In Acts 6:8, we meet Stephen, “a man full of God’s grace and power,” who “performed great wonders and signs among the people.” Christians today know Stephen as the first martyr. Certain Jews accused him of blasphemy and brought him to trial before the Sanhedrin. Before his death, Stephen faced confronted his stiff-necked accusers.
The Jewish religious leaders spoke Hebrew or Aramaic. They felt superior (in culture, history, lineage, Godliness, etc.) to the Greek-speaking or Hellenistic Jews. So, division existed between the two groups of Jews.
When Stephen took his last stand before death, he recounted the history of Israel. Stephen calls out the religious leaders: “You stiff-necked people! …You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!” (Acts 7:51). Some of the Greek-speaking Jews had soft hearts and were quicker to respond to God, while some of the Hebrew-speaking Jews were slow, critical, prideful, selfish, compromised with the Romans, etc. Those religious leaders became outraged at an “outsider” like Stephen correcting them.
People can become stuck in their religious upbringings—maybe their traditions, church, or denomination. Stiff-necked people refuse to change. This resistance hinders the presence of God and prevents revival. We’re supposed to resist the devil. Instead, we start resisting the Holy Spirit, and it becomes a habit.
If a move of God breaks out in your city, will you miss it because you are stubbornly rooted in a stiff-necked generation? It’s time to stop resisting the Spirit and allow God to soften our hearts. Let’s move with the Spirit!
8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”
54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.
55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
1 On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
Questions:
Do your actions, thoughts, words, and responses to God ever reflect a resistance to the Holy Spirit?
How will you become/remain open and yielded to the Holy Spirit?
ACTION POINT: Pray to God to help soften your heart. Take practical and prayer steps to become free of stiff-necked religion/tradition.
