Power At Play: Stephen vs. the Religious Leaders - Acts 6:8

Acts 6:8

Stephen, full of grace and power,

was doing great wonders and signs among the people.

In this chapter we get an interesting contrast regarding the source of power and how real power works.

The chapter begins with the selection of godly men to perform a sensitive task, the equal and fair care of ethnically different people in the congregation of believers.  The men were to be men with a good witness, wise, and full of the Spirit.  You will recall that in Acts 1:8 Jesus connects power with the presence of the Spirit. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you…”. The implication here in Acts 6:3 being that one who is filled with the Spirit is one living a powerful life.  This will be borne out as we read later in the chapter v. 6,  “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.”

It is clear that the religious leaders cannot compete with Philip’s power face to face because they must revert to subversive means to try and hold their own.  “But they [Religious leaders.] could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit [Power]  with which he was speaking.” (v. 10)  For lack of wisdom and power the religious leaders resort to lies and subterfuge. 

Ah, you say, do the religious leaders not then win when their subterfuge results in Stephen’s death?  It depends on whether you see things in the long view or the short view.  Certainly when the dust settles and one looks around it appears that Stephen has been silenced.  We will move into chapter 8 and see Saul on a rampage persecuting the Christians and the church scattered from Jerusalem…so where is the power.

In the Psalms we read “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;

there is none who does good.

God looks down from heaven

on the children of man

to see if there are any who understand, (Wisdom.)

who seek after God.”

How you read the outcome of this event depends on whether you are looking around, man’s limited short term perspective or whether like God you are looking down, with an unlimited perspective over time.  History records that on the short term, yes, Stephen is dead, the Church is scattered and the religious leaders have control of the temple, but, over the long haul the temple is destroyed, the Jewish people are scattered, and the religious leaders lose control.  The Church grows by leaps and bounds, spreads to all the known world, and changes the world and the course of history.  That is power!

Is my life characterized by wisdom, looking down rather than looking around (Understanding), and power, a life filled with the Spirit?  On this I will meditate today.

LHM/CHM

**3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog.  This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life.  I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, prayers, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends.  We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes.  Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.