| "As fire burns brushwood, as fire causes water to boil- to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence!" |
| Isaiah 64:2 |
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The Face of an Angel
In the early church, when Peter and the other apostles were daily teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ in the temple and in homes, the Greek-speaking Jews began to complain against the Hebrew-speaking Jews because the widows in the Greek congregation were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. Peter and the other evangelists, knowing that they shouldn't take time from their preaching to "serve tables," called the other disciples together and gave them the following instruction.
Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. Acts 6:3
What struck me as I read this passage this morning was that Peter's words "seek out from among you" indicated that there were people in the assembly who did not meet those qualifications. When I think of the believers in the early church, I think of them as each having the same fervor and commitment, the same righteousness, the same measure of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, but apparently this was not the case. Apparently, they were a lot like us in the church of our day.
While it's good to recognize that all people in all time periods and cultures were a lot like us, it's not good to be comforted by others' mediocrity. How many times have we felt a twinge of guilt about something we're doing or thinking, but have then talked ourselves out of changing our wrong behavior or thought pattern because we saw other professing believers doing things we considered worse? If we're looking for ways to justify our own sins we will find them.
So who is to serve as our example for zeal, righteousness, wisdom, and being filled with the Holy Spirit? Jesus, of course. Now maybe you're saying, "But He was God. He was perfect. I'm not God; I can't be perfect," and in this you're right. We can't be Him, but we can be like him. "How?" you ask, "Give me a human example." Consider Stephen, one of the seven chosen to minister to those widows' needs.
And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. Acts 6:5a
The people of the early church recognized Stephen's faith and that he was Spirit-filled.
And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Acts 6: 8
Stephen's faith made it possible for him to do those great signs and wonders among them. But as the following passage tells us, in spite of that, just like Jesus, he had his critics.
Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and
Now there's a something to aspire to! To be so full of faith, wisdom, and the Holy Spirit that the people we speak to about Jesus aren't able to resist the message!
However, as a result of Stephen's power-filled words and actions, he was accused of blasphemy and was brought before the council of scribes and elders. And maybe here is where things get uncomfortable and we're not so sure we want to be like Stephen. After all, who wants to rock the mediocrity boat and bring trouble to oneself? Better to lay low and keep our faith quiet than to bring something like this on ourselves, we're often guilty of thinking. But what was righteous Stephen's response?
And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel. Acts 6:15
Oh, to be like that! To wait serenely, with a face shining like an angel's, in the face of our accusers! But before that, to be willing to do so, and before that, to be that person who is so full of faith, wisdom, and the Holy Spirit that the people around us see it.
Now, I'm sure there were more than seven people in that early church who could have been chosen, but I ask myself, if I had been there, could I have been chosen? How about you?
Daye Phillippo
May 2010