A direct result of the persecution of the disciples and the judgment of Ananias and Sapphira was even further church growth. As the church grew, so did the everyday duties and problems within the church. The church began to reach out to Jews that were from other countries and the influx of different cultures along with the many personalities began to create problems.

The “Grecians” were Hellenistic Jews, or Jews living within the Greek culture. These Jews were more influenced by the philosophy of Grecian culture and did not think as rigidly as the Jews who were converted from strict Judaism. The Grecian Jews began to complain against the others because they felt like their widows were not shown as much time or daily attention from the disciples.

The problem was a direct result of the growth of the church. The twelve disciples did not have enough time to visit every individual every day and still have time for prayer and study of the scriptures. This is a common problem among our churches today. Some churches have a mentality that everything should be done by the Pastor or Pastoral staff, but the church will only grow to a certain point this way. As new people come in, the Pastor cannot take care of all of the everyday things and still have enough time to pray, study, and teach the word of the Lord to individuals. The twelve disciples realized that in order for the growth that God had promised to continue, other people would have to get involved. They suggested that the Grecians choose seven men to become “ministering deacons.” There were three qualifications for these men. First, they must be of “honest report.” They were to be men of good character and of a good reputation. Reputation does count in the work of God! Second, these deacons must be full of the Holy Spirit. This obviously means that they were required to have received the infilling of the Holy Spirit as experienced by the 120 on the day of Pentecost. This also meant that they must reflect the fruit of the Spirit. This was not an unreasonable criteria and we find that Paul wrote to ALL of the believers in Ephesus and commanded them to “be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). It is not enough to just receive a one time experience at the infilling of the Holy Ghost, but we must allow the Holy Spirit to work in us daily leading us into the “fulness of God.” Spirit-filled believers must exhibit love, peace, joy, meekness, and patience in their life! Third, the deacons must be “full of wisdom.” Wisdom is the ability to apply God’s Word to your everyday life. They must be able to see through situations and realize how God desires for us to respond. They must be able to apply the Word of the Lord not only to other’s situations but to their own walk as well. Notice that these were the requirements for men who would be taking care of the “small” everyday tasks! The disciples realized the importance of being able to be led of the Spirit in taking care of the small things!

Everyone liked the idea of choosing deacons and so seven men were chosen by the congregation to be considered. It is important to realize that all seven men had Greek names and not Hebrew ones, proof that they were men from the Grecian Jews. Of the seven we only know details of three: Stephen, Philip, and Nicolas. Stephen, a man “full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost” was a powerful preacher. We will study Stephen in more detail later in this lesson. Philip was a mighty evangelist whose preaching later started a mighty revival in Samaria. Nicolas was a Jewish “proselyte” of Antioch. This meant that Nicolas was not born Jewish but a idolatrous Greek. A “proselyte” was someone who was not born a Jew but believed in the one, true living God of the Israelites, and subjected themselves to every Mosaic law including physical circumcision. Nicolas obviously became a Jewish proselyte first, and then received the Holy Ghost for the infilling of the Spirit was a requirement to be considered for this position. Many people have wrongly taught that Cornelius (Acts 10) was the first Gentile to receive the Holy Spirit, but actually Nicolas had received the Holy Ghost much earlier than Cornelius. As we will see later, Cornelius’ conversion caused quite a stir because he was the first uncircumcised Gentile to receive the Holy Ghost! Many people have also falsely taught that Nicolas was the founder of the group of “Nicolaitans” that God hated (Revelation 2:6,15). Nicolas taught that “those who had wives should be as those who have none.” Meaning that those who were married should be just as committed to ministry and God as those who did not have the added responsibility of a family. Jewish history teaches us that later in the century, a group of believers misinterpreted Nicolas’ comment and began to teach that “all wives should be common,” meaning that fornication and adultery was no longer wrong for a believer. This group falsely claimed to have gotten it’s origin from Nicolas and went by the name of the “Nicolaitans.” It was of this group that Jesus Christ told John that He hated their teachings.

The apostles (the twelve disciples) were pleased with the seven men, and prayed and laid their hands on them. The laying on of hands symbolized the transference of authority, and helped the seven men focus their faith to receive a special anointing and power for their ministry. Throughout the Book of Acts, we will see the uses of the laying on of hands for similar reasons and similar services of commission. Paul even referred to a similar procedure when writing the young pastor, Timothy (II Timothy 1:6). The laying on of hands and prayer for those being commissioned for a special ministry or new work is a very Biblical concept, and that is why we still use this type of service today. Several things happened when these seven men began to minister. The “Word of God” increased in Jerusalem, meaning that more people were able to be taught the word of the Lord. Even today, it is not the sole responsibility of the pastor to teach the word of the Lord to individuals, but other people must help teach others if the “Word of God” is to increase. When more church members get involved in soul winning and teaching the Scriptures to new people, the results will be the same as the Early Church: “the numbers of the disciples multiplied greatly!” Another direct result of these seven “evangelist deacons” were the conversion of “a great company of priests.” Many people were being reached with the Day of Pentecost message!

Stephen was obviously an extraordinary man. He was the first deacon to be chosen. The scriptures teaches that he was “full of faith and power.” He obviously had a good reputation and great works. He did great wonders and miracles among the people, provoking some of the “Libertines” to argue with Him. Stephen spoke with such wisdom and spirit, that they were not able to resist him. Stephen obviously taught in such a way that caused those who opposed the true teaching of scriptures to either obey or reject them. The “Libertines” were Jews who were not from the land of Israel. They had their own temple in Jerusalem in which they were able to worship in their own language. At this time, there were schools of philosophy and theology set up in their temple, and many of the teachers obviously opposed Stephen.

Not being able to argue with the truth, the Libertines turned to violence and stirred up the Jewish leaders by telling them that they had heard Stephen speak “against God.” This of course was false, Stephen had spoken against their errant religious beliefs and had spoken “for God.” The Jewish leaders arrested Stephen and brought him to trial before the Jewish council.

False witnesses were called to testify against Stephen to stir up the wrath of the Jewish leaders. Stephen had obviously been preaching about Jesus’ prophecy of the destruction of the temple (Matthew 24:1-2), and that He had come to fulfill the Law! While he was being falsely accused, a visible anointing came upon Stephen and all of the Jewish leaders realized that his face was like “the face of an angel.” It is interesting to note how that God was giving the Jewish leaders and Sanhedrin chance after chance to hear the Gospel and the message of Jesus Christ through the testimony of the disciples.

The High Priest allowed Stephen a chance to speak. With the anointing of God, and an excellent command of Jewish History, Stephen began to preach a masterpiece of a sermon! The majority of Acts chapter 7 is the sermon of Stephen. Stephen begins with Abraham and relates through the time of Moses how that the Jewish people have always rejected the plan of God. After this powerful historical discourse, Stephen brings His listeners into the sermon:

Stephen was speaking to the very leaders that had crucified Jesus Christ. He said that not only did their fathers resist the Holy Ghost, but they did also! Stephen pointed out that the Jewish fathers had killed the very prophets who had prophesied about the coming of Messiah, and then they had murdered the Messiah Himself, the “Just One” prophesied about! Stephen then concluded that not only did they reject Christ and crucify Him, but in their religiosity, the Jewish leaders did not even follow all of the law! Stephen preached as plain as one could preach to the Pharisees and the Saducees!

When the Jewish leaders heard this mighty sermon, “they were cut to the heart.” Stephen looked up into heaven and “saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.”

When Stephen told the Jewish leaders that He saw “Jesus standing on the right hand of God,” they ran screaming holding their ears toward him and threw him out of the city and began to stone him. Why? “The right hand” was a Jewish metaphor for power. We use metaphors even today in this way. For example, if we are about to go to sleep, some people say “I’m going to hit the sack.” They do not mean that they are going into a room and knocking around a paper bag. “Hitting the sack” is a metaphorical expression that means “going to sleep.” Stephen was not saying that Jesus was literally standing upon a physical right hand of God, because that would not have been an offense worth stoning. By saying that Jesus was on the “right hand of God,” Stephen used a metaphor that Jesus had returned to the full power of who He was. Remember, Jesus was God in flesh. For God to come and subject Himself to walking in human form, He stripped himself of some of His dignity and Godly prerogatives. By stating that Jesus was “on the right hand of God,” Stephen was stating that Jesus Christ was Almighty God. To the Jews who did not believe in Jesus, this was blasphemy an offense punishable by stoning! It is interesting to note that the Jewish leaders crucified Jesus Christ for the same charge: He claimed that He was Almighty God in flesh! Notice that as they began to stone Stephen, a young Phariseeical student of Gamaliel named Saul was present and watched over their coats.

The Pharisees and Saducees are gathered around watching the stoning of Stephen. Young Saul is also watching and as Stephen dies, he makes several startling statements. Notice verse 59 states that he “called upon God,” “saying, Lord Jesus receive my spirit.” This is irrefutable proof that Stephen was using the Jewish metaphor of “standing on the right hand” to state that Jesus was God. Some people have tried to twist the meaning of these scriptures to “prove” the false doctrine of a trinitarian Godhead, but the scriptures emphatically declare that Stephen “called upon God, saying Lord Jesus.” Jesus was and is the one God in flesh! The other remarkable point of the stoning of Stephen is that his last words were asking Jesus to forgive those who were stoning him! Even in death, Stephen never cursed his enemies but followed Jesus’ example on the cross and forgave them! With forgiveness on his lips, Stephen died, becoming the first martyr of the Early Church.

As we will see later, the impact of the martyr of Stephen forever changed the course of the life of the young Pharisee named Saul. It also forever changed the course of the Apostolic Church for the Christians began to be greatly persecuted in Jerusalem. When this persecution came, the followers of Christ began to flee from Jerusalem and scatter throughout Judea and Samaria to avoid death. God allowed this persecution to come for this reason, and the death of Stephen was in the perfect will of God. Even though they did not realize it at the time, the early Christians were finally beginning to obey the words of Jesus when He had commanded them to teach “all nations” beginning at Jerusalem and spreading throughout the world. Because of comfort and the ease of living for God, the Early Church had only reached Jerusalem until persecution came. As they began to travel to avoid persecution they also spread the Gospel message to other regions. The original twelve apostles remained in Jerusalem, and Stephen was given a very mournful burial. No doubt as the leaders of the Early Church buried Stephen, they wondered why God had allowed such a horrible tragedy to happen.

Even today, we must realize that when tragedy and persecution come in our lives, that God’s ways are above our ways, and we must live our lives in the perfect will of God, trusting not in our own plans but in God’s master plan. We as human beings tend to view our lives from a selfish viewpoint, living for ourselves and shying away from any idea of self sacrifice. It has always been, however, God’s way to allow persecution to bring about His perfect will in a man’s life. The Christians in Jerusalem had found God’s grace and had received the “regeneration” of the Holy Spirit in having their relationship with God restored. There were many other people throughout the world who had not yet had the opportunity to have this close, saving relationship with Jesus Christ. The Early Church, in their zeal for the things of God and keeping themselves pure, had forgotten about the rest of the world. God allowed persecution in their lives to remind them of their purpose, that was to teach other people about the saving power and message of Jesus Christ. The Day of Pentecost had been a wonderful experience for 120, but whether or not the rest of the world received the wonderful promise (Acts 2:39) depended upon whether of not the Early Church would sell out to the commandment of Jesus and teach “repentance and the remission of sins in His name” (Luke 24:47-48)!

Even today, we must realize that God allows persecution and tragedy in our lives to remind of us of our purpose. We are to be witnesses of Him, and we should be reaching our world with the Day of Pentecost experience. We should not be so comfortable in our message that we become religious without being Apostolic! Faithfulness to the ordinances of God are necessary and important, but are you also reaching someone else? When persecution and tragedy comes, remember the reason that God has allowed you to live on this earth: to reach others with the same message!

The young Pharisee Saul was forever changed by the martyr of Stephen. He began to make “havock” of the church and began to enter into the homes of known Christians and cast both the men and the women into jail. Persecution did not just come to the leadership of the Early Church, but to every individual. This is because God does not intend just for leadership to obey His command to reach the world, but every individual member of the church must reach someone! Saul became the greatest opposition that the church had ever known, and devoted his life to destroying the Christian church. This plan of Satan backfired though, because as the men and women fled from Saul, they went everywhere “preaching the word!”

We must live and preach the word throughout every situation that we find ourselves! In the darkest times of our lives, we must still be faithful to God and His call to reach others! The Word of God should be the most important aspect of our lives, and like Stephen we should remain true to the Spirit even if it means giving of our very lives!