Read: Acts 7
You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. (v. 51)
I once heard Eugene Peterson say to a group of pastors, “When people come to church on Sunday morning, they have basically two questions on their mind; is there going to be a story and am I in that story.” Today’s Scripture reading is just what Peterson described to those pastors: “an immense, sprawling, capacious, narrative.” It is the testimony Stephen gave to the religious leaders of Israel, telling them (and telling us) of Abraham’s wandering, Moses’s rise to prominence, Joshua’s conquest, and David’s favor; all of it as a platform for declaring the faithfulness of God from one generation to the next. How did they respond? They ground their teeth in anger and stoned him.
Everything depends on how we respond to the story of God in our lives. He’s shaping us and molding us into vessels to fulfill his redemptive purposes in the world. When you rise up in the morning and ready yourself for the day, you are actually preparing for gospel work. Today you may be the only Bible that some people will read. You may be the only glimpse of Jesus that some people will get.
As Stephen was being mercilessly stoned, he quoted Jesus’s prayer for the world from the cross: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (v. 60). Stephen and Jesus are our models for today and every day.
As you pray, ask God to give you a heart to tell of his goodness to everyone, everywhere!
Dr. Timothy Brown is the Henry Bast Professor of Preaching and President Emeritus at Western Theological Seminary where he served from 1995-2021. Tim continues to actively coach and encourage former students and pastors who seek help in their preaching life and he has become a certified public school substitute teacher so that he can continue investing in the lives of young people. He is married to Nancy and together they have three children and ten grandchildren.
