Verses 51 to 53.

And this is where you think

Stephen's going real spicy,

but we're going to read

the rest of chapter 7.

But this is what he says

in verse 51 and 53.

You stiff-necked people,

uncircumcised in heart and ears,

you always resist the Holy Spirit

as your fathers did.

So do you.

Which of the prophets

did your fathers not persecute?

And they killed those

who announced beforehand

the coming of the righteous one,

whom you have now betrayed

and murdered.

You who received the law

as delivered by angels

and did not keep it.

Jesus here is called

the righteous one.

The one who is blameless

before the law.

The perfect law keeper.

The one who gave the law himself.

Jesus who is in perfect communion

with God the Father.

The one who does

what no one else could do.

The righteous one

who is compassionate

and merciful.

Who is slow to anger.

Who is abounding

in steadfast love.

Who is without blemish.

When the righteous one

exposes the self-righteous,

there are two options.

Either you remain stiff-necked

or you look upon him

and you humble yourself

and put your faith in him.

But there's no in-between.

And this is what Stephen's

getting at here.

Stephen isn't acting

out of a blind

and uncontrolled anger.

He has this big speech

and it's just bubbling up

and bubbling up

and bubbling up

and then he just bursts out.

You stiff-necked people.

Not at all.

It is controlled.

He is speaking the truth to them.

And what does the truth

lead us to?

Freedom.

So in a sense,

Stephen is inviting

these people

who are seeking to crush him

and crush the Jesus movement.

He is inviting them to repent.

To not have stiff necks.

To not have unbelieving hearts

and ears.

But instead to say,

you're right.

God can't be confined

to the temple.

We've been

screwing around

with God's law

for far too long.

We repent.

We are done with it.

We are tired

of the self-righteousness

that we have tried

to live

and we have exported

out of the temple.

We are tired of it.

Let us cry out to Christ.

That's what he is

inviting them to do.

But instead,

they do not.

I mean,

they should,

in a sense,

have the same response

as the Jewish people

at Pentecost

when Peter preaches

his fantastic sermon

after the Holy Spirit descends.

And this is how they respond

in Acts chapter 2,

Acts 2:37–38

verse 37 to 38.

Now when they,

that is the crowd

of Jewish people,

heard this,

Peter's speech,

they were cut to the heart

and said to Peter

and the rest of the apostles,

Brothers,

what should we do?

And Peter said to them,

Repent and be baptized

every one of you

in the name of Jesus Christ

for the forgiveness

of your sins

and you will receive

the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Their response,

chapter 7,

verse 54.

Now when they heard

these things,

they were enraged

and they ground

their teeth at him.

Later on it says

they stopped their ears

and they were yelling.

They were going,

they were going berserk.

They were going crazy.

There was,

there was,

there was a disconnect.

They weren't thinking

like human beings.

They were angry.

And this is the reality

of being stiff-necked.

And it's far too easy

to say,

ah,

those unbelievers.

Friends,

the law points a mirror

right back at us.

God's laws

and God's ways

and God's mercy

that is extended to us

for our benefit,

for our enjoyment,

for our life

and life eternal

when we look at it

and it doesn't fit with us,

with the things

that we are trying to do

or our ambitions.

Do we not

put our fingers

in our ears

and go la la la la la la la

pretending as if

God is not speaking

and speaking over him,

gnashing our teeth at him.

But instead,

he wants us

to repent

with a trust in him.

Friends,

we are the religious leaders

in this story.

Whether through secular means

or religious means,

we try to self-justify

treating our sins

as no big deal

or denying God's power

and claim upon our lives,

our stiff necks

are revealed.

We have a self-righteousness

that's not based on God's truth

but a curated vision

of truth.

However,

this exposes

what our hearts

truly cling to,

what our hearts

truly confide in.

It exposes

our functional saviors

and not the true savior.

And friends,

this is mercy.

This is kindness.

It is goodness.

It is the goodness

of God

that leads us

to repentance.

Our section ends

with Stephen being martyred.

He's the first martyr

in the history

of the church

and this is

how it reads,

verses 55 to 60.

We'll start in verse 54.

Now when they heard

these things,

they were enraged

and they ground

their teeth at him.

But Stephen,

full of the Holy Spirit,

gazed into heaven

and saw the glory of God

and Jesus standing

at the right hand of God.

And he said,

Behold,

I see the heavens opened

and the Son of Man

standing at the right hand of God.

But they cried out

with a loud voice

and stopped their ears

and rushed together at him.

Then they cast him

out of the city

and stoned him.

And the witnesses

laid down their garments

at the feet

of a young man

named Saul.

And as they were stoning Stephen,

he called out,

Lord Jesus,

receive my spirit.

And falling to his knees,

he cried out

with a loud voice,

Lord,

do not hold the sin

against them.

And when he said this,

he fell asleep.

Why is it that Stephen

went to his death

saying the same thing

that Christ said

when he hung upon the cross?

Receive my spirit,

forgive them,

they know not what

they are doing.

Friends,

because his heart

clung to

and confided in

the true

and unchangeable Savior.

See,

when our hearts

are turned to Christ,

there is nothing

that can be taken from us.

Our money

can disappear,

our homes

can disappear,

our very lives

can be in peril,

and we still

have Christ.

Nothing,

nothing

can rob us

of him.

So let us not

trust in

the charity

that we do

or the building

that we meet in

or our excellent

track record

of not sinning

or doing

our devotions,

all really important.

So let's

keep that up.

But let us

not find our

ultimate hope

and worth in that,

but find our

ultimate hope

and worth in Christ.

We are not

justified,

we cannot be

justified

by anyone

or anything

but Christ.

So let us say

like the Apostle Paul

who could have

been drawing

on this very

experience

when he wrote

Philippians 3,

it could have

been in his

very mind,

we don't know,

he doesn't say,

but he was there

witnessing it,

but he wrote this

in Philippians

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3,

and let us

make this

our prayer

and our life

as well.

This is what he

says,

verse 9,

verse 9,

verse 9,

verse 9,

verse 9,

It doesn't sound

and may share his

sufferings,

becoming like him

in his death,

that by any means

possible,

I may attain

the resurrection

from the dead.

It doesn't sound

like a man

who is sad

or broken

or lacking

in anything.

And this is

easy to say

on a Sunday

and hard to live out

on Monday

and Tuesday

and Wednesday

and Thursday,

but by God's

grace

and by God's

kindness

through prayer,

he has promised

to lead us

and to transform

our hearts

so that we will

cling to him,

that we will

confide in him,

that he will become

our true

and only Savior.

So friends,

let us trust

in the righteous one.

Let's pray.

Lord,

we thank you

that we don't

have to make

yearly pilgrimages

pilgrimages

to Jerusalem

to worship

in a temple

because you are

here in our midst.

You created

the entire world.

You're not confined

to anywhere

and in your goodness

and kindness,

you didn't beckon

us up

in a giant

staircase

or a ladder

that we could

never ever use

to climb

into your presence,

but instead

you descend

and take on

flesh

and live

a very,

very,

very human life,

a fully human life

and then die

in our place

a human death

and get buried

in a human way

and rise again

in a divine way

so that we now

as humans

share in that

reality,

in that resurrection

life.

Lord,

expose our hearts

to the idols

that we have,

to our functional

saviors,

to the things

we go to

to calm

our restlessness

and instead,

Lord,

let us learn

by your help

to rest in you.

We pray this

in Christ's name.

Amen.