Title: Stephen's Sermon
Contents
Acts 7:1-16
Yesterday's sermon reveals the background of Stephen's arrest. The charge was violating the Temple and the Mosaic Law. The high priest said to him, “Is this true?” Today's text begins with a question. However, Stephen did not answer yes or no, and that the accusations were true and false. Criticize Judaism, which hangs only on
The first is the lesson through Abraham from verses 2 to 8. When God told Abraham to leave his hometown and relatives and go to a land that he would show you, he went and promised Abraham, who had no children, that he would possess the land and gave him the covenant of circumcision. Abraham did not doubt God's promise in hope and kept it, and according to God's providence, he was able to receive the prosperity of his descendants and the inheritance of the promise.
It refers to the covenant God gave to Abraham before giving the law to Moses and before Solomon built the temple. The covenant with Abraham was fulfilled in his descendants, Jesus.
In other words, regardless of the law and the temple, God maintained a relationship of mercy and life with His people. The core was God's call and promise, and it was understood only from the perspective of temple worship and law observance, which were the source of Judaism's existence. points out that it is not. This also points out the attitude of unbelief of the religious leaders who are in a hurry to keep their place and do not even think about God's redemptive history.
The second is the lesson through Joseph from verses 9 to 16. Joseph's brothers were jealous and hostile to him and sold him to Egypt. Pointing out that this spirit of sin is still taking place among the religious leaders of today, but God was with him and rescued him from all tribulation and gave him grace and wisdom to become the prime minister of Egypt The same applies to Jesus, who was hated by the Jews and was crucified, and it means that God is faithfully with all suffering servants, destroying the enemies and surely fulfilling God's promises.
We, Christians, are being criticized to the point that we Christians no longer have any greed to eat because of the Taliban hostage incident that has made a lot of noise in the world these days. In the meantime, I thought that Christians were not Christians, they were separated from those they should be with, and the consequences of not caring for the places they should be cared for were spilled on those who were abducted by spending money and time to help the poor. With this as an opportunity, I thought that we should be able to seek God's promises from selfish faith that only hopes for our own comfort and peace, from our love for ourselves to love for the world, and to be grateful for the fruits of suffering that come along with the promises. Thank you for being trained for this.