My Own Stiff Neck: Applications from Acts
/“Stephen’s boldness in the face of persecution is unlike anything many of us have ever seen”
The study in Acts on Sunday mornings has been stirring the hearts of many of us in C&YA. God is using our pastor, Brandon Briscoe, to do a fiercely convicting work as he carries us through the very earliest days in the Church. The fiery zeal of the apostles is tempered by the strong and clear doctrine of our new hope in the gospel, laying a firm foundation for them to perform extraordinary works through the power of the Holy Ghost. Those exposed to such power either respond in disbelief and rejection or total faith and salvation. This is where we see the greatest numbers of conversions to Christ, as well as the beginnings of the greatest opposition against Christ’s growing Kingdom.
The past few weeks we have zeroed in on a character in Acts whose testimony, though brief, in Brandons words, “...is one of the most powerful in scripture.” Stephen’s fervency for the gospel and boldness in the face of persecution is unlike anything many of us have ever seen in a Christian. He was “full of faith and power, [and] did great wonders and miracles among the people.” His own disputers in Acts 6 “were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake,” and it was this power that put a target on his back (Acts 6:10).
“...zeal, when reined in by the word of God, unlocks the potential of a powerful and fearless walk”
Stephen’s Message
Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7 reveals the gospel message woven into the stories and lives of the patriarchal fathers of the Jewish faith.
Abraham: A life sacrificially devoted to a personal relationship with God; a man filled with faith in only a few precious promises. Through his example, we learn what it means to give up our lives in order to know God face-to-face.
Joseph: Rejected and sold by his own people (just as Christ was); a life used of God to deliver his own persecutors from death (just as Christ was). From him, we learn to accept rejection as a way of life, having the assurance that God is able to reap life out of the most hopeless circumstances.
And lastly, Moses: A zealous man who saw his people's need for a savior; a life devoted to hearing and proclaiming the words of God. From him, we learn that if zeal is left unchecked, it is unstable and likely treacherous (Acts 7:24). But zeal, when reined in by the word of God, unlocks the potential of a powerful and fearless walk (much like that of Stephen).
There could not be an example more contrary to Moses’ life than that of the men to whom Stephen’s message was delivered. In Brandon’s words, “It is easier to bridle a zealous heart than it is to unleash the zeal of a religious one.” These men whose very lives were devoted to the memorization and administration of Moses’ writings in the end had no true zeal for God and the advancement of his kingdom. Rather, they were so preoccupied by their own personal advancement in the “kingdom” that they had lost sight of what carried the rhythm of Moses’ exemplary walk: the intimacy found in meeting with his maker face-to-face.
“I have been forced to recognize that my walk is suffocating under the load of what I am resolved to “do” for God”
Here is where things get personal for me. As much as I would love to say that the shortcomings I have in my walk come from having unbridled zeal, I know that is not the case. In the midst of my own religiosity and well-doing, my face-to-face devotion to my Creator has been sapped dry through my devotion to “his work.” Much like the religious rulers Stephen is preaching to, I have been forced to recognize that my walk is suffocating under the load of what I am resolved to “do” for God. Rather than meeting with Jesus to commune with him, I am rushing to his word to find the tools I need to survive the work I am building through my own tenacity. It is a labor, not of love, but of obligation and self-sufficiency, and that has never been God’s intention. It is no wonder that I am weary (Gal 6:8-9).
Acts 7:51 says, “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.” At the end of his sermon, this is how Stephen addresses those listening in. And over 2000 years later, I find myself standing in that very audience, accused of these same things. The word of God certainly is a mirror (James 1:23), and I see the wickedness of my own conceit. I am begging God to awaken my zeal for him again. In order for that to happen, however, I believe that I need to first trust God to soften my heart and humble my own stiff neck.
Processing the message of Stephen has lead me to further study his statement at the end. God’s word is full of hope and clear direction, and I hope the rest of what I have to say provides some helpful guidelines for those of you who also wrestle with a life of works.
“Sanctification must first take place in the invisible posture of our heart before it can authentically bleed out into action”
Breakdown of Acts 7:51:
“Ye Stiffnecked”
This would not be the first time the Israelites were described this way. God himself used this wording back in Exodus 32:9 when they turned aside from the way he commanded them to go by attributing the saving work of God to a entity they had created themselves. Sound familiar? Don’t we do the same exact thing in our walks when we attribute the success of our ministry to our own hard work? 2 Chronicles 30:8 provides a practical solution for us:
“Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.”
We will always be yielded to something (Romans 6:13). Before entering in the sanctuary with God, I must first prepare my heart to be wholly yielded (premeditated to listen and obey).
“Uncircumcised in hearts and ears”
Under the Levitical law, circumcision was a non-negotiable physical act of consecration for every Hebrew male. Under the law of grace, circumcision is spiritual through sanctification (Col 2:11), and it begins by choice through salvation. Though salvation is a once-and-for-all transaction, sanctification is an issue of daily living (Col 2:13). As Romans 2:29 says,
“...circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”
Sanctification must first take place in the invisible posture of our heart before it can authentically bleed out into action. If the primary preoccupation of my thought life is the praise of men, there is a good chance I am not living a life of active sanctification.
“...a life of religious compromise [is] by its very nature resistant to the work of the Spirit dwelling inside us”
“Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost”
Our pride and naivety would have us believe otherwise, but we are never passively resisting the Holy Ghost. As soon as we begin to compromise in our walk, we are actively resisting the work God’s Spirit wants to do in us.
James 4:4-6 “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
In pride our necks become stiff, and a life of sanctification becomes a life of religious compromise that is by its very nature resistant to the work of the Spirit dwelling inside us. But how sweet is it that his grace is always available to us when we choose to be humble? Christ chose to die for us “while we were yet sinners”, and “much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Romans 5:8-10). This forgiveness is available to me on a daily basis if I can humble myself and acknowledge this truth.
Col 2:6-8 “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”
There is such freedom in these words. A byproduct of fighting a spiritual war in the religiosity of my flesh is that I so often forget the power of Christ’s continual forgiveness. I stand justified and loved by my savior Jesus Christ despite my shortcomings: I don’t know if there is a more humbling message than that. My prayer is that God uses this study in Acts to help produce in me a daily walk of humility and inward sanctification that will result in a life of zealous consecration and outward boldness. By the same Spirit with which Christ transformed my life at salvation, I am trusting God to guide my walk.
Havilah Guenther is a discipler and small group leader in Midtown Baptist Temple’s College and Young Adults ministry and is a member of Temple Worship.