In regard to Stephen, theologian
N. T. Wright comments, “You never know, once you lay hands on people and pray
for God to work through them, what new things they will get up to, or rather
what new things God will do through them.”
In Acts 6:8-15, the ministry
of Stephen, a deacon (servant) in the church at Jerusalem, expands. He moves from administering aid to the needy
to healing and teaching. As Wright
notes, once the Spirit starts to work in a person’s life, you never know what
will happen.
When Stephen saw need, he
responded. He saw the sick and, through
the power of the Spirit, offered healing.
He saw spiritual ignorance and responded with teaching about the
Messiah. As he did so, he was raising
the profile of the Way and the church as well as himself.
Throughout Christian history,
there have been men and women like Stephen, who saw a need and responded. They saw sickness and started hospitals. They saw ignorance and started schools. They saw children without families and
started orphanages. These innovators
stepped outside the paradigm that the church had embraced and addressed the
needs of the world in creative ways.
When you
do a new thing, you will upset someone.
Although his dissenters “could not stand up against the wisdom the
Spirit gave him as he spoke” (Acts 6:10, NIV), this did not stop them from
trying. They brought him before the
Sanhedrin or Assembly and asked him to justify his work. Although they had the ability to coerce him,
there is every indication that Stephen willingly accepted the challenge as an
opportunity to share the mission of God.
The church
today needs women and men like Stephen who will respond to the leadership of
the Spirit of God. John’s gospel
explains the work of the Spirit in this way: “The wind
blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it
comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8, NIV)
For those of us who are
control freaks, this can be frightening.
For leaders like Stephen, it was exhilarating. He was ready to listen, act, and witness through
the power of God’s Spirit.
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