Unexpected Grace
February 24, 2002
Acts 7:1-8
I want you to dig deep into your past... going back to the 4th grade. You are out on the playground and a game of kickball is about to begin. Two kids are chosen as captains beginning the painful process of choosing sides. Where are you in this scenario? Are the you the captain? First picked? Second? Last? How many here when they think back to elementary school games, remember being the last chosen? How important was that to you when 10? Turn the clock ahead to Jr. High. Would you classify yourself as the most popular kid there was, never a pimple, perfect teeth, best clothes, most athletic? How about Sr. High, college, in the work place now or among others in your neighborhood. The games have changed, but do you still feel like the last picked or do you find joy in a new standing, in success?
While we may look back and think it silly we put such an emphasis on these non-essential aspects of life, we can’t escape the fact that those externals are important to us. We hold on to such fleeting feelings as how our kids do in school to tell us we are good parents or the numbers on our paycheck to remind us we are successful. If I were to ask you to list the reasons you believe God loves you, the evidences of God’s grace in your life – would any items on that list touch the good gifts God has given you?
How often do we allow the good things in our lives, God’s blessings to us, become the barometer of our self worth, or of God’s pleasure with us. The tangible aspects of our lives give us comfort when troubled. Have you ever been tempted to take a personal inventory to verify all is right:
Spouse not thrown anything at me – check My 10 year old no a criminal record– check
No creditors called me this week – check No lightening bolts from God – check
I must be doing all right. In fact I can point to some positive issues in my life to show God’s favor:
I’ve got a great marriage...I’ve got wonderful kids...I’m healthy...I’ve food in my house
I may not conclude that if I do good God will reward, for I know that is blatantly false. But is it that far off to say that God has blessed me because God loves me. That almost sounds right on the money.
But what if I were to demean God’s good gifts in your life, if I were to say all the good things you have, the good things you are – are worthless. In fact, God’s good gifts are standing in the way of a greater gift that God has for you? You may become defensive, even angry.
This is what happened in Acts 6-7. The Jews deeply appreciated all God did for them. He revealed his Law to them, laying out before them his character, telling them what was expected by him of them. What is more, God’s dwelling place, the temple, was in their city. That is something to be proud of.
But when Stephen told them of Christ’s work, that one’s standing before God is not based on good things, the Jews understandably became defensive. What about the Law, the temple? Did not God give those good things as well? How dare this man speak against God? Obedience to the God’s Law provides that wonderful immediate response to God’s love. If I obey, God loves me, if I disobey, he is displeased. It is a simple equation. As for the Temple, we have a physical reminder of God’s presence and his power in our midst. God’s love for them was experiential, tangible and immediate.
What Stephen criticized was not their sin, but their righteousness. It is one thing to be told that what you are doing is wrong and offensive to God, but how would you react if you were told that what you are doing is good but still offensive to God, that what God has given you is not a measure of God’s pleasure in you as a person?
The trouble was the people loved the symbol of God’s affection for them so much that they missed the substance of his love for them. The hung on the illustration and missed out on the reality. Rather than allowing the Law to point them to their need of a Savior, Jesus Christ, they used the law unlawfully to encourage their own law keeping as good enough to please God. Rather than the temple sacrifices pointing them to Christ’s death, the presence of God in the temple reminding them of God’s presence on the basis of Jesus our High Priest, they saw the temple as a badge of honor, of God’s special love for them. Keeping the Law and temple, but missing Christ is a tragedy.
Stephen has attacked the sacred cow of Judaism, to mix our religious metaphor. In proclaiming that God’s grace comes to us only and completely by Christ alone, he so offended his audience that his life is on the line. Without an abject recantation, Stephen was a dead man. Now is his day in court. He was permitted his apology – the same defense which is every Christians calling and of which the apostle Peter says, “Always be prepared to give an answer (apologia) to everyone who asks you to give the reason (logos) for the hope that you have (1 Peter 3:15)
There is nothing here of being sorry or the regret which we today associate with apologizing or offering an apology. The sense is rather that of legal or formal defense. (Keddie, 96)
Stephen’s defense highlights Old Testament history so that his audience would be clear in seeing how God’s grace is poured out on God’s people without any reference to their personal holiness. God’s grace is unexpected, not easily measured and impossible to manipulate.
If we miss the connection between the accusation in 6:13-14, the high priest’s question in 7:1 and Stephen’s lengthy reply, all we have is ancient history recited in a pointless matter culminating in a bitter attack, resulting in his death. John Calvin himself said of this speech that Stephen’s reply could appear at first glance absurd and unsuitable. Yet, as we dig deep, Stephen makes clear the central nature of God’s grace which sets aside our bragging about our accomplishments.
Two themes run through this chapter:
First, through the Old Testament, God raised up deliverers of God’s people from unexpected places. God is not tied down to a place, rather the very characteristic of grace is that it makes God’s people always a pilgrim, always on the move, always in a position of trusting Him.
Second, while God historically raises up leaders to point his people to his grace, God’s people disobey God’s Law and reject his grace.
The first of the four scenarios Stephen uses to show how God’s grace works in our lives, pulling us away from the good gifts God’s gives to make us rely on the best his has for us – is the life of Abraham. READ Acts 7:1-8
God’s grace calls unlikely people v2-4
God’s grace appears in an unlikely place v2
Stephen begins his address to his brothers and fathers, his fellow members of God’s covenant people. But he first refers to God by an unusual name, “the God of glory.” The only other place this phrase is found is in Psalm 29:3, where David praises the majesty of God. God’s universal glory is extolled here, his might is seen throughout all creation. Heavenly beings join in giving God praise as does the earth and animals right down to those in the temple. God’s grace is not constrained.
This limitless power of God to call whom he will is made more clear in what God does: “he appeared to our father Abraham.” (2), “God removed him from there...” (4)
God is not imprisoned in the walls of his temple, he is not a caged animal for the enjoyment of his people. He is boundless in calling whomever he will. In v2 – his call goes out to one who lived in Mesopotamia. You don’t get much more outside the box than that. The way Stephen describes God’s work shows his grace. God does not just call out to Abraham from the comfort and safety of Mt. Zion, “Abram, come over here, I want you!” Rather God appears, in all his glory, in the pagan land of Mesopotamia. The idea of God doing this would be repulsive to the Jews.
Remember, in Genesis this is the land of rebellion against God as the tower of Babel is built. Throughout the Old Testament this land is the capital of idolatry. But God goes into that unlikely place to call a people
A side note here as some commentators regard Stephen as having made a mistake. In Gen 11:31-12:1 God’s command to Abraham was given to him at Haran, not Ur. But Genesis 12:1 can be translated, “The Lord had said to Abram” (ESV note) suggesting that what he had already said to him in Ur. Joshua 24:3 see God’s hand in Ur as does Neh 9:7
God’s grace appears to an unlikely person v3-4
God not only goes to the most unlikely place, he then calls the most unlikely person. He lacks a good pedigree, doesn’t come from the best side of the tracks. God does not look for the person looking for him, but the whole initiative is placed on God.
What is more, he goes after Abraham who is already 70 years old. Can you imagine how deeply rooted in sin, how accustomed to idolatry he had become? It is amazing how unlikely this person was to be chosen by God.
The radical change that came in Abraham’s life came only because God pursued him, all the while Abraham did not pursue God. It is more likely that the icebergs of the Atlantic to melt without the sun than to expect a sinner's heart to change without God. God came after him and called him. There was nothing about him that made him more acceptable to God.
God’s sovereign and free grace to call whom he will is something we must never forget. He came after us out of his own desire, not having seen anything in us that was worthy. It is the worst kind of pride to ever imagine that we are who we are because of what we possess.
For us to conclude God loves me based on what I have and whom I am, even if we point to God all the while, is a grave mistake. Rather God’s favor flows to the most unlikely. Paul in 1 Cor 1:26-31 is a wonderful reminder of how God works in our lives.
God’s grace calls people through trials v5-7
The call of grace is not measured by our happiness v5
Stephen’s remarks angered his audience because they thought they had received all God had for them. But they confused with sign with what it signifies. The law was to point them to their need of a savior, the temple likewise to God’s provision to remove their sin. But they couldn’t get past the sign.
If you were to receive a personal invitation from the White House for a private dinner with the President, you might be elated. You would show your friends the finely engraved request for your presence, the personal phone number to the President’s office so you can RSVP, how your name is hand written on the envelope, not just some generic label. It would be a tremendous privilege. But what if the date for the dinner came and went and I were to ask you how your time at the White House was. With that you pull out the dog-eared request and point out the hand-written address, the personal request. It is soon apparent you never went. In fact, you resent that I would demean the wonderful invitation you received by talking about some dinner. You fell in love with the sign and missed the significance.
Stephen’s audience loved the law and the temple but missed what they pointed to. God promised them a great inheritance but they ignored the God who gave the gift. Abraham was quite unlike them, for God gave him a promise which he never physically received – yet he still looked to God.
God graciously called Abraham, promised him an inheritance. He didn’t even get a foot of dirt. Interestingly, Abraham did purchase a parcel of land as a burial site for Sarah, but what kind of promise is that, it doesn’t do you much good when you’re dead. The land would be for his offspring – the only trouble is, he had none.
The Jews during Stephen’s day were quite satisfied with all God had given them – and for that reason they were quite unlike Abraham. Abraham was satisfied in God even though he had nothing at all. The author of Hebrews says much the same thing in Hebrews 11:8-16.
Abraham’s hope went beyond just the temporal blessings God poured out on him. His hope was not about stretch of land in a remote part of the world. Rather his hope was for a city whose designer and builder is God. This is what it means to live as a pilgrim in our world. To live in it, enjoy it, but at the end of the day to know that this world is not our home. To see God’s good gifts as good, but not the final, they are but a small picture of what is to come.
The call of grace does not guarantee a life of ease v6-7
In our lives, when someone chooses us for something, when we are picked out of a crowd, we expect that it is for some grand and noble reason that lives within ourselves. But it is dangerous when we apply this to our relationship with God. While we may not even know what good thing in us or for what good and noble end God may have, we assume that it must be there. There must be something about me that God must like. When we make that error, we are in for a great surprise.
Those Stephen addressed had made this error. They saw God’s favor on their life as a sign of God’s pleasure on them for some good they had done and a promise for good times to follow. The logic is not as twisted as you might think: God is gracious toward me and calls me – God is good so what God will give me is good. What is good is what I will like and enjoy.
But what happens when illness comes, when the job is gone, the kids leave the faith. This is where the words of our final hymn come into play, as Cowper writes:
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence he hides a smiling face.
Abraham illustrates those words. Stephen joins together the promise of God given to Abraham in Gen. 15 and Exo. 3:21 to describe God’s call taking God’s people through difficult times.
Abraham’s offspring that will come will be enslaved. Not only will Abraham not get the land, neither will his people for 400 years. The life of the exile, the wanderer continues. God’s grace is not equated with comfort or ease, but with slavery and turmoil. The good God has for his people is not found in the temporal blessings God may give.
Stephen then makes a play on words in v7. Quoting from Exodus 3:12 he refers to “this place.”
Up to this point “this place” in the discussion of Acts refers to the temple on Mt. Zion, but the context of Exodus refers to Mt. Sinai. The goal of God’s promise was not the land, but the relationship. The place that is important to God is the place where God meets his people.
God may well wrench us from home and loved ones, he may send us places we would never consider. Hardships may come and we may never get what is rightfully ours. But still – God’s grace is there because God’s promise is still there. Grace is not freedom from trouble, but endurance through it.
God’s grace calls people through generations v8
This promise given to Abraham is a promise made tangible in the covenant of circumcision.
First, this is a promise even before he had an heir. For years God called him, directed him, made promises that he would be a blessing. Yet without an heir, all that seemed rather hollow. Then God gives a sign of his promise, the sign of circumcision. But again, the promise which celebrates the union of marriage and promises children is given to a childless couple. But there was coming a time when God’s grace would give that promised son, pointing to the birth of another one to come.
For Stephen’s audience, the sign of circumcision was a badge of great honor. It was an evidence that God loved them, watched over them. That God kept his word.
Yet their love of the sign was misplaced for they missed its significance. The shedding of blood was necessary, but it was not their blood that would be efficacious, rather the blood of that one of their family who would come, Jesus Christ.
There is not much comfort in all this to Stephen’s audience. They found comfort in the wrong place, the good gifts of God’s Law and the Temple were not ends in themselves, but pointers to Christ.
How about us? We need that rude awakening, too. What is of supreme importance for us? We see that in v8 – God’s promise to Abraham would continue with Isaac, Jacob and the 12 tribes. All this would lead up to the Messiah, it all points to what is to come. But as God’s grace was calling Abraham, as it gave him the sign of God’s promise redeemer, Abraham remained a wanderer. He had no land, not temple. But God was still with him. Not just despite the hardship, but in the hardship, God’s grace was more present to Abraham than it was to Stephen’s audience. They prided themselves on what God had given them instead of falling in worship before the God who had been so good.
The people were too comfortable with God’s good gifts to ever give thanks to what God had given them. They were in the land God had given. It was a blessing. But they were too much at home in the land. They had forgotten that, wonderful as possession of the land of promise was, they were nevertheless only to be pilgrims in it as Abraham had been. These rulers had ceased to look forward. They were looking back, they had taken the things of the world and the blessings of world to be permanent. They had allowed God’s temporal blessings to eclipse their sense of God’s presence.
From Abraham we can learn the lesson of seeing God’s grace given to us not based on who we are, nor finding comfort in what we have from God as evidence of his favor. Rather, finding our only hope and assurance in God’s grace poured out on us in Christ and there alone finding what we need. It is then we can know that as God moves in our lives, he moves with favor toward us, because of Christ alone.
