Listen to Me!

"Then the high priest asked Stephen, "Are these charges true?" To this he replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran." Acts 7:1-2

Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran.

Stephen is being charged with false charges. The people, elders, and leaders had been stirred up as the previous verses put it. Folks had made things up and exaggerated and misquoted his words and raised a huge stink. All over this issue of feeling threatened. Words, even when they may have some truth in them, can sure be easily misconstrued and misunderstood. Have you ever played “telephone” before? You know the game. A circle of people start with one whispered message and try to pass ear to ear, with whispers around the circle to see how much the message changes. I have used this game to illustrate the danger of gossip, and the unreliability of third hand, even second hand, and sometime first hand information. Add to this process, the plan of the Jewish leaders to discredit Stephen and it gets out of hand in a hurry. So what was the original message? How did it get messed up? The words came from Jesus himself. He said, "Destroy the temple, and I will raise it in three days" (John 2:19); of course referring to Himself and His resurrection. This got turned into Him changing all the Jewish customs and destroying the temple by the time it is accredited to Stephen, and everybody gets stirred up about it. Oh, the drama.

To get to the truth you have to look at motives. Not hard to do. Stephen is speaking the truth. Jesus, of course spoke the truth, He is the truth. He was changing everything that was why He came as the Messiah. The Jewish leaders felt threatened and made it sound like the believers were gonna tear down the building. The building was the representation of the customs and traditions.

So, the underlying tensions fuel the misunderstandings of the words. In essence, the conflict was impossible to resolve and Stephen is put to death after he gives a beautiful testimony about how everybody got to this point.

Maybe my point today is really this. The truth is more important and more reliable than the facts. The Bible is a wonderful picture of life, itself. A guide to understanding ourselves, people, and the world we live in. So, we must desire the truth and speak the truth in love, whenever people are listening. Those words just convicted this preacher.

Humbly yours,

Pastor Fred

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