These three chapters present a pretty stark contrast. Chapter 5 begins with the account of Ananias and Sapphira and their lies to the church, the apostles, and to God. Later, the apostles get arrested and thrown into prison but are miraculously freed by an angel. That’s where I want to pick the story up.
Acts 5:20 – Go and stand in the temple and tell the people all about this life. (CSB) After being released, the apostles were instructed to jump right back into the fire and preach the good news of Jesus in the middle of the temple. Spurgeon does a great job of detailing their compliance with the angel’s command. There were not to simply go and preach a doctrine but a life – and that life was Jesus. Now, there was necessary content to that preaching: 1) Jesus is the promised messiah (v. 42); 2) his death and atoning sacrifice for our sins (v. 30); his resurrection (v. 30); and the believers holiness in the Holy Spirit (v. 32). The obvious application is that each of us need to understand the gospel, the message of life. We need to constantly be reminding ourselves of the truth of the gospel, and we need to proclaim and share the complete gospel with those who do not know Jesus as savior and Lord. May God help each of us to deeply meditate on these truths, be transformed by them, and then share them faithfully as we are presented with opportunities to do so.
Acts 6 and 7 cover the story of Stephen the first martyr of the Christian church. I was struck by one of Luke’s statements about Stephen:
Acts 6:10 – But they were unable to stand up against his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking. (CSB) In this chapter, Stephen is described as “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit” (v. 5); “full of grace and power” and “performing signs among the people” (v. 8). The argument with Stephen was instigated by the opposition who had confronted him (v. 9). They were unable to prevail in the attack and had to resort to trumped-up charges to bring him before the Jewish council (v. 11-14). The key to Stephen’s effectiveness was not his oratorical skills or power of persuasion, but faith, grace, God-given wisdom, and yielding to the Holy Spirit. The power we need to withstand the attacks of the world comes not from us and our own abilities but from the Lord. May God stop us from trying to usurp the role of the Holy Spirit. Instead, may he fill us and empower us by the Spirit, granting us the faith, wisdom, and grace to represent Christ well and to speak truthfully.
Blessings!